Fandom Back From the Dead (TheConstitutive)

[HoneyedHopes]

She expected silence. She expected the whisper of the breeze brushing against leaves, the smell of the summer sunlight against the grass. Naloru Darvvo expected her inn to exist in peace.


Instead, as she reached the top of the hill the building resided on, she met with the curious scene of her old friend, an atronach, and a small toddler dragging dead bodies out her front door.


"Uh," Naloru stuttered, utterly bewildered and slightly alarmed, "Did I miss the party?"

 

[TheConstitutive]

By instructing his son to sit by the door and not get in the way, Nethyn was able to ensure that he and the flame atronach could easily remove the unavoidable casualties of a poorly-timed break-in from the inn. He'd counted on the situation taking no more than an hour to properly move and dispose of them. He'd expected to get it done before anybody happened to pass by.


He hadn't expected Naloru to arrive as if from the dead while he was taking care of a singed and burnt corpse.


Her voice made him start momentarily, and he was further alerted to her arrival by Sevinil, babbling and pointing and calling for him nervously. The child must not have recognized her, and Nethyn figured it was justifiable, since the last time they'd seen one another was hardly a month after he was born. Immediately he dropped the body, turned around, and tried to think of some kind of reason for her to keep disappearing like that. And then reappearing like that.


All he did in response was shrug, heft up the body again, and say, "Just barely."


Aside from the corpses (which his atronach was doing a fine job of hauling off while he was stopped to chat), evidence of a struggle a short time beforehand was clear on Nethyn's face, which was lacking its usual magicked features and now sported a black eye. Clearly he hadn't stopped to regain his usual state between the altercation and the clean-up.


"They didn't make off with much, though I doubt the place is the same as it was when you left anyway. Supplies get used, they go bad, they need replacing, we're out of pomegranates, the works. I like to think I've been doing an alright job of running things, though." He almost sounded bitter as he beckoned her to follow so they could keep up their conversation, and he in turn followed his atronach over the hill.


The toddler clambered to his unsteady legs to follow, but a shake of the head from Nethyn as he left made him plop back down onto his butt.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Laughing weakly, Nal jogged to keep up with Nethyn's brisk–and quite clearly peeved–pace. "It's all in one piece," except for my windows, "And that's all I can ask for, right?" Her words were light, and lacked any true meaning. She felt horrid, disappearing constantly, and reappearing after what seemed like the worst had blown through. She had placed a burden on Nethyn unintentionally, by giving him a place to stay and asking for his aid. By asking for his friendship.


She pondered breaking it off–sending her only friend packing. After all, she could hardly guarantee that she would never leave again. But she didn't want to be taken the wrong way. She didn't want to destroy what little relationship they had left. Without Nethyn, she only had Bartrand.


"You look... well." She tried again, skipping nervously alongside him as he led them after the atronach. "And your son. He's gotten so big." She really knew not what else to say.

 

[TheConstitutive]

Nethyn was silent for a while as they walked, and took some time to think over a response.


Really, what was there to be said? Alright, it had been less than a year, which was certainly something, but Sevinil had already learned to stand by the time they finally saw Nal again. He refrained from mentioning the boy's age, that it had been nearly ten months since they'd last seen each other, and only nodded. "I look well," he chuckled. "I'm glad you think so." In all truth, he wasn't sure how he'd made it the last few months, running the inn and ensuring his son's constant safety. He could swear his hair was thinning a little bit from all of this.


There was an enclosed fire on the other side of the hill, where no one would really care to look for bodies (or anything, really), and where the atronach (and then Nethyn) had been disposing of the bandit group that had attacked earlier that day. Glancing back to Naloru, Nethyn said, "Just to be sure there's no bodies to be found or reanimated, should we get necromancers next time."


There was a slight lilt to his voice that indicated, while the threat of necromancers in the area seemed unlikely, he had reasons to suspect -- or was making a reference to something Naloru didn't exactly know just yet.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Necromancers? By Sithis, what had he been forced to live through while she was gone? The guilt in her heart cut a bit deeper, and she winced, rubbing her hands together anxiously to hide it. "Necromancers, you say," she murmured instead. "Well, perhaps if the dead they raised could pay for drinks, I'd be more inclined to have them as guests." The joke came out forced, but she went with it, determined to restore thing to normal.


