AN: so, it´s been quite some time again and I have to admit this time it´s mostly because of the release of ESO. Such an epic game! I´m totally addicted! But well anyway, this weekend I made some time to give you another chapter =) Thanks to everybody who reviewed and stays loyal to my story. I appreciate your ideas and copliments. Please keep this going...
Und einen besonderen Dank an meinen deutschen sprachigen Leser =) Ich muss gestehen, dass ich mir um Missys Alter kaum Gedanken gemacht habe. Also um die Tatsache dass sie als Dunkelelf eine weitaus größere Lebenserwartung haben könnte. Der Plan war dass sie etwa Ende Zwanzig ist und Brynjolf circa 30, während Greta so 16 oder 17.
Have fun and leave me review !
Sixth encounter
"Good day, sir, do you need a health potion? Or stamina? I have everything you need!" Brynjolf said to the young man in front of him. The one in question was looking rather sceptical.
"No thank you, but may I enquire if you are Mister Brynjolf?" he asked. Brynjolf now looked sceptical, too. The man didn´t look like a potential customer, but still he put on his most charming smile. "The one and only…"
Now the young man started to rummage in his bag. "Now, where did I kept it… c´mon here…. Ah, there it is!" Politely he handed Brynjolf a letter. "I was told to give you this. Now if you´d excuse me." And he went his way.
Brynjolf then was a bit baffled. Carefully he turned the piece of paper around and inspected it. Within the signet one could see a stylized hand. So this had probably been send by the Dark Brotherhood. The only question was, by Missy or by someone else, because Missy wasn´t in the condition to write? He would have never expected her to write a letter to him, so the thought wasn´t that unlikely. Maybe she got hurt or captured or worse… and her fellow assassins thought it to be a nice thing to inform him. His hands were shaking. Nervously Brynjolf looked around. No one was paying attention to him. Quickly he tucked the letter away and packed his stuff.
Within a couple of minutes Brynjolf was in the Ratways on his way to his room. He didn´t want anyone near him, if he really had to discover that Missy wasn´t alive anymore. Even the possibility of this drove him insane. He had done a good job at pushing this out of his thoughts, but now it seemed it was coming back twice as hard.
In his room, he sat down on one chair and watched the letter with trembling hands. He had never been one to be hesitating, but now… well, there was no way around it. Hoping the best and fearing the worst he opened the letter.
Dear Brynjolf,
I don´t really know how to start, as I normally only write letters to intimidate people, but I don´t want to complain this is a nice change…
Brynjolf visibly relaxed and took in a deep breath, as his eyes scanned the letter and saw who signed it.
… I just felt like you would appreciate it, if I wrote to you, that I am doing well. The assignment wasn´t at all spectacular and now I am mostly sitting at my desk and doing paperwork…
Now, he smiled and yes, he did appreciate it.
… my leg is by now fully healed and I don´t have any problems with it anymore. Thanks to your wonderful treatment. The others have been very concerned and would like to thank you and the whole guild for making me up and about again, too. Anyway, why I am really writing is: tomorrow I will go to Solitude, as I have some business to attend to there and afterwards I thought I could make a detour to Riften.
That would be a slight detour indeed…
… don´t worry about me that much, you know I can handle myself.
Yours faithfully
Missy
A warm smile crept to Brynjolf´s face. Somehow he felt caught. Far more at ease he headed for the Flagon. As usual he found Delvin there, sitting at the counter.
"Vekel, give us a round, please!" he waved to the bartender and seated himself besides Delvin, patting him on the shoulder for greeting.
"Why so happy?" he asked, looking sceptical at Brynjolf, who tried to act as if nothing had happened. "Oh, nothing, just done with my work for today… We should make use of every reason to be happy. It´s not like there so many lately…"
Delvin nodded in agreement. "That´s true, indeed. I´m still not convinced. Actually, I have a feeling like this has more do with that letter that is hidden in you armour…"
Vekel put their drinks in front of the two men and looked expectant at Brynjolf. "Does your lady-assassin writes you love letters?" he asked kiddingly. But Brynjolf brushed him off, saying "Really, that is none of your business…" and handed him some septims.
