Amaryllis moaned as her world finally came back to her, slowly at first so it didn't overwhelm her and cause her to go into a panic, though what little she could see at the moment was more than enough to make her incredibly worried, and even a tad bit fearful if she was being honest with herself, because right now she could tell that she wasn't in Windhelm anymore, much less the house of the pair that had tried to help her. She discovered that she was in a small wooden shack that was likely out in the wilderness, away from anyone that might stumble upon this place and ask questions as to why it was out here, instead of closer to one of the Hold cities, something she was able to determine based on a path or two in the ceiling that looked like it might be breaking from the elements that were around the structure, though it also got rid of her being able to screaming for assistance, if she wished to do so. Of course, since she was a changeling, screaming was usually one of the actions that none of her kind tried, not unless they were incredibly desperate, so she immediately ruled that out as she was able to make out more of her surroundings, which turned out to be a worn out bed, a chest that had been opened by someone, and a bookshelf, which happened to be near what she assumed was the door that served as the entrance for this building. Once she had a better understanding of what was around her, even if there might be more to this place that she hadn't seen yet, she took a moment to glance down at her body, where she found that her natural skin was back and that meant that her wings had to be out as well, where she moved them for a moment and felt them move not a couple of seconds later, before she glanced up at her forehead and noticed that she see her horn as well, indicating that her earlier thoughts had been correct, that the drunken nature she had somehow slipped into, all from cheap wine, had undone the disguise she had been powering and caused her to return to her true form, meaning people either knew about it or that the pair had saved her in time before she had been able to revert to her current form.
The former was the last thing she needed, since it meant that someone might have seen her true form, but the only way she was going to find that out was to return to Windhelm and see if the guards had anything to say, to which she pushed herself back onto her hooves, so she could stand, but before she even attempted to leave the shack she found someone, a lady based on the figure, sitting on top of the bookshelf, wearing a red and black uniform that hid most of her body and her face, as all she could see were her eyes and the area around them, though she had the feeling she knew who was in front of her, especially since she seemed to be looking at an assassin.
"Sleep well?" the assassin asked, almost as if she was feigning being concerned for Amaryllis' well-being or something, as that was what she was feeling at the moment, though at the same time she wondered if the figure was the same lady that she had seen in Candlehearth Hall, moments before the drunken state came upon her, which made her wonder where the male might be hiding, but at the same time she knew that not answering the question would likely cause the assassin to attack her, and no doubt kill her if she put her mind to it.
"I guess so, considering that I slept on the floor," Amaryllis replied, deciding to be smart and just answer the question, as she wanted to figure out what in the world was happening so she could get out of here alive, which meant that she needed to remain on the assassin's good side and see what her captor had planned for her, where she paused for a few seconds and glanced around the rest of the area that was around where she had been resting for some time, just to see if there was anything else she might have missed, before focusing on the assassin again, "Where are we?"
"Does it matter?" the assassin replied in kind, which gave Amaryllis the feeling that she was being played with, that this was some sort of amusing game to the killer that was in front of her, something that she didn't agree with and kept her mouth shut about, as keeping those comments to herself would make sure she stayed alive, before the lady tilted her head for a few seconds while she considered something, "You're warm, dry... and still very much alive. That's more than can be said for old Grelod, hmm?"
"You heard about that already?" Amaryllis inquired, because she was assuming that this was either the afternoon of the day she had been consumed by the drunken fit or the day following it, where she hoped that the lady would be able to tell her something at some point in time, because being left in the dark about things might lead to a terrible fate and that was what she wanted to avoid, since death was the one thing she wanted to stay away from, as in her death, though what the lady said surprised her a little bit.
"I heard about what you did from Aventus himself, when I went to talk to him about his contract." the assassin said, which meant that she must have spoken to the young boy moments after Amaryllis left his residence and must have been ticked off that someone else had gotten to him first, but, interesting enough, the lady didn't sound pissed off at all, which she was really worried as she thought about it, "Besides, half of Skyrim knows about what you did, even if they don't know who did it. An old hag gets butchered in her own orphanage? Things like that tend to get around... oh, but don't misunderstand my words, as I'm not criticizing what you did. From what I've heard, from the orphans that saw you, it was a rather good kill... the old crone had it coming as well, and you saved a group of urchins to boot. Ah, but there is a slight... problem... that we need to discuss."
