*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Three

The man in front of her wore what seemed like dull black leather. The front had belts that were strapped to his shoulders with pockets in the belts. He had a double belt at his waist that held a Glass dagger. He didn't seem much taller than Sybel, but he was definitely older. He had reddish brown hair that fell down to his shoulders with pale skin. He had a circle beard connected to a soul patch while the rest of his jaw was covered in a shadow of hairs. Da'Virr saw his dagger and just had to take it from him.

They were at the bottom along the canal, her tail wiggling back and forth as Da'Virr crouched and walked on the balls of her feet. She was almost an inch within touching the man at her front, her hand slowly reaching out to the blade at his left side. The money it would be worth almost made her drool as her nails came in contact with the strap that attached it to the belt.

The man wheeled on her so fast she didn't even realize she was pinned against the wall until it was too late. He looked at her with amusement twinkling in his green eyes. He was definitely around the age of Garret. Had to be. He might have looked young in the eyes, but she could see the very barest hint of crow's feet at his eyes.

"Were you trying to pick pocket me, lassie?" He had his forearm pressed against her throat, keeping her against the building and his free hand at his dagger.

"No, of course not? Why would you think that?" She spoke. He wouldn't believe her of course. People here in Skyrim took an instant dislike to her every time she removed her cowl to show she was a Khajiit. Screw them though. She couldn't change that she was born a Khajiit so might as well live it up while she could.

"I believe you were." He tilted his head to the right and looked at her. The amusement was still there and it kind of irked her. "You would have gotten it if I was just some patron enjoying a lovely stroll." He leaned back and removed his arm from her. "Speak to me in the morning. I'll be at the marketplace." He said with a wink before almost disappearing in the shadows. Holy mother of Elsweyr. Da'Virr glanced around the walkway and saw no one around. He just up and disappeared.

And he didn't even care that she had tried to steal from him! She shook her head as she headed to the stairs. She would stay at the inn for the night and see what this stranger had planned.

The morning came all too quick and she was out of her room and down in the basement of the cranky Argonians inn, stealing some apples and cheese for the road for when she left. She snuck out without a word and slid into the marketplace. What she wore didn't exactly help her blend. It was a black cowl that was pulled over far enough to cover the top half of her face while her mask hid the bottom part. She had on a tight leather suit that was put together from the silks made for her people. It was embroidered with the same black silk in the front to look more like a fancy party outfit than armor. Her daggers were at her back, help there with a silk belt that looped around the waist of her suit. They were Deadric daggers she stole off of some mercenary walking about Skyrim on her way here. Before she had glass, but now those were with the blacksmith Balimund she had met yesterday and she had some extra coin in her pocket.

The man from last stood in the middle of the marketplace and caught sight of her before she even entered the circle. He was no longer in the dull black leather he had been in the night before, but was wearing the clothes of a nobleman. It was a brown coat left open at the neck to show the tunic he had underneath it. It was closed at the belt where yet another dagger was at his side. "Never done an honest day of work in your life for all that coin you carry, ay lass?"

She glared at him but he would most likely be unable to see any real facial expressions through the mask and hood. "I have a little job for you." He grabbed her arm and drew her away from the people walking past. He lowered his head to her ear and whispered, "I need you to plant a stolen ring from Madesi's strongbox in Brand-Shei's pocket."

"Why?" Steal and then give to someone else. What the hell? What was she donating to the poor or something.

"Do you want a few extra coins or not?" He looked up and smiled and waved to a homeless person walking by. The person had white hair and was old and wrinkling. She sat down to the right of them on some ratted matt and asked any other passers for coin. Da'Virr nodded at Brynjolf. "Okay, lassie. Madesi's stand is over there with the jewelry display case. The strongbox is at the bottom. You can either pick it off him, he's the Argonian fellow over there, or you can pick the lock on the box." He pointed at the reptile standing at his stand. He wore a tunic that switched colors from blue to dark purple at the elbows. There was a vested material on his front made from an almost black, but had to be midnight blue in color rimmed with an inch of gold along the edges. He had lighter green skin at his neck, but his face was made of hunter green and light green, his eyes a blue that was so pale it seemed white.

"That is Brand-Shei." He pointed at the Dunmer. While most dark elves sported a dark blue skin, this elf had a dark green skin color. He had black straight hair that went down to his shoulders and he wore a bright red version of the outfit Madesi himself was wearing. The lack in diversity here was almost painful. Everyone looked and smelled the same. Even the clothes Brynjolf now wore made him blend in with the others. Her sister Nera would have a fit if she was forced to wear commoner clothes.

