Keolah woke the next morning, or at least she thought it was approximately morning, to find that she had apparently spent the night in a sewer. She wasn't sure which was more remarkable - the fact that she'd slept in a sewer, or that it had been more comfortable than the inn in Markarth. At least the sewer had actual beds, for some reason.
She didn't even get a chance to eat any breakfast before Brynjolf was dragging her over to meet a dark-haired human man. A Breton, not another Nord.
"I hope this isn't going to be another waste of time and resources, Brynjolf," said the man Keolah presumed was the Guild Master.
"This is the new recruit I mentioned," Brynjolf said. "Keolah, meet Mercer Frey, the leader of the Thieves Guild."
"I see," Mercer said, turning to her. "Let me make this clear. You follow the rules, and you walk away rich. If you don't follow the rules, well, we're going to have problems, and you're not going to wind up rich. Do you understand me?"
"Rules?" Keolah wondered. "Aren't you guys supposed to be thieves?"
"And we have rules," Mercer said. "Do you understand me?"
"I'm not really much one for rules," Keolah said. "I tend to forget what they are."
"Do you understand me?" Mercer repeated.
"What are these rules, exactly, anyway?" Keolah said.
"Do you understand me?" Mercer said again.
"No, not really, not if you're not going to say what you expect of me," Keolah said.
"Do you understand me?"
"Are you even going to give me a chance to say no?" Keolah wondered.
"Do you understand me?"
"Maybe I'm not cut out to be a thief," Keolah said absently. "I could just go and steal stuff on my own time, you know?"
"Do you understand me?"
Keolah snorted at him and drawled, "Right, of course, I understand you perfectly and will be happy to follow all your rules, like a good little thief. I'd never conceive of lying to you or breaking your rules while you weren't looking."
"Good," Mercer said.
Keolah already didn't like him.
He started babbling on about something or other, but Keolah had already stopped paying attention to him and was peering about the cistern. Talos, Brynjolf had said the Thieves Guild was on hard times, but shouldn't they at least have some shiny trophies around here? There were beds, some chests, and a desk at the far end of the chamber. Maybe they just didn't feel the need to display their shinies in plain view? Or maybe they'd already sold them all just to be able to eat. Keolah knew that if she had shinies to display, she'd certainly be displaying them for all they were worth. And electrocute anyone that tried to swipe them.
"Are you paying attention, Elf?" Mercer snapped.
"Huh, what?" Keolah said, blinking at him and returning to the here and now.
"Are you sure about this one?" Mercer asked aside to Brynjolf. "She seems a bit... lacking."
"I have a hunch about her," Brynjolf said. "My instincts are never wrong!"
Mercer looked at him dubiously and snorted. "No great loss if she doesn't come back, I say."
"I'm right here, you know," Keolah said indignantly.
"Actually paying attention now?" Mercer said. "Talk to Brynjolf for the details on the job. I've wasted enough time on this." He turned and strode away.
"There's a job?" Keolah asked Brynjolf.
"You might be well served to listen while you're trying to case the place," Brynjolf said with a smirk. "Anyway. I want you to go to Goldenglow Estate. It's vital to one of our most important clients. Goldenglow is a bee farm. Burn a few of the beehives and clear out the safe to show the wood elf who owns it that we mean business."
Keolah blinked at him. "What's so important about bees?"
"They make the honey that keeps the mead flowing," Brynjolf said.
"Mead," Keolah said, rolling her eyes. "Silly Nords. Mead. Serious business."
"You can knock it all you want, but Maven Black-Briar will be quite cross if her profits get cut into much more because of this," Brynjolf said.
"Fine, fine, I get the idea," Keolah said, doing her best to restrain amused laughter at the idea. "Anything else I should know about the job?"
"The owner has hired mercenaries, so be careful," Brynjolf said. "And be sure not to burn the entire place to the ground."
"Right," Keolah said. "Why do people always think I need to be warned of that? It's not like I've accidentally burned anyplace to the ground! I've only been arrested for semi-accidental arson once, and the house was even still standing afterward!"
Brynjolf looked at her as though reconsidering asking her to do this particular job. "Um. Right. Anyway, talk to Delvin and Vex for side jobs if you're interested in some extra coin, and see Tonilia about getting set up with some armor."
"Oh!" Keolah said brightly. "I get armor? Just for joining?"
"Certainly."
