Chapter 66

Debts Repaid

The ride back was fairly quick. Rona made a point not to look back at Freya the entire way. She gleaned that Bishop had a previous relationship with the woman and quite possibly the other two as well based on everything she'd heard them say.

She tried not to let it get to her, to bother her, but she really started to understand just how Bishop felt when Casavir was around. And she did not like it.

Upon their arrival to Solitude, Serlas moved about with a real spring in his step. Rona was very pleased to see her father feeling so much better and just alive in general.

He turned to them and said, "Shall we meet up in your room? I'd very much like to collect those documents, Bishop, and take my time perusing them."

"Yeah, sure," Bishop turned back to the four women and said, "Get a table in the Winking Skeever and we'll meet with you all in a little while, alright?"

"Can we order whatever we want?" Bast asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Bishop smirked at her, "Anything you want. I'll get the tab."

"Fantastic," Venus said, "I'm getting some Spiced Wine, I love that stuff."

"I think I'll drown myself in plenty of Black Briar Reserve," Qetesh grinned.

"I really hope they have horker stew," Bast said.

"That's not even that fancy," Freya laughed at her.

They all went in and the girls sat down at the large round table by the windows. Rona chanced a glance at Freya who looked a little happier as she joked and laughed with her sisters. She tried to shrug it off. Maybe the dirty look was just a mistake or maybe she was looking at Bishop and not her. She was sure plenty of women looked at him that way considering his reputation.

The three of them went upstairs and Bishop unlocked the door to their room and went over to the bed where he knelt down and fished around for his vest. He passed it to Serlas and said, "They should all be in there."

Serlas yanked a pile of documents out of the pockets and set the vest down and smiled, "Excellent. I will be taking these over to my room at the Blue Palace to read over. I want to thank you Bishop for going to such an effort to bring me help as well."

"Any time Serlas. You're family to me, you know?"

Serlas beamed at him, "Yes, I agree. I feel the same Bishop," then Serlas turned to Rona putting his hands to her shoulders and smiled down at her warm and fatherly. "You amaze me every day Rona dear. You've become so strong and so brave. I must admit, it terrifies me to see you fight these dragons... but, knowing how resilient you've become, how capable you are, I worry a little less. I hope you know how very proud I am of you and how much I love you."

She squeezed him around the waist and said, "I love you too Ata. I just hope this journey is over soon."

"As do I, velvyn, as do I," they pulled apart and he stuffed the documents into a pocket inside his robes and clasped his hands together, "Please give my thanks to your kind friends Bishop and especially to Miss Qetesh. Her potion helped immensely with the pain. I will be sure to pay her back and I'd like to know her recipe if at all possible."

"I'll see if she's willing to part with it," Bishop said with a smirk.

"Very good. Let's rest here for the night and tomorrow we will leave for Riverwood. I'm sure Miss Marjorie is desperately anxious to know of our wellbeing."

They laughed and Serlas took his leave. Bishop sighed and looked over Rona letting a gentle smile trace his lips. She went in and hugged him tightly and he returned the embrace.

"Can you believe how far we've come, Lightfoot?"

"Not really," she said, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around being the Dragonborn most days."

He smiled and tipped her face up to his, "Dragonborn or not I'd still love you just the way you are."

She blushed a little and he leaned in and kissed her. He took his time with it, tracing her lips with his tongue before entwining it with her own. She loved the way he kissed her. There were so many different ways he'd do it and they always expressed his feelings for her in that moment. Gentle kisses, were sweet I love you's, the more desperate ones meant to take her breath away were I want you's, and the in between, like this one, was both.

It had been a while since they fooled around and she was feeling just as eager as him. She decided to express as much by grasping him behind his head and pulling him in for a deeper kiss. He obliged with moaning approval and lifted her right up by her waist, wrapping his arms tightly around her and holding her against his chest as he leaned back pressing their lips very close together. She laughed a little under his mouth and he smiled but did not let up the passionate kiss as he pulled at her lips and explored her mouth with his tongue.

Finally, they pulled apart to take a breath and she whispered playfully, "I can't wait any longer, I have to have you."

He gave a low growl, "That's my line, love. And you know how bad I want it. Buuut... we have guests to entertain."

"Aw," she pouted and almost couldn't believe he was saying no.

"Tonight," he said, "I'm thinking... somewhere different," he set her down, keeping his hands wrapped to her back as she looked up at him.

"Like where?"

"There's an old lighthouse around the way," he said,"Usually deserted, that could be fun, what do you say love?"

"Okay, but don't be surprised if I keep up the tease all day," she winked at him and pulled away from his grasp.

"Mmm, I'll be sure to do the same," he flashed her a wolfish grin.

She moved towards the door but stopped suddenly and asked, "So, your friends. How do you know them exactly?"

Would he be honest with her? She had to know.

"Ah the sisters four," he said, "They're just some old friends of mine," he paused a moment before he said slowly,"back when I was still a bandit."

"So they're bandits too?" She looked back at him.

