It was several more days before anyone in the group heard anything from Aventus. With Mephala's piece secured, they needed only to visit Azura and Meridia. On the second day, Ulfric sent his fastest courier to Solitude to find Aventus and see what was keeping him, and on the third day, Erith tired of waiting for him and decided that she and Shelur would take Leola to visit Azura's shrine while they waited - she declared it a 'Ladies Only' adventure. Ulfric and Bottar would wait back in Windhelm until they heard from Aventus, and if he arrived before the women made it back, the men would make the necessary preparations for their journey to Meridia's shrine.
"I don't really know why Aventus would bother coming back to Windhelm," said Erith casually as the three women atop their horses casually strolled Northwards. "Meridia's statue is near Solitude. He'd be further ahead to just stay there and let us come to him."
"That is true," Shelur agreed, nodding her head. "Why risk the travel time? It'd also be quicker for us to just leave when we get back, rather than to wait for him to come all the way here."
"Well, perhaps if he'd given us a bit more information to work with, we wouldn't be waiting on him like this," Leola said, a frown coming to her lips. Her beautiful blue shield was upon her back, and she was excited that her friends finally trusted her to hold her own in battle. She'd been training as much as she could when they weren't on the move, and both Shelur and Bottar had agreed that she'd been improving in leaps and bounds. "All he said was business in Solitude. He didn't say how long he'd be, or what the business was, or when we should expect to hear from him."
"It's probably Dark Brotherhood business," said Erith nonchalantly. "It's usually always Dark Brotherhood business with him. Someone wants someone else dead, that someone else is in Solitude, so off he goes."
"But wouldn't he at least let us know something? Give us something to work with?" asked Leola, but Erith was quick to shake her head.
"This might be a harder kill than usual," she said. "If it's someone more high profile, or someone who'll have protection, or someone whose death will cause something of a mess, he'd probably keep from telling us so we don't get caught up in it - or worse, get him caught."
"Is getting caught really such a problem though?" Shelur asked, sounding genuinely curious. "I mean, his best friend is the High King's daughter, and he's all but in the King's pocket himself."
"Aventus is not in my father's pocket," Leola protested.
"Maybe not, but Aventus is guaranteed a pardon from the High King if he gets caught," said Erith. "Still, it'd be risky - there's always the chance that Solitude guards might just kill him instead of taking him alive, and then we'd be down one Aventus."
"We can't lose any Aventuses," said Leola, giggling. "They're one of our best assets."
"They tend to be good assets, in addition to having good assets," Shelur added, and all three girls burst out in laughter.
There was a decent chunk of silence as the girls rode on, occasionally commenting on the sights that they passed. Though they'd done this trip before, the beauty of Skyrim would likely never cease to amaze Leola. She'd seen only the area surrounding Falkreath her whole life, and though she knew that Lakeview Manor was in a beautiful location, the incredible sights elsewhere in the province were breathtaking in comparison.
"Say, when are your namedays?" Shelur asked abruptly, and the other two both turned their heads slowly to shoot her quizzical looks.
"Our namedays?" asked Erith. "That's such a random question."
"I promise, the line of thought that led to it makes sense in my mind," said Shelur, and the other two both laughed.
"Mine is the twenty-fourth of Frostfall," said Erith.
"We missed your nameday?" asked Leola, turning to face Erith with her eyes wide. "It's already Sun's Dusk!"
"Don't worry about it," Erith said with a dismissive wave of one hand. "I don't really celebrate my nameday anyways. I figured we'd have time enough for celebrating after we got this ordeal handled."
"Fair enough," said Shelur. "Mine is the seventh of Sun's Dawn. Leola?"
"The twentieth of Evening Star," said Leola. "It's the worst - it's so close to the New Life Festival that my mother always just combined the two. We'd celebrate on my nameday, and then we'd just skip the festival."
"Did you only get half as many gifts?" asked Erith.
"I don't know," said Leola. "I don't know how many presents I'd have received if I'd been born on a better day. She gave me one gift that was supposed to cover both New Life and my nameday, but then she always ended up getting two gifts because her birthday was so far from it."
The other two both laughed. "Then yes, you only got half as many gifts," said Erith.
"What about the boys?" asked Leola. "Have we missed either of their namedays yet?"
"No, don't worry," Erith said with a laugh. "Oh, and I think we're almost there."
Sure enough, it wasn't much longer before the horses came up to Azura's shrine. The three girls dismounted, and the lovers handed off their reins to Shelur. She was the largest and the strongest of them, and if any of the horses tried to run off, she stood the best chance at reining it back in.
"Good luck," she said to them.
"I killed Samuel," said Leola, cringing inwardly at saying so. "I think all the luck I needed for this moment was the luck I needed to pull it off."
She and Erith began making their way up the stairs, and when they reached the top, they were greeted by the same elderly Dunmer woman who had been there the first time Leola had visited. She had to be ancient - Leola suspected she'd been old even back when her mother had been here - and she simply gave them a polite nod, as if gesturing for them to approach.
As Leola neared the altar, she heard the gentle and familiar voice of Azura speaking to her. "Welcome back, child," said the Daedric Prince.
"I've done as you asked," Leola said, speaking in a soft voice. "Samuel is dead, by my own hand."
"You have done well," said Azura. "His treachery will no longer follow you about, and you are now free to go about the remainder of your task."
"I wish I felt as good about it as you do," Leola said softly.
"Killing is…unnatural, in a way," Azura responded. "Do not be ashamed that your first time has left you feeling so damaged. This will certainly not be your last time."
"That almost helped," Leola said, and she heard an airy, musical laugh echo and dance about within her mind.
"You have not come to listen to my advice," said the Daedric Prince, and Leola almost felt bad - such an ancient and powerful being probably had wisdom beyond compare, but here she was, seeking only the small object that would grant her mother's freedom.
"You're right," Leola said. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," said Azura. "A deal is a deal. As promised, my piece of your mother's soul. Give her my regards when you take her to Sovngarde."
Leola was quiet for a moment, and then she opened her eyes. Sitting upon the altar, sure enough, was that tiny violet fragment that meant the world to her.
"When did that get there?" she asked, her gaze shifting towards Erith.
"I wasn't looking," Erith replied, frowning. "I thought I'd give you two your space."
Hesitantly, Leola reached forward and picked up the small piece, and when nothing terrible happened, she carefully stowed it away. "Thank you for everything," she said to the Dunmer woman, who smiled in return.
"Azura's blessing upon you, children," the elf answered, and with that, Erith and Leola joined hands and began to make their way back down to where Shelur was waiting.
"Well?' asked Shelur as they approached. "How did it go?"
"We got it," said Leola, smiling. "Now we just have to find Aventus and visit Meridia, and then all this will be over."