//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Sanctuary 
// Story: Skyrim: The Faces of Death 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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It took Amaryllis a few moments to leave Whiterun and return to the road that she was used to walking on since she had arrived in this land, where she turned to her right and headed in the direction of Fort Greymoor, so she could figure out where the signpost she was looking for was located, to give her an idea of the direction she had to head in this time so she could reach her destination, which was due to the fact that she still had no idea where all of the cities were located and felt that it would take some time before she didn't need to rely on the map for basic directions. As she did that Amaryllis also discovered that the Khajiit caravan had departed from outside the city and moved on to the next area that they were going to set up shop in, and the four cats likely had some horses to help them carry all the goods they were selling, otherwise it would take them forever to reach the cities that they visited, or at least that was her thought on the matter since she truly had no idea how they moved things from place to place and knew that the cats might not want to share that information with a total stranger. The other thing she noticed was that this day was actually quite nice, as there were no clouds in the sky at the moment, where she realized that she hadn't been paying attention to when she flew back to the outskirts of the city, and, more importantly in her mind, nothing seemed to be on fire, which was great since that meant the black dragon she had seen earlier wasn't destroying everything in it's path or had ignored Whiterun entirely, though that did make her think about Za'kera for a moment. She was slightly curious if the Khajiit had made it to the barrow that was near the small village of Riverwood or if she had gone off to another part of Skyrim, she could have left the land for all Amaryllis knew and was trying to get back to her previous life, but even as she considered all of that she didn't change the direction she was heading in, where she choose to believe that Za'kera had gone to Bleak Falls Barrow and that all the enemies inside that place were already dealt with, while the Khajiit was looking for whatever the Jarl and his Court Wizard had asked her to find to help with the dragon problem, even if Skyrim didn't seem to have such a problem since she hadn't seen any dragons in some time, which she was thankful for.

As she thought about all of that Amaryllis discovered that she was able to cross the distance to the watchtower with ease and was able to get closer to Fort Greymoor, where she was sure the bandits she had seen earlier were still occupying due to there being no banners on the outside of the fort, meaning that she would have to be careful as she passed through the area in question, since there was a chance that the bandits might notice her and rush out to try and rob her of everything she had on her right now. What she found out was that none of the bandits that were watching the road, as she spotted a few of them walking on the upper parts of the wall, seemed to care about her, meaning they either attacked larger groups, like a caravan, attacked rich looking people, or they waited for adventurers or soldiers to come and investigate the ruined fortress so they could ambush them as a team, where the last option seemed be the best course of action in her mind, or at least it was for the bandits. Still, she was happy that she didn't attract the attention of the bandits while she was on the road and that she was able to continue walking without problems, because she had a single destination in mind this time around and really didn't want to be stopped by anything or anyone, even if that was something that was going to change at some point in the near future, as she knew, from her previous walk from Whiterun to Windhelm, that interruptions were common in Slyrim and that one was going to happen at some point during her journey. Of course, just to prove her point, a pair of wolves burst out of some of the bushes further along the road she was following, before where a bend happened to be resting, and rushed over a lone deer that was grazing on the other side of the same road, where the deer panicked and rushed off into the distance, heading into the plains that rested off to Amaryllis' right and disappeared within a couple of seconds, and both wolves followed it without delay, leaving the road clear once more. She was a little thankful that the deer had come out when it did, otherwise she would have killed the wolves in self defense again, like she had done a few times so far, before she continued along the path that was in front of her, only to stop again as she spotted something she felt was a little odd, as she found a farmer that was in the middle of walking a cow down the road, where she found that the cow had some strange markings painted onto it.

"I'd stay away if I were you." the farmer said, where he waited until he was closer to where Amaryllis was standing before saying anything, though his tone revealed that he must have said this a few times since he set out from whatever farm he had come from, only to lay a hand on the painted cow for a moment, which only made her curious as to what was going on now, since Skyrim was a land with many strange customs and she was always learning something new, which was why she focused on the Nord while she waited for him to continue speaking, "I'm on my way to a nearby giant camp and I can't guarantee those beasts won't think you're part of the offering... just keep your distance from us and you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

"Offering?" Amaryllis asked, as this was the first time she was hearing about such a thing, which only made her wonder if there was anything the farmer could tell her before he continued on his way to the camp that was his destination, where she assumed that the camp had to be somewhere near where they were standing, even though she didn't see anything that could be offered to the tall creatures that lived with the mammoths, something that lead to her asking the question before she moved on, "What are you offering them?"

"The cow, of course." the farmer replied, though his tone revealed that he didn't think any less of her for not knowing what he was doing, once more due to the fact that he must have explained himself to several other travelers before she ended up stopping him, before he got to explaining what he happened to be doing, just so he could reach the camp and get his over with, which would allow him to return to his farm and get back to his work, "Others do it differently, but I have found that an annual offering usually keeps the giants away from our livestock... of course, some folks think it's superstition, and others think it's a trick to make farmers lose precious animals, but I truly believe that it works. The reason I believe that is due to the fact that I have yet to have a giant kill any of my livestock, in all the years I have been tending to the farm, which means there must be some truth to what I'm doing, though the paint is a way for us to let the giants know that we're giving the cow to them willingly, like a peace offering."

