Sanctuary

Nessa had been silent the last few hours of their journey home and now Veezara could feel the tension radiating from her. He hadn't questioned her about anything that had happened at the sanctuary. It seemed like a matter that Arnbjorn wanted to keep private and he respected that. The others had gossiped and he had heard what they were saying, but he spent little time thinking about it.

"We are home, sister," he said as the great stone door rolled open and let them pass.

Nessa nodded. "Thank you, Veezara," she said solemnly. "I appreciate that you went with me." Her mind felt much clearer now, but for the jumbled events that happened shortly before this trip. Of those, she remembered very little. Well... Through this door is Astrid. She crossed the threshold and hoped that somehow Astrid would be waiting for her, ready to greet her with a kiss and that look in her eye that promised much more.

Of course, she wasn't there. Nessa walked slowly down the hallway, her feet pushing her reluctantly forward. Possible scenarios played through her mind. Arnbjorn was back, would her time with Astrid continue or would he put a stop to it? She couldn't imagine that Arnbjorn would ever consent to sharing his wife with her. She could just imagine him snarling at her although he'd actually been relatively polite. Perhaps Astrid would come to her room at night.

She paused a moment and entered the great hall. Almost everyone was there and they stopped what they were doing to look at her. It was, for a moment, a tableau frozen in time. No one spoke or moved, they just looked at her. Then as suddenly as it happened, it ended. Babette gave her a cheerful greeting and the movement and bustle resumed. They were studiously normal; doing all the usual things they did in the great hall, only the activity was glazed with a thick patina of curiosity.

She scanned the assembled assassins and didn't find the one she yearned for, but then she appeared, parting the assembled assassins as she moved across the great hall. Nessa's eyes pinpointed her, completely ignoring everything else. Time seemed to slow as the tall, beautiful Nord crossed the room to her. Even her heart slowed. In the few moments she had, she scanned her face anxiously, trying to read whatever she was thinking, or more importantly, feeling. But her face was the professional one, the one that betrayed nothing but determination and will.

Arnbjorn watched Nessa staring at his wife. Poor kid, he thought. Maybe she thought she was hiding it, but her expression revealed just how much she loved Astrid, and how fearful she was.

"When you've settled in, Nessa," his wife said, "please come to my office to report on your assignment."

She delivered the polite order in the same tone with the same expression she would have given to anyone else in their guild.

"Yes, ma'am," Nessa said, slipping into the polite, submissive formality that had been beaten into her at the orphanage. She tried to analyze every detail of the brief encounter to guess what lay in store for her, but her mind couldn't settle on an outcome but the one she wished for most: A few moments of privacy for a proper homecoming.

~o~o~o~

Arnbjorn waited a while after Nessa walked up the hallway to Astrid's office. He convinced himself eavesdropping wasn't honorable and sat down at the grinding wheel to sharpen his axe, but his curiosity got the better of him. He followed the girl's path to Astrid's office and stood outside, examining the bookshelf. He could hear them well enough.

"I trust you. I know you'd never... It was that stupid game we were playing. It was my fault."

Arnbjorn could hear Nessa pleading with his wife. The girl's voice was thick with tears.

"You know nothing, Nessa," she snapped at the girl, her voice like steel. "It's over and we're not going to discuss it any further. Now leave. Go help Gabrielle and Babette with their poison making."

The door to their room opened and Nessa rushed out. She was so consumed with despair she didn't even see Arnbjorn. He heard her feet running down the hallway before he went into their bedroom.

Astrid was sitting on the side of their bed, staring into space. She didn't even turn to him when he entered.

He sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her. She sat stiffly, not folding into him like she used to. "I'm sorry, love, that must've been difficult."

She shook her head and stood up. "It's over and time to move on. I don't want to discuss it." She turned to glare at him. "I won't have you gloating over this to Nessa, either. Gods only know what this is going to do to her."

Arnbjorn flinched with the berating his wife gave him when he merely wanted to comfort her. His initial reaction was to respond the same way but then he realized she was just as upset as Nessa, she just wouldn't show it. "Astrid. Come here, my love."

