Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the game, but I do claim my storyline and my female character.

Sure, the Thieves Guild might have been down on their luck lately, but this year was going to be different. It was the beginning of a brand new century and everyone was looking forward to pulling the Guild out of their lingering pit fall. No scam or con was too low for them and with this ingenious new idea, they were about claw their way back to the top. Or at least that's what Rune had in mind. He had managed to litter the center of the Cistern with a mountain of odd looking hay with a heap of burlap sacks next to it. He was quietly stuffing the large sacks with hay when one of his so-called-friends entered the room.

"Are we having a bonfire or something? What's all this shit doing here?" Vipir the Fleet asked, having just returned from the Ragged Flagon with an ale in hand. Rune made a disgruntled face.

"It's the basis of my new sales pitch." He answered.

"I know I'm going to regret asking, but, what is it?"

"I'm glad you asked! This here is Bulking Hay! Guaranteed to increase your livestock's produce! Chickens will lay more eggs, and cows will give more milk! Works on goats too!" Rune replied in a more serious boisterous voice.

"You're joking right?"

"No! I would never joke about prices this good! For the fair price of sixty Septims per bag, they can be yours! But act now, and I'll give you two for only hundred!"

"You're ridiculous. I wouldn't even spend coin for the bags they're in," Vipir ribbed as he took a sip of his drink, "Oh, and I think you should be taken off stall duty. Brynjolf's better at it anyway." Rune looked devastated that his ploy didn't go over as he had hoped, but perhaps someone with more expertise would have a better opinion. He turned his attention to the far more knowledgeable thief deep in his thoughts.

"Bryn? Master of conning? What say you?" Brynjolf knew that the hay would never work on Riften's citizens, but it might hold them over until he finalized his own plan. So, the Nord glanced at his brother in-crime and swiftly put together an encouraging response,

"Oh, er, I like it lad. I truly do. It's just, I don't think our target audience will be as receptive as you want them to be. The idea is, um, creative though. And it looks nice too. What's in it?"

"I just gathered a ton of red, blue and purple mountain flowers, plucked the petals off and mixed them into the hay." Rune explained with a shrug.

"Wait. That's what you've been doing? Picking flowers?" Vipir scoffed as another thief made his way down the ladder and into the Cistern. That thief took one glance at the situation and instantly rained on Rune's parade.

"Get that out of here. Mercer's coming back tonight and when he sees that garbage, he's going to be pissed."

"But it's over 30 pounds of hay. How am I supposed to get rid of it?" Rune wondered, becoming more and more discouraged.

"The same way you got it in here." Cynric logically replied as he made his way over to the cook pit. Rune opened his mouth to complain some more, but stopped right as he saw the Guild Master himself enter the room.

Everyone stood in silence waiting to see what their leader's reaction would be. Mercer Frey gave them no acknowledgment and continued to his desk. He sat down, glancing over some paperwork. He then looked up with a scowl and replied,

"I want that mess cleaned up by tonight, or I will be withholding all of your jobs indefinitely."

"All of us?" Vipir asked with disbelief.

"Did I stutter?"

"Wait, don't you want to hear my plan?" Rune asked with his last chance of hope.

"No. Now get to work. All of you," Mercer promptly shot down, returning to his papers. The rest of the thieves held in their disappointment and started towards the center of the room, when all of a sudden a body fell from the Cistern ceiling and onto the pile of hay face first. They all quickly glanced at Mercer to see what his response would be. And without looking up from his papers he gave them his orders, "I want that disposed of as well."

"Aw man, it's bad enough business is non existent, but now people are dumping bodies down here? Where's the respect?" Vipir complained as he started to stuff the bags.

"Seriously. My hay is what we need to turn the guild around," Rune murmured as he and Cynric joined in on the cleaning up. Brynjolf knelt down and examined the body. He noticed that the victim was a foul-smelling, dirty scrawny female with a wild mass of hair. There also happened to be some sort of dagger stuck in one of her shoulder blades, perhaps the means of her death. Brynjolf turned the body on its side.

"Aw, poor thing. Looks like she had a hard life." He commented sympathetically, eyes lingering on her shoulder.

"Gross. She reeks so bad. I bet she could give the beggars a run for their pocket lint." Vipir grimaced.

"Heh, says the guy who bathes once a year?" Cynric pointed out.

"Whatever, who bathes on a monthly basis? What are you? High king?" Brynjolf just rolled his eyes and prepared himself to lift the body off the ground,

"I'll go sneak this into the Hall of the Dead. Be back in a flash." He picked her up, but immediately dropped her when he felt her breathe out.

"Whoa! She's alive! Mercer!?" Brynjolf exclaimed, startling his comrades.

"That changes nothing. Dump her outside." Mercer grumbled from behind his desk.

"We can't do that!"

"You can, and you will."

"Come on Mercer. She needs our help. What if she dies?"

"I do not care," the Guild Master stated coldly, "We are not a charity. But since you are so concerned, how about you drop her off at the Temple? They like that kind of thing." The more compassionate thief just shook his head, and tried to appeal to his superior, "No. We can't just abandon her. That's not right."

"You are trying my patience Brynjolf. This person may have landed in our hands, but that does not automatically make her our responsibility. I do not want her here meddling in our business and mucking it all up. So get her out of here."

"Aren't you just a wee bit curious about her?" Brynjolf tried one last attempt.

