I know this chapter is very short (1059 words) but I ended it in what I thought was the best place possible.
"She's exhausted." Maria said quietly.
Echo was curled up asleep under the table.
"So are you. Don't hurt yourself." Brynjolf said.
"She's so young. So young and yet she already knows so much. She must have had to grow up fast to survive."
"The lass has potential. She's not half bad with a pick and knows how to stick to the shadows. She can pickpocket, that's for sure." Brynjolf said with some respect.
For someone her age, Echo had excellent thieving skills. Maria yawned.
"Bed." He ordered.
"But-" Maria protested.
"I'll watch your patient."
"Fine. Don't kill yourself." She said teasingly.
Brynjolf raised an eyebrow and went downstairs. Maria shook her head and went into the master bedroom. Twin sparks of blue flashed in the darkness under the table. Echo had been awake the whole time. So young, yet so tricky. She joked to herself. Echo was easy to wake up and it had saved her on more than one occasion. The sound of footsteps and talking had put her ears on alert and woken her. Aela was getting better. Much better. She could feel it. Listening so closely to her instincts had given Echo some valuable skills. She could tell things about people she knew well. There had once been another rat who'd wanted Echo dead for stealing something he'd thought as rightfully his. Echo had watched him from the shadows, staying out of sight, for weeks. She'd been planning to kill him herself in the quiet hour before dawn in two days when something had told her to go to the market and climb the wall behind the stalls. She'd found her target meeting with some of his cronies on the other side. They were planning Echo's death. They were going to catch her unawares that very night. Echo waited for the leader to leave. When he was alone, she slit his throat. His three friends met a similar fate. Echo had moved cities that night. Echo went downstairs. She hid in the shadows. She couldn't see Brynjolf himself but she knew he sat in the chair against the wall.
"Nice try lass, but you'll have to do better than that to sneak up on a master thief."
She turned around. Brynjolf stood behind her.
"How the- You were in the room!"
Brynjolf shook his head.
"My boots were in the room. That's what I was talking about. Check everything." He said.
Echo growled.
"Why are you down here?" He asked.
"I can't sleep. It's too quiet."
"Go back to the Flagon. You can bet it will be loud down there at this time of night." He said with a shrug.
Echo turned and walked out. The Flagon was indeed noisy. Tiaan was having a drinking contest with Thrynn. The two were singing snatches of some drinking song or another. Delvin was drunk. Vex glared at him with disdain. Delvin just kept glancing dreamily at her. He had a black eye. Dirge was sitting with someone Echo hadn't met at another table. Vekel had a bottle in his hand and was drinking from it but didn't seem drunk.
"Where were you?" Vekel asked.
"At Maria's place. It was too quiet so I came back here."
"I was just about to close up for the night. Once Tiaan and Thrynn start, the only company here is drunken louts and Vex. And Vex isn't good company at the best of times unless you like getting your head bitten of. Hey Vex?"
Vex glared at him. So Vekel was drunk after all. He was never so free with his words.
"Vekel, you're drunk. Get out of here before you get a black eye." Vex threatened.
"Whatever you say Vex. I'm a-leaving." Definitely drunk.
"Mind if I join the small circle of sanity?" Echo asked. Vex shrugged. Echo sat on top of the crates she was leaning against.
"What did Delvin do?" Echo asked.
Vex laughed icily.
"He was making certain... unwanted advances. I swear, that man looses it when he gets drunk." She said.
"Is Tiaan really drunk?"
"Not as much as she seems. She has a drinking contest with Thrynn almost every second night. Same result every time. They're not normally this drunk. Vekel hardly ever goes that far."
"What happened tonight?" Vex laughed and this time it wasn't cold.
"Delvin challenged Tiaan to a contest. Delvin lost. Thrynn thought that because Tiaan had already drunk with Delvin he stood a chance. He'll drop any minute now."
Vex watched the pair drinking and singing away. Tiaan winked at Vex. Vex shook her head. Tiaan gave Vex the finger. Tiaan reminded Echo of Torvar like that. Echo gave him the finger or said something sarcastic to annoy him, she got the same back.
"Just hurry up and knock him out already! I have a bet on the line." Vex hissed.
"Got any jobs?" Echo asked.
"Sure. What do you want?"
"Shill."
Vex handed her a silver necklace.
"I need you to plant this in Mjoll the Lioness's house." Vex instructed.
"Sure thing." Echo said and slid off the crates.
She hurried into the sleeping city. She found Mjoll's house and picked the lock. She snuck upstairs to where the woman herself was sleeping and slipped the ring into the chest. She shut it carefully and hurried out. She searched for guards like Brynjolf had told her to do before exiting the house and sneaking back to the Flagon.
"Job done." Vex looked impressed and gave Echo her pay.
"Not bad. Not many thieves I know could have done it that fast."
"Thanks. Oh, and by the way, you just lost your position." Echo said as she climbed onto the crates.
"What?"
"You're no longer the youngest member."
"Of course I'm not. You're only nine. I was fourteen."
"Yeah, and I was seven." Echo said in triumph.
Thrynn fell from his chair.
"How many rounds?" Vex called to Tiaan.
"Five? No, six!" She called back.
"Three bets in one night from the same person."
"What was the third bet?"
"That you the youngest member question right on first guess. Everyone was placing bets."
"Three is the lucky number."
Echo curled up on top of the crates. This place was just turning out to be too interesting for her to take in all at once. She fell asleep with a smile.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Keep those reviews coming! Reviews make my usually boring dull days intersting and enjoyable! Next time I will try to post chapters on time.
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