~Author's Note~

Terribly sorry on the delay, I caught some sort of flu and was completely dead to the world after a very… interesting weekend. After catching up on some work I finally got the chance to edit this chapter! Plus, my friend is helping me so there shouldn't be as many mistakes. The good thing about the little break was that I got the chance to straighten out a few things of the story I was unsure about. I'll try to keep up with the updates now, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. It took me a while to finally be pleased with it. Ciao~!

Yours Eternally, Erin

Two days had passed since Valentyne had decided to stay with the thieves until his friend's return. Although it wasn't the most appealing place to stay at, and he was staying with people he could never agree with, he seemed to be happy enough. He had met Mercer after Durga left, and although the man wasn't pleased at all about the idea of the boy staying with them, it didn't take much for Valentyne to convince him to change his mind.

All he had to do was provide nightly entertainment for the Guild.

After being bed ridden since the following morning of his first official night there, he could finally take up that task. The large quantity of ale and mead he had taken in that night left him sick and a bit delusional to Brynjolf's humor. Having the daunting task of taking care of the sick boy, it turned out to be a rather enjoyable experience during Valentyne's rants of flying goats and rainbow horses. That was before he ended up losing him for a few hours. Luckily Brynjolf had found him wandering the docks before anyone noticed his absence.

Valentyne was putting on his fur boots, which Brynjolf noticed he only ever had on when down in the sewer, when he finally decided to tell the boy of his new task.

"It seems we've found a new job for you, lad." Valentyne's wary gaze came as usual, and Brynjolf held up a hand in a gesture for him to wait and listen. "And since I know how much you hate being on the bad end of the law, I found the only one that would seem remotely ok with you." Tying his last boot swiftly, Valentyne stood up and fixed his shirt before crossing his arms in front of his chest and stared right into Brynjolf's eyes.

"Go on, you have my attention." Brynjolf knew he had to choose his words carefully by the tone of Valentyne's voice. Mercer had informed him that the boy had to at least do some work for the Guild other than simply entertaining them. If he didn't, then he had to leave, and Brynjolf didn't want that at all.

"Well, let's just say there are some people that owe the Guild some coin, and since we all know how well you are at persuasion, I thought it to be just right for you." Valentyne seemed to be pondering this idea deeply, observing every aspect of it in his mind. Every possibility of a catch to this whole scheme came to his attention, and Brynjolf saw his interest fading fast. "Unless, of course, you don't think you could handle it."

His pride flared in his eyes and Brynjolf knew the boy wouldn't say no. It was true Valentyne had made some very good observations on Brynjolf's own way of doing things, but he himself had made some very clean observations on the young lad as well. Like any male, Valentyne's pride was his button to push when trying to get a reaction out of him, and in this case, the exact button that needed to be tampered with to get him to say yes.

"You still yet doubt my abilities, Brynjolf? How foolish. Come now, give me the exact details and I will once again show you what I am able to do." He told him of the three people he would have to go to and how much they owed the Guild. Valentyne listened, nodding his head when needed. Finally, after the locations of the three were given, Valentyne finally uncrossed his arms. "I am coming to the assumption that you will not tell me exactly why they owe the Guild money, will you?"

"You know me so well already, lad." Brynjolf grinned down at him. Valentyne nodded, still watching him with a look of unease. "Now's the best time to go, so you can be back in time to do what you do best for tonight." This brought a little light to the boy's eyes. Entertaining was what he lived for, and he enjoyed it more than anything.

Brynjolf watched the boy leave through the secret passage under the graveyard with a look of satisfaction on his face. It would be a difficult task to get the boy to comply too any level of thievery, but Brynjolf had confidence in himself to get him to do it eventually.

"Off on his first real job for the Guild?" Delvin asked, and Brynjolf nodded. Delvin was amongst the many in the Guild to take an immediate liking to Valentyne. His voice was appealing and the stories he told with it were entertaining. Plus, Brynjolf had told him how the boy had acted on his hangover. The humor they got from Valentyne was never ending. If it wasn't one thing with him, it was the other.

