26th of Hearth Fire
"Pull more with your back, not your arms."
Isobel raised the bow and aimed at the mannequin across the room, cheek to cheek with Niruin who was trying to see if she was aiming properly. She fired, the arrow hitting the second ring of the bullseye.
"Alright, that's a little better." Niruin said unconvincingly.
"C'mon. It would've killed the guy." Isobel exasperated.
It had been four weeks to the day already since she joined the Guild, and they were painful. Brynjolf was preventing her from doing any jobs that weren't inside Riften, and she was going crazy being confined within the city walls. Being idle was never something that boded well with Isobel, and neither did sitting around in one spot for any uncertain amount of time, let alone in putrid sewers. Almost a month and Isobel still hadn't gotten used to the smell. Whenever Brynjolf did miraculously give her a purpose, it was either extorting a few coins from petty locals in debt to the Guild or burglary jobs in the dullest of houses with nothing but pots, pans, and dust. She was miserable.
She at least wasn't so lonely, she was becoming good friends with most of the junior members and at least one of them was always at the Guild if the others were gone on a job. There were plenty of drinks, and long strolls around the city. Little by little they started opening up to each other, narrating their origin stories and how they came into their line of business.
Cynic had told her about his past as a jail breaker while they took turns firing small rocks at passerbys with his slingshot, their hiding spot behind Brynjolf's empty stand in the marketplace providing them full coverage.
"So people hired you to get arrested so you can break someone out of jail?" Isobel whispered, enjoying the warm Hearth Fire sun as Cynric hit a priestess of Mara at the back of the head.
"Yeah, usually it's to free someone the client cares about... and sometimes to... well, to kill someone on their behalf." Cynric seemed rather ashamed of this fact, and although it was surprising for Isobel she was well aware of the reasons why some jail breakers weren't allowed in her "blood-free guarantee" Guild. "Either way, the trick was in the escape, and that's where my strengths with sneaking and lock picking came in handy."
"Why'd you quit if you were making so much money?" Isobel asked, taking the slingshot from Cynric and loading her ammunition.
"Well, as a jail breaker, you work alone. No Guild to back you up. I'd do jobs for the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, but if things didn't go as planned, I was on my own." Crynric spoke as Isobel fired her stone at the rear end of bald headed Dunmer woman, who jumped and shrieked loudly. "The last jailbreak I attempted failed. I was imprisoned in High Rock for three years before they let me go. After that I promised myself I'd never do it again. I think I realized my skills would bring me more wealth as a thief rather than an assassin. Killing someone in a jail is much easier than what the Dark Brotherhood deals with. I guess I wanted to play it safe and I already knew Delv-" He stopped when the Dunmer woman spotted their whereabouts, charging down on them before the pair managed to scramble to their feet and sprint off.
"If that was a live man charging at us I wouldn't complain, but the point is you didn't hit what you were aiming for." Niruin scolded in the training room, Isobel notching another arrow. She knew he was a perfectionist due to his upper-class upbringing in Valenwood, but his standards were even higher than some of her most staunch trainers in Cyrodiil. Isobel couldn't help but wonder if his occasional grumpiness was due to the fact that when he was kicked out of Valenwood for his hedonistic thieving he joined up with a Guild living in sewers instead of a huge mansion, the adjustment was sure frustrating for Isobel.
She had also met the rest of the members who weren't there on her first few days. The shy Etienne, who spent most of his time reading books, and the venomous Sapphire. Isobel wasn't sure what was with the women within the Guild and why they were so much more belligerent than the men, even Tonilia was starting to give her dirty looks for some reason. Isobel was caught between trying to win their affections and build trust with them, knowing it would be in her best interest, but her pride wanted to spite them.
"Niruin." Vex strolled into the training room, the acoustics on the wet stone walls making her voice even more crisp and sharp than it already was. "I think we have a nice wealthy home for you to break into. Think you can clear the place of valuables and keep it quiet?"
"I'll see what I can do." Niruin said, continuing to straighten Isobel's bow arm as the two women glared at each other.
"Helping Brynjolf's runt are you? Just make sure her arrows fly and not her mouth." Vex sneered.
'How can she imply me having a loud mouth when we never speak?' Isobel fumed silently.
"Come meet me in the Flagon right away." Vex commanded briskly before taking off, Isobel making her drawn arrow follow the blonde head out of the room.
"Don't even joke about that." Niruin said and pulled her bow back. "She's like that with everyone."
"I didn't hear her insult you just now. And she refuses to-"
"Shush, hit that mannequin once more and I need to go." And with that Niruin slowly stepped back, letting Isobel take full control of her shot. She inhaled a deep breath, pulled the arrow back and aimed at the target's head. Imagining white-blonde hair sprout from the wood, its faceless visage now looking at her with a sour scowl, Isobel let her arrow fly. Niruin registered the head shot sooner than Isobel and started a steady slow clap. "Maybe I should have Vex sit in on our little lessons, might give you that grit you rely on so much and give Vexy and I a little time together."
"Bah, don't tell me you fancy her too." Isobel frowned as she walked over and pulled the arrows wedged in the mannequin.
