I don't own TES, only Kendrick.

Her blood was like ice in her veins - sharp and frigid - as Kendrick locked eyes with a man capable of rendering onto her utter destruction and she forced her teeth to grit against the raw terror seeping into her bones.

The acid green of his gaze was unfaltering and it crawled across brown skin giving her the distinct feeling that Cicero was debating on whether or not to make her beg for death.

He hadn't been this intimidating in the game. A little unnerving but never frightening, scary.

Kendrick hated it.

Swallowing thickly she tipped her head up a sliver and resisted the urge to lower it back when she saw his stare carefully track the movement.

Hawkeyes something in her whispered and she couldn't repress the shiver itching through her even if she tried.

"And what," He began, voice a purr - far deeper than the game made it out to be but still carrying that pitched lilt . "would a lost little bird know about home hm?"

Thin lips stretched into a smile.

"I'm positively dying to know."

She felt struck sick at his words and grit her teeth, forcing her voice to come out of wherever it had hidden itself.

"You're late." She whispered, as if telling a secret - a dark and truly terrible one. "And because of an - inconvenience you can't quite seem to make it to sanctuary."

She was careful to put no emphasis on the last word but she knew he caught on like a trained animal did the scent of blood and Cicero cocked his head.

Kendrick blanched.

"But like I said!" She rushed to spit out, unable to discern the expression on the assassin's face but fearing the worst. "I can help you with that."

He moved not a single inch at her declaration.

She ignored the fact that it phased her - badly.

"There's a house over there." She said hurriedly. "I can get their help fixing the cart but you need to not be there and I need to not look like a murder victim."

I also need to not be murdered.

He blinked, knife lowering and she swallowed.

"I can get you the wheel," She said softly, lashes fluttering with pain tears and fear. "and you can take your mother home to rest."

And suddenly there was a silence and nothing had changed.

Rok mulhaan paar hin sos.*

Cicero wanted to kill.

He stepped forward, ever closer still, and Kendrick nearly threw up bile, watching the slender man approach, weapon still drawn but lowered and she felt her airways stutter and twitch.

She was going to die.

She was going to die if she didn't change his mind.

Now.

-what did she know what would interest him the most?-

-what could she say that would implicate her the least?-

"Who knows," The outworlder whispered, trembling voice weak against the terror washing through her veins as Kendrick played the only card she had left and her throat ached. "maybe she'll even find someone willing to listen."

Those pale pale eyes blinked once more, languidly, curious about more than just what her insides looked like - the man pulled short, booted feet coming to rest a few mere centimeters away.

Within blade reach.

Within shouting distance.

No, no. Bad idea.

She couldn't kill Cicero.

She couldn't! She couldn't! (...could she?)

-a flicker in those gimlet eyes told her all that they needed to-

Bad, bad idea.

She would never hit him and then he'd just be pissed.

An angry Cicero was a - concept. And that's what it would stay.

She licked her lips.

"After all, new blood brings new possibilities." She hurried to add on, when that stare turned a thousand yards and she thought he might stab her for wasting his time. "You've never met anyone there right? It could be any one of them, if you looked hard enough."

Could. Could. Could.

Kendrick never said Would.

She was already the Dragonborn she was Not going to be the Listener too! Besides, she was going home first chance she got.

"So...so what do you say?" The girl asked, shaking faintly as she tried to hold herself together and upright. "Is it a deal?"

She paused. Uncertain.

"Please and thank you?"

A shadow in the corner of her eye and suddenly there were fingers digging into her jaw, palm fitting over her mouth before she could even muster the strength to anything and Kendrick's vision blurred.

He leg throbbed distantly.

"Scream and that pretty pink tongue of yours goes." He said calmly into her ear, breath tickling the hairs there and she shivered so hard it hurt.

Kendrick nodded once and the tall man in front of her simpered sweetly.

"What exactly do you know, little bird?" He giggled moving his hand down to her windpipe once he was sure she would keep quiet and Kendrick felt the answering thu'um catch hard in her throat. "What do you know that I can't make you sing about?"

She swallowed neatly.

"No one has to die Cicero." She said slowly, reasonably (damn near begging) "Not me, not you, not the brotherhood but I swear to you, that's what'll happen if you go through with killing me."

If she, the Dragonborn, died everything was fucked.

If she, the Dragonborn, left everything was fucked but if she, the Dragonborn, wasn't there to witness it - did it even really count?

She liked to think it didn't.

"Do you fancy yourself a seer then, little bird?" Cicero asked, smile stretching across his face, finger stroking her pulse point and she felt herself go lightheaded. "Do you suppose you know the future?"

Her voice was lost under that probing stare so much to the point it took the careful flexing of his thin fingers to shake the words loose from behind her teeth and Kendrick shook like a leaf the whole time.

"A future." She forced out, her own flying up to grasp hard at the wrist hold her by the throat but the memory of who exactly she was so boldly grabbing made her grip falter and crumble back to her side.

Paak.*

Yeah yeah, fuck you too.

"I know a future and its possibilities." She croaked out. "but not the future. Sorry."

The man nodded, hat jingling with the slight movement and the smile on his face grew.

