A/N: Woohoo, long one. Hot off the press. I was writing this and talking to my friend going "the chapter won't end. I'm sitting here and writing and waiting for it to end but it's NOT. HAPPENING." and now it has. so woo.
P.S. hi max.

A/N2: yes, i am fully aware that they go from talking about his sister to kissing in WAY too short a time. i plan to rewrite this chapter when i have time.

"All right, what's wrong?"

"What? Nothing."

"It's obviously something. You're not paying attention. I shouldn't have gotten near you on that last strike. Now you're nursing a cut in the side two inches deep. A little deeper and you'd probably be dead."

"Quick healer, remember?"

"You can't heal from death."

Chaos sighed. "I know." In truth, she had been thinking about Ileimo. Thinking of his kiss. Thinking of kissing him. Thinking of how she liked it. Thinking of how she wanted to do it again.

She shook her head and pushed the sharp features and burning red eyes to the back of her mind. This was no time to act like a lovestruck teen. She had training to do.

That evening, in the tradehouse, she smiled at the young Wet Ear who handed her two Summon Golden Saint scrolls and a Scroll of Ekash's Locksplitter.

Chaos gave her a closer look. Upon inspection, she was astonishingly young, probably not but eighteen or nineteen. She was a Dunmer, a bit taller than average and rather skinny and awkward. She had the pinched, slightly unhealthy look of someone who is just coming out of a growth spurt. She was no prettier or uglier than any young Dunmer on the streets, but Chaos saw in her the potential to be beautiful, once she gained some weight back from said growth spurt. Her eyes were expressive and her hair was a bright red.

"I'm sorry, I can't remember your name."

"Aylana Drojas, Boss Chaos." Her voice was soft and pretty. Chaos could almost hear a bit of herself in the…

Wait.

Drojas?

"Please, just Chaos. Any relation to Ileimo Drojas?" Chaos asked casually.

Aylana smiled. "You know my brother?"

Chaos laughed. "Aye, I do indeed. I was forced to get to know him quite well, in fact."

Her young, soft (for a Dunmer, which was really still only slightly less sharp than average) features lit up in delight. "You're the Bosmer Ileimo was stuffed into a closet with!" She shrieked with delighted laughter. Ignoring the quizzical looks from around the corner, Chaos laughed at the young girl's delight at this bit of gossip. Aylana grabbed her hands, still grinning.

"You're to be my next sister-in-law! Ileimo took quite a fancy for you from that." She faltered. "Don't tell him I told you that," Aylana said, leaning in and lowering her voice.

"He told you that, did he?" Chaos asked, still smiling, but for more than one reason now.

Aylana smiled. "Bo- Chaos. He's my brother. He didn't have to tell me. The mere fact that he mentioned you is a sign you interested him. And the fact that I was able to eke the entire tale out of him...well." Aylana smiled again.

Aylana turned and Chaos looked up at the sound of the door opening. It was Ileimo. Aylana turned back to Chaos, smiling and raising her eyebrows. "I'll leave you two alone then, shall I?" With a last furtive smirk, she let go of Chaos' hands and strode over to the door where her brother held it for her. Ileimo nodded to her. "Sister."

Aylana curtsied slightly. "Brother." Even from behind, Chaos saw her torso swell with barely suppressed laughter. Chaos could hear her begin to giggle as soon as she was out the door. Ileimo walked over, a puzzled look on his face.

"I see you've met my sister. What was she so pleased about? And what are you smiling at?"

Chaos' smile widened. She shrugged. "I don't know. So, Toad, why have you come to see me?"

"Why, to admire your lovely outfit of course." He smiled dashingly and took her hand, kissing it. Chaos just laughed out loud. She was wearing a green skirt, a white shirt with a green vest, and a pair of black shoes. The green skirt stopped mid-calf, and if Chaos wasn't mistaken, she caught him looking at the bits of exposed leg.

"So why did you pick Earthly Delights for the guildhall, and not the tradehouse?"

