This FanFiction is in no way expressed as the idea that the author owns any characters, story line or other aspect that is presented in the Bethesda game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The author only owns her character, Ziris Coldwater, and Ziris's backstory that does not originate as part of the Thieves Guild questline in the game.
Thank you.
The young girl scooted backwards against the stone wall to avoid being stepped on yet again by one of the big guards. Her fingers were already black and blue from being stepped on before, and she was sure they were broken, because it hurt to move them. She didn't want the same thing happening again to her other hand.
She shivered as a gust of cold wind washed over the city walls and sank into her skin and bones through the thin shirt and breeches she was wearing. The clothing couldn't really be called clothing anymore; it was mostly just rags, but it was something.
Someone started yelling nearby, beyond the wall of the city marketplace, near the orphanage. The girl hoped that it was a guard catching a thief. She knew the city near where she and her parents had lived, the one she was in now, was crawling with thieves. They had tried to steal from her parents' farm once. Papa had nearly chopped off the thief's hand when he'd found him, but after a harsh scolding had let him go instead. The girl hadn't understood how so young a boy could already be a thief, but she knew why now.
Maybe his parents had been killed by vampires, too, and he was just as alone as her.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them so that she could conserve as much of her warmth as possible. She was hungry, and thirsty, and she very much wished she had enough gold to purchase a room for the night in the city's inn.
It was the inn she was huddled against, trying and failing to get out of the worst of the cold winter wind.
Her parents had been killed only two weeks ago. Since then, the girl had made her way from their ruined farm, destroyed by the vampires, to the city of Riften, where she had thought she might find help with the city guards, or the Jarl. She hasn't expected to be turned away at the door of Mistveil Keep, chased off by a guard who called her a 'dirty guttersnipe'.
"Go back to the orphanage, where you belong," he had growled at her.
If there was one place she refused to go, it was Honorhall Orphanage. She'd heard stories about the vile place, and how the old woman in charge, who seemed to refuse to die, was the worst person to have ever walked the earth.
She'd heard that from one of the orphans themselves, who warned her that she was better off on the streets than stuck in the orphanage with Grelod the Kind.
She had taken the boy's advice, and darted away from the orphanage as quickly as she could.
And so, here she was, two weeks out from her parents' slaughter and the burning of her home, and she was very close to freezing to death, if she didn't starve first.
Thankfully, it has rained several times, and so she didn't want for water too badly. A barrel behind the inn had filled up, and she went there to drink. She had gone there earlier, and had found it empty, however.
She no longer had water, and she didn't know where her next end of bread would come from. So, she was sitting in the shadows of the inn, waiting for the Divines to gift her with something, anything.
She didn't have much hope, however. The Gods hadn't been very kind to her as of late.
She buried her head in her arms and struggled to hold back a sob. She had yet to cry over her parents, and she didn't want to give in then. The last thing she needed was to be crying, and add to her weak appearance. Instead, she listened to the whispers that seemed to come from the shadows she sat in, hiding her from everyone else. They comforted her, murmuring that everything would be all right. She just needed to keep her eyes open.
The shouting had stopped, and she lifted her head when she heard boots on the ground coming towards her. A guard stalked past where she sat in the shadows, and she turned in the direction he had come from, considering the shadows' advice.
A disgruntled Nord was grumbling to himself as he leaned down over his marketplace stand, and the girl blinked when she saw the sparkling golden necklace that he was dropping into his pocket. She didn't know what the dispute between himself and the guard had been about, but she knew that the necklace the Nord was holding had to be priceless. She could buy so many nights at the inn with the gold she made from that.
Already, she was spinning a tale in her mind: "It's all I have left of my mother, but I know she wouldn't want me to starve. Please, buy it from me."
She hated the idea of stealing it, but the Nord was being so careless. The chain was dangling out of his pocket, and she could easily wrap her fingers around it, and just… take it. And she was so hungry and cold…
She could probably even buy some new clothing with it, if she really wanted too…
"Take it, child," her friend the shadow murmured. "It is your time."
Sighing, she made her decision. She saw no other choice. It was steal, or die.
