Markarth was a shithole.

The settlement was busiest during this hour, so Valel would make a mental note to make sure she gets her target and gets out of here. She walked into the city of Markarth, and the first thing she saw was a man stabbing a woman in the back. On top of that, it smelled like a dead body in the city which made Valel cringe in disgust.

Indeed, such a great city...

The sight of the woman being stabbed multiple times didn't phase her like it fazed the rest of them, and the citizens began to dissipate in all directions except her before the guards had attacked and killed the man responsible.

Valel had walked past the scene, leaving it behind in her path to Muiri. She looked down at the small piece of paper, reading the contents written on it.

The Hag's Cure. Blonde. Breton apothecary.

She folded it in half, before shoving it in her pocket. Valel traveled around Markarth, wondering how anyone could live in this Dwemer city. The city was built of an Falmer's nest, making the chances of Falmer getting into the city likely. The citizens were either beggars, drunk or straight up disingenuous. Their beds were stone, literal stone beds. Hopefully this would be the last time she stepped into this cursed city.

The encounter with Cicero back at the sanctuary had been flooded in her mind through her journey to Markarth. Was he flirting with her? It had almost seemed that way, the way he spoke, acted and talked around had raised her attention towards the little jester.

Then he asked if he intimidated her, to which she answered no. No one intimidated Valel, including men. She's fought and killed men with ease before, they have nothing she hasn't seen. But Cicero seemed...different.

Valel had pushed the thoughts down, she had business to take care of. And she can't be dwelling on stupid things that doesn't matter.

Markarth's roads were odd and confusing, she'd thought she'd gotten lost a few times traversing through the city to find The Hag's Cure.

She finally found her way to The Hag's Cure, walking up multiple steps to enter. She pushed the gold, Dwemer door aside stepping into the shop. A desk had been in the middle of the room, with multiple potions and cures in the shelves behind. The room was lit by a warming fire, as long as multiple antics and relics had littered the area. A woman inna dress had revealed herself from behind the counter looking as if she was stocking. She was Breton, Valel could tell. And she had blonde hair. This might be who we're looking for...

"Hello, how may I help?" She asked politely, setting her hands on the counter. Valel walked up the counter, looking down at the smaller woman whose bright smile she now turned into a nervous expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"The Dark Brotherhood has come, Muiri." Valel simply said.

"The Dark Brotherh...?" Muiri's face dropped into a small panic and quick breaths, but calmed down quickly to keep her composure. "Oh. Oh! I... my goodness, you're really here! The Black Sacrament. It actually worked?"

The Altmer sighed. "Obviously. Now tell me who you need dead."

Muiri's face twisted into hatred. "What I need? What I need is for Alain Dufont to die! I want him hunted down and murdered like the dog he is!"

Valel remained silent with her arms crossed, urging the woman to go on.

"Alain is actually the leader of a band of cutthroats. Bandits. They're holed up in some old dwarven ruin - Raldbthar. It's near Windhelm. They use it as their base. It's where they stage their raids. I want you to go to that ruin, find Alain Dufont, and kill him. I don't care about his friends. Do whatever you want with them. But Alain has to die!"

Valel nodded. "It will be done." Valel had went to wal away but Muiri's voice had made her freeze in her tracks.

"Wait! Just, just one more thing..." she asked, making Valel sigh. It was never that easy. "If you can... I want you to kill someone else, as well."

"I am listening."

"You don't have to - not as part of our deal. But if you do... I'll pay you even more." Valel's curiosity rose, fully turning to the alchemist. "It's Nilsine Shatter-Shield, in Windhelm. If Nilsine dies, too... I'll make it worth your while."

"If I may ask," Valel interjected. "Why must Nilsine die?"

"Don't you see? I was like a daughter to Tova. A sister to Nilsine and Friga. But the family refuses to believe my innocence. No matter what I say. Couldn't they understand that I was used? That I was grieving for Friga, too? No... they treated me like garbage, threw me away. With Nilsine dead, maybe then Tova will realize what she's lost, hmm? Maybe then she'll see that I was just as much a daughter as the others. And if not, may she drown in her own tears."

The overwhelming information was all Valel needed before she turned and walk out of the alchemist shop. Markarth was still lively after her brief time in that shop, but not enough for day to pass the shift over to night. She stepped down the stairs, before following the walkways towards the entrance of the city Markarth, exiting it out.

She looked towards the stables, where a stable hand had been tending to the horses in the stable. She walked up to him, before she wrapped her arm around his throat securing a head lock. The man had tried to fight and break her hold but she had sn vice grip around his throat watching him slowly fade into unconsciousness.

