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Mother Dearest - Cicero x Reader {chapter XXVI}

[Reader's personality/story is loosely based off my Skyrim OC, Sithia]
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~ Chapter 26: A Blade out of Sight ~

At some point during your trip back to the Dawnstar Sanctuary, Shadowmere out of seemingly nowhere had galloped up to you and Cicero. It was a bit surprising since you recall having last left him at the stables outside Solitude. In some mysterious and unexplainable way, the supernatural horse must have been able to sense he was needed and was able to locate you. You have no idea how that was possible, but quite frankly you weren't complaining. You and Cicero didn't have to walk on foot all the way back home. Thank Sithis for Shadowmere!

By the time you reached the black door of the sanctuary, the skies above were pitch black and glittering brightly with stars, as well as beautiful and vibrant streaks of greenish lights from an aurora borealis. Cicero and you got off Shadowmere and spoke the passphrase to the black door before stepping inside. You weren't in much of a talking mood, especially now, since you feel even more tired than you did earlier. Cicero, on the other hand, had been just as chatty as always, although, he seemed to recognize your mood, and out of respect didn't push you too much to get you to talk back. You've come to find that he is rather extraordinarily talented at being capable of holding conversations with others that are one-sided. You can only suspect he must've gotten most of his practice for that from his many little chats with the Night Mother. At least you can say you still had been more talkative than she is known for being with Cicero and pretty much everyone else, other than yourself, of course. Now you can only hope your other brothers and sisters will also catch the hint that you aren't in the mood to talk and just want to head for bed.

Walking into the main room from the entrance hall, Cicero takes little to no time to say a quick goodbye to you before eagerly racing over to the Night Mother's corpse. With an incredulous shake of your head to yourself at his seemingly endless supply of energy, you begin heading in the direction of Babette and Festus' usual hangout area, near the alchemy and enchantment tables. The elderly wizard and vampire are both there this time by the looks of it. Babette is standing there busy at the alchemy table, grinding up some ingredients with a pestle and mortar. And Festus, on the other hand, is actually for once not preoccupied at the enchantment table, but rather is sitting on a chair close to Babette and reading a novel.

By some stroke of luck, they don't try to wave you down to stop and talk, even though they knew you were there. Festus had even glanced up from his novel to politely nod at you in acknowledgement. Babette didn't look up from her work to look at you, but you did notice a smile tugging up her lips when you briefly glanced her way while walking by. Continuing to head in the direction of your chambers, you head through the hall and happen to run across Nazir. He pauses and looks at you with a faint hint of relief in his brown eyes, "Oh, good you're back. You really had everyone worried when you suddenly went off and disappeared on us. Babette had informed us about your return to the sanctuary, once the others and I had to take a break from our search for you. I can't say I know what exactly possessed you to run off like you had, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not glad to see that you are safe."

Drawing out a tired sigh, you break eye contact with him and lower your head in shame. "I know and I'm terribly sorry. It was foolish thing to do on my part. I certainly never intended to have everyone worried sick and running around aimlessly, searching for me. It won't happen again, I promise." You say and look back up at him with a small, sad frown. "I appreciate your concern though. Now I do not mean to sound rude, but I would like to go to bed. I've had a busy day."

"Then I will let you to it… However, before I do, I would like to ask that you come and see me tomorrow when you get the chance. I have something I want to discuss with you… Goodnight, [Y/n]." He says to you a bit cryptically before silently bowing his head to you in farewell and walking past you. Something about the way he said that kind of unnerved you a little. Then again, it's probably nothing bad, or at least not too bad. Nazir just had a habit of being very serious about everything, which could sometimes make things by him sound much more profound than they actually are. Not wanting to dwell on the matter, you shake yourself of your thoughts and walk the rest of the way to your bedroom, without any more interruptions for the night.

Once morning came, you do your daily morning ritual before changing out of your [color] nightgown and into your Dark Brotherhood robes. Today you might as well travel back to Riverwood to meet up with your most favorite person in the world (no sarcasm intended). Heading out of your room, you go down the hall and reach the central room of the sanctuary to see Gabriella, Babette, Veezara, Festus and Nazir all sitting together at a table. All of them appear to be in the middle of eating breakfast, other than Babette, whom is most likely just sitting there with them to keep herself company. You seriously wonder if that girl ever sleeps, she always seems to be up at all hours, even during the early morning like she is now.

Approaching the table of your brothers and sisters, you smile at them and greet them with a lazy wave of your hand. "Morning everyone," You say and go to join them, taking an open seat next to Gabriella.

"Good morning, [Y/n]! It is lovely to see you this fine morning, especially after having not seen you since your disappearance." Gabriella greets you first with a soft and pleasant smile in your direction. However, her instant mentioning of you disappearing on them like you had made you want to groan. You really just want to put that whole situation behind you. You're sick of feeling all sad and guilty about it.

"Indeed, everyone was practically running around like chickens with their heads cut off, all trying to find you all at once." Festus adds in, which makes you slowly start to slump down in your chair, as you feel both exceedingly guilty and frustrated that the topic keeps getting brought up.

"It is good to see you safe and sound as you should be." Veezara also interjects in his usual calm and soft-spoken voice.

