If there was one thing Sana had learned from her experiences in prison cells it’s that having absolutely nothing to do… is really ing boring! Sometimes she’s lucky to find a few rocks to stack and knock down. Other days she makes shadow puppets in the torchlight. The best days are when she traps the guards in conversation. She asks them about their lives and they either ignore her or they tell her about their family. She likes to smooth talk her way into finding out where they live and how much money they make. All so she can find and ransack her “prison pal’s” house once she’s finished serving her sentence.

But most of her time in prison is spent alone with her thoughts, and that can be dangerous at times. The cold cells she often finds herself in remind her of the long nights spent camping out in the freezing tundra after she was kicked out of her home. She loved her parents, she really did, but her childhood was made up of more bad decisions than good ones. Windhelm is not the most forgiving city to grow up in. A girl makes a few poor friend choices and soon the city guard are knocking on her parent's door to tell them their daughter had been caught selling drugs in the Grey Quarter. In her defense, she was trying to make enough money to help her father pay for their home after he broke his leg working down at the docks.

It wasn’t her first offense either. Back to the poor friend choices, Khajiit often find themselves in legal trouble because of racial prejudice yet Sana always found herself spending hours with the feline creatures. The group of rowdy eleven-year-olds never got into much trouble, not until their teen years. One day J'zargo had shown up to their usual hang out spot with a pouch full of small white crystals. He said he had seen his father eat them after coming home from work and that they made him all relaxed. Naturally, the young Khajiit had been curious enough to sneak a few when his father wasn’t paying attention and bring them to show his friends. 

One thing led to another and the whole group each held one of the small rocks in their hand. J’zargo was the first one to eat his. Everyone waited for his reaction before eating their own. Sana had never been high before and the euphoric state was something she could get used to. The group spent the next few hours giggling and pointing at random things in the city before exhaustion caused them to pass out in one of the Khajiit’s homes. Ingesting soon turned into producing and producing soon turned into selling. They created a name for themselves, drawing in clients and even selling on the black market. But some had it worse than others. 

Instead of selling the drugs, they would use it. And everyone knows that you’re not supposed to get addicted to your own product. Sana tried to help her friends but they were too far gone. They became addicted and were quick to blame others when trouble arose. That's how they threw Sana under the carriage. The sixteen-year-old was in the middle of a deal with a client when the city guard surrounded her and arrested her for the possession of illegal substances. As she was dragged to the city prison, she saw her friends Dro’Zel and Dro’Zira getting hefty bags of gold handed to them by the guards who arrested her. 

From that day on she stayed away from the drug business, industry, world. Anything involving an addictive substance was removed from her life. Of course, not everything was permanent though. Alcohol had soon become her new friend. Every bounty the woman completed was another night spent at whatever bar was the closest. Mead, ale, wine, anything fermented and poured into a goblet was fine by her. Eventually, her previous life caught up to her and she met J’zargo three years after she had been kicked out by her parents. The two met in Riften, Sana a sell-sword, J’zargo a traveling peddler. He was one of the few who was smart enough to not over-indulge himself. They had met at the local inn, The Bee And The Barb, both looking for a place to stay for the night. 

“Minatozaki Sana, It has been a long time since J’zargo has seen you.” The human-sized feline slid into the seat across from the armored woman. 

“What do you want, cat.” Sana crossed her arms and gave the Khajiit a glare.

“J’zargo just wants to catch up. J’zargo is curious to know what you have been doing.” He mirrored her actions and crossed his own furry arms.

“I’ve been traveling around, meeting new people, doing a few jobs here and there… you?” 

“J’zargo has been traveling as well, but mostly to sell.”

“You’re still in the business?” Sana’s heart broke a little hearing that her childhood friend was still in the involved in the world of drugs. 

“Yes… J’zargo is trying to leave that life behind, but… it is hard for J’zargo. Many know of the Windhelm drug gang, therefore, many know of J’zargo.” The large ears atop his head drooped down in sadness. 

“I’m sorry to hear that.” 

“But seeing how you have changed gives J’zargo hope. Hope that J’zargo too can change for the better.”

Sana smiled at the Khajiit and the two continued speaking into the night. One bottle of wine soon became three and the two found themselves on top of one of the many wooden roofs in the city. Sana was too far under the influence to notice J’zargo pull out a small turquoise flask. The feline poured the clear substance into their two tankards and handed one to the intoxicated woman. 

