Nice job, Varanis and a fun read!

"A Deadly Secret" Part 1

"Some of the folks on this list are pretty highly ranked," Mirri said as she and Varanis approached the main gate of Leyawiin. "They may not want to see us. Do we just announce that you're the Vestige, come with a dire warning?"

Varanis eyed the small group of finely dressed ladies arguing with a blond captain of the Ivory Brigade just outside the gate. "You'd be surprised at how few times people listen to my dire warnings."

"Captain Liore, Councilor Jirich doesn't miss her meetings, sir."

"If the councilor can be found, we will find her."

Varanis glanced at Mirri.

Mirri looked down at the decoded journal of Emperor Leovic. "She's on the list."

"You, there!" The captain pointed to them. "Eveli Sharp-Arrow said her associates were coming along soon. Councilor Lovidicus already charged her to investigate and help protect the councilors. Help us find the Councilor, and there'll be a nice reward for her safety."

"We'd do it for free." Varanis assured the man, and handed over her journal for him to sketch a quick freehand map of the councilor's routine.

As they rode off towards the river, Mirri said, "I guess we could've just announced you were the Vestige after all."

"It's really, really, nice to meet reasonable authority figures for a change!"

....................................

As soon as she read Farrul Lupus' letter by the scattered remains of the Councilor's picnic luncheon, dread fell over Mirri like a wet woolen blanket.

"The assassins must have found their targets by watching who Farrul Lupus contacted. Fetcher!"

Down in the cave, Varanis commented over Jirich's letter, "She made herself a target by sourcing vaults for Emperor Moricar. A woman who hides another man's secret treasures ought to be prepared for the risk."

"Councilor?" A woman shouted, running down the sandy slope into the cave. Her sandal slipped, her feet flew out from under her, and she slid all the way down to the floor on her bottom.

"Oh!" Mirri rushed to help her up. The woman took her hand, holding back tears. "Are you hurt?"

"No, just a few scrapes and my dignity." The woman looked between her and Varanis, who had not moved except to put her hand on her mace. "I'm Milona Hanus. You aren't the Councilor."

"No," Varanis said, pleasantly enough, though Mirri knew her well enough to see that she was on very high alert. "What's it to you?"

"Oh, I'm was looking for her! I'm her aide. If she's not here, she must be by the Eastern Gate!"

"Then lead the way." Varanis directed.

"Oh, I couldn't. I've got to get back to the city. Please, find her, you must!"

"Right." Varanis strode out of the cave without looking back at Milona. "Come on!" She barked, when Mirri didn't immediately rush after her.

Mirri scrambled up the slope. "What's gotten into you? Why so rude?"

Varanis mounted her flaming panther. "Word of advice. Don't trust anyone new. Especially when they're delaying you from finding an assassin's target!"

.................................

They pounded across the bridge towards the Eastern Gate when Varanis sawed on the reins. Her panther peeled off to the right, crouched on the lip of the bridge for a moment, then sprang off the side. It vanished in a plume of steam the second it touched the water, but Varanis was already sprint-splashing to the water's edge where a purple-robed woman slumped at the base of a broken Argonian monolith. She crouched at the woman's side, yanking a potion from her belt.

Rather than subject her comparatively unmagical horse to a crippling fall, Mirri took the long way around. By the time she got there, Eveli was splashing through the bog towards then. Varanis stepped back from the Councilor, shaking her head. "The assassin got her first." She said. "Unfortunately, she didn't say anything we didn't already know. Like Farrul Lupus, the assassin left the Black Hand calling card."

"The other councilors are at risk!" Eveli said. "We've got to warn them."

Varanis made a complicated gesture and her flaming panther sprang into being once more. "There's no time to waste then."

..............................

"Where's the Councilor?!" Varanis demanded of the woman sitting outside the Sophus house.

"My husband wasn't expecting visitors..." she protested.

"He's probably not expecting an assassin either," Varanis snapped. "If he got a letter from Farrul Lupus, he's a target."

The woman went pale. "Zenithar preserve us! He's walking our dog along the treeline. Oh, I think I hear Chaero barking!"

"Mirri, stay and protect her!" Then Varanis ran off towards the trees.

The woman buried her face in her hands. "Oh, Velan! He wasn't the same after he read that letter, but he didn't tell me anything. He never wants to burden me."

If her woolen blanket sense of dread was right, then Councilor Velan Sophus was dead, and the assassin gone, hopefully with some nasty dog bites. Varanis would return, angrier than before; she was ill-suited to comfort a grieving widow.

Mirri dug in her pocket for a handkerchief. It was a little grubby, but Sera Sophus didn't care as she began sobbing loudly into it. "Sera, let me make you some tea," Mirri said, gently taking the woman by the elbow and leading her inside. "Then I'll escort you back to Leyawiin where the Ivory Brigade can better protect you."

.................................

"We'll keep Lunia Sophus safe," Captain Rian Liore assured Mirri. "Eveli is searching Councilor Jirich's papers. Why don't you go help her?"

Councilor Jirich had a huge townhouse. Eveli looked up from a bookcase with a despairing expression. "There's so many books! How am I supposed to figure out what's important?"

Her fingers itched. "I'm really good at finding secret compartments. Comes with trying to hide my stuff from loads of younger siblings. Let me see what I can find."

Varanis arrived by the time she'd found and jimmied open the extra panel in the Councilor's nightstand. "Well done, Mirri," Varanis said, seeming a little more at ease. "I've got good news for once. Councilor Faleria is still alive and her Ivory Brigade guards are taking the threat seriously."

Mirri read the note inside. "Jirich knew the Ambitions' caretakers. She hid the Ambitions in the vaults she made. She knew everything. Now she's dead. Damn it!"

..................................

Councilor Lovidicus listened to Eveli's report with a deep frown. "Unfortunately, I have no idea about the Four Ambitions or any other of Leovic's secrets. He knew I'd refuse to go along with anything illegal or daedric."

"Mmmm, sure." Varanis said.

Mirri elbowed her in the side, right in the gap between her cuirass plates. "Be nice."

Eveli snickered. "Okay, I like you."

Varanis ignored them and spoke to the Councilor, "No offense, but you didn't exactly join forces with Duke Varen when he rebelled after Leovic declared daedra worship the law of the land."

"Of course not." Lovidicus said, with a straight face. "Rebellion is very illegal. There I was, between a rock and a hard place. Varen didn't hold a grudge. Perhaps his Vestige won't either, and will instead go persuade Councilor Abor that she should return to the city at once for her own protection."

"I do love working with reasonable authority figures. We'll get it done."

..............................

"By the way," Mirri said, as they climbed up to Councilor Abor's room in the watchtower of Fort Blueblood, "I met Milona Hanus in Councilor Jirich's house. She is the Councilor's aide and was most distraught to hear the bad news."

"Is that so?" Varanis said. "Good thinking on your part to double check that."

"I also apologized on your behalf for your appalling rudeness."

Eveli snickered.

Varanis paused a little too long on the next step. "Thank you, Mirri."

It sounded....sincere. But any doubts were driven straight out of her mind when they found Councilor Abor murdered, blood splashed high on the walls, and yet another Black Hand note stabbed into her chest. There was a faint smell of smoke in the air.

Eveli knelt at the fireplace. "Someone was burning papers. There's nothing legible left."

A journal lay out in the open, written in a precise hand, in contrast to the ragged edges where someone had ripped out several pages. Mirri scanned the remainder. "What a fetching fool! Can you believe she wrote down the locations of the Four Ambitions, just so her murderer could take the pages?"

"Or the servant took them." Varanis suggested. " Or the assassin disguised as the servant took them. Or the servant was the assassin."

"You know," Mirri said, "for all that you trust the daedra Lyranth, you're the most paranoid person I've ever met. No wonder no one listens to your dire warnings. Come to think of it, why did you trust me at first glance?"

"Most of the people who end up betraying me later aren't also the sort of people leading suicidal rescue missions fighting cultists to save people they could've easily abandoned to the terrible fate they'd only barely escaped themselves. You impressed me."

Despite herself, Mirri's cheeks grew hot.

"Aww," Eveli said. "Look, I hate to break up the sweet moment, but we've got to find Abor's servant girl before the assassin cleans up loose ends."

................................

"Damn it, they murdered her too!" Eveli snarled, no trace of cheerfulness left. "She's stone cold. I bet the assassin did disguise herself as the servant to lower the Councilor's guards." She nodded to Varanis. "You were right about that."

"One out of three guesses isn't great, but I'll take it." Varanis rubbed her nose in thought. "Something about this isn't right. Oh, the Dark Brotherhood are killers, but they don't leave the Black Hand on every single kill. Only the important ones where they have a contract."

"What would you know about the finer ethics of a super-secretive assassins' guild?" Eveli asked. She stared at Varanis for a very long moment. "Tell me you aren't a member of the Dark Brotherhood." She was deadly serious.

"Of course not!" Mirri said.

"Shut up, Mirri." Varanis said, in the sort of voice that reminded her that this woman had commanded soldiers on the battlefields of Cyrodiil. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

Her throat closed up. Surely, Varanis, the heroic Vestige, wasn't...

Varanis turned back to Eveli. "That would be awkward, seeing as how the Morag Tong are professional rivals to the Brotherhood."

Just like that, she could breathe again. "B'vehk, you scared me!"

Eveli scowled. "How is the Morag Tong any better?"

"You aren't a Dunmer." Mirri said. "Well, obviously. But the Morag Tong are the legal assassins guild in Morrowind and they worship the Anticipation of Vivec, the Daedric Prince Mephala. While they were practically all hunted down after they killed the Potentate, they've been rebuilding their order and Tribune Vivec himself legitimized their guild when he hired Naryu Virian to kill the former treacherous head of the Morag Tong. Naryu's sort of a folk hero now in Morrowind. She never kills without a perfectly legal contract."

"You kill people for a contract?" Eveli demanded of Varanis. "Legally?!"

"I'm not a member of the Morag Tong. Mephala wouldn't have me, even if I wanted to." Varanis said. "I have assisted Naryu Virian on some of her contracts where I thought it best, and have thus far not regretted it."

"So you're one step removed from a legal contract assassin."

"If you see it that way. It's not so much different from normal adventuring, frankly."

Eveli pressed her hand to her face. "Urgh."

"Think what you want." Varanis turned to leave.

Eveli was swaying. Mirri asked, "Are you alright?" and reached out to steady her.

Eveli clutched Mirri's elbow, leaning on her. "Oh! That was horrible! Like one of my dreams, but more like a waking premonition. A cloaked cultist. All I sensed was...overwhelming evil."

"Do you need to lie down?" Varanis asked.

"No." Eveli said, pulling herself together and pulling away from Mirri. "Don't think we've finished this conversation, Varanis. We will discuss it again when I'm ready." She stalked out of the pantry, slamming the wooden door behind her.

.................................

They ate their meal with the rest of the soldiers, though there was a wide berth around their table and Eveli was giving them the cold shoulder. It made for a very awkward silence, and finally Mirri couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

"What was it like working with Naryu Virian?"

Varanis speared a piece of fish, then set her fork down, making eye contact instead. "I'm sorry, Mirri. I owe you an apology. I've been beastly as an adventuring partner today, and I will try to do better."

That was certainly sincere. "Thanks. I'll hold you to that."

"Please do. As for Naryu, she asks me for help when she needs to prevent an assassination. She helped me save King Jorunn's life. Then I helped her stop her apprentice who'd gone rogue and was trying to kill House Redoran's councilors. I've been saving innocent lives, not taking them."

Eveli stood up and moved to another table, taking her plate with her.

Varanis looked down and slowly ate her piece of fish.

Keenly aware that she'd brought up the offending subject, Mirri muttered, "Sorry."

"Don't be. After what I said, you have the right to know. And Eveli has the right to be angry. Some acquaintances of ours in Orsinium were killed by Kurog's Vosh Rakh assassins. She took High Priestess Solgra's death pretty hard."

"Eveli said she took a break after your adventures in Orsinium."

"Adventuring is a rough life."

Looking at the frown lines permanently etched in Varanis' forehead, and thinking over her abrupt, almost paranoid behavior seeing threats everywhere, judging everyone new as a potential traitor, and the hyper focus on the task at hand instead of taking a moment to soften her approach for the bereaved...yes, Mirri agreed that the years of adventuring had been hard on Varanis.

Deliberately taking a lighter tone, she said, "Well, it's been a little easier for me at the Fighters Guild. Did I tell you about what I did the first time I joined the Mournhold Guild?"




*Part 2 to follow, because this was way too long of a quest for one session.*

.........................

Outakes:

1. Mirri and Eveli looked at Jirich's nightstand with its letter in the secret compartment. Then Mirri felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Problem, sera?"

"No, sorry." Varanis said.