Staring blankly ahead at nothing in particular with a frown by all their comments, you are half tempted to hide your face in shame from everyone by slamming it into the table in front of you. Sitting across from you, Babette has her arms propped up on the table with her chin resting on top of her hands which are laced together. She smiles in what looks like amusement and stares you down with her gleaming crimson red eyes. Does she find your suffering amusing? Perhaps she's more sadistic than you originally thought. "Careful there, [Y/n]. Sink any lower on that chair and you're going to fall off." Babette teases you before taking up a slightly more serious tone. "Though as you probably have more than noticed by now, we were all worried about you. However, you needn't beat yourself up over it. It's all in the past now, sister, we're simply pleased to see you back home and safe."

"She's right, you know? So don't worry about it… Now, putting that aside, I want to bring up what I wanted to discuss with you today. And in case you're wondering why I'm asking you here, it's because all of us have been wanting to know the same thing." Nazir starts saying to you, which immediately makes you sit up straight and pay attention. You can't help but feel greatly confused by what's going on. Why does this all of a sudden feel like some kind of weird intervention?

"Wanting to know what same thing?" You repeat back uncertainly.

"We've all come to notice you have been very immersed lately with certain private business outside the Dark Brotherhood. Nobody at first wanted to say anything to you about it, since it's not our right to go prying into your personal affairs. You aren't required to have to tell us anything if you don't want to. Nevertheless, we still would like to at least try asking you what you've been up to lately. And I don't know if this has any relevance to the matter, but I have overheard Cicero several times talking to the Night Mother as he so often does, and bringing up the topic of you and dragons. Care to explain? Or is the fool simply rambling nonsense again?" Nazir inquires to you with an inquisitive raise of his brow.

Now everyone at the table is staring you down closely with avid curiosity in their eyes. Oh boy, you should have expected something like this to happen at some point. Frankly, you don't fault them for becoming curious about what has been causing you to constantly run off with Cicero to do, which wasn't just business tied to the Dark Brotherhood. It's not like you were ever purposely trying to keep them in the dark about finding out you are apparently the all-important, fabled Dragonborn of Nordic legend. You've just never found a convenient time to tell all your dark brothers and sisters about it. Now that they're all here and practically interrogating you for answers, you assume now would be a good time to finally let the cat out of the bag about everything.

Sighing to yourself, you feel slightly self-conscious from having all their eyes focused on you at once. Forcing yourself to keep your gaze on them and not shy away, you speak up. "No, Cicero isn't speaking nonsense. Only he and Heirth know about it… And the only reason Heirth found out about it was because he came with me on a mission that one time. I should have told you all about it sooner... Heh, though you might not even believe me anyway when I do tell you. I barely believed it myself when I first found out. It's a bit wild to be honest." You tell them with a dry chuckle.

"Wild, you say? Hmph, this outta be good." Festus comments with an amused snort.

"Some time ago, Cicero and I were out near the entrance of Whiterun and something strange happened to me. I had felt this sudden powerful impulse inside me that I couldn't ignore. It was triggered when I saw a dragon in the sky, flying towards a nearby watchtower. I still couldn't tell you why, but I started running towards it rather than away. Heh, yeah, Cicero was real thrilled about that one." You state sarcastically and roll your eyes before continuing your story. "Anyway, long story short, the dragon was attacking the watchtower and a bunch of Whiterun guards nearby. I rushed in and felt compelled to kill it."

"Kill a dragon?! Seriously? Are you certain you haven't been spending too much time around Cicero? No offense, [Y/n], but his madness might be rubbing off on you." Babette points out, which also earns an agreeable nod from Festus. At this point, all of them are already looking at you like you're completely nuts, and you haven't even gotten to the wildest part yet!

"Hah, very funny, Babette… Yes, kill a dragon, and killed it I did. Once it landed on the ground, I ran over and climbed up on top of its head and started stabbing until it died. Seconds after I got off, it combusted into flames, leaving only its skeleton behind. That's when it first happened, a giant outpouring of bright lights transferred over to me from the dragon. As I now know, it was the dragon's soul that I had taken in and drew power from. I've learned I have a special, inherent gift in the ancient power of the Voice or Thu'um in other words. Without any training, I can unlike anyone else, instantly learn words of power from the language of dragons. With it I can channel my voice into powerful shouts, which all can do many different and incredible things. Not long after that all happened, I was called upon by a group of monks called the Greybeards, who live in seclusion all the way up on the mountains of High Hrothgar. They are Masters of the Voice… It was with them I truly came to better understand who I am, and what old Nordic legend calls, Dragonborn." You finish explaining before focusing back intently on everyone to gauge their reactions. At first you are met with nothing but dead silence from them. They all collectively gawk at you with wide eyes, looking completely at a loss for words. Even someone as difficult to surprise as Babette looks genuinely astonished by your confession. It's quite an accomplishment to be able to surprise a three hundred year old vampire who's lived long enough to become desensitized to most things in life.

"By Sithis, [Y/n]… First Listener, now Dragonborn, too? Hmph, is there by any chance anything else you are the leader or prophesied chosen one of that you're not telling us about? Quite frankly at this point, I don't think nothing about you would surprise me anymore." Festus with his arms crossed, says to you, and finally cuts through the thick and silent tension in the room to much of your relief.

