7th of Second Seed, 4E 206
Dawn was nearly over when leather-clad Alesan appeared in the graveyard, walking hurriedly along the worn, stone path. Runa, as patient as ever, waited in the shadows of the statue as he passed by her, not noticing her presence. She watched him, following him with her eyes, until his back foot was closest to her. In a flash, she grabbed his ankle and pulled him backwards. He yelped in surprised, barely saving his face from smashing into the ground. He pushed himself up and spun towards her with a flimsy iron dagger drawn, anger lighting up his features. He hesitated when he saw Runa's half-smiling face.
"You're able to read, right," she asked, cutting him off as he opened his mouth to speak, "and keep secrets?"
He paused, his mouth still halfway open with unused words. "…Yeah, but what's it to you?" he finally snapped, still slightly annoyed with his brush with the ground. He used his free hand to brush stray hairs out of his face.
Runa held out the slightly crumpled, folded note. "Aventus left this for me, but—"
"Can't read?" Alesan smirked, tucking his dagger into a sheath at his hip. "You're really not missing much, honest. Just informative books, interesting notes, secret diaries, signs that point the way so the wandering adventurer doesn't get lost—"
"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm missing out in life. Please just—read it."
"A hush-hush note from Aventus himself. Got it." Alesan, almost gleefully, took the note from Runa's outstretched hand and unfolded it, his eyes skimming over the meaningless letters. "Well, he says that he loves you, and that he doesn't want you to—"
Runa snatched the note out of his hand. "Don't lie to me, you wannabe-thief. Tell me what he really said, or—"
"Hold on, wait." Alesan threw up his hands, his eyebrows raised in shock. He pointed at his chest. "You think I'm—I'm a 'wannabe' thief? I'll have you know, Runa, I am, in fact, a professional member of the Thieves Guild, right here, in Riften. So you can't tell me I'm a 'wannabe,' 'cause I am a professional."
Runa rolled her eyes and held out the note. "Read it, professional thief."
Alesan gave her a mock half-bow. "My pleasure." He snatched up the note again, speaking out loud as he read it. "'Dear Runa'—how sweet is that? He started it out with—"
"Alesan, I swear if you keep this up, I'm going to b—hit you until you wish you couldn't read." A faint, evil memory sparked in the back of her mind, but she pushed it away and focused on the present.
"Aw, Runa, you can't do that to me. I'll have all the thieves in every city running after you, and—okay, I'll start reading. Ahem. 'Dear Runa, I am not sure if you are able to read this. If you can read, or find someone to read this for you'—that's me, Alesan—'I want you to not look for me. I do not want to hurt you if you choose to run after me. If you do get hurt because you run after me, that will be your own fault. Do not try to come after me. No one knows where I am heading, and no one saw me sneak out. You will be lost in Skyrim without a lead, and you will end up dying in the wilds without a friend. Please, for the sake of the others who I know will not handle another death well, stay in Riften. You are not able to do this kind of work. Even if you did somehow manage to find the Dark Brotherhood, you would fail their test. Stay safe. Aventus.'"
Runa was fuming. She clenched her fists and looked up at the statue of Talos, the polished stone shining in the growing daylight. "I hate that stuck-up, no-good, little rat!" she snarled, punching the stone statue. The statue did not move and her hand came away throbbing. "Sure, he 'somehow' managed to summon the Brotherhood before, but that was back when we were desperate. And joining them? He's as stupid as a dog. He's going to get himself killed." She seethed, pacing back and forth in front of silent Alesan. Behind her anger for the harsh words Aventus left her was a plan, one that could come to light if she had the right pieces…
"Uh, Runa…" Runa snapped her head up at Alesan's unsure tone, her hazel eyes flashing with anger. He took a step back, making Runa blink, and her harsh eyes lessened. She turned her gaze to the ground and exhaled.
Looking back up at him, calmly, she asked, "Yes?"
Alesan shook the note. "All this… stuff he's saying about the Dark Brotherhood, he's not… lying, is he? I mean, did he really…?"
"Summon them? Yes. Did they go through with killing Grelod the Kind, caretaker—or, ex-caretaker—of Honorhall Orphanage, just like he asked? Yes. I saw the whole assassination, if you want the whole story."