She struggled to her feet, using her uninjured hand against the wall to help her, and then she walked over to where the Nord stood at the stand, talking to one of the few unlucky shoppers who was still out as the sun began to set.
"This? Very special, and a great price," he said, holding up a sparkling ring.
The shopper didn't seem too enthused, and he kept glancing over his shoulder, as though he wanted to leave. The Nord had focused all his attention on trying to make a sale, and he didn't even look over as the girl approached the stand.
She licked her chapped lips, and glanced between the shopper and the Nord. Both were focused on something other than her. She had a chance.
Slowly, carefully, she crept behind a set of boxes near the stand that would keep her hidden, but bring her close enough to the Nord to reach for the chain. Which was what she did, gingerly. She felt the gold touch her fingertips, and she hooked her pointer finger through the chain. Gently, she lifted her arm to withdraw the necklace from the Nord's pocket, and she was certain she was about to take it, when a hand clamped down on her wrist.
She let out a frustrated and frightened gasp, and tried to pull away from the vice-like grip, but it held fast.
"How dare you try to steal from this man?" a cold voice asked her.
She glanced up and found herself staring into eyes as dark and gray as a storm. They were set over a pointed nose, and a scowl. His entire face was framed by dark hair, and a hood was pulled up over his head.
She scowled right back at him, and tried to free herself from the dark man's grip again. Her second attempt failed as well, and she gave up, seeing no way out for herself, and wondering why the shadows had lied to her.
The man turned to the Nord, who seemed astonished that he had almost been stolen from, and hadn't noticed.
"I'll take her to the guards, if you like," the man who had caught her said.
"No!" the girl exclaimed, trying to escape for a third time. The guards would put her in jail, or worse, send her to the orphanage. She had known she shouldn't try to steal the necklace. She was an idiot. Maybe she deserved to spend a few nights in jail. At least it would be warmer, and she would have food.
Actually… jail wasn't sounding so bad after all.
"Yes, do so, please," the Nord said to the man who held her wrist. "Ask that they take her fingers, or something similar." He hurriedly pulled the necklace out of his pocket and slid it over his head, all the while glaring down at the girl. "It would be much appreciated."
"I'll do that," the hooded man promised, and then he yanked the girl to her feet. "Come on, then, you guttersnipe."
The second time in a week she was being called that, and it didn't feel any better the second time.
She let the hooded man drag her out of the Riften Marketplace, and she expected him to pull her towards Mistveil Keep. Instead, he took a different route, and dragged her towards the Temple of Mara instead.
The girl was very confused. Where was he taking her, if not to Mistveil Keep?
They passed under an archway beneath the Temple, and into the graveyard on the other side of the stone building. There, they stopped in front of an unmarked tomb, just beyond the forgotten statue of Talos. The man then turned to face her, and finally let her wrist go.
"I apologize for interrupting your steal," he said. "I decided that I'd rather catch you myself, than risk a guard doing so."
The girl blinked at him in confusion, and rubbed at the wrist he had been holding. "Wh-what do you want from me?" she whispered.
The hooded man gazed at her. "Your inborn talent," he said. "I know a thief when I see one."
"I'm not -"
"Not yet," he answered, "but I also know an orphan, someone who has nowhere to go, when I see one." He tilted his head. "Would you like to have somewhere to go, little raven?"
The girl merely frowned at him. "But I'm not a thief." Even though the shadows tell me differently.
"Anyone can be a thief, if trained in the right way," the man told her. "And, luckily for you, I found you, and therefore, I'll be the one to train you."
The girl wasn't sure what to say. She had met this man less than five minutes prior, still hadn't exchanged names with him, and yet he was offering to train her as a thief, and give her a home? Why?
"Why are you -?"
"Trying to help you?" the man guessed before she could finish. The girl nodded, and the man crossed his arms. "I figured that it was time for me to do my good deed for the month. Take it or leave it, little raven."
Take it or leave it. So this was it, then. This was the Divines, or maybe even the shadows, reaching out to her, offering a strange form of salvation in the appearance of thievery and a dark man in a hood. She could take it, or leave it, just like he said.
It wasn't like she had much choice, did she? It was this or die, after all.
"Tell me your name," she said.