Fixing him with a flat, angry stare, she said, "Why don't you go reduce another training dummy into a pile of wood pulp. It's been a day or two since we've had to replace one."

He frowned at her wondering when she would get over this… thing, it had been weeks now. "Honey…" he started, trying another appeal to her sensibilities, still managing to keep his temper in check.

"Just stop with the sweet talk and the puppy-dog looks, Arn! I need some space." She hit the desk with the flat of her hand out of anger. "I am sick of you and Babette nattering at me, trying to fix me. Just stop it!"

Arnbjorn felt his hands balling into fists. He willed himself to relax them. "Just what do you want from me, Astrid? I don't know why you're taking this out on me, but I'll do whatever you need me to do."

Astrid closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly. "Space, Arn." She opened her eyes and looked at him with pain in her eyes. "I want to be alone for a while. I need to concentrate on our work here and forget everything else."

"Are you saying you want me to move out? After ten years together, you want me to move out?" He stared at her in disbelief.

She sighed and looked down at the floor, shaking her head. "For a while, my wolf. I just need space." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading for understanding.

"Gods damn it all, Astrid!" His frustration finally boiled over. "I bend over backwards to please you. You take lovers as you please and when it goes sour you take it out on me. What does it take to make you happy, woman?" He went to their chest of drawers and began unloading his clothes onto the bed.

She watched him for a few moments and then turned to leave. She hesitated with her hand on the door. "I'm sorry, Arn." Then she left.

He stuffed his belongings into a bag and threw the bag into one of the unused rooms. He would unpack later. Right now he was the one who needed space, and lots of it. He needed to run, to hunt, to kill. He strode up the hallway to the stone door that rolled open at his angry command. It was night, but the moons were out and both were full. He transformed into a wolf and ran past the tarn, plunging into the woods. He followed a deer path, his feet fueled by frustration and anger.

This situation was impossible. He blamed the girl, his wife… Babette… especially her! She's the one who started all this. The girl was just as much a victim of Babette's meddling as he was. Astrid should have known better than to lose herself to that girl. The thoughts whirled in his head as he tried to figure out whom to blame this mess on. Himself? Who was he to keep an immortal entertained? He was just a typical Nord…well, werewolf. He fought hard, he loved hard, but he knew he was predictable.

He picked up a scent on the light evening breeze, but didn't stop to analyze it, instead he followed it. It would be satisfying to take down an elk or perhaps fight a saber cat. Whatever the source of this scent was, he would meet it and defeat it. He stopped running to howl his challenge into the night and then he was off again, tracking the alluring scent. His feet pounded down the deer trail, unheedful of what he might be running to.

It is my fault. I'm predictable and dull.

There was a patch of undergrowth blocking the path and he leapt over it easily, landing in a clearing. He heard a gasp and saw a pale form on the other side of the clearing. It was her. She was staring at him, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes looked frightened but determined.

"It's all right, woof. Kill me," she said, wiping away the tears running down her face. "I won't fight back."

She wasn't even armed. She'd left the sanctuary without her weapons. What was she thinking? Arnbjorn growled his displeasure at her and walked toward her.

She closed her eyes and lifted her head, baring her throat. "Make it quick."

Arnbjorn stopped a few feet from her. She was certainly brave, he had to hand her that. He could smell her fear but she held her head up proudly, ready for him to rip out her throat.

Suddenly he sprang at her and knocked her over. She fell onto her back with a little yelp, but kept her eyes closed and didn't struggle or try to escape. He stood over her, his muzzle inches from her throat, his senses flooding with her scent.

"Gods damn you, stupid woof, get on with it," she cursed.

He transformed to human and he hovered over her. "Open your eyes," he said gruffly.

Her eyes flew wide and she took in the naked Arnbjorn crouched over her. She let out a surprised shout and scrabbled backwards. "You!"

"Did you forget I'm a werewolf, morsel? I could have sworn I've reminded you that fact on occasion," he said wryly.

