Nothing Personal

4E 204 21

st of Sun's Dawn

It had happened months ago but all anyone could talk about was the murder. Grelod the Kind had been killed in her own orphanage.

Such a scandal.

No one knew exactly how she died; some said her throat was torn open as if by a rabid animal, while others claimed poison was slipped into her supper and the guards insisted she took an arrow to the chest. The only thing every gossip could agree on was that this was the work of the Dark Brotherhood.

Vallan had spent most of her adolescent years in Bruma and so had heard of the black and red clad assassins that worshipped the Night Mother by killing for hire in some weird cult-business mix. She had also heard of the brutal and bloody destruction of their 'Sanctuary' led by the Thalmor in the very town she lived in, identical to every other outpost of theirs. So upon hearing of their survival she let her curiosity get the better of her.

'Curiosity killed the Khajiit… and landed the Bosmer in a lot of bother,' Vallan thought as she sat in the corner of the back room of the Bannered Mare for her would-be associate. It had taken a lot of persuading to get Delvin to set up this meeting but she couldn't pass up the opportunity.

When the Bosmer had first begun thieving as a career she accumulated many books on the subject; some imparted knowledge to hone her skills while others were simply for amusement. There were few, however, she had kept for neither purpose, more as a biography of the guild she had joined. One such book was 'Sacred Witness' and to this day it still fascinated her as much as it did when she had first stumbled upon it in a forsworn camp.

Whilst she was still of the opinion that with enough skill you could avoid detection in almost any situation, Vallan could see some of the Night Mother's points: due to a deficiency in pickpocketing she was unable to take fishing jobs and could see the benefits of stealing from a corpse. With how well the splinter group did it was obvious there was money to be made from such an enterprise and while perhaps it didn't belong in the Thieves Guild as a faction, there was no reason why the two groups shouldn't share a close relationship of the business kind.

So here she was, waiting in the back room of the Bannered Mare for the leader of Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood, a woman known only to her as Astrid. But despite none of the other notable members of the Thieves Guild wanting anything to do with the venture, she was not on her own. Jenassa loomed over her, cloaked in shadows, looking every bit as intimidating when standing motionless as she did rushing her foes with duel-wielded swords. In a show of solidarity she had donned Thieves Guild armour instead of the glass set Vallan had forged her on the anniversary of their meeting. Vallan was wearing her Guild Master's armour and her Amulet of Articulation, looking completely nonchalant as she lounged in her chair.

"Are you sure your… contact is coming, Sera? We have been waiting here for quite some time." Jenassa asked, and although her words betrayed her uncertainty her face never lost its mask of indifference.

Vallan remained silent, focussing on the niggling feeling in her mind telling her that the assassin was present. It was a true boon to the thief that she could feel when she was being watched as it had stopped her from many failed heists. She could feel the gaze as if she was staring straight at them and knew that at least one person was watching.

There was a slight movement in the corner of her eye and suddenly a woman was stood in the centre of the room. She wore tight leathers in the Dark Brotherhood colours of red and black that emphasised every curve and a masked cowl that hid most of her a thin gap in the material a set of green eyes stared at her with an unsettling intensity. Never taking her gaze off the two elves she rapped on the door twice which then swung open, revealing a hulking Nord. The doors closed in silence.

A minute passed in which both parties just stared at the other before Vallan rose from her seat. The burly Nord growled warningly and made to intercept the Wood Elf but the woman held her hand up, stopping him in his tracks.

That display of power sealed it.

"Astrid, I presume," Vallan stated with confidence clearly heard despite her raspy voice. She thought about holding out her hand in the typical Imperial greeting but as she was fairly certain from her height that Astrid was a Nord, she decided against shooting herself in the foot.

The newly identified Astrid sauntered over to a chair a short distance away from the corner Vallan and Jenassa had been occupying and reclined back, making Vallan's former position look more like a drunken slump.

"You have me at a disadvantage; all Delvin would tell me was of you was your title, Guild Master," she paused. "And, of course, that you had a proposition of great interest." Astrid's words dripped with seduction and Vallan's ears twitched in spite of her vow to be all business.

Sitting back in her seat, Vallan pulled her hood down to reveal her Bosmer features and twisted her lips into what she had been assured was a beguiling smirk. The thief knew Astrid would recognise her, she was Thane of every major hold but Windhelm, but an act of trust was necessary for the talks to continue.

"My name is Vallan and yes, I do believe you'll be interested in what I have to say." She paused to gauge Astrid's receptiveness but the cowl she wore to hide her face did its job well. "The groups we represent have rather similar goals and even how we reach those goals differs with only one major rule."

"No killing," Astrid interrupted, her tone betraying her hidden smile. "I always pitied the Thieves Guild for not indulging in that pleasure."