Then Eveli asked, "Can I help you?"

"Nope."

Again, the tap on the shoulder. "Problem, sera?"

"Can you two please move over? Your hitboxes are messing with my interact prompt. Lydia would be proud."


2. Standing in the pantry over the dead body of the servant, Varanis said, "Eveli, I have to tell you the truth. I'm a member of the Dark Brotherhood."

"What?! How could you?"

"Look, they offered me this sweet riding passive that prevents me from getting stuck in combat with every wolf in Cyrodiil. It was an offer I couldn't refuse!"


3. Standing in the pantry over the dead body of the servant, Varanis said, "Eveli, I have to tell you the truth. No, literally, the writers didn't give me any other options but to volunteer that I'm a member of the Dark Brotherhood."


Alternate Universe featuring my breton Silencer, Maria Montclair. She's pretty dark, but the coincidences of the quest begged for this to be written from the perspective of an assassin who will murder NPCs for the trinkets in their pockets or for looking at her funny.

"A Deadly Secret" Part 2

Gideon was a smaller city than Leyawiin, both in population and the size of its walls, which were slowly sinking into the swamp. The Black Fin Legionaires patrolling the soggy streets must feel right at home. Though they'd already been attacked, Councilor Vandacia and Governor Keshu the Black Fin were alive, unharmed, and taking prisoners.

Varanis bowed to Keshu after introductions. "I don't believe we've met, but the Pact owes you our thanks. I served in Cyrodiil with several of the Argonian soldiers from your campaigns. They spoke highly of you, very highly indeed."

Keshu eyed her with scant favor. "Don't fawn on me, Dunmer. If really you want to help, see to it that the Chamber of Legates actually gives me the information I need to safeguard the Elder Council against this new threat in a timely fashion instead of waiting until its nearly too late."

"We've been trying to keep them safe!" Mirri protested.

"So is Governor Keshu," Varanis said.

After a scuffle broke out downstairs, and she and Mirri found themselves tracking a trail of acid and wounded legionnaires, she added, "All too often, I've met fellow Dunmer who take the help the Argonians offer and give nothing back. Even Pact officers who ought to know better."

Chagrined, Mirri asked, "Should I apologize?"

Varanis shook her head. "Our actions will have to speak for us."

.....................

At the door to the ayleid Twyllbek Ruins, Mirri stopped. "Look, maybe we should get some backup? I'd rather not spend my afterlife in the Void because we got knifed in the back."

Varanis looked back to the wounded legionnaire who'd been guarding the ruin door when the assassin ran inside. The Argonian saluted her with the potion bottle they'd gifted him. "I won't be much help," he admitted.

"I think we are the backup, Mirri."

..........................

Deep inside, they found the assassin's camp and a discarded letter from the Dark Brotherhood's Matron detailing their plans to start a new Sanctuary in Blackwood.

"Maybe it's just really that obvious. The Dark Brotherhood is behind it." Mirri suggested.

"We're more subtle that that." A dunmer man who's armor bore the mark of the Black Hand strolled into view, well protected from pursuit behind a heavy iron grate. "Unlike the two of you. If this was an ambush, you'd be dead."

"I can breathe fire right through those bars." Varanis warned him.

"And I can throw acid at you if you really want to push your luck," he retorted. "Look, I know your reputation, Vestige. Death itself spat you back out. There's no point in risking you chasing me across Tamriel looking for revenge after I melt your face off." He continued, "I'm here on other business, not a contract for the Councilors. Anyone can dip their hand in black ink and leave a note."

"If not you, then who?" Mirri asked, backing up to what she judged was a safe distance from any acid that might splash in her direction. "The Morag Tong is sticking to Pact territory while they rebuild."

"If you fine ladies find out, perhaps you'll will let me know? I'd love to - ah - have a chat with them."

"I don't think our other friend would approve." Varanis said.

"Ah, now, what the little wood elf doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Don't you dare hurt Eveli!" Mirri exclaimed, reaching for her bow.

The assassin hefted a bottle filled with bright green acid as a warning. "Don't be surprised if sticking her nose into everything lands us a contract with her name on it some day. Come to think of it, you ought to watch where you stick your nose too, Mirri Elendis."

Varanis stepped between them and held up the Matron's letter. "Rather than threatening my friends, how about you leave Blackwood peacefully with your Sanctuary now, before I hand this over to Keshu the Black Fin? If not, perhaps I'll go wipe out your Sanctuary myself. Unless you think you can race me back to Bloodrun Cave?"

He glared at her. "Using the wayshrines is cheating vs the likes of us mere mortals, Vestige." Then he spun around and ran deeper into the ruins, vanishing from sight.

...........................


Back in Leyawiin, the Elder Council, the Legates, and Eveli met to discuss their future plans. Eveli and Councilor Vandacia were a united front on one matter: "The Dark Brotherhood must be burned out of Blackwood, root and tree!" Eveli declared.

When Lovidicus wavered, Vandacia insisted, "We know they're in Bloodrun Cave. What are we waiting for?"

"I'm not against killing the assassins," Varanis said. "But-"

"That'd better be a pretty good "but." Eveli snapped.

Mirri interjected, "But the Dark Brotherhood assassin we cornered said they weren't killing the councilors! It's a frame job. Someone else is responsible for the killing!"

That sent the others into a frenzy of whispering amongst themselves. Lovidicus rested his chin on his hand. "We still know nothing about what any of this has to do with Leovic or the Four Ambitions."

"We've got a Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in our backyard, waiting to murder us in our beds. I'd say that's a more pressing matter." Vandacia said.

"We will go deal with them." Eveli said, staring coldly at Varanis. "Your friend Naryu would like that."

Mirri warned her, "The assassin knows we found the letter. If they haven't fled, they'll be expecting us. Its an ambush."

"You can stay home if you want. Unlike Varanis, I don't expect you to eat cults of assassins for breakfast."

Varanis pursed her lips. "I'll have you know I don't follow your Meat Mandate, Eveli. But yes, we'll go eat a cult for breakfast, figuratively speaking. Mirri, you're welcome to come along or stay behind, as you like."

Out of Xigira's frying pan and into Sithis' fire? Mirri took her afterlife in both hands. "Few Daedrologists get to see a Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary and live to tell about it. How could I pass this up?"

..........................

At Leyawiin's Kaladas Inn, Mirri fiddled with the dark glass bottle of Argonian Bloodwine over dinner. "Its a splurge, I know, but I figured I'd drink some of the good stuff before I see a Sanctuary to Sithis firsthand." If she thought too hard about the upcoming fight or how the assassin sounded when he threatened to take a contract on her, her knees got a little weak.

"Don't get in the habit of looking for courage in a bottle." Varanis said.

Well, of course the legendary Vestige didn't have that vice. "I'm not a drunk. I'm an oenophile. I just like the taste of wine." Mirri said, defensively.

"Yeah, and Numyn the Undaunted just likes the taste of ale before, after, and sometimes during battle." Varanis said, skeptically. "Look, I know adventuring and drinking at the tavern afterward go together, but seriously, do yourself a favor and save the drinking for afterward."

After a long pause, Mirri admitted, "I'm scared. My family isn't perfect, but I've always expected that when I die, I'll be with my ancestors, guiding and guarding future generations of my family from harm. Sithis' Void is nothing like that."

"This isn't much of a comfort, but from what I've seen, it's harder than you'd think to keep a strong-willed soul trapped forever in an afterlife they didn't choose. Whatever else, Mirri, you don't lack for a strong will. Nor for an ally who'd come looking for you."

Her vision misted, and she hastily pinched away tears. "You really weren't kidding when you said suicidal rescue missions were your thing, were you?"

"Nope. If Sithis is smart, he'll tell his Might Mother to tell all their scary little children that he really doesn't want to give me a reason to pencil in a visit to the Void right before we haul Darien Gaultier out of Meridia's Colored Rooms. I'll find a way."

Once she felt she had her composure back, Mirri flagged down the bartender and passed him the bottle of bloodwine. "Save this for when we get back, please."

Varanis' smile seemed to shed a decade from her lined face. "Thanks, Mirri. I'll make sure you get back here to enjoy it, no matter what happens."


...................................

Outake:

Back in Leyawiin, the Elder Council, the Legates, and Eveli met to discuss their future plans. Varanis put her hands on her hips. "Does anyone else feel like, despite all that running around, we didn't learn anything new? Doing this quest was a colossal waste of time after I did the Prologue."

"Well," Eveli said, "I learned something new; you're a Dark Brotherhood assassin."

"She's a what?" exclaimed the Councilors. A mad scramble ensued as they ran for the exits, leaving Varanis and Eveli alone, glaring at each other.

"Can't you be a little more discreet?" Varanis complained.

"I did warn you we'd discuss this later."

"An Abundance of Stibbons"

To make up for lost time at Veyond, Varanis and Mirri bypassed Gideon, stopping briefly at Glenbridge to rest Mirri's horse and eat lunch. The Argonian keeper at the waystation, a male with a proud crest of salt-and-pepper feathers, took their flatbread order with a warning, "Don't go up to the local Xanmeer. Some stupid outsiders set off an ancient curse."

"Do you need any assistance?" Varanis asked.

Mirri stifled a sigh. There went any hope of making it to Hutan-Tzel by nightfall.

"It's probably for the best if you stay out of it. Our Priestess, Nisswo Somarz, already has her hands full with that hoity-toity lady explorer and her manservant."

"Then we'll keep our noses clean and be on our way," Mirri said. "Right, Varanis?"

"That'd be Lady Clarisse Laurent and her manservant Stibbons, right?" Varanis asked instead. "Tall, blonde lady. Short, balding man obeying her every whim."

The keeper scowled. "Friends of yours?"

"Not after the way I chewed her out for caring less about archeological ethics and more about personal glory back in Orsinium." Varanis admitted, then said to Mirri, "Look, I don't like Lady Laurent, but I try not to leave old friends hanging out to dry. It won't take too long for me to pull Stibbons out of his latest predicament. Why don't you stay here, eat lunch, and if I'm not back in an hour, come tell me to hurry it up."

Since they were stopping anyway, taking the time to eat a proper lunch after being in the saddle all morning sounded great. "You sure you don't need my help?" Mirri offered, hoping Varanis didn't change her mind.

"Nah, you stay. Besides, you two wouldn't get along. Lady Laurent is more courageous than Tiras was, but she's no more likely than him to get her well-manicured hands dirty."

The keeper handed over their flatbreads. At the smell of hot bread and roast chicken, Mirri's stomach rumbled. "If you aren't back in an hour, I'm eating your lunch."

................................

The water clock chimed the hour, and Varanis hadn't returned. Mirri wrapped up the second flatbread and was sticking it in her pack for later when the waystation door opened. "Oh good, I was getting worried-"

A tall, blonde Breton noblewoman stood in the doorway where she'd expected to see Varanis. Six identical balding Breton men followed the woman, slouching and drooling where they stood. The woman said, "You're Varanis' friend? I'm Lady Laurent. I need your help."

"Oh, fetch."

At the base of the xanmeer, Nisswo Somarz the Argonian high priestess, scowled as dark as an ashstorm when they approached her. "We told you to make things right, shiny-hair, and instead you passed the task off to another. Now the dry-skin sorcerer you freed has another servant more dangerous than the last. Her hands break down the seals binding him as we speak."

"Oh, fetch!"

"Normally, Varanis handles the fighting." Lady Laurent said, in a subdued voice. "I've never seen anything defeat her for long."

"The strongest wamasu in the swamp may still suffocate in quicksand," Nisswo Somarz snapped.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mirri saw a familiar figure in black, dragon-crested armor walk down the path from the xanmeer. A trail of slime dripped off her boots.

Mirri's heart rose. "She did it!" She waved. "Varanis!"

Nisswo Somarz caught her arm. She shook it off and rushed forward. "Varanis, you worried me -"

Varanis did not wave back. Instead, she announced, "Master will be free." Then she exploded into a shower of green goo.

"Oh, fetch," Mirri whispered, too shocked to do more than wipe away the goo that had once been her friend from her face.

Nisswo Somarz, Laurent, and the horde of manservants came up behind her. "If it makes you feel better," Laurent said, "it was just a duplicate. Like these Stibbonses."

"Laur-ahn!" Chorused the Stibbonses.

"You must rescue your friends from this curse," Nisswo Somarz said. "Know this: succeed or fail, Sithis will have us all in time."

"Of course we're going to rescue Varanis!" Mirri said. "We're not going to fail."

"Yes, of course." Laurant said. "Now step lively, Stibbonses."

"Stibbo coming!"

............................

Inside the Xanmeer, Mirri stared at the Argonian carvings on the walls, feeling as lost as if she were in a maze despite her brave words to Nisswo Somarz. "How do we save Varanis?"