The man actually seemed to smile in response to this, and the girl thought he would be a lot handsomer if he smiled more often than he frowned.
"Mercer Frey, second-in-command of the Thieves Guild," he said. "And what's your name, little raven?"
"I'm Ziris Coldwater." She offered Mercer her hand. "It's nice to meet you."
Mercer returned her proffered hand with one of his own, and they shook. "Indeed."
With introductions out of the way, Ziris allowed Mercer to lead her into the tomb, and she watched in amazement as he pushed a button on the casket inside. The casket slid away, revealing a hidden entrance, and Mercer looked at her.
"Impressed?"
"I've never seen such magic," she responded, and Mercer let out a bark of laughter.
"Not magic, little raven," he said, starting down the stairs and putting a hand on the pull chain that was hanging from the wall near a covered drain of sorts. "Just a simple mechanism."
Ziris joined him at the foot of the stairs, and Mercer pulled the chain. The casket moved back into place, shrouding them in darkness, and Mercer leaned down and pulled the cover out of the way of the drain.
"There's a ladder," he said to Ziris. "Watch your footing."
She gingerly poked a foot into the drain he had opened, and found a ladder waiting for her. She lowered her whole body into the drain and started down the ladder, one rung at a time. Mercer followed her after moving the cover back into place.
As they descended the ladder, a strange scent filled Ziris's nose, and she sniffed in disgust. "What is that?" she asked Mercer.
"That is the smell of your new home, little raven," he replied.
Ziris put a foot down for another ring, but found open space instead. When she looked down, she also found light waiting for her.
Warily, she dropped down from the ladder, and ended up on her hands and knees on a hard, stone floor. Her injured hand screamed in pain, but she shook it off, not wanting to see weak. Grunting, she struggled back to her feet, and turned around to take in her new surroundings.
The young girl's eyes widened as she took in the large, dome ceilinged stone room she'd just fallen into. All around the edges of the circular room was a stone pathway, that had several hallways attached to it leading into the stone walls. The pathways all met in a large circle in the center of the room, over a pool of water. Steady streams filtered down from above, sounding thunderous as they hit the larger pool.
The room was filled with others, thieves. They all wore brown leather armor, like the kind the boy who had tried to steal from her parents' farm had been wearing. Some were seated on the beds that lined the stone pathway. Others were shooting at wooden dummies set up nearby. A white-blonde haired woman was cooking over the fire pit a few feet away from where Ziris stood.
Ziris couldn't believe it. The place already felt like home, and she had been there for two minutes.
Mercer stepped up beside her. "Welcome to the cistern," he said to her.
"It's amazing," she said, looking around in awe once more.
"Mercer." The white-blonde haired woman had turned away from her cooking and was now facing them. Her arms were crossed, and she studied Ziris with a scrutinizing eye. "What is this?" she asked.
"This is Ziris," Mercer answered. "Our newest recruit. Ziris, this is Vex."
Vex, Ziris saw, couldn't have been much older that Ziris herself. She was incredibly young, yet she looked as though she knew much more than Ziris ever would. Ziris placed her age as only seventeen or eighteen years, if that.
"Our new recruit?" Vex didn't looked happy. "I thought you, Gallus and Karliah went on that secret heist Gallus has been planning? You come back with a 'new recruit' instead of loot?" The white-blonde frowned even deeper. "Where are Gallus and Karliah?"
Ziris glanced up at Mercer. A strange expression had crept onto his face, and he lowered his gaze to the floor.
"That's something the whole Guild should hear," he said quietly.
Ziris turned back to Vex, only to find that her eyes had gone wide. "Why? What's happened?" she asked.
"Would you get everyone together?" Mercer queried, looking up. "I'll explain when we're all here."
Vex glanced once more at Ziris, and then she turned and walked off towards the closest group of thieves, who were already looking towards Ziris and Mercer in interest.
"Mercer, who -?"
"You'll find out shortly, little raven," he answered without looking down at her. "Come with me."
Ziris didn't argue, and followed him across one of the pathways that arched over the water to the center of the room. There, he stood, and crossed his arms. Ziris thought he looked sad, and she wondered why, especially when he'd seemed content enough before. Who could Gallus and Karliah be, and where were they? Why did the thought of them make Mercer sad?
