The sun had long since dipped behind the mountainous skyline by the time Lyra finally made it into the dawnstar sanctuary. Nazir seemed to be the only one around, and didn't really pay much attention to her as she traipsed past him into the dim room she called her own. She took a seat near the fire, and began pulling her armor off bit by bit, until she was left with a small pile of it and a few goosebumps. She strode over to the wardrobe and found some typical mourners clothes. She wasn't in mourning, apart from the fact she had no mead in the immediate vicinity, but she liked the dark colours, and so wore them anyway.

She headed back down to see if Barbette was about. When the sanctuary in Falkreath was raided, the vampire's pet Frostbite spider had been killed and, despite being over 300 years old, she'd moped for weeks. Eventually, Lyra and Nazir could no longer stand it, and they went and found her a spider egg, which the vampire had expertly care for until it had hatched a few days ago into a finely disgusting specimen of an arachnid, just like the last. She was overjoyed, and now seemed to spend all of her time checking on it, and throwing it scraps of food. Nazir had joked it would get fat, and she had rather bluntly told him so would he if he kept on eating all the sweet rolls. It shut him up rather well. Finding her favorite Argonian blood wine on a table in the corridor, she made her way to the pen in which the surprisingly tame spider lurked.

As predicted, Barbette sat on a stool, hunched over her alchemy table- which she (or rather Veezara) had moved over to the pen- mashing some Chaurus eggs with what looked like Ice wraith teeth.

"Invisibility?" Lyra asked casually, propping herself up against the wall with her elbow and taking a swig of her wine.

"The stocks were getting low. Astrid said you were going to need some for your next task, and so I thought I'd get to it."

"My next task?" Lyra queried, taking another drink.

"Assassination."

Lyra rolled her eyes and smiled "I got that much, pint-size. What assassination? I'm the listener- and I've heard of no assassination."

Barbette scowled at her. Quilla's teasing was frequent, but she never meant it. "I like being short. It makes for better fun. I don't know, ask Astrid. She's skulking away in the training room."

"Oh, I thought she was out.."

"Astrid? Out? Thats not likely. She hasn't been out since.. Well, since Arnbjorn.."

Lyra sighed. "Yeah.. Well.. I'll go see her. I'll be back later for the potions by the look of it."

"See ya."

She downed the last dregs of her blood wine and discarded the bottle by the little heap of other discarded bottles in the corner. She wondered what Astrid could want her to do that hadn't come from the Night Mother.

Lyra found their leader hacking away at one of the training dummies with the two deadric daggers Lyra had given her as a birthday present.

"I heard you wanted me to do something?" she asked

Astrid stopped slashing and turned to face her, breathing hard. Her hair was loose in its pony tail, and her face slightly red. "Oh, yeah.. Come with me."

Lyra followed the woman out of the training room and into the dining room. She took a seat at the head of the table, and astrid sat next to her and to the left.

"I.. I want you to kill this man." Astrid said handing her a scrap of paper. The name 'Marcus Renmer' was scribbled along the top with along with 'Winterhold'.

"Who's 'Marcus Renmer?"

Astrid sighed and gazed into the fire, her head propped up with one hand.

"The man who killed my husband. I've been tracking him for weeks. But, bless Nocturnal and her luck which you've brought to this sanctuary recently.. I've found him. And now, I'm going to kill him. Well, you're going to kill him."

"Are you sure.. Are you sure you don't want to do it yourself?"

"If I did it, it would turn into a public mauling."

I sighed. She had a point. Astrid facing him would only tempt fate. An assassin kept to the shadows, and Astrid would be too tempted to loose control of herself.

"Alright. I'll go now, get it over with."

Astrid gave a week smile "Thank you."

Winterhold was a godforsaken place. The thought had crossed her mind when she'd first come here, and it crossed her mind every time she had come since. The snow was at least a foot deep, and made it difficult for her horse to walk faster than a crippled horker. Lyra dismounted by The Frozen Hearth Inn, which apparently held Mr. Renmer. She tied shadowmare to the post at the front and apologized to him for leaving him in the freezing snow.

"I'll be back soon" she said to it, patting its nose softly. She hoped that was true. It was late enough when she returned back to the sanctuary, and she hadn't been planning on going out again after. She wouldn't have either, had it been for any other reason. She entered the inn hastily, closing the door behind her. There was no one around. Everyone with half a brain was asleep.

Good. Means I can drink this potion without needing to hide first.