"What do you gain by having this done?" She hissed.

"Why do you care, ey?This is just simple coin." She took a step back to leave and turned slightly on her heal. "Fine. There is someone who wants to see him put out of business permanently." He answered. She let herself smile, knowing that he couldn't see it through her mask.

"How will I be getting the jewel when Madesi is standing at the front?"

"Leave that to me." He stepped away from her at that time and began to speak. "Everyone, everyone, gather round. I have something amazing to show you that demands your attention." She slid back into the crowd as they came closer and silently walked over to Madesi's stand. The necklaces in the case were gorgeous, the flawless gems shining as the sun hit them. She slid around to the back where Madesi had been standing and crouched slowly. She kept a careful eye on those around her as she attempted to open the sliding doors at the bottom. The door was locked so she pulled a lock pick out of her boot and got to work on unlocking the door.

Brynjolf voice could be heard faintly along with another's. "You need to hear this," said Brynjolf.

"Come on, Brynjolf. What is it this time?" another voice spoke.

"Patience, Brand-Shei. This is a rare opportunity, I wouldn't want you to get left out." It was the Dunmer. Nice to know he made peaceful talk with those he planned on ruining. She shook her head as she heard the lock click. It was simple enough. Smiling to herself she slid the door back to reveal the strongbox. The strongbox was locked but it was another simple lock, easily broken. It carried some coin, an amethyst and his silver ring. She pulled it out of the box along with the amethyst and gold and slid it into the hidden pocket at her hip.

"That's what you said about the wisp essence. That turned out to be crushed ninroot and water." Well it was his fault for not paying attention. She slowly closed the door back. With another glance she slid out from behind the stand and stood again. Brynjolf was still center of the attention and Brand-Shei seemed to be propped up against boxes.

"That was a simple misunderstanding. I assure you this is the real thing." She looked at him, but he didn't even glance her way. "Falmer blood elixir."

"Are you talking about the snow elves?" Brand-Shei questioned.

"The one and only. The mystical beings who lived in legends. Who mastered great magic. Image the power that coursed through their veins." She blanked the rest of what he spoke as she crouched behind the boxes. There was a gap that showed Brand-Shei's back. A perfect vantage for her. Everyone was up front and to his left and wouldn't bother looking over at the dark elf. Or at least, not behind him. She slipped the ring into the pocket on his vest before standing and walking away.

Brynjolf ended his conversation with the people almost instantly and they walked away calling him a con-artist and mumbling about how much of a liar he is. Da'Virr walked over to him slowly, not wanting people to think too much of mysteriously dressed woman in their town and why Brynjolf was talking to her. She was bumped into by a person walking back to their duties and she would have clawed their throat open if she had been in the mood to be arrested.

"Looks like I chose the right person for the job." Brynjolf noted. Of course you did. I'm amazing. She nodded. "and here you go, your payment. He stretched his hand out towards her with a coin purse and she gladly accepted it, opening her front of her tunic and dropping it in there to land wherever.

"Pleasure doing business with you." She spoke on a low purr.

"The way things have been going on around here it was a relief when our plan went on without a hitch." Brynjolf shifted on his feet and crossed his arms. He looked over towards Brand-Shei before looking back at her. "My organization has been having a run of bad luck, but I suppose that's just how it goes…but never mind that; you did your job and you did it well."

"Well of course. You already said it yourself. If you would have been an ordinary man I would have gotten that dagger." A wind swept through them and threatened to remove her hood. She caught it with nimble fingers and kept it in place until the wind stopped.

"I thought you weren't trying to steal anything from me?" Brynjolf was now smiling at her. That same look from last night was there. He still found her amusing. Yeah, not so amusing when I scratched your eyes out. "There's a lot more where that came from…if you think you can handle it."

"I can handle it." Her chest puffed with pride. One of her many sins. As her older sister would say in this case, 'May Talos forgive us.' Weird child, believing a man to become a god.

"All right then." He was now turned to his side. Brynjolf was going to pull the disappearing act again. "Let's try it out. The group I represent has its home in the rataways, beneath Riften, called the Ragged Flagon. Get there in one piece and we'll really see if you got what it takes."