She supposed she'd just have to listen to what Mercer had to say to the whole Guild, and find out then.
The first group of thieves that Vex had gone to approached them. There were three thieves, all male. One was a Breton, already balding, and two Bosmer, one who had a bow on his back. They all stopped when they reached the two of them, and Ziris backed away when the Breton crouched down in front of her.
"Where'd you find this one, Mercer?" the Breton inquired, grinning at her.
"Ah, leave her alone, Delvin," one of the Bosmer said, swatting at the back of the Breton's head.
"What's your name, little lass?" the Bosmer with the bow asked her.
Ziris glanced up at Mercer, who nodded towards the Bosmer who'd asked her the question. Ziris turned back to him, and nervously responded, "Ziris. What's yours?"
The Bosmer exchanged amused glances, and the one with the bow gestured to the other. "This is Fimos, and I'm Niruin. Welcome to the Thieves Guild, Ziris."
"And I'm Delvin," the Breton said, straightening up at last. "Apologies for scaring you, love. Not everyday we get a new recruit, though. I was a bit curious."
"It's all right," Ziris said, although she did take a step closer to Mercer, who was lowering his hood. He glanced down at her, and the corner of his mouth quirked upwards.
So attached already.
More thieves were crossing over to them, and Ziris was introduced to a Nord who called himself Molgrom, and another Breton who referred to herself as Lyslin. Lyslin was older than Vex by quite a bit, and she and Delvin seemed very friendly with one another. Ziris wrinkled her nose when the two exchanged a kiss, and Niruin laughed at her.
There were at least fifteen thieves that gathered around Mercer before Vex finally joined them, and Mercer looked around at all of them before sighing, and turning his gaze to the ground.
"What are we here for, Mercer?" asked a Nord that Ziris hadn't learned the name of.
"Where are Gallus and Karliah?" another queried.
"Thieves Guild, I return to you with… upsetting news," Mercer began.
Immediately, worried murmurs broke out amongst the gathered thieves, and Delvin gestured for them all to quiet down before he looked at Mercer. "What kind of news?" he asked him.
"As you all know," Mercer said after a moment of silence, "Gallus, Karliah and I traveled to one of the Nordic ruins to retrieve something that Gallus has been planning on taking for a long time. All was going according to plan, at first."
He waited for someone to interrupt him, but no one did. They were all silent, and staring at him.
"I arrived at the ruin after Gallus did. He was waiting for me, in the shadows. When I approached, he slid out of the shadows to greet me and…" Mercer let out a breath. "She killed him. Karliah killed Gallus. She shot an arrow into his throat and then another into my chest. I'm lucky to be alive; the arrow was poisoned, but it was a paralysis poison. It left me worthless while Karliah dragged Gallus's body to the ruin and dumped it in."
Almost at once, a wave of outrage erupted from the gathered thieves. There was yelling, and cursing of Karliah's name. Amidst all the madness, however, Mercer didn't miss the odd look that Lyslin was giving him, and he turned his eyes away from her before they could meet gazes.
"I wanted to kill her, but she ran off and disappeared into the damn shadows before my paralysis wore off," he continued when the outrage had quieted down a bit.
"We have to find her!" someone exclaimed.
"She must pay for what she's done!" another agreed.
Mercer was nodding. "I know how you all feel, and I feel similarly. We will do all we can to find Karliah before she can get far, but it is going to be difficult." He frowned. "But right here, right now, Karliah is banned from the Thieves Guild. If you see her anywhere near Riften, or the cistern, you will be held responsible for her. Is that understood?"
No one argued against him. Ziris was impressed.
"Mercer, this means you're in charge," Lyslin stated, which caused more murmuring to arise from the crowd.
Mercer sighed, and crossed his arms. "I suppose -"
"Wait, what if someone else wants to be Guild Master?" one of the thieves Ziris didn't know the name of asked.
Mercer seemed taken aback by the inquiry, and he frowned a bit. "Is that how you feel, J'saad?" he asked the Khajiit that had spoken.
"Not me," the cat responded, "but perhaps someone else…?" He looked around at the other thieves, but no one spoke up.
