Author's Note: Hm.

Can we say "Poor Communication Kills" three times fast?

We can? Good.

I bet you lot were thinking it'd be another year before you'd hear from me again. This'n's a bit short, but as a plus, the next one should be sooner, since it's done and all. This part was a bit annoying to write, but not near as hard as the one that comes pretty much immediately after.

Read and review makes for a happy author with happy updates, happily.

Disclaimer: Yep. I own everything. I even own you. Also, if you'll buy that, I own some property in the Shivering Isles for sale. It's lovely, this time of year.

Nobody Important

Chapter Nine: Weynon Priory

Where not all is as it seems.

By: N3k0

Weynon Priory was a quiet place, full of quiet monks, who all slept quite quietly. Not a one of them were even snoring. Lyssi hadn't found the lock to be much trouble at all. If this was where the Grandmaster of the Blades lived, she suspected he trusted that his position was secret, rather than secure.

Was it really safe to leave such a precious bauble here alone?

Was it any safer to keep the trinket on her person? She herself had to sleep almost half of her existence away, or at least find shelter indoors, and on at one memorable occasion, shelter indoors had been almost no shelter at all - not from the sun, nor from the creatures who inhabited the place.

She stood silently in the loft where the monks slept, making no noise. Being a dead thing, she didn't even need to breathe to give herself away. Which one of the silent forms was Jauffre, she wondered?

"Hello, miss." The voice was jovial, though hushed, so as not to wake his fellows. Lyssi very nearly jumped out of her skin. Instead, she held very still, turning slowly. "May I ask what it is you do here?" He was pleasantly tempered, balding, and barely an inch taller than she was. She gradually relaxed. Prey, not predator.

"Jauffre?" She also kept her voice quiet.

"Yes, that is my name. Ah ... who are you, then?" He motioned her toward the stairs, back to the main floor. She went along, deciding it was better not to fight it.

She didn't respond, immediately. Did everyone need to know what to call her? She doubted she'd ever see this man again. "... All right ... What is it you do here?" She sighed. She had to convey the Emperor's message. Surely that was all that was required of her.

Surely.

She turned to face Jauffre, tugging her pack off her shoulders, the strap pulling at the thin black shirt she wore. The scar on her collarbone showed pure white - her skin still had some color to it. She grunted, softly - the unhealed wound on her stomach nearly caused her to double in pain.

"You are injured, Bosmer? Did you come seeking healing? There are many fine chapels and the ilk. If that is the only reason you have come .... " Her eyes flashed, annoyance causing her to lose her grip for a second. The pack thumped to the floor, and his gasp told her that her eyes were showing crimson. His expression darkened immediately. "I think it best if you leave, creature. We have no love of your kind here." He actually almost looked to be reaching for a holy symbol. Or a weapon. In those robes, who knew? Lyssi knelt, feeling blood oozing from the cut, dripping onto the ground. She rummaged in her pack, fingers catching the chain to the Amulet of Kings, the Amulet following.

Jauffre gasped. "The Amulet of Kings! How did one such as you come to possess something like that?"

"The Emperor is dead." Lyssi pushed the thing into Jauffre's hands, wrapping his fingers around it. She just wanted to be done with this errand she'd been sent on. "Sons, too."

"Explain yourself." A pause, murder in his expression. "Now." Did everyone believe she was the killer, then? She didn't do it.

"Baurus said, give you this." An entire sentence. Her Family would be proud. "I did." She shrugged.

"He did, did he? And how do I know you didn't kill him, too?" He was angry. Usually, Jauffre was probably quite rational about such things, Lyssi was certain. He was a monk, and they were all very level-headed, or so she had heard. She hadn't had much to do with monks, before or after her turning.

"Would I be here?"

"You've got a point." He sighed heavily. "The Emperor's death has set us all on edge. I apologize. Baurus sent word, told me to expect a 'strange' messenger, two days ago. He said that you would inform me further on the situation. When you did not arrive then, I had assumed all was lost. I had not been expecting something like you to deliver something like that." He shook his head.

Lyssi would have taken offense, but Jauffre was correct. Finally, she decided to ask a question of her own. "Us?"

"The Blades, girl. The Emperor's personal guard. Surely you've heard of us, being the Emperor's own messenger in our time of need?" Lyssi shrugged noncommittally. That was what all the armored knights had been yelling about?

Emperor's own messenger - she had almost forgotten. "His last son lives, he said. Where?"

"Yes, he does. I had wondered if you would bring that up – if you knew. Martin lives now as a simple priest, among quiet farming folk. He believes that he, himself, is the child of farmers. You needn't worry about him." Oh, good. She'd almost just started to. "Tonight, I send my strongest Blades, on the fastest horses, to retrieve him."

Well, if she was being dismissed … she pulled the sword she'd been carrying off her back. It seemed everyone in the Empire was armed - no one had thought to comment on a small elf carrying a large katana. Even her Sire probably hadn't given it much thought - he knew she favored bladed weapons.