The small horde of Stibbonses sat at Laurent's feet. "Based on my rough translation, this sorcerer, Rectavius, achieve immortality by transforming himself into "death-mud" - that is, voriplasm. Not how I would choose to spend eternity, but I detest goo. That must be how he captured Stibbons and Varanis and is making duplicates from the voriplasm. Plus, the Priestess said he needed hands to break the seals: their hands. We need to get past the locked doors and into his inner sanctum to defeat him and rescue our friends."

"I've hunted a lot of daedric relics, but never in a Xanmeer."

Laurent explained, "Much like the ancient Nords, the Argonians used simple puzzles and traps to safeguard their secrets. There'll likely be a series of counterweight puzzles for you to figure out."

"Right. For ME to figure out."

"Of course! I'm going to stay here and keep translating."

"Fetcher." Mirri muttered under her breath. Well, if Laurent wasn't going to help, how was she supposed to deal with the counterweights? Unlike Varanis, she wasn't spawning copies of herself.

She snapped her fingers as it came to her. "Stibbonses, I need your help."

As one, six heads swiveled to Lady Laurent. "Laur-ahn?"

"What? Oh. Yes, go help her, Stibbonses."

"Stibbo coming!"

......................

An hour later, Mirri limped out of the north hall. Lady Laurent pressed a healing potion on her. "You opened the way to the inner sanctum. Are you ready for a real fight?"

Mirri drank, tasting cornflower in the back of her throat and trying not to cough it back up as her broken big toe reset itself. She really shouldn't have kicked that dormant vine tongue so hard while getting a Stibbons past a water obstacle. "Yeah. How did Varanis get past the traps without duplicates?"

"She's gotten me out of several scrapes before. If she told Stibbons what to do, he'd trust her. So his duplicates trusted her too." Laurent speculated. "Or I might just be hoping the duplicates trust people they know because it'll make what comes next easier."

"Right," Mirri said, draining the last of the potion. "We have to fight Varanis and maybe if she remembers us, she'll go easy on us. Some of the Stibbonses went feral, you know."

Sighing, Laurent offered her a hand. Mirri stretched her leg and stood. "I was afraid of that. Worse, she and I argued over archeological ethics in Orsinium and then we argued again before she stormed into the Xanmeer. I'm afraid I'm unlikely to be in the good books of her duplicates. Not that it matters. I sent her into this mess and for once I'm going to get her out of it."

Mirri still didn't like Lady Laurent, but, "Varanis sure knows how to pick her friends."

"I could say the same about you. Ready?"

"Ready."

..........................................

The Xanmeer's inner sanctum was home to a giant voriplasm. It had completely engulfed Varanis; she thrashed weakly inside it, weaponless. Two duplicate Varanises knelt in front of it; Stibbons lay in a crumpled heap beside them.

"Stibbons!" Laurent rushed to him, checking for a pulse.

"You fools!" The voriplasm roared. "You cannot stop the great sorceror Rectavius. Stop them, puppet!"

The two duplicates Varanises drew their weapons. One had her mace and shield, the other her fire staff. Mirri sized them up and aimed her bow at Fire Staff. "Don't do it, Varanis. I don't want to hurt you!"

"Vara not hurt." The duplicate shrieked, erratically jabbing the fire staff in her general direction so that tiny fireballs scattered everywhere except at Mirri. "Vara not hurt!"

The other duplicate advanced on Laurent and Stibbons. "Vara smash," it snarled, swinging its mace from side to side. Mirri ran for that duplicate instead, putting herself between it and its targets.

"You can't hurt her. We're your friends," Mirri exclaimed. Then a sledgehammer of a shield slammed into her head. She saw white. Then she was flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling, as Varanis leaped impossibly high into the air and dragon wings burst from her shoulders.

She woke up as a potion bottle was forced between her lips, choking and coughing up cornflower. Laurent dropped her back onto the flagstone where she'd landed and skittered away, dodging fireballs and luring the stalking sword-and-board duplicate farther away. "You've got to free the real Varanis!" She shouted.

But how? The real Varanis hung limp inside the voriplasm. If Mirri tried to pull her out or fight the sorcerer directly, as Varanis had likely done for Stibbons, she'd get sucked in too.

Then she saw it: another dormant vine tongue behind the sorcerer. She ran to it and gave the heavy plant a mighty kick.

A starburst of eye-watering pain burst from her toes. "Fetch!" The vine tongue shook itself and lashed out, snaking its vines around the real Varanis and yanking her right out of the voriplasm to sprawl at Mirri's feet.

"No!" Rectavius shouted.

Fire Staff dropped her weapon. "Vara not hurt." she declared triumphantly. Sword & Board stood frozen like a statue, mid-swing. Then both duplicates exploded in a shower of goo.

"Nooooooo!" Rectavius moaned as he began shrinking into nothingness. Stibbons and Varanis stirred.

"Er," Mirri said, as Varanis slowly came too, "You don't happen to have more health potions, do you? I'm pretty sure I broke my toes again."

............................................

Nisswo Somarz met them outside the inner sanctum. "Well done. The curse is broken."

Stibbons glared at the trail of tiny voriplasms that had followed him. "Are you sure? They seem to think I'm their mother. How am I supposed to serve Lady Laurent like this?"

"I don't want goo in my manor." Laurent agreed.

"I have goo in places I don't want to think about," Varanis said, "in addition to nearly killing my friends. Sorry about that."

"You're right, after all this muck and mire, I could use a bath." Laurent clapped her hands. "Stibbons, see to it."

"He suffered far worse than you!" Mirri snapped. However doglike his affection for his mistress might be, he deserved better than to be treated like those pitable, drooling duplicates.

Stibbons ignored her loftily. "As you wish, my lady."

Varanis gestured for her to hold her tongue as Stibbons left and Laurent followed. "He likes it that way. There's no accounting for taste."

She added, "You did well, Mirri. Very well. I couldn't see much of the battle with, er, me, but believe it, I was cheering you on the whole time."

Mirri's face grew hot. "Er, thanks. I should've scanned the battlefield better. Then I could've gotten you out sooner."

Varanis clapped her on the shoulder. "If you had any doubts that you're a solid adventuring partner, put those to bed. You did great."

"I like to think I'm agreeable," Mirri said. Then, curious, she asked Nisswo Somarz "What happens now that the curse is gone?"

Nisswo Somarz held up her hands, then let them fall. "Sithis reigns over all. Even this mighty xanmeer, freed from its purpose, will crumble. We will let it happen." She tsked her tongue at them. "Succeed or fail, Sithis will have us all in the end."

Mirri scratched her head. "But we succeeded, right? I don't understand."

"We'll all die someday, but not today," Varanis said. "Speaking of Sithis, I'm as ravenous as the Serpent himself. I don't supposed you saved my lunch?"



.......................

Outake:

The water clock chimed the hour. Mirri wrapped up Varanis' flatbread and was packing it away for later when the door opened. "Oh good, I was getting worried-" She broke off as Varanis marched in, followed by a short, balding, Breton man. "-Who is that?"

Varanis pointed to the floor.

"Stibbo stay here!" The man exclaimed. He slouched in place where she pointed and began to drool green slime on himself.

"Mirri, meet Stibbo," Varanis said with a certain gleam in her eye. "He's a duplicate of the real thing made from voriplasm and he's our new adventuring companion."

Now, that was just insulting. "He's literally made of semi-sentient Jello. What can he do that I can't?"

"Unlike you, he can stand on pressure plates. Grab your stuff. Eveli can wait; we're going to run the dungeon at Direfrost Keep!"

"The Adoring Admirer "

They stopped a little ways north of Glenbridge to water Mirri's horse, while Varanis' flaming panther looked on with lofty disdain. To Varanis' amusement, most everyone gave it a wide berth. Then the Bosmer lad carrying pails of water out to the trough took one look at her and shrieked. His pail splashed down and rolled into the road. The panther yanked its paws back from the spreading puddle.

"By Azura, by Azura, by Azura!" His voice rose in pitch with every phrase.

"It's not dangerous." Mirri assured him. "It's all fang and no fight."

The panther yawned, showing the fires deep in its throat.

He didn't even look at her. No, he was staring at Varanis the way Buoyant Armigers looked as they sung praises to Vivec. "Is it really you? The hero of Tamriel? You aren't a myth! You look just like the paintings. Oh, my friends will never believe I met you."

"Wait," Mirri said, "She has paintings?"

"Yeah, ugly ones," Varanis said. She seemed torn between complimented and insulted. "Look, good sir, can I help you with something?"

He gasped, hand over heart. "I never, oh, I never, imagined that a famous warrior like yourself would ask me if they could help. Er..." He paused to think.

"I'll take it that's a no." Varanis dismounted, her panther vanishing into smoke, and retrieved the bucket.

"I could get myself into trouble if you'd like!" He called out after her.

"That's how she met me." Mirri warned. "I don't recommend it."

"She rescued you and you became her sidekick? Wow! Quick, tell me what you recommend: should she save me from a troll? No, it's gotta be a dozen trolls."

"That's not what I meant."

"You're right. It'll be a much better story if she rescues me from cultists."

A cold anger settled over her like a fog. "Listen here," she said through gritted teeth, "my brother could've died when we were captured by the Waking Flame. He was almost sacrificed by a dremora! They tried to steal his soul!"

He had stars in his eyes. "Almost. See! She's a hero! It's so exciting!"

She massaged her forehead. "You're an idiot who's going to get himself killed."

Varanis came back with a filled bucket and splashed it into the trough. The horse drank greedily.

"No, I won't," he replied. "The Vestige will save me. It'll be a great song for the bards!"

Varanis told him, "The bards don't sing about me bringing home mementos for the loved ones left behind. There's trouble enough in this troubled land without looking for it, lad. It'd bring me more joy to know you are safe."

He actually pouted.

"Listen to her," Mirri urged. "I got lucky, real real lucky that she came along when she did. I thought I was heading into a suicidal rescue mission alone."

He thought that over, then grinned "Oh, I've got just the thing. It'll be a great story to tell the lads back in Bravil!"

Massaging her forehead wasn't helping with this headache.

Varanis sighed. "Don't do anything so stupid that you don't live to tell them."

..............................

Instead of stopping at the waystation for the evening meal, they pressed on until night and camped rough near the road. Mirri stood the first watch, watching the fireflies wink their mystic patterns through the darkness seeking companionship.

For the tenth time, Varanis turned over in her bedroll.

"Can't sleep?" Mirri asked.

"Just thinking about that idiot boy," Varanis said, rolling over so she was staring up at the stars. "Don't get me wrong - I appreciate when people respect my reputation, but that "hold my rotmeth" attitude is gonna get him killed."

"We can't exactly hang around trying to teach him the common sense Vivec gave a guar."

"No."

Trying to interject a bit of lightness, Mirri said, "I'm not sure how I should feel about being your sidekick."

As she'd hoped, Varanis chuckled. Then, she asked, "Seriously, does it bother you?"

Seriously? Well... "You don't treat me like a sidekick. Of course, when the Bards write the songs, I'll be lucky to get sidekick billing. I figure it'll be 'The Ballad of How the Vestige Singlehandedly Saved Blackwood.' Maybe Eveli will get a nod for her sharp arrows. Not me."

Varanis propped herself up on one elbow. "I can assure you this is definitely a team effort, Mirri. But if you want to get yourself in the songs, it's not enough to help save the world. Lots of people helped me save the world and didn't even get a verse. You've got to put yourself forward, start talking to people, and lead the way to solve their problems. That's what makes them think of you as the hero, not just the sidekick."

That was a rather humbling thought. In hindsight, she'd been too quick to believe Xigira's flattery about wanting a capable team of adventurers with a reputation. In truth, Xigira had picked them because they were of average skill and just gullible enough to believe the compliments. "Maybe that explains why I never really made a name for myself as an adventurer. Not like Mom. She's always putting herself out there. Huh."

"You proved your mettle at the Xanmeer when you kept your head and defeated Rectavius." Varanis said, then laid back down. "Don't wonder if you can lead. You can. Consider if you want to."

A torchbug drifted through the camp and then back out into the swamp to join its many brethren. Mirri watched the fireflies and wrestled with her doubts.

"Shadows in the Swamp: Part 2"

"Don't worry, my quick reflexes were enough to keep me from harm," Heem-jas panted from his perch atop a glowing stone totem. "Though I am glad for the help. There have not been packs of wild dogs like this for ages. This will be a story to tell my grandchildren. Once I have them."

Together, they helped him down from his perch. Rather than fight the swarming dogs on the ground or try to climb one of the cypress trees, he'd wisely scrambled up a nearby Argonian Totem by clinging to its deep stone carvings. The carved face of a bog dog glowed with a certain greenish light - not unpleasant, but definitely magical.

