Fuur was the last town in Skyrim before the gate that led to Hammerfell. Or the first one you came to if you were coming from Hammerfell. It had once been a thriving city but war and bad relations between the two nations had cause the flow of travelers to slow to a trickle. The last inn still running scraped by, as did the rest of the town, on those few who still had business between the two. It was the perfect place it was the perfect out-of-the-way place for someone to disappear.

 

Or so Sloan hoped.

 

She sat in the corner of the tavern’s main room facing the door and nursed a drink and tried not to think about anything as the dark elf’s familiar form stepped through the doorway. He paused a moment as his red eyes cast about the room, then made his way to her table and sat on the chair to her right, his back also to a wall.

 

“What news?” He asked

 

 She raised her eyebrows. “Shouldn’t you be the one giving me news?”

 

“Would that I could. I was unable to find proof one way or the other that she passed through here. Not surprising, considering it has been thirty years.”

 

Sloan nodded. “I suppose that was inevitable. I may have something, though.”

 

 He raised his own eyebrows. “Oh?”

 

 She nodded again and took a sip of her drink. “I believe she really went home. Do you think you could get across the border to Hammerfell?”

 

“Yes, I suppose so. Do you know of a lead?”

 

“Maybe. It is a rumor of a rumor of a rumor, nothing more. Cannot hurt to check, though!”

 

“Check what? I do not have contacts in Hammerfell. I wouldn’t know where to begin. I think it would be most profitable to continue my search here.”

 

“There isn’t anything more here to learn. You said yourself you were unable to find anything more.”

 

“I said I couldn’t find anything about her going through the pass to Hammerfell. There are still avenues to tread here. Besides, a Dunmer asking around would not garner the most enthusiastic results. You are a Redguard – you would have a much better chance of getting answers.”

 

“I would if I could but I have an assignment and cannot leave Skyrim at this time.” She reached into her satchel, pulled out the bag she had brought, and set on the table in front of him. “Please. I think we are on to something. Take this for your expenses. I really feel Hammerfell needs to be investigated.”

 

He stared at the sack. “What is this? I don’t need your gold.”

 

“It is 60,000 septims.” She ignored his sharp intake of breath. “It should get you whatever you need.”

 

He gave her a sharp stare. “It certainly should. What is going on?”

 

“I told you. I believe Hammerfell is the key to finding my mother but I cannot go so I need you to do it for me.” He continued to stare, so she added, “Please.”

 

 He continued looking at her in inscrutable silence for a long minute then took the bag and stowed it away. “I do not know what you are really trying to tell me, but I know well enough not to pry too deep. Whatever is really going on, be careful.”

 

“You as well. Stay in Hammerfell as long as you need to.” Sloan tried to keep the relief out of her voice as he nodded and stood. “It may be some time before I am able to contact you again.”

 

“Of course. I look forward to our next meeting. Hopefully then you can tell me what you cannot today.” He gave her a brusque nod, turned, and made his way back out the door.

 

Sloan watched him go with an odd combination of trepidation and hope. As long as he stayed in Hammerfell, he could see if there were any signs of her mother and, more important, Sloan would not have to kill him.

 

She sighed as she tucked away the ring she had stolen off his finger, the evidence she would present to show the job was done. Which begged the question: why him? How had he come to have a kill order placed on him? She mulled the question.

 

 She killed because she was told to kill. That was all there was to it. She had never questioned that immutable fact.

 

Well, okay, she had questioned it, at least in her own mind. But it had never been her place to know. One of the first lessons in her true training for this job was that you killed who you were told to kill and you did it without question or else.

 

She shivered a bit. She had just taken the “or else” option. It was something she had never contemplated doing before, but…well. She liked the Dunmer.

 

But that wasn’t her primary issue. Had it just been someone she liked, she still would have gone through with the assignment. Probably. But this particular friend was her only link to the past and the family she had always longed to know.

 

So why did someone want him to die?

 

 He had been part of the war alongside her mother, and her mother had been hiding from the Thalmor, so it stood to reason that perhaps the Thalmor would be interested in him. Also, in trying to find information about Melissa, he had very likely shaken awake a long dormant network used in the past to gather information. Which meant either he had a spy his network or some of the people in that network were being watched for just this sort of thing.

 

 She nodded. That it made sense. Old contacts that should never have been brought back to life had probably set off a long-ago placed alarm and put the Thalmor back on the track of someone they had lost. Instead of taking care of the problem themselves, they put a contract on him. It was probably just a coincidence she was the one who ended up with the assignment.

 

It all fit together perfectly. Too perfectly, perhaps. One of the other first lessons that had been hammered into her head was never to trust coincidences. What appeared to be crazy random happenstance very often hid something more.

 

 She tapped the table with her finger for a few seconds then dropped some coins and left the inn. Even if there wasn’t something more to this, she, herself, might possibly be in someone’s crosshairs. Whoever was arrowing for Mallin would likely know of her existence as well. Even if there wasn’t some deeper conspiracy, they would surely be after his ally. She would need to be extra cautious.

 

 She lifted her hood over her head as she stepped into the street and began walking toward the stable at the edge of town. It was a long ride back to Riften.