She backed up further, turning her head away from his nakedness. "Why… where… why are you naked? What are you doing?"

He sat down, cross-legged, on the forest floor where she had been sitting a moment ago. Fortunately there were plenty of soft, decaying leaves to cushion his rear. "My clothes don't come with me when I'm a werewolf. They're somewhere over by the sanctuary. As for why I'm here… I suspect my answer is the same as yours."

Nessa's expression grew pained and she shook her head vehemently. "I very much doubt that. Astrid loves you. It's me she hates." She gulped and began to sob. "I wish I were dead! Why didn't you just kill me?"

Despite himself he felt sorry for the girl. He remembered being her age and how intense emotions could be. "My wife loves you and I, despite my better judgment sometimes, will do whatever it takes to make her happy. You make her happy."

Nessa shook her head. "You're wrong, she doesn't love me. She hates me."

"No, you're wrong, hamshank. The reason she sent you away is because she loves you too much to destroy you. Not everyone has been so lucky."

Nessa pulled her knees into her chest and folded her arms and buried her face. Then she wouldn't have to see Arnbjorn's nakedness. "I don't believe you," she said, "she wouldn't hurt me."

Arnbjorn chuckled. "She's killed two husbands and I don't know how many lovers. She gets carried away sometimes and can't stop. She thought she had more control now, but your blood called to her and the situation you two were in… it was more temptation than she could bear. She was wrong. She isn't strong enough to stop."

Nessa lifted her head up from her arms and looked at Arnbjorn, trying to ignore his nudity. "Then why hasn't she killed you?" Confusion was beginning to override her grief.

"She can't enthrall me. Has something to do with my werewolf blood. She can feed and I can stop her if she takes too much. It's an enjoyable experience, but probably nothing like what you felt."

Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember. It was odd that she couldn't remember many specifics, just intense pleasure that seemed to go on and on. "I… it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before."

"And neither of you could've stopped the inevitable, had I not stepped in…" He stopped speaking suddenly, struck by an thought. "Had I not stepped in and pulled her off you," he repeated.

"You still haven't explained why you're here," she said.

"Astrid is angry. At herself, but she takes it out on me. I needed to blow off some steam, get away, and think a little. At times like this, I like to go for a run through the woods. Usually I find an elk or a deer, maybe a goat. The hunting calms me. Tonight though… I picked up your scent."

His eyes narrowed as he looked at her, really looked at her, as a man looks at a woman. She wasn't at her best, with her face red, puffy, and tear-stained, but even so she was pretty. He'd seen her naked; she was as slender as a young doe and her eyes were a deep, piercing blue that didn't give him a headache. It was like a bit of sky had been ripped out and pasted into her sockets. Yes, he could believe he was looking at a younger version of his wife, before she was turned.

Those few moments when he'd walked into his bedroom and seen his wife on top of her were etched permanently in his memory. The smell of the girl's arousal, seeing her wet thighs… well, he'd thought of it since… a time or two. Arnbjorn wasn't a man to wax prosaically about a young woman's charms, but if he hadn't been a married man, he would have made every attempt to bed her.

Not that being married had ever stopped Astrid, he mused. They'd been together for ten years and she'd had her adventures, but he hadn't. His vows had been meant in earnest, even though he knew she was likely to break hers. Yet they were at a crisis right now. Astrid had decided to harden her heart and spurn all affection, even his. Talking to the girl he realized there was another way. Perhaps he could save his marriage. That certainly wouldn't be predictable.

Arnbjorn wasn't a subtle man. He wasn't a sneak or a schemer. He could move quietly, as a wolf, but it always came down to a battle at the end. His methods were direct and blunt, so the scheme he hatched came as a great surprise to him. Whether he could execute it or not remained to be seen.

"Listen morsel, maybe you don't like me, we got off to a rough start. I confess, I was a little jealous at first. I could have been nicer."