"A... problem?" Amaryllis found herself asking, because she couldn't help it, everything the assassin was saying made her think that it was her who was going to die right now, since she had stolen a kill from the Dark Brotherhood, and she was waiting for the lady to reveal what her fate was, as she had the feeling that to do such a thing, and to walk away without any sort of punishment, would either damage the reputations of the group of assassins, or would boost it and cause them to kill the one who dared to steal from them.
"You see, that little Aretino boy was looking for the Dark Brotherhood... for me and my associates." the assassin stated, as if Amaryllis was a child that needed everything explained to them, but, at the same time, she was just fine with that, due to the fact that the longer the lady talked the longer she stayed alive so she could figure out how she was going to get out of this situation, before the assassin tilted her head again, "Grelod the Kind was, by all rights, a Dark Brotherhood contract. A kill that you stole... which means it's a kill that you must repay."
"You... want me to kill someone else?" Amaryllis inquired, though while she was fine with killing bandits, since they were a blight on the land, plaguing the roads and robbing everyone that they came across, she was worried that the assassin was going to ask her to kill someone that was innocent and didn't deserve to die, or maybe they would be someone like Grelod and totally deserved their fate, to either be slain by someone they annoyed or having an assassin sent after them for their misdeeds, "Who do you want me to kill?"
"Well now, funny you should ask me that question." the lady replied, to which she nodded to the area that happened to be behind Amaryllis, an area she hadn't had the time to look at since she had been worried about the building she had found herself in when she woke up, but she remained focused on the assassin in case she was trying to trick her into lowering her guard for a few moments, "If you turn around, and look at the other half of the building, you'll notice my guests. I've 'collected' them from... well, that's not really important. The here and now, that is what matters right now. You see, there's a contract out on one of them, and that person can't leave this room alive, but the question is... which one is it for? Go on, see if you can figure it out. Make your choice, make your kill. I just want to observe... and admire."
Amaryllis waited for a few seconds, just to make sure the lady wasn't going to try anything, before turning around to look at the other half of the building that they were in, where she found three individuals bound with their hands behind their back and their heads covered by sacks, while also kneeling on the floor as they waited for something to happen to them, and found that each of them were different from each other, and since she didn't hear any steps behind her that told her that the assassin had been telling the truth. The one on her left was a nord, she could tell from the way his body was built, and it appeared that he was some sort of warrior, even though he was wearing the scaled armor she had seen a number of people wear since her arrival in Skyrim, though his weapon seemed to be missing, which made sense when she thought about the situation they were in, where she checked her belt and found that her dagger was present, again making sense given that this was a test of some kind, before she focused on the targets once more. The one directly in front of her was a female nord, a housewife or someone who wandered around one of the cities that were scattered across the land, much like a few of the individuals she had seen during her time in Whiterun, though she seemed to be someone who might be innocent and didn't deserve to be here, something she would determine in time, since there had to be a reason for them to be imprisoned in this seemingly abandoned building. The final captive rested to her right, which appeared to be a male khajiit that was wearing fine clothing, but that could be a way to distract her, as she knew many people in Skyrim blamed the cat people for things missing and people dying, basically calling them thieves and assassins without proving that any of them were actually guilty, so she assumed that this was a way to distract her from the true target, given that this felt like a game to her as she considered what the assassin had told her so far and what she had felt earlier.
Based on just the races they were she could easily condemn the warrior to his fate, just because there was the chance that he had killed someone in the past and that part of that person's family might have performed the Black Sacrament to kill him as an act of revenge, but as she thought about such a thing she found it hard to condemn both the housewife and the khajiit, due to the fact that both of them could be innocent until someone told her more about them, to which she faced all of her targets, as it was time to talk to them for a few seconds and see if her thoughts were correct.
"Is this about the raid last week?" the warrior asked, showing that while he and the others couldn't see what was going on around them, due to the hoods that each of them were being forced to wear over their heads, they could still hear what was going said around them, indicating that all three of them had heard the lady say that one of them needed to die for Amaryllis to leave the shack they were in, "I told Holgrim that there was no honor in killing sleeping men, but he wouldn't listen to me! It wasn't my fault, I swear!"
