Eriah pulled up outside the walled city to Riften. She dismounted and approached the gate. "Hold. Before you can enter, you must pay the visitor's tax," said one of the guards. The Dragonborn gave him a look, caught off guard. "What's the tax for?" she asked. She could almost hear the smirk on the guard's face. "For the privilege of entering the city," he responded. Now Eriah wasn't a fool. No other city she had visited since coming to Skyrim had something this ridiculous. She knew that Riften was rife with corruption but this was too overt even for the city. Preying on visitors for a little gold. Sounded like a scam the guards were in on because there's no way the Jarl would approve such a thing. Either way, Eriah didn't have time for this.
She came to this cesspool of a city because Delphine asked her to locate Esbern, the Blades' archivist, and suggested looking for a man named Brynjolf. This man would likely know where Esbern was hiding in Riften. "This is obviously a shakedown," she said, loudly. The guards were startled that she called their bluff and hushed her. "Alright, alright. We'll let you in. Just keep it down," the one said. He went to unlock the gate before returning to his post. Eriah headed for the gate but paused to look at him. "If I hear anything about you shaking down visitors to this city, there will be words," she growled. She entered Riften before they could respond. Once inside the walls, Eriah started walking towards the market place.
Brynjolf was touting his latest scam in the market when someone caught his eye. He looked over to see a woman he had never seen before. She was clearly new to the city. The first thing he noticed was how pretty she looked and Brynjolf had seen plenty of beautiful women in his day. She was something else. A pretty thing with brown hair, dressed in heavy steel armor with an Elven warhammer hooked to her back. The redheaded Nord whistled his appreciation before deciding to approach her. She was clearly looking for someone but didn't know what her quarry looked like. As he made his way over, Brynjolf's eyes were taking in other details about his target when they landed on her money pouch. She had a fair amount of gold and the way she held herself seemed to indicate she was used to sneaking around. Indeed, this woman could be the answer to his organization's problems. Brynjolf was the Thieves Guild's number two and he had an eye for potential recruits. Sure, he considered he was probably assuming wrongly about this woman being a thief in her own right but he wasn't about to let her slip through his fingers.
Eriah was looking at the various stalls, deciding who to ask about Brynjolf, when she was approached. "Never done an honest day's work in your life for all that coin you're carrying, eh lass?" said the redheaded Nord. "Wait, what?" Eriah sputtered, not expecting the conversation. The man just chuckled before pointing at her pouch. "I'm saying you've got the coin, but you didn't earn a septim of it honestly. I can tell," he said. Feeling very confused, Eriah wracked her brain for a response. If he was assuming she was a thief, he was wrong. Though some of her gold did come from Nordic tombs, usually in the hands of draugr. So, technically, stealing from the dead but that was a grey area, particularly since the dead tried to kill her first. But aside from that, she earned most of her gold doing honest odd jobs for people. Her train of thought was broken when she noticed the man was eying her like fresh meat. She scowled at him and he held his hands up in surrender, though he had a smirk on his face.
"Look, you. I'm looking for someone who may know where someone else is. If you're just going to stare at me or make wild assumptions on how I earned my gold, you might as well step off," she snapped. Brynjolf came to the immediate conclusion he liked this woman's fire. She was getting more attractive every second. She reminded him of Vex but while she had some serious bite to her tongue, it wasn't the same kind of bite Vex had. Her response told him a lot about her character. She didn't have the same edge to her a seasoned thief did and it seemed likely that she was just a traveler and one who didn't tolerate slights to her character. Still, she had skills that the Guild could make use of. Brynjolf just had to break her down. "Oh? And who are you looking for, lass?" he asked. "If you must know, I'm looking for a man named Brynjolf. Apparently, he has information I need on someone else I'm looking for," the woman responded. The master thief wasn't inclined to pray to any gods out there but this had to be some sort of sign. This woman came here looking for him in the interest of finding someone else and he had just been thinking that they needed someone new in the Guild to help breathe more life into it.
"Look no further, lass. I'm the one you seek," he said, with a bow. Eriah, not knowing how to feel about this, deflated hard. "Stendarr spare me," she muttered under her breath. Brynjolf was giving her another smirk and she just facepalmed. "You're the one she sent me to see? Go figure," she said. She jumped a bit when the man took her hand and kissed the back of it. "So, what name do you go by?" he asked. The Dragonborn pulled her hand away. "It's Eriah. Are you going to help me or not?" she responded. "Beautiful name there, lass. My compliments to your parents. So you want my help finding someone. I'll gladly tell you...if you help me with something first," Brynjolf responded. Eriah cocked her head in confusion. "Depends on what it is," she said.