"Was that already glowing when you got here?" Mirri asked.

"Yes. The pack was sleeping nearby," he gestured at a break in the vegetation. "That's a game trail used by our hunters as a shortcut back to the village. Sometimes the Imperials used it for, ah-"

"Trading with the sort of contraband floating around any army camp?" Varanis asked, with a certain knowing smile.

"Exactly."

He favored Mirri with a shrewd look. "When I was growing up here, the totems didn't glow. You think the dogs and the totems are connected."

"And I have a bad feeling about what we'll find on that game trail."

As she'd feared, they found bodies savaged by the bog dogs. Argonian villagers. Imperial legionnaires.

Two of the bodies lay back to back. Their grip on their stone knife and gladius was so firm that even the dogs tearing at them could not shake it. Heem-jas said, "We'll tell Olik that they died protecting each other."

She wanted to believe it was true. She really did. "That's just how their bodies ended up. We shouldn't lie."

"Perhaps it's a lie," he said. "Or perhaps it's a story where they didn't die for nothing."

Put that way, it was the least she could do to honor their sacrifice.

.....................................

In grim silence, they followed the game trail upward to the village. They broke through the trees out into a clearing at the foot of an Argonian temple. The small building had been exposed to open air for a long time, judging by the crumbled stones and hanging moss. In between the pillars, Mirri could just make out a carved totem. It was glowing.

A small hackwing poked it's sharp beak out from one of the many holes in the ruined roof. It too was glowing. It squawked an alarm call.

At least a dozen hackwing heads poked out of holes in response. All of them glowed the same green as the totem. Then one squalled a hunting cry, and yet a dozen more throats took up the call.

What was that her mother had said about being chased by cliffracers in Vvardenfell?

Right. "Run. Cover your head, and don't forget to pray!"

Heem-jas didn't need telling twice to take off running toward the village. The hackwing flock took off.

"You go!" Varanis ordered, her hands and staff blazing with flames. "I want to investigate that temple!"

Well, since she couldn't turn her skin to stone or grow spikes like a dragon of legend, Mirri sprinted up the hill, scrambling on the uneven footing after Heem-jas. Only then did she use one of her mother's tricks. Technically, good Three-fearing Dunmer girls weren't supposed to know any daedric magic. But knowing her early interest in Daedrology, Irenni Elendis made sure her daughter knew how to get out of danger in a pinch.

She shut out the screeches for a moment, instead recalling the cool stillness of the early dawn. Then she drew it over herself like a mantle, surrounding herself in Twilight.

One hackwing had followed them. Now it squawked in confusion as it's prey vanished before its eyes.

Then the heavens opened as a firestorm engulfed the clearing. Hot air blasted through the trees, and oily, black smoke plumed up to twice the height of the trees. She covered her face, and it still left a searing afterimage against her closed eyes.

Her Mantle faded. The hackwing looked up at her from the pile of brush where the blast had hurled it and chirped pitifully. "You better thank your fetching lucky stars you weren't in there," she told it, and then rushed back into the clearing.

The temple looked a bit scorched where the moss had burned away in the flash, but otherwise the ground was damp enough that any smoldering embers should fade out. Then Varanis came out of the temple carrying a large ceramic pot filled with a glowing green liquid. "We've got a problem. Come see this."

She went inside and saw the totem painted with runes in the same dye. "The Imperials wouldn't know how to do this."

"Something to ask Olik about, I suspect."

"Something to ask their tribal elder, I suspect," she corrected. "No offense, but I'd really rather not spend my adventuring career jumping to conclusions. Besides, Olik doesn't want his own people dead. Why would he summon wild animals that are going to attack whoever is in their territory, Argonian or not?"

"Hmmm."

"Still working on that part of your theory, aren't you?"

Varanis chuckled. "Yes."

...............................

When they told tribal elder Naheesh Nurwul what they'd found, her crest of black feathers drooped. "It is as you feared. This is one of our tribe's ritual dyes, meant to call down plentiful beasts for a successful hunt. One of our own has done this."

The assembled Argonians took the news with more head-shaking. Olik said, "I don't believe that Imperials and Argonians died fighting back to back."

I'm a terrible liar, Mirri thought. "You can go see the bodies for yourself. We drove off the beasts for a while. If we're quick, we could reclaim the bodies for a proper burial."

Naheesh Nurwul said, "We will plant grave-stakes where they fell. All of them. If we can. We have a greater problem. It is clear that whoever painted the runes you describe had no idea of the proper ritual. What they did has summoned beasts from all over Black Marsh to our swamp with no hunt in mind. The beasts will keep coming as long as the totems call them. They will keep coming long after they have driven us out of Hutan-tzel, and perhaps even to the walls of Gideon."

"I will see to the grave-stakes," Olik said, sounding as sick as she felt. His frills were pressed close back to his head.

Heem-jas said, "I will go with you." They left.

Naheesh Nurwul said, "It is never pleasant to learn we were wrong. Nuvui, free the Lieutenant. We must ask him to carry our warning to his commander before we are overrun. Maybe they will help us evacuate."

Nuvui led Lieutenant Viria over to them. Though he limped a bit from sore muscles caused by the cramped quarters, he stood straight at attention to take the report to his Commander. "This explains the additional animal attacks we'd noticed. We just didn't put it all together. Pity there's no way to turn off the totems."

"There's got to be a way to stop them," Mirri said. That was what heroes did, right? Stop the destruction of villages, even if this one was self-inflicted. "We can stop the ritual, right? I'm a Daedrologist, not an Argonian shaman, but I'll do my best."

Varanis said, "It's surprising how many rituals I'd stopped by smashing something with a hammer. We saved her brother that way."

Naheesh Nurwul rustled her feathers. "You'd have to brave the abandoned xanmeer Xal Irasotl to disable the lures there. That's the center of the ritual. It will be crawling with wild beasts now. Worse, we must also brave the swamps to disable those lures at the same time. As brave as Heem-Jas is, our tribesmen have already fought and died. It would be foolhardy."

This was the moment when Varanis would say something that made everyone nod in thoughtful agreement and then decide to work together. Or maybe Mirri was about to stick her foot in her mouth.

"These beasts," she said. "They aren't picky. They'll eat Argonian, Imperial, and Dunmer alike. Even if we didn't all have self-interested reasons to work together, it seems to me that this whole conflict has spun out of control because the native Tribes and newcomer Imperials don't trust each other."

Viria and Nurwul were listening, not looking at her like she'd grown a third eye. Varanis was giving her a slow nod of encouragement.

She appealed to them, "We've got a chance to tell a different story. One where we fight, back to back as allies. Maybe we die together, back to back. Maybe we save each other this time."

After a very long pause, Viria said, "You know, they were planning on staking me out for hackwings to eat my guts."

Mirri winced.

Nuvui, very quietly, asked, "Please."

Viria nodded to her. "I'd shame my men if I didn't. I'll give the Commander my recommendation that we fight our way to the totems in the swamps."

She breathed again, feeling the mood lighten like a ray of sun piercing through an ash cloud.

"Who's going to tackle Xal Irastol and it's monsters?" Nurwul asked. "We are very grateful for your willingness to help despite everything, Lieutenant, but the xanmeer will be the most dangerous task."

"Is it a prison for another voriplasmic sorcerer?" Varanis asked.

"No. Why do you ask?"

Now she could laugh with joy and relief that she'd done it. They had an alliance. They had a fighting chance. "We can handle it!"

An Unexpected Adversary: Part 1

Mirri tied her horse to a tree by the side of the road where the gelding could graze freely. "If I don't come back, you be a good boy for your new owner, okay?"

The horse wuffed a breath at her and turned his attention to the fresh grass.

Keenly aware that she was only delaying the inevitable, she patted his flank one last time and followed Varanis into the woods to Bloodrun Cave and the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary within.

The cave mouth sat halfway up a cliff face over a river. When they climbed across the ledge to it, Eveli stood there, spinning an arrow through her fingers. "As the Dunmer say, you took your fetching time coming here."

Mirri protested, "We saved a village-"

Varanis stopped her. "Eveli, remember when King Kurog sent us to talk to the three Orc tribes, and you wanted to rush straight there? And I strolled across Orsinium, picking up every odd job we ran into?"

"And by the time we got to the strongholds, the Chiefs already knew us by reputation and were willing to listen to a couple outsiders." Eveli sighed. "Yeah, I remember."

Mirri stared. She'd thought only about helping the villagers while the Vestige was already laying the groundwork for a campaign.

Varanis shrugged back. "I promise there's some method to my madness."

..................................

Mirri gazed up at the Black Door. Carvings depicted a gaunt Dunmer woman with a knife about to kill her five children, watched over by the skull-sign of Sithis. "It's bigger than I expected."

"The Morag Tong isn't nearly so ostentatious," Varanis agreed.

"Do we just knock?" Eveli asked.

Varanis reread the letter they'd taken from the assassin's camp, then knocked on the Door.

A sepulchral wind made the hair on the back of her neck rise. They had the attention of...something.

"What is the sound that fills the unending silence?"

It was a voice from the depths of the grave. She shuddered. Eveli hugged herself.

"Death, my brother," Varanis said, and the Black Door swung open.

The assassin from Gideon stood just beyond the doorway, his hand held up to signal. Two other assassins were with him, bows drawn. "Here's the part where I say, 'Welcome home, sister.' Except you aren't my sisters, are you? Out of respect for your deep familiarity with death, Vestige, I'll forgive the sacrilege this once. I'm Elam Drals, Speaker of this Sanctuary and I promise that we aren't the murderers you're looking for."

Eveli aimed her bow at his face. "We found the black hand next to every body!"

"So? You've been duped." He retorted. "Someone set up my Sanctuary to take the blame. If you find out who, I'll even take care of them for you as a favor."

If Elam wanted to talk, Mirri would keep her eyes on the archers. Like hers, their arrow tips were darkened. "Poisoned arrows," she said to warn the others.

"Baandari," Elam said. "If the arrow doesn't kill you, you'll feel the poison for hours."

"I'm not sure I believe you." Varanis said. She stepped over the threshold.

Mirri held her breath. Elam's hand stayed up as he made way for her.

For a moment, Varanis appeared to admire the decor. Elam's Sanctuary was a great deal fancier than his camp down in the ayleid ruins. There were long red banners on the walls and expensive looking carpet on the floor. "Don't play the innocent with me." She said. "If you didn't want to pick this fight, I gave you the time to run. Now, I'll grant it might've taken a while to pack up all these nice banners..."

She put the tip of her inferno staff right under one of the banners. The fabric began to smolder and char.

"Look here, Vestige-"

Fire blossomed behind Elam. He shouted, and dropped his hand. One assassin fired; Varanis sprouted dragon wings that batted it away. The other fell with Eveli's arrow in his throat. Mirri shot the first a second later.

Then Varanis leaped up like a dragon. Up - and over Elam, crashing down like a wave between two armored figures spilling out of the fiery portal. Their black and red armor was nothing like the leathers of the Assassins. Mirri had seen them before, in the Imperial City. Varanis sent one flying head over heels with a burst of flame from her staff.

Elam, sword drawn, went for Varanis' unprotected back.

"Its the Waking Flame!" Mirri shouted at Elam.

His sword strike decapitated the other cultist. Varanis spun around to find her opponent already dead.

Mirri drew on Elam, arms shaking with nerves. After a long pause, Varanis asked him, "Shall I go back to burning down your Sanctuary, or would you like help making sure there's only one murderous death-cult in Blackwood?"

Elam too was shaking. He strode past her to a speaking tube on the wall and roared into it, "Protect the Sanctuary!" Then he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Mirri asked, "Was that a yes? I hope that was a yes. I'm getting good at killing cultists."

"That was a yes," Varanis said, and started off deeper into the Sanctuary.

"What's the Order of the Waking Flame doing here?" Eveli asked while they jogged after her. "We only just discovered this Sanctuary a few days ago. What are the odds?"

"Maybe we took too long," Mirri said.

"You said it, not me. I can't believe we're helping these assassins now instead of killing them!"

As flame blossomed ahead of them and more cultists fell out of a daedric portal, Varanis said, "Indeed, what are the odds that not one of Leovic's old councilors knew anything of his plans?"

Eveli took her shot. "We all know you're paranoid."

After Hutan-Tzel, Mirri wasn't quite as quick to doubt. One look at Eveli's frustrated expression, and she resolved to keep it to herself.

The farther they got into the Sanctuary, the more it became clear that while the assassins, caught by surprise, were no match for cultists portalling in through their defenses, neither were the cultists any match for the three women in a fair fight.

They cornered a Waking Flame battlemage by the largest portal underneath a huge stained glass window of a dagger-pierced heart. When he realized he couldn't escape, he stuck his head through the portal and screamed - faintly, the sound attenuated by the portal - "Fall back! Warn the high priest!"