She shook her head. "I don't blame you, Arnbjorn. I've felt guilty about my relationship with Astrid. I didn't intend…"

Arnbjorn's smile brimmed with irony. "Oh, I know that, well enough. My wife is beautiful and seductive. She usually gets what she wants, and she wanted you. I don't blame you. Just know this, bit, I'm on your side. We might be in love with the same woman, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends. All right?"

Nessa nodded somberly at Arnbjorn. He extended his hand and she crept closer to him to take it. His grip was firm but gentle and his thumb gently stroked her knuckles as they shook hands. It puzzled her. This man should hate her, he should have wanted her dead, but he seemed sympathetic to her sorrow.

"I won't bite," he said, smiling gently at her.

"I know but you're… naked." Her eyes skittered off to look at almost anything but him.

He looked around himself and picked up a large leaf from amongst the decaying forest litter. He placed it over his genitals. "Is that better?"

She glanced at him and let her eyes drift down to the offending bit and she laughed, despite the sorrow she was feeling.

"Let's go back to the sanctuary, bit," Arnbjorn suggested.

She wondered how he'd keep the leaf in place when he stood. "All right." They stood and she walked back to the sanctuary with a completely naked man: Her former lover's husband. Life was too gods damned complicated.

~o~o~o~

Over the next week, the sanctuary was a tense place. Babette loved it, however. She thrived on tension and drama. She spent time flitting between Astrid and Nessa, sympathizing with both of them and cajoling them for more details from their affair.

"Perhaps you should turn her, Astrid," Babette suggested yet again.

Astrid glared at her friend. "I told you I wouldn't do that. Look, I'm not going to talk about it any longer. Yes, it's terribly tragic, but it is over. I have a guild to run and people to kill. We have three new contracts and a backlog. This war with the Imperium has been good for business. I'm going to keep everyone very busy for the next several months, and that includes you. I'm sure there are some creepy old men who like girls a little too young."

"Oh, good! It's starting to get boring around here," Babette said, kicking her feet that dangled from the chair. "Maybe I'll find someone else to recruit. Perhaps you'd like a handsome man this time?"

Astrid frowned. "Next person you think you're going to recruit I'm going to leave as a pale husk in the abandoned shack, so don't even bother. I've got enough problems." She gestured to the door to her office. "Scoot, Babette. We're going to have guild meeting shortly and I need to get ready."

Babette jumped off her chair and Astrid heard her feet pattering down the hallway. She stood in her office for a moment feeling very alone. Arnbjorn had been polite but distant with her. He seemed to understand that she needed her space right now but she knew he was hurting. Nessa tried to avoid her, but it was impossible. Whenever they met, Astrid was impersonal and distant, but Nessa's eyes always looked wounded. Her heart ached for the girl, and for herself, but she'd never let it show. Work was the solution to their problem. All of them just needed to attend to their business and they would forget.

She looked in the little reflecting glass hanging on the wall and searched her face for the lines that Nessa said she loved. But the laughter lines hadn't appeared on her face in weeks.

~o~o~o~

"We have a heavy workload that is going to keep us busy for the next few months," Astrid announced to the assassins assembled in the great hall. "Nazir is handling some jobs around Whiterun. Babette you're going to take some jobs we got from the Imperium. You'll be spending some time in Windhelm and Winterhold. Nessa, I've got a job for you in Solitude from the Stormcloaks. There are some Imperials that need to die in either accidental or of natural causes. You've been doing well with poisons. I think this would fit your particular talents. It's a difficult assignment though, so I want someone to go with you." She looked around at the assassins. "Any volunteers?"

"I'll go," Arnbjorn strode forward, smiling at Nessa and then turning to his wife to watch her reaction. She blinked with surprise a few times and her eyebrow arched. Nessa's forehead creased and she stared at Arnbjorn in confusion.

"Very well," she said. "I want Nessa to be primary on this job, Arnbjorn. You're just there for backup and advice. Understood?"

He nodded, his eyes boring into his wife's. Surprised you, didn't I?

The rest of the meeting passed and most of the assassins were given assignments. Only Astrid, Festus and Gabrielle would be at the sanctuary. As Arnbjorn went down the hall to his room he could hear his wife's familiar tread behind him. He turned and waited for her to catch up.