"No, there's nothing else. At least nothing else that I'm currently aware of… I know, it's hard to believe. But it's true, and it's also the reason why I have been constantly out and about so much. I'm still in the middle of the process of trying to figure out everything myself. Even as of today, I soon plan on heading out with Cicero to take care of some more business I have regarding it." You reply.

"Hm, I see… Well, I must confess I wasn't expecting anything like this. However, despite that, I think everyone here sincerely appreciates you opening up to us about this personal matter of yours." Nazir says gratefully to you, which inspires all the others to smile and nod along agreeably with what he said.

You are about to open your mouth to reply. This is until suddenly without any warning, you feel someone from behind grasp onto your shoulders with their hands. Startled, you tense up and jump with a tiny gasp of surprise. Immediately after that, you whip your head around, nearly giving yourself whiplash by how fast you turned it. Your [e/c] eyes come in contact with very familiar golden ones, belonging to none other than Cicero. Looking highly amused by your jumpy reaction, he cheekily grins and squeezes your shoulders in playfulness before starting to snicker at you. Feeling both slightly flustered and annoyed at the Keeper for sneaking up on you and embarrassing you in front of the others, you narrow your eyes at him in a glare, clearly unimpressed. Yet to much of your further annoyance, the irritable look on your face you give him, only seems to amuse even more as his grin widens.

"Good morning, Listener~! Did sneaky Cicero scare you? Heheh, whoops, my bad!" He apologizes but hardly sounded all that sincere about it, especially since he couldn't knock that obnoxious, cheeky grin off his face. Not wanting to test your patience too much this early in the morning, he removes his hands from your shoulders, and shifts over to stand at your side rather than directly behind you. Taking a brief glance at the others seated at the table, he then goes to look back at you. "Anyhow, Cicero just so happened to accidentally walk in and overhear your little discussion with our fellow brothers and sisters." He says until you cut him off.

"Accidentally? Yeah, right… more like you purposely walked in to eavesdrop." You accuse him with the roll your eyes.

"What? Nooo! Cicero would never! Mm… well, okay. Perhaps Cicero would, but that's besides the point really." Cicero sheepishly replies back with a small chuckle and continues. "Cicero sees that [Y/n] has decided to tell the others, you not only have the gift to listen but to shout as well! Hehe~ the looks on their faces were priceless! ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY LISTENER AND DRAGONBORN!" He giddily exclaims the last part out loud and proceeds to do a little jig on the spot, causing the others at the table—who had gone back to eating and talking amongst each other—to glance his way. Most of them looked indifferent by his noisy outburst, except Nazir, whom has never been known to have much tolerance for the Keeper's loud and exuberant personality, especially this early in the morning.

"Alright now, tone it down some, you big goof. Not everyone here is as much of an early bird as you are." You tell him with a bit of a humored smirk as you gesture with a small, sideways tilt of your head over at Nazir, who's sitting at the other end of the table, looking grouchier than he did before while trying to tune Cicero out.

Putting an end to his jig, he passes a curious glance at his grumpy Redguard brother and then looks back at you with a rueful grin. "Heh, sorry~! … Achem, now if [Y/n] wouldn't mind Cicero asking. When shall we set off back to the Lady of Blades? That is assuming dearest [Y/n] is ready to go back today and discuss our findings with her. Cicero doesn't mind what we do really, so long as Cicero gets to be with the almighty Listener!"

"We can head out shortly. However, before we do, I'd like to eat some breakfast first. There's no chance I'm dealing with Delphine on an empty stomach." You say jokingly, causing Cicero to let out a chuckle and nod agreeably at you.

"Oh why, of course, Listener! Cicero doesn't blame you! Besides, the Listener's needs come before all else! The Lady of Blades can wait!" Having said that, Cicero takes little to no time to run around the table, and sit down at the last remaining open seat beside Babette. Looks like he's decided to join you all for breakfast, which you obviously don't mind at all. However, you cannot help but start to wonder to yourself, as you begin prepping your plate from the large spread of various breakfast foods laid out across the table—where is Heirth? All your brothers and sisters are here, except him… Hmph, whatever. As far as you're concerned, he's certainly not worth wasting your time worrying over. For once, you can actually relax and fully enjoy your time spent together with your family, without that giant lout putting everyone in a bad mood with his constant negativity and disrespect for others… Yes, it is refreshing to not have Heirth here for once. That much is clear to you.

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Right after everyone finishes up with breakfast and says their goodbyes to you, you and your faithful jester companion prepare to set off and embark on your first planned agenda of the day. Passing by the Night Mother to enter the hallway to the exit, Cicero glances over at her and waves excitably to her lifeless corpse with a cheerful, "Farewell, sweet Mother~! Cicero and the Listener will be back before you know it!"

You snort to yourself at his parting words to the Night Mother, and shake your head with a small trace of a smile appearing on your lips. You cannot help but find it amusing how Cicero continuously interacts with the Night Mother, despite the obvious fact, he'll never receive any kind of a response back from her. It's honestly kind of cute, in a bizarre way. Once the two of you make your way down the hall and to the black door, you leave the warmth of the sanctuary, and enter back into the bitter cold of the snow covered world outdoors. As always, Shadowmere is standing close at hand near the entrance, and waiting patiently for the time he's needed again, like now. "Ah, there's my favorite horse! Ready for another ride, Shadowmere?" You ask affectionately while greeting the fiendish black horse with a fond smile, as Cicero and you both approach him. Shadowmere trots over to meet you half way and softly neighs as he goes to nuzzle you with his snout, causing you to let out a laugh and pet him back.