"Ohhh, that´s sad… we´re all interested on how you two are developing. You can´t make out with her in open public and not expect us to ask questions. I mean it´s pretty rare that you have a girlfriend for more than a night, isn´t it?" Vex argued, seemingly appearing out of nothing and leaning on the counter on the other side of Brynjolf. Delvin and Vekel nodded their agreement and waited of Brynjolf´s answer. With all of them watching him closely, he felt as if they were interrogating him. "Oh, c´mon guys… and girls, Missy is not your usual tavern wench. I do know how to treat a real lady…"
"Haha… you`re kidding, right?" Delvin asked amused. "I do doubt that pretty much. But then I also doubt that she is a lady… what lady kicks your ass?" He took a sip from his mug and then went on. "No, but then you have a good reason to stay faithful and charming, or else you will probably die a horrible death…"
While Delvin had talked. Vex` hand had crawled beneath Brynjolf´s armour and now, grabbed the letter. But then he was a master thief and had long since felt her. Before she could take the letter away, he caught her hand and kept hold of it, while replying Delvin. "She´s not like that. She´s not running around and killing people… I´m not afraid of her and I could battle her, if I wanted to…"
Both of the other men laughed and Brynjolf turned around and faced Vex. Jokingly shaking his head. "Really, I never thought you would betray me like that… and get caught red-handed…" he said faking offence. She still held on the letter and he on her wrist.
He released her hand and she turned around to read the small letter, a winning smile in her face. Everybody looked at her full of expectation. "Well, she writes that she´s head over heels in love with him and wants to marry him and have an army of kids, but that still they won´t see each other again, because he is so bad in the sack…" she claimed, without twitching.
Angrily Brynjolf snatched the letter from her hand and tucked it away again. In the meantime Delvin and Vekel had a lot of fun. In fact they were laughing so hard, they nearly lay on the counter and even Vex couldn´t help but grin at her own joke.
"Really, with friends like these… I should actually ask Missy if I get a special price as a friend, for shutting you up permanently…" But then no one took him seriously.
But their laughter died suddenly, when they saw Mercer standing in front of them. Totally unaffected by the laughter as he was looking sour as always these days…
"Brynjolf?" he asked harshly "Is Greta already back?" The one in question shook his head. He wasn´t one to be unnerved so easily, especially not by Mercer.
"Nope, but then I don´t expect her back before the end of the week. Solitude is not just around the corner…" he explained. Mercer made undistinguishable sound and was gone again. Everybody watched him walking away silently. When the door to the cistern closed behind him, it seemed they all let out a deep breath.
"He always went to the cellar for laughing, but it´s getting unbearable lately… what´s wrong with him anyway?!" Delvin asked frustrated. Brynjolf just shrugged and said "You know, technically we are in a cellar…"
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Only a few days later a dark figure crept through Riften´s streets. The sun was just setting and though the shadows were growing larger, the people were still busy. In their haste to get to their destination, none of the people minded the figure that headed for the Ratways.
Brynjolf was having a conversation with a younger thief. He had messed up a job and together they wanted to find out what he had done wrong. From the information he had already gained, he suspected that it just had been bad luck. But then maybe he could find something, so the young man could improve. Nothing was more frustrating than telling people that they had done everything rightly, but that fate was out of their hands.
"Maybe, you should spy the guard´s routes for their patrols more closely next time…" he suggested. The young thief had too much respect for Brynjolf to tell him that it wouldn´t have helped in this particular situation, but it was evident on his face. "hmmm…" was his unconvinced answer.
"Maybe it was just bad luck?! In this line of business it´s only 50% about talent, the rest is pure luck…" a female voice behind him suggested. Brynjolf turned around and looked into the smiling face of Missy. This time though he didn´t totally lose it, but stayed quite calm and smiled back. Briefly he wondered if he just was getting used to her appearing out of the blue.
"Well, that´s right… but blaming your bad luck doesn´t help you at becoming a better thief and it certainly doesn´t help when you walk towards the executioner…"
Missy shrugged her shoulders "But dwelling on reasons that aren´t there, isn´t helpful either…" she argued. The young thief had watched the pair closely. Brynjolf didn´t doubted that he knew exactly who that woman was, as news like these always spread like a venereal disease. No one admits it, but in the end everybody has it…
To find a compromise he now proposed "Well, maybe I could do more the next time to boost my luck, instead of pushing it…" The pair in front of him nodded and Missy added "That is certainly always helpful…" He then went his own way as he felt that he wasn´t the point of interest anymore.
Brynjolf´s smile then grew wider "I´m surely not in the need to boost my luck as it seems you have come back to me…" and he laid an arm around her shoulders to push her to him.
