She had been gone all morning, afternoon and now it was pushing dusk. Delvin patted the second in command on the back. "She'll be fine. If she's all you said she'd be, she'll get back without so much as a scratch."
The redhead busied himself all day, and when it was well past dusk and she wasn't back, he went to the Flaggon to drink himself out of his stupor.
After his second tankard of preferred drink, the door to the messy tavern opened with a creak and a limping little Imperial made her way in.
She slumped into the chair in front of the second in command with a grin, then winced. When Delvin caught whiff of her, he asked Vekel for a hot cloth, bandages and healing potions.
"Take off the armor," commanded Brynjolf, kneeling at her side with the cloth Vekel had brought. She gave him a look that said "no" but it wasn't very firm. He just rolled his eyes and said, "You're my sister in crime, not hired fun," he said and started to unbuckle the armor from the side while she gingerly pulled it off. He didn't realize it then, but he later regretted calling her his sister in crime. For one wouldn't do the things he did with her if she were a sister.
Her olive toned cheeks got a little dark, but her features weren't so much embarrassed as pained when he started to clean her stomach of blood.
Upon further inspection, she was stabbed in the stomach pretty deep and slashed on both arms multiple times.
"What happened to your leg, lass?" he inquired as she tightened her breast wrap and put her armor back on.
She flushed with embarrassment. "I didn't see the bear trap on the way into the Flaggon," she said. Delvin laughed and smacked her lightly on the back of the head, but she only smiled sheepishly. Brynjolf just gave a smile and a shrug and wrapped it up.
"So what'd ya find, lass?" the redhead pressed as he sat in front of her. Vex sauntered over when business started to be discussed.
She pulled a note out of her armor's pocket as she buckled it back on. "A bill of sale," she said quietly and handed it to him.
He read it over, they watched in silence as his features became confused, annoyed and angry. "Arginoth sold Goldenglow?!" he exclaimed. "That idiot! He must not know the extent of Maven's fury when she's cut out of a deal, but oh! He'll soon be finding out." He paused and inspected the parchment. "Do you recognize this mark?" he asked Delvin, Vex and the Imperial. They shook their heads in unison.
"I'll check my sources and speak to Mercer. Oh, and lass," he turned to the dark haired woman. "Maven's asked for you. I'd see her immediately."
She nodded slowly but looked worried. "Don't worry. If she wanted you dead then she would have contacted the Dark Brotherhood already."
He was rewarded with a smile from her.
She liked Maven. That was a rare thing to be said, she found out. But upon meeting her, she knew she liked her for the following reasons:
1. Her name carries weight in Skyrim
2. She was a very go-to person. She got things done.
3. She had the coin.
"All I care about is cause and effect. Did the job get done and was it done correctly. There is no grey area."
_
Her next quest brought her to Whiterun.
It was a warm, bustling city with friendly people and traders all around.
With all the people around it was easy to blend in.
She spoke to the contact and received her job.
There turned out to be quite a bit more fighting than she had hoped, but all was worth it when she had pleased Maven and reeled in quite a bit of coin for the guild.