"They haven't exactly told me so, but I suspect as much," he searched her face for a moment and said, "I hope that's not a problem."

"No, they helped us. They seem like good people to me." This was a partial lie on her part. She trusted Qetesh just fine and Bast seemed like a nice girl. Both were very kind to her. Venus she didn't feel one way or the other about. The nord woman Freya though, she wasn't quite sure how to feel about her - but trust her? She definitely did not. "You said they're sisters?" Rona inquired.

"Yup, half-sisters. Their mother was, well to put it nicely, a working girl. Freya's the oldest, then it goes Qetesh, Venus and Bast. Bastet's half khajiit like Jules was, she had a lot of the same illnesses as him, so I got to know them and Qetesh helped him out a lot with her potions."

So it wasn't just a bunch of old lays for him. They really were friends. They'd helped his brother. She said, "If you trust them Bishop, then that's enough for me."

She turned to walk away when he grabbed her arm and took a breath and said, "I need to tell you something else." She looked back at him and he exhaled, "Freya and I were... sort of in a long term relationship." There it was. The truth she was waiting for and then he admitted quickly, "Aaand I may have slept with Qetesh and Venus at one point too."

She held her face as still as possible trying so terribly hard not to let this bother her. He was being truthful and honest. She couldn't let it bother her, but boy did she want to let the internal screaming out.

"You alright, Ladyship? You kind of look like your head might explode."

She blushed and turned away saying very abruptly, "No, I'm fine. This is fine. You told me the truth and I'm okay with that."

He chuckled and cocked his head, "This really bothers you doesn't it?"

Her face burned even more. She scowled at herself, why did her redness always have to give her away?

"Huh," he crossed his arms and smirked, "Nice to know even you get a little jealous."

She frowned at him, "Jealous? I am not jealous. Just... slightly annoyed."

He laughed and pulled her into another close embrace, "Don't be jealous or annoyed or whatever it is, Ladyship. It was a long time ago, six years to be exact. The only woman I have eyes for now is you, I hope you know that. I would never do anything to betray you or your trust."

She looked into his eyes and was genuine when she said, "I know. I know you'd never hurt me."

"Never," he whispered and kissed her again, letting his hands roam.

She giggled at his teasing and pulled away. "Come on. I suspect we're going to have a large tab to cover and I want to get my fair share of the food and drink before they run this place dry." She'd said it sarcastically but as they went downstairs they were stunned to find that the four women had already ordered a full blown feast for their table with stacks of hot plates of food, steaming bowls of stew, and plenty of bottles of liquor to choose from.

Rona looked back at Bishop and narrowed her eyes at him. He gave a nervous laugh and said, "Good thing I made plenty of extra gold working for the Companions. Don't worry, I've got it covered Ladyship."

They pulled up some chairs at the table and looked over at the very happy sisters who were drinking heavily and digging into their food. Even Bast was tipping back a bottle of Honningbrew and Bishop reached over and snatched it from the girl, "The hell!? You're way too young to be drinking, kid."

She scowled at him and Freya laughed, "Since when have you cared about keeping kids from drinking Bish?"

"Since I'm apparently the only responsible adult in the room," he barked back.

She leaned on the table, head in hand and gave him a wry smirk, "What? You trying to be our father now?"

He glared at her and glanced at Bast and said, "It can't be good for her health."

Bast argued, "I'm fine! I don't get sick like I used to anymore. Plus, I was only having one."

"Well, it's my money and I say no kids are allowed to drink with it," then he tipped the bottle back and finished it off himself while she pouted.

Rona looked around at them all and made to say something but didn't know where to start. Qetesh did it for her then when she decided to direct the conversation to safer waters and asked, "So Freya says you're a Companion now, is that right Bishop?"

"Was," he said, "Now we're just focusing on fighting the dragons."

"Riiight," Freya drawled, head still in hand as she looked over at Rona with a predatory gaze, "You're the Dragonborn right? How'd you two meet anyhow?"

Rona blushed slightly, pushing her hair back behind her ear as she averted her gaze and muttered, "Uh, it's a long story…"

Freya smirked at her, "Aw, that's cute. When you blush it goes right up to your ears."

This only made Rona blush harder and she felt very flustered not wanting to share personal and intimate details about her relationship with Bishop with not just one, but three of his former lovers. Bishop could sense her discomfort and said, "We met in Riverwood. She needed a tracker and I was for hire and well, things just went from there."

Venus scoffed, "I'm so sure," she looked right at Rona and asked, "Did he take advantage of you? He would. You don't have to stay with him you know."

Rona laughed awkwardly and shook her head slowly, "No. He didn't take advantage of me. Bishop's been a great help on my journey. We look out for each other."

"And he hasn't even left you yet," Freya said with that same predatory smile, "Astonishing, really."

Bishop scowled at Freya and snapped, "Hey, if you don't want my generosity and you just want to bring up the bad blood between us, then you can all scurry along back to whatever gutter you've been hiding out in. But if you think I'm going to sit here and take this shit, I won't."

