Anaelle took watch over Travius and the entrance to the mine overnight while everyone slept. She noticed Travius body twitch a few times sporadically throughout the night. She herself wasn't sure if that was good or bad but the pulse she could now feel in his wrist was definitely a positive sign.

She felt a poke in her back and turned around to see Astrid was the first one awake who gave her a big hug as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Well you're up early bugger." Anaelle said as she checked her sack to see what she could give the child to eat.

"I couldn't sleep. Why hasn't Vhornyak come back? I miss him." She said with a sad tone

"Oh honey, he's just out working right now. I'm sure he'll be back soon." She lied to her

"Why did the big healing man say they had to rescue him then?" Astrid asked her.

"That big healing man was the Dragonborn, did you know that?" She asked her.

Astrid's turned into a confused squint.

"How was he a dragon? He didn't even have wings." She said

Anaelle chuckled

"That man is the best rescuer alive. Vhornyak will be just fine."

At this point Deena began to wake up and that started a chain reaction of everyone else waking up as well. M' Arques opened his travel sack and handed everyone an Apple. He sat on the ground next to Anaelle.

"Any good news?" He asked

"He has a pulse now. Can't say much else has changed." She said sadly

"Any word from Jorgensen last night?"He asked her

"No, I'm going to head out to Jorgensen's camp and see how things are going out there. I feel so helpless in here. This is not in my nature to hide while my home is ravaged." She told him.

"This one understands that. Those apples were the last bit of food we have so we have no choice but to leave soon anyway." He did as he finished his own apple.

Anaelle saw Malfor sitting with the girls in what appeared to be a fun conversation judging by the laughter coming from the girls.

"So, I know the Justicar helped out Trish and Aratore but can we just trust him now?" She asked M'Arques.

"Always have been. The outbursts this one had against with him were a facade to keep face in front of his colleague. He's been giving me information about Thalmor patrols since he's been here. This one can tell you a secret, yes?" He asked her.

She nodded her head yes as she continued to look at Malfor.

"He has been an informant for The Empire for years now. Elenwen most of found out. She posted him here to die."

"To die? Until yesterday this seemed like a great post for a Justicar." She stated.

"Maybe for someone else. She was hoping your husband would kill him. Not just to eliminate a traitor but for it to spark more violence. Did he ever tell you about what happened between him and the Thalmor in Morthal?"

"We talked about it once. It's not something he wants to talk about in great depth and I understand that given what happened." She answered

"Malfor was there. He was one of the Inquisitors men. She was hoping he would recognize him. It was him that Informed Elenwen of what was happening and the fact that the Thalmor just let the Inquisitor continue on in what made him betray them. He's a good man. He deserves our trust." He said

She turned back around and saw that Malfor was in quite the conversation with Deena and that meant no one was watching Astrid and her short attention space.

"Shit, let me make sure she's not wondering off in the mine." Anaelle said as she got up.

"Now now, out of my belongings girl. That's not for you to touch." She heard Kainnan say as she saw Astrid digging through his arrow quill.

"But these arrows are so pretty." Astrid said as she pulled one out of the quill and brought it over to Anaelle.

The arrow had an ebony head and had the glow of an enchantment. Anaelle could see some type of inscription running down the arrow. It looked exactly like the one they found in a a Justicars head six months ago.

"Deena. How about you take your cousin and see if you can find any neat looking fungus in the mine." Anaelle said with a subtle tone trying to hide her anger.

She never turned to look at them and kept her sight right on Kainnan. She slowly started to walk towards him,

"Um….sure." Deena said as she grabbed Astrid's hand.

"Let's go explore sweetie"

As soon as the girls were out of sight Anaelle popped out her fangs and pointed the arrow at him. Startling Malfor who had had his suspicions but wasn't technically aware of who she was until now.

"Why do you have this?" She snarled at him.

"Anaelle, I can explain…." He said "Did you shoot that arrow?!" She asked him with an increasing anger in her voice.

He started to back away from her. He knows he was capable of defending himself but also knows she was capable of killing him and that was an opinion he had of very few people.

"Did you shoot that arrow!?" She yelled again

"I promise you I will explain everything…." He said before being interrupted.

"I know you will." She growled as she pulled one of her daggers ok one hand and a calm spell in the other and pounced at him.

Kainnan pulled his scimitar as he saw this. She was just about to strike him when M' Arques intervened within an unexpected quickness and grabbed her arm. She swung around at him with her dagger but he managed to grab her wrist and now they were facing eachother with his grasp on each of her wrists.