"Don't get too jealous Issy, I'd always choose your company over hers." And with an elfish grin he exited the room, his parting words finally making a smile crack on Isobel's lips.
'At least I'm doing something right.'
After putting away the bow and arrows she started her own exercises, she was getting good combat practice with Brynjolf but needed to keep her strength and flexibility up if she wanted to stay in shape. At her old Guild, Isobel was involved with exercises that pushed both physical and mental limits, but the only skill this Guild pushed was her patience.
Isobel slowly warmed her muscles up by gentle stretching, and gradually she pushed herself into more and more painful contortions. Her elasticity had helped her twist out of situations more than once, and she wasn't going to lose it twiddling her thumbs in a sewer. She continued bending herself for several minutes before positioning herself for a handstand.
Balance. Balance and breath. That was what she was taught since she was a child. Isobel took a moment to focus on both those things before she launched her feet upwards, her wrists and arms trembling for only a second before her stance solidified and became strong. She was concentrating so hard on her precious breath and balance she started when she heard boots stomp into the room.
Standing upright before she tumbled over, Isobel turned to see Sapphire rummaging around the collection of cheap practice swords before taking one in each hand. She had chestnut hair and eyes the color of her name, she wasn't bad looking at all but her appearance would've been enhanced thousandfold if it wasn't for the scowl tattooed on her face. Isobel opened her mouth to form an impersonal but polite greeting, but the woman cut her off.
"I have nothing to say to you, so get out of my face." Sapphire hissed, slamming her shoulder into Isobel as she stormed past her. She brought up her two swords and started to dual wield against what remained of the practice dummy, its trunk of a body already carved out from taking so many blows.
"Gladly." Isobel scoffed as she sauntered herself out of the room, hands in her pockets. When she entered the morose cistern she was met with Mercer's icy stare from his desk. Isobel met them firmly, nodding her head in recognition before walking straight into Delvin's chest.
"Watch yourself girl, Hans told me ya did the same thing to him when ya approached the Riften gates the first time." He said with a small smirk.
"You know Hans? I mean, I know him and Tabitha have a deal going on with the Guild but you're the one they speak to?" Isobel said, trying to shake off her embarrassment.
"Aye, I see them once a week to give 'em their pay. Might not be able to keep even that up with the way things are goin' on around here." Delvin sighed. "Come, have a drink with me in the Flagon."
"It's morning." Delvin snorted at her comment. It wasn't really a secret Isobel was always up for a drink, she had gotten more than drunk a fair number of times and some days she could be seen with a bottle as early as sunrise. She couldn't help it, she didn't know what else to do after her nightmares.
"Well, Vekel will make ya a tea then. C'mon." Delvin led her out the cistern and down the hall to the tavern. Isobel was not looking forward to going inside, and was mildly pissed at Delvin for dragging her there. She was dreading loitering about with the seniors, however, when they entered only Vekel and Dirge were in sight, and Tonilia far off on her porch. "See, it's not so bad in here. You're obviously just havin' a wee bit of a hard time in this place. Sit." He gestured at the nearest table, and as Isobel seated herself Delvin poured her a tankard of wine. Unable to resist despite her previous objection to drinking in the morning, she accepted the cup. Once he handed it to her he raised his own.
"For the Guild." He toasted.
"For the Guild." She answered and they drank. It felt strange, the chair Isobel sat in was Brynjolf's usual chair, and she felt like she was intruding on his territory.
"So, makin' any new friends, hm?" Devlin asked as he placed down his drink.
"Brynjolf said this place isn't about making friends." Isobel muttered.
"Ah, well, he's a bit dodgy when it comes to that stuff." Devlin said and waved his hand. Even though his voice was brash and roguish it made Isobel relax, she felt like she finally going to talk with a senior member that wasn't going to chew her out.
"Why?" She inquired, hoping Delvin had the answer to why Brynjolf had switched from her biggest fan to her biggest challenge.
"He along with the rest of us are too busy tryin' to make ends meet to concern ourselves with bein' friendly." Delvin brought his tankard to his lips again.
"But you're being friendly right now."
"Oh? Smart one, are ya?" He said as he raised his eyebrows at her from above his cup. "As it turns out I am tryin' to make an end meet."
"What do you mean?" Isobel caught Vekel staring at her and he sharply turned back to wiping the bar counter.
"I mean I know Brynjolf hasn't been givin' you jobs lately..." Delvin started.
"Do you have the faintest idea why?" Isobel said angrily. "I don't understand. I could get him the Jarl's crown if he asked and he won't even let me pickpocket a gods damned old woman."
"I'm sure he has his reasons, he's the most reliable man here and one of the only reasons this place hasn't completely gone under." Delvin said as he gestured around the room. "Look around ya. The Flagon, the Guild... it's all fallin' apart. A few decades ago, this place was as busy as your Imperial City. The Guild used to have a foothold in every major city in Skyrim. You wouldn't dare even lift an apple without checkin' with us. When things started goin' downhill around here, it became difficult to keep it all together. We lost fences, influential contacts and coin. It wasn't long before we lost what we depend on to survive... respect." He shook his head as he took another swig of wine. "Now, you're lucky if ya don't trip over a skeever instead."