"Oh, you apple-polisher…" she tried to fight him off, but then offered a genuine smile, while Brynjolf would have sworn that she was blushing. Not dwelling on the matter he bent towards her and gave her a long and soulful kiss. When he released her again, his smile had grown far more smugly. "I missed you, I really did…" he admitted still keeping her close to him.
Missy didn´t felt the need to push him away, actually it felt quite good to have his arms around her. She was sure everybody around them was more or less inconspicuously watching, but it didn´t matter to her at that moment. Though he was acting oh so charmingly, she felt and saw in his eyes the shadow of his fear that she would never come back. Even though he made an effort to dub that, she wasn´t fooled so easily.
Still holding her tightly, he mumbled in her ear "Why don´t we celebrate our reunion somewhere more private…" A smug smile now crept to her face, too. Seductively she let her hand caress the back of his head and play there with the red curls, while she stretched to equally answer whispering into is ear. Needless to say he was more than eager to help.
"As enticing as your offer is… if you don´t drop your act and stop being such a skirt chaser with me, you won´t be living to see the end of this evening…" She could feel his whole body tensing under her grip that was now far firmer than before. But he didn´t gave up so easily. "I´m merely being polite to you… the humble gentleman that I am…" But his actions belied his words, as his hand had wandered from her hips to her backside and couldn´t help but squeeze there.
She then raised an eyebrow and commented dryly "Then maybe you should start to be impolite…"
He had to intake a deep breath and let his hands drop from her body. It was a shame, why was this woman so immune to his charms? Frustrated he ran his fingers through his hair. In the meantime Missy smiled again more lovely as she felt that he had surrendered. "Can we get some dinner? I´m starving…" she asked him. His frustration was blown away and he put his arm again around her shoulders. "Let´s get up to the bee & barb. We´ll have some peace and quiet there…" Missy didn´t fought him off, when he started to push her out of the Ragged Flagon, but still mentioned "I don´t get your definition of peace and quiet… It seems to me you never have spent a longer period of time somewhere near Dawnstar…"
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Even on his way to the bee & bard Brynjolf wouldn´t let go of Missy. "So, uhm, how´s business going?" he asked rather awkward as he wasn´t sure if he wanted to know.
She felt his reluctance and wasn´t so eager to give way too much information, either "Kind of okay, after this thing with the emperor, I´m sure you have heard…" she looked at him enquiring, but he hurried to nod and added "I´m quite sure there isn´t anyone who hasn´t heard about it in all Skyrim… well maybe those old guys up there on the mountain…"
She gave him in amused smile that had him melting.
"Well, it seems that this worked like a huge marketing campaign for us… just afterwards we got so many contracts, we were working all the time." She felt it would be better not to mention that an ancient corpse was also helping as it told them were someone had performed the black sacrament and so they didn´t had to rely on rumours anymore.
They were by now going upstairs from the ratways to the marketplace. "That was why I was so reluctant to start off this…" She waved with her hand between Brynjolf and herself. "… but now, it seems people are cooling off a bit and we can like take a breath and adjust…"
Brynjolf who still hadn´t taken his arm from her shoulders, now returned her smile. It seemed he had calmed down a bit from his previous overly charming banter. But then he was still Brynjolf and Missy would be lying if she said that she didn´t appreciated his approaches.
Just before the tavern he turned around again to face her. "You know, I never have said that, but I´m damn proud on ya… I don´t know what happened to you guys exactly and I don´t want to know, but I do know that you had a hard time, but you seem to be able to handle that all really well. I haven´t yet met a woman with such a… managerial ability, you know what I mean… I have a lot of respect for you for keeping your ground…" He wasn´t so sure where that came from, it wasn´t planed and since he had started to talk further he hadn´t dared to look her in the eyes but looked over her shoulder.
Missy too was stunned, she hadn´t expected that. "Well, uhm, thank you… it´s not like I had that much of a choice. I was thrown in at the deep end and thanks to all gods it worked out or elsewise I wouldn´t be here now, I guess" He had finally turned his face to her again and tucked her into a comforting hug. They shared then not only a moment of comfortable silence, but also a peace of mind that until then had been unbeknownst by both of them.
When he withdraw a bit a smug smile crept on his face again. "You know, the most interesting part to me in this is why such a strong-minded, successful woman is staying with a scoundrel like me. I mean I do understand why one would like to have sex with me…" he mocked "…, but it isn´t like you couldn´t find someone else for that…"
He really had meant that and Missy wasn´t so sure how to deal with it, but her gaze was scolding him for such foolish words. Friendly she punched his arm and said "Don´t think so low of yourself. I wouldn´t be here, if I didn´t wanted to…" And to end all discussions on that topic she entered the tavern.