"Truthfully, I'm not sure what this is about," Amaryllis commented, where she was referring to why the lady had decided to pick the three of them, out of everyone in the land, to test her in a manner like this, even though it was clear that someone might want the warrior dead for his crimes against one's family members, but she also kept her voice low so she could talk with the three captives and see if her thoughts were correct, leaving the assassin in the dark while she figured out who the contract might be on, "Anyway, who are you?"
"My name is Fultheim. I'm a soldier." the warrior replied, his tone indicating that he was willing to answer the question and that he wanted to live, something that Amaryllis wasn't surprised by, since she might do the same thing if she had been in his position, before she got the sense that there was one more thing he wanted to tell her, to convince her to spare his life and let him leave this place, "Well, a mercenary, to be exact. You know, a... a sellsword. I've lived in Skyrim all my life, that's all! I'm a nobody, really. So can't you just let me go?"
"Maybe. Tell me, would someone... pay to have you killed?" Amaryllis inquired, though it was hard to ask someone if they had any enemies that wanted them dead, for one reason or another, and she knew that it was likely to freak Fultheim out in the process, but she was hoping to get through this as quickly as possible, all so she could get to the other two and do the same thing with them, as once she had all the information she needed she would come to a decision on who needed to die and then deal with whoever her target might be.
"What?! Oh gods, I don't want to die!" Fultheim exclaimed, though if that was supposed to cause the other captives to freak out and battle their restraints, in an attempt to get out of here, neither of them seemed to be doing anything, which meant that the lady had done a good job making sure each of them were bound and couldn't escape, even though Amaryllis was sure that she had help in that regard, as the male had to be somewhere nearby, likely outside the shack, and would rush in if he heard the lady command him to do so.
"Look, just answer the question," Amaryllis said, where she turned her head slightly and glanced back at the lady that was watching her, who seemed to be enjoying the show and was letting her take her time at the moment, which unnerved her a little bit since she wasn't totally used to something like this, before focusing on Fultheim again, as she knew what sort of fate was waiting for them if they didn't play along, a fate all of them likely wanted to avoid, "otherwise the lady you heard me talking to might kill us all."
"Okay... I don't know if someone would pay to have me killed!" Fultheim replied, showing that he really had no idea why he had been picked for this, even though he wasn't aware of the fact that this was a test of some kind, and that only freaked him out even more, even though it was also clear that he was thinking of something, anything, that might explain why this was happening to him in the first place, before he paused for a second, "I mean, I'm just a soldier. I've killed people... when I was ordered to. Maybe there were some times... some times where I got carried away? But war is war, right? Nobody could blame me for that. Could they?"
As much as Amaryllis hated to admit it, and she really hated to admit it, the fact that Fultheim, by his own admission, killed more people than he was ordered to meant that someone might have figured out he killed someone important to them and wanted revenge, even if he claimed such a thing happened while a war was going on, which made her take a second to wonder how many wars this land had seen, but, before she lashed out at the warrior with her dagger, she decided to speak with the other two captives and see if they were as innocent as she thought they were.
"I don't have time for this nonsense." the lady in the middle of the captives stated, showing that she didn't much care for everything that was going on at the moment and that she wanted her hands unbound immediately, so she could depart from this area and return to what she had been doing before finding out she had been kidnapped, and Amaryllis could feel her annoyance radiating from where she was currently resting, "I've got a home to keep and children to feed. Now let me out of here!"
"So, who in the world are you?" Amaryllis inquired, because if she was going to ask that question to Fultheim, which gave her a decent chunk of information for her to make a decision on who needed to perish, she figured that she might as well make sure the other two got the same questions, that way she could get some good information on who they were and what they did before this happened to them, which would eventually allow her to made up her mind on who she needed to kill to get out of this shack.
"It's none of your damned business who I am!" the lady snapped, where Amaryllis could also feel her anger as well, due to her being upset over what was happening to her right now, something that would have caused any other assassin to just get this over with and kill her first, but since it was her asking the questions, and not someone else, she could take her time and get the information she needed before making up her mind, "If you're going to kill me, just do it already! As Mara is my witness, if I didn't have this damned hood on right now I would spit right in your face..."
"Okay, I guess I don't really need to know who you are and what you do for a living," Amaryllis admitted, though there was one question she needed an answer to before she moved on to the khajiit, even though she was sure Fultheim might be the one that the contract was for, given everything he had told her when she questioned him, while noticing that both the lady and the khajiit tilted their heads for a moment, indicating someone else was listening to her and might be forming a series of answers for her, "Would someone pay to have you killed?"