Alesan stood, silent and dumbfounded. Runa managed to crack a small, thin smile at his confusion. She held out her hand for the note, snatching it from his hand when he did not move. She tucked it into an inside pocket of her dress, one Lucia had sewn for her.
"Are any of your fellow… professional thieves in contact with anyone in the Brotherhood?" Runa wondered. She figured that if anyone would have any contact with the shadowy assassins, it would be the others who made the shadows their home.
Alesan snapped back into reality, blinking twice. "I—I've never had to ask that. Thieves don't kill." He looked Runa directly in the eyes. "We may steal items, but we would never steal a life."
The way Alesan used a collective pronoun made Runa wince slightly. She opened her mouth to reply, but Alesan cut her off.
"What happened? I mean—what made Aventus run off?"
"You… wait." Alesan had not been back in the orphanage yesterday morning. "You don't know."
He shook his head, waiting for an explanation.
Runa sighed. "Lucia's dead. Murdered," she added. Alesan's eyes went wide; Runa absorbed that expression with pleasure. "Stabbed, or slashed to death by the looks of her wounds. Aventus—you know how much they loved each other—is chasing down her killer. He doesn't have any leads. I'm guessing he's trying to find her killer by joining the Dark Brotherhood."
"J-joining…?"
Runa shrugged. "Not the smartest decision, so that's why I'm going after him. If he's killed… I have the power to stop him, y'know? Keep him from dying."
A moment of silence passed as Alesan gazed at her with a knowing look. "Runa," Alesan placed a firm hand on her shoulder, looking deep into her eyes, "are you doing this because of that, or is this… a reason to get away? To leave Honorhall on a glorious mission to save a runaway orphan, who might not want to be saved?"
Stubborn doubt lodged her words in her throat, preventing her from speaking. All she could do was narrow her eyes and frown.
"Did you cry when you found Lucia was dead? Are you sad she's gone?"
Her eyes glancing away in silence gave him the answer.
He stepped back, releasing her shoulder, an odd expression of sadness and acceptance on his face. "You never really cared about any of the orphans, did you? Not Aventus, Samuel, Lucia, Sofie… or me."
She pushed aside her doubt, fear, and feeling of weakness, focusing on her irritation. "You can't accuse me of not caring. Where were you when Lucia died? Where did you go on the nights when Hroar cried the whole city awake? When Francois tried jumping off that bridge? What did you do to care about Sofie when someone stole her flowers? I bet that was one of your professional—"
"Don't turn this into something about me. I'm not the one who tries to control and hide everything about myself."
Runa scoffed. "You're never around. You can't tell me—"
"Just 'cause I'm not seen doesn't mean I'm not watching. If I'm not in our super-secret hideout, I'm hitting the streets. I notice things."
"You don't notice. I sat here for hours, and you didn't even see me."
Alesan gave her an odd look. "You cover your presence really well. I mean—really, really well. So well, it's almost like you were made for the shadows or something. I'm surprised you hadn't realized that. I've watched you before, and I've lost you because you didn't want to be seen. I wish I had that ease with stealth."
Despite all the annoyance Runa had in her tone and how she kept insulting the young Redguard thief, Alesan still praised her. Despite how she had not denied her disregard for him, he still looked in her the eyes and spoke as if nothing had changed. Perhaps nothing had, except the truth baring its teeth when shoved into the light. She allowed a not-quite smile to pull up her lips.
"Maybe I'll… teach you my secrets. One day," she said, barely believing her own ears. Alesan's eyes lit up with a mixture of surprise and some sort of happy emotion she could not name.
The light in his eyes dimmed suddenly. "You're leaving soon, though."
She nodded. "I'm going after…" Her words faltered briefly. "I'm going after Aventus."
Alesan clasped his hands together in front of him, making him look younger than he was. "Still need a guide?"
"Will you give me one?"
"I'll find one."
Alesan gestured for her to follow as he walked deeper into the graveyard, stopping beneath a stone alcove with a large grave and a diamond-shaped symbol engraved in the gray stone that was the same as the walls and floor. Alesan stopped before the grave and reached for the symbol, hesitating before touching the wooden circle in the diamond.
He turned towards Runa, uncertainty sparkling in his dark eyes. "You can keep secrets, too, I wager?"