The Khajiit seemed to change his mind, and he backed down entirely. Mercer glanced around at the rest of the gathered thieves.
"Is anyone opposed to the rules of the Guild being followed?" he asked, a small hint of sarcasm in his tone. No one said anything, and Mercer uncrossed his arms. "Very well. As Gallus's second-in-command, I will take on the role of Guild Master. For my own second -"
He was cut off as a door nearby slammed, making Ziris jump.
"Gallus! Gallus! You won't believe what I took!" A young voice, male, reached the gathered group of thieves, who parted down the middle as a redheaded boy, no older than ten winters, entered the fold. "What're we all gathered here for?" he asked no one in particular. He looked at Mercer, and grinned. "Hello, Mercer. Gallus said you'd be back today. I wanted to show him what I stole." He glanced around at the others again. "Where is he?"
"Brynjolf…" Mercer exhaled and stepped towards him. He rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, who frowned at him in response. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but… Gallus is dead."
Brynjolf's green eyes went wide, and he took a step backwards away from Mercer, shaking his head. "No, he can't be," he said under his breath. "You're lying."
"Bryn," Delvin started, reaching towards him. Brynjolf shook his head roughly again, tears rising to his eyes.
"No!" He turned and pushed his way out of the group of thieves and ran across the cistern to one of the beds, which he threw himself on top of and didn't move.
Ziris blinked at the boy, and then she glanced up at Mercer. The thief was watching Brynjolf with a strange look on his face. He shook his head after a moment, however, and addressed the whole Guild.
"I'll be deciding on my second by tomorrow." He gestured to Ziris. "And for anyone who didn't meet her, this is Ziris Coldwater, our newest recruit. Be nice to her, please. She has a lot of potential."
Ziris lifted a hand in greeting, although she was worried about Brynjolf. His reaction to the news of Gallus's death had been the most violent, and she felt like he needed to be spoken to about it.
Still, she had to see what Mercer wanted her to do, first.
"I promise, we will find Karliah, and bring her to justice," Mercer said to everyone. "And I promise that nothing will be changing around here, so long as I'm Guild Master. The Guild will survive."
Quiet agreements came back to him from the gathered thieves, and then they began to walk off, breaking apart the meeting. Mercer watched them all go, and then he looked down at Ziris. "I'll have our armorer get started on a set for you. Why don't you take a look around, and talk to a few of the others?"
Ziris nodded, and Mercer turned away from her and headed towards a wooden desk near one of the hallways she'd noticed before. Ziris turned and looked around. The thieves had all gone different directions, although most had gone to their beds and were sitting on the edges of them, looking down at the floor. She doubted any of them wanted to be friendly with her just then.
Instead of going to one of them, Ziris headed for the bed where Brynjolf had collapsed, and stopped at the foot of it. The redheaded Nord had buried his head under his pillow, and he muttered out a curse when Ziris announced her presence.
"I'm sorry about Gallus," she said to him.
"Why?" Brynjolf asked defensively, his voice muffled. "You didn't even know him."
"I just know what it's like to lose someone you care about," Ziris replied. "He was your mentor or something, right?"
There was a moment of silence, and then Brynjolf lifted the pillow off of his head and glanced at her. "He brought me into the Guild, and taught me what I know, yeah," he said to her.
"So, he was close to you," Ziris concluded, "and I'm sorry he's gone now."
Brynjolf frowned, and sat up. "Who are you, anyway?" he asked her.
"My name is Ziris," she responded. "Mercer found me earlier, in Riften." She tilted her head at him. "You're so familiar to me."
"I think I know why," Brynjolf said, sighing. "Your father almost cut my hand off a few months ago."
Ziris's eyes widened. "So you're the thief!" she exclaimed. I knew that I knew him.
Brynjolf nodded. "My first solo trip, and I almost lost my hand," he said, smiling a bit. "Gallus wasn't happy, but he laughed about it when he thought I wasn't looking." Brynjolf lost his grin, and glanced at Ziris. "So… you're a new recruit, then?"
"I guess so," Ziris answered. Her stomach grumbled loudly, and she clasped a hand down over it. She glanced at Brynjolf, embarrassed, but found the young thief chuckling.