"Excuse me? What kind of question is that?" the lady asked in return, though her tone indicated that she would likely tear Amaryllis apart if she wasn't bound at the moment, which also showed that she might have the same unlikable personality when she was dealing with the people that lived in the city, town, or village that she called home, which could explain why someone might want her dead, as her personality might be the key, "I'm a woman living in Skyrim with six children and no husband. I don't have the time or patience to be 'nice.' Do some people look down on me? Have I made some enemies? You're damn right I have, and I'll kill anyone who tries anything!"
Amaryllis was hoping that by asking the lady these questions she would be able to determine who the target was and that she only had to kill one target, especially since the warrior had been a strong case for who the contract was for, but from what she had discovered so far both Fultheim and the lady could have had someone pay to have them killed, as revenge in Fultheim's case and to take out an enemy in the case of the lady, which really didn't sit well with her, something that she thought about as she focused on the khajiit at long last.
"Tell you what, if you release me from my bindings, and let me leave this place, I promise that I won't have my associates hunt you down like an animal and butcher you in the street." the khajiit said, his tone indicating that this sort of thing must be common for him, as he was taking it rather well in comparison to his fellow prisoners, which made Amaryllis worry that all three of them were potential targets for a contract, since the way the cat was speaking made her wonder if he might be a criminal of some kind, before he tilted his head for a moment and likely had a smile on his face right now, not that she could see such a thing, "It's a win-win for everyone."
"So you say." Amaryllis replied, though in that moment she was really beginning to doubt her initial thoughts that any of the captives were innocent and deserved to live, as Fultheim proved that he was guilty of killing more people during the war he had mentioned, while the lady indicated that she had many enemies in the area that she called home, which truly made her wonder if the khajiit was like them, and given her new thoughts about him she suspected that she wasn't going to like his answer to her next question, "Who are you?"
"Ahhh, I am Vasha, at your service. Obtainer of goods, taker of lives, and defiler of daughters." the khajiit replied, where he spoke in a rather calm manner, despite the situation he was in, though his words told Amaryllis that he was likely a thief, a murderer, and a potential rapist, which just opened up a number of reasons as to why someone would pay to have one of the Dark Brotherhood's assassins kill him, and he didn't feel worried about his chances of surviving this situation at all, an odd thing considering what he had just admitted to her, "Have you not heard of me? Perhaps I will have my people carve my name in your corpse, as a reminder."
"Lovely." Amaryllis stated, because now she was positive that none of the captives in front of her were innocent and that all three of them could have a contract out on their heads, which just made her decision that much harder than she had been expecting it to be, but, at the same time, she had one more question to ask Vasha before she made her decision, as it was the same that the others had answered a few moments ago, even if one had answered truthfully and the other had just ignored her question for the most part, "Tell me, would someone pay to have you killed?"
"Me? Ha! Are you serious?" Vasha inquired in return, to which he chuckled for a few moments, as if he felt that part of this situation was funny and deserved to be laughed at, even if he was really laughing at Amaryllis for a few seconds, only to stop after a few moments as he gave her the answer to her question, something she determined based on the position of his head, "Fool! Don't you get it? I live in the shadow of death every day. A knife in every doorway, a nocked arrow on every rooftop! If one of my enemies wouldn't pay to have me killed, I'd take it as a personal insult... and, judging from what has been going on, someone did pay for me to be killed."
Amaryllis backed away from the three captives for a couple of seconds, as she wanted to think about the insane situation that she had found herself in after helping Aventus with Grelod, and her little drunken episode, because it brought about her waking up in this shack and being told that she had to kill one of the captives, due to one of them having a contract on their head, but all three of them had reasons why someone would want them dead, making her decision that much harder than it needed to be. Of course the assassin put her in this situation without giving her a hint as to who the contract might be for, to add to the fun of this game, and now that she knew more about the captives she wasn't sure she could let any of them leave this place, as all of them had done something in the past to piss someone off or, in Vasha's case, had wronged too many people over the course of his life and couldn't be allowed to live. Vasha, for sure, needed to die before he went out to do more of the crimes he had mentioned, but Fultheim and the lady were making her think about the decision, due to both of them having a potential contract on them as well, which made her wonder if there were multiple options as to how she could go about this, like kill two of them instead of one, or all three of them and leave nothing to chance, in case she picked the wrong target. There was also the slim chance that none of them had a contract on them and that this was a sick game to make her kill someone on command, even if all three of her targets could have one on them, but, from what she had felt in the assassin's voice, the lady who was watching this unfold hadn't been lying, which meant that someone in this room had a contract on their head and that someone had to die, so she focused on the captives in front of her as she finally came to her decision.