"Oh I will." After stealing some more stuff…

Brynjolf turned from her and walked away before disappearing into the inn. She walked out of the marketplace as a guard passed her. She didn't want to seem nosy so she went over to the dark elf at the meat stand and pretended she was looking to buy something. "All right Brand-Shei, turn out your pockets, we know you have it."

"Have what? What in blazes are you talking about?" Brand-Shei demanded. She turned her head slightly. She could barely see the guard, but she could hear him slam his fists into the stand counter.

"Don't play stupid. Turn out your pockets now." There was some rustling of clothes as Brand-Shei replied claiming that he didn't know what was going on and he wanted to know.

"What is this ring? This isn't mine!" He spoke suddenly. Well. Good luck in jail.

Da'Virr thought about going to the Ragged Flagon right away. She even went down to the stairs to the properties that lined this cute little canal. She was just distracted by the pretty potion sign and thought, well why not spoil myself a bit? She entered the store. Elgrim's Elixirs. Ugly name. These nords couldn't dress or name anything for their lives.

Entering the place there was an empty counter. To the right there were two chairs and a fireplace. It all seemed empty and no one even heard her come in. The store wasn't closed or else it would have been locked so she would have to be careful not to have someone like Brynjolf walk in on her raiding the shelves of its potions and ingredients.

She crouched quickly below the back of the counter, taking and sticking plants and minor potions into a small bag she pulled from the inside of her suit. It was thin enough to hide when empty, but it could carry and a lot of weight. Da'Virr was on the a fancy healing potion bottle when some black haired woman suddenly gasped. Da'Virr cursed. She was caught.

"You put that back! Guards!" she called, running to the door and opening it. An elderly woman stumbled into the room in shock, but it quickly veered to anger when she saw the bag of stolen goods in her right hand. Da'Virr felt her ears sag. Garret was not going to be happy about this.

"So…we are going to Riften next then?" Drayce and Sybel were practicing with their swords by the waterfall while Garret was quickly fixing a piece to her mages robe. Sybel had ripped it somehow, but refused to tell her why. Drayce refused to comment and Garret just shook his head. Since she had no needlework abilities she was having Garret fix it for.

"I don't think you need to go out that far. Just go to Windhelm." Sybel spoke.

"I was already there the other day with Drayce. We cleared out the Grey Quarter of any healing potions and then we saw this dying elf in the White Phial." Sybel jumped out of the way as Drayce swung the steel sword down towards his stomach. They were wearing light steel armor and using steel swords only to train. If she used her actual armor and Sybel decided he wanted to duke it out there would be a lot of bloodshed. It was originally Garret, Drayce and Sybel and they had been together the longest so they fought more like siblings than the rest of them. Especially Sybel and Drayce.

"Is that why you were surprised to see Ulfric at Helgen?" Garret asked.

"Yeah. I thought he would be with his advisor in battle Galmor Stone-First." Sybel pushed Drayce back and spun with a deadly swing of his blade. It would have cleaved anyone's head off, but Drayce was too fast. She dropped her bodyweight to the ground, her back taking the impact before springing back up a few feet away from Sybel. She was in a crouch, one hand on the ground and the other still holding her sword.

"A good nord leader will go into battle with his subjects and fight the dangers head on. Not to would make him a coward." Garret explained. He let out a curse and she looked over at him sitting on the ground. He pricked his finger with the needle he had been using and was now wagging his hand back and forth in effort to remove the sting. "It would be good that we all stay out of this fight between Ulfric and the Empire," he added.

"Aren't you helping the Jarl of Whiterun right now though?" Sybel asked.

"Unfortunately. I didn't choose to, but I will. This dragon problem needs to be dealt with after all." Nera looked back over to Drayce pouncing on Sybel. She caught him in her arms and took him down hard in a tackle. It knocked Sybel's sword free of his hand and left Drayce on top with her sword now touching Sybel's throat. The swords were dull from their constant use, but it served its purpose for training. Garret had trained her with dull weapons, but as she got older Dane and Da'Virr found it stupid. Dane, a natural weapons expert wanted her to know how to fight with a sharp blade simply because soldiers didn't carry around used dull swords.

"Then let us deal with it. We took out a few or so dragons entering Skryim. It wasn't a big deal." Drayce spoke. She stood and offered her hand to Sybel who took it. She yanked him to a stand and then walked over to the weapons rack where she hung her sword and began to remove her own armor. Drayce was right.