"There are more cliff racers out that way, and I hate cliff racers. Plus, this place is much nicer to look at," Chaos said, with an appreciative look at the dancers. Ileimo's face fell a little.

"Look that way, do you?" He sounded disappointed.

Chaos shrugged. "Yes. Just to look, though. Women satisfy my eyes. It's men who satisfy my body. To be perfectly blunt about it," Chaos added as an afterthought.

Ileimo laughed and nodded. "Yes, I'll admit that even I look the other way occasionally, if a particularly choice specimen happens to walk by." Ileimo smiled conspiratorially and leaned a little closer. "Don't tell Aylana I said that."

Chaos grinned. "Am I getting myself into the middle of a sibling war here?" she asked, thinking of Aylana's earlier words.

"No, just healthy sibling rivalry. She'd have a field day if she found out I really did look at men occasionally."

"So she tends to blow things out of proportion?" Chaos hoped she didn't sound like she was fishing as hard as she was.

Ileimo shrugged. "No, she'd just tease me about it. She's my baby sister, and I love her and would protect her with my life, but we are just like any brother and sister. Always squabbling and teasing each other over one thing or another."

Chaos nodded, satisfied, and tried to keep the small smile creeping onto her lips back. "I never had a brother. Or I might have, I don't know. I was born in prison. I was raised by the group, not by just one or two people who might have been my mother and father. The one hint I ever got was my father was transferred to a different prison as soon as my mother started to show. They told me they beat my father's name out of my mother, and she nearly lost me in the process, but I hung on. They beat him too and transferred to him to an even worse prison that was all male. Since I was born I was beat up on, both by the guards, and by the few other children who were born in the jail. I was the only Bosmer child, and I was always small even for my race and age, so I was a prime target. I wasn't in a position to perform magic, and they sure didn't let us, especially the children, have weapons, because the prison was mostly full of dangerous criminals, so the only option left to me was stealth. Keeping out of the way enough and not attracting attention enough to survive. When I was released, it only seemed natural that I become a thief."

Ileimo nodded. "I had a fairly normal childhood. I was eight when Aylana came to us, and my older brother, Ryvan, was ten when I came, so we were fairly spread out. I was of common birth, and we made a prosperous little living off the local eggmine. My father was rather high up in the ranks of the mine, but he was humble, and we had a comfortable enough life. Aylana and I grew up with full stomachs and good clothes. But I still coveted what I sometimes saw when we traveled to towns that had nobility. Extravagant robes, huge manors, armies of slaves and servant. I was never good with a word or a scroll so I turned to theft. I was prosperous enough to make Aylana want to be like her big brother. She's just getting started. Watch out for her, will you?" Suddenly, for a moment, Ileimo was a big brother, worried about his baby sister. "Don't give her anything she can't handle."

"I won't," Chaos said seriously. "I promise."

"Don't baby her either, though. She'll notice and she won't stand for it."

Chaos smiled a little. "Hm. Sounds like me."

Ileimo touched her cheek to make Chaos turn her head. "Aylana's a fiery one. And somehow it doesn't surprise me that she reminds you of yourself."

Before either really knew what was happening, Chaos was again experiencing that intense kiss that made her knees weak, and she was lucky this time that she was sitting on a barstool. Ileimo pulled away quickly as he realized what he was doing. And looked at the ground a few feet in front of him.

"I'm sorry, I –"

"No, it, it's okay." Chaos turned his head back toward her.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me to presume -"

"No, it's okay. Actually I was sort of hoping that it might come over you again…" and she kissed him. She reflected vaguely that the fire in his kiss did not cool with time or experience. His hands got involved this time, the tips of his fingers working their way under the hem of her shirt and stroking softly, lightly. She made a small sound of pleasure and her hips moved forward an inch instinctively.

Helviane Desele smirked at the Bosmer and Dunmer stumbling up the stairs toward the rooms, trying not to detach their mouths in the process.