She drew her dagger and her sword for a moment, showing the assassin that she had come to a decision at last, and then advanced on the captives, where she brought her dagger down right into Vasha's head, killing him instantly, before leaving it there as she moved on to Fultheim and cut off his head, only to spin around and cut down the lady who had been right between the pair, as she had decided to leave nothing to chance, not after hearing their responses, but once the deed was done, and all three of the captives were dead, she retrieved her dagger from Vasha's head and cleaned her weapons, only she was shocked and surprised by how easy it was for someone like her, a person who likely a mostly peaceful life back in Equestria, to end the life of another, much less a group like this.
"Well, well, aren't we the over-achiever?" the assassin commented, speaking for the first time since she let Amaryllis turn around and focus on the captives that had been kneeling behind her, though at the same time she removed herself from the bookshelf and touched down on the floor so she could walk over to her, where she glanced at the individuals that had been set up for Amaryllis earlier, where her tone suggested that she was pleased, "Three possibilities, three victims. Must have been one of them, right? So why take chances..."
"You told me to kill one of them, and I did so," Amaryllis replied, though at the same time she didn't feel sick about what she had done, rather it felt natural for her to kill someone, just like what she felt when she killed Grelod the Kind earlier, making her wonder if this was her calling, to be an assassin in a distant land, especially since it might make use of the skills she had learned during her time in Chrysalis' Hive, before she turned her attention back to the topic as she focused on the assassin that was watching her right now, "besides, with what all three of them had to share with me, I couldn't let any of them leave this building."
"Indeed, and, at the same time, you understand what was important about this," the assassin stated, though this time her tone revealed that she was very pleased with what Amaryllis had done, in killing all three of the captives like that, making her wonder if all of them had a contract on their heads and the line about only one having a contract on them had been a little lie to motivate her to act, but she said nothing as the lady continued, "When I gave the order to spill blood, by killing someone, you followed it without hesitation, without asking me any questions as to why I wanted such a thing to happen... despite the fact that you did ask the captives more to learn who might have the contract... and, more importantly, you did this without a hint of remorse... most impressive."
"So... I take it I'm free to go now?" Amaryllis asked, because that was the main reason she had done this, not to prove that she was a killer that was capable of killing people on command and didn't feel any remorse for what she had done, despite the fact that she actually didn't feel any guilt for what she had done, given that two of them were criminals, in two different manners, and the third was someone who annoyed everyone else to the point where she might have hurt someone in the past, rather she had done this because she wanted to leave this building with her life intact.
"Indeed you are, and you're repaid your debt to the Dark Brotherhood, in full no less. As such, here's the key to the shack that we're in," the assassin replied, to which she produced a key from one of her pockets and handed it over to Amaryllis, which meant that the door had been locked the entire time, something she would have figured out in a matter of seconds had she approached it and tried to open it, though she accepted the key and let the lady return her hand to her side for a few seconds, "but why stop at a single assassination? Despite whatever feelings you have towards killing people, whether you think it's fun, a chance to test your skills, or that it fills you with a sense of justice, I can tell that you would make a fine assassin, with some additional practice, so I think we can take our relationship to the next level. I would like to officially extend to you an invitation to join my Family, the Dark Brotherhood."
Originally Amaryllis thought that this was just about fulfilling one or more of the brotherhood's contracts in a unique way, by kidnapping and testing someone that had taken one of their contracts, to make sure they didn't do something like that again, but this piece of information left her stunned, as she was quite surprised that the assassin felt that she had the skills necessary to join the order of assassins, and yet, despite what she was thinking, she had to admit that she was interested in what the assassin had to say.