"Aww! Cicero thinks he's happy to see you, too, Listener!" He comments with a light chuckle and smile of his own. He finds it so adorable how you and Shadowmere seem to possess such a special bond with one another. Somehow he really doubts Astrid ever had anything near this strong of a bond with the dark and noble steed, during the time she was still alive and the owner of him.

"I think so, too," You agree while still smiling fondly at Shadowmere. "Anyway, let us get a move on. I don't know about you, but I would really like to get this whole thing with Delphine over with already." You say to Cicero, before he and you both get on to Shadowmere, and finally take off in the direction that will lead you back to the small and quiet hamlet of Riverwood.

The trip over is relatively uneventful, and is only not dreadfully boring, due to you having Cicero to talk and joke around with as usual. Once you arrive into town, you get off and leave Shadowmere at the stables before heading towards the entry of the Sleeping Giant Inn. Opening the front doors, you walk in silently with Cicero, and don't pay too much attention to the inn or its patrons, as you make a quick beeline over to the vacant room's hidden entrance, leading down to the secret basement. "Well, here goes nothing." You mutter to yourself as you and Cicero begin down the steps, where Delphine is no doubt anxiously waiting for you. "Guess who's baaack~?" You call out in a sing-song voice as you reach the bottom of the steps.

Looking almost as if she had been waiting for you this entire time, Delphine stops fretfully pacing back and forth through the room like a caged animal, and immediately turns to look at you with an expression of utter relief. "Oh, good! You both made it out alive! I was concerned, but I shouldn't had expected anything less of you, Dragonborn. Now, did you learn anything useful?" She quickly goes on to ask you, after having made sure she mentioned she gave a damn about anything else other than that, such as your safe return back to her. You weren't willing to allow yourself to believe she actually cared, she only acts like she cares because she needs you to carry out all her dirty work. Of course, that could just be your distrustful nature talking.

"Sure did, kind of like how you were wrong. The Thalmor are as ignorant about the dragons as we are." You tell her straightforwardly, causing her to pinch her eyebrows together in confusion and take on a highly skeptical look.

"Really? That seems hard to believe… You're sure about that?" She inquires back slowly in a disbelieving tone, which provokes you to scoff at her in irritation.

"No, I just thought I'd make shit up for the fun of it. Of course I'm sure!" You snap back at her sassily and roll your eyes. "Tch, I knew you wouldn't believe me unless I brought back some kind of tangible proof. So, here, maybe this will change your mind instead." You tell her heatedly with a glare, before proceeding to take out the Thalmor dossier you had tucked away on your person. She looks a bit taken aback by your snappy reaction, and appears to look as if she's debating on whether to apologize to you or not. However, you don't waste your time waiting for her to make up her mind, as you shove the dossier into her hands without a second of hesitation.

"Oh… Uhm, thank you, [Y/n]. But I… I'm sorry I shouldn't doubt you. It's just that I was so certain it must be them. If not the Thalmor, than who? Or… what?" Her voice dips down ominously, as she trails off and briefly averts her eyes away from you in deep contemplation.

Having your arms crossed and staring at her pointedly, you respond to her. "Who knows? But something I do know is that the Thalmor are currently on the search for some old man, they believe will be the answer to all their problems. You might even know him from the sounds of it, his name's Esbern."

"Esbern?" She immediately repeats back in surprise. "He's alive? I thought the Thalmor must have got him years ago! That crazy old man… Figures the Thalmor would be on his trail, though, if they were trying to find out what's going on with the dragons." She muses with a smile, while sounding incredibly pleased by the fact that Esbern is still out there somewhere, alive and kicking.

"Uh-huh… So, even though I do have vague understanding of it from what I read in that dossier I gave you, I still would like to know what you have to say about it. Why exactly is he so important, to the Thalmor, I mean?"

"You mean, aside from wanting to kill every Blade they can lay their hands on? Esbern was one of the Blade archivists, back before the Thalmor smashed us during the Great War. He knew everything about the ancient dragon lore of the Blades. Obsessed with it, really. Nobody paid much attention back then. Guess he wasn't as crazy as we all thought."

"The Thalmor believe the Blades are the ones to have involvement with the dragons… Huh, strange, I could've sworn I heard something eerily similar to that before." You state a bit sarcastically, as you hint hard on the fact Delphine had been repeating the exact same thing to you, except with the Thalmor as the ones to pin all the blame on.

She chuckles dryly at your words and shakes her head with a small sigh, "I know, ironic, right? The old enemies assume that every calamity must be a plot by the other side… Even so, we've got to find Esbern before they do. He'll know how to stop the dragons if anybody does. Do they know where he is?" She asks a bit anxiously.

"Well, from what I've come to gather, he's thought to be hiding out somewhere in the Ratway under Riften."

"Riften, eh? If that's right, I think it would make sense for him to choose the Ratway as a place to hideout. It's where I would choose to go… Hm, you two better head on over to Riften then. Find and talk to a man named Brynjolf. He's… well-connected. It'll be a good starting point at least." Delphine says, instantly causing your blood to run cold, as she barks out an order for you to go and talk to the one and only person in Riften, you wanted to try and avoid at all costs. Ah, but of course, nothing can ever be that simple! Now can it?

