Chapter LXXIII – Suspicions

The private meeting with Queen Elisif was surprisingly quick.

She wasn't very concerned about them disappearing for the entire night – it turned out that some guards had already reported seeing them at the docks. Though fortunately not at the mill.

Elisif was quite horrified by their report though. She had suspected a simple rogue necromancer wreaking havoc in the catacombs, just like they had. The news of Potema disturbed her a fair amount. She instantly sent a few men to accompany the priests into the depths of the tombs to ensure that no traces of the vile spirit could be found there anymore.

She did however reassure Aeyrin and Bishop that feat such as this certainly warranted the title. But apparently, that was not as simple in Solitude as it was in Whiterun or Riften. Elisif was determined to hold a proper ceremony with the entire court present – likely for the sake of her own reputation. And maybe a bit because of the obsession with opulence that everyone in Solitude seemed to have.

Luckily, all that would take time. Elisif merely promised that she would order her steward to begin preparing the mansion to make it livable. The fact that Aeyrin would be the recipient of this title and the house was still to remain a secret, just to be safe when it came to General Tullius. The conscription order was not in effect yet, but Elisif didn't want him plotting anything to ruin this plan if he were to find out too soon.

The ceremony was apparently going to be held a couple of days after the ball, giving Bishop and Aeyrin a lot of free time in Solitude in the meantime. And forcing them to rent out a room at the Skeever for now.

Then again, warm, delicious food, a proper bath and a soft bed was hardly anything to scoff at after the day and the night they had.

They headed into the inn right after their meeting at the Palace. They briefly stopped by their new mansion to at least look at it. The place was ridiculously enormous and on par with any other noble mansion in the city. They didn't go inside yet, they didn't even have the keys for now and it was probably still empty anyway, but just seeing it from the outside was enough to know that it would be beyond anything they would ever even hope to live in. Or want to live in, probably. It just seemed excessive.

After examining the place, they finally made their way to the Skeever to recuperate for a while before they would decide the best course of action for their stay. They still had to discuss the issue with the Thalmor agent properly, as well as settling on the best way to get in contact with Casavir. Privately.

One thing was for certain, no matter how much time they would have to waste in Solitude, it was going to be far from boring.

…

"Oh Gods!"

Aeyrin groaned almost lustfully as she fell on the large soft bed and buried her face in the fluffy pillows. She really missed a proper bed and nothing could compare to those at the Skeever. Well… not nothing. She still remembered how incredibly comfortable Casavir's bed was. And the large bed in the attic room at the meadery was nothing to scoff at either.

Their first stop was the baths to get rid of the last remnants of ash and straw from their clothes and bodies, then the common room for a big lunch and a glass or two of spiced wine, and now they were finally able to sprawl themselves on the bed.

The mattress dipped a bit under Bishop only a second after she threw herself into the sheets and he stretched himself by her side with a satisfied groan. He laid his hand idly on her back and started to stroke up and down her body with lazy motions.

Aeyrin almost felt like purring at the contact. Everything felt so warm and soft, the silky blankets, her freshly washed clothes dried by the fire and now the feel of Bishop's hand gently running over her while she still lay on her stomach with her face buried in the pillows. It felt like all her sore muscles dissolved into a puddle.

"Are you gonna sleep?" Bishop chuckled at her. Her eyes were closed with a blissful expression on her face. She looked like she was dozing off already.

"No," she mumbled in response with her mouth still half-buried in the soft pillow, but a second later, her content smile turned into a wry one. "Maybe."

Bishop only chuckled at her, then he placed a brief kiss into her hair. "It's fine. Get some rest. I'm gonna go talk to Gulum in the meantime." The bed was tempting, but he wasn't really tired. He was much more tempted to do other things on the bed, but Aeyrin really looked like she was on the verge of deep sleep already. He could always use the time to get some more information.

But at those words, Aeyrin suddenly perked up. She flipped herself on her side with surprising speed, given her previous laziness, and gave him a sharp look. Her hand darted towards his upper arm to still whatever motion he was about to make.