"Good, I can tell that my invitation has piqued your interest," the assassin continued, showing that she was observing how Amaryllis reacted to what she was saying and that this happened to be the sort of reaction she was hoping to get with her statement, even if she was still shocked by everything that had happened since she spoke to Aventus, though she stayed silent as she allowed the assassin to continue with the rest of what she had to say, no doubt giving her instructions on the next step she had to do to join the group, "Now then, in the southwest reaches of Skyrim, in the Pine Forest, you'll find the entrance to our Sanctuary... it's just beneath the road, hidden from view. When questioned by the Black Door, answer with the correct passphrase: 'Silence, my brother'. The door will recognize you as a member of the Dark Brotherhood, allowing you to enter our hidden Sanctuary. Once you're inside, well, your new life with begin. I'll see you at home."
"Wait, before you go, I have one thing I would like to ask," Amaryllis said, because while this was a lot to take in, that she was being offered an invitation to the Dark Brotherhood, there was one thing that she hadn't been told yet and knew that it was important if she decided to join the order of assassins in the future, though her words caused the assassin to stop in her tracks for a moment and glance back at her, as she had turned the moment she stopped talking, but it was clear that she was interested in what her question happened to be, "Who are you? And who was that nord that was with you, back when I noticed you upstairs in Candlehearth Hall?"
"That's right, I never did tell you my name, did I?" the assassin replied, though it was in that moment that she pulled the hood that was covering her head back and revealed a blond haired lady that was likely between forty to fifty years old, by Amaryllis' estimates anyway, who only smiled at her as she stashed the hood away for now, before focusing on her once more for a few seconds, "I am Astrid, and I'm the leader of the Dark Brotherhood... and the nord you saw me with, who is back in our Sanctuary right now, is my husband, who you'll meet in due time. And who might you be?"
Amaryllis knew that she hadn't given anyone in this land her real name yet, mostly because she had been terrified of them finding out that she wasn't from this land and had powers that no one else seemed to have, but Astrid, based on what she could tell, wasn't frightened of her at all, rather she seemed interested in what sort of being she was and how she might help the Dark Brotherhood, given that the organization was declining, based on what the innkeeper of the Sleeping Giant Inn had told her earlier.
"My name is Amaryllis, and I'm a changeling... a shapeshifter, if you will." Amaryllis stated, deciding that, since Astrid had seen her true form, there was no point in her hiding the truth from the assassin, though at the same time, to prove that her power was what she said it was, even if Astrid had seen her shift back into her new natural form, she let the magic roll over her body for a moment before Astrid raised an eyebrow, as she had taken on the assassin's appearance within a matter of seconds, "See? I can look like whoever I want, even sound exactly like them."
"I was right, you would make a good assassin." Astrid said, as while it was weird to see her own reflection staring at her like that, where a few moments ago she had been looking at someone else, she had to admit that this proved she had been right in offering an invitation to Amaryllis, as it meant that she could be anyone she wanted to be and could get close to all the targets that might be handed to her in the future, before she headed for the door and opened it with what appeared to be a second copy of the key that she had handed over.
That definitely wasn't the reaction that Amaryllis was expecting, making her wonder what Astrid had gone through to not be stunned or shocked by her powers, but as she headed outside, and found that she was in an area of Skyrim that looked like a swamp of sorts, she found Astrid climbing up on a black horse with glowing red eyes, and a saddle that revealed that it was associated with the Dark Brotherhood, before departing from the area, leaving Amaryllis to think about everything she had learned so far. Once she was sure that Astrid was gone, and hadn't turned around to come talk to her again, the first thing she did was let the flames dance over her body once more, allowing her to return to her original form, though as soon as that was done she spread her wings, as she felt that this was a good time to see if they still worked in this form or if they had been ruined by whatever had brought her to this world, as it would tell her if flight was possible or not, and she hoped the former was the correct option. Fortunately it only took her a few moments to flutter her wings and take off, to which she started to leave the ground behind as she moved higher into the sky, where it didn't take her long to figure out that her wings worked just fine, that nothing bad had befallen her when she came to this world, to which she turned in the direction of Whiterun and took off for real, so she could leave the swamp behind. The reason she was heading to Whiterun was because the people there seemed willing to help someone that was a traveler, giving them directions to the various places of the land, and it was the best place she could think of that would allow her to figure out where the Fine Forest was located, as she was considering joining up with the Dark Brotherhood, because if Astrid was willing to accept her true form she had to wonder if the other assassins might do the same thing. One thing she kept her eyes open for, besides random people on the road and soldiers that were watching any of the forts that might be along her path, was the black dragon she had seen a few days ago, because it was sure to attack her and she didn't want to be anywhere near it, though for the most part it didn't seem like the beast might be in Skyrim anymore and that she wouldn't have to worry about it, but that didn't stop her from keeping her guard up in case she was proven wrong.