"No. And I am done discussing this," Mercer declared as he stood up, "I need to tend to more important matters at hand, and I already gave you my orders. I expect them to be completed by the time I return, or there will be hell to pay." He then exited the room without another word.

Once Mercer's ominous presence was gone, Brynjolf picked up the wounded woman, strolled over to an empty bed and set her down.

"Are you seriously defying Mercer's orders?" Vipir asked very concerned.

"He was just in a bad mood. I don't think he was serious." Cynric speculated as he tossed another full bag off to the side.

"I dunno. He sounded pretty serious to me." Rune replied nervously.

"Don't worry lads. It'll all be on me if it goes south. You guys just continue to work on that mountain." Brynjolf comforted. He then gave a wake-up call to a fellow member,

"Thrynn! I need you over here!" The blond man a few beds over slowly rose, and wearily replied,

"Hmm? What're you hollering about? What the heck is that mess?"

"Forget that. I need your expertise on knife wounds." Brynjolf demanded as Thrynn shuffled his way over.

"Did someone finally shank ya? Good." The tired man commented with a smile.

"Not me. Her. What should we do?"

"Well, obvious thing first. We need to get that dagger out. But afterward, it doesn't really matter. I could sew her up, or get a hold of some healing potions." the former Bandit explained.

"Which is better?" Brynjolf inquired. The other thief just shrugged and pulled out a coin.

"Heads, I sew'er up. Tails, I brew something." He stated before flipping the Septim in the air. Brynjolf snatched it out of the air and quickly scorned him,

"Be serious. She could be dying."

"Nah. Look, she wasn't stabbed anywhere essential. The worst that could happen would be losing an arm." Thrynn said rather calmly.

"Right. How about you stitch her up, and heal her?" Brynjolf suggested.

"Oh yeah. That'd work too. Let me gather some things right quick." Thrynn then hurried off to gather what he needed. Brynjolf turned the young woman onto her side again and gently removed her hide top. The younger thief returned with some supplies and gave her a quick look over. Besides the dried blood, it actually didn't look too bad. It looked like a relatively clean stab. He then firmly grasped the handle, and yanked it out.

"There. Hmm, Orchish? Not too shabby." Thrynn commented as he handed it over to his friend. Then he started to clean the wound. Brynjolf cleaned the dagger off with a rag and noticed that it had random engraved marks along the blade.

"So, who is she?" Thrynn wondered as he started to stitch his patient back together again.

"Dunno."

"Figures. So you're playing knight in shiny leather? Or did you fall for a pretty face again?" Brynjolf sighed and instinctively pocketed the knife.

"I'm just doing what I'd want others to do for me."

"Right. How'd you guys meet again?" Thrynn asked as he reached into her pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper, and a pouch of silver ores.

"Someone threw her down the well and she landed on Rune's mess."

"Huh, that's a new one. I wonder who she pissed off."

"What do you mean?"

"They left her belongings. This wasn't a robbery, I think it might have been personal." The former bandit speculated.

"Is it possible that it was a botched hit?"

"Assassins in Riften? I seriously doubt it. Maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to see."

"I guess anything's possible. I hope she wakes up soon, then we can figure it out." Brynjolf noted.

"Well, I'm not sure when that's gonna be," Thrynn admitted as he gathered up his materials, "but be sure to give me an update when I get back."

"Where you off to?"

"Sorry. There are some heads that need busting way up in Windhelm today, so I need to start preparing for that. Oh, but when she wakes up. Give her some of this, should help with any pains she'll be having." Thrynn advised, leaving behind a small red bottle.

"Ah alright then. Thanks for all your help lad. Really appreciate it." Brynjolf thanked with a nod.

"No prob. Good luck with mystery girl." answered Thrynn before he headed off to the cooking spit. Rune then came over, and awkwardly said,

"Hey Bryn. Can you be on stall duty today? I think it'll take me all day to clean up all this, and I don't really want Mercer to be even more mad than he already is when he comes back." Brynjolf glanced at the still unconscious girl, and then reluctantly answered,

"Yes, I guess it'd be in my favor to get on his good side...do you know what happened to my Butterfly Extracts?"

"I moved them over to the training room to make room for my stuff."

"Okay. Can you guys watch over her until I get back?" Brynjolf may have asked it, but it sounded more like an order. Vipir quickly volunteered because he was tired of helping Rune,"Oh! I'll do it! I don't have any jobs today."

"Good. I do. See you chumps later." Cynric hastily went over to join Thrynn.

"Just keep her in the corner of your eyes at all times," Brynjolf warned. "We don't know who she is, or what she can do. And when she wakes up, let her have that potion."

"Puh. Easy enough." Vipir scoffed.

"Er, are you sure this is a good idea? Leaving us with a half dead person, who could potentially kill us, or curse us, or worse?" Rune asked sounding overly cautious.

"Who are you, Delvin? Stop being paranoid. I bet she's just a beggar. We can definitely handle that." Vipir added without any dismay.

"She shouldn't be much trouble," Brynjolf reassured "And I'll return by this evening. Good luck boys, don't let me down." He left with warm smile and went to go prepare for his long day.

Story Notes: Although there is only one well in Riften, both the Ragged Flagon and it's Cistern have that open ceiling. So for my purposes, the Cistern is located directly beneath that main well.

A/N: Thanks to all who read my story. The next chapter will be released in a week. Also, a huge thanks to my beta, who makes me seem like a far more competent writer than I really am. :)