Bralsa and Vanya sat on their favorite rock on the beach, watching a group of new arrivals disembarking from The Northern Maiden. The ship had been taking trips non-stop back and forth from Skyrim bringing miners, merchants, and curious visitors. Now they even had a bard at the Netch. Having Niyya around gave Vanya the opportunity to take time off since the morning and afternoon meals only required one of them. They'd taken to alternating days and both working nights, since the evenings were the busiest.

"I'm not sure this town can hold many more, even with the miner housing being opened back up," Vanya said.

Bralsa shrugged. "I don't care where any of them stay as long as no one tries to make me share my room." She turned to Vanya with a wicked grin. "If I'm not looking to share it, that is."

Vanya laughed, "You're enjoying this way too much."

"So? Oh, look at him!" She pointed toward the group walking along the dock. "The tall one with the dark hair. I'm going to have to find him later." Vanya rolled her eyes and Bralsa nudged her shoulder saying, "I hear things, you know. About you."

Vanya gave her a pointed look. "I don't want to know."

"No, you probably don't. But don't worry about it, I tell them all you're taken."

She grabbed the dunmer's arm. "What? What are you telling them?"

"Does it matter? Trust me when I say it's better they think you're taken than just hard to get." She pulled her arm from Vanya's grasp. "I just say you're with a sellsword." She smiled before adding, "Who really likes your cooking."

Vanya gasped. "You didn't!" She put her hands over her face with a groan. How mortifying it would be for Teldryn to return and think she'd been pretending they were...something.

Bralsa laughed, "Oh, come on. I saw you that day." She deepened her voice, mocking, "Well done on the ash yam."

Vanya felt her cheeks redden. "He was just being nice!"

"Vanya, I have lived here a long time. Teldryn has lived here a long time. I have never heard him say something 'just being nice'."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation. They fell into silence for a while, simply observing the rush of activity on the dock.

"Looks like tall, dark, and handsome just got picked off by that Ralis guy," Vanya muttered.

"Mephala", Bralsa swore. "Hey, look! Argonians!"


Reading the descriptions of Argonians had not prepared Vanya for seeing the real thing. As she set drinks on the table where three of the lizard-beings were seated she tried not to stare at their bright yellow eyes, or their scales that reflected a multitude of shades in the lantern light, or the rows of horns that lined their heads...are those feathers?

"Ahem," the one with feathers broke her trance. "You act as if you've never seen Saxhleel before."

"I haven't," she replied, noticing his head tilt in curiosity. "I've never left Raven Rock and I'm sure some of these old ones," she said referring to the elves, "have not been too welcoming ever since some Argonians tried to invade the town many years ago." Vanya was pleased with herself as their body language relaxed. With all the new people coming in she had been reading up on the history of Raven Rock in an attempt to seem native.

"Yes," another lizard-man hissed. He had green scales mixed with wide swaths of dark orange. "I remember hearing stories about that when I was a hatchling. It was before our time and us three are no strangers to the 'old ones', as you say, since we came from the docks in Windhelm. We would rather live among dunmer than nords."

The third one, who sat further in the shadows, spat, "Especially now with High and Mighty King Ulfric." At his outburst the other two hissed at him, the feathered one chiding, "Quiet, Neetrenaza, there are nords here."

"Let them try me here without the support of the guard," he growled as he leaned forward, revealing sharp teeth in a threatening grimace that made Vanya's hair stand up. "or their precious Dragonborn."

Vanya watched the exchange with a growing feeling of unease. She had heard talk of a civil war that had been resolved in Skyrim before she arrived and that Roggir had all but won it himself. She'd never heard anyone breathe a bad word about the man but then, the whole affair did not seem to be a matter of great concern to anyone in Raven Rock as it did not affect them. In fact, the way Captain Veleth talked he seemed relieved that the Empire was now further from the shores of Solstheim. Talk of war, racism, and political strife was all too familiar and she hadn't considered that the influx of new people would bring more problems than overcrowding.

"Let me know if you need anything else," she said before leaving them to their hushed conversation.

As the night wore on Vanya paid more attention to all the different types of people that were in the tavern. They all seemed to be getting along alright and her experiences with nords so far had been nothing but positive, though that could be because she was not covered in scales. Still, she felt better and the dark cloud in her mind had dissipated. This was not Windhelm or even Skyrim, this was Raven Rock. She wiped down the bar after a couple of people moved with their drinks to a table, and two nords she'd never seen before sat in the empty seats.

"I don't know, Arjan, that dark elf was certainly offering a good sum. I'm still thinking we should have at least gone to see about the job," said the larger of the two, brushing some of his light brown hair from his face.

"Leave me out of it. I came here for a steady job with a room and a bed, not camping in some ash-wastes searching for treasure," the other responded before turning his eyes on her. He looked to be older with a smattering of gray in his blonde locks. "Do you have Honningbrew?"

Before she could say anything the younger man looked at her, green eyes dancing while he smirked, "I suppose there are are a few good reasons to stay in town." She ignored his wink and responded to the man called Arjan. "We have plenty of Honningbrew. One for each of you?"

Arjan nodded and the younger man leaned forward on the bar, looking her up and down. "What's your name?"

"Vanya," she replied flatly.

"I'm Gjollmir." He smiled while his eyes shamelessly lingered in places they shouldn't.

Vanya did not respond, instead turning to get their drinks. She returned and placed them on the bar. "Anything else?" she asked, making a point to look at Arjan, who did not seem to be taking any issue with how his companion was behaving. To her annoyance, it was Gjollmir who spoke.

"Yeah, what do you like to drink?"

"I don't drink on the job," she said curtly.

His grin widened. "What about off the job?"

The way he was looking at her made her skin crawl. She fought to keep her breathing steady, remembering the same look very vividly from six other men. She raised her chin as she forced herself to reply, hoping to throw him off enough to change his expression. "I've always liked rum and Coke."

She was rewarded with a squint of confusion as he replied, "Rum- good taste- but what is 'Coke'?"

She stared at the counter, fighting with her mind to not delve into painful memories. She snapped her eyes to his, speaking harshly, "It doesn't really matter." With that, she stalked away to check on the tables leaving the two nords looking dumbly at each other.

Fortunately, the rest of the evening kept her busy and she was careful to avoid him so he eventually lost interest. He was soon in a group near the bard requesting songs and, to her great relief, getting cozy with some other woman. She hoped that once he started at the mine, Bralsa's little rumor would reach his ears and he'd leave her alone.