When the trio reached the main hall of the palace, they saw Ulfric standing beside Jarl Glovald Silver-Blood. He was a young Jarl - younger than Leola, in fact, at only sixteen years of age. Leola's understanding was that his great-uncle had been Jarl until recently, having passed away with Glovald as his only living relative. Ulfric had been a part of the decision to appoint Glovald the position instead of finding someone else within the hold, apparently, having been a firm believer in the young man's potential.

Facing the two Jarls was a young Redguard man, his hair cut short and a heavy suit of armour covering his body. He looked towards the group as they entered, as did Ulfric and Glovald.

"Kayd," said Aventus, raising an eyebrow as he saw the Redguard. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to make a trade," said the man before them, looking intently at Aventus moreso than the girls. "I have information that you need."

"What information might that be?" Leola asked, stepping forward slightly.

"I know where Samuel is," Kayd replied. "I also know what his plans are."

"How?" asked Erith, folding her arms over her chest.

"He's my friend," Kayd said. "He entrusted me with this information."

"You said a trade," said Ulfric in his booming voice, a frown on his face. "What do you demand in exchange?"

"I only ask that when you find Samuel with my information, you kill him," Kayd responded, his gaze never wavering from Aventus.

"If Samuel is your friend, enough for him to tell you where he is and what he's planning, then why would you want him dead?" asked Aventus, raising an eyebrow. "I know you both, and I know the friendship you share."

"He has made threats against the woman I love," Kayd responded solemnly. "For her sake, to keep her safe, I want him eliminated, and am willing to give you the information that you can use against him."

"Give us a moment to deliberate," Erith said quickly, before Leola could speak. Erith took Leola by the hand, pulling her to the back of the room. They were followed quickly by Aventus and Ulfric, while Glovald remained facing Kayd.

"Why do we need to deliberate?" Leola asked, frowning. "There should be no question about it."

"We're deliberating because he's talking about Minette," Erith whispered. "Everyone knows Kayd has feelings for her - he's hated Aventus for years over their relationship."

"Maybe Samuel sent him here," said Aventus softly. "He's always had reason enough to hate me, but now that Minette and I aren't together any more? He could be angry that I've broken her heart."

"She broke your heart, though," Leola replied. "Besides, how could he know about that already? You said Minette lives all the way in Solitude."

"Maybe he came here with her," said Aventus. "They're best friends, always have been - he could easily be the one who travels with her. Perhaps he came here with her, and when she told him about - about what happened…maybe he decided to send us into Samuel's trap."

"Samuel could be just waiting for us. He might have told Kayd where he is in the hopes that Kayd's hatred for Aventus would be enough to send us there - and even if it's not, he could still be waiting for us whenever we do find him," Erith said.

"You kids really are clever," Ulfric murmured, shaking his head. "I don't know your friends well enough to give my thoughts. Leola, this one is on you."

Leola frowned slightly. "He didn't say he was going to take us to Samuel," she said softly. "All he said was that he'd give us the information in exchange for our promise to kill Samuel. We've already given that to countless others, why not see what he has to say and agree to kill Samuel for him? Then we can decide if we trust his information or not."

"That's a good idea," Aventus murmured. "If he is working with Samuel, he'll probably tell him that we took the bait. If Kayd does tell us where Samuel is waiting for us, we can make a plan to take him by surprise."

"We should be planning on taking him by surprise anyways," Erith replied. "He knows that we're looking for him."

"True," Aventus said with a nod. "Alright. Follow my lead?"

"You know it," Leola said softly.

With that, the trio turned to once again face Kayd, approaching him calmly. "We already have a pretty good idea where Samuel is, but we'd like the confirmation," Aventus said to him. "Knowing his plans is also a good idea - so far, all we know is that his plans conflict with ours. We'll take the deal."

Kayd gave a nod. "Good," he said. "I'm sure you understand my concern."

"Of course," Aventus replied. "Now, where is Samuel?"

"Samuel is hiding out in Lakeview Manor," Kayd responded.

"He's what?" Leola exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"Then his hopes were right and that was the last place you'd think to look?" Kayd murmured, seemingly amused.

"We had him pinned to the general area, we just weren't sure where," Aventus cut in. "We were thinking about Pinewatch, though. Do you know how long he intends to remain in Lakeview Manor?"

"As long as he needs to," Kayd replied. "He wants to reforge the Dragonborn's soul gem himself."

"Why would he want that?" asked Leola.

"He has a powerful binding spell," Kayd said. "If he has her soul and that spell, he can command her spirit as he wishes. He'll basically be unstoppable."

"What does he gain by hiding out in Leola's childhood home?" asked Erith.

"Time," Kayd replied. "As long as he has that one piece, you can't reforge the gem yourselves. That gives him time to make sure he understands the spell fully, time to figure out how to reforge it once he has your pieces, and time to figure out how to get the pieces from you."

"It's also basically a guarantee that we won't find him," Aventus said. "Kayd is right, that's the last place we'd look. Luckily, that means we also have time on our hands - we have a few stops to make on the way, so it'll be a few days, but we'll head there and deal with him."

"I knew you would," Kayd said with a nod. "Thank you for this reassurance. Do send me a courier when the deal is done - you know where I'll be." With that, the Redguard turned and left, leaving the little group alone.

As soon as the door had shut behind Kayd, Aventus took charge. "We need some couriers in here - we need to tell Bottar and Shelur to wait for us in Falkreath. We also need to write the Brotherhood - I need Cassius and Naniena to meet us in Falkreath. Erith, can you get the couriers organized while Leola and I go to see Molag Bal? We need to head to Lakeview Manor immediately," he said.

"Why immediately?" asked Leola. "You said we have a few days and stops to make."

"If we're right and Kayd is working with Samuel, he's going to report back to him, whether in person or by courier, I don't know," Aventus said. "If Samuel thinks he's safe for a couple days while we make our stops, he'll have his guard down, even if it's just a bit. Cassius and Naniena can help us - if we have a numbers advantage, we might be able to take him down easily. If they come immediately, they'll be there approximately this time tomorrow night, perhaps a bit longer. We can storm the house in the middle of the night, the whole group of us, and overtake him."

"So we're…we're storming my house?" Leola asked in a soft voice.

"If Samuel is there, it's our only option," Aventus said to her in a gentle voice.

"You heard Kayd. If he was telling the truth, Samuel intends to take control of your mother's soul and use her spirit to do his dirty work," said Erith.

"We can't allow that to happen - your mother's soul belongs in Sovngarde, not serving some foolish boy bent on becoming unstoppable," Ulfric said. "I've fought alongside her, I know how fearsome a warrior she was - her soul cannot be bound to anybody, or they'd be too powerful."

A sigh left Leola's lips and she nodded. "You're right," she said in a soft voice. "Let's get to work."