He stepped back into the room, drawing an ornate sacrificial knife. "You won't get through before they close the portals."

Behind him, the stained glass swung open on silent hinges. Elam Drals dropped down to the floor with nary a sound.

"What does the Waking Flame want?" Mirri asked, more to distract the man than because she expected an answer.

"For the glory of Lord Dag-urhk!"

Elam stabbed him in the back, grabbing his shoulder to force him further down on the long blade. He hissed in the man's ear, "You're only a down payment for the deaths of my brothers and sisters. I'm going to cut your high priest's throat." Then he shook his sword free and leaped through the portal.

"Maybe he'll get himself killed and good riddance," Eveli said.

"Or he kills the high priest before we get answers." Mirri pointed out.

As Varanis led the way through the portal, Eveli muttered, "I still can't believe we're helping this assassin. He tried to kill Councilor Vandacia!"

An Unexpected Adversary: Part 2

The Sanctuary portal dumped the three women into the gloom of an unknown Ayleid ruin. They caught up with Elam, and Mirri found it disturbing how quickly he fit into the rhythm of the group's slaughter. The cultists certainly weren't prepared for enemies to come back through the portal at them. Not only were a fair number of them stumbling out of their barracks only partly armored before being cut down like wheat before a scythe, but they'd left their documents unsecured.

Eveli looked dismayed at the amount of papers in one antechamber that'd been converted to someone's office. "Where do we start?"

"Grab everything. Read it later. If it's in code, your brother can crack it," Varanis said, taking a stack of paperwork from the neatly labeled "Out" tray and stashing in it her backpack. "I wonder how thisl Imperial bureaucrat wound up in a Dagonist Cult?"

Mirri scanned the bookshelves, grabbing any book on daedra that she didn't already have access to.

"Don't weigh yourself down," Elam warned her.

"Oh, I'm a cracked acorn!" Eveli cried, holding out a letter. "This says the Black Hand notes were a red herring. The whole time we were chasing the assassins, the Waking Flame was preparing to smash-and-grab one of Leovic's caches from the Sanctuary."

Elam snatched the letter from her, scanning it. "I could have told you we were framed. Oh wait, I did tell the Vestige that!"

Varanis asked, "There was a cache in your Sanctuary?"

"I knew nothing about it. If I had, we'd have dug it up and run before you showed up."

Hoping, Mirri asked, "Could it still be there?"

Varanis shook her head. "They wouldn't have tried to close the portals if they didn't have what they wanted."

"Then the high priest has it."

Elam said, "This letter says he wants a certain book, too. Do you lot know anything about that?"

Eveli growled, "He can take it off my dead body."

The farther in they went, the more evidence they found. A small pile of Black Hand calling cards, where Elam demonstrated to Eveli's satisfaction that it wasn't his handprint. A golden amulet of the rising sun that resonated with the portals, leading them further into the ruin. An overheard conversation when Elam pulled them into a side chamber to listen as the cultists frantically responded to alarms from the breached portion of the ruin: "We have the cache and the location of the first ambition."

Unfortunately, when they burst into the room from the back entrance, the two cultists didn't actually know anything about the first ambition, or so they said.

Elam tapped the flat of his sword on his palm. "We can do this the easy way, where you two suddenly regain your memory. Or we do it the hard way, and you lose fingers first."

Their obvious terror made Mirri sick to her stomach. "No. We don't torture."

He pointed his sword at her. "You don't get answers either."

She shrank back. Varanis stepped in between them, pushing the blade down. "She's right. We don't torture."

With new courage, Mirri pointed the cultists back the way they'd came. As they scrambled off, she called after them, "You should really reconsider your life choices!"

Elam made a rude noise at her. "You Fighters are soft. If they kill more of my Family, I'll take out a contract on you myself."

Eveli stepped up to her side. "You won't get the chance. Mirri and I will take your head back to the Councilors in Leyawiin first."

"Fine words from someone who's been betrayed by her masters," he taunted back.

Varanis grimaced. Eveli snapped, "Don't try to sow division between us and them."

"King Kurog." Varanis said.

It was a non-sequitur to Elam, but Eveli flushed bright red. "Don't you even bring him up."

"So who's Kurog and what'd he do to be such a sore subject?" Elam asked, finally backing off and sitting down on a nearby crate. "Since we're just going to politely ask questions, I might as well get one of mine answered."

"Don't be petty," Varanis told him, then appealed to her, "Eveli, think about it. The Waking Flame knew exactly where the Sanctuary was, right after we handed that info directly to the Councilors and Legates. Who else could've let it slip? It has to be one of Leovic's old councilors looking for the Ambitions. Massive cults with recruitment like this don't spring out of nowhere. It took Mannimarco years of planning to build up his Worm Cult."

Eveli rubbed her forehead. "Maybe you're right. We knew, the Councilors knew, and the Legates knew. And we didn't tell the Waking Flame. Unless..." She trailed off. "In some ways, I feel like I hardly know you anymore since Orsinium. You've gotten harder, Varanis. More willing to work with bad people." She jerked her head at Elam.

A vein started to throb in Varanis' temple. "Of all the things you could accuse me of, you decide I'm in league with daedric cultists out to destroy the world?"

Eveli's eyes dropped to the floor, then flew up to Mirri. "You're a Daedrologist."

Was this what prey felt like, pierced by the gaze of its hunter? "I worship the Tribunal! Eveli, the Waking Flame nearly killed my brother Liam before we rescued him!" Belatedly, she remembered the rest of it. "The cult tried to kill me too. No way I'd help them."

Frowning, Eveli started to argue, "But-"

Varanis cut her off with a sharp chopping motion and a face like hammered iron, "Drop it, Eveli. Or you and I are done."

"Maybe the Order has spies?" Eveli suggested, her voice now a weak imitation of her usual passionate self.

Mirri suddenly felt very bad for her. Wanting to extend an olive branch, she said, "Maybe one of the Councilor's secretaries passed on the information."

"Maybe." Varanis said, turning away and leading them deeper into the ruin.

………………………………...

Mehrunes Dagon's shrine in the heart of the Ayleid ruin was impressive in a gaudy sort of way, Mirri thought. The same could be said of his high priest, who's now bloodstained crimson robes with their fanciful golden embroidery would have been garish in bright sunlight. Perhaps that was why cults frequently lived in ruins - the flickering torchlight made their costumes look less ridiculous.

You're being ridiculous, she scolded herself, knowing that she was only trying to distract herself from the uncomfortable silence that had taken hold of their group since the accusations.

Varanis scanned the bookshelves, her body still rigid with unspent fury. Eveli picked through the high priest's pockets like she was doing her chores. The mood had even infected Elam. He hadn't made a single crack at anyone.

It was up to her to break the ice. She cleared her throat. "Did that seem a little too easy to anyone else?"

Elam nudged the high priest's foot with his boot. "Yeah. That was a high priest. Just not THE high priest."

Eveli sat back with a thump, holding up a piece of paper. "Varanis?" She asked, sounding for all the world like a lost kitten.

Varanis went to her side, read the paper, and sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I trusted him!" Eveli wailed, and when Varanis hesitantly offered, wrapped the other woman in a bear hug, burying her face into her armored shoulder. "I told him everything!"

Elam picked up the paper. "Well..."

Hardly believing her own daring, Mirri plucked the paper from his hand. "Don't say it." She muttered.

The "I told you so" on his lips died, unspoken. At least Eveli couldn't see him smirk.

She read the salutation, "In the name of our Lord of Fire and Flood, High Priest Vandacia."

"Well, fetch."

"I trusted him." Eveli wiped at her tears. "Trees and acorns, this is like King Kurog all over again. I trust someone in charge and then they hire assassins to kill people. Now Vandacia knows everything and it's my fault."

"We stopped Kurog. We'll stop Vandacia too." Varanis assured her.

Mirri read the rest of the letter. "Oh, fetch!" She exclaimed. "They're attacking Leyawiin. Vandacia's going to kill the Councilors!"

"You three have fun with that." Elam said. "What? I'd be shot on sight. Do me a favor, though. Give my best to Vandacia, and I don't mean politely asking him questions."

An Unexpected Adversary: Part 4

As Mirri and Varanis chased Vandacia through the castle corridors, they first collected Eveli's brother Beragon, then Eveli and Rian. Those two had been hot on the heels of Councilor Lovidicus running for his life, and the realization that he was heading straight for Vandacia was enough to send them all racing after him.

The chase ended in the castle's open courtyard. Vandacia had Lovidicus wrapped in bonds of red magic and used them to drag him up a flight of stairs towards a portal. "I will finish what the Longhouse Emperors started. You'll tell me everything you know before you die screaming."

For his part, Lovidicus flopped about like a dying fish, fighting the bonds with everything he had.

Eveli shot at him. Mirri fired her shot at his knee. Let him block that!

Portals sucked up both arrows. Vandacia hauled Lovidicus upright in the air as a human shield. "I'll kill him!"

Varanis stalked towards him. "Put him down gently, or I'll jump you again."

Vandacia dropped him. Lovidicus hit the pavement with a scream as his ankle bent unnaturally. Beragon and Rian rushed to his side; Beragon drapping his arm over his shoulders to help him limp to safety, while Rian covered them both with his shield.

"I will do you all a favor," Vandacia said with grandiose generosity. "I shall allow you to gaze upon the power that Mehrunes Dagon has already promised me, before I unlock the Four Ambitions and ascend to powers undreamed of." He called put to the sky, "Lord of Fire and Flood, hear your high priest. Send forth a champion!"

Yet another portal opened in front of Varanis. Some muscle bound monstrosity of a daedra with skin the color of a boiled lobster stepped out. Three of its four arms carried hooked blades. At full height, it towered over Varanis.

"Behold, the Ruinach," Vandacia announced.

Varanis made a rude sound. "Molag Bal's champions are bigger than yours."

Vandacia gasped in outrage. The Ruinach roared, and reached out to seize Varanis.

This time, Varanis was the distraction, spitting insults behind her shield and keeping the Ruinach focused on her while Eveli and Mirri peppered it with arrows. While dragonknight fire had little effect on its deadlands-toughened hide, it only took a few minutes for the accumulated Baandari poison to take effect. The Ruinach began to stumble.

Vandacia shouted down, "Just kill her already!"

Following it's master's command, the Ruinach grasped one sword with both upper hands and raised it high for a devasting slash. Varanis met it in a solid defensive stance. Daedric metal clanged, and the sword flew right back out of its grasp. It blinked once, then twice, in utter confusion at its empty hands.

Eveli fired an arrow straight into its left eye. It fell to one knee shaking its massive head.

Mirri drew back her own arrow for the kill. The beast was dazed. It's master was absorbed in the fight, banging his fist on the stair railway and shouting exhortations.

She fired, and the arrow flew straight and true at Vandacia.

At the very last second, a portal swallowed it up. Vandacia fled through a second portal and was gone.

……………………….

That night after he'd been seen to by the healers, Councilor Lovidicus hosted the five of them in his private chambers. "I don't have any food to offer you," he apologized. "You are welcome to any of the contents of my liquor cabinet. Please, help yourselves."

The healers had taken care of his shattered ankle and heavy bruising. Mirri thought they couldn't do much for the mantle of worry that weighed down his shoulders. Vandacia was out there planning who knew what for the Four Ambitions, and his rampage had effectively gutted Leyawiin's court.

"Is there any rotmeth?" Beragon asked. He and Eveli had food: platters of meat the two of them had roasted. It smelled like pork; it probably wasn't.

"Probably?" Lovidicus shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't know. My manservant Aquillus would have known. He collected vintages to serve to guests of any tastes. Now he's dead. When the cultists arrived, he blocked the door to buy me time to escape and they cut him down."

He rested his forehead in his hands. Seeing his regard for his servant, Mirri went to the cabinet, found the rotmeth and selected a few very good wine bottles, and brought them back to the meeting table with glasses. "We'll drink to his memory."

They poured. Lovidicus raised his glass. "To Aquillus, and death to Vandacia."

Everyone echoed back the toast. Varanis set her glass down first. "Vandacia is following the model of Mannimarco in slowly building up his Order of the Waking Flame into a force to be reckoned with."

"You would know how to deal with that better than anyone, Vestige."

She shrugged. "The Worm Cult started shedding recruits once they started losing."

Mirri added, "I've noticed in my studies that most people who bargain with daedra are overconfident. They expect victory, and when that doesn't happen, they fall apart."

"It still won't be easy," Varanis warned. "The Worm Cult had people high up in each of the three alliances. About the only person in power in Blackwood I'm absolutely certain isn't complicit in the Waking Flame is Keshu the Black Fin. If she is, we might as well give up."