"But, I imagine you're right. Better safe than surrounded by undead." she looked up at the sky, midday turning into evening. "If there's no more bodies to take care of, shall we head back? I'll set the bees back up in the greenhouse, and brew us some tea." A peace offering, one she hoped he would take.


Not for the first time, the notion of telling him the truth crossed her mind. How easy it would be, to explain her predicament. to finally lay out exactly where she stood. And where he stood, for that matter.

 

[TheConstitutive]

Tea sounded nice. In Naloru's absence he had learned to brew it himself; not that he didn't already know how, but it was nice to keep in practice. So Nethyn dismissed his atronach once the last body had been turned to ash, put out the fire, and headed back up the hill, waving toward Nal to come along.


"Funny thing about that, actually," he muttered. "I'll tell you all about it in a bit." After all, given how much time had passed since he and Fienelef had met to fix their dear friend's situation, things were... probably more likely to go over smoothly.


When they finally reached the inn again, he hoisted his son up into his arms and then sat him down on a chair. It was clear he'd been taking care of the place, and had been in the middle of the attack -- half the tables were overturned, there was a corner that must have been in the process of being dusted, but the counter was almost immaculate and beneath it the dishes were clean.


Who said being a neat freak was a bad thing?


Nethyn got to pulling a flipped table back to its original state while Sevinil rested his tiny chin on another, looking at Naloru curiously. "Lady?" he chirped.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Children baffled Naloru, but Sevinil warm her heart nonetheless. As he address her, she smiled and waved hesitantly. "That's me," she cooed at the child, "Lady Naloru!" Despite her introduction the child continued to stare up at her with wide eyes.


As Nethyn tidied up, Naloru started the fire and set the kettle over it to boil. After she set out the cups on the bar, she grabbed the broom and helped him finish the cleaning. The lack of windows created a bitter draft, but Naloru found that, so long as one stayed within proximity of the fire, it could easily be ignored.


"So, what's the news? What have I missed?" She posed the question matter-of-factly, swallowing down her guilt. Nethyn had every right to be angry. She, however, didn't have the luxury to skirt around him. Her trip may have thrown her current pursuers off of her trail, but the likelihood of more was always high. Not to mention, this was her home now, for better or worse. She wanted to be a part of it all, even if she hadn't physically been there.


Waiting for his answer, Naloru set aside the broom and returned to the kettle, pouring the hot water carefully over the dried leaves. She offered him one, face set with expectation.

 

[TheConstitutive]

"Well. Sevinil is learning to speak, he made friends with a bird, my old student disappeared, Fienelef and I resurrected a dead Snow Elf, got my nose broken, a very good friend of mine is apparently in hiding from the Thalmor and that's why she couldn't be with me when Sev was born like she promised, but she did say she would take him off my hands once he has no need for me. I might also be leaving soon. Unfinished business in Morrowind."


He took a long drink, hardly waiting for the tea to cool down, and sighed. "It's been a long ten months, is what I'm trying to say." His eyes almost seemed dead, like the events of the past almost-year had driven the light out of them.


Another table was set back on its legs.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

When he didn't take the cup of tea, she sighed and set it back down on the bar, taking the last of the chairs and setting them on end. She felt tired. Tired from traveling, tired from running, and tired from Nethyn. Still, she knew better than to lose her temper.


"I'm sorry I left. But I'm here now. We'll get things running smoothly again." She didn't dare say 'normal'. Nothing could ever be normal again.


"Nethyn?" her voice lowered, sounding hopeful and apologetic. Almost childlike, even. "Can I have a welcome home hug now?"

 

[TheConstitutive]

Looking down at the floor, Nethyn considered her words a moment. "And just when I was getting used to manning the ship, so to speak." But in complete contrast to the disappointed implication of his own words, he glanced over in Naloru's direction with one corner of his mouth hitched up in a half-smile. With a short huff he turned and approached her, his face just a bit softer and somewhat freer from the bitterness he'd expressed earlier, and his arms held out in a 'come here' gesture.


At the other table, a once-bored Sevinil was entertaining himself by patting the surface and giggling at every 'thump' his palms made on contact with it.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

The hug made her feel instantly better. So maybe there were things she could never tell him, and maybe their relationship would struggle with those secrets between them. But they could still be friends. That came as a relief. She had missed Nethyn terribly, after all.