She set him down slowly, before plopping s few septims onto his knocked out body and took a readied horse riding through the roads of the Reach. It would likely take a few days to reach Raldbthar from here, but this horse will come in handy.


Raldbthar had turned out to be just as Muiri said, a Dwemer dungeon. She had tied the horse to a tree back below next to the road, making sure the animal wouldn't escape her grasp. Even though Windhelm wasn't far, she still didn't feel it in her to walk. Valel walked up the steps, before opening the golden door, trusting to Lee vent it from creaking due to it being ancient.

She didn't exactly succeed, but she managed to quietly ease into the dungeon without making the door slam loudly and draw attention. She crouched, before taking out her elven dagger, gripping it tight into her hand. She went further into the dungeon, slowly and quietly checking her surroundings to make sure she wouldn't be ambushed.

She came across two sleeping bandits, both male. They had been fast, and deep in their slumber. Valel clutched the dagger, slowly walking over to the one on the left who was currently faced towards the wall with his back turned towards her. She crept up, before shoving the dagger into his head watching him limply fall over to his back.

She then, did the same to other bandit who hand revenge budged when the sound of his comrade being murdered. She looted them, taking whatever gold they had in their possession. Valel wiped the blood from her dagger on her pant leg, before walking down a ramp leading to a gate, a locked gate.

Luckily, she always carried a lock pick or two, just for good measure. She took a lock pick out, before she began to fiddle around with the locked gate. It had taken a moment or two, but she finally heard a click and pushed the door aside easily to not attract attention to herself.

"These dungeons stink..." Valel muttered to herself, moving alongside the path deeper into the dungeon. It had seemed like minutes passed by as she kept quietly moving around in the dungeon before hearing men talk.

She couldn't exactly make out what they were saying, but she seen the light just after an open gate with moving shadows. Valel crept closer, before she stopped completely. Three men had been present, two of them sitting around with tankards in their hands and the third man, who she assumed was Alain, had been cooking.

Valel squinted her eyes, spotting a puddle of oil that covered the ground below them that they had been posted on. Idiots...

She stood up to her full height, walking into the room with a deadly glare and a dagger in her hand. Her footsteps were what captured the men's attention making the two stand up and draw weapons.

Alain had looked behind him with a smirk, before he left the pot and turned to face Valel.

"Well. You must have all those annoying gods on your side to have made it this far, whoever you are." He said, pacing around. "Even I have to admit, that's pretty impressive." He winked at her, before looking at her body up and down making her blood boil.

"You will die as you lived. An arrogant joke." Valel said, feeling her hand begin to heat up.

Alain's shit eating grin dropped into a angered expression. "A joke? Alain Dufont... a joke? I am a king on my throne, and you, elven bitch...you will die slowly, and painfully."

Valel raised her hand towards the three men, before she felt a gust of heat emit from her palm. Fire had engulfed the floor, as it spread amongst the bandits due to the oil on the ground. Alain and his minions had burned, yelling and screaming onto they collapsed on the floor.

Valel watched with a satisfied feeling, before she let a small grin at the sight of the carnage. Alain had crawled on fire, whimpering and begging before he reached his now crisped hand towards her. His arm went limp, as did he when he slumped to the ground motionless.

Valel had shrugged, before she began to head for the entrance to leave.

One down. Two to go.


Valel had bolted straight to Windhelm after killing Alain, letting her horse wait by the stable, but not before paying the young man who had currently been working them a few septims.

It was nighttime now, and Windhelm had been nothing but quietness and just hapless beggars moaning and pleading for coin. She never really knew the layout of Windhelm, it was the one of the cities she was least in but it didn't stop her from finding Nilsine, who had been predictable enough to be outside of her families home.

Valel had approached the Nord woman, who was currently leaned against her home. Nilsine had cocked her head at the tall woman approached her, cloaked in black. Valel finally stopped before her, just a few feet before she spoke.

"Do you hear that? It's the sound of your sister, screaming in the Void..." Valel intimated, watching the confused look wipe off Nilsine's face, replaced with a look on hurt and anger.

"What kind of cruel, horrible person are-" Valel had cut her off with a lighting fast cut at her throat, watching the gash form and blood pour out of her throat.

Nilsine in shock, clutched her throat before swaying. She dropped to her knees, blood flowing through fingers before she dropped to her side. She choked on her blood, looking in shock at the Altmer who stood over her. Valel watched her twitch as she finally lied dead on the cold street of Windhelm. She wiped the blood from her dagger on her pant leg, before she turned and walked away like nothing had happened.