"I want to talk to you, Arn," she said softly. "In your room."

He nodded and let her precede him into his quarters. "As you wish, my love." He pulled shut the door.

"Why are you going with her?" Astrid demanded.

"Why shouldn't I?" he countered. "I could teach her a thing or two."

Astrid blinked slowly. Was he planning to harm the girl? He may blame her for their separation… would he kill her? Such things were against the guild rules, but if Arnbjorn felt sufficiently aggrieved he might do something and make it look like an accident. "Arn, don't you dare harm her." Her voice was tinged with menace and she locked eyes with her husband.

"Of course not, I plan on being very gentle with her." He kept his voice bland but couldn't help the little upturn of one side of his mouth.

Astrid gave her head a little shake as if she were trying to shake water out of her ears. What in Oblivion is he up to? She felt a pang of jealousy but couldn't figure out exactly who she was jealous of… or why. Arnbjorn had always been predictably faithful to her. That he'd consider seducing his wife's lover - former lover, now - was ridiculous. Still… "You're not…" she hesitated, the suggestion was ludicrous.

"Not what, dear?"

"Oh, never mind. I'll give you the details of the contract and you can tell her."

He nodded. "Of course, love. That'll be easier for both of you."

She looked at him suspiciously. He was being far too agreeable. Well… she wasn't in a position where she could complain about it. "There's a pair of Imperium officers that need to die. It needs to look…"

"Accidental or natural. I heard you out there."

"Right. Both men have an eye for Nord girls. One is getting on in years. It's perfectly possible that his heart might give out during a night of passion. The other is a younger man and I don't know enough about him to suggest how to arrange his death. The pair of you will have to figure it out." She cocked her head and gave her husband a puzzled look. "Have Nessa discuss potions with Babette. I'll give you ample expense money. Radiant Raiment should have some nice looking clothes for her. She'll need something rather eye-catching, I'd imagine, but not whorish, something modest and demure, to suit her innocent look."

He grinned. "Are you sure whorish wouldn't work? It'd work on me."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Oh gods, I can't believe I'm letting you go with her. Yes, I'm sure."

"All right, I'll do my best. Fashion isn't my strong suit."

"No kidding." She looked her husband over still wondering what had gotten into him. "Any questions?"

"Can we take Shadowmere?" he asked. "It'll be faster than the cart or walking and he's not afraid of me in wolf form."

"Just the one horse?" Astrid asked.

"I can run most of the way and Shadowmere is strong enough to carry us both if I tire."

She shrugged. "That's fine." She looked at her husband and felt a little guilty for how she had been treating him. She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Be careful."

He nodded. "Of course, love. We'll leave tomorrow if Nessa's potions are ready, otherwise the day after."

She gave him a small smile and left. What had gotten into Arnbjorn? She realized that even though she'd pushed them both away, she was going to miss them.

~o~o~o~

Notes: I'm heavily indebted to Biff McLaughlin and Zevgirl for their feedback, always, but in particular for this chapter. There were things I wanted to write but I couldn't figure out how to get from point A to point B. Their feedback was really life-saving.

I realize that in Skyrim werewolves don't look like wolves, per se, but I'm taking liberties here and making them look exactly like wolves.

I'd love to hear your speculation about where you think this is headed. I dropped some hints, but I tried not to be too obvious. This is one of those things that is kind of hard to do as a writer. Some people will miss it entirely; others will think it's too obvious.

Super- uber-thanks to those of you that reviewed! I realize it's a pain-in-the-patoot to do, probably especially if you're on a mobile device, but your feedback is incredibly valuable to me, both to judge if I'm hitting the mark or missing it. So please do review if you can!

You might have noticed they changed the review process. It's a box down at the bottom of the screen. If you're logged in it'll say Posting as: Username, otherwise it'll say Posting as: Guest. Yeah… I totally didn't notice that and I posted a bunch of reviews as guest. Anyway, I can't respond to you unless you're logged in.