The Jarl managed to keep Leola and her friends longer than they'd hoped. Abelone had wandered off to fetch Yelva, their baby, a little blonde with big blue eyes and an excited smile no matter who spoke to her. Naturally, Minot and Leola had to stay and coo over the little girl. The Jarl's son, Absalon, ran through a few times with a friend of his, playing some adventurer game and pausing only briefly to greet Leola at the request of his father before hurrying off again.
When the group was finally able to go, they hurried off. Azura's shrine was South of Winterhold, so they had quite a ways to go – about six hours, Aventus estimated. Luckily, the group had horses. Leola rode behind Aventus on the beautiful black horse, Shadowmere, while Minot rode along with them on her horse, a simple but beautiful brown one she called Encore.
For several hours they rode along together, chatting between themselves. Minot told Leola all about her little brother, Mathieu, and how she hoped that Leola could meet him soon. They talked about the Brotherhood, though Leola could tell that both of her friends were still hiding some details. It was fine, though – they were an ancient organization shrouded in mystery, they deserved their secrets.
The pair of them told Leola more about Minot's story regarding her own mother. Minot's mother had been recruited by Nazir and Leola's mother when Minot was just a baby. Minot's mother's help had been crucial in shaping Aventus as the assassin he was now, and when she died and Minot approached the Brotherhood, it was Aventus who took her under his wing and worked to teach her their ways.
Leola, meanwhile, took some time to tell them more about her childhood. Both of them were full of questions, questions that the young Princess was more than happy to answer. Had Erith been Leola's first romance or had she ever been in love before? Leola hadn't been truly in love, but she'd been in a relationship before – hunters would frequently travel the road along the lake, and when she was fifteen years old, she met a young hunter, a son out with his father. They had kissed and talked about a future together, but they had been young and it just hadn't worked out. How many people did she really have contact with? Not many, but that was what she had assumed was normal. At her home there were three of them – herself, her mother, and their bard, Llewellyn, who had passed away two years ago. When she was younger there had also been a steward called Calder, but he had died once defending them when a giant had attacked. It was, however, the last time a giant ever attacked – her mother claimed not to know why, but in hindsight, Leola suspected that her mother had simply killed the giants before they could reach her home.
It quickly became obvious when they had reached the shrine's location, finding themselves riding up a mountain towards a massive and beautiful statue of a woman – likely the image of Azura herself. Aventus slowed to a stop, as did Minot, and they both climbed down off their horses. Aventus reached up to politely help Leola down.
They approached the shrine and, almost immediately, an elderly Dunmer woman appeared, as if out of nowhere. She approached them in return, eyeing them with suspicion. Aventus offered a kind smile.
"Good afternoon," he said politely. "We don't mean to-"
"You," the woman said sharply, cutting him off and looking only at Leola.
"M-me?" she asked, her eyes widening nervously.
"You," the woman repeated. "You're…familiar."
"I don't think we've met," Leola said softly. "This is my first time coming this far North-"
"-Unless you knew her mother?" Aventus cut in, and the Dunmer woman raised one eyebrow.
"And who was her mother?" she asked. She had a deep, rich voice unlike any Leola had heard before.
"The Dragonborn," Leola said, reaching into her bag and pulling out Azura's Star, the artifact that was supposed to be associated with this particular Daedric prince. "She had this."
The elderly Dunmer's eyes widened at seeing the artifact. She moved forward, outstretching her arms to take the star, which Leola gently placed in the woman's hands.
"Azura's Star…my lady's Star…" breathed the woman. "How did you get this?"
"It was my mother's," Leola replied. "She passed away, though."
"Your mother was Azura's Champion?" asked the woman. Despite this revelation, her tone was no warmer. "I knew her. That explains why you feel so familiar to me."
"It must," Leola replied. "We have something important to ask of you. It's – rather unusual…but important."
"What is it?" asked the Dunmer.
"Your lady, Azura…she has a piece of my mother's soul. We need it from her. We're willing to pay any price," Leola said, and she could see the woman's face turn to one of astonishment.
"Then – then you are here to do Azura's bidding," the woman said. "Not even a day ago, my lady told me of a man – a man she wishes killed for actions against her. That is why you are here – you must eliminate this man, and once he has been killed, we will give you the piece of your mother's soul."
Leola nodded slightly. She wasn't too keen on the idea of killing somebody, but if it had to be done, she'd have to see to it that it was done. Maybe she wouldn't even need to do it herself – perhaps Aventus could do it. He was, after all, an assassin. He was trained in such things. "Who is this man?" Leola asked nervously.
"He is called Samuel. He is a member of Riften's Thieves Guild, an organization run by my lady's sister, Lady Nocturnal," said the woman.
From behind her, Leola heard Aventus let out a humourless laugh. "Of course it would be Samuel," he said, and as Leola glanced over, she saw him shaking his head.
"Samuel?" asked Minot, a confused look on her face. "Why, what has he done?"
"Well, there's the fact that he almost killed Leola," Aventus replied, his tone very matter-of-fact.
"Did he?" Minot asked, her eyes going wide.
"He did," Aventus said. "Leola's very lucky that Erith was with them to stop him and heal her. And we won't even mention what he did to Erith…"
Leola turned away quickly, her attention returning to the Dunmer woman.
"I see you and your friends have some history with this Samuel," said the woman, and Leola nodded.
"We do," she said softly. "You have my word that we will make sure he is dead."
At hearing this, both of the assassins behind her went quiet, their attention turning back to Leola. "We will," Aventus agreed, nodding. "As long as Azura will give us her piece of the Dragonborn's soul, of course."
"Of course," said the Dunmer with a nod. "Thank you for this, child. You've taken a great struggle off an old woman's shoulders."
"How so?" Leola asked softly. "Were you going to try to find him and kill him yourself?"
"I was," said the woman with a nod. "If my lady commands it, it is done."
"But then you could have been killed," Leola said, frowning. "Samuel is ruthless and he's tough…if he knew you were trying to kill him, he'd just kill you."
"Then I would die serving my lady," the Dumner said, "and she would find somebody else to carry out the task."
Leola smiled at the woman. "Well, you've found somebody else now," she said softly. "We'll handle this, and you can continue to serve your lady."
The woman smiled at Leola and nodded. "Then you understand," she said in a low voice. "I suppose, then, that I will see you again when the deed has been done."
"You will," Leola replied. "One of us will come back to collect the soul piece."
"Excellent," she said. "Then I wish you luck in this endeavour. May Azura's light guide you."
With that, the trio began to make their way away from the mountaintop shrine. None of them spoke; instead, there was an uncomfortable silence hanging over them. To get Azura's piece of the soul gem, they had to kill Samuel. It wouldn't be easy, but none of them had expected it to be easy – none of this, in fact, should be easy. Making deals with Daedric lords and putting together a broken soul…even just the end goal didn't sound like an easy one.
"Leola," said Aventus, the first to speak.
"Yes?" she asked, looking towards him.
"Minot and I will handle eliminating Samuel," he said. "We're trained for this kind of thing. I'll take you back home and then we'll deal with this. Once I have Azura's piece I'll come find you and drop it off."
Leola nodded at hearing his words. "Sounds like a plan," she said softly. "Let's get going, then."