A/N: For the lengths of time I make you wait for updates- this chapter was made with you in mind!

-Liliedove

Nazir moaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Blurry, he went to rub them when a sudden pain seared down his back. "Ow!" He spat as he grit his teeth. He then realized he was on his stomach, and the pain he had been feeling was concentrated around his left scapula. A whistling wind swept over his body, bringing a waft of smoke with it. Coughing, he winced as his entire body began aching more with each second.

"What happened to me?" He thought. Slowly inching his head from side to side, he saw a glaring wall of white coming from the direction of the wind. He was in a cave. But he couldn't remember arriving there. Was he becoming senile? He then supposed that all that really mattered was the fact that he was alive. He began bushing himself up by his hands, grimacing as the pain increased until it was nearly unbearable.

"You're not well enough to be doing that yet."

Nazir froze at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Sweat began beading at the sides of his face as he slowly leered at the figure. "Boy, are you the one I owe my thanks to?"

"Not really." He said as he set an arm full of kindle on the ground beside the small fire. "I get all the mundane jobs."

Nazir raised a brow as he panted slightly. "So there's more of you? Are you all Redguards?"

"Nothing could be further from the truth." He sighed. "But it is what it is, and I get food and gold. At least, I was told I would be getting gold. I'm beginning to question whether or not that fool will keep his word."

"A fool for a leader huh?" He chuckled lightly. "Sounds like you need to find a new job."

The young man was then silent as he went about his business with the fire. The sound of crunching snow and boot against gravel soon resounded through the small alcove of a cave. The young man looked up and greeted the new member of the cave.

"I see you've finally awoken from your slumber." He laughed. "I say, for a man as injured as you are you slept like a baby. You must have hit your head on something to add the final brush stroke to the art work they've made of your back!" The Nord stroked his short bearded chin.

"And who might you be?" Nazir asked.

"Thorek the Roarer," he muttered. "Though you can just forget the last part."

"Thorek the Roarer..." Nazir thought to himself. He watched as the man put a pot of water over the fire. He then bent over Nazir, untying his bandages. "I take it that it was you who saved me then?"

"No need to thank me." He said as he dipped a rag into the heating pot. "You really should thank your friend."

"Friend? What friend, I'm afraid I'm far from friendly faces here... No offense meant towards you."

The man grinned in a way that almost made him seem pained at the same time. "I'm not entirely sure if he's really your friend as much as he is your ally. Unless he really is as mad as he seems and mistook you for another."

Nazir frowned, then looking the man in the face. "Don't tell me- Cicero?"

Thorek's eyes popped in surprise. "Oh? So you really are who he thinks you are? That's amazing! I never would have thought!" He gaped.

"So you are both following Cicero? What in Oblivion possessed you to travel with that idiot?"

"Those are some words to speak of the man who saved your life! Hmmmph! Well, isn't that... a hurtful thing to say!" A familiar sputter of laughter crawled into Nazirs ears, making him cringe.

Nazir took in Cicero's cloaked figure standing at the mouth of the alcove. "So the rumors are true, you are still alive after all."

"Cicero thought the same as you. Dead, that is." Cicero quickly approached him. "And to think! You are still alive! Thorek had told me rumors! Cicero had thought you all dead!" He lamented. "So Cicero took Mother, and all that was important..." He was then silent.

Nazir's gaze on him wavered as new bandages were being tugged painfully over his wounds. "We... We were approached by the Jarl of Dawnstar. Madrale made the decision to join forces for the sake of the brotherhood." He watched as Cicero's eyes grew large and soft, his lips slightly parted into an 'O'. Nazir couldn't help but shake his head at how pathetically in love the fool was with the Listener as he saw Cicero begin to tremble.

"So... She is also..." He paused in his words, seemingly unable to continue. He licked his lips. "Madrale is also in good health?"

"You call this in good health?" Nazir scoffed as he winced in pain. Before Cicero's small mind misunderstood his meaning, Nazir smirked at him. "Yes, the Listener is in perfect health. That is, unless she got herself injured trying to find me, but I doubt it."

A merry laughter bubbled out of Cicero's lips as he jumped in the air to perform a jig. "The Listener, oh the Listener! Alive, Mother, she is ALIVE! Oh Dread Father, thank you- THANK YOU!" He laughed some more as he began conducting an imaginary ensemble.

Thorek twisted a finger in his ear. "It'll be interesting to meet this Listener of his. He hasn't shut up about her for a second."

"I can attest to that." The boy said as he raised a hand.

Nazir looked at them again. "So if you're traveling with Cicero and know about the Listener... Are you new recruits?"

"I'm Zanthar. I found him when he was a snuffling mess at the Winking Skeever a few seasons ago. Became one of the Dark Brotherhood not long after." The boy said as he poked at the fire. "It's nice to know that there's still some sanity left amongst my new comrades. Though I now doubt that I'll get that leadership position Cicero was promising if I stuck with him long enough."