"Oh, I see." Amaryllis said, because while she doubted the giants were smart enough to realize what some of the farmers were doing by offering a cow or something every now and then, to keep them from attacking the farms, she also decided not to bring up those doubts in front of the farmer, who clearly believed the system worked and that he had been lucky to have not lost any animals since he took over his farm, to which she shelved her thoughts and focused on the farmer once more, "Well, good luck on making your delivery to the giant's camp."

The farmer thanked her for wishing him luck as she moved further down the road, only this time she didn't bother to look back and see if he was moving towards his destination, as she had the feeling that he would reach the camp and make his offering, hopefully surviving the encounter, so he could head back to his farm, where he, his family, and their farm would be safe for some period of time, or at least until he had to pull aside another cow and make another offering to the giants, repeating the danger he had faced during this journey. Truthfully she suspected that the Nords might have conditioned the giants into believing that if they stayed quiet, and don't hurt anyone, they might get some free stuff every now and then, a cow or some other animal to be exact, and that if they attack people then the Nords will send guards or adventurers to kill them, but in the end she decided to just ignore the entire thing and move on with her journey. One thing she was sure of was that if the farmer had walked along the part of the road she still needed to traverse, which she was sure of, than that meant whatever wildlife was supposed to be in this area had moved on for a time, which gave her a brief window to reach Falkreath before a sabre cat or a pack of wolves came back and attacked her, a window of opportunity that she didn't want to waste given the dangers of the land. Of course just thinking about such a thing seemed to be the trigger for some wild animals to approach her, as not four minutes after she parted with the farmer Amaryllis heard a few howls and spotted a pack of wolves, three of them, rushing towards her position, to which she sighed as she pulled her weapons out and used them to defend herself, cutting down one wolf rather easily, before injuring the second one with a bad cut to it's side and knocked the third one away from her with a wild swing as it lunged at her, even though she was sure she cut into its neck, given the fact that it stopped moving a few seconds later. With two of the wolves taken care of she decided to let the other one limp off the road and tend to it's wounds before it fell over, mostly because a number of animals were smart enough to retreat when something like this happened to them, but, as it turned out, the wolf charged back at her not a couple of seconds after she thought that, possibly in the manner of seeking revenge for it's fallen packmates, so what Amaryllis did was wait for it to get close to her and dodged to the side as she cut into it's side, causing it to collapse once her attack was done.

Once all three wolves had been taken care of, and she was sure there weren't any additional enemies or wild animals in this area that might want a piece of her, Amaryllis sheathed her weapons and glanced at the wolves, mostly because she had heard tales of adventurers finding rings and necklaces inside the stomachs of wild animals, but she wasn't about to do that and decided that it was time to leave, to which she departed from this area and continued following the path that she had taken, which should bring her to Falkreath. As she continued walking down the road she discovered two caves off on her left, which were separated by a few minutes walk once she reached the area the second one was in, where she had to assume that they weren't attached to each other, but they did appear to be potential homes for animals, which meant that there was the possibility that she could be attacked again, hence the reason she kept moving and made sure to keep one of her eyes on the caves, just in case a saber cat came outside or something. It took her about ten more minutes to reach the signpost she had been told about, the one that would show her the direction to Falkreath, but even as she came to a stop she noticed that further along the road, maybe five to ten minutes away, was a slumbering sabre cat, and that there was another strange burial mound, like the one she passed on her way to Windhelm, near the small stone walls that lined out where the road was. She still had no idea what those mounds were supposed to be and should have asked someone in Whiterun about them before she left, given that Farengar likely knew what they were supposed to be, but while she was curious about them she also wasn't about to waste thirty to forty more minutes to walk back and ask the question, while at the same time flying wasn't an option, as there were too many eyes on the road, so it would have to wait until she made it back to the city in question, if she remembered the question anyway. After thinking about all of that Amaryllis focused on the path that she would have to follow and started to walk up it, where she found that the road to Falkreath started with a hill that was almost diagonal, meaning she would have quite the climb ahead of her and made her happy that she gotten a good meal before attempting this walk, otherwise she would have run out of energy before reaching her destination, and that wasn't counting the top of this hill.