She also had to admit that Skyrim was quite beautiful from the air, since she was able to look down at the landscape that was below her and not have to worry about the various dangers that were wandering around the wilds, looking for people to kill, but it wasn't anything like her home, that much she knew, though that didn't stop her from taking in the sights as she flew over the land, because if the mages at the College of Winterhold told her that traveling between worlds was next to impossible, as Farengar had told her, than this would be her home for the rest of her life and she'd have to get used to what Skyrim had to offer her.
Thanks to the area that the shack was located in, the fact that she had no idea where most of the landmarks were located, and the fact that Amaryllis went a little slow to figure out where in Skyrim she had been resting, it took her a few hours to get near Whiterun, though when she finally reached her destination she made sure to hide herself behind some rocks and returned to the khajiit form she had gotten used to wearing, because for some reason she liked this form over the other disguises she had created so far. Once that was done she headed towards the main gate of the city once more and took a moment to nod to the guards when she reached the area near the gate, who seemed to be focused on something else at the moment, possibly more bandits or something like that, and not on a lone traveler that was walking on the road, which allowed her to into the city without delay, where she made her way back to The Bannered Mare, as it happened to be the best place for her to gather information. The first thing she did, however, was use some of her coin to purchase something to eat, chicken and milk, as they seemed to have that in stock and the innkeeper knew that not everyone wanted to have a bottle or two of mead when it was barely noon, as she had arrived about two hours before noon, though that didn't stop her from being happy to see a simple drink on the menu, especially after what happened in Windhelm. Once she was done with the innkeeper she sat down and ate her meal, though she also did two things, the first one was listening to the other patrons about the news that they had to share, where all of them mentioned the recent murder of Grelod, meaning this was the first time they were talking about it, before turning her attention to Hulda, which was when she asked about the Pine Forest. What she learned was that the Pine Forest covered a large area of the southern part of Skyrim, not far from the borders of Cyrodiil and Hammerfell as it turned out, and that the settlements that rested in the forest were the city of Falkreath and Riverwood, though Helgen had been counted among that number until the dragon burned it to the ground, an interesting piece of information that she barely thought about as she focused on the more important information that she needed to acquire before she did anything else.
Getting directions to Falkreath, the area that had to be the closest to her destination, was rather easy, as all she had to do was follow the road that would take her to Fort Greymoor and continue on from there, until turning left when she found the signpost with the city's name on it, something that rested at the bottom of a decent sized hill and would taken her by a mill at some point, not to mention a few caves and maybe a ruin or two, which might be dangerous given that bandits liked to hide in those locations. The other route she could take went through Riverwood, headed up to Helgen, and then moved around the edge of Lake Ilinalta, before finding a road that would, eventually, take her down to the wooden walls that had two functions, a marker of the city's border and served as the city's protection against attackers, though judging from what Hulda told her it should be easy to get to Falkreath, meaning that getting lost would be hard for her to do, unless she took a step off the path and headed into the wilderness for some reason. Of course she didn't tell Huilda the reason behind as to why she wanted to head to that part of Skyrim, due to the innkeeper assuming she was here to see the sights and take in the land that was around her, and she wasn't about to correct the lady at all, rather she thanked her for the information and, when she was finally done with her meal, she excused herself and headed outside the inn so she could get underway once more. There was something odd about this situation that compelled her to head to the Sanctuary and see the Dark Brotherhood with her own eyes, to see what they were like when they weren't killing people, and possibly seeing whether or not she could actually do what they did for a living, and she was sure that the feeling wouldn't leave her alone until she actually sought them out, hence the reason why she was focused on heading to the area Astrid had told her about and not flying in the opposite direction.
As she departed from Whiterun, however, Amaryllis had the feeling that things were about to get interesting for her, likely in more ways than one, and was looking forward to seeing what she learned when she finally met the Dark Brotherhood, and, more importantly, if she had the skills to be an assassin, like Astrid seemed to think she did, otherwise she might have to find another calling to continue living in this land.