A/N: Hello again, readers! Second oneshot: this time, I've taken an attempt on describing a bit of Vex's childhood, and the close friendship that she and Alyssa nurtured with one another. I'm quite proud of this one; took me all afternoon to write, and I really, REALLY hope that you enjoy this one! Shout is Out.

'...and the next time you set foot in here with that attitude, young lady, I can assure you that you will be in it deep!'

Vex's jaw clenched in anger. I'm already in it deep! But however much she wanted to yell this at her mother, the door had been slammed shut behind her, and she heard a brass key scrape in the lock.

Vex turned away with a final huff, storming over the cobblestones that formed the streets and half the ground in Chorrol. She wasn't bothered in the slightest that the door was locked—she had her lockpick on hand and the lock on her family's home was pretty basic. If need came, she'd just go back inside as easily as if she turned the doorhandle and opened it like a normal person.

But I don't want to go back, she growled in her mind, on the verge of running. I don't ever want to go back...I'll stay away for as long as I can.

Heading out into the centre of Chorrol, she finally sat down and leaned against the back of the stonework that formed the foundations around that big statue of the Saint of Sancre Tor, whoever that was meant to be. Even though she had lived here all her life Vex really, really couldn't care for petty things of history. Okay, maybe big things of history were important, like the recently-ended Great War and the Oblivion Crisis.

I never wanted to do school anyway, she thought mutinously, kicking at a stray pebble because it was there and it had apparently done her a personal wrong by existing. Waste of my time! But no, mother said it was good for me to learn how to act like a 'decent young woman', and to rein in my wild habits and to start thinking about a decent living...

Vex glared moodily out at her hometown. It was neat and orderly and so damn boring that she wanted to claw her own eyes out. The Great Oak was now thought to be three hundred years old and was so enormous that it was starting to take over the little district where it was planted, and the ground was all bumpy from its enormous, jutting roots. The tree was sometimes fun to climb, when nobody was looking, but Vex had been caught scrambling in its branches about six times now and the guards had warned her that if they found her up there again, then she'd be spending a night in the castle's dungeons.

'You're damaging ancient property when you climb the tree,' the guardsman had growled.

Like I care! It's a Gods-damned tree, the only refreshing thing in this dull-arse city.

And then the only other relief from boredom here was lockpicking. Vex enjoyed breaking into people's homes. She hadn't stolen anything, yet, but she enjoyed the brief thrill of breaking the locks and trespassing, just for the exhilaration, which was much-needed in this life that she was living at the moment—always doing some wrong in her mother's eye, and her father was in the tavern half the time getting drunk on booze—always had been doing that since he returned from the Great War, so he was no help. And Vex had no brothers or sisters. As far as she was concerned, she was on her own.

Vex scowled. Everything about her life sucked, hugely. Nobody in Chorrol cared about her in the slightest. They saw her as a nuisance—Vex was proud to admit that yes, she was a nuisance, but she was going to get more businesslike in the nuisance department when she grew a bit older. Okay, she was eight, but lockpicking was probably what kept Vex from trying to sneak out of the city and get lost in the Great Forest.

Distantly she heard the tavern doors open behind her, and expecting her father to be thrown out, half-drowned in Black-Briar mead, Vex got up with a sigh and turned, hiding her lockpick in the folds of her skirt. But instead, she saw, to her faintest interest, someone who she recognized quite quickly emerge calmly from the building, calling a farewell to the tavern's patron.

It was that Laryssin noble, she saw, that one who lived outside of Chorrol and who served a place in the Count's court. What was his name again? Kanding. Rare for a Nord to get into such a high-esteemed spot in an Imperial's palace, but he was obviously successful in it. He wore finely-embroidered robes, and his pouch was just begging to be stolen...Vex felt a feeling of insuppressible mischief overcome her, and she decided to see if she couldn't nick a few septims.

But before she could move, two other people emerged behind the Laryssin noble—Vex was caught off-guard. Both were small. One, she recognized as Zara Laryssin, the eldest daughter of the Laryssin family. Vex frowned. She had seen Zara in the city once or twice. Didn't like her overly much.

But the smaller one...Vex had heard that the Laryssins had another daughter, apparently born on the same day as the Great War ended for good. But she had never seen her before. She must have only been seven or eight, as old as or younger than Vex. But already she was carrying herself in that noble's way, wearing pretty soft-spun clothes, and her brown hair pulled up into a Nordic braid.

Vex scowled. Well, there were too many to try and pickpocket now. She turned to leave.

She suddenly heard Zara, the eldest daughter, curse. 'Damn. Sorry, Father, I think I've left my cloak behind.'

'That's all right,' Vex heard Zara's father respond. 'Do you remember where?'

'I took it off when we sat down...'

'All right.' Vex glanced back. Kanding had frowned. 'Come with me. Ally, just wait out here for a moment, all right? We'll be back in a second.'

The youngest and littlest gave a nod. Then Kanding headed back into the tavern, followed by graceful, sweeping Zara, already acting twice her age. They disappeared back into the tavern. An explosion of noise as the door opened, and then silence as it shut again.

Vex saw that the little girl suddenly looked much smaller than before. The streets were empty and also very quiet. She was looking around, huddling into herself, trying to look as unobtrusive as possible but failing miserably.