Qetesh sighed and looked over at her two rude sisters, "Mind reeling your snark back a bit girls? I like the prospect of sleeping in a real bed tonight."

Freya rolled her eyes and Venus just crossed her arms and turned her head away with a huff.

Bast was just watching quietly with amused interest as she stuffed her face with horker stew and a few bread rolls. It seemed that she and Qetesh were the only mature two in the group, or at least they didn't hold onto old grudges. Rona started to wonder just what had happened between them all to make Venus and Freya hate Bishop so much.

Bast looked over and said to Rona with her mouth full, "I liked your song."

Rona laughed a little and smiled at her, "Thanks."

"And that… yelling thing?" She added as she swallowed her food,"That was amazing."

Qetesh agreed, "I was definitely impressed. Never seen anything like that before. So you fight a lot of dragons?"

"Plenty," Rona said.

Freya perked up then and asked, "Wait, so, you were here for that whole thirty dragons attacking Solitude thing a while back weren't you? I heard the Dragonborn saved the city… that was you?"

Rona sighed. That unfortunately seemed to be one of her most well-known stories and she nodded her head slowly and forlorn.

"That was a bad time," Bishop groaned.

"You were there too?" Freya looked at him stunned.

"Sure was, fought them off as best I could. Got a nice scar for the effort too," he yanked his pant leg up as they leaned around to look at the white scars licking his leg like flames.

"Whoa," Bast mumbled through another bite of food.

"Damn," Qetesh marveled at the sight of it, "You two have been through a lot, huh?"

"It's been interesting to say the least," Bishop said.

"I'd love to hear some stories," Qetesh grinned pleasantly.

Bishop shrugged and started going on about their adventures, thankfully keeping most of the details light and avoiding any and all talk about their personal life. Rona picked at some of the food on the table all the while wanting very much to leave already and just be alone with him. She'd noticed the way Freya kept looking at him, flashing him flirty looks every time their eyes met and staring at him with lustful longing. It really bothered her.

She was starting to get a perspective on just how Bishop felt every time some man walked by looking at her the same way. Only this was slightly different. Here was this incredibly beautiful nord woman, with thick coiling brown locks, big gorgeous brown eyes and an hourglass figure, who'd once been in a relationship with him. She could only imagine how he'd done it with her… in fact she couldn't stop herself imagining it and it was very agitating as images of the two of them in the throes of passion kept flashing in her mind. Was she really feeling jealous? Rona never got jealous, but then again she'd never been put in a position like this before.

She even found herself feeling envious of their beauty. Qetesh was just as good-looking as her sisters, even with the two small canines jutting from her lower lip. She had a similar figure to Freya and big golden eyes. Though she seemed to be entirely disinterested in Bishop romantically and Rona could appreciate that, whether he'd bed her once or not.

Venus however, she kept a permanent scowl on her face, staring him down with a burning hatred behind her pretty blue eyes. She was still beautiful, even with that nasty look on her face. Rona wasn't even sure how he'd gotten tangled up with her at one point, though she did mention that they'd both been drunk at the time.

Bast had a few more years of maturing before she'd reach the attractiveness of her sisters, but she was already developing a full figure all her own and though her wild mane of brown hair was kind of messy, it laid around her head and framed her face in a way that only accentuated her features and brought out her hazel colored eyes.

Rona started to wonder just what their mother looked like. She must have been a goddess of beauty to have brought four of the most gorgeous women she'd ever seen into the world. She started feeling incredibly self-conscious being around them all. It was a combination of the way Bishop so flagrantly chatted with them like it wasn't strange having three women he'd previously slept with in their presence and one of them so clearly wanted to jump his bones while the other seemed to desire nothing more than to burn him alive with her hateful gaze.

She had to get out of there. She got up and excused herself and went over to Corpulus, asking for the bath. He told her it was already filled and she was welcome to use it. She hurried along, ignoring their stares as they watched her go.

She went inside the bathing room, drawing the curtain over and didn't even take her clothes off. She just stood there, leaning against the damp wall for a minute, taking everything in.

They'd just finished infiltrating the Thalmor Embassy, successfully. They'd gotten the documents they needed to continue their journey and she hoped that they had information on the whereabouts of the Elder Scrolls since everything thus far had been a dead end. Her father nearly died because she couldn't go anywhere without attracting dragons like a magnet to her, but she'd also awoken some newfound power inside herself and saved his life. She still had so much more training to do as well because she hadn't learned any new shouts since their visit to Arcwind Point.

She had all these important and pressing matters to worry about but instead she was stressing over Bishop's old trysts. This was not something she should have to think about on top of everything else! She felt frustrated by his lack of awareness in the situation. But then again, maybe he really was just trying to help out his old friends, after all they'd helped them.

She released some of her frustrations with an exasperated sigh and then Bishop came into the room looking for her. He glanced around and saw her standing there, fully dressed and gave her a concerned look, "Bothering you that much, huh?"