Keolah's eyes narrowed. "Wait. This is going to be some crappy cast-off armor that the rest of you didn't want, isn't it. I'm getting old, used armor, aren't I... Oh, whatever. I'll take a look."
She went to skip back to the Ragged Flagon without waiting for a response. The dirty bunch of thieves were sitting around the makeshift tavern drinking swill and munching on meager portions. She supposed that she couldn't expect thieves to wear nametags.
"Hey!" Keolah said. "Which one of you is Tonilia?"
Everyone pointed to a petite Redguard woman.
"Thanks," she said, going over to talk to the one indicated.
"So, you're the new recruit, huh," Tonilia said. "You and I are going to get very well acquainted. I'm the fence down here, and if you bring me anything you didn't legally acquire, I can take it off your hands and give you some coin for it."
"Brynjolf said you had armor for me," Keolah said.
"Right, the armor," Tonilia said, digging out a well-worn suit of leather armor from a crate. "Here you go."
Keolah looked it over critically, then shrugged. "I suppose it'll do. You know, I'm a mage, and mages are usually going around wearing robes and dresses. Trouble is, you wind up tripping and stumbling over them a lot, and I'm quite clumsy enough without having to deal with that, too."
Tonilia looked at her strangely, and said, "Why exactly are you here again?"
Keolah ignored the question. "Have you got a nice private room where I can get changed in, perhaps? Every place around here seems awfully public and open."
"I'm sure you can find someplace around here," Tonilia replied dryly.
After poking around a bit, Keolah resorted to getting changed in an unoccupied room full of empty chests that she didn't think anyone was likely to bother her in. The smooth, black leather armor might not be brand new, but it fit well and she could move easily enough in it. If she was going to be a thief, she might as well look the part. Although wasn't that kind of defeating the purpose? Whatever.
"Brynjolf," she said, coming out and finding him in the cistern. "Where's the back entrance, anyway?"
"Ah, it's right over here," Brynjolf said, showing her to a ladder leading up at one side of the cistern. "It leads up into the graveyard. When you want to come back, press the button on the sarcophagus and it'll open right back up. Good luck at Goldenglow."
"Right," Keolah said.
Past the door Brynjolf had shown her, she found stairs leading up to a blank ceiling, and wound up spending several minutes looking for some way to open it from this side before noticing the pull chain hanging right next to her. That was embarrassing. Good thing nobody noticed that one. She pulled it, and the way opened up with the sound of stone grinding against stone.
"Very subtle," she muttered, climbing up the stairs and wondering how nobody noticed that by now. "Ooh, nightshade!" She eagerly went to harvest the plants.
Once she'd collected all the alchemical ingredients in the area, she headed for the marketplace. She had a job to do, and she didn't care to go about it by herself. Maybe she should have tried to convince one of those with the Thieves Guild to come along, but perhaps it was best to leave them be. They seemed quite content to sit around in their sewer, after all. Was it any wonder they were doing so poorly?
First things first, however, she headed over to the Bee and Barb inn for breakfast. They'd certainly have better fare here than at the Ragged Flagon, and she didn't care to eat whatever they'd dredged up in the sewer. The Argonians who ran the place gave her sour looks and probably overcharged her, but they let her eat in peace.
Once she had something in her stomach, she went around the inn to see if anyone was interested in accompanying her.
"Why hire on a common warrior like these Nords?" said one Imperial man. "My name is Marcurio. With me, you could have a master of the arcane at your side!"
"Oh! You're a mage?" Keolah said.
"Indeed I am," Marcurio said. "With my magic, our foes would fall before us. My fee is but five hundred septims."
"Hmm," Keolah said. "That seems a bit steep to pay per day, even for a mage."
"No, no, not per day," Marcurio said. "Just five hundred up front. That's all."
"What, five hundred septims and you'll follow me around forever?" Keolah said, raising an eyebrow.
"Certainly," Marcurio said. "Well, I'll expect to be fed and I might get bored easily and wander off if you tell me to stay somewhere for too long. But other than that, sure."
Keolah snickered softly. "You sound like my kind of human. Alright, consider yourself hired." She went to dig out the coins from her purse. "My name's Keolah, by the way. Although I was really hoping to find someone who could help me carry valuables."
"I'm not some mere pack mule," Marcurio said. "If you want that, find some big burly Nord to do that for us."
"There probably won't be much loot where we're going first, anyway," Keolah said, handing the fee over to him. "Let's go."