Brynjolf was getting more confident that he could land this one. The fact he could leverage her help in exchange for the information she needed would make things smoother. "Meet me at the Bee and Barb in about an hour, lass. We'll discuss things there. For now, enjoy Riften," he said. He strode off, leaving Eriah dumbfounded. She had already pegged this guy as a tricky customer when he first spoke to her. She didn't expect it would easy to track down Esbern, considering he had been in hiding since the end of the Great War. Otherwise, the Thalmor would've found him already. Time was of the essence. All the same, Brynjolf made it pretty plain he was used to controlling encounters and didn't seem like he was just going to tell her what she needed to know. He was a smooth operator and she was admittedly on edge with how...charming he was and that charm was what made him dangerous.
An hour later, Brynjolf slipped into the Bee and Barb, the inn run by the Argonian Keerava. He spotted Eriah sitting at a table, nursing a pint, and hung back. A drunkard was harassing her and, judging from the set of her shoulders, had been for a while. He was being all kinds of crude towards her, something that even Brynjolf found tasteless. She was trying to ignore him but the master thief could tell she was just about at her limit. "Well, lass, let's see how you handle this," he mused, leaning against a wall. Everyone in the inn had their attention grabbed when Eriah suddenly stood up, her chair falling back. The drunk clearly thought he was finally about to get some when suddenly, the woman sucker-punched him in the face. It was the most beautiful right hook Brynjolf had seen in a long time. Eriah didn't stop there either. She had clearly hit her limits and lost her temper. She started pummeling the guy and by the time it was over, there were a couple of broken chairs when the dust settled. Everyone else had gotten out of the way. Talen-Jei approached with the intention of throwing her out but she shot him a look. The lizard had the sense to back off but he was watching her carefully as she went over to Keerava's bar.
"Sorry about that. How much do I owe you for the chairs?" she asked. The Argonian woman just blinked before chuckling. "Actually, I was thinking about having him kicked out for a while but wasn't sure if risking Talen-Jei or my patrons was a wise move. The idiot can get violent when he's that hammered. I thank you for making things easy and I do apologize for him harassing you. You don't need to worry about a couple of broken chairs. It's just another day for me in this town," she responded. "Glad to help but I do insist on paying for the damage. Let's just say my honest streak won't let me just walk away," Eriah said. Keerava considered her for a moment before she smiled a little. "Let's just say you owe me 500 septims for the chairs and leave it at that. The fact you helped put him in his place was worth more than anything else. I doubt he'll show his face here for a while once he's sober. And if you need a favor from me, just ask," she said. Eriah forked over the gold and Keerava gave her a mead on the house, both to calm her down and as a thank-you. She had Talen-Jei call for a city guard so the out-cold drunk could be removed and locked up. He could sober up in a jail cell.
The entire time, Brynjolf had hung back to observe and he was learning more about Eriah with every passing moment. It was obvious now that she wasn't a thief in any sense of the word and, in her own words, had an honest streak. Why else would she pay for the damage she caused? Still, the Nord thief believed she had some worth to him and decided his new observations didn't change his plans. Given her performance, Eriah wasn't afraid to throw hands if needed. She was quite the warrior. He approached the bar, ignoring the hard look Keerava gave him and leaned against the counter. "Well, lass, that was a fun show," he said. Eriah just gave him a side-eye before taking another swig of mead. "If I wasn't on something of a time crunch, I'd say this isn't a good time. So, what do I need to do to get your help?" she asked. Brynjolf just nodded towards the stairs leading to the Barb's second level. Eriah followed him up there and they sat at a table.
"Okay, lass. In the market you said you were looking for someone," the man said, getting down to the business. "Yes. I'm looking for an old guy who's apparently hiding out here in Riften. My associate and I believe he has some information that could help...well, me with a problem," Eriah explained. Brynjolf could tell she was hiding something. "Might as well spit it out, lass. You're holding back on me," he said. The woman sighed before leaning back in her chair. "Fair enough. You know how dragons have returned?" she asked. "Aye. News of Helgen hit Riften not too long ago and dragons have been sighted in the Rift recently. Then there was that loud noise coming from the Throat of the World. Now people are saying the Dragonborn of legend has come," the man responded, wondering where this was going.