She blushed and turned her face away from him. She felt so ashamed for even feeling that way. He sighed and stepped over to her, "Don't let it get to you Ladyship. It's just one day, I promise. Freya's… she's kind of a bitch." Rona looked up into his face with half-lidded eyes and he chuckled, "Okay. She's the most spiteful, snarky bitch I've ever known. She can't help herself and she loves to stir up trouble wherever she can. She's just trying to get under your skin… don't let her."

"I'd be lying if I said this whole thing didn't bother me," she said and shook her head, "But I have so many other things to think about Bishop. I can't let this distract me from what I'm supposed to be doing. Just… do whatever you have to do to pay them back, but I can't be around them."

He frowned, "Really? I mean I put up with Casavir…"

"I didn't sleep with Casavir," she threw in sharply.

His mouth twisted at those words but he relented, "Alright. Fine. I'll take care of my business with my old friends," then he perked up a little, "Then tonight, you and me will have a quiet evening alone. No distractions," he added the with a smirk.

"I'd like that," she said sincerely.

With a kiss they parted again and she took the opportunity to wash up while silently hoping the whole time that Bishop's so called 'friends' took their leave shortly.

After consoling and reassuring her, Bishop went back upstairs and found the four sisters finally finished with their feast and enjoying their drinks. He rolled his eyes at Bast, who'd already snagged another bottle of mead and he walked over and held his hand out. She frowned at him but handed it over with a scowl as the other three women giggled under their breaths.

Then Freya said, "So, how's your lady friend? Not too upset is she?"

He looked back at the cheeky nord woman and said, "Hey, I promised to pay off that bounty you have on your head, what do you say we head over to Castle Dour and take care of that?"

She smirked at him, "Alright. Since you're still being so generous, might as well take advantage."

Bishop tossed a small coin purse on the table and said, "Pay the tab and get a room for yourselves."

Freya joined him and they started walking up the path to the crenellations when Bishop grabbed Freya's arm and threw her hard against the side wall of the inn, out of sight of the guards. He put his hands up on either side of her head and glared at her. She still had a nasty smirk playing at her lips and he snarled, "Don't think I don't see what you're doing."

She played coy and teased, running a finger sensually up his chest, "Whatever do you mean Bishop?"

He smacked her hand away, jut his finger in her face and spoke with a dangerous tone, "You leave her the fuck alone Freya. You have no idea the kind of shit she's been through. She doesn't need your snark or your nasty attitude. I don't know what you're playing at, but it's over between us. It's been over for six years. Let it fucking go."

Her playful expression suddenly turned to one of contempt and hatred and she replied sharply, "And you don't know what we went through when you abandoned us and left us with that twisted piece of shit."

He knit his brows together and said, "What? What did Thorn do?"

She shoved him away from her and stormed off suddenly and growled, "As if you care."

He watched her go for a moment, feeling miserable. He felt bad enough abandoning them after all the promises he'd made, but something must have happened to make even Freya hate him that much. He caught up with her and they silently went along to Castle Dour where they met with the guards inside.

The Solitude guard flipped through a logbook and said, "Let's see, Freya, Venus, Qetesh and Bast," he looked right up at them, astonished, "You brought the leader of the Femme Fatal here!?"

Bishop looked at her, half-lidded eyes, "The what?"

She averted her gaze and pursed her lips, "Just what we've been calling ourselves."

Bishop sighed and looked back at the guard, "How much is the bounty?"

"Twenty-thousand," he said flatly.

"TWENTY-!?" Bishops voice broke off and he looked back at Freya again who was pointedly staring at the ceiling with a smirk on her face. "Freya, I can't afford the cost of a damned house for you!"

The guard stood up suddenly, drawing his sword and said, "Then we can't let her leave here."

Bishop threw a hand out, "Whoa, whoa, okay. Maybe we can discuss this. This woman - these women - they helped save the Dragonborn and her father very recently. Is there any chance we can negotiate a cut in cost for… heroic deeds or something?"

The guard looked between the two of them then said to Bishop, "Alright, Companion. I'll see what we can do. It's five thousand on the heads of each of them, but we'll make it five thousand grand total for the four instead."

Bishop grumbled fishing around his pocket for the fat coin purse he'd grabbed earlier that morning and noticed it was missing. He clenched his teeth, letting out a very angry, audible growl and held his hand out to Freya.

She snickered a little then reached in a pouch on her belt and passed the coin purse back to him, "Whoops. You dropped this earlier and uh, I forgot to give it back to you."

"I can see that," he said through his teeth. He took it and dropped it in front of the guard onto the desk.

The guard said, "That'll do. Alright Companion. They're free women now, but they're your responsibility. If I so much as hear about someone's sweet roll being stolen, I'll gladly toss you and all your lady friends in prison right quick. Do we understand each other?"

"Completely," he said then grabbed her arm and dragged her back out with him before she could do any other stupid thing to land her in hot water.

When they were outside he rounded on her, "Twenty thousand gold!? What did you do!? Murder an army!?"

Freya waved a hand, "The girls and I have just been busy is all. It's not like we have the Dragonborn to watch our backs, we just have each other."