Mirri said, "I think we can add Councilor Lovidicus to that list." When Varanis raised an eyebrow, she raised her glass of wine in reply.

"Ah, that's a good point," Varanis admitted, then stuck out her hand to the Councilor. "I apologize. Mirri's right - a man who's closest servants will die for him isn't the sort who looses murderers on his own household."

He shook on it. "Speaking of murderers..."

Eveli said, "I was wrong. The Waking Flame framed the Dark Brotherhood, then followed us to their Sanctuary to steal one of Leovic's caches. They've found the location of the first ambition."

Beragon held up a piece of paper. "I'm nearly done working on the code from the originals you brought me, with the help of what you recovered from their base in the ruin. Give me a bit of time here." He took another bite of meat, then scribbled down another couple of letters.

"Are the Dark Brotherhood still a problem?" Captain Rian asked.

"A problem for another day, I think." Varanis said. "Their Speaker wants revenge on Vandacia for invading his Sanctuary."

Rian sighed with relief. "We'll keep protecting the Legates and Countess Caro. This mess could be worse."

Beragon set down his paper. "The ambition is in a vault, hidden in the Ojel-bak. That's not code - it's Argonian."

"It's a place in the deep southern Blackwood Marsh," Lovidicus said. "I don't know much, except that Imperial taxmen sent there don't come back. We haven't bothered for years." He pursed his lips. "Though I have to wonder if Leovic didn't have a hand in that, since he hid an ambition there."

"We'll ask Governor Keshu if she knows anything more when we ride through Gideon," Mirri said. "If she doesn't, Glenbridge is only a short detour to ask Nisswo Somarz. If anyone knows, she would." Once again, she thought the method to Varanis' questing madness showed its value.

The meeting broke up soon after. Mirri poured herself another glass of a rich, dry red now that it didn't matter if she let herself get pleasantly tipsy. She sat down by Eveli, who was steadily drinking her rotmeth. "You doing okay?"

"Did Varanis tell you about Kurog?"

"Just the basics."

"So there I am, a fresh-faced adventurer out to make a name for myself. This Orc lady chases me down, saying "Orsinium needs heroes!" I go there, meet the Vestige of all people, team up with her to save some folks and defeat a rebel army all to help the new king of the orcs unify his people into a real nation for the first time in centuries. I'm gonna be a hero, right?"

"Sounds like what I expected when Xigira hired our team to crack that doomvault."

"Varanis had doubts about Kurog after he executed some rebel chiefs. I didn't want to hear it. I was gonna be a hero! Problem was, Kurog didn't want to compromise with the traditionalist clans. He wanted to rule with an iron fist. He and his mother cooked up a false flag operation using assassins and religious terrorists to murder their allied chiefs and pin the blame on the traditionalists."

Eveli took a big gulp of rotmeth, coughed, and continued. "High Priestess Solgra was my friend. She didn't want to be a part of their lies, so they killed her. We killed them. I got the final blow on Kurog and ate his heart for breakfast. It didn't help. And that's the sad story of how I found out that being a hero means you watch good people die because you trusted the wrong person."

Mirri put an arm around her. The smaller elf snuggled against her side. "I know I got lucky in the doomvault that we could save my brother and all our friends. I'm still learning how to judge people better."

Eveli drained her glass. "You know the saying, 'It's better to be lucky than good?' I'm the unlucky hero. Varanis is good. You? Stay lucky. It's better that way."

A Mother's Obsession: Part 2

Under-root Bank was a two story building in the Dunmer style, with bank vaults underneath watched by a member of Stormhold's guards. Mirri hoped the ink pot was in an office upstairs, because if it was in a vault, she was just going to have to pull a spare fortune from her behind to buy the ink pot back. "It's too bad I suck at cards."

"I used to play," Varanis said wistfully. "That was a long time ago, and against my fellow officers, not a banker with a head for numbers." She added, "Worse, I'm about as stealthy as a bull kagouti in mating season. Best I can do is guarantee that Under-Root will be tied up for several hours dealing with me so she won't know when the ink pot goes missing."

How was she going to do that? "At least come get me out of jail if I get caught."

Once in the bank, Mirri tried to act casual while Varanis marched right up to the counter where Under-root waited. She leaned over the counter to speak confidentially to the Argonian woman. "I'm hearing rumors that gold inflation from the dragon hoards at Elsweyr is driving some Merchant Guilds to bankruptcy. I want to review my membership agreements and responsibilities. Can you pull my sales records and go over them with me to make sure everything's in order?"

"Of course," Under-root said, "As always, I swear on my mother's egg tooth that your riches are well looked after."

"Oh, I believe you." She followed Under-root into a side room. Mirri risked a look. No ink pot. Whew! "It's just with the rumors, I'm worried that I should diversify out of the potion business and..." The door shut behind them.

Mirri shrugged and said to the guard, "Sounds like that could take awhile. Guess I'll go upstairs and look for a different banker."

The bankers' desks were upstairs. Under-root's had to be the largest, and there, in pride of place with a swooping feather in it, was the ugliest lump of clay ever formed into an ink pot. It looked like her little siblings made it. This was priceless?

The other Dunmer banker, who's brass nameplate read 'Seviel Andril', tugged on his vest and cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Under-root is helping another client, and I-"

"Am here for the ink pot," he finished. "You're the fifth sap Mirtulivon sent for it in the past month. Now you can go quietly, or I can call the guard."

Fetch. If she left, it'd be hours before she could cobble up a Plan C with Varanis. Time for Plan B: bribe him. "If Under-root has you guarding her things, shouldn't she be paying you a guard's salary too?"

"You know, I do believe you're the first one to offer me a proper cut of the deal. What do you want that ugly thing so bad for?"

"He knows where my mother went."

"Well, then-" He named a price. It was most of her ready cash. She handed it over without complaint. "Pleasure doing business with you."

She emptied and pocketed the ink pot. On the way out, she told the several waiting customers, "You'll have to go upstairs for service." With any luck, Serjo Andril would serve so many, there'd be no point in trying to guess which one walked off with it while he was busy.

……………………….

Mirtulivon inspected the lumpen pot in minute detail, stroking his grey beard as he turned it over and over. Satisfied, he said, "I told your mother that Edvilda Stone-Stalker, another antiquity hunter, made a discovery about the ancient Dwemer in Stonefalls she might be interested in. Out near Steamfont. Now you toddle off."

Mother loved Dwemer stuff. She got it from Grandfather, who'd practically loved Dwemer stuff more than his family. That lead would've been like mating pheromones to a bull netch. Even though she wanted to blame the elf for Mother's long absence, it wasn't really his fault.

"What's with the 'priceless' ink pot?" She asked instead.

"Do you have any idea how rare it is that something this wretched came out of Summerset? It's even made by a Sapiarch of Ceramics back in his early days of study. Normally they'd smash it all to bits. It's uniquely bad!"

"I think I'd rather have a pretty one, but whatever makes you happy."

Varanis met her at the wayshrine a few hours after the midday meal. Mirri asked, "Do you know a wayshrine near Steamfont in Stonefalls?"

"Steamfont? There's a crafters camp out that way." Varanis held one hand up to the Wayshrine's central brazier and the other out for Mirri to grasp. "Davon's Watch, coming right up."

Stonefalls was as hot as the marsh, and as dry as Shadowfen was wet. A thin haze of ash particles greyed the sky. The Velothi Mountains dominated the sky ahead while walls of Davon's Watch rose up behind them.

"Ah, the sulfur smell of home." Varanis sighed.

"You live here?"

"Grew up east of Kragenmoor, south of here. I'm named for the region. There's a dolmen there with the same name as me; I'm pretty sure Molag Bal is still dropping a dark anchor there out of pure spite."

A Nord guard wearing Pact armor stopped. "Are you the hero of Davon's Watch? I'd like to shake your hand."

For the next ten minutes, Varanis was politely mobbed by well-wishers. Then the higher ranking Pact officers arrived, wanting to talk strategy. At that point, Varanis broke free for a quick conference with her. "Thanks to the mountains, Steamfont is about two hours ride out to the coast and then the same ride southwest. If you want to go now, I understand. Just realize it'll be getting dark a few hours later if you have to search around."

"Knowing mother, we're going to be searching for a while. Antiquity hunters like the person she was meeting move around a lot and sometimes even hide their tracks so it's harder to snipe their finds." The more she thought, the more rushing out sounded like a bad idea. "I hate to wait when she might be hurt or in trouble. I'm just afraid I'd miss something in the dark."

"Then we'll leave well before dawn tomorrow."

Maybe her remaining coin would cover an inn room and renting a horse. She dug into her purse. She'd rent the stable nag.

"I promised you a mount, didn't I," Varanis said. "What's your favorite color: gold, black, white, or red?"

"Er, gold?" Gold sounded properly heroic.

"Right." Varanis dug around in her pack for a while, pulling out four of the most gorgeous peacock feathers she'd ever seen.

Emerald, jet black, milky with opalescent highlights...she poked the gold one, "I can't believe it's not gilded."

"Put them all together." Varanis stepped back.

The feathers were silky soft. Not knowing what to expect, she took them all and fanned them out. A warm wind swirled around her, tugging at the feathers, and motes in the four colors began to dance around her. The wind tugged harder, and it felt right to let go.

The motes and feathers became a whirlwind, and when they settled, a young buck indrik stood in front of her. His fur and feathers shone in a thousand shades of gray from steel to silver. Though so young that his horn and rack weren't sharp, he was a Prince of steeds. When she petted his snout, it was as soft as she'd dreamed.

"He's adorable! My sisters are gonna be so jealous when they see you."

Varanis held out a handful of glowing golden berries. "Feed him these. It'll turn his feathers and antlers golden."

She hugged his neck. He whuffed at her hair. "No way. He's perfect!"

A Hidden Vault: Part 1

Back in Gideon, they met Eveli and Governor Keshu at the stables. "Is that an indrik?" Eveli asked as she checked the saddle on her bay horse. "Legend says those are blessed by Y'ffre."

"Varanis gave him to me. I call him 'Lucky.'" He really was the perfect hero's steed, since she could summon him with a snap of her fingers just like the flaming panther.

"A good name."

Varanis asked, "Do you want one?"

"No, but if you find something that flies, let me know. Can you imagine me raining down arrows from the sky?"

The Black Fin watched them with the amusement of someone's who's favored mount was a famously bad tempered welwa ravager that had once taken on a wamasu and won. "The natural formation Ojel-bak where Leovic hid these weapons, also called the pit of the outsider, is several days ride to the south deep in territory claimed by the warlike Sul-Xan tribe. These Naga killed every Imperial emissary sent to them and periodically raid nearby tribes and villages. I do not doubt your courage and capability after the tale of your deeds at Hutan-Tzel, but..." She spread her hands. "It's not wise to pick more than one fight at a time."

"We'll avoid fighting where we can," Varanis assured her.

"Bring back whatever you find. Gideon will keep the Ambitions safe from Vendacia and his traitors."

………………………….

The farther south they rode, the deeper, denser, and darker the forests got. Then the ground dipped as they entered a valley: Ojel-bak. "What do you think they did to outsiders here?" Mirri asked, undeniably nervous as they crept around the valley edge away from the multitude of tribal campfires in the center.

"Probably sacrificed them to Sithis," Eveli said.

Mirri shuddered.

"Or," Varanis said, "perhaps it means 'The Outsider', as in someone outside of Nirn entirely." She pointed through a gap in the pine trees where a spire of black metal could be seen. "That's a doomvault and it looks like it's been here a long time."

They broke through the trees into the Doomvault's clearing to find Lyranth tapping her foot waiting for them by the doors. "Oh good, my professional ward-breakers have arrived."

Eveli groaned, pressing her hand to her head. Mirri grabbed her so she didn't fall. "Ugh, another vision from that stupid book. Why is it always at the worst time?"

Lyranth said, "It's the Mysterium Xarxes. Written by Mehrunes Dagon himself. If the worst it does is give you headaches and visions, little mortal, you should be grateful."

Eveli took the hidebound book from her pack and carried it to the door of the doomvault. "It wants to be here."

Red light the same color of Vandacia's magic flared out from the crack of the door and hit the Mysterium Xarxes. A series of symbols scrawled themselves over the doors, answered by a scrawl of symbols flowing out of the book. The huge metal doors began to grind open.

Eveli swayed, and leaned on Mirri's shoulder. "It's called the Doomvault Capraxus. I don't know how I know that."

Mirri said, "Probably the daedric artifact you're carrying around. It's not exactly his razor, but still, be careful with it."

Eveli nodded.

Lyranth marched forward, "I sense the Ambitions are still inside. Cultists too, it goes without saying."

"Right," Mirri said. "I think we've got fighting cultists down to a science."

