Rowena sighed heavily when she came to the next morning and felt Brynjolf toying with her hair. She scooted upward and offered a lazy smile. "Morning…"

He nodded and mumbled his own greeting before he pulled her closer. "Sleep well, I trust?"

She nodded against his shoulder.

He smirked. "Good. That means I did my job properly."

"Dog," Rowena accused playfully. She turned to get out of the bed.

Brynjolf reached over and hooked an arm around her. "Easy. Stay for a bit. We need to talk about… anything with this, Lass?"

"No. I'm fine with it if you are."

"Good," the thief agreed, then pulled her back against him. "Then I vote we don't leave the house- better yet the bed today, and we do a few repeat performances."

"Is that so?" she laughed and looped an arm around his shoulders.

"Aye…"

"You're going to be one of those incorrigible, clingy ones now, aren't you?"

"I'm bloody well considering it."

Rowena laughed and eased a leg over his hips to straddle him. "Then I suppose your mind's made up?" She leaned down to kiss him, only to stop short when the door to the house itself swung open. She rolled to the side with a yelp and the both of them glanced up to see what the intrusion was.

Delvin was on the other side of the door with a dagger at the back of a Penitus Oculatus Agent. He looked just as surprised as they did before he grinned from ear to ear. "Gotta say I didn't expect… that outcome. Expected one of you to be dead- the dark elf and I both figured it was gonna be Bryn's body I'd find here…" he explained. "Ya know, not that I'm complainin'. It's about bloody time and the view's bloody spectacular…"

Rowena huffed and tugged the sheet further up her chest. She gave the agent a quick glance, and the agent to his credit, kept his eyes on the ceiling. "Kryse, why does he have you at knifepoint?!"

The agent paused before shifting back and forth. The others knew he was choosing his words carefully, even if they couldn't see his face, with his eyes glued to the ceiling. "He didn't bloody believe me that the place is the both of ours. Just wanted me to unlock the door for him. I didn't… see anything for the record. And that better not be one of my beds under you …" he explained.

"It's not. Yours is on the other side with the other one. And Delvin, he's telling the truth. Leave him alone."

"But he's one of the Pentius boys, Boss! Those gents tried to kill you and the Brotherhood!" Delvin objected.

"Right, and there was plenty of backstabbing from that and now there's backstabbing in our damn Guild, so everything's null and void. Kryse here and I had a deal- I didn't kill him, I could use this as a shelter when I was in town and he'd act as a fence for me. Leave him alone. He's a good man- he's kept to his word."

Delvin grumbled under his breath, but dropped his hand holding the dagger.

Kryse paused, then nodded. "I'm just gonna let you…" he replied before turning on his heel and leaving.

Rowena watched him go, then turned to Delvin and arched an expectant eyebrow at him.

"What, not even a little peek?" he countered.

"Oi!" Brynjolf objected.

"Hey, she's yours mate, but can you blame me?" Delvin countered.

"Delvin!" they both yelled.

"Fine…" Delvin replied. "You've got a minute. We need to talk uh… business of the Maven variety," he informed them. "And Bryn- good damn job," he added, then ducked the goblet Rowena threw at his head. When it clipped his ear but managed to miss him otherwise, he barked a laugh. "Alright, I'm going. I'm going!" he closed the door as he went.

Rowena sighed heavily. "… I actually managed to forget about Maven…"

"If Teldryn was looking after her before, he can look after her now and make sure she doesn't try anything. You can take a bit more of a break."

"You're just saying that to keep me in bed," Rowena replied.

"Am I supposed to be insulted that you figured that out?" Brynjolf asked, then rolled so he was on top of her. He grinned down at her, then ghosted his mouth over hers before he pulled back slightly. "So what are we gonna tell the pups about… us?"

"Keep it simple. There's a chance that you might have to change your name from 'Uncle Bryn' to… possible, future… Da, I guess."

"That so?"

"I guess, if that doesn't scare you off."

"No, I was just wondering if we were going to, you know, try the indirect approach with, 'after a long overdue conversation and an even longer overdue shag, we figured I need to stick around a bit more."

"That so- oooh," she cut the parroted phrase off when he slid into her. "Cad," she accused. "And no, you're not corrupting my children."

"Well, you just implied they're gonna be half mine soon anyway. And that doesn't sound like it's a complaint," he realized his potential slip and shifted in her and she dug her nails into his back, only spurring him on in the process.

"It's not. Just… ugn. Can you- oh, you're not gonna even try to stop, are you? You know, I do have to deal with Maven sometime… don't give me that look."

"She can wait another hour or two… or three…" he replied, dropping a kiss and then a bite on her neck.

"Teldryn's gonna kill us for making him babysit. And Delvin's probably listening in, waiting for this to progress by the way."

"Well then, I'm definitely going to make sure we're both rightly satisfied before we go, and at this rate I'm willing to give him a show…" he leaned down to kiss her.

She humored him for a few moments, then sighed and locked her elbows and turned so she was on top of him. "It's better if we get this over with."

"I'm trying not to be ins-"

"You know what I mean," she smacked him in the chest, then got off of him. She huffed dramatically at his groan of protest. "You know it needs to happen."