He groaned annoyed, "It's no wonder Bast still gets headaches all the time. You are a walking, talking headache, aren't you?" She gave a light shrug, still playing the coy bitch. He grumbled, "We still have to go pay Jaree-Ra off too. You trying to drain me dry?"

Her lips curled sensually at that remark and he kicked himself for saying it as she got real close to him, dancing her fingers over his chest again and said, "I could if you'd only let me."

"Pft, keep trying darlin'."

He kicked himself for that one too as he quickly walked away and she called, "Oh don't you worry Bish, I won't ever stop trying. I'm damn good at this game and you know it."

Freya was proving to be a real pain in his ass. On the one hand he felt immensely guilty for breaking his promises six years ago to them but on the other he wanted nothing more than to skip town and disappear where she'd never be able to find him again. The last six years without her in his life had been relatively peaceful. Lonely definitely, but the frustrations she'd brought to his life just weren't worth it to avoid feeling lonely. He hadn't realized how much he'd enjoyed the peace until he was in her irritating presence again. He couldn't understand what he'd ever found attractive about her.

He really had changed.

He went back to their house. The roof was nearly finished being repaired. He was going to have to pawn a few things just to pay off Jaree-Ra at that point. Luckily they had plenty of junk just laying around waiting to be sold, he almost didn't even care if Freya snagged some it.

He let them into the home and waited for all her snarky comments about him living lavishly and she did not disappoint.

"Nice place, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a king living like this. Wow," she looked at the wash basin mounted to a wall and turned on a faucet making it run water, "Real plumbing too? Now that's extravagant, even for you. How do you stand it Bishop? Always thought you were the type to prefer sleeping in a tent out in the middle of nowhere."

He refused to entertain her goading with a reply until she said, "So is this place yours or hers? Must be hers, as if you'd ever be able to afford a place like this." She laughed.

"Neither," he said, "It's on loan from the Jarl for saving the city from dragons."

"Riiight," she drawled as she immediately started snooping around as he expected her to.

He said, "Wait here and try to keep your sticky claws off most of the valuables too, will you?"

She smirked, "That sounds like a partial invitation to take a few things."

He glanced back, "Yeah, sure, take a few things if you think you really need it. We're not exactly wanting for anything, so by all means, darlin', take your pick."

Luckily there wasn't anything of Rona's down in the kitchen or the cellar. Every one of her personal items was up in their bedroom or back at the inn. He went into the room upstairs and stepped inside. A light dust drifted through the bright sun beams poking through the few holes left in the ceiling that hadn't been patched up yet. Their poor, beautiful, beast of a bed was still covered in debris from the wreckage and a bit charred in places from the fire.

He started rifling through their drawers and picking out some of the more valuable items. He even found an extra coin purse with five hundred gold in it. He started thinking that he could persuade Jaree-Ra to take that much instead.

He heard the sound of boots gently tapping on the wood floor behind him and then Freya's voice carried in, "Wow. Now that's a bed."

Here we go, he thought to himself then said, "Yeah, was a nice bed 'til it got ruined."

She peered up at the ceiling and said, "What the hell happened to your roof?"

"It was a dragon."

"Wow… you weren't kidding about the whole dragon slaying thing. So what'd you do to piss it off?"

He turned and looked at her from the dresser he'd been rifling through and said, "Nothing. They find us – her. They hone in on her and…" he exhaled annoyed by her pointless questions and turned away from the woman again as he went back to picking out old soul gems and some other items he could part with.

"Why are you even with her if it's this much trouble Bishop? That's so unlike you," she scoffed.

He smirked and figured he'd ruffle her feathers a little since she kept ruffling his, "Because I love her."

Dead silence. He let the grin on his mouth curl even more at the beautiful silence those words provided. Ah, even his love for Rona could bring him such wonderful, blissful, peace. He enjoyed it even more when he heard Freya's receding footsteps as she went back down the stairs.

Who knew those words would be enough to shut her up? He finished searching their belongings and went back downstairs. Freya was standing by the door, looking away from him, arms crossed.

He walked past her and opened the door, throwing a hand out, "After you darlin'."

She said nothing and proceeded out. He got a quick look at her face though but instead of looking snarky, or even pissed she just looked... sad. Now he felt even worse. He always hated making women sad, even if they were total bitches that deserved it.

After selling off some merchandise at the local general goods store the two of them headed down to the docks looking for Jaree-Ra and saw him over in a quiet corner, loitering around. Bishop noticed a guard nearby and went over to him.

The guard nodded to him saying, "Companion."

Bishop really did love the respect he got just from being a well-known member of the Companions. It was a nice change of pace from being hated and chased around by them. He said, "Hey, what's your name?"

The guard looked at him curiously through his helmet before he said, "Stefan."

"Alright, Stefan. See that argonian over there?"

The guard glanced down at Jaree-Ra who thankfully hadn't noticed them yet. He asked, "What about him?"

"I've got some business with the lizard, but I might need to rough him up a bit to get my point across. Here's fifty gold to uh... look the other way." If there was one thing Bishop was good at, it was bribing people, when he had the money to do so of course.