Within deep smoke and the smell of ale and food greeted her. Her eyes needed a moment to adjust. Behind her Brynjolf entered, too. Taking in the scene in this quite crowed place, they made their way to the counter. The argonian barmaid seemed to watch Brynjolf darkly, but the facial expressions of those lizards were hard to read. Still he kept a bit behind.
"Two mead and some food, please. What´s on the menu today?" Missy asked. The woman behind the counter had seemed to acknowledge Missy just then, for she looked rather surprised.
"Uhm, fish as always, today it´s with carrots and leek" she answered while she prepared the cups of mead, clearly faking not to notice Brynjolf standing by her. But then he was doing the same thing, acting as if he was totally uninvolved.
"Well, I`ll have that then" Missy said, not sure what to make of this scene. She took out some septimes and put them on the counter. The barmaid then offered her the drinks and went into the kitchen.
"I´ll take that for you" Brynjolf said and took the cups. "I´ll go to the table over there" He pointed with his elbow to one corner and then left Missy waiting for her food. It took only a couple of minutes and the barmaid came out again in her hands a plate with a whole fish on a bed of vegetables. When she gave Missy the plate, she leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"Be careful, miss. That man is a known criminal here, dealing with those people only brings trouble…"
Missy had to smile at this comment, but assured "Don't you fear for me, I now pretty well who I´m dealing with…" and then went to go to Brynjolf.
As expected he had watched the scene and now asked "What did she want?" and nodded in the direction of the counter, where there still stood the argonian woman and watched them. Missy had to smile "I was just given a warning of you… that you might involve me in trouble…"
Brynjolf just raised his eyebrows. Seemingly considering the truth of that statement.
"You seem to have quite a reputation…" Missy noted.
"Well, I guess I´m well known to be a part of the guild. A reputation like that is needed in order to keep the people at bay and then, well, I haven´t let a boring life in the past… if you catch the meaning…" he offered as an explanation. Missy was not sure if she should take offence in that.
"And now, with me it´s getting boring?" she asked, what made Brynjolf laugh. "No, certainly not… maybe more stable… but then I haven´t had a woman ever giving me such a hard time… so no, it´s not getting boring…" He took a sip from his mead and watched her somewhat content. Missy was slicing her fish into pieces and then asked with her mouth full "Well, I have heard kind of rumours, that you guys, I mean the whole guild, are having hard time right now?" she asked really interested.
But Brynjolf wasn´t so interested to share those information with her, though he himself wanted to talk about it and when she already had the info that things were going downward… His fight most have shown on his face, because Missy quickly added "You don´t have to tell me… I was just wondering…" Brynjolf again ran his fingers through his hair. "No, it´s okay… I mean it´s not like you´re a guard or something… I do trust you, but then you still need to keep your mouth shut about these things…" Missy nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, silent as a grave…"
He leaned back, stretched his legs and folded his arms in front of his chest. It was evident that this bothered him very much. "Currently we have an enormous line of mishaps and misfortune. As you said before… bad luck… jobs that are dead cert go absolutely wrong and no one really can tell why… I mean it´s normal that things go wrong once in a while, but ever since Gall… I mean our last guild master died, things have been having going downhill… and with the civil war it´s only getting harder… you can´t rob people who have nothing…" he explained.
"hmm, and there is nothing you can do about it?" Missy asked compassionately.
"We tried about everything… Delvin thinks were are cursed, maybe he ain´t so wrong with that. It certainly feels like there is someone up there hating us or venting his anger on us, I don´t know… Only, Greta, you know, the girls who´s nose you broke, she doesn´t seem to be affected at all. She usually gets her jobs done, not without trouble, but then she hasn´t been with us for long, maybe her bad luck will come in the nearer future."
For a moment there was silence. Missy didn´t felt like she should be telling Brynjolf about her encounter with Greta as the topics of their conversation had been quite private.
"I… I would like to help you, really, but I don´t know how. If you ever need something tell me, okay?! And I´ll see what I can do…" Brynjolf now looked somewhat tired, too, but wearily smiled "Thanks, that´s nice of you, maybe I´ll take you up on it someday." Acting like an old man, he got up from his chair and asked. "Have you finished your drink? Let me get another round."