You want to speak up in protest but think against doing it, since you know Delphine wouldn't actually give a shit, and would probably just urge you to do it, anyway, despite whatever you have to say about it. Cicero has been surprisingly dead silent this entire time, without even reacting all that much, that is up until the point Brynjolf was mentioned. He still manages to keep himself quiet, but now looks incredibly put-off by what had just come out of Delphine's mouth. You aren't at all oblivious to the fact Cicero isn't much of a fan of Brynjolf. Every time those two have been around each other in the past, Cicero had looked dark and murderous, like he was absolutely dying inside for you to suddenly give him the go-ahead to slit the thief's throat wide open. Unfortunately for Cicero, you couldn't allow him that one wish, unless you wanted to piss off the entirety of the Thieves' Guild, which doesn't sound like the wisest of decisions to make.

"Oh, and there's one more thing I should let you know about, when you find Esbern… If you think I'm paranoid… Well, you may have some trouble getting him to trust you. If you do run into any trouble with him, just ask him where he was on the 30th of Frostfall. He'll know what it means." Delphine goes on to add, which you simply nod at and begin to turn away from her.

"Fine… We're off to Riften then." You state plainly and start to head back towards the steps, while momentarily brushing your hand gently against Cicero's shoulder as you pass by him, as a silent indicator for him to follow along. At the touch of your hand, he quickly shakes himself from his sulky behavior, and goes on to obediently follow after you close behind, like your own personal shadow. The very second he and you exit the inn, Cicero just has to blurt out what was now eating away at him.

"Listeneeer! Please tell Cicero you do not actually intend to go to that filthy thief for whatever, completely unnecessary reason! We needn't grovel to the likes of him to be able to find Esbern. Surely, we can do that just fine all on our own?" Cicero whines rather childishly to you, while you both are now walking side by side each other, and heading back towards the stables where Shadowmere is waiting for you at.

"Look, I get you're not a big fan of the guy, but it should only take us a few seconds to deal with him. Trust me, I'm not exactly head over heels in love with the idea either. But at least he could provide us with some useful information, because to be quite honest with you, I'd rather not have to go blindly stumbling around the dark Ratway for hours on end, looking for some crazy, old coot." You say to him, which clearly is not at all the answer he had been hoping to get out of you.

Groaning to himself rather dramatically, Cicero simply nods unhappily at your answer before crossing his arms and pouting all the way back to Shadowmere. You can't help but roll your eyes by how pitiful he's acting, as you both get back on to Shadowmere. You really hope he doesn't plan on sulking the entire trip over to Riften. Sure, Brynjolf might be annoying to have to deal with, but he's hardly worth getting all bent out of shape over. Honestly, you think Cicero is overreacting. You don't even fully understand why he hates him so much. Perhaps it's jealousy? Cicero has been known to have a bad habit of getting unreasonably possessive over you at times. It's the only thing that made any sense to you, since Brynjolf hasn't exactly ever been all too discreet in his attempts to flirt with you. Yeah, now that you think about it, that has to be it.

As you begin to ride out of Riverwood, you turn your head to look back at Cicero and give him a sweet and reassuring smile. "Hey... don't worry about that dumb guy, alright? You should know I'm all yours, and nothing will ever change that… So, maybe try and smile again for me a little, please? C'mon, I know you wanna~" You coo at him teasingly with a playful grin.

Perking up in an instant, he stares back at you wide-eyed in a moment of speechlessness by what you had so kindly said to him. A blush as red as his own hair suddenly tinges his cheeks. Feeling nothing short of giddy, he is quick to forget all about what he was frowning about before, and has no control over the broad and meaningful smile that effortlessly goes to replace it. "Oh, dearest, sweet [Y/n]… Truly you really do know Cicero all too well. Cicero could never pass up an opportunity to smile for you!" He states joyously in reply, and smiles more if even possible as he gazes back at you softly with fondness. "Though, Cicero does want to let [Y/n] know that Cicero really does appreciate what you said… It helps… more than you know." He trails off, his voice turning into a slightly thoughtful sounding murmur.

Making a small smile at him, you're very glad you seemed to be able to cheer him up and out of that little rut he was in. After that, it certainly didn't take long at all for him to take a complete flip straight back to his usual goofy antics, excessive chattiness, and morbid jokes and rhymes. It's sure pleasant to see, the ride over to Riften won't end up being so bad after all.

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Once arriving at the front gates of Riften, you leave Shadowmere at the stables as always, and head into the city. The sky above is cast over with stormy, dark clouds, trickling down light speckles of rain. Every so often a low rumble of thunder could be heard off in the distance. All in all, the weather today is succeeding to make this already gloomy city, appear even gloomier looking than usual. The only good thing is the rain is light, and thankfully not chilling you down to the bone, since Riften is situated in The Rift, which just so happens to be one of the few warmer provinces of Skyrim.

"So where to first, Listener?" Cicero chimes in questionably to you, while looking around as the two of you are walking together.

"Well, I think ultimately we should head down to the Ragged Flagon. But since it's on the way, we might as well check the marketplace real quick, in case Brynjolf is there, pickpocketing or ripping people off with his stupid scams or something." You say in return, which Cicero responds to with a stiff nod as he tries very hard not to get all riled up over that bothersome thief again.