"No, wait!" she shook her head. "I don't know if that's a good idea. We don't really know who Gulum-Ei is working with."

"He's working with Karliah," Bishop scowled. It felt strange coming out of his lips – this reassuring tone filled with blind trust. This wasn't like him. And it wasn't like her to be this suspicious either, it was really throwing him off. What threw him off even more though was the fact that he didn't even consider that Gulum could possibly rat them out. He usually suspected anything to go wrong, but if not a fence who was on their side, who else could they get information from? It was not as if Gulum didn't have everything to lose if he gave away some sensitive information to anyone. His reputation and discretion were everything. And Karliah would not take kindly to him betraying Bishop, surely, even if this had nothing to do with her operations. It was still a bit disturbing how trusting Bishop got regarding Karliah and her network, but… then again, she kind of earned it.

"I… I know that," Aeyrin sighed. "But still, there's no guarantees. I don't like going blind against the Thalmor like this."

"Do you know how many people come to him for information about their heists?" Bishop retorted. He was sure that Thalmor weren't always spared thievery. If not him, he knew for a fact that the Guild had targeted Thalmor offices and quarters before. "And it's likely that the Thalmor won't even notice that their list is missing until we'll be long gone from here. You know, I could even make a copy. I'm sure they have some copies anyway, stealing it won't prevent them from investigating the people. All you need to do then is to warn those fuckers that they're being watched."

Aeyrin gave him a long pondering expression. That was a good point. And it was much safer than stealing it. She was still worried about Bishop stealing from the Thalmor again, about him getting caught. But there was probably no harm in finding out what Gulum knew about that bureau. Probably.

"Alright?" Bishop prodded her after a long while of silence.

"A-alright," Aeyrin nodded nervously. It was still not entirely 'alright', but she would feel guilty about doing nothing at all for those people. And Bishop was going to be careful. She liked his plan. He was always careful.

"Great," Bishop grinned. He was still not sure why he was so insistent about this. He didn't want to see her blame herself if she ever found out more about how the Thalmor dealt with the Talos worshippers. He was also quite curious about how secure this bureau was. And he was a bit excited for a heist as well.

"Now, what about the tin-head?" he asked after a few seconds. They might as well plan everything out now. Could Gulum have any ideas on this too, perhaps? He was the only person Bishop could think of who knew practically everything about Solitude and how to do things there unseen.

Aeyrin straightened herself up to sit on the bed rather reluctantly. She had no idea how to even approach this. Bishop seemed to actually believe, or at least have a tiny bit of a suspicion, that Casavir was not the one who had poisoned her, and she wanted to believe that as well. It could have literally been anyone though and Casavir had to have a reason for taking the blame. He must have known something. Why else would he not want to convince Aeyrin of his innocence, especially with everything that the culpability entailed for him – losing his reputation and jeopardizing his position in the Order?

But that meant that they had to meet in secret. Whoever was to blame, it was safer to keep them in the dark. Whatever reason Casavir had to take the blame, they had to be careful about exposing him, about giving any semblance of amicability between them. Well… between Aeyrin and Casavir at least. She had no illusions about Bishop being amicable with him, no matter what.

"We need to find a place to meet him. And to get a message to him somehow to meet us there," Aeyrin pondered. That wasn't really helpful – they both knew that. She wasn't exactly sure who could even get a message to Casavir discreetly. Well… maybe if she asked and if she insisted on not divulging any details. "Maybe Azshan could…"

"No!" Bishop scowled at her instantly. "We can't involve him. For all we know, he could still be to blame here."

Aeyrin's pout said exactly what she thought of that. She still couldn't see this. Technically, it could have been him. But technically it could have been anyone. Azshan was never beyond being a little… shady with his dealings, she had definitely confirmed that back during their trip to the Reach. But he would not actually hurt her like that. To actually poison her? That was too much. He would absolutely omit the truth if it served his needs, but he never really meant any harm with his actions.

"Let's just… be safe on this one, alright?" Bishop sighed. "It doesn't matter who did it, we can't involve anyone from the Castle."