"Yeah, of course Companion. Feel free to take care of your business... in fact take as long as you need," he could hear the grin through the man's helmet and then Bishop grabbed Freya pulling her down the docks with him.

She positioned herself a short ways behind him, probably intending to use him as a human shield if needed. Bishop went up to Jaree-Ra who looked up and smiled, "Ah, my old friend Bishop. Good to see you again land-strider. Ready to settle on the lovely maiden's debt?"

"I am Jaree," Bishop handed him the coin purse with five hundred gold and the greedy argonian immediately opened it, sifting through it and counting. His smile fell and he hissed, "There's only five hundred here. You need more time to cough it up or something?"

"Actually, Jaree, I think that's sufficient. The debt was four hundred and there's an extra hundred for interest."

"I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing here ranger-"

He was too fast for the argonian, drawing his dagger and grasping him sharply by the skin of his neck and holding the blade to his throat.

Jaree-Ra hissed furiously at him, "You keep this up ranger and you'll have a debt all your own to pay off!"

"Yeah, I very much doubt that," he growled back.

Jaree-Ra noticed the guard up a ways intentionally ignoring them and he started making threats, "I swear ranger, I will have my black blood marauders on you and all your pretty little women before you can say-"

Bishop gripped his skin a little tighter, yanking his head back some more and pressing the blade close enough to draw blood, "No Jaree, here's how it is. The debt is settled. You go your way and we go our way. If I catch you so much as looking at any of them, I'll gut you myself. Shit, if you even try to look at the Dragonborn she'll roast you up into a fried little lizard and we'll feed you to the dragons, how's that sound?"

"You fucking piece of-"

Bishop tossed him right off the docks and into the river then where he splashed noisily and came up to the surface and just hissed at him before swimming off. He spun his dagger and sheathed it and the second he turned around Freya leapt onto him, throwing her arms around his back as she cried, "My hero!"

He threw his hands out and away from her and said, "The hell are you doing woman?"

She pulled back and flashed him a sensual look, batting her lashes at him and said, "Well, you just saved me. I think I owe you a good time stud." She winked at him.

"M'nooope," he said quickly and carefully peeled her off of himself.

She let a flirty grin play at her lips again and he scoffed, "Freya, enough. Alright? There. Your debts, your bounty, all of it is done and paid for. You got a free meal and room out of me. I think I've paid you back for everything. So, can you just stop?"

He face fell again and she snarled, "What's so special about her?"

"She just is," Bishop retorted, "Why do you care?"

She held that look of sorrow again and crossed her arms over, averting her gaze from him.

"I'm gonna go now, alright? So... just, take care of yourself. Try not to get into any more trouble while you're here and for the love of Talos, don't steal any sweet rolls either," he left her there and was almost surprised when she didn't follow him, but relieved as well.

Rona finished her bath, got dressed and went upstairs to find three out of four of the sisters still sitting at the now cleared table drinking and just having a good time. She was glad for that. She held no ill will against them and thought they had every right to enjoy themselves. Still she immediately wondered where a certain ranger and his certain ex-lover had disappeared off to and whether or not they were together.

She made to leave, to go look for him when Bast called out to her, "Hey! Miss Dragonborn! Come have a drink with us!"

Qetesh looked over at her too and said, "Yeah, join us for a minute."

Rona felt the internal screaming rising up inside her again but relented and went over, taking a seat at the table.

Bast immediately said, "Sorry about Freya."

"Yeah, she's a real cunt sometimes," Venus spat.

Qetesh glared at her sister and said, "Language."

"Oh what? Let Bast drink mead but don't swear in front of her?" Venus snarled, her frown only worsening.

Qetesh rolled her eyes then looked back at Rona kindly, "Really though, don't let Freya get to you. She's... been through a lot and tends to lash out. With Bishop around again it's just bringing out the worst in her too."

Rona twisted her mouth slightly when she asked, "Can I be honest?"

"Sure hun, go ahead," Qetesh said.

"This is really weird for me."

They laughed and even Venus gave a small smirk asking, "Did he tell you about us?"

"A little bit," Rona said, "He uh... mentioned his relationship with Freya and umm... his brief encounters with you both as well."

Venus looked shocked, "He really told you that? How... honest of him."

Rona found it so strange that his honesty was so odd to them and said, "Bishop's always been honest with me, since the beginning. Well... not about his past at first, he always just hid it, refused to talk about it. But he's never lied to me."

"So you know about Thorn then," Qetesh asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah... actually, I do," Rona said, "He's threatened to kidnap and hurt me."

They all looked at her with a mingled mixture of horror and fear.

Venus' scowl deepened when she said, "Never let that man anywhere near you. Never."

Rona looked between them all and asked, "You worked with him didn't you? Bishop hasn't gone into any deep details about it. I think it was too hard to talk about. What can you tell me?"

Qetesh took a deep breath and said, "Thorn's not just a rapist, he's a sadist. He enjoys inflicting severe, life-threatening and even deadly pain and torture on women. Though he's not opposed to doing it to young boys either. He's the most vile person I'd ever had the displeasure of knowing."

