//------------------------------//
// Interlude: A Fateful Encounter 
// Story: Skyrim: The Faces of Death 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Getting out of the Blue Palace wasn't as easy as entering it, as when Amaryllis emerged from the Pelagius Wing it was easy for her to tell, without needing her changeling powers, that the servants that had helped her get into the forbidden wing in the first place were a little annoyed with her, since she basically ditched them while they were preparing dinner. She then found that the Steward was ticked off about her heading into the wing in the first place, to which she decided not to say anything as she moved onto the next best thing, where she used her magic to create a cloud of smoke around her, just to blind everyone for a few seconds. Once that was done she rushed to the main entrance of the palace and slipped outside, where she changed her form into a male Bosmer, as in the madman she had seen earlier, and took on a normal walking pace as she headed for the side passage that would allow her to leave the city. She found that her thoughts were correct, none of the guards bothered with her as they rushed by where she was walking, no doubt assuming she was the madman who was constantly asking for assistance, even though they would never see him again, and she hoped the same would be true for her.

In fact the only person, out of everyone in the city, who seemed to focus on her as she walked was the female Breton she had seen earlier, before she entered the Blue Palace, though when they crossed paths for a few seconds Amaryllis could have sworn that the lady's eyes were two different colors, the right being purple and the left being gray. She had to take a moment why the lady was different from everyone else and suspected that she might be tied to Sheogorath in some way, before deciding that she had suffered enough madness for one day. Thankfully the lady in question didn't say anything to her and continued on her way, meaning nothing was going to stop her this time around, before she found the passage in question and slipped into the tunnel that would allow her to leave Solitude. As she did that, however, she noticed that it was nighttime out, something that told her she had been in Pelagius' mind for far too long and had wasted too much time helping the madman out.

When Amaryllis finally emerged from the passage, putting her outside the city, she reverted back to her true form without delay and took to the skies once more, heading for her new home so she could bring an end to this horrible day and get some well deserved rest.

The flight gave her a chance to think about what she had been told, that Sheogorath had cursed her for her 'rudeness' and it likely meant she would be forced to transform into that cow form he had stuck her with, no doubt to the extent that she had been forced to deal with at the end of her time in the Mad Emperor's mind. She wasn't looking forward to it, due to it being an embarrassing form, but she did have an idea on how to figure out what the Mad God had told her, she just had to ask Nazir and Babette when she got back to the Sanctuary. Amaryllis also deeply regretted talking to the madman that had lead her right to the Prince of Madness, where she quickly stopped in the air for a moment and opened her pack once more, finding that she still had the hip bone that the madman had given her and pulled it out. A few seconds later she let go of it and let it fall all the way down into the water that was below her, as she wanted nothing to do with the bone, and once that was done she closed her pack and let out a sigh of relief as she put that behind her.

As she started to move, however, she heard a familiar bell sound, causing her to realize she still had the cowbell around her neck, something she had managed to somehow ignore until this point, to which Amaryllis pulled it off and dropped it as well, allowing it to join the hip bone as she resumed her flight.

While Amaryllis flew through the air she considered what she had been through and confirmed that being changed into such a form had been embarrassing, even if Sheogorath seemed to assume that she enjoyed the form and had offered her an invitation to the Shivering Isles because of that. Due to the fact that he was a Daedric Prince there was nothing she could do but suck it up and deal with it, especially since she had the feeling none of the Divines would be able to cure her of this curse, otherwise she would be flying to one of their temples or shrines to get rid of it. The terrible thing was that she had no idea when the next change would happen or how many times a month such a thing would happen, as while Sheogorath had said it would happen once a month, twice in certain circumstances, he was the Prince of Madness and had admitted that he was known to change his mind on matters. That told her that it might be a toss up between more changes each month or the entire curse being random, the latter being more reasonable given who she was thinking of at the moment, to which she focused on her flight and nothing else.