It took her another ten to fifteen minutes to reach the top of the hill, where she determined that it had been a good climb and realized that a carriage would have had no trouble riding through this area, had she bothered to hire one before she left Whiterun, something she didn't even consider until right this moment and she nearly slapped her forehead the instant she realized she never considered the option, but she didn't let those thoughts stop her as she continued to follow the path that was in front of her, due to the fact that Falkreath was still further away from where she was standing. After a few more minutes she glanced to her left and found Lake Ilinalta resting off in the distance, a landmark that everyone in Skyrim seemed to know, and while it was an amazing area, like she had heard, she did see an old fort that had sunk into the water at some point, but it didn't look occupied and she wasn't about to waste her time seeing if there were any treasures inside it, since she was sure that it had been looted by bandits or travelers some time after sinking into the lake, even though she was sure a group of bandits were likely living inside it, to hide from the guards and the soldiers who protected this land. Another thing Amaryllis noticed while she walked was that off on her right there was a shack, not quite the size of the one she had been brought to by Astrid, as that one was easily twice the size of this one, but from what she could see there was a pair of hunters that seemed to call this area home, as they seemed to be in the middle of discussing a hunt or something and didn't pay attention to the road she was currently walking on, where she focused on her journey and continued moving. One other thing in the area that caught her attention was a small house that was off on her left, one that just so happened to be attached to a mill, making her wonder why the residents of the building would prefer to be all the way out here and not be closer to civilization, given the potential dangers that could be out there, but then decided that it wasn't worth worrying about and continued to follow the road once more, all while keeping an eye out for the area Astrid had told her about.

A few minutes later she reached a fork in the road and prepared to head to her right, as that was the direction she felt that she should be going in, only to be attacked by a pair of skeletons that had come back to life, though they were rather easy to put back down, since all she had to do was swing at them once and reduce them to a pile of bones, and before she knew it she was on her way once more, even though she did wonder where in the world they had come from and if there had been a necromaner in the area, practicing their 'art' on the dead. From what she knew necromaners were common in Skyrim and they had a pretty bad reputation for defiling the tombs of the honored dead the Nords cared for, using any of the bodies within to do their dirty work, and she knew all of this thanks to everything she overheard before this point, but she wasn't about to call a necromaner's attention to her and continued walking down the path she had picked out, mostly to get out of the area before the vile magic user noticed her presence and decided to attack her, since those types were always looking to add more soldiers to their undead armies. She quickly noticed that there was a ruined tower and a small ruin along the right side of the path, after taking care of the pair of skeletons and leaving before a necromancer could see her, but when she reached the section of the path that the small ruin was in she came to a stop as she noticed something odd that was in the area that was at the bottom of the hill she was walking on, and that was a black door of some kind that looked out of place, including a small black pool of water that reminded her of that horse she had seen Astrid ride off on, a pair of clues for new assassins no doubt. As she walked down to where the door was located she discovered that there was a large skull on it, with a bright red hand print in the forehead area, a dagger near what she assumed was the handle, and what she assumed was a dead person, as if to illustrate that this was a place where the Dark Brotherhood lived while they weren't busy killing people, and, at the same time, it seemed to be emitting a faint heavy breathing noise, along with what she assumed were heartbeats, something that would drive off any sane individual and likely make them come back with some guards or something. If Amaryllis was being completely honest with herself, and she decided she might as well be that way for a time, the black door was totally creepy, that much she knew from just looking at it and the area that was around her right now, which meant she had to be in the right place, since she followed Astrid's directions to the letter and came to the door she had been told about, which meant that she had one thing to do before she entered the Sanctuary and met Astrid's Family.

Amaryllis stood there for a few moments, wondering if she was really going to do what she was thinking of doing as she stared at the black door, especially since she was just an infiltrator and everyone she had killed in Skyrim was mostly self defense, which should scream that this shouldn't the path she should be following, before she steeled herself and walked up to the creepy black door that happened to be resting between her and the area the Dark Brotherhood called home, as there was no going back if this worked.

What is the music of life? a creepy voice asked, one that sounded like it was coming from behind the grave, or at least that was Amaryllis' thoughts on the matter since this was the first time she had heard something like this, though at the same time the voice confirmed something that she had been told earlier, about being questioned by the black door, which wasn't as insane as she had originally thought it would be, especially since she had just heard the door speak in it's creepy grave-like voice.

"Silence, my brother." Amaryllis replied, though at this point she was committed, because if what Astrid had told her was correct the black door would forever recognize her as a member of the Dark Brotherhood, no doubt allowing her to enter and leave the Sanctuary without having to answer that question ever again, and without having to speak to this black door every time she wanted to enter or leave this place, and she suspected that if she left, without heading inside, Astrid would come looking for her again, either to kill her or drag her back here.

Welcome home. the voice stated, stretching out the words for a moment, while making it sound just as creepy as it was when it first spoke up when she stopped in front of it, though that was followed by a faint glow appearing around the edges of the door, like a sign for her to enter the Sanctuary for the first time, though she patiently waited for everything to stop glowing before she did anything, just in case acting early caused something bad to happen with the black door, only to find that nothing happened and the door returned to it's eerie state.