As the two of them headed out the gates of Riften, Marcurio asked, "So, where are we heading?"
"Goldenglow Estate," Keolah replied, and then something occurred to her that made her smack her forehead. "Oh, bother, I forgot to ask for directions."
"Goldenglow?" Marcurio said. "It's that bee farm out on that island over there." He pointed off across the lake.
"It's on an island?" Keolah said. She looked uneasily at the water. "Ugh. That water looks so cold. And wet."
"Indeed," Marcurio said. "We should take a boat."
"A boat!" Keolah said brightly. "Brilliant idea!"
She went over to the nearest small boat, untied it from the dock and hopped into it, followed by the Imperial man, and then very nearly overturned the thing accidentally. She grabbed the sides of the boat and tried to steady herself, and it.
"Um. I don't suppose you know how to work one of these things?" Keolah asked sheepishly.
"Don't look at me," Marcurio said. "How hard could it be?"
They each took an oar and attempted to paddle the boat out toward the island, but only wound up going in circles and very nearly capsized their craft in the process.
"You know, this isn't working," Keolah said.
"You don't say," Marcurio said.
"Forget this," Keolah said. "Magic to the rescue!"
She stood up, making the boat rock ominously, and then cast a firebolt spell at the water at the back of the craft. Instead of propelling the boat forward, it flipped the craft end over end and send them plunging into the icy cold water.
"Ack!" Keolah sputtered, and managed to climb on top of the overturned boat.
Marcurio surfaced beside her. "Well, so much for that idea. Can you swim?"
"I don't know about swimming, but I can dog paddle with the best of them," Keolah said. "I've had entirely too many accidents around water not to be able to do that much, at least. Bah, already soaked now, no help for that. Let's swim over, I suppose."
Leaving their failed attempt at boating behind, they swam over toward the island and climbed out of the water onto the rocks at its shore. Keolah sighed and brought some fire magic to hand, hoping to dry off and warm up a bit at least.
"Alright..." Keolah said, shaking herself off. "I'm told there's mercenaries here, so be alert."
"They won't stand any chance against our magic," Marcurio said.
It didn't take the mercenaries long to figure out that there were intruders on the island. Arrows went thwipping through the air, and Marcurio cried out and sent fire and lightning raining back at them. The two of them got separated for a while, but between them, the mercenaries on the island didn't stand a chance. Keolah laughed aloud as she incinerated another archer who was trying to shoot at her. This was fabulous!
As she crossed over a wooden bridge, she heard a distinctive chiming sound from somewhere very close. What was that? Ah! She'd know that sound anywhere! She jumped off the side of the bridge to find some glowing green stalks underneath it. Nirnroot, what a wonderful find! She harvested the plant, oblivious to the sounds of Marcurio's shouts and electrical zaps from not far away.
Once the nirnroot was firmly in her pack, she went to climb back up onto the island again. It was steep and difficult, but after some searching she found a place where she could manage it near where Marcurio was currently still fighting.
"I was wondering where you'd wandered off to," he said.
"Got distracted," Keolah said, putting both hands together to send a powerful firebolt into one mercenary's chest.
"I know how that goes," Marcurio replied. "What do we need to do here, anyway?"
"First off, burn the beehives," Keolah said.
"Easy enough," Marcurio said.
They headed over to one side of the island and sent fire spells into the beehives, sending streams of smoke choking toward the sky from every one of them. The field in front of the hives was full of mountain flowers, and Keolah compulsively bent down to start picking them.
"You aren't seriously going to pick all of these, are you?" Marcurio asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Um..." Keolah said, looking uneasily toward the beehives. "BEEEEEES!" She went running headlong toward the building.
"Keolah?" Marcurio said, jogging up to catch up to her. "We weren't being chased by bees."
"They're just waiting," Keolah said, panting a little. "Laying in wait for the opportunity. They're sinister like that."
Marcurio looked at her dubiously. "You're nuts." He smirked. "Was there anything else we needed to do here?"
"Clear out the safe," Keolah said. "That should be inside, probably."
"Ah, good," Marcurio said. "I was starting to wonder if this was going to be too easy. Then let's lay waste to the place."
The two of them headed inside the building. It was made primarily of wood, and crawling with mercenaries. Fire flew this way and that as the two mages took down everyone that tried to attack them. So long as they were here, Keolah pocketed everything that looked valuable along the way as well.