"That he is. It's going to take some time to get him used to the idea of anything else other than simply collecting debts from people, though." Delvin nodded in understanding, but he, like Bryn, wasn't very concerned about it. It wasn't that he wanted him to leave, just the opposite. Since the boy had arrived, even if it had only been a few days, the Guild was already a slightly happier place to be. He had brought a friendly warmth with him that was hard to ignore. No one was going to let Valentyne slip away that easily.

Valentyne maneuvered his way through the crowd of people, pockets full with two large coin purses. He had made quick work of the first two, sweetening himself up to them before laying down the hard truth of the matter. They either paid their debt or another, more hostile person would soon come. Valentyne had made it seem like he was only looking out for their well-being. Of course, those two had been female and had found it difficult to deny such a cute and innocent looking boy. He had a sinking feeling that his current luck would fail him with the next debt he had to collect.

As he walked into the Pawned Prawn, he came face to face with a partially bald Nord man who Valentyne knew to be Bersi Honey-Hand. When he took notice of his presence, Valentyne could see the slightest presence of a smug expression unfolding itself on his face. Yes, his luck had been left at the door in that moment, and Valentyne felt completely alone.

"Shopping for you parents, kid? Or are you one of the new orphans at Honorall?" Valentyne tensed at the cruelty behind his words, and tried his very best to keep his calm. In normal circumstances, none of this would have bothered him. But something was causing his pride to flare up more than usual. Maybe it was being around a bunch of thieves and he felt as if he had to meet a certain expectation. Or it could have just been that he was finally starting to learn to speak up for himself and he liked the feeling of self-gratification he got out of it.

"Do pardon the sudden intrusion, sir-" Valentyne had to bite his own tongue to avoid adding venom to the suffix. "-but I have a message for you from Brynjolf." At this, he seemed taken aback. He stuttered a bit, but then realization hit and his composure regained itself.

"Oh you're the little brat I've been hearing about. Pathetic, Brynjolf doesn't even bother to show up himself and sends a kid instead." Bersi shook his head, a smirk on his lips. "You may have been able to sweet talk your way to Haelga and Keerava, but you won't be getting a damn septim out of me." His words were said with such finality that Valentyne knew there was no point in trying to convince him. But he still had to try; he didn't want to disappoint Brynjolf.

"Then you will be answering to someone much more threatening soon. It would be in your best interest to take what I am saying to heart, sir." He let the words escape through clenched teeth. His eyes that rarely ever showed a spark of anger narrowed. Bersi found it hard not to flinch.

"Petty threats and fist waving are not going to sway me. You people are all talk, and everybody knows it!" For whatever reason, this flared Valentyne's pride the most. He wasn't even technically apart of the Guild, more or less be considered close to them. Yet it was his kind heart that made him willing to protect them. Knowing them or not, they had given him a place to stay and had shown decent hospitality. Speaking in their favor was the least he could do. "Pay you to protect me? Hah, you can't even protect yourselves!" Valentyne found it hard not to stifle his hidden violent nature. He had never thought once that violence was a good way to go about anything. Civil conversation was just a fine solution to anything, but now he found himself doubting it completely.

"I can almost assure you in the most formal way possible that we can protect ourselves." The 'we' came out naturally; he hadn't even intended to have it there. The man scoffed, as if catching his bluff on actually being a part of the Guild. Valentyne didn't falter though, just stared evenly at him. Fear wouldn't strike him down, not at that moment in which he had to prove himself. He could be more than just a scared little child, like he had been told so many times before by his old friends.

"Don't fool yourself, boy. You aren't any more a part of that pity party then I am a part of the royal court." Valentyne couldn't handle it anymore. This man had pushed him far off the edge and the sudden surge of rage could be felt coursing through every inch of his fragile frame.