Vallan felt her expression cool to a look more suitable for business. "Some of us do, Astrid, myself included," she said blandly, as if stating the weather. "But some is not all, and all the more often as our guild grows and more join us, I see the inexperienced hunted through the streets we supposedly run."

There was a bitter undercurrent to her tone towards the end of her speech that betrayed her façade of indifference, something Astrid picked up on. "Why take it so personally?" She asked. "No offense but I always thought your organisation followed the basic principle of, 'every man for himself' or was that another thing that's changed under your management?"

"Don't misunderstand, Astrid," the elf brusquely replied. "We care about each other in the Thieves Guild but to compare a month long member to a comrade who's been with you for years is ridiculous." The Bosmer paused to give an edged smile. "It isn't personal, it's just good business; a dead protégée is wasted time and time is money."

"I still fail to see this 'interesting' deal." Astrid said, dragging the conversation back on course.

"Have you heard of Mjoll the Lioness?" Vallan asked innocently. "She hates the Thieves Guild and is completely dedicated to wiping us out."

Astrid snorted derisively. "If you want a hit then perform the Black Sacrame-"

"If I wanted a simple hit then you'd already be speaking to Maven," Vallan cut across in a voice made of Skyforge Steel that twisted her hoarseness into a hiss. She cleared her throat and continued in a calmer tone, aware of the way the male Nord's hands had clenched. "Your end of the bargain is a little more complex than that. Mjoll is trying to rally the troops to 'flush us out from the sewers' but killing her won't end things or I'd have done that by now. Every time one 'defender-of-the people' falls, another crops up. They don't fear us and for good reason. What's the worst we're goingto do? Steal from them? We probably already have."She paused, both to rest her voice and to consider her next words carefully. She was wary of admitting weakness to someone who could easily stab her in the back, but as Astrid's face had remained closed off since the Wood Elf had interrupted her Vallan saw no point in dragging the conversation out any longer.

"Before I became Guild Master we were almost destroyed by the actions of an enemy we couldn't have anticipated. It took far too long to kill him and far too much of the guild's resources to do so." She leant forward in her seat, eager to come to an accord and be on her way.

"I propose that the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood watch each other's backs. You get rid of our more noticeable enemies and in return the Dark Brotherhood has the reassurance that the Thieves Guild and all its influence, plus my own, will support your family when it inevitably finds itself on the wrong side of the law."

Astrid considered the terms for a moment before nodding. "Of course I have some conditions of my own." She held up a single finger. "One, if you hear of anyone performing the Black Sacrament you will send word to me. Two." Another finger joined its sibling. "I want to know exactly what this 'influence' would provide us. Three, we will not take orders from you; I am the leader of the Dark Brotherhood and that will remain so…"

Vallan smirked as she joined in the bargaining. The deal was a success and she would trust to her Amulet of Articulation to see that the rest of the negotiations went in her favour.

4E 205 29th of First Seed

The past year or so since the meeting had been quiet. Mjoll the Lioness' body had turned up floating in Riften's canal and thanks to a few well-placed rumours in the inns, the news of the alliance had spread like wild fire.

No one had risen to take Mjoll's place.

True to her end of the deal, Vallan had passed along numerous rumours of the Black Sacrament from across Skyrim and had only once had to exert pressure to release an assassin; it was surprisingly simple to get a murderer free from Riften jail, even one that had burnt a 'poor fishwife' to ashes.

All in all, life had been good.

Vallan couldn't help but feel like it was the calm before the storm.

The elf was in Solitude; she had completed her sweep job and had decided to kill to two birds with one stone by collecting her bounty while she was there. Jenassa had returned to the Cistern after the giants had been dispatched because while her sneaking had improved during her time with Vallan it wasn't so good that she could go unnoticed in close quarters.

She was just stepping up the stairs to the Blue Palace court when she heard a voice echo down to her. It wasn't unusual for Jarl Elisif to have guests and when that was the case she'd just call Falk Firebeard to the side but Vallan knew this voice and she felt her face go cold.

She was frozen in place, unable to so much as draw a breath. The voice sounded again but closer and the tone was different: harsher now, like talking to vermin. It took Vallan a minute to realise that the only sound was her choked gasps; the voice was in her head.

Mehrune's Razor was at her hip but the thief still felt helpless. It was as if nothing had changed, as if she hadn't come to Skyrim and taken down a dragon, as if she hadn't reinvented herself as an ambitious but more importantly powerful woman, as if all that had happened since that night was worthless and she was just a scared little girl again. Vallan forced herself to turn and stride out into Solitude, all the while fighting the urge to press sweaty a hand to the scar on her neck, and once in the streets she ran towards Proudspire.

Jordis took one look at her Thane's face before fleeing to the Winking Skeever and when she returned Vallan was no longer there.