She found herself exiting Windhelm with the guards giving her dirty looks as she passed by. She seen her horse waiting for her when she crossed the stone bridge that lead to the city stables. She had quickly took her horse, before throwing her leg over it and bolting away from Windhelm before it became unable to see due to the distance she had gone. All she had to do next was head back to Markarth, then head home.


Muiri had paid her double, and it satisfied Valel greatly. She got too kill, and now she's getting paid for it. She didn't mind the new family, but she wouldn't mind being an lone assassin for coin. Finally making it back to the sanctuary after a four day trip, Valel had plopped down from the horse, before she stroked it for a few before entering the sanctuary.

She walked down the small flight of stairs, and into the command room where Astrid had already been peered over the mapped table looking at a few papers.

"Ah, you're back." She noted. "So, how went your first real contract? A bit more exciting than what Nazir's been offering, I'd wager."

"I did what had to be done. Nothing more." Valel stated. "There was a contract to be honored."

"Of course, dear. Of course." Astrid stood up from the table, before turning and leaning on it with her arms crossed. "And, from what my little ravens tell me, you handled yourself quite well. Now, I need your assistance with a matter of a more... personal nature."

Valel felt her heart pump slightly faster. "Is something wrong?"

"It's Cicero."

Valel sighed. "Look, about Cicero..."

"I'm not worried about you knowing him before," she cut Valel off, who seemed satisfied that she didn't have to explain herself. "Ever since he arrived, his behavior's been... Well, erratic would be an understatement. I do believe he is truly mad. But it's worse than that. He's taken to locking himself in the Night Mother's chamber, and talking. To someone. In hushed, but frantic tones. Who is he speaking with? What are they planning? I fear treachery."

"Are you sure you're not paranoid?" Valel questioned.

Astrid chuckled. "Maybe so, but healthy paranoia has saved this Sanctuary before, and my gut's telling me that demented little fool is up to something."

The Altmer sighed, before rubbing a palm down her face. She looked at Astrid, before putting a hand on her hip. "What do you want me to do?"

I need you to steal into that chamber, and eavesdrop on their meeting." Astrid explained hastily, making Valel sigh. "It'll be no use clinging to the shadows. They'll see you for sure. No, you need a hiding place. Somewhere they'd never think to look. Like inside the Night Mother's coffin."

"You want me to hide in a coffin with a dead corpse?" Valel grumbled.

"Be that as it may, we have no other choice. You need to remain unseen! Now go! Before they meet. And report back to me with whatever you learn."

Valel cursed herself, before she quickly moved towards the main room. She crossed the distance before opening the door to the Night Mother's chambers. She looked around, not seeing a sight of Cicero. Valel quickly dashed towards the coffin before practically leaping into it and closing it shut.

Valel cringed, it smelled horrible in there and with how tall she was, her head had been touching the top of the coffin. It was pitch black, and the darkness had begun to mess with her mind thinking she had gone blind. Valel cursed herself, here she was, lying with th a dead corpse in a deathly hot coffin.

She heard a door shut, heart started to thump before she heard footsteps. Small ones, and she could tell they were Cicero.

"Are we alone? Yes... yes... alone. Sweet solitude. No one will hear us, disturb us. Everything is going according to plan. The others... I've spoken to them. And they're coming around, I know it. The wizard, Festus Krex...perhaps even the Argonian, and the un-child. I've even spoken to the tall, beautiful Altmer. What about you?" He called her...beautiful? Her thoughts were cut when he began to speak again. "Have you, spoken to anyone? No, No, of course not. I do the talking, the stalking, the seeing and saying! And what do you do? Nothing! Not,not that I'm angry! No, never! Cicero understands. Heh. Cicero always understands! And obeys! You will talk when you're ready, won't you? Won't you, sweet Night Mother."

Valel felt herself begin to lose focus as the dark had still been messing with her whenever she had her eyes closed her not. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, quietly blowing out a breath.

"Poor Cicero. Dear Cicero. Such a humble servant. But he will never hear my voice. For he is not the Listener."

Valel froze...she was hearing voices in her head now?

"Oh, but how can I defend you? How can I exert your will? If you will not speak? To anyone!" Cicero argued, but receiving no answer as usual.

"Oh, but I will speak. I will speak to you. For you are the one. Yes, you. You, who shares my iron tomb, who warms my ancient bones. I give you this task - journey to Volunruud. Speak with Amaund Motierre."

"Poor Cicero has failed you. Poor Cicero is sorry, sweet mother. I've tried, so very hard. But I just can't find the Listener." Cicero continued.

"Tell Cicero the time has come. Tell him the words he has been waiting for, all these years: "Darkness rises when silence dies."