"No. People will see what happens to the dragons. You will get pulled into a messy world I would rather you not go into." While Garret and Dane were here, the rest of them were coming in on a large ship that docked at Solitude. On the way here two dragons attacked them and overturned their carriage. They took them down fairly easy, two to each dragon, but something happened. The dragon decomposed almost instantly and a bright light consumed the body before entering Nera and Da'Virr.

"We aren't babies. We can take care of ourselves." Nera snapped. "If anything I can always bring Drayce!"

"Since when did I become your bitch?" Drayce was wiping her face off on the loose tunic she wore. She sat down beside Garret and pulled the mages robe out of his hand as he yet again pricked himself. She was inspecting it closely. "You should have been a seamstress. You and Dancer both would be rich and famous throughout Skyrim. Beat out that cranky bitch, Taarie and her equally bitchy sister Endarie."

"You became my female dog when I first came into your life and Garret fell instantly in love with me." Nera put her hand on her chest above her heart and her shoulders sagged as she looked down to the ground. "I became his favorite soon after he found me waddling on the path with my mama's staff." She cracked her voice at the end to make it sound all the more dramatic.

"Oh, stuff it. May Sithis beat some sense into your dumbass in the void. I'm his favorite." Drayce spoke as she handed the robes back to Garret.

"Um, hello. I'm his favorite by default because I'm his blood." Sybel was leaning against the workbench. He was wiping his shirtless chest down with the tunic he had on previously. There were very few scars on his body. He was very vain about his looks and didn't like to marred. The only scar he carried was down his back from the top of his left shoulder to the right side of his waist. It was from a troll as a child. Garret told her he was hunting when he heard Sybel wailing. He had run back to the cabin to find Drayce dragging Sybel back to the house. Since then the two of them shared a fear of any type of troll.

They all looked to Garret for an answer. He looked up and around before raising his hands in defense. "I like cats."

Nera was the one who spoke next. "You have to chose which one of us is your favorite."

"Sybel!" Dane's shout echoed off the walls of the cave. He sounded annoyed, but it was good to see he was back. She could try him with Whiterun before taking the long ride down to Riften.

"Waterfall!" Sybel directed as he pushed away from the workbench. Dane didn't know that any of them were back from their travels. Sybel was usually here so it made sense to call his name first when entering the cave. Dane came out from the tunnel covered in ash and soot. Theodane was the second tallest and most bulkiest of the group. He had hair as white as her own with brown eyes. His jaw was straight and square and his nose crooked from it being broken a few times. He carried no scars on his face, but his hands and arms from the brutal work black smithing. He sported a permanent tan she envied, but it was from having to work outside in the forge most his life. He was the master of armor and weapons.

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the three of them sitting on the ground in a circle. All they needed was Sybel along with a book of spells and incantations so Dane could snap about Sybel trying to summon the Dark Brotherhood…again. "I thought you were still up in Solitude working." It was towards Garret.

"Long story. What is going on?" Sybel waved his hand at Garret and stepped into Dane's view.

"Well, I wasn't expecting Garret to be here. Or Nera." He looked nervously between Garret and Sybel. Garret set down the mages robes and stood up slowly.

"What's going on, Dane?" demanded Garret.

"Well…" Dane let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. In his free hand he carried a letter that was opened. It bore the seal of Riften and Garret felt his stomach drop. He reached out and snatched the letter from Dane's hand so fast neither Sybel nor Dane could stop him. "Hey!" He stepped forward, but stopped in his tracks when Garret raised his arm. He opened it to see a letter from the Jarl's steward.

"Theodane,

Da'Virr, has been arrested on the account of stealing potions from Elgrim's Elixirs. She refused to pay the bounty and is now safely tucked within the walls of our prison. Her intended jail time was a month or so, but we did not take into account the other numerous items she had stolen from others throughout Riften. If you want her released it would do good to come here and post her bail and remove her from Riften at once. We will allow this once, but she is not to return back to Riften.

Anuriel."

He groaned. Da'Virr had been arrested so many times in her life it was pathetic. She was supposed to be a master at sneaking, but she had the worse luck. Luck is needed when you practice being a thief for a living. It was good that Anuriel had sent him the letter though. She knew Theodane and him from a while back when he traveled to Riften for some supplies for Theodane's forge. A body pressed into his side and he looked down at Nera who was reading the letter in his hand.

"How come the steward is sending you this and not the Jarl or the housecarl?" She asked.