Vex considered still heading back...where to? Somewhere...but even though Chorrol wasn't like Bravil, there were still a fair amount of scum in the streets who probably wouldn't mind roughing up a noble's daughter like a Laryssin. And the little Laryssin girl did look quite small, and vulnerable at that, left out on her own. Vex softly swore, then got to her feet and approached her...slightly awkwardly, at that, but she'd keep the girl company, just until the noble came back and took his daughter away. Didn't want a little thing like her losing herself, after all, and twilight always looked eerie at this time. Sometimes, if Vex wasn't angry, it gave her the shivers.

'You all right?' Vex asked, a little stiffly, when she came into speaking distance with the little girl. She snapped her head forward—astonishingly bright green eyes focused on Vex's blue and she quickly straightened, tucking her hands into her sides, though undeniably there was nervousness written all over her.

'Fine,' she replied, trying to imitate her sister's crispness, but it made her voice sound a bit feeble. Even so, she spoke with surprising clarity.

Vex hesitated. So did the young girl.

It was then that Vex noticed what she was wearing. How odd. A beautifully-crafted golden dragon pendant. She hadn't seen those in the jewelry stand before. A gold dragon, with two sapphire chips for eyes. Barely a moment passed before the girl's hand moved up, closing protectively around it.

'Sorry.' Vex looked away. 'Looked pretty, that's all.'

But then she heard the Laryssin girl say, 'It's okay. It's my first time in Chorrol...guess people do stare. Father says that people know I'm a Laryssin, because I wear the pendant.'

She sounded young and naïve but...not. Vex felt slightly more intrigued by this character. She glanced back towards her, to see that the girl looked less nervous, and she spoke with pride in her voice. 'This is my first time in Chorrol, outside the Estate.'

Vex decided to test where this little thing's innocence really went. 'Where's your Estate?'

Almost immediately a guarded look crossed the girl's face and she said, 'Sorry. I'm not allowed to tell you. It's private.'

'Oh.' Not so stupid after all, but still innocent.

There was a pause, in which Vex considered leaving the slightly embarrassing conversation behind. But then the girl shifted position slightly, and she said cunningly, 'But...maybe if you tell me a bit more about Chorrol, then I could tell you a bit more about the Estate.'

Vex glanced at her. 'Anything interesting to know about it?' she asked.

'...Maybe,' she said, with such a mysterious smile that despite herself, Vex was intrigued. And she was never intrigued by anything, not even by any other pilgrim or traveller or infrequent visitor to the town that she had noticed passing by the gates.

There was another pause, less uncomfortable than the first, and then Vex heard the girl say, 'Zara's told me a bit about you...'

'Oh? Has she?' Vex scowled immediately. 'Well? What's she said?'

'That you cause a lot of trouble in Chorrol, and you pick locks.'

Vex scowled. She was proud of both, but to have them said out loud, it made her feel a little...well, it downgraded her and her rubbish excuse for a family. 'It's something to do,' she said, unable to keep the snap out of her voice. 'If you actually lived here, instead of in an Estate like a little princess, then you'd understand how dull it is here. Enough to drive you mad.'

She paused, when she saw that the girl's eyes had momentarily brightened with...alarm? She had looked away to try and conceal it, but Vex had seen it for a moment. She frowned. What had she said, to give the girl a fright like that? She half-expected the girl to move away from her, but instead, after a moment, she turned back, and there was a very shy expression written on her face.

'Could you...teach me?'

Vex blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. 'What?'

'Could you teach me how to pick locks?' There was a subtle pleading note to her voice that made Vex...confused.

She took a step back. 'What do you mean?'

'It's...boring, at times, in the Estate, too,' said the girl, sounding slightly ashamed, but determined to speak her mind. 'It might be fun, knowing how to pick locks and stuff. Might help pass the time.'

Vex was still confused. She hadn't been expecting this at all. A noble's daughter, asking to learn to pick locks, like a common thief? Obviously she hadn't been given the noble's lesson yet, or else she'd be a goody-goody like her sister. But she saw something on the girl's face, something that she hadn't quite expected to see at all...

...a streak of rebelliousness.

Vex grinned. That was enough for her.

'Sure,' she said. 'Are you coming back to Chorrol?'

The girl brightened considerably. 'Yeah! Next week, when Father has work. I'm coming here because I don't want to be stuck in the Estate all the time, and Chorrol sounds so fun to be in, even though it takes an hour to get here from our Estate...what's your name?'

'Verity,' said Vex, and immediately cursed, feeling a hot flush of embarrassment overcome her. Why had she been so stupid to give that stupid name out? That name her mother had given her? Quickly, to cover her mistake, she swiftly gave out the name that she normally always told people if they asked. 'But I'm known as Vex.'

The girl smiled. 'I have a nickname, too,' she said. 'I'm Alyssa. But I'm always called Ally.'

Grinning, they shook hands, sealing their first business deal.

All that had happened eighteen or so years ago. Hard to believe how much time had passed since that encounter.

But for the seven years that she knew Ally, they had been great, a welcome relief from her boredom. Vex found herself looking forward to those days when she'd come to Chorrol. Then Ally would make some excuse to get away from her father and sister and then come and find Vex in their favourite meeting place—in the branches of the Great Oak.

Then they'd climb down again and Vex would show Ally all that she knew about lockpicking. She had recently become very good at it. Then they'd practice sneaking, to see if they could surprise one another with hide-and-seek, only the seeker hid and had to approach the hider silently. It was very fun when they were both seekers and they did it on some of the more irritable townspeople. They'd run away laughing while the irate man or woman yelled that they'd have their heads, and they called the guards.