Approaching the central marketplace, it wasn't as packed with people as it usually would be because of the stormy weather. At least this made it easier for you to scan the area for any sign of Brynjolf among the lesser crowd. Cicero seems like he's helping you search too, but you aren't oblivious to the fact, he obviously didn't have his heart fully in it like he normally would, whenever trying to help you out with literally anything else. Ironically, your search for the redheaded thief comes to end when you feel someone tap on your shoulder from close behind you, whom of which just so happens to be Brynjolf, himself.

"Hey there, lass. Looking for something?"

You hear him ask you, which causes you to immediately spin around to face him. Dressed in slim black leather armor, he stands there, needlessly close to you, and is smiling at you, though, it doesn't look too far off from a smirk. You gawk back at him, and nearly feel compelled to roll your eyes at the irony of him finding you before you could find him. On the other hand, Cicero crosses his arms and makes a small, irritable huff, as he begins to faintly glare at Brynjolf and watch him extremely close.

"Someone, actually," You correct him. "And that someone just so happens to be you."

"Oh, really now? Heh, should I be concerned two members of the Dark Brotherhood are looking for me?" He says a bit jokingly and chuckles at the grim prospect of you seeking him out to assassinate.

You can't help but snort in amusement at that one before responding back. "On a normal basis, perhaps… Yet luckily for you, that's not the reason why we're here."

"Unfortunately…" You hear Cicero grumble bitterly under his breath to himself.

"Well then, if not that, then what do I owe the great pleasure of seeing you again, lass? It's been awhile since we last saw each other… You finally considering on joining our ranks at the Guild? My offer still stands, just say the word and I'll make it happen." Brynjolf mentions to you with a charming smile and wink.

He really couldn't resist but to bring up that up again, could he? Literally every damn time you talk to him, he's at least mentioned once that you should join the Thieves' Guild. Are they really that desperate for members? Or is he just wanting you to join for his own personal benefit? Keeping up a face of indifference, and not daring to give him the satisfaction of a reaction to how flirtatious he's coming across, you shake your head at him.

"No, sorry to say that's not why I'm here either. I wanted to find you in hopes you can help us out by offering some information that you might have. The main reason I came here is because I'm looking for another person, who is thought to be residing here somewhere in Riften. He's an old man named Esbern. Would you happen to know where he is?" You ask him hopefully, awhile trying your best to keep your tone sounding as sweet and pleasant as possible, since being a total bitch to him will get you absolutely no where.

Brynjolf goes silent for a moment and makes a face, as he seems to mull over what you had just asked him. Shifting his weight to his other foot, he rubs at his chin and goes on to sigh. "Mm, I don't know, lass. I like you and all, but I can't start going around, handing out free information to just anyone, even to the ones I happen to like. Maybe if you sweeten the deal a little with some coin, I just might be willing to reconsider." He poses to you with the more than obvious intention to try and exploit this golden opportunity to become several coins richer... Ugh, how typical! You should've never expected anything less from a crooked, money-grubbing thief like himself. You aren't even sure how much money you have on yourself at the moment. Usually you always bring some coin with you, hopefully you'll have enough to satisfy his greed.

With a loud and indignant scoff at what Brynjolf is trying to pull on you, Cicero deepens his glare on him and can't help himself but to butt into the conversation. "Ugh! Greedy, greedy thief! Cicero doesn't at all appreciate your shameful attempt to manipulate [Y/n] as a means of temporarily appealing to your insatiable greed! If Cicero is not mistaken, Cicero has come to understand that you are the one who owes [Y/n] a favor! She did, after all, do a kindly act for you first!" He firmly asserts to the Nord while pointing an accusing finger at him.

Internally you cringe in the slightest from Cicero feeling the need to get involved. You know he means well, but you're not too sure taking such a hostile stance with Brynjolf is going to make anything better, if not only make things even worse off than they already are. Brynjolf could just as easily turn around right now and refuse you any chance of obtaining information from him, no matter if you try to bribe him or not. Glancing from Cicero and back over to Brynjolf, you stare him down a bit anxiously.

Brynjolf goes on to frown at Cicero's assertion to him, yet he doesn't appear to take it too offensively. It takes him a moment or two, but eventually he replies. "Aye, fair enough… I can acknowledge [Y/n] did carry out a small task for me when I asked it of her. Though, I admit that was mainly just a test for her, to see whether or not she had the potential to be able to make it into the Thieves' Guild. Nevertheless, I'll make allowances for her just this once, to break things even between the two of us." He concedes to much of your surprise, and then turns back to focus solely on you. "The guy you're looking for is hiding out in the Ratway Warrens, and paying my people good coin for nobody to know about it. But talk is cheap, so just follow me and I'll show where you need to go." Brynjolf informs you with a small smile and motions with his hand for you to follow him. Wow, you can't believe Cicero actually succeeded in persuading him, considering how aggressive he was about it.

"Thanks, Brynjolf. This is very much appreciated." You say, genuinely thankful for his willingness to change his mind and help you out.