Rona knit her brows together and asked, "How did you all survive, living with someone like that?"

"There were different rungs of the ladder in Thorn's group. It's how he held such strong control over everyone who worked with him. Our mother, Elska, was a prostitute. It was all she'd ever known her whole life. When Thorn's group took over the Rift, she and the other working women in the region had no choice but to join his ranks and bow to him or get taken as his... playthings."

Qetesh talked with her hands, raising one up slightly and then a little more for each rung as she explained, "The rungs basically went like this, from lowest to highest. The Rats, they were the lowest, most everyone started out there and worked their way up. They usually consisted of beggars and young kids, their jobs were to collect information and snitch on others inside and outside the group."

"Next up were The Courtesans, second to the bottom. If you worked as a prostitute you got stuck there, there was rarely any chance to move up or out. You got protection and a promise that Thorn would keep his hands off of you but not much else. The next rung up were The Thieves, basically anyone with enough skill to pickpocket and pilfer. After that was the second highest rung, The Specialists. Bishop was there. He specialized in it all, thievery, threats, collections, the muscle, murder, whatever, you name it."

Rona knit her brows together... Bishop never mentioned that... murder?

"Then last but not least, the highest rung, The Whips, it consisted of Thorn and his closest group of sick freaks. All the creeps that were either too afraid to step up to Thorn or who actually liked all the sadistic torture they performed on helpless girls and women."

Rona felt incredibly nauseas just listening to this. Then she looked over them all, "What about you all?" She looked right at Bast, eyes wide, "And her?"

Venus met her gaze and said, "We were considered of age, Freya, Qetesh and I. So we had to choose an 'occupation' as they called it. We'd been working on our thievery for years. Elska made us practice, she never wanted us to end up like her, as working girls. So we made it up into the rank of The Thieves pretty easily."

Qetesh said, "Bast wasn't of age at the time. She was still little and Thorn knew better than to mess with The Courtesan's kids. He kept his promises there, never touching them or their children. And because he kept his promises they all continued to work for him with little to no arguments. He really did keep that place working like a well oiled Dwemer Artifact. Any squeaky wheels and he made sure to take them out quick too."

Rona hesitated but found herself wanting to know more, "How did you meet Bishop? How did you all get to know him?"

Qetesh smiled warmly but Venus' face just crinkled up as she pursed her lips. Bast said, "He was nice to us, him and Jules."

Rona took a breath, "You knew his brother?"

"Yeah, we did," Qetesh said as she seemed to remember it all rather fondly, "We'd seen them coming and going for a while. Bishop was a regular at The Courtesans brothel."

Rona scowled then, almost rivaling Venus with her deep disapproval of that fact. Qetesh laughed and insisted, "He never paid for sex though. He just liked checking up on the women and I think he enjoyed the flirting and the attention they all gave him. He was the nicest Specialist they'd ever met. He never behaved like he was better than anyone else, he just treated everyone like regular people and was friendly. It was kind of sweet actually."

This really warmed Rona's heart. To know that he'd always been so thoughtful and caring... but then to know that he'd forced himself to lock it all away after his brother died. It was all so beautiful and sad to her.

Qetesh went on, "Then he met our mother and Bastet was with her and he found out that she was half-khajiit like Jules. He started hanging around them more and more and really got to know her. Then he asked to meet me when he found out I was an alchemist and mixed a potion that had really helped Bast with her physical ailments. Elska got us all together, the whole family and we met Bishop and Jules and just," she shrugged, "hit it off I guess. They were great people, good company. Jules especially, he was probably the funniest man I'd ever met. Damn I miss him sometimes."

"So, then Bishop and Freya..." Rona couldn't believe she was asking this.

Venus scoffed loudly, "Oh my gods. You do not want to know about those two."

"Like oil and water," Qetesh chuckled.

"And fire all over that oil," Venus huffed.

"They were bad for each other," Qetesh added firmly, "Freya's a troublemaker. They're too much like each other."

"Definitely," Venus said, "Jealous."

"Snarky."

"Rude."

"Irritable."

"Vulgar."

"Blunt."

The two of them went back and forth listing off plenty of faults and flaws their sister and Bishop shared before Qetesh finally said, "And that's not even half of it."

Rona laughed. She was actually finding herself enjoying their company and she was learning so many things she'd never known about his past.

"How long were he and Freya together?" She asked them.

"Two years give or take," Qetesh said, "I mean, if you can call it being together. Those two split up and got back together so many times, I couldn't keep track."

Venus laughed, "Yeah, every time Bishop slept with some other woman behind her back she'd go out and suck the pole of some other sod in the group, just because she knew word would get right back round to him real quick."

"Then the fight would break out," Qetesh snickered, "And everyone would hear it for miles down the tunnels and you could just hear the collective eye roll every time it happened." Then she leaned over towards Rona and said, "You know hun, I only did it with him to piss off Freya because she had the nerve to steal my stash of black soul gems and sold them for those damned gold bangles of hers."