It took her a while to return to Dawnstar, given her speed and what she had been thinking about, but once she got close to the port city Amaryllis landed on the outskirts near the Black Door and headed inside, after making sure no one was watching this area, only to find Cicero waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

"Amaryllis! There you are!" Cicero spoke up, speaking the moment she walked into the Sanctuary, where his voice carried down to where Nazir was likely sitting and that brought both him and Babette over to where she was standing, though she could tell that he had been worried about her, "Our Family members have be worried about you, as they figured that the contract you had been given wouldn't take you more than a few hours, and yet you were gone for an entire day... even I was worried about you, after everything you did for me."

"An entire day... now I seriously regret talking to that madman," Amaryllis replied, though instead of wasting time she and the others headed down to the main table, which had enough seats for four individuals, so she could speak with the rest of her Family and explain what had happened to her.

What she discovered was that it was now the 31st of Last Seed, with the day she left the Sanctuary being the 30th of the month, which informed her that she had been gone for a longer amount of time than what she had been planning earlier, something that could be blamed on Sheogorath. She hadn't considered such a thing after leaving the Blue Palace, as she assumed it had been the same day as her arrival, but Amaryllis listened to her Family and what all of them had to say on the matter, or their updates on what was happening in Dawnstar. The other thing that Nazir and Babette had discovered was that someone came to help the priest of Mara that was staying at the Windpeak Inn, Erandur, deal with whatever was causing the nightmares throughout Dawnstar, allowing everyone to sleep in peace at long last and not have to worry about being tormented all the time. Of course only the hero survived, telling a great tale about how he and Erandur faced the dangers that were inside the tower and dealt with what was causing the nightmares, despite the fact that the priest perished during the final battle.

Amaryllis had to believe that another Daedric Prince was, in one way or another, behind this particular problem and that the hero likely overcame some sort of challenge that had been plaguing Dawnstar for some time, something that Nazir actually agreed with since he had been in the inn. Apparently the priest believed that Vaermina, the Prince of Dreams and Nightmares, had a hand in everything that happened to the city, and had jumped at the opportunity to have a hero assist him in his holy mission. Amaryllis was pleased that it had happened like that, just to spare her an encounter with another Daedric Prince, even though part of her did wonder if the hero in question sided with the Prince or denied her, before she put the thought behind her. After that she told her family what happened during her contract, about how easy it was for her to pull off, before revealing the embarrassing part that she'd rather forget about, even though it was going to be hard to do that with the curse she had been given.

"So you're telling me that Sheogorath cursed you to become a cow creature every now and then?" Nazir asked, though it was easy for Amaryllis to tell that he was torn between believing her story or thinking that she was lying to them to hide what she had actually done, while Babette and Cicero remained silent.

"That's the gist of the situation, and I'm not looking forward to when the curse activates," Amaryllis replied, which was the truth, even if he didn't believe her, before she considered the statement she had been given previously, since her Family might be able to shed some light on it, "He also mentioned that there are two months in the year where the curse would definitely activate twice... I believe he said it was his summoning month and the month of a festival of some kind."

"According to what Festus used to say, Sheogorath's summoning day is the 2nd of Sun's Dawn," Babette spoke up, as she had been silent while Nazir and Amaryllis spoke about what happened since she went to Solitude, while Cicero was just listening, "while I'd wager the festival is the Jester's Festival, which is the 28th of Rain's Hand... both of them are in the first half of the year, so you won't have to worry about either of them causing you to transform at random when either of them arrive."

"I see." Amaryllis said, as that was all she could say to what she had learned so far, some of it good and some of it bad, all depending on how one looked at the situation she was now in, before she sighed and considered what else she was going to do before heading to bed, "I'm going to see if the Night Mother has any other contracts to tell us about, and where we might find the one who did the Black Sacrament, before getting some sleep... after my long day, and the missing hours, I need some sleep before I try to assassinate someone."

Nazir and the others glanced at each other for a few moments, as they were a little surprised by the fact that she wanted to listen to whatever the Night Mother had to say, especially after everything she had been through during her time in the mind of Pelagius, before they nodded as she headed up to where the coffin rested and knelt before it.

You are to speak with the Nervous Stormcloak, who rests in the Bannered Mare, in Whiterun. the Night Mother said, reveling that she did, in fact, have another contract for Amaryllis to head out and set up, though what was surprising was that it was a solder that was taking part of the current civil war that was calling on them, Accept his gold, then eliminate the target... so begins a contract, bound in blood.