"Eh, don't mention it, lass. Just don't go and take that little endeavor of mine to make some extra coin off of you too personally. I'd try it on anyone if I see the opportunity arise. It's something that becomes a bit second-nature to you, once you've been in the line of business that I'm in for as long as I have." Brynjolf explains to you, while the three of you are now walking together to head down to the gated entrance point that leads into the Ratway.

With Brynjolf taking the lead as he enters first into the Ratway, you and Cicero follow closely behind and keep a sharp eye out for any potential trouble. Riften's Ratways are infamous for being a cesspool of dangerous vagrants and lowlives to come and make themselves at home at. Yet in spite of that, by some stroke of luck, none of you end up running across any bloodthirsty bums on your trek over to the Ragged Flagon. However, you know better than to let your guard down and expect your entire visit down here to go over that smoothly. There's still plenty of time for you to come across someone dumb or crazy enough to try murdering you.

"Okay, lass. Just up ahead, left of the bar, there is a door that leads into the Ratway Vaults. You will need to navigate your way through it to reach the lowermost level, where the entrance to the Ratway Warrens is. Once you're there, you should be able to find the man you're looking for. However, here's a word of advice—keep your guard up. The Vaults are skeever infested and tend to attract a lot of unsavory folk, who likely won't take all too kindly to your presence. The Warrens aren't as dangerous, but there are a small handful of other people who take refuge there. It's become quite the popular spot for those who don't want to be found… So, I wouldn't linger there too long if I were you." Brynjolf explains as you three enter inside the Ragged Flagon and begin walking together around the large, round cistern in the middle of the room, and over to the small tavern in the back. There are several people there at the bar, but only a small few of them you recognize, and only one of them do you even know by name. The familiar ones are; the usual Nord barkeeper, the always grouchy looking white haired woman, the big, tough blond bouncer guy (who also always looks grouchy), and last but not least, Delvin Mallory. The rest of the patrons there you had no idea who they were, but you could probably safely assume are all a bunch of crooks with ties to the Thieves' Guild.

"Thanks for the advice, but it's nothing we can't handle. Cicero and I have dealt with far worse than a few angry bums and skeevers. Isn't the right, Cicero?" You reply back confidently and glance at the jester right next to you.

"Oh, yes! So very right, indeed, Listener! Things such as those pale in comparison to that of something like a giant, man-eating dragon! This will be a piece of cake!" Cicero proudly exclaims with a vigorous nod.

Reaching the door to the Vaults at the end of the bar, Brynjolf goes to stand beside it and look back at Cicero and you questionably. "Dragon?" He echos back, confused.

"Um, it's a long story, sooo… Is this the door?" You cut in and quickly change the topic by asking him a dumb question you already know the answer to. You just didn't feel like having to go through the same old spiel about you being Dragonborn to Brynjolf. It would take forever to explain, and it's really none of his business anyway.

"Aye, it is… Well, I suppose I'll let you go ahead now. Good luck down there, lass… And perhaps when you get back, you can sit down and tell me that long story of yours over a mug of ale, eh?" Brynjolf suggests with another one of those suave smiles of his, directed at you.

"Oh, no, no, no! We'll be much too busy for that! Let's go, [Y/n]!" Cicero immediately barges in while grabbing ahold of your arm and forcefully dragging you away from the thief. Not given the time to articulate a response back, Brynjolf could only glare slightly at Cicero's back before the door slammed closed loudly in his face.

Now standing alone with Cicero in the silence of the Vault's dark and musty entrance tunnel. You cease from looking nonplussed by what just happened and slowly, with a straight-face, you glance over at Cicero who's still holding your arm hostage. "… You can let go of my arm now, Cicero." You deadpan.

"Hm? Oh… Right, of course! Sorry!" He replies, sounding a bit embarrassed and immediately lets go of your arm like you asked of him.

"Thank you," You state plainly, before turning your attention to the task at hand. "Now let's get going. Hopefully we won't run into too much trouble." You say and begin moving forward with Cicero following closely behind. However, it doesn't take long at all for you to already run into a problem… a very unexpected problem. "Shit!" You hiss, hastily pulling yourself back behind a corner of a doorway that you were about to step through without a second thought. You were just half a second away from being spotted by what looks to be a Thalmor wizard, patrolling the area. "Ugh! Damn them to the Void! Those Thalmor bastards are down here already. Why didn't Brynjolf say anything about them? Damn it all… I just hope we're not too late." You grumble, though, only loud enough for Cicero to hear.

"Perhaps it slipped his mind?" Cicero sarcastically replies back with an embittered scoff.

"Apparently…" You mutter under your breath in displeasure and begin to pull out your blade. "Well, here we go again."

With that said, you slink forward at a brisk pace, and sneak up on the unsuspecting wizard while he has his back turned to you. Once you get close enough, you clamp your free hand over his mouth and slice his neck from behind. You don't even bother to spare a glance down at him as he drops to the floor, instead you instantly go to step over his lifeless body and continue prowling forward with an intense and deadly look in your eyes. Going down several flights of stairs and through a couple of small insignificant rooms and tunnels, you and Cicero stealthily dispatch a few more Thalmor cronies that are in your way with ease. Once you reach the bottommost level of the Vaults, which surprisingly didn't take that long, you spot the door to the Warrens. "That was a lot easier than I expected. I thought this place would be way bigger than it actually is. Not that I'm complaining though. At least the Thalmor's presence here has chased off any of the other undesirables Brynjolf said would normally be down here." You comment to Cicero and reach out to open the door up before entering through.