There were a few wooden doors that were locked and refused to be opened, so Keolah burned them down to claim the loot that was behind them. By the time they made it to the second floor, Keolah was already coughing at the smoke in the air.
"Maybe we overdid it a little," Marcurio said. "Not to worry. I have just the spell for this." He waved his hands, and the air cleared away, allowing them to breathe easily. "It's a weaker variant of the water breathing spell."
"You've got to teach me that spell," Keolah said.
"Sorry, I don't do teaching," Marcurio said with a smirk.
"Blast."
Marcurio blasted a nearby mercenary with lightning on cue.
"That wasn't what I meant, but that works too," Keolah said.
After scorching more of the thugs and causing no end of collateral damage, they came upon an elf cowering behind a dresser and coughing at the smoke.
"Oh, those useless mercenaries weren't worth the septims they were paid," the well-dressed elf said.
"That they weren't," Marcurio agreed.
"Huh, a bee in a jar," Keolah said, going over to peer at the curious knickknack sitting on the dresser. She picked it up and peered in at it. "Neat."
Marcurio smirked and cleared his throat.
"Is the breathing spell wearing off?" Keolah said, looking at him in concern.
"We're here for a safe, aren't we?" Marcurio said.
"Oh yeah," Keolah said, turning to the elf. "Hmm, wait a minute. You're an Altmer. I was told this place was owned by a Bosmer?"
"I was adopted!" the obvious high elf replied.
"Maybe you're just confused..." Keolah said with a shrug.
"The safe?" Marcurio reminded her.
"Right," Keolah said. "Where's your safe and the key to it? Maybe we'll even help you out of your burning house if you cooperate," she added cheerfully.
"You fools, you've ruined everything!" the estate owner said. "I didn't have much choice. I didn't think Maven and Mercer would let me get away with this. But now you've destroyed everything I've worked for, and Maven will be enraged about the damage you've done here!"
He pulled out a knife and attacked her. Keolah was so surprised at this that she didn't even defend herself at first. This weak wood elf in ordinary clothes was actually pitifully attacking her with a crappy knife?
Marcurio casually set him on fire. "Shouldn't have tried to attack us."
"Oh well," Keolah said, collecting the key from his corpse and making a face while doing so. "Let's go raid the safe. Oh, and carry this." She handed him the bee in a jar.
"What am I supposed to do with... gah," Marcurio said.
As they headed downstairs, it quickly became clear that the entire ground floor was on fire by this point. Keolah hurried down into the basement. They'd thoroughly checked the other floors and hadn't seen any sign of a strong box, so it had to be down there.
"Let's hope the whole house doesn't collapse on top of us," Marcurio said.
"No kidding," Keolah agreed.
Past a large pool of oil (which caught on fire), she found the safe Brynjolf had told her about. Before opening it, she directed healing magic at Marcurio after having to trudge through the burning oil.
"A healing spell? Thanks," Marcurio said. "Let's raid the thing and get out of here. Looks like there's a sewer grate over there. Should be safe in there."
Using the key she'd gotten from the wood elf, Keolah opened the safe with some urgency and scooped out everything inside into her bag without looking at it, and then scrambled into the sewer. She could breathe more easily with solid stone above her head.
They headed out of the sewer posthaste and out into fresh air once again. "Safe and sound," Keolah said, beaming. "A job well done, if I do say so myself."
"If the objective was to set everything on fire, at least," Marcurio said.
"Yeah, I do think he mentioned something about burning the place to the ground," Keolah said. "I'd hate to disappoint."
She looked around a bit for an easier way off the island. The heat and flame had dried her off for the most part and she didn't care to go for a dip again. At the very least, she went to see which side of the island might involve the shortest swim. In doing so, she discovered a bridge leading straight to the mainland.
"There's a bridge!" Keolah said, looking to Marcurio in a huff. "You didn't mention there was a bridge!"
"Hey, you should be glad I knew where the place even was," Marcurio retorted.
Keolah snorted softly and crossed the bridge, making her way back toward Riften. "Time to report back in to the Thieves Guild."
"You're with the Thieves Guild?" Marcurio said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep," Keolah said. "You got a problem with that?"
Marcurio let out a bark of laughter. "No, I'm just kind of surprised. If you're supposed to be a thief, then you must be the worst one I've ever run across."
"Hey!" Keolah protested.