Amaryllis really had no idea what to make of the situation, but instead of worrying about it she rejoined her Family and let them know what was going on, this time promising to set up the contract and then return, before she went to bed so she could be ready for whatever the next day held for her.





While Amaryllis was resting, trying to forget about the events she had been through, the Blue Palace's servants, Erdi and Una, found themselves in the forbidden wing on Falk Firebeard's, the Steward's, orders, searching for clues that would tell them why the spy had been so interested in this place. Since it was their fault she had entered this part of the palace, the forbidden wing that no one was allowed into, both of them had been ordered to clean out the wing and figure out what had happened here, to see if anything was missing or out of the ordinary, even if the former was next to impossible to do since they had no record of what should be here. Of course neither of them were pleased with this turn of events, since the person who approached them had seemed like a recent hire and not a spy, since the latter would have found a way to steal the key with no one noticing what was going on, but there was no arguing with Falk, especially not when their jobs were currently on the line. They were going to do what they were told, find no items to tell them anything, and then get back to their lives, serving the Jarl of Solitude while fearing what might happen if the city came under siege by Ulfric and his army, just like they did every other day before this.

At least that was what Erdi had planned, until she found something on the second floor that caused her to pause, a set of noble attire, pants and shirt, that was wet and smelled of milk for some odd reason, though she confirmed it was soaked as she picked the shirt up and squeezed it a little, discovering some white liquid that emerged from the material, which she licked a little to confirm that it was actually milk.

"Looks like she was... milking herself." Erdi commented, speaking to Una as she walked down to the lower level, revealing the set of clothing she had found during her search, as they split the levels between them to cover more ground so they could finish this early, where she set the clothing down on the nearby counter, "Quite a lot, based on how damp the shirt and pants are."

"By the Divines, they're far too wet for it to be a single person... unless a Prince did this." Una remarked, discovering the amount of liquid inside the garments was far too much for a single person to possess, as she picked them up and quickly gave the shirt a light squeeze, though as she said that she found that Erdi was staring off into space.

She quickly discovered that the reason behind such a thing was because of the fact that her breasts were starting to grow before their eyes, as when she and Erdi entered this wing they had been small, to the point where Una knew that some of the people who knew the girl tormented her over how small her breasts were. Now, however, they were pushing out like she was going through a growth spurt, a rather late one at that, and she seemed to be enjoying all of the sensations that were coursing through her body, causing Una to sigh as she left the other servant to her business. Her peace was short-lived as Erdi groaned, where it looked like the growth had yet to stop as her breasts grew larger and larger as the seconds went by, to the point that her shirt seemed to be straining under the pressure. It was like she was cursed, instead of being blessed like she was sure Erdi was thinking, something that caused her to glance at the milk stained clothing before she noticed that the other servant's breasts continued to grow bit by bit as time went by.

That wasn't the only thing she was seeing, as a pair of cow horns grew out of Erdi's head, starting off small before growing to the size that was typical of an ordinary farm cow, before her ears changed shape and grew fur, looking like those that a cow had. Her companion didn't seem to mind the changes that were overwhelming her body, rather Erdi moaned as she rubbed her breasts, which encouraged them to grow even larger before actually tearing her shirt apart, showing off their fully grown state to Una. Such a thing relieved the pressure Erdi had been feeling, though in the next moment she pinched her right nipple, like she wasn't in her right mind or like she was being controlled by something else, and loosed a burst of milk into Una's face, some of it getting in her mouth due to the surprise of the motion, though Una noticed that the other servant seemed oblivious to everything that was going on. It wasn't long before more changes happened, as Erdi started to grow cow fur all over her body, complete with black spots in random places, while her feet became full cow hooves as a tail emerged from her spine, swaying with the movements of her body, and her fingers turned into two halves of a hoof, so she could still grab things.

