AN.: Hello guys, it´s been some time, I know, but I couldn´t make it faster. I just can´t keep up the pace I once had and you just can´t force creativity. This one is quite high in dialog and I hope it´s not getting boring... in the next chapter there is more Missy-Brynjolf-action again, I promise. So have fun and leave a review =)

Missy urged Shadowmere forward. Now this demonic deadra horse could show his full potential. All he needed to know was: "We need to get home fast. Very fast. As fast as you can."

The world around her became a blur, the horse needed no directions and so she concentrated on her grip around Greta. As much as she could, Missy had pulled her cloak around the lifeless form of the girl, so she wouldn´t lose all of her warmth. But then still, she more felt like a corpse than anything else. "Don´t you dare to die!" Missy commanded. She felt absolute helplessly, nothing she particularly liked.
"Not tonight, not on this horse, not in my arms…. Do you understand me?! You will not die!"

She had seen many people die. As part of her job, she had seen it quite professional: after all it wasn´t her problem. When her fellow assassins had died, she had blamed it on fate. She hadn´t been really sad then, more angry than anything else. And she certainly had felt no compassion with Astrid.

But this was different. The thought of Greta dying was terrifying her. This girl deserved to live, let alone die in such poor circumstances. That brought her attention back to the question, what exactly had been the circumstances? What had happened in that tomb?
Why had Mercer left Greta to die and who had done the stabbing? If it had been Karliah, why would she carry Greta out of the tomb to rescue her? She owed Missy one hell of an explanation.

If only Missy would have been there. If only she hadn´t lost Greta the night before, famous sneaking master assassin that she was supposed to be….
She knew something was about to happen. She knew it. But she couldn´t prevent it. She really was nothing but a murderer, Missy thought. Taking care of someone or even just keeping someone alive, didn´t seemed to be one of her talents.

Something liquid was weeping over Missy´s hand that held Greta tight around her abdomen. Nervously she gave it a look and saw that it was blood. The effect of the poison must have been wearing off. As if to support that conclusion Greta made a low rumbling noise, but still not waking up. Missy ducked the two of them further down, nearer to the horse back, so they wouldn´t be effected so much by the wind and said: "Shadowmere, we need a miracle!" and the horse if that was even possible sped up more.

Afterwards Missy concluded that they must have been flying to Dawnstar. Otherwise she couldn´t explain how they got so fast to Dawnstar. Normally she would need at least two days, more likely three, but they hadn´t have any break and at the next dawn they reached the sanctuary.

Missy more or less fell from the horse dragging Greta with her. Desperately she opened the door and shouted: "Hello, I need help! Come here at an instant…" It was Cicero, who was the first rushing towards his leader. "Get Barbette! I need her!" Missy ordered and surprisingly the jester complied without any jingle. The look of utter desperation on her face must have silenced even him. While he went away, shouting for the little vampire girl, Yall was the next to turned up.

His military training must have kicked in, for without asking any questions, he took Greta in his arms, what was a lot more effective as he was by far bigger than Missy, who could only drag Greta, with half of her on the floor.

"To your room?" he asked, while already turning towards there. Missy could only nod.

When they had only lain Greta on the furs of Missy´s bed. Barbette showed up, obviously surprised. "Oh my… who´s that?" she asked while walking up to the woman on the bed.

Missy in the meantime had already started to undress Greta. "No time for explanations. She has two stabbing wounds on her torso. She would have been already dead, if it wasn´t for a poison that´s in her, that immensely slows her heartbeat. But it´s wearing off…" she explained, tearing at her hair and so effectively spreading Greta´s blood that had been on her hands.

Barbette felt for Greta´s pulse on her neck. She crinkled her nose, probably not being pleased with it. Then she had a sniff at the blood that was smeared all over the torso. "Ah, I know that one…" she exclaimed. "That girl is pretty lucky, that she´s not dead by the poison alone. Must have a strong heart and a strong will…" She then examined the wounds. "Well, they are pretty deep, but it seems nothing vital is damaged…what is a good thing." Missy nodded enthusiastic, but then asked "Does that mean that we can help…? Or… I mean, is she going to…?" chewing on her lip and not daring to speak this bad word.