"A fine mage, but a bad thief," Marcurio amended. "I mean, you can't argue that this was the least bit subtle." He gestured toward the island where Goldenglow Estate was letting off a nice 'golden' glow.
"But it got the job done," Keolah said.
It was late by the time they made it back to Riften and wandered around a bit to locate the graveyard. Keolah pressed the hidden button and descended into the Thieves Guild headquarters to report back.
Brynjolf was entirely too annoyed with her to notice, or care, about the stranger she'd let into their midst. "You!" he said. "You really messed things up good. I told you not to burn the place to the ground! Maven is furious, and you can forget about your cut!"
Keolah's face fell, and she hung her head. "Oh... Oops."
"Oops?" Brynjolf repeated, snorting. "That's all you have to say for yourself? Did you at least clear out the safe?"
"Oh, yeah," Keolah said, pulling out her bag. "Here's what I found in the safe."
"Ah, good, you at least did something right," Brynjolf said, pausing as he looked over a scrap of paper she'd found in the safe. "What's this? That fool Bosmer sold the estate? He'll regret that..."
"No, he won't," Marcurio replied. "He's dead."
"Ah. Well. Maven's asked to see you personally," Brynjolf said to Keolah.
"Tonight?" Keolah said, raising an eyebrow.
"You'd best not keep her waiting."
Keolah sighed. "I was hoping to get some dinner and sleep, but alright. Unless she's going to skin me alive for screwing up the mission, in which case I'm going to skip town and be halfway to Markarth by morning."
Brynjolf chuckled without humor. "If she wanted you dead, she'd be calling on the Dark Brotherhood, and being on the other side of Tamriel wouldn't help you then. No, she just wants to talk."
"Talk. Just talk," Keolah said, nodding. "Alright, I'll go talk to her, then."
Keolah was afraid that she'd wind up spending the remainder of the night wandering around Riften trying to find her, but to her surprise, she ran across a woman in the streets shortly after leaving the Thieves Guild who could only be Maven Black-Briar, from her indignant reproach.
"So you're the one who burned down Goldenglow Estate. Do you have any idea how much that little stunt of yours is going to cost me?"
Yeah, had to be Maven Black-Briar. "Uh, sorry," Keolah said sheepishly. "I got a little confused between 'burn it down' and 'don't burn it down'. Really, if someone wants something not burned down, they shouldn't say anything about burning it down..."
Maven looked at her incredulously. "The only reason we're even having this conversation is because Brynjolf assured me that you wouldn't botch another mission."
"If you need something else destroyed, I'm the one to talk to," Keolah said brightly.
Maven sighed and put her face in her palm. "I would prefer that this one be kept intact, do you understand me?"
"Oh," Keolah said, looking at the ground. "Alright, alright. I'll try really hard not to burn the next place down. What's my target?"
"I want you to head to Whiterun, and meet up with a man named Mallus Maccius at the Bannered Mare Inn," Maven replied.
"Malleus Marcus?" Keolah said.
"Mallus Maccius," Maven corrected.
"Marius Malcus?" Keolah said.
"Mallus Maccius," Maven said firmly. "Bah! Just look for an Imperial in a vest. He'll fill you in on the details."
"Alright, alright," Keolah said.
"And let me remind you one more time just in case we weren't clear on this," Maven said. "If you screw this one up, you will be sorry."
"Right..." Keolah said, turning to Marcurio. "Let's stick to lightning spells this time."
"Lightning can still start fires!" Maven snapped.
"Ice spells, then," Marcurio said.
"I don't know any ice spells," Keolah said, frowning.
"I have no idea what Brynjolf sees in you," Maven said.
"A powerful Altmer mage who happens to be the Dragonborn?" Keolah ventured.
"So far, I'm not impressed," Maven said. "Do try to change my mind." She walked away.
"Are we setting out for Whiterun now?" Marcurio wondered as Keolah turned to walk down the street.
"No," Keolah replied. "We're getting dinner and a good night's sleep. Maven can very well wait."
"I don't think she'll like that," Marcurio said.
"Tough," Keolah said. "I'm hungry and tired."
"Tempting fate," Marcurio said with a chuckle. "I'm so glad I'm just the hired help..."
"Everyone always wants everything done immediately," Keolah said. "Most of them aren't actually as urgent as they make them out to be, though."
"Most of them aren't as capable of making your life miserable as Maven," Marcurio said. "But it's your funeral."