"It's good you haven't lied to me, little bird." He purred, staring down at her and Kendrick stayed still.

Predators like it when you move. When you run and struggle.

"Very good indeed." He cackled, choke hold disappearing as if it had never been there and that glint of silver vanished into thin air. "You're welcome, little bird."

Fucking assassins.

"...You'll help me?"

The grin was unsettling.

"After, little bird, after."

She wasn't satisfied.

"After I help you get to Sanctuary, you'll help me with my favor?" Kendrick asked again, brow furrowing and eyes narrowing. Whatever deal the two of them struck, she would make sure she was getting what she needed out of it and his little mysterious shtick weren't going to stop her from getting his verbal confirmation.

Something pleased? Amused? lurked in those eyes of his and he nodded.

"After." He crooned and this time the shudder that rocked her body had her hissing at the sensation.

Unsettling fuck.

Free from the confines of having Cicero in her space and finally able to make her body do something about it, Kendrick sank gingerly down to the floor, the stone wall behind her a helpful aid in getting her to the ground without sobbing.

Again.

She had a feeling her crying would be an often thing here.

Beautiful. magical shit hole that it was

Gritting her teeth as she tried her hardest to cling to the adrenaline jittering in her gut, she pulled out a single potion before pausing and grabbing another just in case.

This injury was smaller than the first one she got from the Stormcloak with the sword seeing as it wasnt a slash but was a throw and came from a dagger. Still, it went through the other side, slicing clean through muscle and nerve and she couldn't risk infection or permanent damage.

Two it was then.

Tipping them both back, Kendrick hummed as she felt something of a cold wave wash over her, ice prinkling at her leg wound and the bruises lining her body and the outworlder found herself slumping over. Pains she never even noticed disappearing as her feet stopped aching, her heachache went away and the angry twist of her stomach was soothed.

She sighed, peeking beneath the bloodied makeshift bandage to spot brown pink skin much to her relief.

"Thought I was gonna bleed out there." She mumbled and Cicero giggled.

"Hardly so!" He chirped, eyes bright and murder free (for the moment. "Cicero coats his interrogation blades in coagulates! As every good child of Mother does!"

Kendrick froze up, unsure what to do now that the Keeper had fallen back into the familiar Cicero routine she knew and loved and instead decided to try standing over giving the other a response.

Her knees were a little shaky and the leg still a little sore but the wound seemed to be entirely gone plus some. Too bad that left her with one weak ass healing potion only which was near useless on its own.

Which things could she eat here that restored health again?

Plucking at her cut up pants, the outworlder decided that at the next store she found Kendrick would buy needle and thread and three powerful healing potions. Better to be prepared than not.

And a map. God did she need a map.

"Have you gone near the house yet?" She asked, looking across the landscape until her eyes could almost spy the sturdy but small log house some meters away, further into the woods near the large plains."Please tell me you haven't?"

He hummed, the gleeful look on his pale face never losing veracity but smoothing out into a mere twist of his lips.

"No~." He drawled. "If I had, we never would have met little bird."

Kendrick paused, turning to look at him, nose scrunched a little in confused thought before she understood.

If Cicero had gone to the house, he would have gotten what he needed and killed anyone who thought to tell him no.

After all, that was in the man's childlike nature.

She swallowed.

"So why were you so far from the cart?" She asked and he looked at her, head tilting this way and that before he chuckled and Kendrick involuntary took a step back.

"Being neighborly to a stranger is a kind thing to do and Cicero wanted to see if they were kind people." He told her on a staged whisper as if it was some kind of secret. "But, the little bird, a seer who isn't a seer, has found Mother and I and promised us Sanctuary!"

He threw his hands up at the last word, ecstasy splayed over thin features and Kendrick felt like an intruder of an intimate moment.

"And so Sanctuary is where we will find ourselves." He cocked his head like a dog, eyes gleaming guilessly. "Isn't that right, little bird?"

Her throat felt dry.

Rok los aan tahrovin.*

A beat. Then a rumbling laugh.

Wah hi.*

"Yeah," She answered. Softly, blankly. "That's right."

Kendrick turned back toward the wagon.

"You need it fixed right?" She asked, observing its wooden frame. "What's wrong with it."

"Spokes on the silly wheels cracked, makes moving impossible!" He nodded. "Cicero just needs a replacement, maybe a spare as well and surely, that farm will have it."

He was right, they would.

"How many wheels do you need?" Eyeing the thing unsure how to spot which were broken.

"Two." He answered promptly. "Two will suffice nicely."

Two wheels it was then.

"Okay." She told him, sliding back over the barrier to the dirt road and the girl eyed the now docile horse where it stood snorting softly. "I can do that."

Wow it's been a while lol im doing better now tysm!❤ ️Here's an update though! Not as long as I'd like but next chapter will be longer. Hopefully they'll reach Sanctuary next update.

So! Cicero and Kendrick talk and come to a deal. Wonder how it'll go😔💪.

Paak - *weak, shameful, its a taunt

Rok los aan tahrovin. - *He still desires your blood

Rok los aan tahrovin - *he is a danger/threat

Wah hi. - *to you