Aeyrin only nodded at him, though how were they going to get the message to the Castle if they couldn't involve anyone from it? They could always try to 'run into' Casavir by accident on the streets, but… that wouldn't be guaranteed. And if they met him in a populated place, they couldn't really approach him anyway.

"Maybe Gulum will know someone," Bishop gave her an encouraging smile. A kitchen worker, or a servant. These people were usually the best bet, right? And nobody but Gulum needed to know who sent the message.

"Alright," Aeyrin smiled weakly in response. This was making her less uncomfortable than asking him for help with the Thalmor. The paladins, after all, weren't nearly as intimidating. She pondered the situation a bit more for a little while, but soon, it got tiresome to stress over it.

She plopped down onto the bed with another satisfied groan and buried her head into the pillow again. That was much better. Only the comfort to concentrate on.

A second later she heard a brief chuckle escape Bishop's lips as he bent towards her and planted another kiss in her hair. The mattress moved again only a minute after that.

"Get some rest, love. I'll be back soon."

…

Gulum-Ei was a fucking Gods-sent.

That man knew everything. Literally everything – every secret and all the information about getting through Solitude with ulterior motives.

And it all looked surprisingly promising.

Gulum agreed quickly to get a message to Casavir through someone working at the Castle. Bishop quickly scribbled a message on the spot, asking Casavir to meet in a partially decommissioned armor storage near the blacksmith's forge. The place was recommended by Gulum as well – hardly ever visited by anyone and hidden in a shadowy corner of the Castle battlements. The Legion used it to store old and broken armor so that the blacksmith could use it again to make new pieces from it. With how the war was currently going, the storage was practically overflowing, but Gulum knew just when the Legion made deposits there and when the blacksmith would usually take more pieces out. The Argonian used that place very often for his own meetings after all – he knew how to keep those a secret.

Bishop scheduled the meeting for tomorrow and he didn't sign the note in any way. Hopefully he was convincing enough to peak Casavir's interest rather than have him march in with some troops at his heel. It was near the Castle after all – who in their right mind would invite him into an ambush right by the huge structure full of paladins and soldiers?

And after that was taken care of, Bishop could focus on the heist.

Apparently, it wasn't the first time Gulum had been asked about access to the bureau. Thalmor were probably a more popular target than it would seem. Who wouldn't want to steal from those pompous assholes? Then again… getting caught by those pompous assholes was certainly much more intimidating than getting thrown into jail.

But that wouldn't happen now. As it turned out, the bureau was a very easy target. It was barely as large as an office, just as Bishop had predicted. It was situated upon the battlements – an easy access and an even easier place to escape notice – and any given agent only ever came inside when they were actually working there. No guards, just a few traps and locks. Bishop would have been surprised at this, but, as Gulum had reported, there wasn't usually anything of value in that place. Not even any secrets. Most of those were hidden at the embassy. Gulum said that the place generally holds contracts and orders, those which would usually be available to the public to look into as well, if anyone asked to see them. It was a place where citizens could come and deal with the Thalmor – to try and smooth out any differences they had perhaps, or more likely, to rat on someone. This was where the list came into question, probably.

Bishop never told Gulum what he wanted in that place. In fact, when Bishop asked about it, the Argonian first told him all about it before informing him that several people have already tried to rob the place, only to come back to Gulum empty. There was nothing of value there. Bishop played the part, acting disappointed by that revelation, and Gulum-Ei was more than happy to offer him a tip on another heist opportunity. He only asked for twenty drakes for that, so Bishop obliged. It would make it more believable. He was directed to a fletcher's shop instead – apparently the man had some expensive enchanted bow hidden there. Eh… it was an option, if he needed money for anything. But he didn't for now. It was an unnecessary risk.

So was the bureau, probably, but Bishop was already committed to this, for some reason which he didn't even understand himself. Aeyrin would regret not doing this, he knew that. And it would help her and all her rebellious priests too, so why not?

It was going to be easy.

He would go there sometime after the meeting with Casavir. He wasn't sure when exactly. It all depended on what they would find out at the meeting. Maybe they would have to deal with that whole poisoning clusterfuck again instead.