Amaryllis braced herself and pushed the door open, where she found a tunnel with some stairs that likely lead her to the first main chamber of the Sanctuary, complete with old banners baring the symbol of the Dark Brotherhood, along with a lit scone and a stone bench near the bottom step, to which she walked down the stairs and heard the black door close as she did that, meaning it was magically enchanted to close itself if the assassins didn't do it themselves, which she figured was rather handy at times, before she focused on what was in front of her. The first chamber of the Sanctuary contained a few shelves that had useful items on them, books that likely spoke about the various deeds that the brotherhood had accomplished over the years, a few mugs and bits of pottery, and, likely the most important thing of all, a set of armor that rested near a tunnel that lead to the main chamber that the Sanctuary was built around, even though said armor seemed totally different from what she had seen Astrid wearing earlier. To her immediate left rested a doorway that appeared to lead to a decent sized room, one furnished like the various bedrooms she had seem since her arrival in Skyrim and it had a bed fit for two people to sleep on, but she decided not to go in there, because she figured that it had to be Astrid's room and suspected that the leader of the brotherhood would likely be pissed off is she went looking for things in her personal bedroom. Near the door rested a stone table with a map of the land laying on it, with a stone chair resting up against the backside of the table, between it and the wall, and an iron dagger laying on the table, even if there were a few more that had been stabbed into the map, almost as if all of this was supposed to keep track of where the contracts came from, or at least that was an idea since she honestly had no idea what she was looking at, before she focused on the important figure that was in the room with her and turned her attention away from everything else for a time. Standing in the frame of the tunnel that lead to the main chamber, while leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, was none other than Astrid, though as Amaryllis approached the tunnel she could see that the leader of the group of assassins seemed happy to see her again, even though it made her question how the lady had gotten back here so fast, when she didn't have any wings of her own, which wondered if the odd horse was to blame for the deed.

"Ah, I knew you wouldn't be far behind me, given those wings you possess." Astrid commented, where she spoke up the moment Amaryllis stopped near the frame of the tunnel, where her tone showed that she was happy that her thoughts about her had been correct, that Amaryllis would come to the Sanctuary, especially after what happened in the shack, and answer the black door's question, to which she thought about something for a few seconds, "I hope my directions helped you find the place without too much trouble."

"They were incredibly helpful." Amaryllis replied, where she decided not to say that, as someone who wasn't familiar with the land she was now calling home, she had to find someone that could tell her where the Pine Forest rested and obtain directions from them, which was part of the reason that it had taken her some time to catch up with Astrid, though it was in that moment that she focused on the more important part piece of information she needed to know, "So, now that I'm here, what's going to happen now?"

"Well, what happens now is you start your new life in the Dark Brotherhood." Astrid answered, her happy tone staying as she said that, indicating that she firmly believed that Amaryllis would be a good addition to the group of assassins, and that she was of the opinion that Amaryllis would soon see what she was talking about, even if it would take the changeling some time to come to terms with this lifestyle and everything else that came with being an assassin, before she focused on something else that needed to be said, "You're part of the Family now, after all. This, as you can see, is our Sanctuary... you won't find a safer place in all of Skyrim, so get comfortable."

Amaryllis thought about it for a few seconds, as the way Astrid talked about the rest of the assassins, as in calling them her Family, reminded her of the other changelings in the Hive, where they were one big family when she thought about it for the first time since arriving in this land, and determined that the two had to be similar in some regard, and, at the same time, it was like a small void had been filled, even though it would take her some time to get used to having a family again, after losing her own family some time ago.

"I'm honored to be a part of your Family, Astrid." Amaryllis said, because if her thoughts were correct, and there was the chance that she was wrong, she felt that being respective and thankful for the chance was the best way for her to go right now, even if the other assassins might not feel the same way and think less of her for this, though she didn't want to upset Astrid or anyone that might be listening to them at the moment, since there was a chance that someone might be resting nearby and she didn't want to tick them off either.

"Our Family, my dearest sister. It's our Family now." Astrid replied, where her tone revealed that this had to be a common occurrence when new members were being introduced to the Family and their new lives, that they said 'your Family' when they formally joined the Dark Brotherhood and she corrected them to make sure they understood the fact that they were now part of the Family, before she shifted her stance as she prepared herself for something that would no doubt surprise Amaryllis and possibly put a smile on her face, "Together, united as one, the Dark Brotherhood can accomplish anything we set our minds to... but you must be anxious to meet the others and to get to work. I'm in the middle of arranging a job for you, a major contract that isn't like what that Aretino boy asked you to do, but I do need another day or two to iron out the rest of the details, so until then you should go see Nazir, who handles collecting and distributing the smaller contracts to the other members of our Family, after determining how hard each of them might be. And, according to everything that I have heard, the Night Mother will soon arrive at our Sanctuary, so things will get even more interesting when she and her Keeper finally arrive, but that's for another time, as there is one thing you'll need that I haven't given you yet... the armor of the Dark Brotherhood. May it serve you well in all of your endeavors."