“To friendship,” J’zargo toasted.

“To friendship,” Sana slurred as she clinked her metal mug against his. 

Both swallowed the liquid in one gulp and blissfully leaned back against the roof before blacking out. Sana woke up the next morning with the worst hangover she’d ever had. It took her a few moments to realize she was, in fact, not in a bed and instead was instead floating down a river on top of a wooden door. The next time she saw J’zargo she made sure to punch him in the face for slipping Skooma into her drink. In her opinion, the feline looked much better with two swollen black eyes and a broken nose.

But there were good days too. Days when the sun would shine through the small window of her cell, bringing back memories of past adventures. Fighting her way up an old tower side by side with a pretty witch, whose mother happened to be the leader of a cult. Getting paid a large sum to sabotage a brewing company by poisoning their product. Helping the gorgeous shorthaired blacksmith in Whiterun by giving a specially crafted sword to her judgmental father. But out of all her adventures, Sana’s favorite would have to be how she met two of her crew members; Jisoo and Jennie. 

Although the circumstances were not the best at the time, the people she shared the adventure with made up for the previous choices made. The day started off gloomy. But Falkreath was always gloomy so that was to be expected, however, Sana was not expecting a body to smash into her side. The two tumbled to the ground getting covered mud as they rolled into a shallow puddle. Sana was quick to turn and pull the muddy person out of the puddle by the collar of their shirt and raise them into the air. 

“What the do you think you doing!” She angrily shook them as they held on to her arms.

“Please don’t hurt me!” her assailant squealed with a high pitched voice.

“I hope you have a good reason for ruining my morning.” Sana stared into the woman’s wide eyes.

And she did. Sana learned that the mud puddle lady, who was named Jisoo, had just run in from the thick woods surrounding the town and was searching for anyone willing to help her. With a little persuasion and a promise of gold, Sana agreed to help Jisoo. Turns out Jisoo and another woman named Jennie had been camping in the woods nearby. The two were also sell-swords just like Sana but they hadn’t been making enough money to spend a night comfortably in one of the major cities. While they were taking turns sleeping and the other was keeping watch for wildlife, a group of very quiet people had snuck up on the campsite and grabbed a sleeping Jennie out of the tent. Jisoo was alerted of their presence when one of the kidnappers stepped on a stick. They had moved faster than any normal human should when running away from a shouting Jisoo and up towards a snow-covered mountain. 

So instead of continuing up the mountainside after her partner, Jisoo hurried back down towards Falkreath. She was so tired from chasing the kidnappers that she hadn’t been paying as much attention as she should have and, accidentally, tackled Sana into the mud. Jisoo led Sana to her campsite where the two tried to look for any sort of clue as to why Jennie had been kidnapped. When nothing was found, they began the trek up the mountainside. They slowly made their way up the mountainside until they found a secret path that seemed well traveled. The two looked at each other before shrugging and following the path. 

Jisoo might have seemed weird to many people, but she and Sana got along rather well. The shorter woman had unconsciously started humming during the climb up the mountain but Sana didn’t mind the noise. In fact, she genially enjoyed it. The tune reminded her of one of the songs she had heard a bard drunkenly singing in a bar. After quite a bit of humming, Sana asked Jisoo if she was interested in becoming a bard. The shorter had told her no which kind of surprised her since the humming eventually turned into Jisoo making up random lyrics about their surroundings as they ascended up the mountainside. When she asked why Jisoo told her she didn’t like how they made you learn an instrument. She claimed that if she was forced to carry around a flute or drum then she wouldn’t be able to show her unmatched dancing skills. The shorter then demonstrated one of her trademarked moves where she pointed her fingers at Sana and pretend to shoot things at her while shaking her side to side. 

“DDU-DU DDU-DU!” 

“Why did I agree to climb up a mountain for you again?” Sana laughed at Jisoo as she continued to wave her arms back and forth and dance around the top of a cliff. 