"Renault." She held it out with both hands for him.

"Ah ... yes. So, she is dead?" Lyssi nodded, softly. "She was a good woman. She will be missed terribly." A shrug. Lyssi hadn't thought much of the woman at the time, but, then, she'd been just a prisoner to the guards. None of them had likely thought much of her, either.

"Yes, well." He eyed her up and down, noted what little color she had was rapidly draining from her skin. "Even given your nature, girl, that wound is severe. Look at me, chatting away while you bleed all over my floor." Lyssi shrugged, uncomfortable. The injury didn't really bother her too much. She just felt ... hungrier, for it. Like, if she ate more, maybe the injury would go away, along with all the other nicks, scrapes, and bruises she'd acquired.

"... Be careful, cleaning." She looked down at the small puddle of blood that had accumulated under her, almost ashamed. It was dangerous stuff. Every drop contained the disease carried in her veins. The Blade certainly didn't want to be like her, if he could barely stand her presence. She began to walk toward the door. Trying to clean it herself would just make a more spectacular mess.

"Hold." His voice took on the edge of someone used to having his orders followed, so she obeyed. "I may have been ... somewhat rude, when you first arrived. You cannot travel in your condition. Assuming you even make it to town, which I doubt, given the hour, you still need healing. Or do you plan to end your existence this morning, then?" She cringed, visibly. "Come. Let us get you bandaged up. You may sleep here for the day. Welcome to Weynon Priory."

Jauffre was a surprisingly efficient nurse, bandaging her midsection with the aid of thin, leather gloves, while she held the bottom of her shirt away from the wound. The things black cloth could cover … the shirt had pulled at her wound, and on closer inspection, it was thoroughly bloodstained.

She was glad he wore the gloves. She would be no kind of Sire to anyone.

"You value silence, don't you, girl? I still don't even know your name." Everyone she'd yet encountered seemed to be interested in making small talk. Perhaps she needed to develop the skill. She sighed. "A name isn't so much to ask, is it?"

"Lyssi." He nodded.

"See, that wasn't hard. How did you come by an injury like this, mm?" Lyssi closed her eyes. How much did she have to tell him? He was probably looking for a report the likes of which his Blades usually delivered. She should be thorough with this, then.

"Lady in red robes and conjured armor." She looked down and away, embarrassed. She'd barely managed to survive the attack, and that from someone who was probably best served in an insane asylum, not a grave. "They talk about the Dawn, and Paradise. Caught me alone, in an inn. They killed the Emperor." He inhaled sharply, not expecting that tidbit. She winced - he pulled the wrappings just a little too tight at that.

"When precisely were you planning to divulge this?"

"... Now?" She hadn't particularly planned on it at all, but...

He closed his eyes. She thought she heard him counting in the language of the Dunmer, though she couldn't say that she, herself knew the words. "Nine give me patience …. You've had no formal training, I assume." She opened her mouth, shut it, shook her head. She didn't think he really needed to know about her work for the Brotherhood. "Exactly. As a civilian, I shouldn't expect more."

Lyssi looked around at the empty room. "Monks?"

Jauffre shook his head. "Almost all of my brothers here are, or were, members of the Blades. They've been trained, they know what is expected of them." A sigh. "I am being rude again. My apologies."

Lyssi shrugged, inclining her head slightly. She'd been treated far worse. He'd actually made her accept his care - most probably wouldn't even bother to offer, especially believing it was her nature that made her a vicious predator.

She rubbed the scar over her collarbone. It picked that moment to throb incessantly. She mumbled a soft healing chant, taking some of the pain away. She was just so tired ….

"That scar, on your shoulder. Did it come from the same place as your injury?" He gestured at her shoulder. She hadn't known he'd seen it. She considered, taking a long pause to do so, then shrugged and nodded. "So, it didn't come from exactly the same place, then?" She looked at him, confused. She'd just told him, it did.

"You hesitated. It was a different person? Perhaps another one of these assassins?" She nodded again, surprised. He wasn't Family. Could he really read her that well?

He seemed to catch her look of suspicion, because he laughed. "Dear girl, in my line of work, you learn to read people. How else would you know who was a threat to the Empire? People lie. It's just what they do."

She nodded, thoughtfully.

"Now, not to bring ill luck on us, but the dawn is breaking - perhaps you should get some rest." She nodded, cringing slightly at the thought. He patted her shoulder, comfortingly. "These past few days must have seemed a nightmare to you. Get some sleep."

((And, letter time! Woot! ... Yay, stalker. The errors in capitalization are deliberate, and the guy's kinda nucking futz.))

my Dearest Mistress,

How i've missed You. You taught me so much in so short a time. You taught me to love, and now my heart aches to be with You. my every thought is about You. Please, come to me and take what You need. Mistress, i cannot be complete without You. Please tell me what i must do.

- Your devoted servant