The vampire girl looked up, not being used to Missy sounding so desperate and unsure. "We´ll see. Can´t say it at the moment. I will try to heal the wounds slowly with portions, while slowly giving her an antidote and we just can hope that we balance both good enough. I´ll get my stuff"

And out she was on her way to her alchemy lab. Missy then stood a bit lost in front of the bed, watching the unconscious Greta covered in her own blood. It was Yall, who had stood behind Missy all the time of the talking, and who snapped her out of her trance. He carefully put a hand on Missy´s shoulder, saying: "C´mon, she in good able hands now, you look like you need a wash up." He then urged her to leave the room, while Barbette was already coming back, her hands full with equipment.

A few hours later Missy was just outside the sanctuary. Rubbing Shadowmere´s fur with a brush. It wasn´t really necessary. The horse hasn´t sweat the tiniest bit. But still Missy felt like she owed him and indeed he seemed to enjoy himself a lot.

"She seems a bit more stable now. " Missy told the horse "Barbette is making slow, but constant progress in healing her. Still she is far away from waking up…" Shadowmere seemed very uninterested. When she finished her work, she patted his neck saying. "Really I would´ve been lost without you…" smiling a bit and then she went back inside.

"How is she doing?" Missy asked Barbette entering her room, while giving Greta a close look. She had a feeling like her cheeks had a bit more colour now, but that could be her imagination. "Not really anything different from how she was about 15 minutes ago…" Barbette answered smiling, but Missy crossed her arms, obviously not in the mood for joking. She hated that she couldn´t do anything. "I can´t and I won´t give any prognosis, but then she isn´t dead yet, that alone is a miracle, so I guess we can hope." She explained, while wiping away some blood and then trickling some kind of a health potion directly into the wounds. "In a way though it´s a good thing that she is unconscious. Really this would have hurt like hell." She then covered the nord girl with a blanket. "What´s her name anyway?" she asked urging Missy to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Greta" the spoken to answered truthfully, but obviously far away with her thoughts. "You look tired." Barbette then stated the obvious. She was sure to not get any further information at this point. "Hmmm…" was the unmotivated answer.

"Why don´t you go to bed? You can do anything for her anyway at the moment…" she tried further. Missy first said nothing, but concluded that Barbette was right. Still she didn´t found the energy to stand up again. The vampire girl rolled eyes, then lost her patience and pushed Missy from the bed. "By Sithis, go and sleep! And don´t you come back until you are well rested…"

Normally Missy would have fought back, but now was far too tired to do so. She just found herself one of the spare beds for the possible future novices and then fell at an instant fast asleep.

A few hours later Missy was woken by an urgent discussion that was going on in the room next to her. "Look, I just don´t like this…" someone insisted. Sleepily Missy sat on the edge of the bed and stretched. How long had she been sleeping? "She shouldn´t be here…" the same person went on and she figured that it was Nazir´s voice. Who shouldn´t be here?... wait… Greta!

Still feeling exhausted but at least somewhat less tired Missy went to the main room, where this discussion was taking place. When she entered the room all eyes were on her.

Nazir who was pacing in front of the fireplace and was about to say something more stopped silent. Barbette and Yall who were sitting at the table turned around and watched her equally.

"Good morning" Missy greeted, faking calmness and trying to sound self-confident. "Morning" Nazir said with pressed lips and crossing his arms. He wasn´t so easily fooled. Missy turned to Barbette "How is she doing?" she asked. "Greta? Astonishingly good, I think. Wounds seem better, they aren´t really bleeding anymore. Heartbeat is stronger. She is still not waking up though." Missy nodded that was at least some good news.

"Would you mind telling us what happened?" Nazir asked politely, but making it clear that he wasn´t pleased with the situation. "She wears a thief´s guild armour. Are you working with them now?" he asked further. Missy took her time to answer. First she purred herself a cup of tea that had been prepared and then had a seat. She turned to Nazir and smiled at him, mentioning to sit beside her. "C´mon sit down" she said, laying all authority she could muster in her voice. He watched her darkly, but did as told.

