Chapter Thirty-Seven

The duo walked into the Ragged Flagon from the ratway vaults, Mercer's escape tunnel having led right there. They laughed at the fact that he had been so close, no wonder he had so easily stolen from them. As they headed towards the cistern, they could hear angry voices about Mercer, swears and threats in the air. "You know, I'd be surprised if there was any of him left when we find him." Yosa'Min remarked as they walked into the center of the Thieves Guild.

"They'll get whatever I leave of him." Vex swore as they walked to where Brynjolf and Karliah were still talking over what to do.

"Ladies, find anything?" The nord man asked as he spotted their approach.

Vex pulled the plans out from where she'd folded them in her pocket, splaying it over the desk that had been purchased to replace the one Yosa'Min and she had broken. "The coward wasn't there, but he did leave a few things behind."

As the two master thieves examined it, the dunmer tensed visibly. "He can't be-" She whispered, cutting herself short, grief suddenly covering her violet eyes.

"What?" Yosa'Min questioned it. While she'd looked at the the plans, she'd not pieced anything more than it being valuable and underground together.

"He's going after the Eye of the Falmer." Brynjolf explained. "Highly valuable, if he gets it he'll be gone for good with enough money to cover his tracks and live like an emperor." Fresh anger colored his words, vibrant as his hair.

Vex's eyes were narrowed. "Wasn't that Gallus's pet project?" The imperial asked Karliah who numbly nodded.

Gritting her teeth, Yosa'Min clenched a hand. "So he kills him, steals his position, frames the lover, betrays his comrades and steals from them, and then plans on doing the exact same heist as the one he murdered?" She hissed, counting each offense off on a finger. "And here I thought Alduin was the biggest asshole in existence." Sarcastically growled the redguard at the revelation.

Karliah looked at Brynjolf with steeled violet eyes. "With Mercer gone you're the acting Guildmaster Brynjolf, are you certain you want us to kill him?" She asked tightly. "It won't be easy, not with him being a nightningale and an agent of Nocturnal." She added.

Three sets of eyes watched the nord man who furrowed his brow deep in thought, making sure this was truly what they needed to do. Green eyes burned like fire. "Aye lass, we're going to skin him alive." He vowed.

Nodding her head with a faint smile, the dunmer continued speaking in the same hushed soft tone. "Then if we're going to have a chance, we'll have to meet him on equal footing." She decided, and pulled a piece of parchment across the desk, scribbling something down along it with a stick of charcoal. "Southwest of Riften, and up the small path on the mountainside will be a clearing. You'll know you're there when a very old statue greets you, I want you three to meet me there in at nightfall." With only a few hours left in the early dawn, they'd not have much time until the sun rose once more, whatever she wanted to do there needing the dark of the night. She glanced at Yosa'Min in specific warily. "I have to ask you leave your nords behind."

Confusion grew on the man's face, a hand rubbing a red beard as he focused on the redguard who had tensed. "Your... what?" He quizzically repeated.

"The whore and her guard dog," Vex said harshly in explanation, Brynjolf only understanding half of it, "she means them."

With a fierce scowl Yosa'Min turned on Vex, grasping the collar of her tunic and pulling her towards her. The imperial gasped as she found herself unable to stop the smaller woman from pulling her down until she was level with her, hair rising on the back of her neck. "I told you, do not call her that," lowly said Yosa'Min, "and yet still you continue to."

Vex scowled at the woman right back, hands on her arm and trying to get her to release her collar. "And I didn't agree."

Pushing her backwards towards the water, Yosa'Min sneered, Vex stumbling for a moment before she stopped herself from going backwards into the filthy cistern pool. They glared at each other for a long moment before Vex turned towards the pair that were watching them cautiously. "Watch your tongue snake," the redguard ordered, "or I'll cut it out."

Coughing, Brynjolf tried to clear the tension in the air. "So, well, I will see you ladies by the stone." He ducked his head, and started towards the flagon and away from the women.