Now those were the fun times, when a good amount of guards were running after them. For the first few years, half the time they'd been half a hair's width in being caught, because Ally hardly knew her way around Chorrol and she was scarcely confident to do perfectly simple things such as jumping over fences or rolling over the stone ground to hide behind a barrel. Vex had expressed frustration in the only way she knew how to—by snapping. Then they'd have an argument, and go off and sulk.

But then Ally started to change as she grew bigger, older and more confident, until soon, Vex wasn't the only troublemaker in the city anymore.

Great times, great times. And by the Gods, could Ally run when she was motivated! And could she leap! Sometimes, even Vex was startled at the sudden flashes of reckless confidence that Ally would have. She'd perform a near-miracle of a jump between buildings—and yes, they started climbing on buildings too, to drop stones down the chimneys—and then she'd land, unharmed on the other side, even when Vex felt her own confidence momentarily diminish at the thought of falling onto the hard ground far below. Vex, naturally, decided not to give Ally such high praise...but she allowed a grudging comment to escape every now and then.

And Ally was starting to pick up on Vex's personality, too—and reflected it just as openly. She'd grin and she'd swear and she'd be stunningly cynical for a noble's daughter. She had turned into a little rebel within a matter of years, but Vex was impressed mainly because Ally was so good at hiding it from her sister and father. One moment, she'd be running for her life from a cluster of furious guardsmen, yelling curses and insults over her shoulder to see if she could make the guardsmen angrier—the next, she'd be hugging her sister, asking how she had been, if Father had given good counsel to the Count that day, no, she hadn't been causing trouble that day, why would she ever do that?

Vex grinned. She always made a point to hear this. Ally was as sly as a fox. And Vex was the one who Ally called the Vixen!

Vex liked the name Vixen than she did Vex, though she still kept it. The Vixen was her alias with Ally when they were together, two rebels seeking excitement and adventure in a city that was far too proper and orderly and boring for their comfort. Their special code name. The branches of the Great Oak became their Base.

Vex could remember how quickly Ally had picked up on the art of troublemaking. For the first few years, she was easily startled, confused and panicked, and she hardly knew any of the good places to hide, and sometimes pointed out such lame suggestions, such as a bush, that Vex had laughed and scorned the idea openly, earning another argument between the pair of them. Even then, when she was naïve, Ally had a surprising amount of fire in her eyes and also in her voice.

A few years of precise Vixen training later, Ally was as dangerous as she was, and Vex grinned. She liked to call Ally her 'apprentice', and though Ally often protested, the truth eventually settled. Soon, however, Ally was in no need of training—they'd cause and wreak havoc on the town together like equals and have the Count's entire army chasing after them, and five minutes later they'd be lying in one of their hiding spots recounting their favourite moments. There were barely any arguments between them, save for ones which eventually resolved themselves, such as who was better with a lockpick or who was better at house-climbing.

They had been the best times of Vex's life.

When they were teenagers they kept it up, but they began to lose interest in plain troublemaking alone. Because they were both now immensely dangerous with a lockpick, and because they knew the layout of Chorrol like the backs of their hands, they spent a few days planning their first heist. Vex remembered very clearly that it was the first thing that she had ever stolen, the first time that she had ever been, and felt like, a true thief.

She had been fifteen, then. Fifteen when she first stole something. And she hadn't done it alone, either; it was Ally's first, too. It had been a night when Ally was staying in the tavern, having earned the privilege of coming and going to Chorrol as she pleased, as she had seemingly earned the 'trust' of her family—Vex was impressed and envious that Ally had even managed to keep her rebellious streak so well-concealed, to lead two lives so effortlessly. They had met up at the Great Oak when it was midnight, then gone to the house of Amaund Motierre, a noble who served as a member of the Elder Council and who had inherited his ancestor's centuries-old mansion in Chorrol. He was probably the richest man in the entire city, save for the Count, of course—and there would be plenty of goods to pluck from him.

After a brief argument as to who was going to pick the lock, Vex did it and they both slipped inside, to see a lavish scene of immense wealth that Vex had never seen before in her life, about a thousand times more glamorous than her cottage ever was. And she had felt the first urges of larceny then. It had tasted sweet.

They prowled through the mansion. Vex's eyes drifted to a jewel-encrusted drinking horn, washed in a soft layer of gold. It was too large for her to tuck beneath her arm and get away with, and bitterly she turned her attention to something else that quickly made her eyes widen in immediate lust—a beautiful amulet with a flawless diamond set in the core. Greed overcame her and she snatched it from its stand, held it as though it were red-hot, and slipped it into her hip pouch, hiding it from all eyes.

A thrill had passed her, then, and before long Vex was stealing all the small, shiny and valuable items that came to hand, from silver rings to flawless garnets and amethysts and little purses of septims. Thousands of coins' worth in wealth, trembling with the anticipation of what could happen to her if she was caught, Vex had softly urged Ally to come, so they could go.

She returned a moment later, and her eyes had a strange, feverish look in them. She was grinning in breathless excitement, holding what appeared to be a strange item in her hands. It appeared to be some sort of necklace, but when Vex got closer and inspected it further, she clapped her hands to her mouth in a mixture of horror, exhilaration and sheer excitement.

'An Elder Council amulet!'

'I know, right? This thing is worth thousands!' Ally was breathing very quickly, that feverish gleam of larceny only growing brighter as she breathlessly tucked it away.

