The sun shone happily on the streets of Riften despite the dark incidents that had transpired the night before. People shopped, laughed, and all together tried to forget that one of their numbers was decidedly absent from his usual stand in the center of town. Modesi had fallen into trouble with The Guild again, and everyone, well, everyone who was from Riften, knew what that meant.
"I can't believe it, no one even seems to care that those…those robbers have obviously done something to him! I mean, for divines sakes Aerin, the man lives in beggar's row! What could they expect from him?" The lioness said to her companion.
"Mjoll just calm down, upsetting yourself is not going to help Modesi in any way. He's not dead; you know that's not how they operate. He'll be back tomorrow when he…rests up." Said Aerin, who on more than one occasion, took it upon himself to quell the rage that would no doubt rip from his female friends' breast had she allowed herself to become any more enamored with the situation.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt but can you help me find the orphanage? I, um, have an appointment…" a young woman with dark hair said to the pair.
"Oh no, excuse us. Go right through the center of town, all the way to the Jarls palace, and then to the right." Mjoll said with a smile at the newcomer. Mjoll always got excited when new faces appeared in the city. Opportunities to advance her crusade against the Thieves Guild of Riften were few and far between these days. "Welcome to Riften, traveler. I'm Mjoll, and this is Aerin."
"Thanks, I really appreciate the help. I was given a map, but I must confess I'm absolutely terrible at reading them. I'm Lillian Frost-Eye." She offered her hand to them. Mjoll grasped it energetically.
"Frost-eye? As in Aldrich Frost-eye? The war hero of Skyrim?"
"Why, yes he was my fa-"
"Oh wow! It is an honor to meet you, milady," Mjoll made a bow "I was at your father's funeral, he was a great man. What brings you to Riften?"
Lily had had a two month carriage ride to decide whether or not she was going to make her circumstance known to others. No matter how badly she wanted to ignore it, Ulfric was probably right; there was an assassin out looking for her. She looked at Mjoll, considering any ulterior motives the woman might have, and ultimately decided that she was too much of a Good Samaritan to ever be a murderer.
"I was sent here to live at," Lily looked down at the paper, "Honorhall Orphanage. Strange, I feel as if I would have more respect for the place if its name wasn't such an obvious lie."
Aerin chuckled, "a lie indeed, I don't even think the children are available for adoption. The woman who runs that place is, to put it lightly, not pleasant. But why do you need to live there? You must have other relatives."
"I was living with them. They recently…passed away." Lily said. Though she highly doubted that these two were dangerous in anyway, she chose her words carefully. Lily decided that everyone in this town would be on a "need to know" basis when it came to her personal matters. She didn't intend on making a home here, why get invested with the people?
"I offer my deepest condolences, milady. It must have been terrible to lose them." Mjoll said.
"Aye, well, we all have to go sometime, I suppose." Lily said, not really caring if she sounded cool about the deaths. If one more person tells me how terrible this loss is...
"You are very brave to be so strong in this time. Please, if there is anything, and I mean anything, you need, do not hesitate to call upon us. We'd be more than happy to help" Mjoll responded, apparently unaware of the residual sarcasm that inhabited the young woman's voice. She gave Lily a pat on the shoulder and a broad smile.
"Thank you, I'll remember that. I shall see you two around town then, good day," and with that, Lily began the trek to the Riften Orphanage.
Ω
This is absolutely ridiculous, Lily thought as she swung open the door to the house, if you could call it that. She was greeted, or perhaps verbally assaulted would be a more fitting term, by an old woman in a tattered dress sitting behind a desk.
"What do ya want? The children aren't for adoption so get out," The last syllables of the ancient looking woman's words were cut off by a coughing fit that crescendoed into what sounded like a bear asserting its dominance and ended with a black mass being spat upon the floor. Lily took a step back.
"My name is Lillian Frost-Eye, I-,"
"Who? Never heard of you, get out."
What an absolutely charming woman.
"I was given a letter from Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak in Windhelm for you, and some gold for my-,"
"Gold? Well give it here child, I don't have all day to wait on the likes of you," Lily made a motion to hand the crone a slip of paper and a sack of gold, which was grabbed roughly from her small hands.
"…relatives murdered…need boarding for three months…if needed, more gold will be sent…" At these last words, the old woman's face lit up and she looked at Lily with a honeyed grin, "Well, they'll certainly want you to be comfortable for these three hard months, I'll send word that this amount of gold," she weighed it in her hand, "will definitely not be enough. Go ahead into the children's bedroom and set your things down, I'll have Constance get you a bed."
Lily smiled sardonically and left the hag to write her letter. She didn't care what the miserable old bat scammed out of Ulfric Stormcloak, he wasn't exactly on her list of people she had any sort of respect for at the moment. Lily understood why he had sent her away. And though she hated to admit it, it was a good plan. As long as she laid low and didn't draw attention to herself, she'd have no trouble hiding out in this town for a couple months.
She made her way into what she could only assume was the children's room. The room was barren of any kind of decoration. Beds lined the two opposing walls, trunks placed at the foot of each one. A great fireplace stood cold and grey between two of the beds and Lily wondered if it had ever been lit. She was just setting her things down upon the floor when an Imperial woman entered the room.
"You must be the new orphan. I must say, I expected you to be younger…" She said stopping a few feet in front of Lily.
"I'm Lillian Frost-eye. The woman at the door said that I'm supposed to have a bed here?" Lily said, ignoring the woman's observation. She had to play nice if she was going to survive these three months.
"Yes, I'm afraid you'll have to sleep in here with the children; that's the only place we have space. I'll put you in the corner." She said picking up one of Lily's bags and bringing it over to a bed. "This bed and trunk are yours, but I would strongly suggest not putting anything of value in the trunk. It might walk away, if you know what I mean."
"You have a problem with the children stealing things?"
"Oh no, not the children, but as you can tell this really isn't a fortress, and with The Thieves Guild operating here...well, just keep your jewelry with you, ok?" She finished.
"You're the expert." Lily said. She wasn't going to get any more answers out of this woman so she just let the conversation drop. "I don't believe you ever gave me your name."
"Constance. If you need anything, come to me. Grelod is, um, difficult to get along with, so just bring your concerns to me, ok?"
"Alright, thank you Constance. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get settled in."
"Of course, call if you need anything," and she left the room.
Lily laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. The day had been frustrating; mostly due to the fact she had been in a foul mood to begin with. She had almost been coming out of it until she entered the orphanage. The incident with, Grelod was it, had left a bad taste in her mouth. From the few sentences Lily had spared the woman, she could tell that their relationship would be a fiery one, or completely non-existent, the latter being not entirely unwelcome. Constance seemed to be completely under Grelod's thumb. She's probably the one who cleans up after the hag, Lily thought, probably why she told me to come to her directly, cuts out the middle man. Anyway, the less time I can spend with both of them, the better.
She couldn't decide if she didn't like the people she had met today because of their personalities or if it was just the stubbornness that accompanied her mood. Whatever the case, Lily made the executive decision to 'figure it out in the morning' and fell asleep.