Karliah sighed faintly, a hand on her brow, "Please don't let me come back and find out you've killed one another," she glanced up at them with violet eyes, "please."

Huffing, they both just turned and marched their separate ways, Vex following Brynjolf towards the other half of the Guild, and Yosa'Min climbing up the ladder to Riften. The dunmer stood there, shook her head, and slowly left for business of her own to tend to.

"Mjoll, Mjoll please speak to me."

Golden eyes stared at the wooden wall, distant and unfocused. Lydia sat besides her in the inn room, a hand comfortingly placed on her shoulder. "Mjoll I know that was a lot to take in, but I need you to talk to me. At least tell me you're not going to do something stupid while you're like this." She pleaded, moving herself to sit on the bed right in front of the nord adventurer.

She blinked, and turned the other way. Rolling her eyes, Lydia moved to stand in front of the woman again, only to have her move the other way once more, only this time to face the headboard where Lydia couldn't step in in front of her. "Blast it woman!" She swore with frustration, running a hand through her brown hair, trying to calm down before she said something else. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to say. In her experience, the only broken woman she'd ever had to try to put back together was Yosa'Min, and that certainly hadn't gone well.

Now here she was, trying to put one tiny shard after another back into the woman, trying to help her clean up the mess that had been made. But when the other person didn't want to be put back together, and shoved her away every time she nearly had a fragment where it belonged, it only got harder. The small bit of hope she'd had would dwindle until it was little more than a small burning candle flame, flickering on the verge of extinction. She needed something from the woman, and she needed to help her, but Lydia had no idea how.

So she sat down silently at the foot of the bed, staring at the floor. Mjoll sat there in her clothes, armor set aside in a pile, a stone wall across her painted face. "I guess, you'd like to be alone then," Lydia said as she got up after a long silence between them, giving her one last look before she left, the wooden door heavily shutting behind her.

The nord woman sat there, staring at the wood for a few moments before she picked the straw filled pillow up, clutching it against her chest. Sobbing into the cloth, she dug her fingers in, eyes closed with grief. "Aerin..." Came the whispered words, her throat felt raw. From the screaming and the crying she'd done earlier that day, she wanted to curl up back home and just block the whole world out. And then she'd remember, she didn't have a home anymore, she didn't have a safe place to curl up and hide from the dangers of the world when it got too much for even her.

"Divines damn that woman," she growled out, burying her face in the long pillow damp with her tears. "What am I going to do...?" Her words were broken, choked between fresh sobs as she reflected on the perilous situation she'd found herself in. Aerin had turned his back on her, her home was nothing but ash and ruin, and Yosa'Min was hiding something big from her.

Guilt crept up her body, she shouldn't have snapped at Aerin so bad, but she just couldn't have helped it. She'd gotten so angry with his accusing Yosa'Min when she was starting to struggle with validating her herself. She felt like a hypocrite. "I guess Vex was right..." She muttered, having hunched herself over and was now laying on her side on the bed, still curling up around the pillow that was seemingly too small. It didn't take long for her mind to replace the scratchy pillow with Yosa'Min. Fingers curled together, bodies pressed together as she comforted the nord.

Moaning faintly, Mjoll's closed eyes started to paint vivid pictures before her of the woman she loved, hoping that one day she could make them true, and that this wasn't all going to burn down in a blaze of jealousy and anger. She needed to control herself better around Vex, she knew, but the woman didn't make it easy either.

Constantly prodding her, constantly pushing her to the edge. It was as if she wanted Mjoll to explode! Deciding not to give the imperial the satisfaction, she vowed to herself to stay her temper until all of this was over. Once Yosa'Min was free from the Guild, the nord would hunt her down and kill the woman herself, just not until then. Maybe she'd survive the remainder of the quest after Mercer, but she could feel it in her gut, they were nearly done with him. They nearly had him, she was sure.

And then life would be better for everyone.