"The girl´s name is Greta." Missy started "And yes, she is with the thief´s guild. But I´m not" she stated, giving Nazir a meaningful glaze. "It seems they let her down, by the way, but I don´t really know what happened. I brought her here in the same condition as I found her."

"That brings us to the interesting question why you brought her here anyway?" Nazir complained and though the other two didn´t say anything, it was obvious that they were wondering, too.

Missy took in a deep breath. That was a fairly hard question to answer.

"I have been knowing her for some time now. She is new to this lifestyle. Has been pulled into it, more or less unwillingly. When I left Riften last time, I got the info that she was about to go on a mission with the thief´s guild master, Mercer Frey. Don´t ask me how, but somehow I knew there was something going on, something bad… and I was right. First I lost her in the wilderness. But when I found her again, she was left to die by her guild master."

"Has he stabbed her?" Barbette asked shocked. "I don´t know for sure. It doesn´t make sense to me. They were together in an ancient nord tomb. But he left it alone, in a hurry. Went I circled the tomb, searching for Greta, I found Karliah, who carried her out of the tomb."

"Karliah?" Nazir asked very surprised. "What does she has to do with this?"

"I´m not sure actually. It seems she was with the guild in the past. I didn´t knew that before, but as I was told they had some kind of trouble… she is now a persona non grata, there"

"Who´s that?" Yall tossed in, a bit confused. "A dunmer. Worked a couple of times as a contact and an informant for us. Pretty sneaky…" Nazir explained.

"When I left with Greta, I ordered her to come to Dawnstar. I hope that she will give us some answers. She seemed very interested in Greta´s survival, so I´m sure that she will come."

"Well, this is a nice story, really… but what I still don´t understand is, why is she here?" Nazir asked putting the emphasis on "here".

"Ah, now I understand the problem… She was about to die, actually she was already more dead than alive. I couldn´t let her die. But this was the only place where I could have brought her. I mean it´s still not clear if it was her own guild master, who intended to kill her… he at least wasn´t eager to help…" Nazir started to say something, but Missy cut in off.

"Look, I do understand that you don´t like the idea of a foreigner knows about this sanctuary."

"Hmpf, that´s even understated…" Nazir said. "I will guarantee for her. She´s not one that betrays you…" Missy explained further, but no one seemed convinced, so she asked: "Do you trust me… as your leader?" and looked around them. Behind them a voice suddenly spoke clearly "You are the Listener. Cicero is the Keeper. He is obliged to follow your lead and he will."

Missy smiled a bit to herself. This jester really had a habit of appearing in the right moments. In front of her Yall nodded enthusiastically and Barbette hurried to do so, too. Only Nazir seemed unsure, what disappointed Missy a bit. Finally he explained:

"To make this clear: I do trust you… with my very life. I just don´t see why this is our business. I don´t think it´s wise to get mixed up in guild affairs." He shrugged his shoulders and looked at Missy inquiring. "You may be right, but in this one I had no choice." She explained and Nazir nodded seemingly convinced.

"Maybe we could make a compromise" Barbette suggested. "The girl has been unconscious ever since you brought her here, so by now technically she doesn´t know anything about this sanctuary, does she?" Everybody nodded and Missy could tell were this train of thought was going. "She is quite stable now" Barbette continued "We could bring her to the local inn now, while she is still unconscious and wait there with her for Karliah. She doesn`t even has to know that she has ever been here."

"I like that idea" Nazir said enthusiastic "The local people know better than to ask any questions" he added. Missy considered the idea. "Well, if you say it´s not a problem to transport her, than this solution is fine by me."

"Wonderful" Barbette said smiling brightly. "Missy, can you help me to wash the girl a bit and put her into new clothes?" she asked jumping down from her chair. "Sure, I´ll get some hot water" Missy answered equally getting up.

About half an hour later Missy and Yall, who carried Greta in his arms, were on their way towards Dawnstar. Greta still unconscious now wore a new white night gown and was wrapped into a thick woollen blanket, only her sleeping face peeked out. Yall watched her carefully.