"No one knows I saw Grelod assassinated with my own eyes. No one knows that the assassin gave me a dagger—"
He sucked in a sharp breath, lips parting as if he was about to speak. He shook his head, dark strands of hair escaping from his ponytail. "Well, here goes nothing," he muttered, half to himself. He pressed the wooden circle in the diamond.
To Runa's astonishment, the grave grinded back to reveal stairs leading to a hidden entrance. Alesan motioned for the Nord girl to walk down before him. She did so, hesitantly. She passed by a chain that Alesan pulled, plunging them into darkness as the grave rolled shut.
"Sorry about the darkness," he whispered, his voice echoing faintly. "There's a torch here, somewhere, but we forget to light it. No one really hangs around here long enough to need the light, anyway."
The suddenness of no light always made her wary, but she had no fear of darkness. She loved the night; she loved the stars; she loved the twin moons in the sky. Sometimes she would sit on top of the orphanage without sleep and watch the moons crawl across the sky, wishing to be free. Today, her wish would be granted by the ones living in the shadows.
Light pierced through the darkness, making Runa growl and shut her eyes. Alesan whispered an apology as she went to his side. They climbed down a ladder through the wooden trapdoor, closing it once they were in. Runa held her breath, trying to keep from breathing in the stench that rose from the sewer.
"You'll get used to the—" Alesan started to explain before snapping his mouth shut. He shook his head, tightened his ponytail, and headed towards the opening.
Runa scurried after him, her chest tight with anxiety as the realization if being in the heart of the Thieves Guild hit her. Storm drains spilled foul water into the center of the large room, a slimy pool underneath cross-shaped stone bridges catching most of it while splashed onto the outside stone paths. Runa attempted to dodge the disgusting puddles as she followed Alesan past beds lining the walls, some empty and some filled with snores. She noted the way his eyes darted frantically around the smelly room, and she knew that if she was caught, her life would be over. Without any proper training, her flimsy dagger against professional thieves would fail miserably.
They managed to sneak the rest of the way without any trouble. They stopped at a wall; Alesan slid his hand over an unseen trigger, and the false back of a cabinet glided to the side without a sound. He motioned for Runa to wait, and he opened the cabinet doors slowly, peeking out. Runa glanced around nervously when the Redguard disappeared behind the door, shutting them. She breathed slowly, in and out, to quell her rising panic. He would never leave her in the headquarters of his guild if he had no reason. Something must have come up when he checked to see if the coast was clear, and he knew revealing Runa, an outsider, would get her killed. Of course, if any of the thieves awoke and looked in her direction, she would be killed anyway. She could only trust he would not hurt his reputation by revealing the outsider he brought in to the other guild members.
Runa decided to duck inside of the cabinet, huddling inside of the deep shadows. She closed her eyes, reopening them with a start. Thieves were masters at stealth, so if she would most likely see them before she heard them. Focusing all her attention to her hearing would not be a wise choice; thieves might have a habit of walking lightly, but they would have no reason to hide in their putrid-smelling home. She stared out at the headquarters, her hand on the doors of the cabinet in case someone opened them. She hoped none could sense her fear over the sewer smell.
Moments passed—Runa had no sense of time in her fear—when a finely dressed Nord man with shoulder length red hair and a leather-clad Redguard woman with her black hair pulled out of her face walked towards the cabinet. Runa shoved herself as far back possible, begging any Divines or Daedric Princes out there to cover her with shadows and become one with the darkness. The two paused just before the cabinet, the redheaded Nord chuckling.
"The young lad must've forgotten to close the false back, again," he spoke with an odd sort of accent, one Runa had never heard before. She could not decide if she liked it or not.
The Redguard woman took the Nord's hand into her own, gazing at him with loving eyes. "You'll have to give him a little talking to, again. He's your apprentice, after all." As she spoke, she used her other hand to caress the Nord's cheek.
The Nord kissed the Redguard's fingers sweetly. "Aye, my love." He let go of her hand, stepping marginally to the side. "We mustn't be caught."
Before the Nord could open the cabinet doors, it swung open to reveal a slightly breathless Alesan. He looked at the Nord and Redguard with wide eyes; Runa could tell he was fighting back his panic at not seeing her. The two thieves looked back calmly, faint concern on the Nord's face while the Reguard woman's loving expression had changed to one of slight annoyance and apathy. The young boy almost seemed to shrivel underneath his fellow thieves' gazes.