Now finally inside the Warrens, you are in another dimly lit tunnel that's only source of light is coming from an iron barred gate, on the righthand side, which appears to lead to a much larger and brighter room. Walking up to it, you notice a large padlock keeping the gateway locked up tight from any unwanted guests. "Need any help with that, Listener?" Cicero asks curiously while peeking over your shoulder at the padlock you're currently staring down at.

"No, but thanks, I think I got it…" You murmur back to him a bit distractedly as you take out one of the several lockpicks you have hidden away on your person. Sticking your lockpick in and beginning to fiddle with the lock, you stay quiet as you concentrate on forcing it open, which doesn't end up taking you too long since the lock wasn't all that complex. "Ah, there we go. Nice and easy, just how I like it."

With that said, you and Cicero enter on through to other side, and find yourselves in a lofty, sun lit room with many different doors for you to be the oh so 'lucky one' to have to figure which would be the right one Esbern is hiding behind… How wonderful. "Ugh, I really don't want to have to check all these doors." You whine while eyeing all the doors around the two of you in annoyance.

"Heheh, suppose we should go from door to door, knocking, like two traveling priests hoping to shove their beliefs down the throats of others?" Cicero jokes with a snicker.

"Oh, yeah sure, the only difference here is that person opening the door just might decide to try on killing us for bothering them."

"So? Cicero can easily kill them first…"

"No." You state bluntly and resist the temptation to roll your eyes at him.

Cicero is about to make some kind of comment back to you but is interrupted, when suddenly an old Nord woman with long, brittle, gray hair, and dressed in dirty rags, comes shuffling bare-foot down a wooden ramp from the second floor. She has her arms wrapped around herself and is staring vacantly at the ground, as she keeps loudly muttering the same thing over and over again, in a deranged chant of meaningless words. "Inkpot, stone, bucket, book, knife." She recites and doesn't seem even remotely aware of you or Cicero's presence, as she shuffles past you like a draugr, and begins aimlessly pacing back and forth within the room. Whelp, looks like you just found your first mental case of the Ratway. Is she sane enough to ask a question? Probably not… But that didn't stop Cicero from trying.

"Ooo, perhaps she knows where Esbern is! Hello there! Cicero and the Listener want to ask you something!" Cicero eagerly calls out to her and moves to approach her.

"Cicero, please tell me you're joking. That old hag doesn't even look like she's in the same plane of reality as us."

"You don't know if you don't try, Listener~!" Cicero chirps back to you in a sing-song voice.

"Inkpot, stone, bucket, book, knife…"

You groan loudly to yourself and face-palm as Cicero waves his hand in front of her face, in attempt to get her to react, or at least stop mindlessly repeating the same phrase over and over again.

"Hello? Anybody home in there? Would you mind telling us where Esbern is?" Cicero continues asking, while changing tactics from waving his hand in her face to obnoxiously snapping his fingers at her instead.

You are about to put an end to this pointless endeavor of his, that is until the woman suddenly snaps her head up to gawk at Cicero with wide, crazed eyes. "NO! NOOO! GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY! NEVER FIND ME!" She screeches wildly in his face and moves to roughly shove him away from her before bolting past him, back towards the ramp. Cicero staggers slightly to side from being pushed by her, but is quick to maintain his balance and glance off in the direction she fled.

"Hmph, well that was rude." Cicero comments with a huff.

"I told you that wouldn't work." You retort with the roll of your eyes. "Come on, let's head up the ramp and try checking up there." You tell him and begin walking over to head up to the second floor. Reaching the top of the ramp, you glimpse down the walkway and happen to notice a reinforced door at the end that stuck out from all the others. Feeling drawn in by it, you head over to stand in front of it and begin to knock on it. "Uh, hello?" You call out and wait a few seconds in silence to see if anyone responds.

You are about to try knocking again but are interrupted when a sliding panel on the door opens up and reveals the face of an old man. "Go away!" He shouts at you.

"Wait! You're Esbern, right? Open the door, I'm a friend." You hastily go to bring up before he slides the sliding panel closed.

"What? No… No, that's not me. I'm not Esbern. I don't know what you're talking about. Now go away." He insists, which you didn't buy for a second.

"No, I'm not going anywhere, not when I've already come this far… Look, it's fine, okay? I'm not with the Thalmor, if that's what you think. Delphine sent me." You tell him and figure if all else failed, you could try using that 30th of Frostfall passphrase Delphine had mentioned Esbern would know about.

"Huh, D-Delphine? How do you... So you finally found her, and she led you to me? And here I am… caught like a rat in a trap." He replies with a frustrated sigh.

"Yes, and we need your help to stop the dragons. I'm the one the Blades have been searching for, I'm Dragonborn."

"What? What's that you say? Dragonborn? You're Dragonborn? Then… then there really is hope after all?" He thoughtfully trails off in happy relief. "You'd better come inside quickly then. The Thalmor agents have been seen in the Ratway." The elderly man, whom you are now positive is Esbern, proceeds to slip the sliding panel back closed, before unlocking the door's many locks, and opening it for you and Cicero to enter through. "Ah, there we go. Now come on inside and make yourself at home. We have much to discuss."