She took the blue bottle from her pocket and drank it quickly, the effects immediate. Barbettes potions were always the best for invisibility, because they lasted so long, and didn't reveal her the second she touched something. Hundreds of years experience made sure of that. Now invisible to all but those with a highly trained eye, Lyra made her way to the rooms, checking in each one until she found the right one. Marcus was an ugly man, short and tubby, with a scarred face and by the smell of it, a drinking habit worse than Belethor's. She drew her dagger, crossing the room and leaning over his bed. She was too tired to make much of a think of it. She silently slashed his throat in one move.

Bastard. She thought. She went through his pockets and took what he had on him. Two silver rings, a gold necklace and a flawless sapphire. She was still the thieves guild master, and she couldn't let herself pass up on such an easy picking. She left the room and went to sit in the corner whilst the potion wore off. It did so shortly after she sat down, without anyone witnessing.

Back into the cold. She thought. Lyra rose again and made her way back into the blizzard. Shadowmare lifted his head in greeting as she untied and mounted him. Just as she was leaving the village, an Ork approached her.

"You there. The Dawnguard is looking for anyone willing to fight against the growing vampire menace. What do you say?"

Lyra sighed. Another nutter. Why are there always nutters?

"Yeah, sorry, not interested."

The Ork snorted. "That's what everybody says, right up until they find their throat being ripped out by a pack of hungry vampires." with this, he began to walk away, trudging on through the snow further into the village.

Wait.. This guys serious? Hmm.

"Hey... Hey! Wait a minute." Lyra drew up along side him.

"Yeah? you change your mind? The Dawnguard could use somebody like you."

Lyra thought about it.

This could make for an interesting weekend, if he's serious.

"Sure. Point me in the direction."

The Ork marked the location of 'Fort Dawnguard' onto her map and told her "The names Durak. See you around."

Lyra watched him go, before turning Shadowmare around and making her way back towards Dawnstar.

Lyra rose late the next day. The trek back from Winterhold had exhausted her, but in thanks Astrid told her to just take the rest of the week off, which gave her the perfect opportunity to follow up yesterdays encounter with Durak. She pulled on her Nightingale armor, and left the sanctuary for fort Dawnguard. She decided to get a carriage to Riften, and do the rest by foot. She didn't really know if she could sign up to kill vampires though. Deep down, she'd always had a fascination with the creatures. They were so like her. Lovers of the night, the shadows, in league with the Deadra, enjoying their power and generally just outliving the hell out of everything. Thats what drew her in the most. She wasn't afraid to die, but there was so much she wanted to do with her life, and it felt like she didn't have enough time to do it all in. She sighed. She'd see how it went.

When she got to the fort, she had to admit, it was impressive. Huge and very solid looking, nestled onto the hill side like an incredible bird watching over the sprawling landscape before it. A man, well, boy from the looks of him named Agmaer armed with only a wood cutters axe had walked up with her. Clearly terrified, he chattered nervously about this and that, and she did her best to nod along with him and ask questions when appropriate.

"Is that your only weapon?"

"well.. Yes.. I took it from the farm. It was all Pa had."

Lyra sympathized. Her two young cousins Adana and Ty lived on a small farm on Solstheim, and when she visited they always begged her to take them back with her for an adventure. She promised them that she would soon, and that they could come and stay at Lakeview manor with Runa and Lucia, her adopted children. It would be nice for them to have some friends to play with.

"Here." Lyra said, proffering two elven daggers "Have these if you want them- I, uh.. found them on the way over here."

His eyes shone "Really? You'd let me have them? Are you sure? It would sure be less embarrassing than this old thing.."

Lyra nodded. "Yeah, I don't see why not." She handed them over and Agmaer regarded them with awe.

"I-I'll make good use of them, I promise! Thanks so much!"

Lyra smiled. It was nice to give back sometimes, with all the stealing she did.

They arrived in the fort a few moments later, after a brief chat to Durak who gave Lyra her first cross bow. He assured Agmaer there would be one for him inside. They were greeted by a man named Isran, who was talking to what appeared to be a vigilant. After waiting for their conversation to end, and having one of our own, Lyra decided to just sign up.

Whats the worst that could happen? She thought.

She discovered that the vigilants had all but been wiped out, and that before they had, they had been "poking around" in a cave named dimhollow crypt. The vigilant, Tolan, had said there was some ancient vampire relic there. And so was born her first dawnguard assignment.