"What's the hold up?" Another heavily foreign accent, one filled with animalistic growls and hisses, snapped the Nord man and Reguard woman's attention to someone behind them, one Runa could not see.
Alesan felt around the shadows, touching Runa's shoulder. She lifted her hand and grasped his hand, relief washing over his face. She let go and pushed herself deeper into the shadows, knowing that if she moved, she would be discovered.
"Move it, Brynjolf 'n' Tonilia, or this one might get some ideas about your—what do humans call it? Partnership?" A light humor danced over the words.
Brynjolf made an odd noise in the back of his throat while Tonilia's expression switched to anger, and she stomped through the cabinet, pushing Alesan out of the way. The young boy scrambled through the cabinet as Brynjolf was distracted by the accented thief that Runa could not see. She fell onto the ground as Alesan yanked her out of it, shutting the doors just as Brynjolf turned around. Grabbing Runa's hand, he pulled her to her feet—Runa momentarily marveled at his strength—and they stepped into another sewer more unkempt than the headquarters.
A rundown bar, manned by one Nord wiping the counter, stood to the right of the entrance, stocked with bottles and food. Tables and chairs littered the stones in front of the bar, empty and unused. Wooden docks floated over the smelly pool behind the tables, boxes and barrels stacked on them. Tonilia was walking towards the Nord man by the counter, and as he directed his attention to her, Alesan pulled Runa along the wall. They ducked into the first large alcove, bringing up dust and dirt as they hurried into it. Runa held her nose to stop herself from sneezing.
"Now we just have-ta make it look like I've just brought you in." Alesan started brushing off stray cobwebs out of Runa's hair and dress. He retightened his ponytail. "Let's—"
"This one thinks the little thief is not as crafty as he thinks."
The two orphans whirled around. At the entrance, a person stood. Runa could not believe her eyes. Before her stood some sort of human-animal hybrid wearing leather armor. Instead of a human face, it had a cat-like muzzle, mouth, and nose. Two, tufted ears came out of the top of its head, decorated with golden rings. Instead of skin, the creature had fur: dark brown fur with darker stripes. A striped tail swished from side to side lazily. Amber eyes, slitted like a cat's, flicked from Alesan to Runa, observing them with some sort of negative, unreadable emotion.
The cat-like creature took in Runa's dazed expression and smiled—if baring sharp, animal teeth counted as smiling. It raised its furred hands, sharp claws replacing nails. "This one thinks the little girl is afraid. Should this one kill the child while she shakes in fear?"
Alesan stepped in, standing slightly in front of Runa. "She's a friend. I won't let you kill her. Zavani-dar is a Khajiit," he added, explaining the odd humanoid creature. "Khajiit aren't allowed in the cities, so that's why you've never seen any. Most Nord—most humans don't like to talk about them. They think they're thieves… well, Zavani-dar isn't the best example, since he is one." Alesan chuckled nervously.
Zavani-dar lowered its claws with reluctance and flicked an ear, golden rings clinking. "This one does not enjoy having to hide under Riften. Zavani-dar wishes to steal freely, you know?"
Runa kept her bewildered expression, becoming more and more confused as the two spoke. She directed her question towards Alesan, uncomfortable with the unknown Khajiit creature. "Why does it—"
"He," the boy quickly corrected her.
"Why does he speak… like that?" Runa glanced over at Zavani-dar, shivering as his amber eyes watched them, unblinking. His tail flicked to the side at her question. Sharp teeth and claws flashed on the edge of her vision.
"He doesn't usually speak like that around newcomers. He likes to—"
"I can speak for myself." The voice that came out of Zavani-dar's cat-like mouth was one of a normal Imperial with a faint, strange lisp to it. Runa took a step back, unsure. Zavani-dar sighed. "Look, I know I'm strange. I understand you don't have much… experience with anyone outside of humans and elves. You've seen Argonians, correct?"
Runa, slowly, came out of her confusion. She nodded.
"This one feels… I feel like lizards are much stranger than cats, wouldn't you agree?" He showed her his fangs. "If you don't agree, I might need to kill you."
Alesan sent the Khajiit a glare. Runa found her voice. "I'm sorry, I'm just not used to animals being humans."