But that was tomorrow. For now, they had some time to kill.

And he could finally come back to Aeyrin and enjoy the bed fully. Hopefully she wasn't planning on sleeping through the whole day.

…

The plans were set and Bishop and Aeyrin had the rest of the day for themselves until their meeting with Casavir the next afternoon.

After a pleasant night spent in the comforts of the inn, they were greeted by a message from Azshan during their breakfast. The fitting, whatever it meant, was scheduled to take place in a few days. It was plenty of time for them to make sense of the past events and to get the information that they needed. Hopefully.

When the time came, Aeyrin and Bishop headed out towards the castle to secretly smuggle themselves into the storage room and wait for the paladin to arrive. Getting Aeyrin to be subtle about this was like pulling a taproot out of a spriggan corpse. She constantly looked around conspicuously and she practically always attracted attention. But in the end, they managed to get inside, hopefully unseen.

Now all they had to do was wait for the man.

The room was quite tiny – it was at the bottom floor of a watch tower with no access to the upper part, so they were definitely there alone with no one to overhear them. Although the whole situation was very shady. There was still a chance that Casavir would not show up at all out of caution. Or that he wouldn't show up alone.

Or… that he would show up expecting a fight.

Bishop sat himself down on one of the crates in the room and took out his knife, just in case. They weren't armed or armored, but he usually never went anywhere without at least that. And the longer they waited, the more he realized how ugly this could turn in a matter of seconds.

"Could you not look so… menacing?" Aeyrin cringed at him. He looked like he was ready to actually throw that knife at anyone who would appear at the door.

"Hey, you don't know how he's gonna react. You never know with that shithead. I like to be prepared," Bishop scoffed in response.

"I've seen you brandish that thing in less than a second. I think you can at least sheathe it again for now," she smirked. He really looked ready to attack with the knife in his hand. The entire thing would likely go much better if he didn't antagonize Casavir from the very first sight.

Bishop grumbled a bit, but he slid his knife back into the sheath on his belt regardless. She wasn't wrong, he could just pull it out again.

They stayed silent again after that, waiting. It was already past the time of the meeting, but Casavir was still nowhere to be seen.

Until finally, after what felt like a very long time, the door to the storage room opened.

Casavir walked in, alone, but he was clad in his armor and he was very obviously ready to defend himself, if needed be. His eyes went wide when he took notice of who was waiting for him there. It wasn't certain whether he wouldn't prefer to actually be attacked instead. He seemed to tense up even more at the sight.

His eyes rested on Aeyrin with palpable shock before they turned to Bishop with suspicion and a perpetual hint of disdain. It was probably inevitable, but it must have been obvious to him what happened – he had tried to convince Bishop of his innocence in the poisoning before. Bishop could have kept that to himself – at least Casavir should be glad to have a chance to tell the truth now.

"My lady," the paladin let out a very tense sigh. He still looked a bit in shock.

"Stop calling her that," Bishop growled. It always pissed him off coming from him, but even more now after all this shit. The tin-head's tense stance made Bishop instantly doubt his words during their last encounter. He could have been lying again. Why not? And why else would he get nervous now? If he was innocent, he should have been jumping at the chance to prove it now, in utter privacy, right?

"I…" Casavir stammered uncertainly. Aeyrin didn't even look at Bishop with chastisement for that comment. She seemed to be of the same opinion, in fact. "I didn't realize… the message was from you?"

"Yes," Aeyrin gave him a court nod. "Bishop told me what you said when you… met." She almost said that too hurriedly. Casavir's nervousness was making her anxious and she suddenly wasn't so sure if this was a good idea. It was best to get to the point quickly.

"Ah," Casavir's eyes fell on Bishop for a second and his next words were almost whispered. "You believed me?"

"We'll see," Bishop scoffed. He believed him less and less each second now, for some reason. Maybe it was just seeing him again that was pissing him off. In the heat after the battle, with all the yelling and tension, he had been pretty fucking convincing. But now he just stood there, stunned, like he didn't know how to actually explain himself.

"Was it true? What you told him?" Aeyrin tried to study his face, his expressions. He seemed to flinch at that question, but maybe she was imagining it.