Sevinil's thumping caught her attention, lifting the corners of her mouth into an amused grin. "Someone's quite the musician," She chuckled, pulling away from Nethyn. She thought about going up the child, and of banging along with him. But she still had no idea how to react to children, and fearing she'd somehow hurt him, she chose instead to head to the kitchen.


"I'd offer to cook you supper, but..." There was no need to finish the sentence. "Instead, if you don't mind, I'll be out checking on the greenhouse, and getting the bee settled back in." With that, she scurried off.

 

[TheConstitutive]

"I'll take care of it, don't worry." They had potatoes still, right? And as much as he hated chicken personally... well, he'd spent such a long time trying to muscle up the courage to gut it the other day, and it was still in the icebox... Yeah, for how much there was left, that would work. He'd have to head out to the city again soon. Maybe pick up a pomegranate or two if they (they, now, not he) could afford it. It was the little things like that, really.


So when he dug a couple potatoes out from under the cabinet and filled a pot with water, it sufficed to say that he was reasonably shocked when there came quiet footsteps from the main room that were not from Naloru.


And when Sevinil started wailing. Typically a cry for attention or a change in underclothes, the fact that Nethyn had done just that only ten minutes before the earlier break-in was the first sign that something was wrong. He bolted out of the kitchen only to see his son, alone, and staring at the corner behind him with wide and terrified eyes.


Now, Nethyn was an intelligent mer. He knew when something was wrong. And he knew that babies and animals had some kind of ability to know that better. So he trusted his child's judgement, turned around, and was immediately grateful that he had.


"...Please put the knife down," he said to the masked person now in front of him. "I've already had to deal with enough shit today."

 

[HoneyedHopes]

The masked person said nothing at first, staring down at the dunmer and its half-breed child, contemplating the best way to kill them both slowly. The fire was going, he could always toss the infant in, and watch with amusement as the parent dove in after. Or maybe the kitchen was the way to go. Enough instruments of menace to have a real good time. It was with a tinge of remorse that the assassin lowered his blade a fraction.


"The mark is not for you," Came the gravelly response at last, as his eyes flitted around the room. "Naloru Darvvo. Where is that traitorous bitch?"


Every assassin knew the name, knew the story. They knew of her egregious betrayal, the lives it had cost and the chaos it reigned. By Sithis, They all would see her dead, dying, and in pain. For their lost Brothers and Sisters.

 

[TheConstitutive]

"'Traitorous bitch', what in Oblivion are you talking about?" He backed up slowly, hefted Sevinil into his arms, and held the boy close. "Are we thinking of the same person?" Nethyn was clearly confused; there was no evidence to indicate he had any idea of what was happening. For a second he contemplated bolting straight out the door, grabbing Nal, and getting the fuck out, but he hadn't been built for running even before he'd had a baby. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the assassin would catch up to him, at least.


He shook his head and gently-but-firmly rubbed Sev's back in an attempt to calm the distressed child down. "Look, I don't know what's going on; at this point I don't think I ever knew what was going on."


Lying was always an option. He was, of course, his father's son in that regard -- he was good at it. Good enough to have led Naloru off of Fienelef's trail before they'd revived the dead that one time, at the very least.


"I've been running this inn for ten months and of all the names I've seen and heard since I started, not a single one has been 'Naloru Darvvo'."


That much was true, at least. In a very roundabout sort of way.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

The assassin snorted, the noise warped with disgust and humor at the kid's–yes, he was the child–attempt to fib. "You fool," he hissed, his knife coming back up, "Lying will get you nowhere. I've been tracking the wench for ten months, and I know she just arrived here. So, I'll ask again: Where's the bitch?" Not that he intended to wait for an answer. Pissing an assassin off was reason enough to slit their throat.


Naloru didn't give him the chance. From her cover behind the kitchen door, she aimed a throwing knife and let it go, the blade sinking into the hooded figure's shoulder. She heard him cry out, jumping out of the way of any more attacks, but she had no intention of engaging him again. Instead, she grabbed Nethyn by the collar of his robes and dragged him into the kitchen, slamming the door in front of him.