Amaryllis found that the reason Astrid had been shifting her stance was so she could pick up the bundle of clothing that was laying to her left and present it to her, where she actually let Amaryllis move into her room for a few moments so she could have a small amount of privacy, something that was followed by her nodding her head and headed into the room so she could slip into her new attire and see how it looked on her, even though she had a faint idea due to what she recalled from when she first met Astrid. Once she was inside the room she carefully took off the armor she had been wearing for a long time, which had served her well so far, and slipped on the black and red armor that was identical to what Astrid was wearing, as well as an identical pair of gloves, though the interesting thing was that the boots had been modified to fit her unique hooves, as when she shifted back into her base form for a moment she found that they had shifted as well, which was rather interesting, and that the armor even had slots for her wings, informing her that Astrid must have taken her measurements to make these modifications. Even the hood had some slight modifications, so it could fit over her natural form and whatever disguise she put on, especially with her horn, but once she had all the armor on, and had pulled back the hood for now, she put her old armor away and walked out of the room, where Astrid nodded her head to show her that she approved on how she looked, before going back to where she was leaning, which caused Amaryllis to focus once more and realized that there was something she wanted to ask before it slipped her mind.

"So, can I ask you a question, since I'm new to this land and everything that calls it home?" Amaryllis said, where Astrid turned and looked at her, her face showing that she expected questions and that she would attempt to answer them to the best of her ability, which was why she only had one thing she wanted to ask about right now, though she did wait for a few seconds for Astrid to nod her head, to show that she was okay with being asked questions, "Thanks. Who is this 'Night Mother' that you mentioned?"

"The Unholy Matron, the Shrouded Lady, the Mistress of the Void... she goes by many names." Astrid replied, which told Amaryllis that she had to be some sort of important figure or statue that was important to the Dark Brotherhood, or even a person that they worshiped in some manner, but she remained silent as she listened to what her new sister had to say on the matter, to which Astrid shook her head for a moment and focused on her answer, "At some point in time Sithis supposedly gave a woman five children and she, in turn, killed all of them to gain his favor, becoming the Night Mother, if you want to believe that sort of thing. Today, well... she's a skeleton, an ancient corpse that's being brought to this very Sanctuary by her Keeper, who should have arrived in Skyrim a few months ago based on the letters he sent me, as he was coming from Cyrodiil due to her crypt in Bravil being destroyed, and I gave him specific instructions on how to reach our Sanctuary, but I have no idea why he's been taking his sweet time getting here... not that it matters, since the last letter I received from him indicated that he should be here soon."

Amaryllis was surprised by the information she was given, even though it raised more questions, like who Sithis was supposed to be and whatnot, but for now she figured that she would head down the stairs and see if she could find the other members of her new Family, though as it turned out everyone was standing near a small waterfall, which she wasn't going to ask questions about since she knew there weren't any streams heading into this area, and from the laughter it was clear that all of them found something to be incredibly funny.

"Again! Again!" a voice said, where Amaryllis determined that it came from the Argonian that was standing near a short walkway that had been carved into the cave they called home, though his scales were green colored and it appeared that his weapon of choice was a steel sword, an odd choice since she had assumed that assassins were supposed to use one or two daggers when they killed their targets, meaning that there might be more to being a member of this group than what she initially thought and that each one seemed to have their own choice of weapon, before she focused on the group that was in front of her, "Do the part where he tries to buy you some candy."

"Okay, okay. Wait." the next assassin replied, which turned out to be a little girl that was no more than ten years old, or at least by her estimates anyway, since she had no idea how to tell the age of the kids of this world, but even then something like this only made Amaryllis wonder what was going on with this group, that they would go so far and employ children to kill their targets, while also making her wonder if there was more to the little girl than what she was seeing at the moment, especially with her red colored eyes "Here we go. 'Ooh, you are such a pretty little girl. Would the sweetie like a sweetie? Oh yes, how about some chocolate?' 'Oh yes, please, kind sir. My mama and papa left me all alone, and I'm so very hungry. I know a shortcut to the candy shop, through this alley'. 'Oh yes, very good. Very good. My it is dark down here. Oh, but you are so beautiful. Such a lovely smile. Your teeth... your teeth! No! Aggghh!!'"

It was quite easy for Amaryllis to determine that the little girl had to be talking about one of her latest contracts, that all of them were taking some time to relax and share stories before they were sent out to fulfill another one by hunting down a new target, something that had to be coming up soon since it looked like everyone was present, before she thought about what the little girl had done and felt that she did a decent job of trying to replicate the voice of the man she had been sent to assassinate, causing the others to laugh for a few moments, either at the voice or how she killed her target.

"Oh Babette, but you are so wicked." the female Dark Elf stated, revealing that the name of the little girl was Babette, even if she had spoken the moment everyone had stopped laughing about Babette's last target, though Amaryllis said nothing as she observed her new Family and waited for them to finish what they were doing, as she had the feeling that the tales weren't done yet and that one or two might have something else to add, especially since this was the best way for her to gather some sort of information on all of them before she actually approached them, even though she was sure that one or two of them had already noticed her arrival.