There was a very long tense moment of silence. It was only more suspicious. It seemed like whole minutes had passed before the paladin turned back to Bishop and spoke.

"You have forced the situation to deteriorate yet again with your violent outbursts. I had to attempt to calm you down as well as…"

"Answer the fucking question!" Bishop barked back at him quickly. He knew where this was heading – vague placations and other shit. There were not going to be any answers in that.

"I have told you what truth I could," Casavir scowled at his outburst. Now he seemed to be getting angry and impatient. "You have put me in a difficult position and…"

"Casavir! Did you really poison me, yes or no?" Aeyrin interrupted him this time. This was frustrating. As short as the discussion had been until now, it already seemed to take forever before they actually got any answers.

Casavir fell silent again at her question. His anger seemed to wane considerably when he looked back at Aeyrin. Now there seemed to be only guilt and regret in his eyes. It was quite telling.

"I am sorry," he shook his head. "I did what was best. I had to."

This time, it was Aeyrin and Bishop who stayed silent. It was so… anticlimactic. All this speculating, all these doubts and suspicions and there was nothing more to it. Nothing changed. It was simple all along.

"S-so… you did," Aeyrin stammered a little incredulously. She really wanted to believe the opposite. "Why? Was it really all to frame Bishop?"

"My lady," Casavir almost took a step towards her before another angry growl from Bishop stopped him. It wasn't clear if it was because of his sudden motion or because he called her that again, but it stopped the paladin nonetheless. "It was harmless. Much more harmless than the snake you are harboring."

"This again?" Bishop rolled his eyes and it was only accentuated by Aeyrin's disappointed sigh.

"Your crimes don't just go away, Bishop. You still have a lot to answer for. You have taken part in atrocities that I don't even dare to speak of. You have actively worked for a monster," Casavir spat at him disdainfully before he turned towards Aeyrin again with a regretful tone. "Yet you would never believe me over him. You would never believe that he would put you in danger."

Bishop flinched at the words visibly. It was disturbing that Casavir was actually right about that. If the paladin had ever managed to convince Aeyrin of leaving Bishop, she might have been spared what she went through in Falkreath.

But Aeyrin didn't seem to be pondering on the same thing. Her scowl at Casavir never wavered, even for a second.

"And you didn't?!" she spat at him disdainfully. What else would one call poisoning someone? Even if it was meant to be a harmless poison, anything could have gone wrong. They left her utterly helpless. What if a dragon attacked the city for some reason and when it was killed, the soul would just kill her? No matter what Casavir told himself to ease his conscience, she was never safe in that state.

"The poison was of no danger to you," Casavir let out a sigh. "And you need to finally see that you are overlooking the actions of a criminal."

"Two of them now," Aeyrin scowled. He had just confessed to her for the second time, maybe he could be a little grateful for not being sent to prison, or even beheaded, instead of constantly antagonizing Bishop. The way Bishop had put it, Casavir didn't seem that focused on their animosity the last time they saw each other. Why was he now practically jumping at the chance to steer the conversation to that again? "Why did you tell him that you didn't do it?" she practically growled at the paladin.

"He was attacking me! As usual. I was attempting to placate him in his rage. He had full intention to kill me!" Casavir's glare turned to Bishop again.

"I did. And I fucking should have," Bishop hissed at him in turn. Why did he ever even believe the shit that the tin-head had spewed? He knew that Casavir was just a liar who hides behind his façade. Why did he ever waver?

"You were in no condition to kill me," Casavir almost laughed disdainfully in the midst of his scoff. "I had to do what I could so that I wouldn't end up killing you!"

"Why didn't you?" Bishop retorted. "If I'm this horrible criminal, why didn't you even try to kill me?"

"I am not you," Casavir scoffed disdainfully. "I do not murder people because it's convenient. You are currently not wanted by law here, baffling as that is, but your actions will catch up with you eventually. And I assure you that you will be brought to justice when that time comes."

"Fucking rich coming from you," Bishop rolled his eyes at the man. This was ridiculous! How was he still pretending to have some fucking moral high-ground?