"I do…" he sighed and sat up. He retrieved his clothes and dressed when she did. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Rowena stopped and turned to him. "I… don't know. I just… there's no doubt I'm going to have to be the old me and I don't want anyone I care about around that."

"You've… still done plenty of killing after the fact. Whether you had a choice, or whether the person was trying to kill you or not."

"This is up close and personal. This isn't… the usual… anymore."

Brynjolf sighed and cupped her face. "Ro, you came to us right after that part of your life. It was the tail end of it and you were… repenting, but I still know it. If you want me there, I'll be there."

"Then I could use the backup. Just not… inside inside."

"You sure?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Then what are we doing after that?"

"Going back to Riften to handle… business."

Brynjolf nodded. "Alright then. I'll get things set. Go do… what you need to do."

"… Thanks."

A few minutes later, Rowena had made it to the old shack where Astrid had recruited her. Just looking at it had her stomach going in knots. At the same time, somehow, someway it was a helping factor that she saw Teldryn sitting on the roof waiting for her, and Brynjolf had promised to come by a short time later- it was the small things that counted now.

Upon seeing her, the mercenary dropped down and walked over to her. He nodded a greeting, then pulled the Blade of Woe from his belt and tossed it up before catching it again so he held the hilt out to her.

She took it and offered a questioning look. "I- "

"If it's one thing I know we both appreciate it's poetic justice," he mused. "She's been attempting to talk my ear off through the roof vent all day. Too bad she didn't know about my second employer- Ser Far Too Arrogant to Survive…"

She forced a smile and arched an eyebrow. "You haven't told me about that one yet!"

"All in good time, my dear…" he replied. "But… history or not, I would suggest burning this place to the ground to cover your tracks."

"My thoughts exactly,"

He nodded at her before he walked away.

Rowena slipped into the shack, then frowned upon seeing Maven look up at her.

The matriarch was pale and it showed that eating and drinking had been limited all day, but her eyes still bit into the other woman's. "Ah. Rowena. I'm… surprised it is you. I expected Vex. Dirge. Even Delvin. Bu you? Since when do you get your hands dirty anymore? You told me you had moved on from that once."

"Since you sent people after me and others I care about," Rowena replied.

"You used to be part of the Brotherhood. I thought you would understand the logic."

"You're cleaning up after yourself to make yourself look better to the people."

"You never questioned the reasons behind the kills," Maven pointed out.

"And I've regretted that ever since," Rowena replied. "But I was never fond of being stabbed in the back. Or used and tossed aside. And now I have to remedy that."

"Riften will run itself into the ground," Maven warned.

"I think you give yourself too much credit," Rowena countered. "It'll do just fine."

"What? Under your leadership? Or your little pet Brynjolf's? Do you really expect any of your people will do better than mine?"

"Yes," she replied without second thought.

"Well then, know you were warned before it happened."

"The latest assassin. My replacement. What's his name?"

"Are you so sure it's a man?" Maven countered.

"A little birdy told me," Rowena shot back before unsheathing the blade of woe.

Maven snorted. "You expect me to be scared by that? You expect me to talk if you wave that around? You will get nothing out of me. Nothing…" she snorted. "And you've lost that edge you had at the start. You-" she gasped when a sudden, sharp endless pain hit her in the neck, then she gawked when she saw Rowena move her arm back- with a bloodied dagger in the process. She scrambled to press her hand to her neck.

Rowena knelt in front of her. "This is the end of your legacy. This is where your corruption ends. This is where manipulating people gets you. And now- one of the biggest products of all your schemes is going to see this through."

"I did- I made you. Remember that when you're… so desperate to see me gone," Maven forced out.

"And I'm already ages ahead of any of your influence. I. Am not. You."

Maven went to reply again, but gasped again and collapsed. A few moments later, her blinking stopped and her chest stopped rising and falling. She waited another few moments before taking the dagger and piercing Maven's heart. She wasn't taking any chances. This was as far from her past jobs as it could get. She waited another few minutes before leaving the shack. Right when she crossed the threshold, she all but slammed the door shut and collapsed back against it. She was breathing heavily before she even knew she was.

"It' over, Lass."

Rowena looked up, then smiled weakly when she saw Brynjolf had walked over. "Hi…"

He pulled her to her feet, then into his arms. "You okay?"

"… More or less…" she tucked herself further into his arms.

"Now what? We going after the assassin again?"

"Not yet. We need to go back to Riften."

"For?"

"To talk to the next generation about keeping Riften together."

When they reached the city, Rowena had Shadowmere stop short when she saw smoke and flames rising from behind the gates. She all but threw herself off the horse and ran back and forth to try and judge where it came from.

Brynjolf was right behind her. "The Assassin…?" he asked.

"Too big for that…" she replied, yanking her sword out of its scabbard. "And where are the guards?"

"No idea. Plan?" Brynjolf continued.

"You- Orphanage, Bee and the Barb, Guild…" she replied, frowning upon seeing the gate was propped open.

"Where are you going, then?" Brynjolf asked.

"Wherever the most action is," she shoved the gate open, leaning back when a flame curved in towards them. "Go. Now," she pushed him inside before drawing her sword and running inside.