Naloru didn't stop to talk. "barricade the door, lest he try to get in that way," She instructed, then dashed up the stairs to her loft. Better she take the standpoint than let him use it to ambush them. From there, she ready her remaining five knives, this time taking care to apply poison to their blades. Then, she waited.


For several minutes the assassin hid amongst the shadows, and Naloru took cover behind the corner of her bedroom wall. But she had a plan.


"You've come this far," She called, her bitter taunting and bitter, "Why not just finish it?" She watched the dark corners of the inn, and saw the rustled of fabric near the first bedroom door. Pulling herself out of the safety of cover, she launched another blade. An arrow launched at just the same time, grazing her arm. She hissed and pulled back into cover.


But after the pounding in her ears slowed, she let out a wild laugh. "A weak paralysis poison? As that could stop me?" She laughed again, and stuck her head out from cover. Another arrow flew, but she dodged it easily, and took note of it origin. When revealed herself again, the blade that she threw sunk into the assassin's chest. He gasped, slumped agains the wall, gurgled, and went still.


She sighed, and turned back towards the stairs. But she couldn't bring herself to climb them. Her life was over.


"It should be safe now," She called wearily down to Nethyn, "Bartrand got the other one outside."

 

[TheConstitutive]

Nethyn slumped against the barricade, clutching Sevinil close and feeling the terrified pounding of both their hearts. With a despaired sigh, he waited for his mind to settle and for his breath to come back before calling back up, "Nal, what the FUCK?"


He didn't care that the child had likely heard him.


Climbing up the stairs proved a challenge to someone who had nearly suffered a heart attack, but he managed it anyway, making his way to Naloru and just... staring at her. They needed to go. If she had assassins after her, they really needed to go.


"Nal... what the fuck." He took note of her arm and worry crossed his face. "You know, if you'd told me you had assassins coming after you, we might have been better prepared!" Taking Naloru by the shoulders, Nethyn gave her a brief shake. "If this was why you kept leaving, you could have mentioned that! I would have understood! I could have helped you. Why did... were you with them?" His face fell, and he looked back out the window.


"We certainly can't stay now. Not when they know where you are."

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Naloru remained calm, letting Nethyn sufficiently freak himself out until he was satisfied. Once she saw he had settled down a fraction, she held up a hand, her eyes filled with shame and apology.


"There won't be anymore. For a time," She told him, no emotion in her tone. It was the truth, as well. "Yes, they were the reason I left. Thought I'd lost them in Morrowind, on my way to Black Marsh, but apparently they figured out my trail." In passing, she thought of her friend. Had they visited her and her family? Had she put them in danger, too?


But Nethyn was the here and now. "Hey," she said, trying to put her friend at ease. "It's okay. Trust me, they travel in pairs, and those two in particular hadn't reported back to anyone. It'll be fine, I promise." She looked down, eyes squinted with held back, bitter tears.


"I'm sorry."

 

[TheConstitutive]

"Nal..."


He gently placed Sevinil on her bed, tousled his hair and gave him a weak smile, and then turned back to Naloru. Pausing a moment, he made only a slightly undignified noise before going in for a bear-hug. This was... what, the second time? It seemed that situations like this had the tendency to bring out the more clingy, emotional side of Nethyn that he preferred to keep far, far away from people.


Though this time he was more physically capable of making it such a hug. And this time he wasn't crying; though by all rights he probably should have been, from stress if nothing else.


No, instead he whispered, "It's dark out and I've got dinner going, should we wait to get rid of these ones?"

 

[HoneyedHopes]

A quiet laugh escaped Naloru, which was muffled by his shoulder. Her hands shook, not from the fight, but from having her secret revealed at last. It felt terribly, terribly good, when she forgot about the fact that she had just put her friend in danger.Not to mention, he'd ask eventually. He'd want to know. What had she done?


By Sithis, what hadn't she done.


She untangled herself from Nethyn, and looked at the bodies. For once, her head felt clear. "It probably isn't good to let you son casually examine a dead body. Doesn't that stunt their growth, or something? Don't worry, Bartrand and I can take care of it. It's not like this is the first time. I'll be right back"


Once she'd dragged the bodies down the hill a ways, back to where they'd burned, she let the tears fall.