But Vex, despite herself, shook her head. 'You can't take that...Amaund will know he's been robbed!'

'And stealing all those jewels won't attract his attention?' Ally hissed.

Vex sighed impatiently—now was not the time to bicker! 'How did you even get it?' she whispered, keeping her voice hissing and low. Ally had moved into the shadow of the doorway by now, out of the light of the candles.

'I took it off his nightstand—big deal, the man sleeps like a horker—'

Ally had barely snapped the words when suddenly a shadow appeared at the top of the stairs, and Vex felt the bottom drop out of her stomach, and she whirled around in panic.

'Say that again?' she squeaked, her throat closing up in terror, as suddenly the enraged Amaund Motierre roared at the top of his voice, 'THIEVES! GUARDS!'

'RUN!' Vex yelled. Ally threw open the door and the pair fled, but not before Amaund's bodyguards suddenly raced up from the cellar, weapons unsheathed.

The chase that occurred next was the most exhilarating and terrifying that Vex had ever experienced, mainly because she was stealing something—and she was in all ways guilty. Breaking and entering, trespassing, stealing...and now Amaund Motierre, the most respected noble in Chorrol, was howling for her blood. And the bodyguards were catching up and Vex's heart was pounding in her throat. Suddenly she couldn't remember any of her hiding places.

By good grace she leapt over a fence that made the bodyguards pause to swing themselves over, which gave Vex a few valuable seconds to draw ahead, but she suddenly realized that she had lost Ally. Where was she? And then she was running down a darkened alleyway and as she was breaking through, an arm lashed out and caught her hair, and she yelled as it was almost torn from her head, and that yell was stifled when the arm swung her around and threw her onto the ground, the blow sending a couple of stray emeralds bouncing out from her pouch and across the cobblestones. Seeing stars, Vex looked up. The bodyguard advanced with blade thirsty for blood, but then suddenly a stone came out of nowhere, hitting the bodyguard in the face and making him howl and stagger backwards.

Then Ally was there at her side, and she was telling Vex to run, and she did run, and suddenly she remembered where they could hide. It was all a rush, a blur, but suddenly they reached one of the hiding places, pushing back a crate and dropping into the abandoned cellar they had discovered only a few years ago. Vex pulled the crate back over and the light was shut off, and a few seconds later, the bodyguards ran past, oblivious that their convicts had now escaped.

Ally and Vex said nothing for three whole minutes. They were breathing too heavily, and still reeling from their terror and what they had accomplished and what they had even done, to think of anything else. Then Ally looked up and her eyes were wide with horror.

'What have we done, Vixen?'

And then Vex remembered what they had stolen...so much wealth!...and she pulled out her pouch and upended the contents as Ally lit a nearby candle, so the little musty cellar was thrown in an orange light. A pile of jewelry, precious gemstones and other assorted valuables fell onto the dusty floor and Vex let out a soft cry of triumph. A few lost emeralds were nothing...

'What we have done,' she said, aware that she was breathing very, very hard, and starting to cackle with triumph, 'is pulled of the greatest heist in the history of Chorrol! Look at this!' she added, laughing, at the wealth that she saw glittering in front of her. Gods...that feeling, that rush of adrenalin, that run from the guards who were actually intent on killing them! And the reward, that absolutely satisfying reward at the end of it!

That feeling was absolutely fantastic! It made Vex want to whoop and punch her fists into the air. Every single part of her was tingling. This adrenalizing feeling...Vex felt a deep, hungry craving for it. She wanted to do more of this, not less. She wanted to steal again. And again. As long as it took for her to work off that rush, Gods the rush was the best thing!

She looked up at Ally. Had she felt the rush, too?

Yes—there it was, the horror rapidly melting into complete satisfaction and delight and pure exhilaration. She grinned broadly as she pulled out the Elder Council amulet, and rested it beside Vex's pile. The little purple stone set in the middle of the amulet shone and twinkled as brightly as the amount of gems and jewelry Vex's pouch had previously contained.

'How are we going to sell all this stuff?' she whispered. 'How much do you think is there?'

'About...thirty-thousand, forty-thousand, maybe? Amaund's such a greedy pig; everything here is flawless...'

'Whoa...'

They exchanged a thrilled look. Then Ally gently picked up the Elder Council amulet, and she examined it in the candlelight. 'How are we going to sell this?' she asked aloud. 'Everyone in Cyrodiil recognizes this to be an Elder Council amulet...then I'm screwed and I'll be in the dungeons quicker than I can say "dragon"!'

'Then you just pick your way out again,' Vex suggested, with a sly grin.

'Of course you'd say that, Vixen,' Ally said, grinning back.

But they had gone too far. The very next day, Vex, who was so worn out from her exhilaration had spent the night in the cellar with Ally, emerged into daylight almost immediately to see a WANTED poster stuck up to the wall, brandishing an alarmingly-clear image of herself as well as a fifty thousand septim reward.

'Oh shit!' Vex hissed, feeling a familiar flash of terror lance her way up her backbone. She ripped it down and hurried back into the cellar, and rapidly woke Ally. When her friend read it, her face blanched, too.

'Oh, Vex, I'm so sorry...it must've been the amulet that did it...'