"What about you, Festus?" the Redguard asked, who wasn't dressed in the attire of a Dark Brotherhood assassin, just like how Babette was wearing normal clothes to make her blend into a crowd, and was actually dressed in what Amaryllis had to assume was the attire of his people, while carrying what appeared to be a scimitar on his belt, though it appeared that he was talking to the older man, who had wrinkles on his face and carried no weapon, making her wonder if he was more of a magic user, "How did that last contract turn out?"

"Oh, yes, please, old man. Regale us with your tales of wizardry..." the other man said, the one who wore two pieces of the attire that Amaryllis had been given, the shirt and the pants to be exact, though his tone confirmed that Festus preferred to use magic to assassinate his targets, something that she hadn't even considered and suspected would be hard to pull off without someone detecting his presence, while at the same time none of the other assassins made a move to stop the man, informing her that this had to be common as well.

"Ah, the young and stupid... always mocking the experienced and brilliant." Festus replied, his tone revealing that this was definitely a common occurrence when they were going over what happened on their last contracts, before he sighed and focused on what he was going to say, almost like he enjoyed his last mission and that he might be reluctant to share what had happened with his Family, before he focused on the others, "My contract went very well, I'll have you know. I decided to try out a new spell, just a little something that I've been working on in my spare time... came 'this' close to turning that priest inside out... damned messy, if I'm being honest."

"And what of your latest, Arnbjorn?" the dark elf asked, showing that she was very interested in hearing what the rest of her Family did, even if Amaryllis felt that turning someone inside out was horrible, even if Festus didn't go into all that much detail about the deed, something she was thankful for since it could have convinced her to just leave and not come back to this place, while at the same time the dark elf revealed the name of the muscular man that let Amarylllis know who Festus was, even though she was sure that Arnbjorn was the one who had been with Astrid back in Windhelm, before that drunken episode she had, "Something about a Khajiit... it was a merchant, correct?"

"Oh, a big doggy chasing a little kitty! How adorable!" Babette stated, as if she found something humorous about the entire situation, either due to Arnbjorn's nickname being 'big doggy' or due to there being something that Amaryllis didn't know, like maybe he could transform into a more beast-like form, like a werewolf or something, which could explain such an odd nickname, or it could be that they liked to tease him and knew that he wouldn't lash out at them no matter what they did to him, to which Amaryllis waited for someone to react to her statement.

That, of course, was followed by nearly everyone else in the area laughing at Babette's statement, showing her that nearly everyone in the Family considered the thought to be funny and that they weren't afraid to let Arnbjorn know their opinions on the matter, who growled for a few seconds and revealed, without saying anything, that he didn't share their thoughts and might be getting tired of the nickname, before the rest of the assassins finally stopped laughing so they could hear his response to the questions he had been asked.

"I am not adorable, it was not funny, and he wasn't a merchant." Arnbjorn stated, his tone revealing that, while this also seemed to be a common occurrence that they went through, of which there were many common occurrences in Amaryllis' eyes, Arnbjorn didn't like the jokes about dogs, he didn't like being called adorable, and he certainly didn't like any of his Family members assuming that his targets were weak merchants, meaning part of him had to be a proud warrior and liked to have a decent fight with his targets, "He was a Khajiit monk, a master of the Whispering Fang style, but now he's dead... and I have a new loincloth."

Amaryllis wasn't sure why that statement needed another round of laughter from everyone, but at that point it was clear that all of them were done talking about their contracts, meaning she had missed what the Argonian and the dark elf had done before her arrival, but since they hadn't dispersed yet she knew that they were eager to meet her, hence the reason she finally approached them, or more accurately Nazir, who she assumed was the Redguard, though there was a chance that her thoughts were wrong and the one she was looking for could be one of the members of her new Family, which she knew would take some time getting used to thinking about.

"So you're the newest member of our dwindling, dysfunctional little Family." the Redguard remarked, where some of the other members of the Family nodded their heads, while the others said nothing as he spoke up, indicating that they all seemed to be curious about something, which only made Amaryllis wonder what they were thinking about, even if she had some ideas on that matter, "We've heard some things about you, in the time between Astrid's return to the Sanctuary and your arrival... the incredible shapeshifter."

"Changeling, actually, but that's the basics of what I am," Amaryllis replied, though she guessed everything that she told Astrid back at the shack had been transferred to the assassins that were around her, no doubt to warn them about the person that would be joining them in the near future, before she let the magic wash over her and quickly returned to her true form once more, even if one of the assassins, Arnbjorn, did jump when she did that, "this is what I look like when I'm not wearing a disguise."

"Fascinating," the Dark Flf said, where she and Festus approached her for a moment and looked over her body, as her thoughts about her abilities seemed to be correct, there was no one like her in Skyrim, at the very least, and that some of the people she encountered might be interested in seeing her power in action, before the Dark Elf focused on her face for a few moments, while Festus had to be seeing how she channeled magic or something, even though it was a little hard to read the elderly man's face, "and you can take on whatever form you want?"