Anaelle snarled in anger and took a bite at him. He made quick side step and freed one of her wrists and went behind her. Before she knew it he regained control of both her wrists. He now stood behind her pulling her arms to her shoulders with her arms crossing eachother over her chest.

"Disarm yourself, now.!" He yelled at Kainnan.

Kainnan obliged without question. Making Anaelle and Malfor both start to question just exactly how involved M'Arques is with the Dark Brotherhood.

"He is going to tell every single detail, he will answer every single question you ask him. He snuck into a city under siege to not just help you escape but pulled your husband's body from the wreckage. You can give him the benefit of hearing what he has to say."

M' Arques let go of her and she allowed her anger to quell with a deep breath.

"Fair enough. You can explain yourself but I make no promises as to how I'll react to what you'll say." She said.

"I accept that. I can only offer you the truth and let you decide from there." Kainnan said.

"Every single detail." M' Arques quipped.

" I will, I will. Yes, I was in Winterhold that day and I shot the arrow. I was only fulfilling a contract on The Inquistor. The more I learned about him the more I was surprised it took this long." He explained.

"So, you attempted to kill him in a crowd of people? You're a much better assassin than that." Anaelle replied.

"I am. It's more than that. I…" Kainnan was trying to find the best way to word things when M' Arques chimed in.

"He used this contract to fulfill one's own personal gains." M' Arques said.

"Not my own. Boethia's" he said and subtlety put his hand on his scimitar handle in preparation for any poor reactions.

"I was given these arrows by Boethia before the assassination of the emperor eight years ago. Killing an emperor was exactly the type of actions they would be interested in. So I didn't question it at the time. When I was assigned to this contract I was soon after approached by one of Boethia's followers here in Skyrim. I was offered a dowry of nearly twice my payment from the Night Mother if I could see to it that he died in Winterhold.

I was given a fake letter and was tasked with seeing that the letter made its way to the embassy. I had connections in the embassy and they didn't. That seemed simple enough.The letter was sealed and I swear to you I was not aware of its contents until that night.

I came to find out the contract came from Boethia's followers. They wanted him to go to Winterhold because they wanted to manipulate the history between Travius and The Inquistor. They wanted your husband to be the one to kill him. They wanted to trigger tension with the Thalmor and the Empire and used the history with those two as a way to do it.

No one expected that Travius would intimidate the Inquisitor to leave peacefully. I couldn't fail two deadric princes at the same time so I shot the arrows as they were leaving to ensure violence.

That part clearly worked. What I wasn't accounting for was that Travius had grown. I had assumed he would immediately go after the Inquistor but he instead chose to protect the people from the large squad of justicars the Inquisitor brought along with him." He said.

He saw that Anaelle was angry with him but was relaxed a bit by seeing she was remaining calm.

"That was six months ago. Why in those six months did you not assassinate the Inquisitor and be done with it?" Anaelle asked him.

"Greed. I was being greedy. I had been trying to find another way to bait the two together again so Travius would still kill him and I could get payment from both. I've been following the Inquisitor ever since. I discovered the Thalmor's plans to use the forsworn to enact vengeance and I realized I was wrong and had to help. I was too late so I did what I could to help you and your family escape atleast." He said with a genuine sorrow.

"I guess you really are the listener now so you were given the luxury to handle contracts as you see fit. So you got your money and Winterhold gets to handle the consequences of this." She said with a frustrated tone.

Kainnan made a face that indicated he wasn't done.

"Not exactly…..we have allowed those rumors to stick but I am not the listener. Until yesterday I had never met the listener. He doesn't communicate with us directly. He uses a series of couriers and caravan merchants to spread his words. He lives here in Winterhold though and he's very angry about what I've done."

"Wait…what?" She asked

"He lives in Winterhold and uses caravans to relay information?"

The realization then hit her and she turned around to look to at M' Arques.

"This one has told you before. This world has many whispers and this one has the ears for those whispers to fall on." M' Arques said to her.

Anaelle rubbed her temples in frustration and confusion.

"Wow. We're going to circle back around and discuss that revelation later but none of what you said explains why Travius is stuck in some kind of magic stasis." She said

"His body shut down after the potions wore off. He collapsed where we found him and he's been in this state ever since. Anaelle, I swear to you, I know nothing beyond that. I may be alot of things you don't like but a liar is not one of them. You know that." He said

"He is speaking the truth Anaelle. This one can attest to that." M' Arques said to her.

"He better be, for both your sakes." She said.