'And the jewels didn't? Shit, shit, shit! What am I meant to do now? Amaund is with the Elder Council—that bounty will bring all the hunters in throughout Tamriel and I'll have no damn place to hide!' Vex had never felt so frightened in her life. 'And I can only guess how long I'll be imprisoned for, for robbing...oh, Gods, Amaund wasn't any member of the Council, he was a Gods-damned chancellor...' She ran a hand distractedly through her hair, rapidly running through her possibilities...but she couldn't go into the wilds. She didn't know a scrap about hunting, or even surviving in a place outside of civilization. She couldn't go home—her parents, undoubtedly, would be looking for her too, and if they didn't want to claim the bounty for themselves then they'd tell her to go to prison anyway because of what she had done, that she had gone too far...and Vex knew she had, and the feeling had been great, and she wasn't guilty about the actual act itself...but now she was just plain scared at the aftermath of it, and the consequence of being caught red-handed robbing someone of such high importance.

Then Ally grasped her shoulders and said, 'Look at me, Vex—look at me! You'll be okay. I'm going to help you.'

Vex stifled a cynical snort, panic overwhelming politeness. 'Okay? You don't have a bloody fifty-thousand-septim bounty on your head.' Bitterness overwhelmed panic. 'How come you're mentioned as my anonymous accomplice on this? That bastard never saw you, but you stole his amulet!'

'I...I must've been in the shadows...he must've missed my appearance...' Ally gulped. 'Look. I've probably committed the worst deed. It's the least I can do to try and get you out of here, all right? Out of Chorrol.'

'But where do I go, Ally?' Despair came crashing down, and the reality of it was so bitter that Vex almost felt like throwing up. 'I've never left Chorrol in my life!'

Ally leaned closer, and she said without a moment's hesitation, 'I know a place, Vixen. Go to Riften.'

'Riften?' Something seemed to make a bit of sense. 'The Thieves Guild, right?'

She nodded. 'Right. When we get out of here—and I know that we can do this, Vixen!—when you get out of Chorrol, run. Run straight to Riften, find any way to get there, keep off the roads and stay away from main civilizations. Don't lose those gemstones—use those to impress the Guild, okay? They'll take you in like a flash, especially with infiltration stones like that. They'll help you, Vixen—whatever they offer you, take it, become a member of the Guild and show them what you can do.'

'But...but...' Everything was completely overwhelming. Vex struggled to take everything in. 'Who do I talk to? Where do I go in Riften? How to start?'

'Find a man named Brynjolf in the marketplace,' said Ally quickly. 'He'll be selling fake potions. Tell him that you want to join the outfit, and flash the wealth in his face. He'll give you a trial but do it. When you're in the Guild, you're in for life, but I saw that expression on your face, Vex—you're a born thief, and that's the best place where you can hope to hide.'

She paused to draw breath. 'I'm going to slip away from the Estate tonight. I'll have everything that you'll need for the journey, all right? I don't mind stealing a few septims from my family to help you—I got you into the mess, after all, if we hadn't bickered, if I hadn't stolen that Gods-damned amulet...but wait until it's dark, then climb the south wall. The one that's crumbling. I'll be waiting below. Got it?'

Vex nodded, deciding that because she had no other options, she had better trust Ally. She smiled. 'Good. I'll get some food. Then I'll have to make a run for it back to the Estate before my family starts getting suspicious. Stay in here until it's night. Nobody will find us. We're too good at what we do for them to even hope to try and find us.'

So Vex waited, when Ally disappeared. She returned an hour later with enough food to last the day. Then she disappeared, and did not return until nightfall.

When it was time, Vex stole out from their hiding place. There were more guardsmen than usual on the roads, and all bore torches, and patrolled with a renewed vigour. Vex could only guess why. But by now, that exhilarating feeling was back, setting every nerve and sense on fire. There were plenty of shadows. She lost herself in them, and though it took her almost an hour, an hour of constant frightful moments that she had been discovered, and that one slight misstep would result in her capture and most likely death, as she was carrying the gems on her at the time, she made her way to the south wall, where it was in a state of disrepair. There were no guardsmen—they obviously thought that she wasn't that skilled at climbing and so hadn't bothered to leave a few men there, just in case.

So Vex ran up to the stones and climbed, rapidly—she had never scaled the side of a building so fast, but fear of being discovered was giving her a strange energy. Every tiny crack outlined itself with surprising clarity to her, until she was pulling herself over the ramparts. Darting across the walkway to the opposite battlements, she looked down.

Ally was there, just as she said she would be, waiting for her. Vex climbed back down, landing on the grass, hardly able to believe what she had just done—she hadn't even spared Chorrol one last look, even though Vex knew she was never going to be able to come back here.

Ally pushed a bag of provisions into Vex's grasp. 'Food to last you a week, if you use it sparingly,' she said quickly and quietly. 'Five hundred septims, in case you need to bribe your way out of anything, for any reason. A map, to help you find your way. And a booklet, containing information that you'll need to know if you ever want to survive in the Guild, presuming you ever reach Riften. Oh, and this.'

She pulled from her pocket the Elder Council amulet and shoved it into Vex's hand. 'Keep it,' she said firmly. 'I don't want it, and use it to impress the Guild. Say that you stole it from Amaund Motierre—say that it was the first thing you ever stole. I don't care a damn about it, because I don't need it hardly as much as you do. And good luck, my friend. I know that you'll go far.'

Everything was such a rush, so unceremonious, that Vex was slightly put out—but remembering the brevity required, for their own survival, she nodded, going with the flow, slinging the bag over her back, and shoving the amulet of the Elder Council into her deepest pocket; after the price paid obtaining it, she wasn't about to lose it. Then a pair of reins were forced into her hand.

