Fandom Back From the Dead (TheConstitutive)

[TheConstitutive]

Why did you leave them? He wanted to ask that, but it was too simple a question to really convey his confusion over the whole situation. "What did you do that made them want you so badly?" There, that was better.


"Look, Nal, I don't care that you were an assassin. Murder isn't exactly something a Telvanni blinks twice at, in fact, we embraced it in a way. It doesn't bother me." Nethyn reached over and put one hand on hers. "What does bother me," he said, "is that you have an entire assassins' organization on your tail and I wasn't informed until today. What did you do?"


Did he look... excited, about it? Interested? Intrigued?

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Naloru licked her lips, and opened her mouth, but the words halted in her throat. You can do this, she reminded herself. She could trust someone. The self-encouragement was enough, and her second attempt to speak worked.


"I-I used to live in Bravil, a quiet town in Cyrodiil. When me and my brother were just kids, our parents died, and this... well, assassin took us in. She was the sweetest, kindest woman, and she used that caring temperament to... nurture us in the art of killing. When she died, I was seven, and the we had nowhere else to go but the Dark Brotherhood.


"I never really minded being an assassin. Usually the contracts involved killing petty crime lords or people with too much power anyway. In my mind, I rationalized it all, even made it into a sort of game with my brother. 'Who could kill more people', that sort of thing. And the people became my family. Hogar, Freeda, Lillith, Neesei... I loved them all very, very much." The names recalled images to her mind, weak and unfocused, but warm in atmosphere, images of a happier time. Everyday, she missed them.


"But that's not what you want to hear," Naloru sighed, chastising herself for falling prey to past memories. "I just... wanted you to know. I didn't do it on purpose." She took in a shaky breath. "When I was 18, I met a man, coming back from a job. A most peculiar man, he saw me right away, hidden in the shadows, and he called out, with a promise not to turn me in to the guards if I chatted with him for a time. Curious me, I obliged him. He was the kind, laid-back sort, asking silly questions like my favorite color and food. And I felt utterly enchanted. Dawn had risen before it occurred to me to return home. Before I left, I asked him to meet me there again sometime. Stupid, when would be the next time I'd take that root? It was more likely my next hit would be in the opposite direction.


"Yet, it didn't happen that way. Again, I traveled north for a hit, and again, I met with him. For over two years, we built a relationship on stow-away nights. I thought I was in love. Furthermore, I thought he loved me. Turned out, it took two years for me to reveal every detail of my profession, right down to the location of our sanctuary. One night, he offered me a crate of apples–how I loved apples–, and told me to share it with my 'family'.


The next night we met, he laughed in my face, and forced me to watch as my family went up in flames. All along, this had been the plan. And I helped them with no resistance. I gave them a way in, I even planted the seed of destruction myself.


"Perhaps my role wouldn't have been discovered, but my brother was out on a hit that night, too. He saw me, together with that man on several occasions, and put the pieces together. When the sanctuary blew up, he told the Black Hand. My fate was sealed, then. And I've been running ever since."