There was a knock at her door, Mjoll not bothering to get up and answer it. "Lydia, go away!" She called out loudly, a scowl on her face that looked odd from the way she was pressed against the firm bed mattress. When it opened despite her words, she shifted up and tossed the pillow angrily towards the door. "Leave me alone!" A dark hand snatched it from the air holding it in front of blue eyes quizzically before lowering it.

"Mjoll, are you alright?"

"Yosa!" She gasped, "I thought you were still down in the ratways."

Shaking her head as she crossed over, the redguard placed the pillow back down on the bed, door shut behind her. "I was, but not anymore," she explained as she sat down at the foot of the bed, Mjoll shifting to face her.

"Well, what happened? What's the plan?"

"We broke into Mercer's home and found plans, telling us where he went," she started, "we're going to meet at some place with Karliah, apparently something there can give us the advantage against him."

Straightening up, Mjoll nodded her head with a smile, brightening up some. "Sounds perfect, we'll catch that rat in no time. What time do we leave?"

Instantly though, Yosa'Min was shaking her head, causing Mjoll to frown. "No, when I said 'we' I meant, Vex, Bryn and I."

"Why not me?"

"Karliah says it's secret Guild stuff," she tried to explain, "you and Lydia aren't allowed to come with."

"If it's secret then that means they're wanting you more Yosa'Min!" She panicked, fingers curling into the sheets she sat on. "I knew Vex would try to keep you from leaving the Guild!"

Yosa'Min grabbed her by the shoulders each, stilling her movements. "No, Mjoll, she's not. Trust me when I say she wants me out just as much as I do."

"Well do you still want out?" Her words cut through Yosa'Min who stared at her with shock.

"What? Of course I do!" She balked.

"Then why are you lying to me?"

Yosa'Min blinked at her, staring down at golden eyes that swirled with so much pain. It was then that she noticed the tear streaks down her cheeks, her puffy cheeks and reddened eyes. "Mjoll, have you been crying?" She brushed a hand along the nord's face with narrowed blue eyes.

"Don't try to change the subject." Mjoll said firmly, though she leaned into the touch, a hand rising to keep Yosa'Min's there.

"I'm sorry, it's just hard to think when you're like this." She apologized softly, eyes flickering from Mjoll's tear streaked cheeks to her reddened eyes. "What happened?"

Mjoll hesitated for a moment. "You're still trying to do it," she whispered, her throat aching.

"Mjoll..." Yosa'Min moved closer to her on the bed, legs rubbing against each other. "That is no where near as important as to why you have been crying."

Faltering, the woman tucked her head, and reached around to grab the pillow again. Once it was nestled between her arms across her chest, she looked up at Yosa'Min. The shine in her eyes instantly made Yosa'Min think of a sad pup, and she pulled the woman into a long hug. Mjoll started to sniffle, and soon she was sobbing once more into the redguard's shoulder. "It's alright..." She whispered into the golden haired nord's ear, "I'm right here."

She cried for what felt like hours, burying her pain in the offered shoulder, until her sobs ended, eyes burning but dry. Yosa'Min didn't move until the adventurer herself had pulled back, wiping her face clear on the sleeve of her shirt. Yosa'Min chuckled faintly, picking up the nearby rag from the nightstand and cleaning her love's face. "All better?" Smiled Yosa'Min.

"No," Simply replied Mjoll with a sniffle, as she looked at slightly hurt blue eyes, "but thanks."

Yosa'Min smiled, and the two shifted on the bed until they were lying down side by side, one hand intertwined between them both. "So what is on your mind? What happened while I was revealing Mercer?" Her words were near a whisper.

"I, caught up with Aerin, in the bunkhouse," slowly started Mjoll, staring at blue orbs that attentively looked back, "and it didn't go very well."

Yosa'Min's brow furrowed together, eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Did he say something about us, you know being together?"

