Her Mistress, Her Mad Love | Astrid x Fem!Dragonborn |

Her Mistress, Her Mad Love

It had been more than a year since the incident. The incident that nearly caused the complete destruction of the Dark Brotherhood. The same incident that had made each Penitus Oculatos death even more delightfully satisfying. The same incident that made the assassin even more determined to accomplish the assassination of the emperor, and causing all of Tamriel to fall under chaos. The same incident that would lead her to solidify the Dark Brotherhood ‘s ever growing reputation and power.

It wouldn't have happened had she been more perceptive. Had the Dragonborn arrived a second longer, she would have been considered the last surviving member as everyone else would have been burnt to ash. Well, everyone aside from Commander Maro's soldiers. She couldn't care less if they were burned alive.

When the Dragonborn arrived at the sanctuary, she did what assassins did best. She slaughtered each and every single soldier that had the nerve to attempt to destroy her guild. The surviving ones, well let's just say that the Dawnstar Sanctuary’s torture chamber was judged to be in excellent state, and the equipment in excellent working condition, after a few tests, that is.

Unfortunately, she had not been fast enough to save the other members, which included Arnbjorn, Gabriella, Veezara and Festus. She only wished she had done enough to have made their sacrifice worth it.

By rebuilding the Dark Brotherhood as the new Listener, she had brought the guild to its former glory. With the help of a few others like Babette and Nazir, who had been there for her since the beginning, and of course also Cicero, who was still in charge of tending to the Night Mother. Life after the attack could not have been better. Except for Cicero's lunatic ramblings and creepiness, but it's not like you can blame him after all that has happened to him.

Life would also have been much better, had it obviously not have been of the Listener's feelings to a certain blonde who had once sold her out to the enemy. It was foolish enough to give her a second chance, but to still hold feelings for her former mistress would be on another level of foolishness. Sure she was deeply hurt by the betrayal, but it wasn't like she could magically snap her fingers and then her feelings would go away. As powerful of a mage she also was, that would still be near impossible to do without an even greater cost in exchange.

“Damn Mara and her workings!” the Dovahkiin silently cursed, sweat rolling down from the side of her face as she practiced with a sword in her hand. The training dummy in front of her was already in a state that needed it to be replaced. But, since she wasn't exactly in the mood to calmly do anything, she continued swinging her sword until she had finally tired out her frustration.

“How is it a good idea to give heartless and cruel beings like myself, the ability to...” her face twisted in disgust as she tried to finish her thought, “... the ability to care or love?!”

After hours of hitting the training dummy continuously, she decided to stop and rest for a while.

Taking a seat by the stairs leading to the main living space of the Dawnstar Sanctuary, she wiped off her sweat with a towel and threw it on the desk in front of her.

Sighing, she leaned back on the chair and closed her eyes. It was probably late at night by now, since everything seemed to be quiet. Surprising even, since Cicero rarely ever stopped talking to himself. But then again, it would probably have been pretty late for it to be this quiet. The only thing you could hear were either the flickering flames of candles, or the harsh winter wind outside of the dark and eerie looking sanctuary.

The silence was almost comforting in a sense, since it was usually noisy around the old sanctuary. Other than Nazir's and Babette’s constant bickering, the new recruits were also sometimes like children. Always eager to prove their worth, only to end up annoying the hell out of the already stressed out Listener. It was amusing, truth be told. Especially when one of them made the mistake of underestimating a certain jester, sparring with him, only to be surprised at the jester's skill when they finally realise they're on the floor lying on their backs.