Brotherly Squabble

Elsewhere :

Astrid and the other members of the Dark Brotherhood watch with sceptical expression as Cicero, the clown keeper of the Night Mother has her coffin carried into the Sanctuary. Inwardly, Astrid was fuming at this new 'inclusion' to their family.

She'd sent Babette and Eleril out specifically to deal with Cicero... If anyone found it, she'd have pawned it off as a complete accident due to the obscure orders she'd given the duo. It seemed that fate dearly hated her, as she'd inadvertently saved Cicero from his Imperial pursuers, ending up with him in her home.

Her Dark Brotherhood had all but abandoned the old ways, yet, here stands the pinnacle of said ways with a corpse to validate them. Even now, he'd been here but an hour and was already ordering her men around, like he owned the place!

"Cicero, is it? I hope this will be the first and last time you order my men around. You may have forgotten already, but this is MY Sanctuary, and will remain so." she states in a forced neutral tone.

The jester rapidly nods his head with a manic smile, "Oooh, of course, Sister! Cicero would never dream to be presumptuous! The Mother would not like that at a-lllll!"

Arnbjorn growls, "This clown is annoying, we should throw him down a well and board it up, toss the corpse down there while we're at it." he says, causing Cicero to gasp in shock and Astrid to rub her face in exasperation.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING, BROTHER OR NO, MOTHER DESERVES RESPECT! APOLOGIZE, APOLOGIZE NOW!" Cicero screams, his high-pitched voice causing many members to grimace.

Despite how annoying he was though, many were in agreement with him. While Astrid and a few others had totally abandoned the old ways, that didn't mean all had forgotten.

"Maybe our glorious leader should put her dog on a leash. Especially since he is literally speaking sacrilege of our most ancient and honoured traditions." Festus says, eyes locking with Arnbjorn who seemed ready to tear his throat out with his teeth.

Babette nods with crossed arms, "To dishonour the Night Mother is to dishonour Sithis and the Dark Brotherhood as a whole." she turns to Astrid, "If you don't wish to follow the Brotherhood's most basic tenants, perhaps you should rename our group?" she asks, having been around long enough to be a member of many past Sanctuary's. Honestly, though, she didn't really mind whether they called themselves the Dark Brotherhood or not.

Astrid seethes at the little Vampire's words, but restrains herself from acting rashly, "I see no need to change our name, we are merely an evolution of the old failed ways. While the others faded and got torn down, we survived, which means that we must be doing something right."

Festus sneers, "Yeah, bowing to the master with the most coin." he quietly retorts, barely loud enough for the others to catch.

Eleril meanwhile just looks back and forth between those she'd begun to consider family, wondering if this inner turmoil would boil over into something far worse. By the sounds of it, Cicero had a right to be here, and the Night Mother even more so.

Yet, with all the problems they were already causing, she wondered if it was really worth it. Sure, they might be able to properly hear the Black Sacrament once the Listener was chosen, but was that truly what they wanted?

She lets out a sigh, tuning out the sound of the other members arguing as she left for the training room, intending to practise and prepare herself should everything fall apart.

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It's been a week since Michael and the others had joined the College of Winterhold, and things had progressed steadily. They'd attended Mirabelle's lecture after the first day where she'd explained the do's and don'ts of the college... Which was actually a surprisingly small list essentially amounted to:

Do no harm to your fellow man.

Do not affiliate yourself with any Daedric Princes.

Do not conduct dangerous research without permission of the Master Wizard(Mirabelle), or the Arch-Mage(Savos Aren).

Do not experiment on your fellow colleagues without their consent.

Do not steal or trespass.

All of this was fairly obvious, aside from the rule about Daedric Princes. Michael asked why the rule extended to Daedra like Meridia, or Azura, as they were by far the most peaceful and 'reasonable' Daedra from what he understood.

Mirabelle voided those thoughts however by simply explaining that every Daedric Prince, no matter how they are perceived, will attempt to take control of the college if they were to get a foothold. Both Meridia and Azura would attempt to turn the place into a cult and enact their own rules... Such as banning all research on the undead...

There was also the fact that the Vigilants of Stendarr would come knocking should any mention of collusion with Daedra be mentioned... Mirabelle had no doubt that should the Vigilants ask, most of Skyrim would raise their banners to wipe the college out...

Regardless, after the introductory lecture, the group finally got down to properly learning and understanding this world's magic. The college operated differently to those Michael knew in his homeworld, he actually compared it more to what he'd heard of universities.

There were lectures held quite often, with actual practical lessons held whenever the masters felt like it. Most of your education would actually be self-study, which suited Michael and the others just fine, especially since they now had access to a huge library.

Michael had been hoping to lay low and learn as much as he could without causing any ripples, but, apparently, his display of magic at the entrance of the college had already ruined such plans... Why did he have to show off?