'You stole a horse?' Vex said, with a smirk.

'The second thing I've stolen,' Ally replied, flashing her a quick smile. 'Which is probably why you should get going, now. The stablegirl should be returning soon and it won't take her long to notice that there's one mount missing. And after a "dangerous" thief has just been announced, she'll put two and two together...'

There was a pause, in which they exchanged no words. Then Ally simply nodded. 'Take care of yourself, Vixen,' she said. 'I have faith that you'll reach Riften.' And then suddenly she was gone, melting into the shadows as though she were one of them.

Vex was left standing, slightly discontent at such a rushed farewell, besides a stolen horse. But she swung herself into the saddle nonetheless and dug her heels into the sides. The mount rushed forward—being Cyrodiilian bred, it was fast and it was light, and within moments they were far away from Chorrol. Vex rode on without looking back.

It wasn't until some time later that Vex wondered why Ally seemed to know so much of this Thieves Guild, when she had never appeared to go further than the length of Chorrol in her entire life.

'Have you heard, Vex? New recruit coming in. Brynjolf's just sent her to test her worth out in the markets.'

Vex stifled a sarcastic snort. 'Oh, really? And what's she going to do?'

'Pick a few pockets?' Delvin suggested, with a wink. 'Bryn seems to have taken quite the liking to her if he's sent her to go and rough up those shopkeepers. Has just as much fire as you do.'

Vex glared at him. 'Ah, you received my message at last, then?' Her voice was icy and heavy with sarcasm.

He chuckled. 'Obviously.' He sobered almost just as quickly. 'But I won't.'

'Good,' said Vex, softly, but coldly. 'Then stay away from the lake next time!' She fingered the hilt of her dagger as she spoke, to emphasize her meaning, and was pleased to see Delvin's face significantly pale. He moved off further into the Ragged Flagon.

Ah, ten years. Ten years of being with the rabble of the Guild, ten years of watching their luck run dry and ten years of still stubbornly continuing on—because that was who she was. Vex looked around. It wasn't her fault that she was so lost in her nostalgia—she had been cleaning out her trunk earlier that morning and she had come across the tattered booklet that Ally had left her all those years ago, at the bottom of her bag of supplies. The one that was filled with surprisingly accurate descriptions on the Guild's Shadowmarks.

Vex smirked. These thieves had been far too easy to impress. She had sought out Brynjolf the moment she set foot in Riften, desperate to get off the streets as soon as possible, and to find this mysterious Cistern that she had been told about. Easy enough to find him—was the only brightly red-headed Nord for miles around. She flashed the bag of stolen valuables in his face, including the amulet of the Elder Council—he almost shitted where he stood. Took her in straight away, just as Ally had predicted. A decade later and Vex could still clearly remember what she had said to her, before disappearing into the shadows and out of her life.

Vex knew that she was dead. The whole of Tamriel knew that the Laryssins had been destroyed for good. Delvin's contacts had informed him that the Estate had been torched and burned to the ground, the whole Laryssin family massacred, in the dead of night, some time around the end of Sun's Height. Now it was the twentieth of Last Seed, well over twenty or so days since they had been butchered.

Vex moodily looked away. She hadn't even opened her mouth to say goodbye to the greatest friend she had ever known. Now Ally was dead—dead, because of the Thalmor, and for a reason that nobody understood. But they had their reasons, she guessed...or maybe they didn't, being the sick Elvish bastards that they were.

By the Gods, she thought, I've really taken after my poor, stupid father, haven't I?

'You all right there, Vex?'

Vex looked up sharply. Tonilia leaned on the pile of crates that Vex favoured. The Redguard had one eyebrow cocked.

'If I am not mistaken,' Tonilia commented, 'I thought I just saw a glimmer of sadness cross your face. And the Vex I know certainly never lets her emotions get the better of her.'

Vex carefully concealed her sorrow before she retorted sharply, 'None of your business, Redguard. Don't you have armour to mend?'

Damn. It was impossible to live with a group of thieves, Vex thought with frustration; particularly when you had the reputation as being the Guild's best infiltrator and also the only person whose tongue was as sharp as her daggers. She could cut wounds into the hearts of men and make them bleed and she could turn away without a second glance. That was how cold she came across—Dirge thought that she was as cold as the Nords were, sometimes—Vex told him to mind his own damn business.

'Heard about the new recruit?' Tonilia asked, pulling up a nearby chair and sitting down just beside a candlelit table.

'Sorta,' said Vex.

'Well, she's been out fifteen minutes straight and already Dirge is telling me that there's a new blood in the Thieves Guild roughin' up the shopkeepers,' Tonilia said, with a smirk. 'Seems like you've got competition.'

'Pah. Probably just another soft-headed thief who isn't big enough to grow into her boots.'

'Then she'll learn Guild manners soon enough,' Tonilia commented. Vex nodded grimly at this. She had very quickly learned from the wise Redguard, who had been with the Guild almost since she was born, given that her parent was the Guild's former fence and armour-maker, that when you were a woman in the Guild, you had to always keep your wits sharp, considering that there were men all around you—men with personality, sure, but who were actually trained to sneak up on you.