Rona smirked and shook her head slightly. It was still a bit odd, hearing about Bishop's past sexual escapades with them, but that was just it. They were in the past. It was also pretty funny too. Then she glanced at Venus and asked, "What about you? Trying to get back at your sister too?"

Venus' face burned almost as bright as Rona's could when she stammered, "N-No! I was just... drunk. And he was drunk and... well, we were having a good time and he was just..."

Rona grinned, "His usual charming self?"

"She gets it!" Qetesh roared a laugh then said, "You know, I was a little worried we'd put you off, well, at least Freya and Venus over here 'cause they can't keep their nasty yaps shut."

"Hey!" Venus grumbled, "Everything I said about him was true."

Qetesh held a hand to the side of her mouth and whispered loudly to Rona, "She's just still mad that Bishop had the nerve to call her Freya mid coitus all those years ago."

Venus growled and glared at her sister, but Rona, Qetesh and even Bast were laughing so loudly they could hardly hear her.

Then Rona noticed Bast hadn't said much about it and asked her, "What do you think of Bishop, Bast?"

"I was really little when I met him," she said, "But I remember him and Jules being really nice to me. They always brought me presents and sweets."

Rona smiled. Bishop could try and hide it all he wanted too but he was great with kids and she knew he loved being around them.

"So tell us," Qetesh said, leaning back in her chair, "How's he treat you? You two actually seem pretty good for each other and he seems rather taken with you."

Rona blushed brightly, but still had a smile on her lips when she decided why not? They'd shared plenty with her. Maybe she could even change their view of the ranger.

She started off in the beginning telling them all about his rude and cocky behavior, his lewd remarks and every little thing. Then she told them about becoming Dragonborn and how, despite how much trouble she'd caused him he stuck it out with her. She even told them how long she'd made him wait for her before they made love for the first time. They were absolutely floored he'd stuck around as long as he did. Venus could hardly believe her ears.

It was nice talking and gossiping with them. They felt like a bunch of old girlfriends to her, even though the only thing they all had in common was Bishop.

By the time she got to telling them how he first confessed his love to her they were completely enthralled, elbows on the table, drinks grasped in hand and staring at her with awe.

"Maybe he really has changed," Venus said.

Rona's cheeks were still burning just from telling them all these sweet, private moments with him and she said, "I'd like to think he has."

Then Qetesh frowned suddenly, "Shit. We should probably go find him."

"Why?" Rona asked.

Venus groaned, putting a hand to her face and said, "Because Freya's with him and she'll do anything to ruin his life."

Rona raised her brows then and laughed a little, "I trust him."

Qetesh looked skeptical, "Trust him all you like hun, but he's still a man."

"I was worried before," Rona said, "But after talking about everything... I think I just reminded myself that I can trust him."

In that moment he came through the doors to inn and looked around. His gaze met hers and they smiled at one another. He came over and said, "Alright ladies. Your debts have all been paid. You're free women now."

"Really?" Qetesh looked surprised, "Like the bounty?"

"The bounty and Jaree-Ra," he said.

Venus looked stunned and said, "You really have changed."

He snorted a laugh at her, "Don't tell me you're going to be nice to me now, Venus. Because that would be too weird."

Qetesh got up and said to him seriously, "Thank you Bishop. Really. I thought we'd be struggling with those debts for the rest of our lives, you've done too much for us," then she looked at Rona, "both of you."

"Yeah, well, don't get yourselves into anymore trouble and screw it up, alright? Keep that mad-woman of a sister of yours on a leash if you can," then he said, "and don't let her drag you down with her anymore. I don't know what the hell is wrong with her, but she's seriously got a loose screw or something. She's way crazier than I remember her."

Qetesh looked morose and both Venus and Bast turned away and he said, "What? Did something happen to her?" He paused for a moment and muttered, "It was Thorn, wasn't it?"

"Don't worry about it Bishop," Qetesh said, "She's our burden to bear. By the way, I just want to say, I think you've found yourself a really good woman here. Don't ever let her get away you scoundrel."

He looked between them all and raised a brow, "Did I miss something here, Lightfoot, or are you all best friends now?"

Rona grinned at him and said, "The best of friends!"

He chuckled, "Well, I'm glad to hear it. Now, uh, if you'll excuse me ladies, my woman and I have a date this evening. Shall we?"

Rona got up and took his arm. She bade them a goodnight and thanked them all for talking with her. The two of them left and Qetesh sat back down and sighed, "I'm actually happy for him. He found someone... normal."

"Yeah I like her," Bast said.

Venus huffed a little but said, "Definitely a better woman for him than Freya ever was."

Their sister came in shortly after, looking absolutely miserable. She took a seat at the table and they all looked at her curiously then Bast said, "What's wrong Freya? Our bounty's are all paid off now."

"You should be celebrating," Qetesh smiled.

But Freya just buried her face in her arms and grit her teeth furiously, muttering so they couldn't hear a word, "I'll show him... I'll make him pay... take everything from him just like he did to me."