Chapter 269: Sisterhood
Elsewhere within a cave-hideout while the group was fiddling with Standing Stones :
"There, I think you've finally got the hang of it... You know, you might be more talented than your race indicates." an old, weathered man wearing black and dull red robes remarks as he observes his student summon and throw a conjured Daedric dagger.
"Oh, leave the compliments for when she actually does something impressive, Festus." a little girl with a strangely mature expression states, turning her attention away from the practising duo and extending her hand to play with her pet frostbite spider.
"Well, I thought it was impressive..." the student, a young High Elf with black hair and amber eyes admits, "Before this I'd only be able to lit small fires..."
Babette snorts, "If that's what your comparing things to then of course any bit of magic would look like a miracle." she shakes her head, "Just conjuring those daggers is the easy part, now you have to form a connection with them so you can summon them quickly from whatever realm they belong to."
Festus crosses his arms, "Am I teaching her or you? You might have gotten that bit right, but I know you never cared to learn the more complex intricacies of magic! Go be a pest to someone else while I show young Eleril how it's done!"
Babette just huffs at him and stays where she is, wishing to continue watching her new 'best friend' learn.
The trio is interrupted however as the doors leading to this section of the cave whip open to reveal a furious-looking Nord woman marching inside with a large hairy Nord man at her back
This was Astrid, the leader of this Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, and behind her was her husband, Arnbjorn.
The woman marches inside with a scowl, glaring at each person in the room, "Who did it!? Hm!? You will reveal yourself now or have your punishments worsen when the secret comes out!"
...
The trio glance at one another in confusion, each shrugging noncommittally to each other in a slight show of disrespect towards Astrid herself, only causing the woman to become angrier. The shouting also attracts the other present members of the Sanctuary, ten or so more men and women wearing black and dull red armour coming to observe.
Seeing that everyone was here, Astrid straightens her posture and continues to press, "Which one of you went against my orders and silenced a whitelisted individual!?"
...
"Who was silenced, may I ask?" Gabriella, a Dark Elf wearing Brotherhood robes asks.
Astrid glances around to see if anyone had any suspicious reactions, but shakes her head and looks to Gabriella, "Maven Black-Briar, she was found murdered in her home alongside her son, a handprint made of her blood planted on the wall next to her." she crosses her arms, "Whoever did it, you may feel that you've done our family a service, but in reality, you've eliminated our primary source of income! The Black-Briar family funds sixty percent of our operations! But not anymore! So you will reveal yourself, as the person who harmed the interests of our family, or you will be found, rooted out, and punished accordingly!"
...
Babetta sits up with a crooked brow, "And what makes you think it was one of us? Surely you haven't ruled out the possibility of someone using our name?"
...
Astrid hadn't indeed considered such a thing. She was sure someone in the group had betrayed them, yet, it now made more sense that they were being framed... Not that she could admit this after making such accusations in front of the entire guild...
She shakes her head, "There is no evidence for it, and with how clean the kill was made and how little information is known about the killer, its obvious that one of our own did it! Who else would be trained for it? Especially when dealing with the Black-Briars!" Astrid says and Babette shrugs, not really believing Astrid... Her three hundred years of experience made her more perceptive to such things... Sometimes things just didn't go your way, and nothing you do could have prevented it.
Eleril holds her hand up as if she were a student trying to answer a question for her teacher in a modern classroom, "Erm, Miss Astrid, how will you find out who did it? You said there was no evidence aside from the handprint..."
Astrid lets out a sigh at the fourteen-year-old High Elf's question, truthfully, she had no way to draw out the perpetrator. "We'll all keep an eye out for suspicious activity. While I want to believe that none of our family would harm us, we have to remain vigilant... If any of you knows anything, please don't hold back." she orders.
A Redguard wearing a remarkably different uniform to the rest chuckles, "Let's look at this another way though, we won't need the Black-Briar's gold now that we're back on the map. I doubt a single person in Skyrim will not have heard of Maven's death. Most who did know of us thought we were her lapdogs, so, I think this is for the better." he remarks, getting nods from a few other members.
"Maybe now we'll stop acting like some mercenary group and return to our traditions," Festus adds, getting a slight glare from Astrid.
"Traditions?" Eleril questions.
Festus nods, "This is what I mean, you've been here two years and barely know anything about the Brotherhood, about Sithis and the Night Mother." he looks over at Astrid, "Perhaps we should go over The Five Tenets with everyone to refresh their memories."
Astrid shakes her head, "No need, I feel we're more than aware of them already. Continue to teach your student, but try not to badger her with ancient defunct traditions." she states before leaving, ignoring the snort of derision sent her way by Festus.
"Truly, I wonder what our Dark Brothers and Sisters would think if they stumbled across us. They'd call us backwards and wipe us out for the honour of Sithis alone."
"R-really?" Eleril sputters, somewhat shaken by his words.
Festus shrugs, "Eh, probably? We don't even know if there's anyone but us left."
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