Author's note: Oh man we're not talking about the past few months guys. Not gonna make promises this time- I don't want to disappoint.
Sylgja is a less than happy woman when they get the monthly taxes. Aranel's status as Thane definitely doesn't excuse her from paying bills, and she's no exemption to the law when it comes to owning multiple properties, especially those in several different holds. And by now, Aranel has accrued an impressively vast number of properties, with eight in Skyrim itself, and one on the island of Solstheim. While Sylgja has no problem with this- she trusts her wife and isn't the one who has to look after nine houses- it most certainly raises the fines they pay. Housing fees in six of the holds, and property cost in the other three. It's almost annoying, the amount by which their monthly expenses increase every time Aranel buys a new piece of land. And to top it all off, the woman herself has been running around the continent, dragging her increasingly frustrated wife and kids behind, which Sylgja can say she definitely does not appreciate.
The money itself isn't too much of a problem Aranel earns plenty of money from the various… whatever she does, and Sylgja's shop makes quite a bit per day, though nothing remotely rivaling whatever bizarre income Aranel makes. Sylgja knew what Aranel's pseudo-job was when they got married. The warrior was a traveling adventurer, worker for hire, and general worker of any side tasks. Nothing seems to have changed now, and she's simply accepted the fact that her wife is never going to have a stable job, life, or even lodging. As is evidenced by their current state of affairs. When the war struck, and the tide began to turn towards Markarth and the other residences, Aranel had taken them all to Solstheim, left them there, and headed off to do who knows what- Sylgja sure doesn't know. Thinking on it, she does have to concede that their relationship might have communication errors. But at the end of the day, communication, lack thereof, and whatever else one might call it certainly does not help to fix their fiscal state. Because this is the second month in a row that they've gotten some clearly exorbitant fees. And some of them for things that Sylgja doesn't even want to know about.
She sighs, holds the paper to Aranel's training dummy, and stakes it there with a dagger. If her wife doesn't see it by the time the couriers roll around, the warrior can be the one to deal with the officials. Not Sylgja. With a muffled curse, she stalks out of the room, leaving the paper and dagger behind. No use in thinking about it longer than she needs to. The next time she's in the room, the paper is gone, and in its place, a smiling face drawn in some dripping substance. Sylgja doesn't bother to wonder, just smiles back, and goes on with her day.
Next month is the same though, and when the courier arrives, he gives her a sympathetic smile. Sylgja really, really, doesn't want to know. She doesn't even open the letter this time, just tacks it back onto the face of the dummy and carries on. This, too, disappears in time and life goes on. But a few more papers later, and a few more smiling faces, and Sylgja is very done with absences on the part of her wife, continued refusal to acknowledge their financial situation, and flat out lack of communication. Aranel underestimates her, the ex-miner catches herself thinking. If Sylgja could work grueling shifts at the mine with her injury and surrounded by a lifestyle of hardship, then she can definitely convince her wife of, well, several things.
Aranel, recounting the story later, does not find it as funny. There's something to be said about the persistence of her wife, to be sure. It's not every day that somebody can manage to coerce the Dragonborn into taking on a part time job, coincidentally near to their house, and on the most inconvenient days of the week- it's almost impressive.
As it turns out, Sylgja doesn't need to do much. The silent treatment when Aranel got home from one of her long excursions was enough for her wife to snap, and the discussion that followed would have been entertaining, had it been any louder. As it was, she caught Lucia and Sofie peering from around the corridor when they were done, and had been forced to call Aranel back, this time for a family meeting. It had all gone well in the end, and Sylgja is sure that if she makes it that long, it'll be a story to tell; but in the meantime, she has to deal with one sulking wife who is acting like a child, and two actual children. A small part of her mind wants to protest at the fact that she is literally the only one in the house who seems to be capable of acting like an adult, but Sylgja quickly bottles that thought and stashes it in a dusty corner of her mind. She can review that train of thought later, preferably when she needs to get Aranel out the door and into the nearby bar.
There isn't an interview process. In these times, help is as common as it is asked for, which is to say, rare and only in the direst of circumstances. The barkeep seems surprised to have someone volunteer, but takes her up on the offer, and in less than an hour, Sylgja is leaving the establishment with a drink in hand and the satisfaction of a job well done.
She is, in fact, so pleased with the situation, that when Aranel brings home a vampire princess- princess?- she doesn't quite know, with the name of Serana, she isn't even annoyed when her wife announces that the vampire is her new traveling companion, even though they've barely met. She does confess to being annoyed when her wife completely disappears for a while, without so much as a word of warning, and is subsequently hurtled through various states of shock and disbelief when the Dragonborn turns back up after a fortnight, and when finally bathed and rested, explains how she had, technically, died. How she became a vampire, turned back, dealt with the threat of Harkon, eternal night, and had seen into the Soul Cairn itself. It's enough for Sylgja to keep Aranel with her for another week- unwilling to let her wife face danger like this past event, even though she knows that there's not much she, Sylgja, can do. Aranel goes to work, is somehow not fired for her two week absence, comes home, and that's it and Sylgja is so grateful. But this slight reprieve cannot last forever, and soon they're back into the swing of things.
Sylgja, a woman of culture, understands that her wife is busy. She understands that the way they pay property tax may be unconventional, that her measures to keep her spouse at home may be a little out of the ordinary as well, that on occasion Aranel gets into more trouble than is worth. But she doesn't care. Whatever happens, happens, and even though they may not get much time together in Skyrim, she's happy to take what she can get- give or take some interventions. And as long as her wife pays the taxes.