"She quite pretty, isn´t she?" he asked and regretted it about a moment later. He obviously hadn´t meant to say that out aloud. He reddened around the cheeks, while Missy smiled to herself, saying "She probably is, by nord standards…"

"She looks so… peaceful and innocent…" he resumed "Do you now the tale of the star money? She reminds me of that girl…" Now Missy looked sceptical. "No, never heard of that story, but you shouldn´t underestimate her, she seems to be quite an able thief."

Then it was Yall´s turn to look sceptical. "I wouldn´t believe it, if it wasn´t you telling me…"

When they entered the village and turned towards the inn, Missy ended this absurd conversation. "Maybe it especially that, was makes her a good thief. Now, get a hold of yourself."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Renting a room for Greta hadn´t been any problem. As expected no questions were asked and just as always the inn keepers had been more than eager to attend to every wish, Missy could think of. They seemed to be only ones staying here overnight anyway.

Now, Missy sat by the fireplace in the room, nursing a war mead, while Greta laid in the bed, still sleeping. Yall had bit his farewell not long ago. Barbette would come for a visit as soon as the sun had set, but that was still some hours to come.

Suddenly someone groaned hoarsely and Missy could make out some movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and could see that Greta was opening her eyes.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty" she said smiling, enjoying her private joke. Greta on the other hand turned her head and looked shocked at her. Then she reclosed her eyes, touched her forehead and groaned again. "Gods… world is spinning…" she mumbled. "What are you doing here? Where´s here anyway?" she asked, slowly daring her eyes to open again.

Missy sat down by her side on the edge of the bed, a cup of water in her hand. "Here, at first you should drink something." She said, putting the cup at Greta´s lips. Eagerly the girl drank it.

"You are here in Dawnstar. I brought you here, when I found you. The people work for us frequently, they are quite trustworthy. Do you remember what happened?" she asked carefully.

"Dawnstar?!" Greta asked still a bit spaced-out. "I´m not sure… I was in Snow veil sanctum, together with Mercer… we… oh my god…" obviously the memories just came back and Greta´s eyes filled with tears.

"What happened?" Missy asked again and her question snapped Greta back out of her not so pleasing memories. She took in a deep breath to calm herself, but then grimaced and clenched her fist, as it hurt. Beneath the blanket she carefully touched her torso and felt the bandages, that where tightly wrapped around her.

Looking somehow defeated, Greta started explaining "Mercer and me had been exploring snow veil sanctum, an ancient nord ruin. Had some problems with draugr, but not too much. We were working quite well together. Then we rounded a corner and an arrow hit me. It was Karliah. We had been chasing her. She…" Greta stopped and watched Missy carefully. Still, this was guild business, but the dunmer woman smiled. "I know, you chased her, because she has killed the late guild master Gallus." Greta looked confused. "C´mon, in my position I know how to get the info I want…"

That seemed to convince Greta and she presumed "The arrow must have been poisoned. My heart beat hard in my chest, but too slow. I was gasping for air and was fighting hard to stay conscious. The two shot insults at each other... then Karliah disappeared and Mercer turned to me… he did… it…" Her eyes were filling up again.

"What did he do?" Missy asked, though already guessing what has happened then.

"He stabbed me." Greta said sobbing. "Said, I had ruined everything… I don´t know what…" Missy felt her worst suspicions confirmed, while the girl beneath her was sobbing uncontrollably. Not knowing what else to do, she took her carefully into an embrace, leaning over her.

Finally Greta seemed to calm down again. Her big watery eyes watched Missy, saying "I thought I was going to die, when the world went pitch black."

"Well, you weren´t far from it… when I found you" Missy said lightly smiling. She wasn´t used to comforting people, but in this case it actually felt good.

Greta wiped the tears away from her cheeks and finally felt as if getting a hold of herself, when a question popped up in her mind. "But how? I mean how did you find me?"