While he was gone Missy finished her meal and it suddenly struck her that he had promised to tell her much more tonight. When he put the drinks on the table and dropped himself opposite from her, she asked "Hey, have you actually forgotten our deal…?" watching him closely.
He seemed to think for a moment then shrugged. "What deal?"
"You still owe me your story, my dear…" she stretched those last words as if she would be scolding a child. Brynjolf was all charming again. There was no hint of that frustrated, tired man from just a moment ago. Smiling he took a sip from his mead and answered "You won´t let me out of this so easily… will you?" Missy rested her head on her elbows smiling at him. "Nope"
"Well then, I´m a man of my word, what do you want to know?" he asked and Missy rolled her eyes. She sussed his delaying tactic. "What should I want? The story… about how you have become the one you are. How you´ve ended up here with that posse of thieves of yours…"
"Well... uhm…" He really didn´t wanted to talk about it, but it seemed Missy was determined and then he owed her that. She again rolled her eyes and watched him closely. "Oh c´mon, is it so embarrassing? I won´t tell anyone…" Brynjolf sighed, yes, he felt kind of embarrassed about it. Admitting defeat had never been one of his qualities.
"I was born as a farmer`s son. Some miles north from here. I was the youngest of three sons. We had quite a big farm with cows and pigs and lots of crops… but as the youngest there was nothing for me to inherit. And as I have always been somewhat of a trouble maker, I was quite sure that my brothers would never let me stay as soon as my da would be dead…
…And I wasn´t made for the life as a farmer. Really I had never fit in there, so when I was coming off age I took my chances. Said to my father I would go and be an adventurer. That had always been his dream, you know. But as he had been the oldest son, he more or less had never left the farm, so he was very enthusiastic and provided me with everything he thought I would need, including quite some money… Me on the other hand, I had been a foolish young man, my horizon had been very limited back then and up until then I could always talk myself out of affairs. Never really had to suffer consequences for my actions. So I was green and naïve when I left home."
Brynjolf made a break to let that part of the story sink in and drink something from his cup. Missy in the meantime could image this young Brynjolf very well and felt that it was still part of him, but then something must have happened that took out all of his naivety.
"So I went my way… and look how far I made it!" he joked and Missy raised her eyebrows. "Really?! You went to explore whole Skyrim… and ended it only a couple of miles in this stinky city?" It seemed quite unbelievable, but it seemed like something Brynjolf would do. He smiled a bit sadly. "Actually I was heading for whole Tamriel…" He had given away many opportunities for a different life and sometimes that made him sad, even though he liked the life he was now leading.
"Yeah, I got stuck here. The many opportunities that I had suddenly, had me going wild…" This was the part of the story that was most unpleasant for him, but one glance at Missy showed him that she wouldn´t be palmed off with this. Enquiring she watched him closely.
"Within a couple of weeks I had spent all my money on gambling and women." Now Missy leaned herself back and laughed. "Really, that´s sounds like you…"
"I don´t think it´s that funny… I only acknowledged the fact, when there wasn´t anything left, so I started cheating in card games to make more money, but the problem is to have a stake, you need money. So I started selling my stuff until I had left only the clothes I wore and was living practically on the street. But the cheating turned out to be quite effective, so I could finance my gambler lifestyle further. But just like most of the gambler I got greedy… I cheated more plainly and got caught more and more…
To make up for the loss I was starting to put in greater stakes, but to have greater stakes I needed more money, so I burrowed it… you see where this is going?"
Missy nodded "It´s a downward spiral…"
Brynjolf took another sip from his cup "Exactly… and that was the moment were my luck finally turned… One night a foreign man accused me to cheat. Want I didn´t know was that he was one of those guys you just don´t mess with. It showed that he was befriended with the jarl and it ended with me in Riften´s jail. Not a very pleasant day to remember…"
"But they didn´t hang you, obviously?!" Missy asked.
"No, it seems not, but the other option wasn´t pleasant also. At dawn I was taken out of my cell and honestly I shitted my pants afraid that I was going to die now, but the guards dropped me in front of some guys, who looked not inviting at all. They said that they were business associates of mine and that I was lucky that they had found me in time." He put some emphasis on "lucky" to make it clear that it had been anything but luck…
"And so I was taken from one custody to another. This one it showed was even more unpleasant then the first, I only wasn´t able to image that back then… By the way I was a picture of misery at that point… It figured that my debts had been sold off to someone else and that person had again sold them. In the end they had been gathered at the guild. Whom I had known only out of rumours back then." Again he took a sip from his mead.