Valel couldn't take it anymore, before she rammed through the coffin doors and fell to the ground gasping for breath. The little jester had stomped his foot, and jumped in anger.

"What? What treachery! Defiler! Debaser and defiler! You have violated the sanctity of the Night Mother's coffin! Explain yourself! Speak, worm!" Cicero came close to her aggressively, but backed up when Valel pulled her dagger out.

"The Night Mother spoke to me," Valel explained, pointing the dagger towards Cicero who had been slightly bouncing on his toes. She said 'I am the one.'"

Cicero's deranged expression softened. "She spoke to you?" His expression quickly faded into more anger. "More treachery! More trickery and deceit! You lie! The Night Mother only speaks to the Listener! And there is, no Listener!"

"She said to tell you, 'Darkness rises when silence dies."

"She, said that?" Valel nodded her head. "Those exact words?" She nodded again. "But those are the words. The Binding Word! Written in the Keeper Tomes. The signal so I would know. Mother's only way of talking to sweet Cicero.

Cicero stepped closer to her, looking up at her with a huge deranged smile before he jumped up and down dancing.

"Then, it's true! She's back! Our Lady is back! She had chosen a Listener! All Hail to the Listener!"

Valel stepped closer to the jester, who didn't move nor sway from his current position. She had stood only a few inches from him, slighting bending her neck to look down at him. "You said I was beautiful?"

Cicero's deranged smile didn't fade, in fact; the questioned seemed to amuse him more as giggled manically.

Valel didn't giggle though, her cheeks were rosy as she looked down at the man who had still been recovering from giggling before he stopped. "You really think I'm beautiful?"

The two stared at each other, seeming drawn to one another in which was an awkward moment between a lone maniac and a insane maniac. Their faces had been inches apart, both feeling their breath on one another before the door came crashing open with Astrid running through it with an furious expression.

"By Sithis, this ends now!" She roared, as Cicero merely giggled. Astrid quickly unsheathed her knife, before pointing it towards Cicero. "Back away fool! Whatever you're planning is over!" Astrid looked towards Valel. "Are you alright? Who was he talking to? Reveal yourself traitor!"

"I only spoke to the Night Mother! I spoke to her, but she didn't speak to me." Cicero eyed her from the corner of his eye. "No, she speaks to her! She only speaks to the Listener."

Astrid's brow furrowed. "What? Listener? What are you going on about? What is this lunacy?" She walked up to Valel, with Cicero walking away from them. "When I heard Cicero screaming, I knew you'd been discovered. I feared the worst. Are you all right?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I just...it happened so fast."

"You look like you've just seen a ghost. Please tell me you haven't. Cicero said he spoke to the Night Mother... but she spoke to you?" Asked Astrid.

"It's true. The Night Mother spoke to me. She said I was "the one." Valel informed, making Astrid's face drop. The woman seemed taken aback by the information.

"What?" Astrid stammered. "So Cicero wasn't talking to anyone else. Just...the Night Mother's body? And the Night Mother, who, according to everything we know, will only speak to the person chosen as Listener just spoke. Right now...to you?"

"Yes."

"What did she say?"

"I must speak to someone named Amaund Motierre, in Vulunruud." Valel answered.

"Amaund Motierre? I have no idea who that is. But Volunruud, that I have heard of. And I know where it is." Astrid said.

"So I should go to Volunruud? I should talk to this man?" The question made the pondering look fall core off of Astrid's face.

"No! Listen, I don't know what's going on here, but you take your orders from me. Are we clear on that?" Valel felt her anger begin to rise, she didn't take orders from no one, only doing what she had too to be in this family. "The Night Mother may have spoken to you, but I am still the leader of this Family. I will not have my authority so easily dismissed. I...I need time to think about all this. Go see Nazir, do some work for him. I'll find you when I'm ready to discuss the matter further."

Valel clenched her fist, watching as Astrid walked away. The woman had been getting more unbearable by the hour. Valel took a deep breath, before she exhaled with her eyes closed.

"So, you are the Listener," she was startled by Cicero's voice behind her, her instincts made her turn on a swivel. The jester had been sitting down, patting the seat next to him. Valel hesitated, looking towards the closed door and the open seat before she made her way to the open seat and sat. "Yes, yes, yes. You are going to be a great Listener."

"Did you want to be the Listener?" Valel asked.

"Oh. Well, yes. I did. I did indeed. I tried to listen. Tried so very hard. But the Night Mother never spoke to poor Cicero. The silence became almost...maddening. Oh, but that was then! This is now! You're the Listener, and the Night Mother chose you for a reason, I'm sure! Cicero will remain the happy Keeper."