Much like the doomvault she'd been excavating when it all went wrong, Capraxus was much larger on the inside. Passages alternated with bits of Blackwood merging into the lava pits and thundering sky of the Deadlands. Bog dogs squabbled with clannfears for the scraps of cultists unlucky enough to get in their way. Hackwings harrassed a daedroth, sending it fleeing from the tree that held their nests, even as the tree's leaves wilted and crisped in the dry heat.

It was Eveli's first time in a doomvault. "This place is huge!"

Lyranth said, "Each one is a small pocket of Oblivion, or more accurately, a little pocket of space where Oblivion can bleed into Nirn and Nirn into Oblivion. Of course, to Mehrunes Dagon, they are one and the same."

She'd heard this one from other books on Daedrology. "Isn't that the Dagonist conspiracy that Nirn is just another Oblivion Realm, and Lorkhan was its Prince?"

"Silly mortals. So close and so far. Dagon believes that Nirn is his realm of Oblivion. In the doomvaults, his belief becomes truth. Both realms change, becoming a new one." She scratched at her chin. "Hmm, perhaps that explains the purpose of these Ambitions."

"What sort of weapon creates a new world?" Mirri wondered.

Varanis said, "The Dark Anchors pulled bits of Tamriel into Coldharbor. I'm expecting something similar."

Eveli pointed at the reflective walls, many of which bore the intaglio of a ram with curved horns. "Maybe some sort of battering ram, meant to breach the walls between Nirn and Oblivion?"

"That makes sense," Mirri agreed. "The Longhouse Emperors didn't expect that Varen Aquilarios would overthrow them and then promptly break the Alessian Covenant, thus removing all of Akatosh's protection against daedric invasions. Their plan wasn't ready, then."

They reached another warded door. Lyranth said, "I sense the Ambitions are very close."

Eveli raised up the Mysterium Xarxes again. Symbols flew. "Here goes nothing."

The doors to the weapons vault swung wide, revealing a bedroom. A rather frilly bedroom with lacy curtains and bedspread on a four poster bed. Another bed stood further into the very large room, minus the lace. The walls were covered with bookshelves, not weapons racks, and paintings that were either still lifes of everyday items scattered around the Vault or of the same subject: a young red haired Imperial man with a tight beard, usually casting spells.

"Um?" A young woman with the same shade of reddish hair peeked out from behind a painter's easel, "Are you our new caretakers?"

The man from the painting stepped out from behind a pillar. "They look more dangerous than the last lot, Calia. Be careful."

Mirri asked her, "This looks like your home. Where are the weapons?"

"Weapons? We don't have any. Destron's got a pocket knife."

Destron said, "Calia's paintings have done a real number on my ego."

"Oh, shut up!"

Even if it weren't for the family resemblance between the two, the bickering made her certain that they were siblings. Twins, probably. "You two remind me of my family. I wasn't expecting to find people in here."

While Lyranth, Eveli, Varanis spread out to check the bookshelves, Destron asked, "So why'd you break our guardian wards? We felt it, you know. The Emperor used to visit with teachers for us, and they never needed to do that."

"Well, we're not really here to teach you. I mean, we will - if you want to come with us."

"I knew it!" Destron told his sister. "No one's come to visit in years."

Varanis came over, saying, "Emperor Leovic is dead."

Both twins' jaws dropped. "Then what do we do?" Calia asked.

"His Empire has fragmented over the last six years. We're here on behalf of what remains of his Elder Council, looking for Daedric weapons we believe the Emperor hid inside your vault." Varanis said. "There's a rather dangerous cult chasing after the same weapons and I suggest that you evacuate with us rather than wait here for them to find you."

She'd played a little fast and loose with the truth for Mirri's taste, but perhaps this wasn't the time for lengthy explanations. Not when Eveli jogged back from the far doors, saying, "I'm pretty sure the cultists have found us. If we're gonna check the deeper vaults for weapons, we'd better leave now."

Lyranth said, "I sense something about these two. I'll stick with them."

Was the dremora trying to hint at something? "I'll stay with them too."

Destron grabbed his journal. Calia fretted over her painting. "It's not dry yet."

"We'll buy you more paints in Gideon after you make it out alive," Varanis said. "Go with Mirri."

The Rising Winds: Part 1

On their fast ride down to the Ojel-bak, the three women had ridden past the Argonian village of Stonewastes. Now, on the return journey, Mirri spotted smoke rising from above the trees. "Something's very wrong."

"More cultists?" Destron asked.

Looking for all the world like a mother hen fluffing her feathers to protect her chicks, Varanis stood tall in her stirrups to get a better look. Then, wheeling her panther around, she told them, "Stay here, I'll be but a moment."

"Last time you said that-" and she'd ridden off, leaving Eveli and the twins staring at Mirri. "Wanna hear about the time I saved Varanis?"

"Heck, yes!" Eveli said.

By the time she'd finished telling the fight with the voriplasm duplicates, Varanis returned, reporting, "The fight was already over. Some warlord is picking off the fringes of Sul-Xan territory and extorting supplies from villagers to prepare for the inevitable showdown. Stonewastes has protectors - four of them - but this warlord killed one of the friends, and now the other three have decided to stick their heads in the sand while he destroys a house each time the villagers don't cough up enough food."

"What?" Mirri exclaimed. "You can't just take breaks when people are depending on you."

Eveli said, "I took a break after Orsinium. Sometimes you need time to grieve."

"That was afterwards, though."

Varanis said, "At least it's a healthier reaction to a friend dying than learning necromancy to bring them back. I've seen that."

"Ugh."

"Or joining a daedric cult and swearing vengeance against the gods because their child died. I've seen that too. Twice."

"Why don't these heroes want revenge? If those bandits killed Mom, I don't know what I would've done."

"Used an ancient volcanic spirit to rain death and destruction on them, and also half of Stonefalls?" Varanis suggested. "Or lured hundreds of wild beasts near their camp to drive them off? I'm not saying ignoring a warlord in your backyard is a good idea, but it's a lot better than some of the roaring rampages of revenge I've seen."

Bringing up Olik was a hit below the belt. "I would've just killed the bandits."

Calia ventured, "Can we help them? Since their heroes won't."

Varanis said, "I'd feel a lot safer with you off the road and in Gideon."

Last night, she'd thought about priorities. The need to keep the twins safe, balanced against the bigger picture of what the Waking Flame was doing in Blackwood. At Hutan-Tzel, she'd seen how local conflicts could create far-reaching consequences. Now, perhaps she was seeing a whole different aspect to being a hero: what to do when something unexpected came up and you couldn't walk away in good conscience. Maybe Varanis planned on wayshrining back here later. Still..."You go on to Gideon. I'll stay."

Varanis nodded in approval. "You're ready. And it's a good idea to make sure no one is cooking up another crazy revenge scheme."

"Is that safe?" Destron asked. "For us and for you?"

"They've already got three heroes. All I have to do is convince them to fight." Mirri said. "You'll be safe with Varanis; she's the Vestige!"

"What's a Vestige?"

Leaving them to that long tale for the road, Mirri rode Lucky into Stonewastes. Most of the village buildings were Argonian reed houses built high up on stilts to keep them out of the seasonal floods. Several homes had been wrecked - one looked like Breton cheese with all the holes punched through its walls - and the pale-scaled village blacksmith who hailed her down was battered and bruised like all the others.

"Oh," he said with some disappointment, "I had hoped - never mind."

"I'm Mirri and I'm here to help. It sounds to me like your protectors need a little push to get off their butts."

"Maybe a strange Dunmer showing up will motivate them. Or maybe not. The Four Winds quarreled even before Warlord Naxhosa killed Satul-Sa."

After a little persuasion, Nuxul the Smith agreed to lead her around the village outskirts where the Winds lived.

The first, Elossi the Sudden Gust, was known for her stealth. So when they found her home empty with the evening meal half-prepared, Mirri said, "Hey, Elossi, since you're probably watching us right now, how about you and the rest of the Winds deal with Naxhosa before someone else has to clean up your mess?"

Silence.

Nuxul said, "Maybe you shouldn't be quite so insulting to people you are asking to help."

There was movement out of the corner of her eye. She ducked and pivoted, and a flying dagger thunked into the wooden slat where her head had been.

"Oh, fetch. I was rude. I'm sorry!"

A blackscaled Argonian woman in leather armor appeared, blocking the door. "Well, at least your reflexes are as sharp as your speech, dry-skin." Elossi sharpened her claws on another dagger. "I'd thrown my daggers into the swamp after my quarrel with Satul-Sa. I needed them back to avenge her, no?"

Now she really wished a pit of quicksand would open up under her feet and swallow her whole. "I've been a real s'wit. I shouldn't have assumed you weren't going to fight."

Elossi made a hacking sort of laugh. "I wasn't going to. I was watching your group on the road and figured your very capable looking adventurer-friend would take care of the problem. But then she rode off, and I was angry at her. Angry enough that I resolved to get my daggers and avenge my friend and our village properly."

"I had no idea you were watching us." She admitted, chagrined.

"Come with me and learn, dryskin."

Elossi drilled her relentlessly in stealth techniques all the way to the cave where Meer-Ta "the Zephyr Eternal" lived. She emphasized, "Mages only brute force their way to invisibility. You must never forget the basics. The direction of the wind, your footing, your silhouette, the play of light and shadow across your surroundings...combine that with just a hint of illusion, and you will be harder to spot than a chameleon."

"Is Meer-Ta a mage?"

"Yes," Elossi admitted with a grimace. "He's as grumpy as he is good, and he's very, very good. You'd best go on alone. I haven't kept up with him or Otumi-Ra for good reasons."

This time, with a lot more respect for the idea of actually learning from these heroes, she approached the green-robed Argonian who was muttering over the translation of some ancient runes.

"Pardon me, Serjo. Elossi and I-"

He looked up from the runes and practically bared his teeth. "Sounds like a load of 'not my business.' Now get out of mine."

"A warlord killed Satul-Sa."

"So what."

"I thought you were friends?"

"Key word: were. Why are you still here? No, don't answer that question. Just leave."

By Vehk, he was ruder than a Telvanni Magelord! He sure wasn't going teach her anything. Even Tiras Terethi softened up a bit once they saved him, which gave her an idea.

So she offered, "Can I do anything to help your research, to make up for lost time while you help the village defeat the bandits?"

"Nope. My work could make history. It brooks no delays."

Just like a Telvanni, completely absorbed in secretive learning. "Then at least tell me where I can find Otumi-Ra so I can ask him for help."

Meer-Ta stared at her from under lowered brows. "You want the drunken lout?"

He sounded properly irritated, like she'd pricked his pride. Just like a Telvanni - rivalries and all.

She tried to channel Eveli's sincere enthusiasm, fully aware that he could fry her if he thought she was being the least bit sarcastic. "Elossi's going to help me fight Naxhosa and protect the village. Since you're too busy with very important matters, I'll need all the help I can get."

"Khah-khah-khah!" He burst out laughing, clutching his chest and wheezing. "You want - khah - the drunken sod - khah - oh Sithis, it's too funny. Southwest, by the cliffside. Prepare to be disappointed."

Elossi made a face when she returned with the bad news. "Go into the swamp and get the seeds of a briar plant. We'll need them to wake Otumi-Ra from his stupor. Practice stealth."

Fully expecting that Elossi was watching her from a distance, Mirri headed out into the swamp. Moving from tree to tree, she avoided the crocodiles sunning themselves on the pond's shores. While the wind blew her scent away, a quick dash under Twilight's Mantle brought her past a pair of giant bloodsucking mosquitoes with nothing worse than a natural-looking rustle of leaves. The only mishap came after she had the seeds. As she was skirting around a lizard-bear lounging on a fallen tree, the wind shifted. It's head shot up, and it looked straight at her. She froze, not sure if she should grab her bow. It bolted off the trunk and ran deeper into the woods.

If she'd seen it, Elossi didn't say anything. Just pointed her to the yard of a rather ramshackle house, "The briar pods stink to high heaven! Shove 'em under his nose to drive out the drink."

Cautiously, Mirri sniffed the seeds. "I don't smell anything."

"You're a dryskin, s'wit."

Feeling like a fool, she climbed into the yard. Otumi-Ra was big for an Argonian and made taller yet by a full frill of horns. He was stretched out lying on his back, mumbling drunken nonsense to the sky.

"Glad we don't have to drag you anywhere," she muttered, sticking the seeds near his snout.

He sniffed, growled, and slapped her hand away. Then he rolled over, shaking his head as he slowly got back to his feet. "What sort of bandit wakes a man up with a stink bomb before robbing him?"

"What sort of hero gets drunk when people need him?" Mirri retorted.

Elossi told her, "Go wash your hands. Let me talk to him."