Zavani-dar made a soft noise in his throat, a cross between a growl and something Runa could not name. He dropped his Imperial accent. "This one sort of understands. Now, how will this one deal with an outside in our midst?"
"Please," Alesan's voice dropped to a whisper, "can you pretend you saw us enter from the Ratway? We—Runa needs to see Delvin."
The Khajiit held the boy's gaze for a couple heartbeats. His ears turned towards the table area, and Runa could hear others talking, faintly. Alesan kept eye contact with the Khajiiti thief. With a heavy sigh, Zavani-dar stepped back and out of the way. "You owe Zavani-dar, little thief," he hisses softly, his slitted eyes boring into Alesan's.
The Redguard ducked his head in submission. "Of course. I promise. We can talk about your payment later."
"If the child—Runa was what you called her?—does anything to hurt the Guild, this one will kill her." Runa shivered as the Khajiit's claws glinted in the torchlight as he crossed his arms.
"I can keep secrets," she whispered. Why was this cat creature's threats making her so frightened?
Alesan wrapped his fingers around her wrist, gently, and they skirted out of the alcove with Zavani-dar watching their every step. Runa glanced back, finding the Khajiit still standing in front of the alcove with his arms crossed. Their gazes met, and his eyes narrowed. She mimicked him, feeling safer as the distance increased between them. She did not trust him, and he did not trust her.
"I promise, he's a nice guy. Very cheerful." Alesan was speaking. "I dunno why he didn't like you, though. Usually he's fine with people being scared of him—I think he likes it 'cause it makes him feel powerful. He's used to others not knowing what an actual Khajiit looks like."
Runa shrugged. "I don't care what he thinks of me. I'm not planning to stay here long, anyway." She lowered her voice to a murmur, not caring if Alesan heard her or not. "It's not like he'll be able to steal from me soon, anyway."
They arrived at one of the tables, and they sat. Runa put her hands in her lap and straightened her back, observing the thieves as they came and went as Alesan filled her in with information about the thieves she needed to know, nothing more. Tonilia walked past the two orphans, ignoring them, and sat down on one of the boxes on the wooden docks, nursing half a loaf of bread and a bottle of ale. When Runa glanced back at the alcove, Zavani-dar had disappeared. The Nord at the counter—Alesan called him Vekel the Man—swept at the perpetual dust and dirt around the empty room. Brynjolf reappeared by the false cabinet, heading towards Vekel; once he saw Alesan and Runa, he changed direction and sat down on the empty chair at their table. He leaned his elbows on the table, resting a hand under his chin.
"Who's this, lad?" he asked Alesan with his peculiar accent, one Runa was getting tired of hearing. She realized she hated any kind of non-Imperial or Nordic accent.
"Runa Fair-Shield. She's here for Delvin," he supplied.
Brynjolf raised as eyebrow and leaned back in his chair, taking his arms off the table. "Delvin, eh? What sort of lass needs to see an old man like that for?"
"Dark Brotherhood things."
Runa hissed a curse underneath her breath, her eyebrows furrowing as she glared into her lap. To her surprise, Brynjolf simply nodded and left their table, going to sit at the bar. She raised her glare from her lap to the boy next to her.
"Why'd you tell him?" she snapped, annoyed. "He didn't need to know."
The Redguard boy shrugged, much to Runa's displeasure, avoiding her eyes. "He's my mentor. If I want him to trust me, I don't hide things from him."
"You didn't tell him I've seen your—secret place."
"He didn't ask."
The two lapsed into silence as they waited. Soon, a balding Breton yawned his way out of a hidden area Runa had not noticed before—one filled with more beds. He yawned when he stopped at the entrance, glanced around the area through squinting eyes, and scratched his neck before shuffling towards Vekel. Before he could get too far, Alesan jumped out of his chair and intercepted the man. He gestured somewhat frantically towards Runa.
"We've got somethin' to talk to you about."
Delvin sighed, glanced longingly at the bar, and lumbered over to the empty chair, sitting down heavily. Runa stared at him incredulously, remembering how Alesan had spoken of Delvin in the highest regard and explained that he was one of most important members of the Thieves Guild. The Breton man she saw in front of her did not seem respectable in the slightest way. In fact, he looked and smelled as if he had never taken a bath in his life.