"Err…" Missy was a bit lost for words. "Karliah carried you out of the tomb. That´s where I found you and as I had a horse I took you here, so you could get a treatment without Mercer getting any suspicion that you could be still alive. I think it´s better when he believes you are dead."

"Yeah… I´m not really keen on meeting him any time soon." Greta stated, when suddenly someone knocked on the door. One of the barmaids peeked into the room.

"I´m sorry to disturb you, but here is someone, who I believe is searching you." Greta tensed suddenly, not knowing whom to expect, but Missy just turned around and nodded. The barmaid went away, mentioning for the person behind her to enter the room.

Deliberately another dunmer, Karliah, went to the bed. She obviously wasn´t all too sure how to react and what to say. Finally she pressed. "You´re alive, that´s good… I wasn´t quite sure you would make it…" Missy smiled and mentioned her to sit down on another chair. Karliah took the invitation gratefully. She seemed exhausted, but that wasn´t surprising considering that she must have walked all the way to Dawnstar.

Now, it was Greta who was at loss of words. She opened her mouth to say something, but then reconsidered and closed it again. Missy looked from one woman to the other. "There is a lot to talk about… I think we should start now…"

"You shot me!" Greta said with a voice so grim, Missy didn´t thought she was capable of it. But Karliah wasn´t so easily unnerved. "The arrow wasn´t meant for you. It was for Mercer. Took me years to find all the ingredients for the poison. Now it was wasted…"

Missy felt confused. Shouldn´t it be Karliah´s objective to stay away from the guild as far as possible? "Why exactly would you want to kill Mercer?"

Snorting Karliah crossed her arms. "Revenge. Simply and pure, he deserves it." The others looked at her inquiring. "It wasn´t me who killed Gallus. Isn´t that obvious?... It was Mercer. He usurped and then blamed me. But I could escape and planned to lay his treachery open. That's why he made such an effort to find me."

Missy considered the words. It actually explained the situation at hand, she turned to Greta who watched Karliah still icily. "Do you have any proofs?" she asked and Missy was surprised. The woman in the bed before her, wasn´t the bona fide, naïve girl, she once had met. This must have taught her an important lesson.

Karliah took a deep breath, she must have expected to find trust so easily. "I do have Gallus´ dairy. He knew that Mercer was working against him and he must have written it down…"

"But…?" Missy asked and Karliah smiled "It´s written in the falmer language."

Now, even Greta looked confused. "They have a language?"

"Yes, and Gallus was quite obsessed about it. It also is a good code, because there is next to no one who can read it…" Karliah explained. "So, you don´t have anything. Basically." Greta said.

"We need to get to Winterhold. There lives an old friend of Gallus. He may know how to translate the dairy."

"Wait. Why we?" Greta asked, not amused at all. "I don´t see a reason why I should have anything to do with this. I was nearly killed. First by you and then by my oh so trusted guild master… I´m done with this…" Wow, Missy thought that was unexpected. But Karliah still stayed calm.

"I need you to help me, because the guild trusts you and you have seen Mercer´s first handed, you bear his scars… they wouldn´t believe me, even if I had the most convincing proofs in the world. I can do whatever you please as soon as we are done with Mercer. Don´t you feel vengeful against him?" Greta considered the words. She wasn´t a vengeful person at all, but she couldn´t leave it be like this. "Actually I want to get away from this as far as possible. I mean, I never wanted to be a thief in the first place… but, I don´t want Mercer to do any more harm…"

Missy slightly smiled there she was gain, the Greta she knew, this adorable unsure girl… "I hate to say this, but you really shouldn´t back away now and leave this as an unfinished business. I´d hate to see Mercer winning in this…" and Greta nodded.

Now finally, one could see a hopeful smile on Karliah´s face too. "So it´s settled. We are going to Winterhold and we will overthrow Mercer. What is with you?" she asked turning to Missy.

"Me? I don´t have anything to do with this. I already got mixed up to deep in your guild businesses. But I think you should wait another day or two. Greta needs some time still to recover and you should get a break too. Nobody knows that I was there or that you are here, so I will go to Riften and see what´s going on there. I probably need to console Brynjolf…"