"That's just it. I'm the Dragonborn people are talking about. The guy I'm looking for has information on how I can stop them," Eriah said. She watched Brynjolf's surprise settle on his face before it was eventually replaced by a more calculating look. He knew how to read people, that much was obvious, so he was weighing her words to see if she was for real. Eriah herself didn't broadcast her newfound identity often but it wasn't some secret she had to keep at all costs either. Cases like this made revealing herself a necessary thing. "Well, lass, that's the last thing I expected from you. Be that as it may, I still need your help with something before I tell you what you want to know," he said. "Crap. I want hoping to get out of that," Eriah cursed, taking another drink of mead. "Sorry, lass. This is business. If you're so desperate to find this guy, you need to give me something in exchange," Brynjolf said.
"So what is it?" Eriah said. "Someone wants Brand-Shei, that Dunmer stall owner in the market put out of business permanently. I'm going to cause a distraction so you can break into Madesi's strongbox, steal a ring out of it, and plant it on Brand-Shei. You do that, I'll give you the information you want," her companion said. The Dragonborn looked at him, horrified. "You want me to break not just the law but my own code!?" she protested. Brynjolf just nodded before standing up and leaning over her, trapping her in her chair. "If committing a petty crime isn't your idea of a business arrangement, perhaps we can come to a different one. For instance, you could perhaps show me a good time in the sheets," he said, turning up the charm. The Dragonborn was stunned for a moment before a severe glare planted itself on her face. Brynjolf backed off a little but he wasn't intimidated. It would be a cold day in Oblivion before he was intimidated by a pretty face and his rudimentary grasp on her personality revealed she wasn't a violent person if she didn't have to be.
"You..." she started before she was cut off. "Business isn't always a pleasant thing, lass. Things in my organization aren't doing so well and our client wants Brand-Shei out of the running. So you can either help me do the job, take your chances with the Guild who won't take kindly to someone just waltzing into the Ragged Flagon, or you can get a room here and we settle that way. This is something gold isn't going to solve. The information you want that I have cost more than what you're carrying," Brynjolf said. Eriah stood up, forcing him to back away a bit. "Do you always proposition women or extort people you meet just to get what you want?" she growled lowly. "Normally, I wouldn't be pulling this kind of thing. Propositions of this nature aren't my style, but I'll be honest. I'm under a lot of stress. I need a job done, and you're my best shot. No one in this city knows you so no one would expect you to be the one behind Brand-Shei ended up in jail. They'll attribute it to my guild and it helps our client. Whether it's extortion or not, I guess that's up to you. The way I see it, I'm presenting fair choices. Either you help me put Brand-Shei away and I'll toss you some gold for your time or we go with Option 3. I don't recommend Option 2 and Aetherius knows I could use a romp," he said.
He was playing her. Eriah could feel it in her bones. He was making an offer she couldn't refuse and presenting it under the illusion of choice. If he was as good at reading people as she surmised, he could tell she wasn't some girl who would jump into bed with a man she didn't know. Eriah had never shared her bed with a man before either, not that it was anyone's business. It boiled down to what she considered the lesser of two evils in her moral code. Was petty theft and framing someone for that theft better or worse than debasing herself and damaging her self-worth? She had no choice but to go along with Brynjolf's scheme. That was clearly what he was aiming for. Eriah thought about Alduin. Esbern had information on him that she needed and Brynjolf was her only real option at reaching him. This was one of those times where necessity was going to be at odds with her own code.
The master thief knew he had her when her thoughtful face deflated in resignation. "So what will it be, lass?" he asked. "Fine...I'll help you with Brand-Shei but you better hold up your end of the bargain," she said, glaring at him. To his credit, Brynjolf didn't flinch at the fire he saw in her eyes. While he was glad to secure her cooperation in putting away Brand-Shei, he would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed she didn't opt for the bedroom instead. It would've been a lot easier for her if she did. His scheme carried more of a risk and she knew it. But as he had observed, Eriah wasn't some doe-eyed girl who swooned at any man who gave her attention. He pegged her to be in her third decade, just a year younger than he was. She'd gone through some things prior to arriving in Riften, given the slightly haunted look in her eyes, and she adhered to a code of morals. Nothing wrong with that. He wasn't judging. If anything, it made her even more irresistible to him. He really wanted to keep her. The Guild could use someone like her. He would play it by ear for now.