"Have there been other Listeners?" Cicero's face lit up at the question.

"There was one!" He put his gloved finger up, before he had dramatically dropped the finger. "But, she died along with the rest of the old family in Cyrodiil. I sometimes miss them but this; this is my home now!"

Valel remained silent for a moment after he was done talking. Apparently he too, was in Cyrodiil? Was in in Cyrodiil when she was too? She left Firsthold when she was a teenager when she snuck onto a boat for passage.

"And what of the Listener?"

Valel raised her eyebrow. "And what of me?"

"Tell me about yourself! I barely know anything about you!" He propped his chin in his hands, held up by his elbows. "Other than you're tall, I know nothing. Yes, yes, a mystery indeed."

Valel's never confined in anyone before, nor as she told anyone her full life story. But this maniac was trying to get to know her, as of this little talk were a date of some sort.

"I was born in Alinor. Before I relocated to Firsthold as a child, my mother left my father for a political figure and it turned my father to a drunk." Valel stared into empty space letting the words fall off her tongue, she could already feel water in her eyes but she blinked them away. "He beat on me. Abused me. Tormented and hated me."

Cicero seemed to be listening intently, she looked up at him and he almost seemed to have a slight sympathetic expression on his face. "So, where is daddy now?"

If it were anyone else, she'd reach across the table and smack their head silly. But she knew Cicero meant no harm, the man was just a lunatic.

"I killed him."

It was the first time she'd ever confessed to her crime. She could feel a small tear shed down here cheek. The statement had made even Cicero slightly reel back, sitting back in the chair with an unreadable expression.

"I slit his throat," Valel said, looking at the wall in front of her. The broken bits of stone had shown age, but the structure of the entire sanctuary still stood strong. "He had got done beating me, in a fit of drunken rage. I could never stand up for myself because he was stronger, taller and a man. How could a young girl defend herself against an fully grown Altmer?"

She hadn't heard Cicero utter a word, and she felt grateful that he didn't. She's never been able to confine in someone like this, she's never had someone ask of her about herself. Just who to kill, and when.

"But one day," Valel said, now staring into space and time. She had been zoned out, remembering the thirteen year old girl she was, carefully taking the elven dagger that she uses today off of the table. "I took his dagger he used, before I slit his throat with it as he slept in front of the fire in his chair. I watched him bleed out, as he looked up at me."

There was an awkward silence between the two, before she heard Cicero clear his throat with a fist in front of his mouth.

"Hmm, I see," he simply said, she had been looking down at the floor before she felt a wave of heat and a palm lay over her hand. She was half tempted to rip it away, and threaten to rip his arm off; but she found herself feeling comfort in the jester's touch. "Well, if no one has told you; Cicero is unsurpassed in keeping confidences."

Valel just looked at him with tears threatening to fall, before she stood up abruptly.

"I should get some rest," she said, beginning to walk away. She stopped before turning to Cicero, who had still been eyeing her. "I...enjoyed our talk."

"Oh, good!" Cicero's face was pleasantly surprised before a devilish smirk took over. "I'm glad Valel! Can I call you Val? It'll be much shorter."

She chuckled, before turning around and walking out of the Night Mother's chambers. The sanctuary was dearly quiet, which made her assume that everyone had been in their beds asleep. She had dragged herself towards her bed, seeing both Babette and Gabriella in their bed. Babette had been awake, reading a book slightly waving at the high elf. Gabriella had her mouth wide open in her deep sleep, lightly snoring. Her robe had been replaced with a ragged shirt, and old pants. Her entire body had been stretched out on the bed, one barefoot showed from the blanket as it had been lazily placed on-top of her.

Valel had sat on her bed, unlacing her boots and freeing her feet. She shrugged her light black armor off, before she folded it and opened the draw of the nightstand, putting her clothes in their. She froze when she saw nearly folded armor inside. She tossed her clothes onto the bed, before pulling out the red and black armor. It had been Dark Brotherhood armor. There was a little note ontop of the pile.

"Welcome to the family."

-Nazir

Valel smiled to herself, before she put the clothes in the draw all together. She was happy there was a woman and man section and that they were separated by gender. She would NOT want like the idea of sharing a room with Fester Krex whilst she slept in her bra and panties.

She was laying in her underwear now, letting the blanket cover her lower body, while leaving the rest of herself uncovered. She had heavily breathed, relaxing in the bed that she had been craving for since she was assigned to kill her targets.

"Psst," she heard, she looked to her left to see Babette still awake.

"What?" Valel asked.

"Nice tits."