In the following moments the oddest thing, in Una's mind anyway, started to happen as Erdi moved her right hand down to her lower abdomen, where it looked like that portion of her body was swelling before their eyes, though when it tore through her clothing Una noticed the four elongated nipples it had. Erdi, somehow, was growing a cow's udder and she didn't seem to mind at all, rather she seemed to be enjoying all of this as she rubbed the appendage as it continued to grow, confirming that she wasn't in her right mind right now, since Una was freaking out. As it grew Erdi's legs pushed out as well and changed form, giving the servant some support for her new udder while continuing the cow theme, before her udder started to leak white milk onto the floor, causing her to moo as she pinched her nipples. The final changes made themselves known as Erdi's her face pushed out into a cow's muzzle, complete with a cow nose and tongue, making her look like a humanoid cow, as odd as that sounded.

Una was surprised and horrified by what she was seeing, as this wasn't what she was expecting when they were sent into this wing of the palace, especially since her companion seemed to be changing into someone else before her eyes, which had to be part of some sort of curse their superiors were trying to hide from the public.

"I'm... a cow?" Erdi asked, though in that moment she mooed as she continued to milk herself, leaving a small pool around her new hooves as she did so, showing Una that Erdi's mind had been overtaken by whatever curse the spy had brought into Solitude, as if this was the work of Sheogorath, or maybe she had always been like this and the milk had released a side of her that Una had never seen before.

In that moment of understanding Una felt something in her mind click, as if something was telling her that she was right to suspect Sheogorath of creating this curse, because this certainly seemed like the creation of a Daedric Prince, before she shuddered for a few moments. After that she discovered the truly terrifying aspect of the curse they had just uncovered, it was contagious, which she found out due to the sudden mass that was growing in her pants, tearing the material apart as an udder grew out, something that was definitely attached to her body. She could tell that it was full of milk, since hers was starting to leak as well, just like Erdi's had after it grew out, something that made her wonder if the spy knew about this or if her master had kept her in the dark about the plague she had carried into Solitude. Una could also feel part of her mind changing as well, no doubt another part of what she and Erdi had discovered, where she fought back the urge to moo, which her friend did every now and then, even though she could still speak.

As Una stood there, coming to terms with the fact that she had been contaminated by the milk, most likely from the pair of ruined clothing they had found or Erdi's own swollen breasts, her body shook again as more of the changes struck her, the next one being a cow tail growing out of her spine. She knew her life was over at this point, there was no way Falk was going to allow either of them outside the palace after he discovered what in Oblivion had happened to them, especially when she thought about Sybille Stentor, who was the Court Wizard of Solitude, and what she might do to them once she discovered their condition. As the fur and spots spread all over her body, just as it had for Erdi, Una could only imagine the experiments that Sybille would perform on them, to figure out how this might have happened and how to either use it or counter it. Una eventually gave in as her hands, feet, and legs followed what happened to Erdi's, becoming more cow like in no time, all while her breasts tore her shirt apart and her face pushed out into a cow muzzle, complete with horns and her new ears, leading to her pinching one of her nipples to let out some tainted milk.

In the next few moments an idea sprung to mind and Erdi smiled as she nodded her head, to which they made their way out of the forbidden wing and found that night was upon them, with no guards in their immediate area, to which the pair departed for their destination. The pair headed up the stairs before pausing, to make sure that no one was near where the throne rested and found that everyone, including most of the guards, were asleep right now, to which they carefully made their way down the path to their left, heading right for a pair of ornate doors. It brought them to Jarl Elisif's room, a place that was much finer than what they were used to, and even she had no guards, meaning they had to be searching for the spy, allowing them to open the door and found Elisif sleeping in her bed, snoring with her mouth open. That was what they were hoping for as Erdi approached the bed, where she raised her udder and placed it on the edge of the bed, where she offered one of her teats to the slumbering Jarl, where the curse seemed to influence her as she sucked on it for a time and the corrupting milk spilled into her mouth.

Erdi and Una watched as the changes started to take hold of Elisif's body, while she seemed to sleep without waking up at all, where her legs shifted before their eyes and her feet transformed into hooves, just like what happened to them when they were overtaken by the curse. It wasn't long before cow horns started to grow out of the sides of Elisif's head while her ears followed suit, where it was easy to see that her dreams were preventing her from reacting to the transformation, so the pair watched her in fascination as she continued to change. Sure enough the interesting part came as her breasts tore her shirt apart and started to leak more of the corrupting milk, which was now filling her body, while her udder pushed it's way out of her pants, aching and full just like what the pair experienced when they first changed. Elisif finally woke up as her face pushed out into her new cow muzzle and the cow fur grew in, though while the pair expected her to be afraid of the scene it looked like she had already accepted her new form and mooed as she milked herself, likely a side effect of her changing while she slept, so the mental part didn't have to fight her mind.