When she got back, they were inside the hut. Otumi-Ra had his head in his hands, and half of another bottle gone. "I wanted to ask her to be my mate," he said. "Now she's dead and I never will. Of course I'll help. And if I help, Meer-Ta won't be able to stay away."

"Excellent!" Mirri said.

He put up one finger. "Before we go, we drink to success."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea."

"Whyever not?" He got up and began collecting a number of bottles. "It's not enough to fight glorious battles and come out victorious. We must enjoy life. Party!"

He poured a small amount of berry-ale, then mixed in some red absinthe. "I've traded the warrior life for a brewer's. Come, let me see your zest for life!"

He poured two more liquors in and plunked two cups down on the table in front of her and Elossi. "It tastes good, I promise. Drink up, young hero."

She looked to Elossi. Elossi saluted her with her own cup.

She could drink it. In the not so distant past, she'd hang with the Fighters, drink a whole bottle of wine or more, and then go out and fight at the Deshaan dolmens with nary a hangover. Except that Varanis had pierced right to the heart of the matter, and Mirri couldn't deny her own bad habits any longer.

"No." She said.

"I'm going to have to call you some rude names for refusing, young hero."

"My mentor says, 'Save the drinking for after you've won.' I hate it, cause I really like the taste of wine. But she's right. After we win, I'll drink it and enjoy every drop. Beforehand, I need my actual courage, not the liquid variety." Belatedly, she realized that might have been an insult. "Ah, I don't mean that you're a coward, just-"

He bellowed laughter. Elossi hacked right along with him. He clapped her on the shoulder, saying, "After the battle, then. Let me set my standard where Meer-Ta can see it, and we'll get to the business of teaching this Naxhosa and his bandits that he shouldn't mess with the Four Winds."

"The Three Winds," Mirri said. "And me."

"Are you not Mirri, 'The Wandering Breeze' who brought fresh air to our stagnant friendships after so long apart?" He asked.

"You are one of us," Elossi said. "The Four Winds will fight together once more before you wander away, as you must."

She could only bow and say, "I'd be honored."

That was a really great take on the Winds quest.

Get it Mirri.

(And awww Garyn.)

The Ghostwriter of Giovesse: Part 3

Mirri trudged back to the chapel with a bag of golden armor she'd taken from Astella's necromantic tower lair banging against her back. She'd have to remember to thank Tiras for clearing the spirits on the castle grounds because fighting with this load would've been a pain. This much gold ornamentation on top of the gold washed plate was heavy!

Someone shouted in the chapel. She broke into a light jog. The armor started to clang.

Then Tiras screamed "Mirri?!"

She dumped the armor and sprinted into the chapel.

"Mirri!" He shouted when he saw her, banishing lantern held high, and otherwise bug-eyed with shock. Yisara was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" She demanded.

He stared around him as though Yisara might reappear if he shone the light into all the corners. When she didn't, he began to take deep breaths while trying to speak. "We tried - she wanted -"

Frustration made her want to shake him and scream, "What happened?!" As though that would help. He was trying; she needed to be patient. "Just breathe," she said.

After about thirty seconds, he managed to calm down enough to say, "He took her. Mathen. He took Yisara."

"Not Astella?" Mirri asked, astonished. "I found proof she was the one who set the curse in motion."

"No. Yisara wanted more notes for her book, right? So we used her lantern on the scroll. Astella showed up and admitted everything. She got shirty, but didn't want to mess with my lantern."

"So how'd Mathen get involved?"

"Yisara wanted to see him again."

"But he's a ghost."

"That's what I said." Tiras shook his head in disappointment. "She told me I didn't have room to talk after making eyes at you the whole time, and used her lantern on that Ring of Mara. He showed up, professed undying love for her, and swept her off her feet. Literally. They vanished. What was I supposed to do? Banish him?"

Her first thought was, 'Yes, you should have.' No, that was hardly fair to Tiras, who was honestly doing much better at keeping a level head in a crisis this time. Instead, she said, "I found Mathen's armor. Can you use that to make him bring Yisara back?"

He thought, then nodded. "Actually, you said you found Astella's lair? With the scroll, this ring, and the armor, I can free the whole castle from the curse."

Once inside the tower, Tiras squared his shoulders and began to move with real confidence. "It's still set up for the last ritual. We need to reverse it so their spirits are encouraged to move on." At his direction, Mirri hauled the brazier to the west under the setting sun and burned the scroll in it.

"Are we also doing necromancy?" She asked.

"Technically, it's done on humans, so no." He answered, absorbed in drawing symbols on the ritual altar with charcoal.

She coughed. He looked up, then bit his lip in embarrassment. "Oh, I mean..."

After a long while as he searched for words, she added, "I'm not terribly squeamish," by way of reassurance.

Relieved, he explained, "I'm adapting a Dunmer ancestral rite that can calm an angered tomb guardian. So no, its not really necromancy even by Mages Guild standards. I will need to concentrate, though, so you'll have to either banish them or persuade Astella and Mathen to go peacefully. "

"And persuade Yisara to stay. Now I'm sort of wondering what trysting with a ghost is like."

"Cold, I imagine," he said, then raised his hands over the armor and began to call the spirits of Castle Giovesse to attention.

Mirri raised Yisara's lantern high for hopefully the last time. The three ghosts appeared. Astella looked like she wanted to die as Yisara was locked in a passionate embrace with Mathen. He was still barechested, but at least he'd put on the gold-washed pants from his armor.

"Yisara, are you alright?"

Yisara stopped kissing Mathen long enough to rest her head on his broad chest. "Just a little dizzy. Mathen, you take my breath away!"

Astella folded her arms and turned her face away. "Why do you torment me so? Just let my son and me go on to Aetherius while you live your tawdry lowborn life."

"You're one to talk about tawdry," Mirri told her. "You're the one who's going to end up the selfish, controlling, necromancer villain of a bestselling romance novel."

Yisara sighed, "Oh, right. I was supposed to be taking notes, wasn't I." Ghostly Yisara began to fade back into reality.

Astella also began to fade, into Aetherius. "Mathen?"

He looked at his still very ghostly, unfading, hands. "Why aren't I moving on? I must still be tied to the ring." He gazed at Yisara with doe-like lover's eyes. "And to you, my love."

Yisara put her hands over her heart and began to breathe deeply again. "Oh. Sweet Morwha."

Astella wailed, "Mathen, no!" Then she was gone and neither of the lovers paid her any mind.

"He loves me," Yisara said. "I love you too, Mathen!"

"I'm tied to the ring," Mathen told her. "Wear it, and I will remain your attentive and devoted Guardian. I'm, ah, not quite sure how the rest of it will work though, since you aren't a ghost anymore."

"Did he just - did I just get a proposal from an incredibly handsome ghost?" Yisara asked Mirri, with the same sort of wide-eyed wonderment that she'd felt at Varanis saying that Tiras was head-over-heels for little Mirri Elendis.

Of course, if Tiras had proposed based on their first acquaintance, it'd be a disaster. "You hardly know him.'' She protested.

Yisara looked Mathen over from the top of his curly hair to his gold-washed pants. "Oh, I think I know him pretty well. I'm just not used to being the heroine of my own novels! Before this, the only man who wooed me was a stablehand from Bergama."

If Mirri remembered right, Redguards, like Dunmer, despised necromancy. "What would your family say? You'd have to come back like, "Hey, Mom, Dad, meet great-great-grandma's boyfriend who she murdered. I married his ghost!"

Yisara deflated. "Oh, by Tava's sweet breath. I couldn't go home. The Crowns won't stand for me shaming Alizinda's memory with scandal. Loving Mathen would be profane. Blasphemous, even." Despite her words, the two stared at each other longingly.

"I've always wanted a love of my own." Yisara said. "It's easy for you to stand there and spit reasons why I should give Mathen up when you've got a boyfriend."

Mirri looked at Tiras as he continued to chant a Dunmer hymn in a low tone. He was deep in concentration and could probably keep the ritual up for hours if he had to. So what if he wasn't good in a crisis? There were things he was good at, and she'd like the chance to find out more of them.

"I can't really give you advice about love," she admitted. "He's my first boyfriend and we haven't even had a drink together yet."

Before Yisara could pity her, she hurried on, "But I can advise you about ancestral spirits. We Dunmer are guarded and guided by our ancestors. We call upon them in battle when needed and ask their advice in times of trouble. What we don't do is fall in love with them. That's just asking for possession or a short skip to doing necromancy ourselves. There's enough good Mer out there now that we shouldn't lose ourselves in what could have been with our ancestors who came before."

Yisara buried her face in her hands for a long moment. Then she held out the ring. "Here. Destroy it. I can't bear to do it with my own hands."

Mirri carried it over to the brazier. "Do you want to say goodbye?"

Yisara had tears streaming down her face. Maybe Mathen did too. "I'm sorry, Mathen," she said. You deserve real peace. Maybe you'll find your way to Alizinda in the Far Shores or she'll find her way to Aetherius. It wouldn't be fair to keep you with me."

"Yours is a loving heart, my dear Yisara. You'll find someone to share it with," he said, and blew her a kiss. She caught it and sobbed.

Mirri dropped the ring of Mara into the brazier. The gold, unharmed by the hearth fire, melted into the coals. Mathen vanished into Aetherius. "He's at peace now."

Tiras ended his chant, shaking out his hands. "The curse is ended."

"Just my luck," Yisara said, wiping her face. "I meet the man of dreams, except he's a ghost and my ancestor poisoned him in a fit of passion, two hundred years ago."

Mirri held out her arms, and Yisara hugged her fiercely. "You were right. I don't want you to be right. Gods, he was gorgeous!"

Though Mirri thought, 'A gorgeous ghost can't keep you warm at night,' she kept it firmly to herself.

"I'll just have to think of him for inspiration," Yisara sighed. "Let's get back to the inn so I can compile my notes."

Tiras asked, "You still want to write about this even with your loss?"

"Of course! Tragedy, lies, murder, necromancy, intrigue, true love...ah, you two don't mind featuring as cameos, do you?"

A book with her in it? For her siblings to laugh at? "Er, wait a minute, here!"

……………………………..

Two hours later, Mirri was freshly scrubbed, wearing the nicest shirt she owned, and fretting over whether small gold hoop earrings would be too much for a simple drink with Tiras. "Fetch, I'll ask Varanis."

She was still bent over her maps, this time examining a village up near Bloodrun Cave. "I've gotten a letter from an acquaintance asking me to investigate some disappearances nearby," she said, then did a double take. "You look nice! I take it he warrants a second date?"

"Yeah," Mirri shifted from foot to foot as all her doubts circled like cliff racers. What if his family hated her like Astella hated Alizinda? What if slow and steady wasn't the way to go, and she should be looking for a man who made her want to marry him at first meeting, like Yisara had been willing to stay with Mathen? Was she even ready for love, after telling Yisara to give up her chance?

She found herself telling Varanis everything over a cup of tea, and asking, "What do you think I should do? He's probably waiting downstairs, sighing over why women take so long to get ready."

"You aren't me." Varanis said, draining her own cup of tea. "I'm not going to give advice trying to relive my glory days through you."

"I knew it. You were the one Garyn Indoril fell in love with."

Varanis poured herself another cup and told the story in between sips. "Garyn Indoril. The grandmaster's son. We fought together in Stonefalls. Found love under siege and in the shadow of the volcano. Tanval Indoril didn't approve, but Garyn figured he'd come around to his only son's choice eventually."

She knew what'd happened to Tanval. "Ayem's mercy."

"A Covenant necromancer killed Garyn. Blasted me off my feet, and then he was dead before I could do anything. Tanval went a bit mad afterwards. Nothing was going to stop him from getting his revenge on the Covenant. But I couldn't let him unleash a second Brother of Strife on Stonefalls, so..." she drained the second cup. "That's the sad story of how my lover died and then I helped kill his father."

"I'm sorry."

"You aren't me. Don't be so afraid of my mistakes that you don't live your own life. I guess if I have any advice, it's to enjoy this time while you get to know each other better. And yes, the earrings look great."

The cliffracers of doubt had settled down. "I guess we'll learn from you, my parents, and his, and make our own mistakes."

"Exactly." Varanis set the tea cup aside. "While you go have your drinks, I'll go talk with Yisara. I should share that the grief does get better with time. Maybe she'll even autograph one of her books for me."

"I didn't know you liked that genre."

"Army camps were never lacking in trashy romances. Besides, I need to put in a pre-order for the new book. I think one for each of your siblings should be enough, don't you?"

"Varanis!" Oh, butter wouldn't melt in that woman's mouth. "I'm going, I'm going."

She trotted down the stairs to the taproom. When he saw her, Tiras looked maybe a little like Mathen looking at Yisara. "Hey," he said, plucking a fleck of lint off his robe.

"Hey," she said. "Do you have a favorite wine you'd like to share?"