"If you know what is damn well and good for you, 'sir', you will hush that flapping trap you call a mouth before I help you out with such a difficult task. You have not a single idea what you speak of; you run your mouth blindly, my friend and you shall not fool me with your false bravado. I can see the fear hidden under that smug expression on your ugly face." Valentyne jabbed a finger into the man's chest, standing on the very tips of his toes to be right in Bersi's face. His threats seeped into his skin, and Bersi couldn't help but tremble. He knew Valentyne couldn't really do anything to hurt him, but his words were like blades piecing his skin. Narrowing his eyes, Bersi regained his composure at the thought of possibly being bested by a kid.

"Why you no good little brat, I'll make you eat those words." Quicker than Valentyne could see, Bersi raised his hand and let the back of it come down hard onto Valentyne's face. The brutal force of it caused him to fall back onto the floor and tears formed in his eyes from the sting. He could only sit in astonished shock. Although he had partially expected Bersi to hit him, he hadn't imagined he would actually go through with it. Before he could come to acceptance with this fact, he suddenly felt a boot dig into his side. Letting out a shrill cry, he doubled over from the pain. "Is that all you got, boy? Where's all that smack you were talking before?"

Valentyne began to tremble as a loud ringing filled his ear, deafening out any other sound. The fear overcame him faster than he would have like, and he suddenly felt like the weak little boy he always had been. He had let all the false hope of actually being worth something get to him, and now he was going to pay with a beating and Brynjolf's disappointment. He didn't know what was worse.

Clutching his eyes together tightly, he braced himself for another kick. After a moment of it nothing happening, he slowly opened his eyes to see a brown haired girl holding Bersi up against the wall by his shirt collar. Remembering her from the market on the day he had planted the ring on Brand-Shei, he realized that she was also from the Guild. Sapphire was her name, if he remembered correctly. He hadn't really had any conversation with her, having been busy with everyone else at the time he took notice of her.

She growled words of hatred at him, and after a few threats were given he was handing over a coin purse. Tossing him onto the ground, she quickly measured the weight of it in her hand and was pleased. Then, she turned to Valentyne with such distaste he immediately felt the fear return to well in his gut. Her sharp eyes reminded him of a wolf, watching and waiting for an animal weaker then it to scurry by. She yanked him up by his shirt and dragged him out the door without a single word. Once away from the crowd, she gave Valentyne a shove into a building. Barely catching his balance, he looked up at her to take her cruel words head on.

"You idiot, what were you even thinking back there?" Her voice was hushed, but the anger was clear. "He had false bravado? You can't even defend yourself! If it weren't for me, we'd be picking up the pieces of your remains somewhere outside Riften!" Her frustration in him was clear as she shook her head in disappointment. Valentyne felt like shrinking into the wall and hiding away forever. He was ashamed of himself as it was, but being told by someone else of what a failure he was didn't help the matter. "And you actually tried to place yourself in with us? Are you daft? A weak little runt like you will never be a part of us. Get that through your thick skull, and maybe we will have a mutual distaste for one another."

The more Valentyne thought about it, the more he thought himself a fool. Had he actually imagined himself, for a few moments, a part of the Guild? Maybe he really was daft. He didn't want to be a thief, nor did he want to associate with them by any means. He must be a child, for being so naïve as to actually believe that staying in Riften by himself was a good idea. Valentyne needed Durga more than ever in that moment. Not to be protected from Sapphire, but just to know that someone was around who cared about him. And who knew him.

None of these thieves knew him for who he was. They didn't know how he operated or what made him tick. Nor did they know what pleased him. He was a simple lad, with a love for stories and poetry. He didn't need glamor or money to be in a content state of mind. He was just a simple travelling bard trying to support a family back home, no more, no less. But they couldn't possibly understand that.

Sapphire tossed the coin purse to him without saying another word and stalked off, but Valentyne knew what it meant. She didn't like him, and that was final.