When Falk eventually checked in with his Jarl, to deliver the news of their search, he discovered a shocking sight as Una and Erdi helped Elisif with her new body, where he decided to usher them into the forbidden wing for now as he called for someone to clean up the mess, all while hoping that Solitude wasn't overtaken by this madness.





When morning arrived Amaryllis found something interesting near her, as there happened to be a person sized mirror in the area near where she had been sleeping, as a tunnel had been cleared out by Nazir's bandits and he found a chamber that seemed to be the room for the leader of this Sanctuary. Such a thing had been given to her while he, Babette, and Cicero had their own rooms that happened to be closer to the center of their home, and since it was her private room that meant she would be alone for a while. As she got up, however, she found that her reflection wasn't on the surface of the mirror, since a normal mirror would reflect her image, instead she found a male Breton who was wearing a black suit with a red neck piece, who did look like he didn't care for what he was doing or what he had been ordered to do. She quickly determined that Sheogorath had to be responsible for this, or one of his minions, to which she got up and walked over to the figure so she could get this over with.

"Ah, you must be the 'rude one' Lord Sheogorath told me about," the Breton commented, his tone calm and showing next to no hint that he was mad, even though he was in a palace and there was a pair of female figures standing some distance behind him, who were in the middle of turning into the cursed form Amaryllis wore earlier, "My Lord is still displeased with you, but He asked me to tell you that, as part of your punishment, you'll also have a reminder of what's to come... what He means by that is for Him to understand. Do have a good day, and try not to annoy my Lord any further."

Before Amaryllis could say anything the figure on the mirror faded away, meaning the conversation had to be over, where she felt her arms and legs shake for a few seconds and quickly pulled off her ancient assassin attire once the feeling went away, where she found that white cow fur had grown on her limbs. They came complete with black spots, just like what she had seen in Pelagius' mind, starting at her wrists and stopped just below her shoulders, while for her legs they started at her ankles and came to a stop halfway up her thighs. As she took that in, however, her tail shuddered and transformed into the thick white cow tail she had been given during her time in Sheogorath's domain, complete with the tuft at the end that shared her main hair color, which was when she noticed that some more cow fur had grown around her neck, exactly halfway up to be exact and moved down towards her chest. It formed a small ring around her collarbone based on what she could see in the mirror that had been left behind, before she paused as a familiar energy washed over her body, only it filled her with dread.

It wasn't long before a set of white cow horns that grew out of her head, just like the ones she had grown earlier, before her ears shifted until they looked like the ears that belonged to a cow, while positioning themselves under her new horns, giving her three horns and really made her look like a mix of a cow and a changeling. Amaryllis paused for a moment as a familiar pressure overtook her, where she watched as her udder grew out, the same one she had grown during her time in Pelagius' mind. Such a thing was followed by another familiar feeling as she felt some pressure in both her breasts and her udder, nothing that was all consuming like the near bursting pressure that had been forced upon her during her stay, and to confirm what she was feeling Amaryllis pulled on her nipple, letting out a little milk. This was the reminder of the curse she had been told about, which she had been hoping to avoid at all costs since people wrote that Sheogorath was known to forget things, but eventually the sensations died down, with the silent cowbell and collar appearing around her neck as well, something she was going to have to live with.

Once Amaryllis was sure that the changes were done, and there was nothing else waiting to surprise her, she picked up her armor and pulled it on, finding that some magic seemed to hide her new cow horns and ears while the hood was on, including the udder, before she pulled the hood back for the time being as she walked out to the dining area that Nazir had put together while she was gone.

"Ah, Amaryllis, good morning," Nazir spoke up, as that was when Amaryllis found that Nazir and Babette were still sitting at the table, though she knew that neither of them had stayed up and had gone to bed after they talked about what she had been through during her time in Solitude, though it looked like he was in the middle of making breakfast as the rest of the Family relaxed, before he noticed something odd about her, "What's wrong? You look like something woke you up while you were sleeping and ruined your morning... that's not counting the new horns and ears you're sporting right now."