"But of course," Amaryllis answered, where she immediately shifted her form into that of Farengar Secret-Fire, the Court Wizard of Whiterun, so that her first statement came out in his voice, surprising the assassins for a moment, which was actually kind of interesting, even though it only confirmed that her power was unique in this world and that most people had no idea how to react to a shapeshifter walking among them, "Sure, I can create a new disguise on a whim, like the one I was wearing a few seconds ago, but a more perfect disguise comes from studying the subject I'm going to be taking the place of, that way no one notices anything odd when I finally make my move... or at least that was what I was taught when I was learning how to master this power."

"Astrid was right, that power will come in handy for you, when you tackle your first real contract," Babette said, her tone revealing that she approved of Amaryllis' powers and what she could do with them, as it seemed like the two of them had a slight advantage over the other assassins, even though one of them was sure of what the other's power was due to her having no idea what sort of skill or power Babette had, before the rest of the group separated from each other, indicating that this was all they wanted to see for right now.

"Well, now you've met everyone in our Family," the Redguard stated, though at the same time Amaryllis dropped the form she was wearing and remained in her natural form, because this was the first time in her entire life that she had found someone, much less a group of individuals, that didn't run when they witnessed her transforming, before he beckoned to two of the others before they disappeared into the depths of the Sanctuary, "I know you know most of our names now, from overhearing us going over the details of our last couple of contracts, but you should at least know that our Dark Elf sister is called Gabriella and that our Argonian brother is called Veezara... I am Nazir, in case you were wondering where I had run off to."

"I'll have to talk with all of them later, but it's nice to meet all of you." Amaryllis admitted, because if these assassins, her new Family, were going to treat her like one of their own and not scream because of her true form, or outright try to end her life because of what they saw, than she figured that she could try to learn more about them, before she recalled the reason why Astrid had her come down here so quickly, "Anyway, since you guys were talking about contracts, Astrid told me that you might have some smaller side contracts for me to take on, while she finalizes the last couple of details on my first major contract."

"Did she now?" Nazir asked, though his tone revealed that he was only messing with her, that he knew that Astrid wanted him to give Amaryllis some work so they could see how well of an assassin she truly was, indicating that the small test back in the shack had only been the beginning, which made sense due to everything she had seen so far, before Nazir focused on what he had been thinking about before the others talked about their contracts, "Well, as it turns out, I happen to have a few lingering contracts we haven't had the chance to complete just yet, and there are more of them, dribbling in from time to time. I'll assign them to you, and the rest of our Family, as they become available, not to mention that I'll assign them based on the skills of the one that's asking me for more work. Finally, and most importantly, these contracts are to be completed at your leisure."

"Really?" Amaryllis asked, because while she understood the system of making sure the more experienced assassins took on the harder contracts that were being offered, so the newer assassins didn't get themselves killed by something that was far beyond their current skill level, she was surprised that they could be completed whenever the assassin that was assigned them wanted to do the deed, instead of the clients having a time limit on their target and expecting someone to take care of the target on time, "That sounds... incredibly simple."

"Trust me, it is." Nazir stated, where Amaryllis got the feeling that, while he agreed with what she said, it was how he and his Family had operated for some amount of time and there was no changing that right now, meaning that all she could do is get used to how the Family worked and accept whatever contracts he had for her, even though she suspected that her first couple of assignments would be a lot simpler than what Arnbjorn and the others had been given so far, or at least it would be that way for a time, before Nazir shifted his head for a moment, "I'll be honest with you, these aren't particularly glamorous assassinations, and most of them don't pay that much either, especially with the war going on, but they'll keep you busy until something more interesting comes along. If you want my advice, just do the contracts when you're able to, as none of the targets I'm going to give you will be going anywhere anytime soon, so there's no real time limit, meaning you are free to stalk your targets for however long you want to and strike when you think the time is right. I also tend to give contracts out in groups, so everyone usually has two or three to do at a time, purely depending on how many I have on hand, so you can either hand them in one at a time or turn in the whole group when all the names have been crossed off the list I'll give you, either way works for me."

"I understand." Amaryllis said, as everything she learned from Nazir made sense, even if she was unfamiliar with how a group of assassins was supposed to operate, since she was an infiltrator and not someone who actually killed those that she was spying on, but the system that he had in place seemed to work quite well for the Family and she saw no reason to challenge it at all, to which she braced herself for what she was about to say, "Well then, I guess at this point all I can say is hit me with the first list of contracts you have prepared for me."

"Very well then." Nazir replied, where he reached into a small pouch that he kept at his side and pulled some small slips of paper out of it, where she caught the names of the other members of their Family, indicating that he was already prepared for when the others came to him for their next contracts, before pulling out a slip with her name, confirming the fact that Astrid had informed everyone about her arrival, if everything else before this point wasn't enough evidence to tell her they had been expecting her arrival, "I have three targets available for you at the moment, to go with your current level of skill, and if you improve your skill as you take on these contracts I might give you some of the more challenging stuff when you return. As it stands your first targets are the beggar Narfi, an ex-miller by the name of Ennodius Papius, and a mine boss called Beitild, perfect targets for someone like you, and when you're done with them, if you're still alive that is, we'll see if I have more for you."

