Ch 12

{notes at the end}

It was real.

It had been a hard fight, but they had won. And now they had it.

The Crown of Barenziah.

Teldryn sat by the fire and held it, unable to fight the feeling that if he looked away, it would vanish. The scrapes and bruises should have made it feel real. One ghostly cut had nearly gone through his bracer. The sore muscles. The lingering fatigue he felt from running his magicka lower than usual. But somehow it still didn't seem believable.

Ceirin was going to take it down to the Guild's headquarters to store it when they got back. It wouldn't be safe at the house. But until then…he turned it over in his hands, admiring the workmanship. The weight alone was impressive. He thought of a portrait he'd seen in Blacklight, a young queen with her head held high, a piece of his country's history right there in his hands. The firelight made it glow in the way that only high quality gold did. Not a hint of brassiness. He pictured what it would look like with all the jewels restored. Magnificent.

It the best thing they had found so far. He looked over to see Ceirin grinning at him.

"What?"

"You've been staring at that like you've never seen gold before."

"When I am an old, decrepit mer and I'm writing my memoirs, I want to get this part right." Teldryn shook his finger at the rogue. "Are you sure we can't keep it?"

Ceirin just grinned again and shook his head. He raised up his bottle of mead in a sort of salute. Teldryn grabbed his own bottle and they clinked the two together in a wordless toast.

Neither mer could quite wipe the smile off his face.

{ Notes:

Ok, so one successful venture down, more to come? We'll see. A short chapter again, I know- sorry. This story is insisting on being a slow build up and it rambles a bit, but there will be some action/drama / etc coming up in a few chapters more. I'm in the process of rearranging a few sections to what I think will be a better series of events. Hopefully I can edit that in the next few weeks.

One thing to address now- as I have had a couple messages regarding this topic- yes, I do mean to develop some relationships more fully. It will not be graphic. So I can keep the T rating, any intimate scenes will be treated with the standard fade-to-black. However, if m/m is not your cup of tea, please feel free to go read something else and thank you for your time so far. That said, I hope you'll all stay. And as always- thanks for reading! }