"It also showed that they hadn´t rescued me because they had a very charitable heart. They just wanted their money back and dead people rarely pay their debts… and well, so I met the guild master for the first time."
Missy asked "Mercer Frey?" and Brynjolf looked somewhat astonished at her. "C´mon, you expected me to not know him? What kind of an assassin do you take me for?"
Brynjolf gulped down the rest of his mead and smiled at her "The best". This made Missy roll her eyes at him, but still she had to smile and maybe, though she would never admit that, she also blushed. He waved to the barmaid for refilling their cups and Missy hurried to empty her cup. He seemed to be quite thirsty…
"But no, Mercer had been only second in charge back then. Our leader and the man I was taken to was an Imperial called Gallus." Missy nodded. She had heard that name before. In the meantime their cups were refilled. "What happened then? He took you in?" She asked, when the woman was gone again.
"Yes, but it was a hard time until then… I was fettered. Sitting on a chair in the middle of a great room and Gallus stood in front of me with his arms crossed, saying nothing. I could tell there were other people watching me, but I couldn´t see anyone and then I also couldn´t expect help there. At some point, it couldn´t have been more than a couple of minutes, but it had felt like hours, he asked me: what am I supposed to do with you now, young man? I was so overly frightened that I could only stutter incoherent things. Really he didn´t look special or intimidating, but he had this aura…" Brynjolf shook his head, it obviously wasn´t the most pleasant of memories.
"He then took a piece of paper from his desk and read to me all things I had been accused of by the guards. It was indeed quite a list. And then, he caught me totally unexpected, saying that he was somewhat impressed with me, if I wouldn´t owe him so much money… I can still remember how I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out… I did that a couple of times…"
Picturing this in her mind had Missy giggling. To render a poser like Brynjolf speechless wasn´t an easy task. "Don´t laugh at me, I was still expecting to die then… But Gallus had mercy on me or more he saw potential in me, later I was told that his decision had been discussed controversial in the guild, but no one had dared to question his authority.
He proposed me a deal. I was to work for the guild from now on and they would teach me even further, but I needed to pay my debts with the money I earned. If I´d tried to escape before everything was paid, they would find me and kill me. Well, it wasn´t like I had a choice, right? And I was still scared to hell…"
Missy leaned back and asked "So you´re still paying back?"
But Brynjolf just laughed. "No, it wasn´t that much… it took me a bit more than a year, actually. Since then I´m a full member of the guild. And well, I might be a swindler and an imposter, but I owed Gallus my life, that alone was reason enough to stay for me. It was the first time in my life I really fit into a community. I must say I quickly made carrier as Gallus saw it as his personal task to train me. Not everybody liked that, but in the end, I could charm my way into their hearts…" he joked and had Missy laughing again. "Really, it would have been a pity if you had been killed back then…"
Brynjolf watched her for a moment, thinking about all the things he would have missed then. "Well, I´ll take that as a compliment." There was a moment of silence between them and Missy pondered if she should ask further as it seemed he was in the mood of storytelling.
Carefully she started. "May I ask, why Gallus isn´t your leader anymore?" Immediately his face went stony. He took a sip from his cup "It… it was a… personal thing… he had some issues with his lady-love and it went terribly wrong… since then relationships a not welcome in the guild. That´s why Mercer doesn´t like you…"
Missy was taken a back at that. "I have never met him…", but Brynjolf just shrugged his shoulders "Doesn´t matter, the rumours reached him, I think it´s better for both of you if you don´t meet. He has this grumpy, slightly insulting way of talking… and you have a far too quick temper to deal with that…" Missy looked down, not insulted as she knew he was right, but still she wasn´t eager to admit that. "I´m improving…" she muttered "The guys back in the brotherhood said, they like you, well not you personally as they don´t know you, but the effect you have. They said I have been far more calm and patient since I´m keeping myself a mistress…"
"Really? They said that…?" Brynjolf laughed "I should send a bill to you then, shouldn´t I? Mistresses are usually paid…" But Missy only gave him an annoyed look.
He drained his cup and said smirking. "Well, let´s get going, so I can fulfil my duties as your mistress…" Missy nodded. She had no problem with going to bed early. She had been on the horseback for days and was quite exhausted.
