Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-29461586-20150208141651/@comment-5583506-20150209221303

Xad, you big piece of ugly fur, where are you when Khajiit needs you?

"Rikki doesn't understand", said the blushing Khajiit who really wanted to get redressed as soon as possible. "What... what does that nasty mark mean?"

"It... it means that you were marked by Sithis from the very moment you were born", said the assassin trio's leader. "You were always meant to have been here... with us..."

Rikki didn't really know what to reply to such a statement, afraid that she might anger them if she told them that she would never become an assassin.

"Your name is Rikki, you say?" asked the Listener.

The young Khajiit merely nodded. "Tell me, Rikki. Was that name given to you? Not by your parents, but by someone else?"

She nodded again. "Rikki... was found by members of the Thieves' Guild. She doesn't recall much except the fact that she lived in the slums for awhile and..."

"Enough", said the Listener and suddenly pulled back her hood, revealing the face of a friendly Khajiit female. "My doubts have been erased."

"Doubts?" asked Rikki.

Her arms were becoming numb as hard as she clutched them to her own body in order to shield it from prying eyes.

The Listener nodded and smiled warmly. "Khajiit do believe that your name isn't Rikki at all. It would be Ma'Javi, daughter of the late T'Savi, yes?"

The Listener suddenly embraced Rikki, and the young Khajiit thought that this was all yet a part of another bad dream. Here she was; naked in an underground dungeon and being hugged by the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. Stranger things had happened...

"You are this one's niece", stated the Listener. "My dear girl. We thought we lost you to the flames when the Penitus Oculatus torched your family home."

"Niece?"

"You don't remember, do you?" said the Listener and suddenly looked a bit depressed. "This one is name Ma'Ravi. Khajiit is your aunt, and she humbly wears the robes you were meant to have worn when you came of age."

Rikki's mind traced to the chamber with rotting corpses. Maybe she could dart her way there and be rid off all this nonsense.

"Rikki doesn't know what assassins are on about. Rikki is just a thief, training to become the greatest Companion ever stomping upon the plains of Skyrim, yes? She wants to leave now."

"And leave you will, but not until this one has told you a few things."

She made a sign for Evanius to dress her niece. He arrived shortly with a black robe and hung it above the young Khajiit's shoulders. His otherwise perverted behaviour seemed to have flewn out of the dungeon and suddenly he seemed just as meek and awestruck as a sheep witnessing lightning for the very first time.

"Your mother T'Savi was a Listener, yes?" explained Ma'Ravi. "When she was younger she had heard a prophecy foretold by none other than the Night Mother herself that in time her daughter would take her place and guide the Dark Brotherhood into a new golden era of darkness and silence. This is a unique prophecy, you see. The title of Listener is bestowed upon a humble assassin by the Night Mother, never passed on by the ties of blood. That's what makes this case so rare. Only problem by this time was that T'Savi had no children. Somehow she was impregnated. By whom she wouldn't say, but as time went by she eventually had you, my dear niece."

Rikki swallowed.

"But alas, the wretched Penitus Ocaluts found out about this as well. They tracked her down, even though we had our best assassins sent out to protect her. They torched the building she had been hiding in, and as a last desperate resort to ensure your survival she threw you out the window, into the canals of Riften. How you managed come out of that water without drowning this one will never know."

Rikki shuddered. "So, what you are saying is that..."

"That you are the rightful Listener, Ma'Javi. This one is just a charlatan. A fake! A pretender! You have every right to slay this one for her insolence! Go ahead! She has deserved it!"

"What?! No! This doesn't make any sense! You assassins are all the same! You are just trying to trick poor Rikki before you kill her, isn't that right?"

Evanius sighed. "Listener or not, she doesn't seem very bright, does she?"

Rikki hissed at the Imperial. "If this one is truly the original Listener, than she commands that you will release her from the title!"

Ma'Ravi chuckled. "We have no power to do so, Listener. Only the Night Mother may release you from your title, her and of course... our beloved Dread Father... Sithis..."

Rikki wasn't as scared as she was frustrated. "But... Rikki can't become an assassin! She can't even kill! Besides she trains to become a Companion! Xad would be so mad at her if he found out that she was a murderer!"

"You wouldn't have to kill, Listener", said Evanius. "That's not what you are for. The Night Mother is the voice. You are the ear. And we... we are the tools which you use to deal death upon those who deserve it..."

Rikki's head was spinning. She was tired and just wanted to lie down. "Rikki is not a killer."

"Say that to the bandits you shot with a bow at Riften", added the second assassin.

"How..." mumbled Rikki. "How did you?"

"You can't outrun the voice of the Night Mother", shrugged Ma'Ravi. "Now, Listener, would you like this one to escort you to your quarters where can get you properly dressed before we move out of this temporary hideout? We have much work ahead of us now when the prophesied Listener has returned to the fold..."