Sloan took a deep breath as she paused before the door. The debriefings were her least favorite part of the job – no matter how well she thought she had done or how careful she had been to leave no loose ends, Kira and Mishi always managed to find several errors or potential security risks. It was just like her times walking around with Gilna and then having to recount everything she saw.

 

She hadn’t cared for that, either.

 

She released the breath and opened the door. As expected, Kira and Mishi were waiting for her. Unexpected, however, was the presence of Delphine, who was the only one who seemed pleased to see her.

 

“There you are.” Mishi stared with those cold unreadable eyes. “When an assignment needs done before Evening Star, that doesn’t mean you should wait until the 28^th of Sun’s Dusk.”

 

Sloan forced her gait to remain steady as she approached the map table. It was an impressive thing, with a three-dimensional map of the entirety of Skyrim laid out to scale. She focused on it, pretending to study the latest movements as depicted by tiny pins scattered across it, but in reality just avoiding Mishi’s stare. Even Kira didn’t intimidate her so. She bit down a sudden instinct to clear her throat and, instead, began her report.

 

“The target is dead." Which they already knew - everyone in Skyrim knew it, at this point. But still, she wanted to begin with a clear signal that the task Mishi had been certain she couldn't accomplish had been accomplished. "The Jarl was diligent - some would go so far as to say paranoid - about safety, so I was unable to approach him by conventional means. In order to create a window of opportunity, I convinced his granddaughter to visit Falkreath and then spent the rest of the time prodding the Steward to keep Isla away from the Jarl by making sure Dengeir was always busy with other people, thus providing a one-on-one opportunity."

 

Kira nodded. "He died of poison, I assume from the reports out of Falkreath, but they tested the wine for it. Did you take the poisoned bottle with you?"

 

"No, I didn't poison his drink. The poison was administered via blow job."

 

This pronouncement was met with a gratifying display of emotion from all three listeners. Mishi's raised eyebrows were akin to a startled cry, and Sloan bit back the grin that wanted to stretch across her face. 

 

Kira shook her head. "That's...a unique method."

 

"It was stupid." Mishi's usual cold expression had returned, as had the scorn in her voice. "A dangerous gambit."

 

“It did the job, that's what's important.” Delphine’s eager grin cast a stark contrast against Mishi’s impassive cold and Kira’s usual collected cool. “Did you get the papers?”

 

Sloan nodded as she pulled the sheaf of files from her bag. “I hope they’re what you were looking for.” She had memorized them (not really on purpose – her training had emphasized memorizing everything she read) but they were just lists of names, dates, and what appeared to be locations, though none of them were places she recognized.

 

Delphine took the papers and, after a brief glance, nodded with enthusiasm. “This looks promising. Finally, a path forward!”

 

“There are two-thousand-seventeen names on those papers. I hope you can find your Dragonborn.”

 

“That…is a lot of people. Especially if these are all prisoners.” Delphine turned to Kira. “Have there been rumors of people disappearing in that region?”

 

Kira lifted an eyebrow. “There are rumors of people disappearing all over Skyrim. There is a war going on, after all. Even if it has stalled.”

 

“I suppose.” Delphine flipped through the pages.

 

People disappearing around Falkreath. It sparked a sort of vague memory, a memory that coalesced into Mirren’s voice from out of the past. “There was a rumor that you had relatives somewhere between Helgen and Falkreath.”

 

Did she? Had she ever? She had never seriously studied the matter. If she had family there, how would she even be able to tell? If she didn’t but had at one time, perhaps they had fallen into…whatever this was. She frowned at the idea – it seemed a tenuous lead at best. Still, it was better than the nothing she had had before.

 

“I could help you with those.” The words tripped out of Sloan’s mouth without much thought and she just kept herself from biting her tongue as three sets of intense eyes turned toward her as one.

 

Kira shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. You did well enough on this assignment, all things considered. Your objectives were achieved. We’ll have more experienced people investigate the Dragonborn affair. You may go.”

 

She turned back to the papers and, after a moment, Sloan shrugged, nodded (although no one appeared to be paying any more attention to her), and left the room.

 

She took a deep breath once the door had closed. The papers had distracted Kira and, especially, Mishi from asking more questions or pointing out the dozens of errors she had undoubtedly made, so for that, she was grateful. She moved away from the room as plans began to form in her head.

 

She had been forbidden to look into the Dragonborn affair, but that was fine – although she was curious to meet this apparent doppelganger, she had no particular investment in finding her. And Kira had said nothing about Sloan looking into her family’s possible connection.

 

She nodded as a plan formed. A plan that would require breaking into the orphanage once again. But better, this time, now that she knew what she was doing. Surely the orphanage had records of their wards, so all Sloan had to do was look over those records and see if any of the names matched those on the lists from Falkreath. Then track those matches to see if they were somehow related to her.

 

Then, perhaps – just perhaps! – she would, for the first time in her life, have a real family.