Laying his arm again around her shoulders. They made their way to the Ratways.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
When Missy woke up the next morning the first thing she noticed was, that she was utterly comfortable warm. That was quite a change as usually when she woke up, no matter where she had slept, she felt cold. This damned part of the world just was always cold.
She soon detected that the warmth here was provided by the body that lay next to her. Opening her eyes she found a red haired man half laying on top of her, with his head snuggled against her shoulder, slightly snoring. A warm, maybe even loving smile crept on her face. She still wasn´t used to wake up with Brynjolf, but she thought it was something she would like to get used to.
Carefully she stroked his hair, what made him mumble and gripping her even tighter. It was a shame that she had already to go today. All she wanted to do was stay in bed with him, but sadly that wasn´t an option. Maybe he could come to Dawnstar any time soon…
Whispering "Brynjolf… wake up…" she again stroked his hair and though she didn´t get more then "hmpf" as an answer, she felt that he was waking up. His head which laid on her shoulder slightly turned and he kissed her neck. Giggling as it tickled, she shoved him away. "Brynjolf! Get a hold of yourself! We had enough of this tonight…" she said mocking offense.
Still she didn´t more than "hmpf" and he snuggled her even closer, so she would turn on her side, so her back was pressed against his torso. As they both were still naked his hand caressed first her belly and then went further down stroking her thigh, where by now a scar had formed.
"Bryn, really… as much as I´m enjoying this, I need to get up. I must head back to Dawnstar today…" Again there was mumbling at her back, this time clearly displeased, when finally he let go of her, but said "You´re such a kill-joy! That´s even more reason to carry on…"
She let herself fall back on her back and slightly turned to look in his face. He had propped up his elbow to rest his head on it and watched her with sleepy eyes. When he leaned down to kiss her, she was very near to surrender, it wasn´t like she didn´t want him. But when he let go off her the moment was over and both felt it. Slowly and kind of regrettingly she sat up on the edge of the bed. Brynjolf wasn´t eager to get out of bed at all. Out there waited so many problems. When he was with her for some hours he could push them away and he still didn´t feel like facing them.
"Can we have breakfast together?" Missy asked, picking up her cloths and putting them on. Still lying in bed, he enjoyed the view he had. Annoyed at his smug smile she threw his trousers at him. Only then Brynjolf accepted that there was no way to stay in bed any longer.
On their way to the cistern he asked "Why do you leave so soon? You only arrived yesterday. I´m sure Skyrim can deal without assassins for a couple of days…" He sounded like petulant child.
"The problem is that I need some many days to get here and get back, you got to count that and there are many things I need to take care of and I´m still working on stuff that was neglected when I was here last time. It your turn to visit me now…" That silenced him effectively, because he knew that he wasn´t able to stay away from here for more than a couple of days without everything descending into chaos. Especially as he wouldn´t be going on a job.
"I´ll see… maybe we have a job to do somewhere near you…"
Entering the Ragged Flagon, they sat down at a table where Delvin was already seated. He greeted them both warmly. "It´s good, that you´re here now, Mercer searched for you some time ago. He wasn´t pleased to hear that it would be the wisest idea to disturb you guys… you know him…" Delvin said and Brynjolf just rolled his eyes. "Do you know what´s so important?" he asked, while he mentioned to Vekel to bring them something for breakfast.
Shrugging Delvin answered "I´m not sure, but I believe it has something to do with the info Greta brought with her from Solitude. She had come back last time, when you had already been gone."
When Vekel brought some bread and cheese to their table, Missy asked "Do you have tea here?" All three men looked at here astonished and unbelieving. Slowly Vekel answered "No…" He wasn´t sure if she was joking… "Just asking…" she said subdued defending herself.
Every discussion on the choice of beverages for breakfast was cut down as the atmosphere in the room when ice cold, when suddenly Mercer stood in the doorframe.
"There you are, finally!" He said mentioning to Brynjolf. He acknowledged Missy with an icy glance that probably would have intimidating others, but then she was Missy after all…
The one spoken too also wasn´t concerned the least. "Here I am…" he answered cheeky, but Mercer acted as if he hadn´t heard him. "Come with me… we need to talk. Alone." He commanded, still eying Missy suspiciously. Brynjolf rolled his eyes, but did as asked. Taking a piece of bread with him and disappearing with his guild master.