However, Vex had a record that nobody had beaten yet. She was the best infiltrator. She had progressed rapidly up the ranks in the Guild, making it to Guild Third alongside Delvin Mallory and wearing the black armour of a senior operative, ones usually gifted to people who had been with the Guild for a good deal of time and who were the most skilled in their line of work.

Seems like all my lockpicking, infiltrating and building-scaling paid off after all, Vex thought. Gods, that memory was so old. Ten years ago, she had been nothing but a troublemaker, a rebel. Then she had stolen her first item. Nearly got caught. Got a fifty-thousand septim fine on her head. But joining the Guild had been possibly the best thing that had ever happened to her. Here, she lived to steal—sure, the Guild was crumbling down around them and Delvin was constantly muttering something about a curse these days—and pickings were growing increasingly harder. But it was still bloody fantastic stealing stuff. She had stolen so many things for the Guild in the past ten years that she had completely lost count.

A shadow appeared in the doorway to the Cistern, and Vex and Tonilia looked up.

'Oi, Tonilia!' said one of the juniors, Vipir—the Fleet, as Vex remembered with a grin; now hadn't he been the laughing stock of the Guild four years ago—'The new recruit's back, and she wants some armour! Mercer's even told her that she's in the Guild now, so we're stuck with her either way!'

'Coming,' grinned Tonilia. She glanced at Vex. 'Undoubtedly, she'll be referred to the "master infiltrator" for training soon enough. You and Delvin. You coming?'

'I'll wait,' said Vex. 'And if she has any sense, she'll come to me first.'

'I'm content to wait,' Delvin offered by the bar.

'Obviously,' Vex retorted. 'Vekel's brought out his mead. I think we know what that means, you drunken lout.'

Delvin chuckled. 'Indeed, indeed...'

Vex smirked as she turned away. Delvin, she liked. Not in that way—she made sure that he was to keep his distance, particularly with her newest threat—but he was a good Guild Brother. She had been his apprentice, at one time, learning how to sneak like a master—which he was, when he wasn't drunk or sneaking to the lake to watch...

She twirled her dagger as some consolidation. She wasn't afraid to use this—they all knew how lethal she was with the dagger, particularly as she had been trained by Mercer himself in the art of swordplay and dagger-cuttings.

About ten minutes later, this newcomer entered the Ragged Flagon, and Vex boredly looked at her. She was adjusting the straps on her armour, still, but it fitted her well. She walked light, though a quiver of arrows was strapped on her back, as well as a bow made in the rough Imperial style. A dagger and a simple steel sword was strapped to her sides. Her hood was drawn up, and she was looking around, examining her new Guildmates.

Vex noticed that she looked up, and she abruptly seemed to stiffen, as though she had accidently stabbed herself through the heart. Slowly, her hands moved away from the buckles and straps and she moved forward.

She looked as if she was about to speak, but Vex cut across her—time to assert her authority here. She folded her arms, and she said, 'Before we begin, I want to make two things perfectly clear. One, I'm the best infiltrator this rathole of a Guild's got. You follow my lead, and you do exactly as I say.' Her eyes narrowed at the woman's silence, before she went on. 'Two, you don't' question what I do, how I do it, or why I do it. You work to earn your keep like the rest of us, when Bryn starts sending you out on real missions—shaking down shopkeepers is a good start, but until you start learning how to break in and break out again, I'm afraid that we have little to do other than discussing business. Understood?'

She expected the woman to nod and accept her as the best infiltrator—but quite on the contrary, the woman cracked a grin beneath her hood and she said in a voice that seemed to sound vaguely familiar from somewhere, 'Your name is Vex, true?'

Vex scowled down at her. 'Who wants to know?'

'Oh, this woman, who seems to remember that you went by another one; Verity, wasn't it?'

Vex immediately blushed and she fought to hide her momentary burst of embarrassment. She also fought to hide a sudden rush of panic. How did she know her true name? She had not told anyone—anyone!—her real name. And now she glared at the woman, and she snapped, 'Mind your own damn business.'

'This is business, as I remember,' the woman continued, a smirk playing on her face beneath the rim of her hood. 'We struck a deal a very long time ago.'

'I've never met you in your life.'

'Oh?' The woman paused, sobering suddenly. Eventually she said, 'So I see that you've come quite far in the Guild.'

Vex glared at her. Who was she to ask questions like this? Nosy impertinent... 'And you aren't going anywhere fast,' she retorted coolly. 'I'm the Guild's best infiltrator. No lock is too difficult to pick. No building is too difficult for me to scale. I know how to get in and out of any place, even if I haven't seen it in my entire life.'

The woman chuckled. 'Then you've certainly changed. Hard to believe that it's been ten years, huh? Ten years since you were run out of Chorrol with a fifty-thousand septim bounty on your head.'

Vex narrowed her eyes, suspicion rising. 'Are you from Chorrol?'

'Yes and no.' There was a tone to the woman's voice that sounded as though she were being teasing...but there was a quiet amount of ecstasy in her as well, something that was slowly rising, slowly becoming ceremonious. 'But I remember that we knew each other there, for a very, very long time. You were the troublemaker. You were angry and alone. Then you met a little lost naïve girl who was waiting for her noble father and her elder sister to find their missing fur cloak. And you struck a business deal.'

Vex frowned. She wasn't sure how this woman knew, but at the moment, the past really wasn't helping anyone at the moment. 'That was eighteen years ago,' she said shortly. 'But who are you to say that? They're dead. Everyone knows that the Laryssins are dead, unless you never came from Tamriel. So get to the damn point.'

