Author's Note: Wooo! Again, huge props to pihwht from the Training Cattle mod.

Looks like links don't work at all so look it up at TESNexus!

It's a cool beans mod! And it's not like cattle are an unheard-of concept – we see them in Morrowind and Deepscorn, if I'm not being completely and totally brainless, don't we?

Nobody Important

Chapter Fourteen: Progress

In which brain cells are lost in the transition.

By: N3k0

He followed her like some kind of pet.

She hadn't killed him.

Was that a good thing?

"Mistress?" She didn't respond. Where did they get the idea that she wanted to be called that? "Mistress, where are we going?"

"Cheydinhal."

A few minutes of silence passed. Then, he spoke again.

"Mistress, why are we on foot?"

Because she'd forgotten how slow other people were.

An awkward silence fell. Almost an hour passed before he spoke again, a silence for which Lyssi was grateful. "Mistress," he began again, "my feet hurt." A few minutes passed. "Mistress, I'm tired." She still didn't respond. "Mistress, I'm hungry."

Maybe she should have just killed him.

He'd be dead soon enough anyway.

When Cheydinhal finally came into view, she stopped. He didn't, at least until he walked into her. Then, he stumbled backward and sat heavily on the ground. "Mistress, why – " She turned toward him, concentrating, and he fell silent. It was so simple, so … natural.

"Speak to no one."

He nodded, mutely.

"Stand."

He stood.

"Follow me."

He'd been a guard, but not one familiar to those at the gate, and she'd left him without his armor. The city guards seemed to assume the pair were simple civilians, and nothing more.

Part of her wondered how she expected the human to last even a moment or two against Gogron – against any of her family, really. Even Antoinetta could easily dispose of a fully trained, fully armed, fully armored guard, and Lyssi suspected the process of enslaving a mortal left them … damaged.

Still, it wasn't like she planned on letting him fight any of them alone.

And it didn't matter if he died.

It was the dead of night – she guessed even most of her Family would be asleep by now. There were no guards near the abandoned house except her … pet … so she decided it most efficient to simply walk in the front door. This, naturally, prompted yet another question. "Mistress, are we breaking into a house?"

"Yes."

Fortunately, he didn't have anything to say to that.

"Avoid unnecessary bloodshed." She walked a familiar path down the short hallway to the black door. "Taking lives needlessly is … undisciplined. Crude. And, often, it will forfeit the bonus. We can't have that now, hm?"

It was an odd realization she came to.

" – the color of night?"

An assassin who suddenly discovered that she didn't like killing? Odd indeed.

"Sanguine, my brother," and a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She turned to her charge. Charge, like he was mentally unwell, perhaps – yes. "Stay."

He froze, looking stiff and awkward. She bit her lip, considering.

"Hide."

Entering the Sanctuary proper, she found what she expected. The skeletal guardian shambled past, quiet as it could manage, really. Teinaava was reading a book. Like her Sire – like Vicente – Teinaava loved to read. She sometimes overheard them chatting about literature, and she could still remember the time, about two months after she'd joined, when she'd uncomfortably stood before the lizard, offering him a book she'd filched from a dead target's house. He'd kept her gift – if she wasn't mistaken, he was actually reading it now.

In that moment, she hated herself.

"Food?" She held the apple out to Teinaava. He often forgot to eat, and she didn't need to. He'd think it a simple, kind gesture. She did usually try to be helpful.

"Ah, my Sister. Many thanks." He gave an Argonian approximation of a smile. "I fear that sometimes, if you were not here, I would starve to death entirely." He laughed, and she gave an uncomfortable smile in return. "Ah, but then where would Ocheeva be, no?" He shook his head, taking a hearty bite from the apple.

One down, though the poison would kill slowly. Painlessly.

"There you are!" Talaendril tapped her on the shoulder, and Lyssi jumped a bit. The other Bosmer was quieter than the wind, at times. "I hadn't thought you'd return so soon. Were you successful?" Her Sister was smiling.

Talaendril was always smiling.

Lyssi nodded, thinking quickly. "Walk?"

The other Bosmer nodded. "It seems all I do these days is walk – but I'm more than happy to come with you, of course." Talaendril gave a sympathetic smile as they turned away from their slowly-dying Brother. "Is it that Dunmer again?"

Lyssi nodded solemnly, leading her Sister back toward the door. Truthfully, she did find a bit of peace in just walking the nighttime streets of Cheydinhal. And, truthfully, there was a creepy Dunmer with an awful habit of following her around and sending her strange letters.

And truthfully, they'd never get out the front door together.

"Are you sure you don't want me to kill him for you?" Talaendril asked, looking a bit worried as they entered the cellar.

Lyssi focused her will.

"Don't like killing," she confessed quietly.

Talaendril considered this for a moment, then nodded. She rested a hand gently on Lyssi's shoulder. "You don't have to enjoy it, Sister. Sithis only demands that you do it."

Shock crossed the other Bosmer's features as a sword pierced her heart from behind.

"Thank you. I know."

Her pet pulled the blade free, looking hopeful.

"Did I do good, Mistress?"

She felt sick. "Yes. You did good."

He's headed to Anvil. Ten gold, as usual.