"Well, a strange mirror appeared near me this morning, and some Breton that called Sheogorath his 'Lord' spoke to me for a few moments," Amaryllis replied, speaking when she reached the table Nazir and Babette were at, where it took her only a second to pull out a chair and sit in it, though she sighed when she noticed the others looks, causing her to reveal all of her new additions to her Family, "also, it seems that I have been given a reminder of the curse that has been placed on me, thanks to my new cow tail, the pair of cow horns I'm sporting, my brand new cow ears, and a bunch of cow fur on my arms, legs, and neck area... and the udder, which I could do without... at least the cowbell is silent."

"Guess the Prince of Madness was serious, if he's got Haskill doing such a thing," Babette said, showing the others that she knew who Amaryllis was talking about when she described who was on the other side of the mirror, which had to be the Chamberlain of the Shivering Isles, something that told them that the curse was real and that Amaryllis had been telling the truth.

Amaryllis nodded her head to that as she grabbed something to eat for breakfast, where she paused for a moment when she reached for a bottle of milk, given what happened to her during her visit to the Blue Palace, and silently hoped that it did nothing to her when she drank from it. Such a thing would be rather embarrassing if she changed from just drinking milk, as it would also prevent her from touching the stuff in general, but quickly found that nothing happened and that it meant she was able to go about her day like normal. Over the next couple of minutes, as she and her Family talked about the next contract that the Night mother had told her about, Amaryllis found that nothing happened to her while they were sitting there, which meant that there were no hidden surprises for her to worry about. That allowed her to turn her focus away from her changes and focused on why a Stormcloak might want to hire the Brotherhood to assassinate someone, even though it was likely that the target was someone in the Imperial Legion, given the ongoing conflict.

Nazir and Babette were still surprised by this contract, since they considered the fact that the Stormcloaks seemed to be more about battle and didn't like to sneak around places for this sort of work, an assumption on their part since neither of them had spoken with any of the soldiers of Ulfric's army. Given that most of them weren't Nords, save for Amaryllis since she could become whatever she wanted, it made sense that they didn't engage the Stormcloaks in conversation, since it might lead to some problems. By the time she finished with breakfast, however, all of them came to the conclusion that none of them cared about why a Stormcloak might want another person dead, be it one of the Imperials or someone else, hence why she made sure her gear was ready to go, including pulling her hood back on, before wishing the others well and then headed for the Black Door. Once she was outside she spread her wings and took to the sky without delay, where she quickly aligned herself with Whiterun's location and started the brief flight so she could get this over with.

Instead of going fast, like someone would do with a new task to do, Amaryllis took her time to move through the air as she enjoyed the sights that were around her, something that would never get old and made her wonder what the rest of Nirn looked like, which she would have to focus on at some point in the future. Such a thing would only work if she could figure out a way to get more than a single contract at a time from the Night Mother, who seemed to be giving out one at a time at the moment, before she spotted the city she was heading for and landed hear the wall that was near the main gate, all while knowing she hadn't gone as slow as she had wanted. When she landed she turned into a female Nord warrior, this time wearing leather armor and carrying two swords, and headed for the gate, so she could find the contact and figure out what he wanted. Everyone in Whiterun seemed the same as when she was last in the city, which wasn't that long ago since it had only been a few days since she succeeded in assassinating the Emperor and killed the fragment of Akatosh that had been posing as a noble.

She also found that none of the guards paid attention to her as she walked down the street, which was fine with her since it meant she was able to focus on her objective, even though some of the stalls were closed since the owners weren't out yet, given what she had seen in Solitude.