"Come on," he said, climbing off of his bed. "Let's find you something to eat."
Ziris followed him away from the bed and towards the kitchen-like area near the ladder she and Mercer had climbed down. As they went, Brynjolf pointed out thieves to her, and told her what they were good at.
"Delvin's our master sneak, and Niruin is a wizard with a bow," he said to her. "Vex is honing her lock picking with help from Lyslin."
"Are Lyslin and Delvin…?"
"Hah, no," Brynjolf said. "They just like to make the rest of us uncomfortable." He gestured towards the wooden table, and Ziris sat down on one of the benches while Brynjolf went to the fire pit.
"Looks like someone already cooked up something," he said to Ziris.
"Vex was cooking when Mercer and I came down," Ziris replied, watching Brynjolf reach for a ladle to spoon some of the stew into a bowl. "Do you want me to -?"
"No," Brynjolf said, turning around and facing her, two bowls filled already. "I got it."
Ziris blinked at him as Brynjolf set one of the bowls down in front of her, and then sat down across from her with his own bowl in hand. He reached up and into the wooden cabinet nearby, and handed her one of the spoons he pulled out of it.
"Thieves have a lot of talents," Ziris said, which only earned a small smile from Brynjolf.
They sat and ate in silence for a few minutes. Brynjolf watched in surprise as Ziris swallowed down most of her stew in that period of time, and then, glancing at him first to make sure it was okay, went to get more.
When she came back, Brynjolf decided to ask the question that had been bothering him.
"Why were you in Riften by yourself?" he queried. "I wouldn't think that a farmer's daughter like you would be found by a Thieves Guild member, and recruited."
He watched Ziris's expression go dark, and she turned her eyes downwards. Without looking up at him, she said, "My parents were killed by a group of vampires that attacked our farm."
Brynjolf's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," he said quietly. "I didn't have any idea."
"It's all right," Ziris said, a hand darting up and wiping across her eyes. "Nothing could have stopped it." She finally looked up at him again. "I was out in the field when it happened, and I saw our house burn to the ground. When I went to see what had happened, after I was sure the vampires were gone, I found that my parents were gone, too." She grimaced a bit at the memory. "Everything was. I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I came to Riften. I was living on the street until Mercer found me trying to steal, earlier."
"Have you stolen before?" Brynjolf asked, and Ziris shook her head.
"The idea usually makes me sick." She managed a weak grin. "Guess I'll have to get over that now, though, won't I?"
"Guess so," Brynjolf agreed. He watched her for a moment, and saw that her appetite must have faded, because she didn't eat anymore of her stew.
After they had been quiet for a few minutes, Brynjolf reached into one of the many pouches on his armor and retrieved the item he'd stolen, and had wanted to show Gallus. The thought of his mentor made his heart ache, but he knew that there was no reason to dwell. Gallus was dead.
"Here," Brynjolf said, reaching across the table towards Ziris, and holding out his palm. She glanced at it, and found a beautiful silver ring embossed with an emerald sitting on his hand. Ziris lifted her eyes back to Brynjolf, and he grinned. "I want you to have it."
"But -"
"It's nothing important, just part of practice runs that Gallus and Delvin send me on," Brynjolf interrupted, knowing that she was going to ask if it needed to go towards the Guild's funding. "Take it."
Ziris seemed hesitant, but she reached out and took it all the same. She tried to slid it onto all of her fingers, but it was too big.
"Oh well," Brynjolf said, reaching into another one of his pockets. He withdrew a plain silver chain, and took the ring back from her. Within a few seconds, he had slid the ring onto the chain, and handed the makeshift necklace back to her. "Here. Now it won't get in the way when you're picking locks."
Ziris slid the chain over her head, and glanced down. The ring sparkled in the light of the torches on the cistern walls, and she grinned to herself before shyly looking up at Brynjolf. "Thank you."
He nodded, and returned his attention to his stew. Ziris couldn't help but continue to smile as she went to finish her second helping. Being a thief couldn't be that bad, right? And Brynjolf was already looking like he could be a good friend.
Things were suddenly appearing to be a lot brighter than they were before she'd wrapped her fingers around the golden chain of the shopkeeper's necklace.
And so it begins.