"I think I've had enough," Aeyrin let out another disappointed sigh. This was not at all how she had imagined this. It was so disheartening. "Let's just go, Bish." She almost got the urge to actually tell on Casavir. But… it was better to leave all of this behind for good. It was exhausting just to go through stuff like this.

Bishop didn't need to be told twice. He hopped off the crate swiftly and they both headed out of that room. Casavir didn't even say a word the entire time. He still stood there stiffly, like a log, waiting for them to leave.

Bishop made sure to bump him with his shoulder haphazardly on his way past the man as he hissed almost silently: "Can't believe I fucking fell for that shit."

Casavir still didn't respond. And a second later, they were out of the storage room and covertly making their way from the Castle grounds.

"I'm sorry, sweetness," Bishop sighed when they were far enough from that oddly suffocating place, heading back towards the inn. "I know this is not how you wanted it to go." He kind of felt bad for even telling her about this and getting her hopes up.

"It's alright," she sighed as well. "At least now I know for sure."

…

At least the rest of the day passed in peace for the two of them.

While Casavir's confession was discouraging, especially for Aeyrin, there was nothing to be done about it now. Bishop suggested actually trying to do something to make him pay for what he had done, but Aeyrin was still against it. She didn't want to get all those rumors started all over again and the last thing she needed was more attention on her personal life before the ball. It was good that this was done in private. Now they could hopefully move on without any more fuss.

They spent the rest of the day purchasing supplies for the road now rather than later, and they went to look at the mansion once more. Already there were people hovering around, moving furniture and other things in and out and cleaning the place. It was probably going to be ready soon, but Aeyrin would only get the key once the ceremony was over anyway. Still, the place had them curious. Aside from the Black-Briar mansion and slipping in and out of some estates for some quick enrichment, neither of them had ever even stepped in a home this big. Not to stay longer than an hour. And definitely not to actually make use of it. It was still painfully obvious that this would only become another occasional free bed in a house belonging to a stranger. And it might not even be that. If they had any suspicions about the new housecarl, it was likely that they wouldn't even want to sleep over in that place.

But there was still something a bit exciting about it. As uncomfortable as they were about noble lifestyles, the comforts of those were definitely the one good thing about them. Who wouldn't want a soft bed and a bath to rival the inns?

But, since they couldn't make use of any of those yet, they soon returned to the actual inn.

They haven't talked about the Thalmor bureau heist the entire time. Aeyrin was kind of relieved about that. As much as she wanted that list, she still worried about Bishop going in there. It felt different than usual. She was more comfortable with Karliah's plans – she always had everything worked out to the last detail. She did trust Bishop to be able to pull this off on his own, but that didn't mean that she wasn't worried about him anyway.

And Bishop did not mention it for the same reason. He needed to go at night, probably shortly before dawn, in case whatever Thalmor was working there decided to stay late. And Aeyrin would just be awake, worrying. This was going to be easy. She shouldn't have to stress herself out needlessly. He didn't say when he would go for that very reason.

He woke up in their bed at the Skeever that very night about two hours before dawn.

Aeyrin was sleeping soundly, curled into a ball and pressed with her back against his chest. She always slept curled on her side like that, either with her back to him, nestling herself into his embrace, or wrapped around him and pressed to his flank. As comfortable as he was with one of his arms draped around her stomach and the other under her head, it was going to be tough to extricate himself without waking her.

Although her sleeping has been much better lately. And she had to be really tuckered out after the night they've had. He wouldn't mind sleeping in a bit more too, but he could do that once he got back. His mission wouldn't take long anyway.

He carefully shifted away from her before he started to slowly drag his arm from under her head. She didn't seem to stir in any way, fortunately. When he finally managed to free his arm and pull back from her, she did move a bit and he could have sworn that she even grumbled in her sleep, but she didn't wake up.

He was trapped there between Aeyrin and the wall, so he had to shuffle towards the foot of the bed as well. And putting on his armor was another challenge he had to get through quickly. But Aeyrin stayed fast asleep through all of it.

Now only to take care of that list.