It didn't take her long to reach the inn in question and headed inside without delay, where she glanced around and found that the patrons were having fun right now, just sharing drinks and stories despite the fact that it was still the early hours of the morning. Since they were distracted she accessed her powers for a few seconds it was easy for her to discover a bit of nervousness somewhere inside the inn, which she felt inside the back room she had killed the false contact that had been waiting for news on the Emperor's final fate. As such she walked over to the door in question and found that it was open, with a Nord in Stormcloak armor resting on the bed that was on the right side of the large room, sleeping while being overly nervous about something, a terrible decision based on everything that she knew, to which she slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. With that deed one she shifted back into her true form while making sure her hood was up, to give off the menacing assassin vibe while keeping the cow aspect hidden, before approaching the bed and stood over the Nord.

Her mere presence seemed to cause the Nord to shift for a moment and he turned to face the direction she was standing in, no doubt in the sense that he was acting like normal, before he paused as he found her standing over him and stared at the symbol that was on the center of her chest armor for a few seconds, something that caused him to realize that the ritual had worked and caused him to sit up.

"So... the Black Sacrament works... the Dark Brotherhood has come to accept my contract," the soldier said, where it was easy for Amaryllis to tell that he was mentally debating whether this was a good idea or a terrible one, especially since all sorts of people didn't like dealing with her Family, before he sighed and focused on the reason she was here, as this was likely the only time something like this would happen, "I need you to kill Elenwen, the first Emissary to Skyrim, who stays in the Thalmor Embassy and only leaves when matters require her direct attention, such as when she visited Helgen after my Lord and our savior were captured by the Imperials... here's part of the payment for the assassination, as the rest will be revealed once you kill the target and it has been confirmed."

"It will be done," Amaryllis replied, where she found that the bag that the soldier had pulled out was somewhat heavy, no doubt containing between one to two thousand gold and made her wonder if this contract was going to have a price like what the Emperor's did, before she slipped the bag into her pack, while noticing that it did contain a note on top that she would look at later.

The soldier remained where he was sitting as Amaryllis faded into the shadows and opened the door so she could leave this room, though once she was on the other side she shifted back into her disguise, without anyone noticing her due to the fact that a party was in full swing. Such a thing allowed her to depart from the Bannered Mare and headed for the main gate, playing at someone who came to Whiterun for a short rest and was now leaving, though since the guards didn't seem to care she was able to leave the city with ease and head outside. Once she was outside the city, however, she kept walking like a normal person and didn't try to fly back to Dawnstar, because this gave her time to think about the contract, an odd one to be sure, not to mention the sort of plan she and her Family needed to create to pull it off. She could always make an attempt on the embassy and assassinate Elenwen that way, but for right now she figured that speaking to Nazir and her Family was the right plan.

After a while she confirmed something, this was a good day for walking and flying, though from what she could see there were no dangers for her to worry about and no daedric cultists to avoid, meaning she could walk to the crossroads that rested between Dawnstar, Whiterun, and Windhelm and consider what she had been told earlier. When she reached the area that the last farm was in, but had yet to reach the small watchtower that was further ahead of her, Amaryllis nearly paused when she noticed a familiar pair walking up towards her, coming from the north. The first person was a female Nord warrior, still wearing the steel armor she had seen the last time she seen her, while the other was a female Khajiit who seemed to favor using light armor and carried a pair of swords with her, which were either steel or maybe a tier that was above that. Amaryllis realized that this was the third time her path was crossing Za'kera's, something that did cause her to chuckle for a few seconds, as one might consider it fate, before remaining silent as she continued walking, just so she could think about the contract some more.

As they walked towards each other Amaryllis did her best to make it look like she was just a traveling warrior that was on her way to deal with some bandits, but as she passed by them the Khajiit came to a stop for a second, as if one of them had thought about something or had left an item behind somewhere, only to pause as she felt a sudden shift in Za'kera's emotions not even a few seconds later.

"Krista? Is that you?" Za'kera asked, where Amaryllis turned her head for a moment and found that the Khajiit was looking right at her, while her companion was standing at the ready in case anyone tried to attack them, before Amaryllis felt a wave of confusion coming from her for a moment, meaning she must have recognized her unique eye colors, before she realized that her disguise was the same as the last time they saw each other.