Nazir laughed heartily. "Being second in command to Cicero is a scary idea. You'd be better off as you'll be under me. And what of you, Thorek the Roarer?" He raised his brow. "I never thought a man like you would dirty his hands with our lot."

"I'm not going to." He sneered. "I only agreed to come along until Cicero has been reunited with his beloved Listener. He promised me money, and I intend to make him keep his word."

"I see." Nazir said with a sigh. "It would have been good to have a man like you in our ranks. I must say, it's a loss on our account."

"Don't get too worked up over me." Thorek said as he shook his head. "The stories were greatly exaggerated."

"Stories? Of you? You never told me you were famous." Zanthar said with a tilt of his head.

"I'm not." He muttered. "And by the gods, does that fool ever shut up and just sit down for a moment?"

"Afraid not." Nazir said as he idly watched Cicero as he zipped in and out of the cave. "I already miss his absence."

Cicero breathed in the frigid air with a contented sigh. It was true, the rumors were true! The Listener was alive! And she wasn't far away either, by the sounds of it! It had been far too long. Cicero looked at his arms before him. He wished that he could wrap them around her warm body, holding her as they gazed up at the starlit skies of night. One day soon, this dream would come true. It would, wouldn't it Mother?

Excitement built up inside of him. Yes, higher, Higher, HIGHER! UP! UP! And OUT! In a twirl, a swirl! A giggle, and a jiggle~! Back forth, left right, up down, turn around! Arms WIDE! NOTHING TO HIDE! Madrale was ALIVE! "SHE'S ALIVE!" He shouted into the clear skies. "I'm coming for you, my Listener! Cicero is coming! Just you wait! I'll surprise you!"

"With how loud you're being, it won't be much of a surprise." Nazir grumbled from in the cave.

Cicero's grin grew gentler. Things... Things were returning to how they aught to be. Any day now, no- and hour, any MINUTE! They would be reunited. He then decided that he couldn't wait another minute. She had to be out looking for him, and for a long time now. She had to be near. Yes, he could feel it in his spirit- she was getting closer to them, and he wasn't going to wait. He was going to meet her.

Cicero then ran back into the cave. "Nazir, tell me! Do tell me, where were you camped? Where were you separated? I must find her now!"

"Always the impatient one." Nazir said.

"WELL?"

"How should I know? I don't know where you found me."

Cicero swayed, placing his forehead against the cave wall. "This can't be!" He exclaimed. "I must go anyway! I must! I shall! I WILL!" He could here Thorek call his name as he ran out of the cave.

He bounded across the snow, the shadows of trees beginning to grow as the sun sunk on the horizon. Not a clue in the world where he was going, he searched high and low for hours. As the sky grew dimmer and dimmer, a red gleam glazing across his face, he reached for his tinder box. It wasn't there.

"Bother and befuddle!" He exclaimed. His legs shook beneath him. He hadn't eaten since that morning, and as far as he had pushed himself he knew he couldn't go much further. But he had to! He had to before the sun went down! He must find her, he must, he must-!

Sighing, Cicero sat on the edge of an rocky overhang, resting his face in his hands in defeat. He couldn't find her. "Listener..." He crooned. "Oh, Listener! Where are you now! I know you must be near! Please, leave me alone no longer." The sky became a dark shade of grey, the trees becoming nothing but silhouettes. "Please, Madrale... Won't you show yourself to me?" His voice echoed out into the void of space, empty and alone. His shoulders slumped.

"Cicero?"

Cicero's eyes shot wide.

"Is that really you, Cicero?"

He turned. Features hidden in the growing dark, he still recognized her. She lifted a hand, an orb of light forming in the palm of her hand. It then ascended into the air, illuminating their faces in a cool warmth for one another.

Cicero's chest swelled with warmth. "IT'S YOU!" He proclaimed.

"By Sithis, Cicero it is you!" She said in a hushed tone. As Cicero leaped down over the edge he was sitting on, Madrale ran towards him, stopping just in front of him. Cicero was the first to make contact, placing a hand on her cheek as he stared into her deep magenta eyes. He missed delving into their beauty, the mysteries they each held locked away for the stealing.

Madrale bit her lip, drawing a strand of his long red hair away from his eyes, tucking a loose lock behind an ear. He looked so gaunt.

"I barely recognized you without that silly get up of yours." She whispered.

"The Listener looks as beautiful as the day we parted. Nothing can pull you down." He said with a soft smile. "I bet it has only felt like a day since we last saw one another for you. Cicero understands how important your job is... That Cicero isn't very important... But Cicero-"

"Buffoon!" She whispered, pulling him into her embrace.

Cicero froze for a moment before wrapping his arms tightly around her, breathing in her scent. "Cicero loves his mistress," he whispered into her ear. He then pulled out of the embrace enough to look into her face. "yes very much indeed."

"I know. I've always known in a way." Madrale's expression was softened further in the peaceful silence between them. Her lips then slowly moved. "But now... I think I just might love you too... Cicero."

Cicero closed the gap, smiling as he kissed her.