Missy took a slice of the bread and then turned to Delvin "What crawled up his arse and died?" mentioning with her head to the door where they had gone. Delvin had to supress a laugh and did a poor job in it. "We´re not sure… but don´t take it as an insult. He treats everyone like that." Missy shrugged "Another reason not to become a thief, within a month one of us would be dead."
"You think you could endure this for a month?" Delvin asked amused. He was very well informed about her temper, but Missy nodded "Even though you may have heard otherwise, if I need to be, I can be patient, but only up to a certain point…"
It took Brynjolf only a few minutes to come back, when he sat down again, he seemed quite distressed. Both Delvin and Missy looked enquiring at him. "What´s up?" Missy finally asked. Brynjolf took his time answering, obviously pondering how much information he could give her, but then decided that she probably could get it anyway.
"It might take some time until I can visit you in Dawnstar. Mercer goes on a mission with Greta and I´m left in charge here." Delvin watched him curiously. "Mercer? On a mission?" he asked baffled. Brynjolf nodded knowingly. "He thinks he found Karliah"
The whole room fell silent, when he spoke that name. Everybody watched Brynjolf as if he´d said something past all believe. Missy felt like she was not getting the point of this and so it was her who broke the silence. "If I´d asked who that Karliah is, would I get a satisfying answer?"
When Brynjolf just turned his head done not saying anything she looked enquiring to Delvin, who seemed to search for the right words, but before he found them Brynjolf, still not looking up, said "I told you about Gallus having a lady-love and it went terribly wrong?" he waited for her answer. She didn´t needed to look around to see that all eyes were on her, when she muttered "Yes"
"Well, she was a dunmer called Karliah and she killed him. Cold-blooded." Finally he looked up and for a fraction of a moment, Missy could see pure hatred in his eyes, but it was accompanied by a very deep sadness. Then he blinked and it was gone.
From that point on the mood was down and it seemed it couldn´t be lifted so soon. Even though saying good bye to Brynjolf wasn´t that easy, Missy was eager to get out of the sewers and the atmosphere there. And as he was far away with his thoughts, their departing was rather quick. "I´ll write you again, okay?" she asked and he nodded. Without further words he gave her a passionate good bye kiss.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Outside of Riften´s gates Missy took in a deep breath. A good assassin needs not only skill and luck, she thought, but what was most important to stay alive permanently was a good instinct. Her gut feeling was something Missy could always rely on and up until now, it had never failed her. And the things she had just heard were giving her stomach crumps.
It had been her instinct that had warned her not to mention that she had known a dunmer called Karliah for years. She was an informant of hers, not a friend, but a well trusted business associate. But that wasn´t what concerned her the most. That Karliah had been a thief was something easy to image. If she had issues with the guild Missy sure as hell didn´t wanted to get mixed up in this. It wasn´t her problem after all…
No, what concerned her was this so called mission and Mercer Frey. She had heard about him before. She had heard that he was into many businesses though nobody really knew what he did. Not to strange for the guild master of the thieves guild, but still and especially after their encounter today, Missy felt that there was something wrong.
She went further into the woods and whistled for Shadowmere. While she waited, she pondered further. Maybe she felt so bad about Mercer only because she disliked him. But that thought wasn´t helping. The horse found her only a minute later, eagerly greeting her. It was comforting that at least the horse didn´t seemed to mind the human businesses and issues.
Before she could mount, she heard another horse, slowly trotting nearer. Out of instinct she retreated further into the woods to find hiding. You never knew who was coming… especially with so much conspiracy in this city.
Between the leaves she watched the person on the horse. He wore a brown armour that was strangely familiar to her. From underneath the hood blond locks were peeking out. Wait… blond locks? Missy gave the person a closer look. That was Greta!
Shadowmere eyed her strangely and maybe a bit annoyed at her behaviour. She had turned around and now was leaning against a tree, sitting on the floor. She hadn´t thought about Greta. Actually she didn´t gave a damn if this Mercer was planning something, but obviously he was pulling Greta into it. The girl was too young and foolish to see a trap when she was standing in front of it. Pondering what she should do, Missy tore at her hair. She didn´t even liked the girl, she couldn´t care less! But then… since their encounter in Solitude she had some kind of respect for her… She was going her on way and staying faithful to her believes. As naive as she was, she didn´t let herself be corrupted. And Brynjolf was fond of her that was for sure. He would be very inconsolable if something happened to her…
By the Nine, Missy thought. This is going to get complicated. Then she mounted her horse and secretly followed Greta always staying hidden behind some trees, but never losing sight of her.