Author's Note: Alas, I am back! So…how about another chapter?

Decisions

I felt possessed. I couldn't move or turn from Brynjolf's gaze and for a brief moment I saw myself as a monster. I finally snapped my head to the side with too much effort. My pulse slowed as I reassured myself that this was no threat, no enemy. This man had come to my camp to make sure Lynn was alright, he wasn't about to attack me now.

Still not looking at his face I backed up but he took a step forward.

"Stop that," I snapped, forgetting my resolve to calm down, to relax.

I took another step away but again he followed suit. Couldn't he see I needed my distance? I decided I'd have to tell the truth to get out of this one.

"You're making me nervous. Step away," I warned (more like hissed) through my teeth.

Brynjolf laughed and I felt warmth flood through my veins, warming me up. I could feel myself calming, the old Everlee coming back. It gave me the strength to look back at his face and I was too relieved to give him the glare he deserved. He was smiling and what was more irritating, I found myself losing the fight to return one at him.

"I make you nervous lass?"

"You try having an arse of a red head Nord glaring down at you and see how it makes you feel," I replied.

His smile didn't falter and I crossed my arms over my chest, irked. This I could deal with, this rivalry with Brynjolf, was normal. What had just a second ago…I couldn't think about it. Not now.

"And my pride will never recover," Brynjolf said, false-hurt on his face.

It was silent for a good span of time and he looked to his left and right, almost seeming…uncomfortable. I laughed and he raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked.

"That's the first time I've seen you look out of your element," I replied.

He didn't say anything and just nodded.

Finally I couldn't stand the silence. "What is it?"

"Did you?" Brynjolf asked, very serious. "Join them?"

I sighed. "No. I didn't, Brynjolf. I don't…I don't want to be like that."

Brynjolf nodded again, "Good."

I laughed weakly back at him. "I don't understand any of this, it's all new to me. I didn't ask for it. I don't know who I am and suddenly I'm starting to think I really don't want to find out."

"You're Everlee and from what I can tell a good person and that's all you need to remember," Brynjolf said, no hint of a joke in his voice.

"Am I? I'm starting to wonder," I said quietly.

"A bad person doesn't take in orphans and save towns from dragons, so yes, I'd have to say so. You're a good person, like it or not. The rest you'll figure it out. Not all people who follow the law are good people, and not all those of us who, shall we say, work around it, are bad," Brynjolf replied.

There had been humor in his voice and I felt the mood lightening once again. I thought about how strange it was, the way he could shift conversations and feelings inside me with such a quick pace and such ease.

"Oh I don't know you seem pretty bad to me," I said jokingly.

"Really?" he said.

He took a quick step forward and I instantly one back and into a tree. My head thudded hard against it and when I looked up to glare at him he was staring down at me seriously in a whole new way.

Brynjolf wasn't glaring this time, he wasn't angry and yet I felt the same sense of fear I'd had before. This time it didn't cause me to go through silent maneuvers in my head though it did make me want to run. I had never really thought of any one as smoldering before and been able to take that person seriously but that's what he was doing. He put his hands on the tree by my shoulders so he was leaning down.

Too close! Too close! I thought.

Why? Another voice in my head asked.

Before I could even deem that other, stupid voice with an answer, Brynjolf decided to speak.

"Am I making you nervous again Ever?" Brynjolf asked, his voice low, deep. It sent a shiver down my spine.

He's got to be joking.

I opened my mouth, ready to give him some witty reply but all that came out was, "Yes."

He stood up straight, his demeanor instantly changing again as he laughed. "Good to know."

Embarrassment and anger surfaced and to my horror, I found myself blushing. "I knew I should have run you through," I muttered murderously under my breath.

Which caused him to laugh again.

"Why don't you go thief? Lynn will be fine now," I snapped at him.

Brynjolf smiled and bowed, mocking me. "Until we meet again, dear lady."

When he turned to leave I seriously considered throwing a large rock at his head.

I let Lynn wake up on her own time, giving myself time to think. I didn't touch the end of the encounter with Brynjolf, but the conversation about Lynn just wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't leave her but I couldn't have her stay and keep her protected, both from what I faced and from the possibility that I might not come back the next time some assassin tried to kidnap me. I tried to tell myself that putting this conversation with her off would be best, but the more I thought about it the more I doubted that too.

A few months ago, before I'd come to Skyrim, I was a different person, with a different life. Lynn, had I somehow known her, could have come live with me. We would have had a comfortable, safe life. I would be the stable young woman she needed me to be. But now, now everything about me was uncertain except for one thing, that danger was liable to follow me wherever I went. If Lynn didn't get physically hurt I would be lucky, if we both survived, I would be blessed, but there were certainly other kinds of pain. Lynn would never lead a normal, stable life and I wanted that for her.