"Well, yes and no. Yes, I am the one you encountered back in Whiterun, when I told the guards about the black dragon you saw in Helgen," Amaryllis replied, because while she knew that she could lie and deny what was going on, to make it seem like Za'kera was overthinking things and might be exhausted from whatever she had been though, she suspected that this had to be the special event that Akatosh had warned her about, where she let out a sigh as she engaged her magic and her disguise faded away, revealing her true self as she pulled off the hood, "but no, my name isn't Krista... rather, that was the name I picked, at random, for the disguise you encountered during my time in the city, so I could get passed the pair of guards without trouble. My true name is Amaryllis, and I'm a Changeling... well, I'm what you would call a shapeshifter."

"It is nice to meet you... the real you, anyway." Za'kera stated, which surprised Amaryllis a little, as she expected them to scream and run or lash out at her when they discovered what she was, and the only reason she was doing this was due to the fact that Za'kera seemed totally different from everyone else in Skyrim, "As you know, I am Za'kera and that I hail from the land of Cyrodiil, though I am currently one of the Thanes of Whiterun, a reward for my service in assisting Jarl Balgruuf and slaying a dragon that was attacking a watchtower. That was when I absorbed the dragon's soul and realized that I am, as the Nords call me, the Dragonborn of legend... oh, and this is Lydia, my Housecarl, who is assisting me in figuring out what it means to be a legendary figure, especially with the return of the dragons. So, what's with the dark assassin style armor that you're wearing, not to mention the, um, odd additions you have?"

"I'm a member of the Dark Brotherhood, the Listener in fact, and I have Mehrunes' Razor," Amaryllis answered, as she did know that Nazir or Cicero would have made up a lie about why they were wearing this suit of armor, or their armor since hers was different from what most of her Family wore, but what surprised her was that Za'kera wasn't mad at her, rather she seemed disappointed in her decision, "normally the members of my Family don't go about announcing ourselves like that, given that some people want us dead, but I have the feeling that telling you this won't have any consequences. Also, I managed to acquire Sheogorath's Wabbajack, which happened to be an accident since I wasn't looking for him in the first place, and let's just say that he left me with a little parting gift of sorts, hence the odd additions you and Lydia are seeing right now... trust me, he's one Daedric Prince you don't want to annoy, otherwise you'll never know what he'll do, to the surrounding area or to those who have annoyed him."

"That is most wise, given that he's the most unpredictable of them all," Lydia added, something Amaryllis agreed with, due to what had happened to her, though the warrior took a moment to glance around the area they were in and made sure no one was rushing at the area they were standing in, allowing them to focus on the rest of the conversation that had to be coming their way, as Amaryllis knew Za'kera had to be interested in learning more about her and her decisions.

"Look, I chose this life because I was an infiltrator back in the day, before I came to Skyrim, and all I did was sneak into my destinations, get information, and leave," Amaryllis stated, figuring that she could just cut to answering the questions that might be coming her way and get them out of the way so she could focus on heading back to the Sanctuary, as Nazir and Bebette would be interested in hearing about what she had discovered back in the Bannered Mare, "besides, due to being a shapeshifter that can take on whatever form I want, most people tend to not trust us and I figured that trying to be a hero wasn't going to work out. I mean, someone was bound to discover me while I was in the middle of changing my form and could have called the guards on me, so I stuck to the more shadowy groups, as they didn't care about that and, in an odd twist, I even found a new Family to replace my old one."

"I know some people in Skyrim might be idiots, and I've met a few already, but you don't seem like someone who should be run out of a city for your looks," Za'kera replied, where Amaryllis had the feeling that she was referring to the fact that she had taken out a bandit leader and sowed chaos among the ranks of those who followed the leader, though she could also tell that Za'kera was trying to make her feel like she belonged, or something to that effect, "How about you join us for a while, to see what being a hero is like and if you want to add a bit of heroism to your life, before heading back to, well, your contracts? We're actually heading to Riverwood, to find someone who took a special horn from one of the nordic ruins that I was sent to explore, which was rather annoying since it meant we wasted our time for the most part, and retrieve the item in question, as the Greybeards had asked me to recover it as part of a trial."

Amaryllis had no idea what Za'kera was talking about, since it was clear she had missed out on whatever the Greybeards had told her and Lydia, though she agreed to go on an adventure with her, as there had to be a reason why Akatosh had told her about this day and her meeting with Za'kera, though she had no idea what the future held for them.