Delvin crossed his arms and looked expectantly at the two of them. When Runa kept staring and said nothing, he sighed. "Well, what do ya wanna talk 'bout?"
His odd accent, somewhat like Brynjolf's, made Runa close her eyes for a heartbeat in exasperation. Did all thieves have some sort of weird voice?
Alesan looked at Runa, and when she made no move to speak, he spoke for her. "Delvin, this is Runa Fair-Shield"—at the mention of her name, Delvin's eyebrows twitched upwards—"and she needs to contact the Dark Brotherhood."
"Hmm," Delvin hummed, looking Runa up and down. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, making Delvin chuckle softly. "Some backstory first. Where d'ya guys meet, Alesan?"
"Honorhall," Runa cut in, wanting this to be over with as soon as possible. She was not sure if she liked the way Delvin looked at her. "Alesan was living in Dawnstar for a while, and when Grelod was killed, he came down to the orphanage. I've been there my whole life," she added when Delvin opened his mouth to say something more. She wanted her information, and she wanted out. She needed to leave Riften as soon as possible. These thieves were getting on her nerves.
"You want to make… contact with the Brotherhood, is that it?"
"I want to know where they're located. Where they settle down when they're not killing anyone. My—never mind." She had no reason to tell Delvin of her supposed reason for needing to locate them.
Delvin uncrossed his arms and leaned on the table, causing Runa to lean further back in her chair to get away from him. "Who are ya killin'?"
"None of your business."
Runa's hazel gaze hardened into a glare, not blinking, as Delvin looked down on her. An odd grin ghosted across his face, and he leaned away from in with a small sigh. Runa kept her arms crossed and her gaze hard.
"Don't ya want to stay in Riften? You're safe here—safer than outside. Have you ever set foot outside and seen the horrors?"
"The dragons are gone. The war is at a ceasefire. All I have to fear is bandits and the wilds."
"Aye, sweetie, with that attitude you'll get killed in no time. Skyrim's wilds shouldn't be underestimated."
She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Just tell me where they are, and I'll leave. I'm not part of"—she gestured around the room—"this. You don't need to care about me." She thought of Aventus, recognizing how closely her words echoed his.
Delvin shrugged. "It's your death, little orphan. Give me a moment."
He left the table, grabbed a bottle of ale from Vekel, greeted Brynjolf, and disappeared inside of the entrance towards the heart of the guild. A couple of tense moments passed before the smelly thief returned with a map and leather-bound book in hand. He sat down on the chair, accidentally hitting the edge of the table with his knee. He unfolded a gently used map of Skyrim, turning it so it faced Runa and Alesan.
"This is Morthal." Delvin tapped a tentacle symbol towards the top of Skyrim. "I've 'eard of some… odd things happenin' in that town. Might be a good spot to check." He moved his hand and tapped a deer symbol towards the very bottom of the map. "This is—"
"Wait," Runa interrupted, "what do you mean 'might be a good spot to check'? Don't you know where they are?"
Something flashed across Delvin's eyes as he stared at the map. "Not a clue," he said with a lie in his voice.
"You're lying."
Delvin's palm smacked the table heavily, making both orphans jump, and Brynjolf warily glanced towards them from the bar. "Look, little miss, the more you waste my time, the less I'll help you. Shut up and let me talk."
Runa pressed her lips together, annoyed. At least she received some information.
"This"—Delvin pointed at the deer symbol again—"is Falkreath. They have the biggest graveyard in all of Skyrim. Might be another good place." He shifted his finger towards a star symbol near Morthal. "This is Dawnstar. Cold. Winters aren't as harsh as Winterhold's, though, but similar. Have a history with Daedric Princes. I wouldn't check there unless I was desperate—like ya."
Runa nodded, absorbing everything. "Are you giving me this map?"
Delvin pushed it closer to her. "You look like ya need it."
Runa nodded her thanks and folded up the map, tucking it into the same pocket that held Aventus's note. Delvin slid the leather book towards her as well. She picked it up, slightly confused, and flicked through it, looking at the labeled pictures. She glanced up at him, eyebrows furrowed.
"What's this?"
"Describes Shadowmarks. It's what us thieves use to identify houses we're able to steal from, what houses to avoid, and whatnot. Might come in handy for ya." The chair scraped back on the stone as Delvin stood. He tipped his head at her. "It was nice meeting ya, Miss Fair-Shield. Good luck on your journey. Alesan, be a kind gentleman, and escort the little miss out?"