"What actually happened here? Brynjolf just says it's bad luck, but is that really all it is?"
"Look, I know the others think I'm a bit daft for sayin' stuff like this, but I'm gonna give it to ya straight. Somethin' out there is piss-drunk mad at us. I don't know who or what it is, but it's beyond just you and me. We've been cursed."
Isobel tried not to roll her eyes. Of course, there was always someone who thought the answer to an unknown phenomenon was something to do with a ghost or superstition, as if that was what you had to do when you couldn't explain something. Delvin saw her skepticism.
"You're not the only one to doubt me, but I stand by my word. And I'll even tell ya what we do. We spit in that curse's face and turn things around down here. Put things back the way they were."
"I could do so much for your Guild, Delvin." Isobel crossed her arms on the table. "And I want to, I truly want to. You've got some great boys in that cistern of yours, and I'm not one to leech off people's hospitality. Let me work my magic."
"I know ya do girl, I know ya want to help. But I don't have authority over Brynjolf, and I'm not one to sneak behind a superior's back and give you jobs without his permission. But I do need to clear this up with ya." Delvin paused to make sure she was listening. "Patience is one of the most valuable skills a thief can have, and one of the most underrated. A thief who cannot wait for the best opportune time to strike will fail, whether he's pickin' a pocket, pickin' a lock, or shadowin' a foe. You treat this place like every other job in your past, and things will start goin' better for both you and everyone else."
Isobel thought about this. She knew he had a point, but she wasn't sure if she could not react to those who pushed her, especially Brynjolf. To her simply tolerating such treatment was a sign of weakness and wasn't going to get her the respect she wanted, the respect Delvin himself just said thieves depended on. But if what Delvin was saying was true, that if Isobel just accepted what the Guild was throwing at her and take them by surprise, she would slowly start to move up.
"No. No, that's not me." She finally said. "Working in a Guild shouldn't be like picking a pocket, only those who crave power will sneak around and strike when it's beneficial to them. What I want is respect, and I'm not going to gain that by waiting to prove myself and grovelling to everyone in the meantime." Delvin looked impressed.
"You may survive us yet, Isobel." He sighed contently. Isobel cocked her head in confusion, but before she could ask him to elaborate she felt someone behind her chair. She didn't see or hear them but she knew exactly who it was.
"Hello, lass."
"Hey."
"Talking with Delvin, are you?" Brynjolf said as he pulled a seat from another table and sat on it backwards, leaning with his arms crossed over the back of the chair. "And drinking already?" He reached out to take Isobel's tankard before receiving an unnecessarily sharp slap on the hand. Delvin tried to suppress a chuckle but failed.
"We were just chit chatting' 'bout the predicament the Guild's in and so forth. Isobel thinks she can fix the damn place."
"I never said that! I said I just wanted to help!"
"Ah, did he tell you his 'something is piss-drunk mad at us' theory?" Brynjolf said with a boyish grin. Isobel felt like punching him in his smiling teeth, of course someone sly like him would bully her when no one was looking, and be all charming with folks around.
"Yes." Isobel replied returning the smile, making sure Brynjolf saw no signs of discomposure. "I don't believe it, but even so I'm still new to Skyrim and its primitive superstitions- I mean... bad luck curses." She spoke sweetly and directly to Brynjolf, trying to push his buttons in front of Delvin. "Then again... for all I know you could just be very shitty thieves."
"Aye, lass. Maybe we need the help of Gray Fox's exiled bounty dodger." Isobel almost boiled over at his words, and the playful tone in which Brynjolf said them and his handsomely cheeky face made her even madder.
"Oi ya two, break it up." Delvin said as he kicked Brynjolf under the table. "Brynjolf, ya had a meetin' with Mercer this morning, what'd he say? Anything about how to get out of this mess?"
"Mercer is being Mercer. If he has a plan to get us out of this rut, he isn't sharing it with me." Brynjolf grumbled. "We had to make some more cuts again, as of today I'm no longer going to be at the market stand."
"He's closin' ya down?" Delvin said, a little taken aback. Isobel could've guessed it though, one can only sell fraud merchandise for a while before people catch on and business stops.
"Aye, we might sell or rent out the stall if anybody wants it, but it wasn't bringing in enough coin to be worth it." Brynjolf shrugged, Isobel could tell he was disappointed, that he felt like a failure, and she reveled in it.
"What're ya gonna do now? Has he given ya any work?" Delvin asked.
"He has something in mind, he just needs to get things set up. From the way he was talking it sounds like I'm going to be spending more time in the cistern." Brynjolf said trying to smile.
"Wow, it sounds awful being stuck underground with nothing to do." Isobel said with as much sarcasm as she could possibly muster. Brynjolf's charming facade finally broke as he gave her a cold stare.
A/N: Huzzah for boring chapters that are needed for plot development!
In all seriousness, thanks to those for the reviews. Even though there are only a few, seeing them definitely helps push me to continue writing when I know that at least some people are reading. So thanks! :)