The two finally found a cave along the side of the icy mountainside. Jisoo was positive that Jennie had been taken inside and was quick to approach the entrance, however she was pulled back by Sana who was pointing to some suggestive outside decorations. Bloody rib cages and skulls had been jammed onto stakes outside the cave and the snow leading inside clearly had streaks of blood from bodies that had been dragged. Whether it had been in or out was unclear.  All that mattered was that someone or multiple someones had made a clear effort to keep people out of the cave. Jisoo ignored the warnings once more and stared into the cave. Sana frowned but followed anyway with her sword drawn. 

Turns out there was good news and bad news for the two heroes. The good news was that Jennie's kidnappers were not bandits so they weren’t armored or carrying swords. The bad news was… they were vampires. 

The two women fought their way through more than 15 vampires and their thralls inside an extremely cold cave in the mountains. Thankful neither had been infected with vampirism as they quietly entered a large cavern where another group of vampires stood around a statue. In front of them, a woman had been bound and lay struggling at the foot of the statue as if she were an offering. 

“Jennie!” Jisoo, much to Sana’s dismay, loudly announced their presence then jumped onto one of the vampires back while digging her sword into his flesh. Sana followed suit and began hacking away at the undead. She made sure to decapitate all of her enemies so the other vampires couldn’t perform dark magic and make the limp bodies rise to fight once more. After all the vampires lay headless on the cave floor, both Sana and Jisoo stood panting and covered in dark black blood. Sana sheather her bloody weapon while Jisoo used her own to cut Jennie free. Jisoo tried to embrace Jennie in a hug but the woman pushed her away not wanting vampire blood on her as well.

“Jennie, are you alright? I was so worried.” Jisoo said as she tried to wipe some of the blood off her face.

“Yes, thank you so much, Jisoo and…who are you?”

“Sana.” The tallest said as she too tied to wipe the sticky blood from herself. 

“Hahahahaha.”

A nasally voice echoed around the cavern.

“What was that?” All the woman stood back to back as they searched through the cave for the source of the voice.

“Foolish mortals, do you not know the Daedric Prince of power, trickery, and wishes when he is right in front of you?”

All three turned towards the giant statue. The enormous stone man raising his hand that Jennie had previously laying in front of had come to life. His eyes glowed a bright emerald green and his hands were now placed on his hips. He cocked his head to the side as he looked over the women below him. 

“Clavicus Vile? As in the Daedra that grants wishes?”

“That is correct… but if you are not specific with your desires, they may not turn out as you hope.” 

The stone man’s lips smirked and he leaned against the back wall with his arms crossed. 

“Let’s get out of here… I don’t like the look he’s giving us.” Jisoo pulled on both Jennie and Sana by their clothes and tried to leave. But one of the women stepped forward.

“Lord Vile, I have a request of you.” Sana took a step forward towards the stone prince.

"By all means, let's hear it. It's the least I could do since you already helped me grant one final wish for my last worshippers…” Vile knowingly smiled down at the three, “They were suffering from vampirism, and begged me for a cure. Then you came in and ended their misery! I couldn't have planned it better myself. So, what's your heart's desire? What kind of deal can we strike?” 

Sana was tempted to ask for gold or gems. Maybe the power to crush all her enemies. Even the idea of wishing for the end of the civil war crossed her mind but she changes her mind and asks for something that had been bothering her for her entire life. 

“I wish for a successful and happy future.”

“How boring!” Vile stood from the wall and crouched in front of Sana, “You don’t want power? Eternal life? Money? You, mortals, are always so greedy for wealth… are you sure? You can change your mind right now?”

“No, I don’t want to change my mind.”

"Hrmph, you're no fun at all. Fine then… you will have a successful and happy future.”

Sana smirked back at the statue and then left the cave with Jisoo and Jennie. The three agreed to travel around for a bit since Jisoo and Sana had become somewhat friends. While Jennie was still a bit cautious of this new woman, she let her stay since Jisoo’s dancing and singing hadn’t driven her crazy… yet. 

Most would consider a frozen cave full of hunger vampires a bad memory, but not Minatozaki Sana. She had met two of her closest friends in that cave and guaranteed herself a great future in the process. What the bandit failed to hear was the rest of her prophecy from Clavicus Vile. He had waited until she had left the cave to finish granting her wish.

“You will have a successful and happy future… after you face the worst of the worst, lowest of lows. Your life will be full of failure as you fight against the forever chill that covers this land. Only then, will the sun’s rays begin to melt the icy walls around you.”