 

[TheConstitutive]

Nethyn figured she needed to be left alone for a while. And come to think of it, so did he. So he carried his son back downstairs, unblocked the kitchen door, and settled the boy back down on a chair before he made his way back into the kitchen.


Thankfully, the potatoes were undisturbed.


By the time the water in the pot was boiling, however, he'd found himself sitting in a corner and chewing on a mint leaf to help ease the stress-nausea that came just a bit late, and mulling over everything that had just happened.


Naloru was an assassin. Was. Somehow she had other assassins coming after her, which was why she left so often. Suddenly it all made sense -- all the times she'd disappeared, she had been in serious danger. Had she protected the both of them by leaving, by throwing her pursuers off her trail, however momentarily?


You should introduce her to me, said Valdren. I'm sure we have a lot in common.


Where were you when we were about to die?!


There was a presence, then, and Nethyn felt a ghostly hand atop his head. "You didn't need me then. Naloru had your back. You should trust her more, I think."

 

[HoneyedHopes]

When Naloru had sufficiently sobbed herself back into a state of calmness and disposed of the bodies(the old-fashioned way, with flint), She returned to the inn, intending to sit Nethyn down and tell him the truth, from beginning to end. Now that even part of her secret had been leaked, she felt as though she could barely contain the rest of it. She hoped she could lessen her burden, just a bit, if she indulged the tiny voice in the back of her mind, and learned to trust someone.


"Nethyn...?" She called softly when she walked back through the door, so as not to spook him or Sevinil. They weren't there, instead in the back room, obviously getting ready for a much needed night of rest. More than likely, she should've let them be, but she found her fist hovering over the door, ready to knock if she heard the sound of consciousness from the other side.

 

[TheConstitutive]

"Well, there she is. Go to her, Nethyn."


"Valdren, I..." Nethyn found himself being picked up under the shoulders and put back on his feet. "Yeah, Nal?" he called out, pretending he hadn't just been talking to a ghost. "You're not going to bed early, right? It's been a busy day, but supper's almost done and... I need to talk to you."


Sevinil cooed from his seat, making grabby hands at Valdren out of sheer curiosity. A person he could see through! Truly fascinating.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

An uneasy laugh left Naloru's throat. "No, I... No. Let's talk, come on." She led him back to the main hall, and pulled two seats closer to the fire. Though she'd just cried her eyes out, she still felt achy and weak, like she would break at any moment. But, this was no longer about her. Nethyn deserved the most honest answer she could give him. And deep down, she really wanted to tell him. To let someone know what she'd been through, instead of continuing to shoulder it alone.


"Right, so..." She shifted in the chair, "Ask away." She supposed she could just dive into the story, but it seemed rude to her. She'd let him prompt her, if he truly wanted to know.

 

[TheConstitutive]

"You didn't tell me you were an assassin."


That was all he had to say, really. Nal looked... well, for lack of a better term, she looked awful. While Sevinil was distracted by the ghost in the kitchen, however, he had freedom to speak as long as he needed. "I'm not... I'm not mad, or anything, I'm just confused why you never said. I thought, after I came clean about not always having been a man, that this would be the sort of friendship where we can be properly open with each other."


Well, maybe his situation wasn't exactly on the same level as Naloru's. But, Ancestors' sakes, he'd been so truthful and open with her in everything else! From his gender-sex discrepancies to the fact that he'd been with child when they met, everything appeared to be out and on the table, so to speak. But as it turned out, it was only his secrets that had been out.


"What else aren't you telling me, Nal?"

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Her first reaction was to react defensively. "It's not-" my fault. But it was, she knew. Throwing her hands up in exasperation, she huffed, and ate her words. "I'm sorry, okay? But it's kind of the type of secret that gets people killed. A-and, I don't do that anymore. Im not that." No matter how her blood sang, how her fingers twitched, or how her nostrils flared to breathe in the smell of carnage, she no longer killed for money, or sport.


"Look, I haven't been an assassin for over thirty years. And the Dark Brotherhood, if you couldn't tell, has a bit of a vendetta." 'Vendetta', was a 'bit' of an understatement, but other than recalling the entire story, how else could she explain it?


"Everything can be out on the table now, Nethyn. Ask me anything you want, and I'll answer it, I swear it." Her eyes, at least, burned with the intensity of truthfulness.