The quiet Redguard shot up in haste. "Yes, sir!"
Runa glanced down at the unreadable book, and when she looked up, Delvin had disappeared. She sighed and stood up, tucking the book under her arm.
"Ratway?" she asked Alesan. He nodded somberly.
"I hate it with all my guts," he muttered, leading her past abandoned alcoves filled with dust, dirt, unused cobwebs, and forgotten boxes.
"Alesan!" Brynjolf's shout made the young boy spin around frantically. The Nord sat leisurely at the bar. "Come back quick, lad. We'll need to talk about having visitors over and the correct way to show them in."
Runa could sense Alesan's shame and embarrassment, swearing she could see his cheeks redden slightly; that, or the shadows, his dark skin, and the flickering torchlight played tricks on her eyes. He ducked his head, hurriedly opening the door to the Ratway. Runa followed without looking back.
The moment they reached the exit, Runa exhaled loudly. She hung onto the gate as it swung open with a deafening screech, panting.
"I'd—I'd never know—how nice Riften smells until that—that experience," she huffed, pressing her cheek to the cool metal bars. Behind her, Alesan cackled in gasps, equaling breathless. They had held their breath and rushed through the maze of smelly stone sewers, attempting to keep their noses clear of the stench. Runa had thought the headquarters and bar smelt bad; now, she understood why Alesan had risked bringing her through the secret entrance. If she had been in his place, she would do the exact same thing.
"Now, I can't read this." She let go of the bars and retrieved the book Delvin gave her, unhooking it from the belt where she had shoved it. She held it out to Alesan.
He grabbed it, and without opening it, began speaking, "This is the symbol for the Guild. This means the place is as safe as the Flagon's cistern. If you see this—"
"Show me the symbols." She paused. "Please."
Alesan made a show of rolling his eyes. He sauntered over to the edge of the dock towards the left of the Ratway entrance, and sat down with his legs hanging over the water. Runa joined him as he opened the book to the first page.
A sketchy drawing of a diamond with a circle in the middle of it was first, just like the one in the graveyard. "Symbol for the Guild," the Redguard explained. He pointed at the same symbol near the gate they had just burst out of as an example. He went through each symbol, describing the uses and giving Runa hints for discovering them. "Sometimes, there aren't any symbols near the doors. It can be anywhere outside the house, but hidden. Usually by the doors, though. Some houses don't have symbols, so you don't have to look too hard if you don't see one right away."
Runa smiled her thanks and took the book back, memorizing the order the shadowmarks were in the book. "Why'd Delvin give this to me?"
Alesan brushed a stray leaf off of his leather armor and stood up. "I dunno. Not my place to ask. He must've liked you or saw somethin' in you."
Runa hopped onto her feet with grace. "I'll be on my way, then. Thanks, Alesan. I owe you."
The boy gave her an endearing smile. "For my payment, just come and visit now and then, all right?" He stuck out his hand.
Runa reminisced their first meeting with soft eyes and took his hand. They shook for a couple of heartbeats, then Runa let go. "I'll see you again, Alesan."
She strode up the stairs towards the marketplace of Riften, her heart light. She had the information she needed. She had the Thieves Guild on her side, and at least one true friend in her heart. She thought of Sofie, and paused by Honorhall's door, wondering if she should step in and tell the younger Nord girl goodbye. Instead, she treaded towards the edge of the marketplace and bought a small sack of fruits and dried meat from Marise Aravel with the seven coins she had stolen from Grelod long ago. She tucked her book inside of the bag, hefted it over her shoulder, and began her journey towards the wilds of Skyrim. The guards watched her expedition towards the gate and opened the doors for her without a word. Runa hesitated before taking a step outside of Riften, glancing back at the corrupt city she had lived in her whole life.
"Missing Riften already, little one?" one of the guards asked sweetly with a light tone. "Want to come back?"
Runa turned away from Riften, Honorhall Orphanage, her fellow orphans, the Thieves Guild, and her only home. A rare, genuine smile pulled up her lips and reached all the way up to her eyes. "Nah. I'm just getting started."
When the gates shut behind her with a thud, young Runa felt free.