"Yes, and he asked how I could never love him, and we said this and that and the next thing I knew I'd found an enemy where my friend once was." Closing her eyes, Mjoll's heart wrenched itself in her chest, "I didn't help it any either, calling him a coward, yelling and screaming..."

"And he yelled right back right? He started it even?" Yosa'Min tried to sound gentle but the words came out tight and distant, as if she was trying to keep herself from going up to the man and socking him in the throat right then. It was a highly tempting thought, if not for the hurting woman in her arms.

"Yes but-"

"He back you into a wall," Yosa'Min cut her short before she could make excuses to feel sorry for herself, "he pushed you to that edge. It's not your fault for defending yourself from that jerk. That's like chasing a buck into a cliff side and not expecting him to try to gore you." A small smile flashed across Mjoll's face at the analogy, snuggling up against Yosa'Min.

By the time she'd finished, the redguard certainly had lost any ideas about running off to punch the man, warmth running up her body at the touch. It would be a lie to say she wasn't content with being nuzzled up against by the taller woman, her back against the open air. She ran her free hand through golden locks, Mjoll closing her eyes and humming slightly at the sensation.

"Would it helped if I kissed it better?" Yosa'Min asked with a smile, Mjoll snorting a bit with disbelief. "I promise it'll work"

"And just where would you kiss to make me feel better?" Mjoll questioned with a small laugh.

Smiling at the permission, placed a small kiss on Mjoll's forehead, slowly going down to her lips with a kiss each few centimeters, small little pecks that had the woman chuckling slightly. The laughter she was earning was instantly making Yosa'Min smile, place a bigger kiss on the nord woman's lips, but not stopping there like Mjoll had expected. The redguard kissed up her jawline, Mjoll gasping slightly and tilting her head upwards, but the redguard ignored the invitation for now. Instead, she kissed the nord she held in her arms until she was at her ear, and moved back to kiss up the other side.

Mjoll was breathing faster with every small, fleeting peck, their interlocked hands tightening as she urged the Dragonborn to continue. Yosa'Min at last ventured down the woman's neck, and after a small pause, looked up at Mjoll who was blushing fiercely.

Smiling with triumph at changing the woman's mood to something they'd both enjoy more, the redguard undid the ties on the top of Mjoll's jerkin just enough for her to move it and expose the top of her torso. She kissed a slow tender path from the woman's neck across to above her heart. Placing a long, singular kiss just above Mjoll's heart, the redguard looked up at the woman she held in her arms, and then shuffled back, rubbing their noses together. "Did it work?" She asked, eyes closed.

Giving her a playful kiss back on the nose, Mjoll rolled her eyes. "Alright it did," she admitted, "but are you done avoiding my question?"

Sighing, the woman shook her head. "Honestly no, I'm not."

Mjoll frowned. She couldn't tell if she should push the issue or not, if perhaps it was being kept secret, whatever it was, to keep her from doing something stupid. The thought only made her worry more though, after all, what could it be if it were retained for her safety. "Yosa'Min, do I even want to know?"

The redguard looked at her, and after a seemingly endless moment she shook her head. "Not now, no. I promise in time I'll let you know, but I'm doing this to protect you Mjoll."

"From myself, or someone else?"

"Both."

She stared at her, mulling over the word, and then sighed. "I'm too tired to deal with this."

"Mind if I stay here with you? I leave for the advantage in the evening." Yosa'Min requested.

Smiling, Mjoll rubbed their noses together, chuckling. "No, so long as you promise me one thing."

Laughing, she nodded her head. "Alright, what?"

"Whatever happens in there, don't let them suck you in deeper alright?" Mjoll almost sounded as if she were begging. "I want you to come back to me no dirtier than when you left."

Yosa'Min fought the frown that pulled at her lips, and she stole a kiss from soft nord lips. When she pulled back, she smiled foolishly. "Promise."

AN: Sorry for how long this one took to write, though in length it isn't that long. I hurt left hand, made it a pain to write for about two days.