"Okay, and where would I find these people?" Amaryllis inquired, because based on what little she had been told she had to assume that they were spread out across the whole of Skyrim and the nine Holds that everyone lived in, which was why she needed a general idea of where each of them lived so she could figure out what route she was going to take when she left the Sanctuary, though to be honest she felt that taking out a beggar, an ex-miller, and a mine boss, as the first round of targets, seemed like they were easy targets and one even felt like it could possibly be a mercy killing.

"Narfi is located in Ivarstead, which is located near the base of the Throat of the World," Nazir stated, though he didn't move to get out a map or anything, something that told Amaryllis that she was going to have to memorize where her first set of targets were located and then either check her own map or the map that was near the entrance, which she was fine with doing as she waited for him to give her the information that she had asked for, "Ennodius, last I heard, was living in a small camp that's up the road from Anga's Mill, which rests to the west of Windhelm, a location you may or many not have passed by on your way to see Aventus, and Beitild lives in Dawnstar, a city on the northern coast of Skyrim."

Amaryllis thanked him for the information and pulled out her map for a few seconds, where she found that Dawnstar was where Nazir said it would be, since this was the first time she had gone looking for it after someone mentioned it, while at the same time finding out that the Throat of the World seemed to be close to Whiterun, or at least that was what the map was making her think due to how it was designed, even though her memory of the mountain told her it had to be further than what she was considering. Based on those two points she guessed that her best course of action would be to head up to Dawnstar to figure out where Beitild lived and take her out when she was ready to do so, then head along the road that would bring her to Windhelm so she could take care of Ennodius, before heading down to where Ivarstead was located, to find and release Narfi from his torment, which would then allow her to circle back around to Falkreath, to turn in all three of her first contracts and see what else there was for her to do. Once she had an idea of where she needed to go, and the order that she was going to go in, she slipped the map back into her pack and explored the rest of the Sanctuary, mostly to see what else the group of assassins had to live with, and to see the area that would be her home for the rest of her life, or at least it sure seemed that way, before she even considered leaving the area so she could head to her first target. The first room she came to, after leaving the main chamber where everyone seemed to gather when talking about their contracts and sharpen their weapons for the future, was a small room that had two interesting tables, one that was used to take the various components of the land, flowers, roots, and a number of other things, to make poisons and potions, while the other was one of the arcane enchanters, something she didn't know how to operate at all. It appeared that Babette liked to sit in this area, due to the small table that was near the left side of the room, where a decent sized spider was walking around and seemed to dip it's legs into the small pool that was near it, though Amaryllis had to assume that it was a pet or something and continued her exploration, leaving Babette to do whatever it was she was doing.

She headed down the stairs that were on the right side of the crafting room, as she was going to call it, though when she reached the bottom of the short set of stairs she found what seemed to be the eating area, as two long tables had been put end to end, to serve as a place where the Family could eat, if they wanted to be near each other, though she was sure the others would come here first thing in the morning before heading out to do whatever it was that they did, at least until it was time to go do a contract. The other things in the eating area were the fireplace, where one could cook their food, a pair of stone thrones, and a stone tablet that was incredibly faded, but, from what she could see, it used to be something important to the Dark Brotherhood, like a set of rules they used to follow or something, which had to be the rules of the older generations of this organization and had likely stopped being followed rather recently, as she assumed that it would have been in pristine condition if they were still being followed by the Family. From there it was a simple matter for her to walk up the wooden stairs that lead to the upper level of this room, which actually wasn't above the eating area, which was where she found what had to be the sleeping area for the rest of the Family, since Astrid's room was near the entrance of the Sanctuary, but before she moved forward she noticed that Nazir, at the very least, had walked into the eating area she had just been in and seemed to be snacking on some bread at the moment, which was rather odd in her mind and wasn't something she was curious about. Instead of worrying about Nazir, and what he was doing, Amaryllis continued exploring the rest of the Sanctuary and found that there were a few more rooms, one that seemed small and had a stone bed, which she had to assume belonged to Babette, a room that didn't seem like it was being used all that much, even though it had a bed for someone to sleep in and a table for them to sit at, and a chamber that rested behind the odd circular glass panel she had seen from where Nazir and the others had been when she first entered the Sanctuary, though based on what she knew this had to be an important room of some kind, meaning she'd figure out what it was in time.

The Sanctuary was interesting, that much she could determine from what she had seen, and she had the feeling that, in time, she would fully integrate herself into the Family that she had joined, even if that meant getting used to the idea of becoming an assassin and fulfilling the contracts she was given, but she was eager to see what the future held for her and her new Family, after she completed her first set of contracts and came back to turn them in, as something told her that once the Keeper arrived great things would happen for them all.