And yet I couldn't make the decision that kept nagging me. Certainly I had enough of my own to make, but this one, this one had to be hers'.

When Lynn awoke, she hugged me for what I figured to be a good twenty minutes in uncharacteristic silence before she then rambled on in a hurry about how upset she'd been.

"You've got to promise me to never leave like that again!" she ended finally.

I looked at her and sighed. "I can't make that promise Lynn. I know I promised we'd stay together, but…I can't always control it when things like this happen. Being around me is dangerous which is why I have to ask you something –"

"I'm not leaving you," Lynn said stubbornly. Then with more desperation, "Please don't make me leave."

I smiled at her weakly. "I'm not going to make you go anywhere."

Lynn's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"One day you'll be all grown up and I have no doubt that you'll be very capable of standing at my side through assassins and dragons and whatever else, but…until then I think it might be better that when I have to travel away, that you stay here, in Riften – "

"I won't stay at the orphanage!" Lynn said quickly.

I sighed. "I figured as much. How about Brynjolf? If he agrees to watch you while I'm away, would that be ok with you? I won't decide anything without you Lynn. We're family now."

She thought about it awhile before saying, "Why do you have to go?"

"Trust me Lynn, I don't want to. But I can't avoid it. At the very least I have to take Jared to Whiterun. And Lynn…I may be gone for long periods of time. The things I may do…I might not survive. I know this is hard on you so I'd understand if you did want to be adopted, to be a part of a family that will be there for you all the time, not gone for weeks or months. And Brynjolf, well I know he thinks he can handle anything, but I don't doubt sometimes the work he does can be very dangerous as well. I want what's best for you, but I want to let you decide that for yourself for once. I won't make you go anywhere."

Lynn nodded, not replying quickly like I'd expected. Finally she said, "You'll always be my family Ever. Nothing's going to change that. But…it was…very hard when you were gone and I didn't know what would happen. Maybe you're right. If…if I decide to be adopted you'll write to me all the time right? And visit me when you can? And when I grow up, you'll…" she started to choke up. "You'll be there, right? I really will be your right hand?"

"I swear this to you Lynn, on my life," I said.

We sat in silence.

"Ok," she said in agreement.

"I…I can't say good –" I began.

She hugged me fiercely. I was finding it very hard to part myself from the little girl I'd only known for a short time but had become so central to my life. In so many ways it felt like she was the one keeping me sane through all the madness I'd endured since coming to Riften and I couldn't deny I loved her as the younger sister I never had.

"You don't have to say goodbye. This isn't goodbye," Lynn said with conviction.

I hugged her tighter.

The next day I walked into Riften, Lynn at my side. We went to the orphanage, and I explained the situation to Constance, about how Lynn had been starving and wandering the woods and I'd found her. My partner gushed over her, asking if she was alright, if she needed to send for a healer. When she was sure Lynn was going to be fine, she let her go have a reunion with Jared and they hugged like they'd really been apart for weeks. Jared knew her well, he knew something was wrong.

Constance and I talked, making our final plans for opening the orphanage. In three days it would be settled, until then I was to move into the orphanage for a time, to make all the last preparations. Already there had been interest through word of mouth, letters coming in asking about the children. We had all the paper work in order. I then spoke to her about Lynn, asking for a promise that she let me know about interest in her, and that I be sent word to meet with the prospective parents beforehand, to which Constance readily agreed stating the "poor girl had been through enough" which nearly made me cry again, something I'd done nearly all night.

"Also," I continued. "Jared tells me he has family in Whiterun. A grandmother he swears is fit enough to take care of him. I was thinking I could take him there, search out this grandmother for myself and see if this is the case. When I'm there I'll make everyone knows about the changes to the orphanage here."

Constance again agreed readily. She had known from the beginning of our partnership that I would have to spend large periods of time away from Riften, what with being the Dragonborn and all. Quickly, perhaps too quickly, everything was settled, and I spoke to Jared.

There was only one person left to talk to.

"Here to check out my goods lass?" Brynjolf asked looking me over.

I rolled my eyes, praying I didn't blush or strangle him or anything else that would be quite embarrassing in the middle of the Riften marketplace.

"I'm leaving," I said, straight to the point.

Brynjolf's eyes clouded over, his brows moved slightly inward, before he managed his annoying blank expression.

"And the girl?"

"Staying with Constance. She…it's too dangerous for her to be with me. I spoke to her about it, you should talk to her too. I'm taking Jared to Whiterun in three days' time and after that...well, I don't expect to be back soon," I said firmly.

"I see," he said, his voice oddly void of any emotion. "Is there something you needed then?"

"Just…just look after her, please," I whispered, my voice choking up, unable to keep my calm.

His face softened a bit before going back to stone. Brynjolf nodded.

Little did I know that no matter how far I got from Riften, I could not turn my back on the quest I had started. My past wasn't about to leave me alone.