The woman gave a soft, grim and mirthless chuckle. 'You're everything I remember, Vex. Yes, I was in Chorrol the day that Amaund Motierre posted the half-hundred thousand bounty on you. Yes, I heard of her anonymous accomplice, who disappeared around the same time as that grand thief did, long ago.'

Vex was aware that something was rising. Something fast. She unfolded her arms, and she asked three, softly-spoken words: 'Who are you?'

There was a long pause, and then, the woman raised one hand, grasped the edge of her hood, and threw it back, at the same time that the other went beneath the straps around her collarbone, and pulled something out.

A woman, with hazel-brown hair and bright green eyes that glowed like flame, now gazed at Vex, and she slowly unclenched her fist from around something on the end of a fine silver chain. Vex saw that it was something that she thought she would never see again. A golden dragon, wings raised in flight, with two sapphire eyes.

She looked back at the woman, disbelieving. And then, Vex watched as her face broke into a smile—a smile that was so Gods-damned familiar.

'I'm glad to see that you haven't lost your bite, Vixen,' she said.

And suddenly, Vex wasn't aware of anything else anymore, but quiet amazement. There was no way that she could be here...and yet, here she was. And she was gazing back at her, waiting almost tensely for her reaction.

But eventually, Vex managed to say one word.

'Ally?'

And then, she didn't care one bit for her reputation. It could go drown itself in the Cistern for all she cared. She found that she really didn't give a stuff at what they were going to say behind her back. Because she now advanced to Ally and then embraced her oldest friend in the tightest hug that she could. Ally returned it with stunning ferocity.

When they stepped back, Vex saw that Ally's face was lit up in pure joy.

'By the Gods, it really is you,' Ally whispered, hardly able to speak because of the ecstatic smile that was stretched over her face.

Vex was aware that she was smiling as widely as she had been the day that...the day that she had first stolen something...it slammed into her how much she had missed her. And still grinning, they embraced again.

Eventually they broke apart as Delvin said, in a mixture of stunned confusion, 'What's this?'

They turned around and Vex saw that Brynjolf and Tonilia had also entered the Ragged Flagon to see this, but Vex found that she didn't care one bit. Ally had been like a sister to her, for longer than she had been a junior with the Guild.

'We knew each other when we were children,' Vex said to them.

Ally winked at them. 'If any of you remember the poster, let's just say that I'm the "anonymous accomplice" in the Amaund Motierre heist,' she said, with a broad grin of her own.

Vex was satisfied to see the stunned expression on Delvin's face, shock on Brynjolf's and understanding and an impressed look crossing Tonilia's. 'And for the record,' she added more personally to Delvin, 'She was the one who stole the Elder Council amulet, not me.'

Delvin turned to stare at Ally. 'Wait...you? You stole it? But Vex...'

'It's quite the tale,' Ally grinned. 'One that I'm sure can wait until we start training tomorrow.' She looked around at the gathered thieves. 'I am an apprentice, after all, aren't I?' She turned to Vex and commented, 'Again.'

Vex smirked. 'Well, I must've trained you all right, if you've joined the Guild without any extra motivation.'

'Hold on just one blessed moment,' said Delvin. 'You, Vex—and you, Alyssa—friends?'

'Best,' Ally corrected firmly. 'And now, she's the closest thing to a sister I have left.'

It hit Vex. This woman was a Laryssin. This woman's ancestor was the Gray Fox! 'How in Stendarr's mercy did you survive?' she demanded of Ally.

Her eyes sobered. 'You heard, then?'

'Of course I heard—everyone heard,' Vex pressed. But before she could speak, people were finally starting to notice the amulet that she was wearing.

'Hold on...is that what I think it is?' Brynjolf was asking, in a mixture of awe and disbelief.

Ally grinned again, tapping her amulet meaningfully. 'You're looking at it, Bryn—all of you.'

Brynjolf's face paled. 'Shor's blood! You never told me that the family you had lost before was the Laryssin family!' he exclaimed. 'Tacita...the Gray Fox!...'

'Yeah, well...now you do,' Ally shrugged. 'Guess larceny does run in the blood, after all. Eight or so generations on.'

'So wait—you're a Laryssin?' Tonilia quirked an eyebrow. 'Hmm. Not a bad bloodline to go by here, then.'

'The last,' said Ally, and like that, she was quiet and sad again. She turned solemnly to Vex, and she said, 'If it wasn't for your training of agility in high places, Vixen...I might not have made it out alive after all.'

Vex placed a hand on her shoulder, realizing the daunting truth. 'Your mother, father, sister...'

'Grandfather, too. They're all dead. All ashes now. And I should be, too.' Her eyes were etched with grief, but blazing like fire. 'But I still have things I need to do before I can lay down to rest. And until that time comes—' she looked around at the Guild again, her voice becoming clearer again, and her green eyes blazing with a familiar fire. '—then I am Alyssa Laryssin, and I am a thief, a rebel, a troublemaker and infiltrator.'

'Welcome to the cosy little family,' said Tonilia.

'Your new family, lass,' said Brynjolf, with a wink.

Vex cracked a grin. 'And who inspired you, dare I say it?'

'Ah, Vixen...or is it Mentor, now?' Ally smirked as she turned back. 'You put adventure into my life. And I'm glad that you finally made it here in the end.'

Vex smiled. 'As am I with you, Ally.'

Suddenly, life just got a little more complete.