Chapter Eight
"What are you doing here?" Snarled Mjoll, glaring at the imperial who looked at her with confusion.
"What are you talking about, it's obvious what I'm doing here!" Sharply replied Vex.
"You should go and tell Lydia or someone else that Yosa'Min's in trouble," Mjoll said, moving to shut the door in Vex's face. "Because I'm not helping."
"Wait!" Shouted Vex, blocking the door with her foot and a fury rising up her body. "You really don't care for Yosa'Min, not in the slightest?" Questioned the imperial, forcing herself through the door despite Mjoll's best efforts to keep her out. "Not after everything she gave up for you?"
"Gave up?" Laughed Mjoll, shaking her head with a dark chuckle. "She gave nothing up for me. She didn't give up the Guild, she didn't give up stealing," Mjoll sneered at Vex, eyes running up her body hatefully, "and she didn't give you up."
"She did!" Vex shouted with frustration, nearly forgetting the entire reason she'd come in the first place. She loathed the woman before her, angry for how things had ended with Yosa'Min as much as what she stood for. An enemy of the Guild was certainly an enemy of hers. "She gave me up all right, and there's not a moment she wouldn't give up the Guild if you'd take her back."
Shaking her head with disbelief, Mjoll turned away from her. "You still speak lies, even to my face after all this time," growled Mjoll. She looked back at where the imperial stood in the entrance of the bunkhouse, pale moonlight pouring in from the windows and illuminating the room. The nord looked her over, easily telling just how disheveled she was in the clothes she wore that looked like she'd run from a pack of wolves.
Never would she have thought that she'd see Vex's face again, and now all she could think of was the words and hate they'd shared in the past. All she wanted was to send her away with swears to keep her away this time. But something was stopping her, and she found herself listening to the small bit that wanted to hear her out. A begrudging worry for Yosa'Min rising up her body and she bit her tongue as Vex started to speak once more.
"Listen to me Mjoll," tightly said Vex, "What happened in the past is in the past, and you need to let it go. Yosa'Min is still madly in love with you, and I bet a part of you misses her back. Even if you don't care or want to see her anymore, you owe her this. She is in trouble, she could be dead for all I know, and you can't simply stay here and let it happen."
"Why not?" Mjoll demanded, stepping menacingly towards her. "What do I owe her? She lied and deceived and tricked me countless times in some game where she thought she'd win me and still be a thief. Where I'd simply bow to her will and let her go on doing something that I cannot allow. I don't owe her a damn thing!"
"Then you owe it to yourself!"
Mjoll narrowed her eyes at Vex.
"Do you want to go on every day without answers? Assuming things but never really knowing? She loves you Mjoll, why can't you see that?"
Mjoll crossed her arms. "Do you lie to the ones you love Vex?"
Vex looked her right in the eyes, holding herself proudly and bravely. "I do when I need to protect them, if it keeps them safe."
"Perhaps you do, but not Yosa'Min. She lies because she can't face the truth of her actions, because she's afraid," replied Mjoll, dismissing her words.
Hands clenching at her sides, Vex threw aside any plea or cry for help, obviously appealing to Mjoll's sense of heroism and righteousness wasn't going to work like perhaps it would have before. Instead, she opted to talk some sense in the woman, sense she'd been wishing to shove down her throat for months. "Do you forget that she left me to have a chance with you?" Gritted Vex, stepping towards her and shoving Mjoll back. The nord looked at her with wide and angry golden eyes. "She could have been happy with me, could have had a life of danger and adventure and glorious mountains of gold- could have had someone who would completely accept her for her! But instead you had to show up and ruin everything like always!"
"Now wait a-"
"No!" Vex cut her off swiftly, getting in Mjoll's face. "I was happy with her, she was happy with me, but something about you intrigued or attracted her, I don't know what and I never will know what, but it was there. And because of it, she got stupid and even after we'd been together, she wanted to see what it would be like with you. I don't know why and it's eaten me up for months, but she fell so hard for you that she was willing to forsake everything she'd ever known for a chance."
Mjoll glared at her, trying not to show just what those words were doing to her. She felt a swell of confusing emotions as always, but this time there was something about it that felt… guilty. Continuing on, the imperial shook her head with distaste. "And I couldn't accept it, and I don't have a bit of guilt over it either. I don't regret what I did in my efforts to win her back, not for a single moment! She was mine, and you stole her!"
"I didn't know she was yours!" Retorted Mjoll. "How could I? She was lying to me the moment I met her!"
"And after you knew? After you knew she was a thief and a liar and had been with me, had laid down in bed with me, you went after her!" Vex shouted angrily, hands waving about her.
Mjoll exploded as she attempted to defend herself. "It just happened all right! One moment I was having dinner and the next we were in the woods kissing and such, I never intended to fall in love with her!"
Vex stepped back, head tipped smugly back, arms crossed and a hip jutting. It hurt to hear those words, to hear that she'd lost what might have been her one shot for love because the thief hadn't meant to. The fact that all that time ago that was Yosa'Min's very excuse when confronted about it as well stung like hot metal on skin. But she wasn't going to let that pain show, and instead just looked at Mjoll like she'd won a victory. "And you don't regret it do you?" Vex probed.
Mjoll looked at her, angry and confused, hands balled into fists at her sides. "No," she gritted. "Is that what you want me to say? To admit I still have feelings for her to you, to tell you that I've missed her deeply and every night I am kept awake with thoughts of a lost love?" Mockingly asked Mjoll, making Vex's smirk fade slowly. "Because I can see what you're trying to do. The answer is no, I'm not helping you."
"Why not?" Seethed Vex, "What is so bad about her that you can't help her when she's helped you? If it's all these hurt feelings and the past, I've forgiven her and I was the first one hurt! It makes me sick to my stomach to see all the heartache caused by you two, and yet it could so easily be fixed if you would fucking talk to her! Why can't you just do that?"
The nord looked at her with golden eyes narrowed into slits. "We nords are damn stubborn," she grumbled.
"That's no excuse!"
Mjoll glared at her, trying her hardest not to force the imperial out herself because that would soon escalate into a fight she was certain. They'd probably already awoken the whole house by now with their arguing, and Mjoll could bet Haelga was going to give her an earful in the morning for the trouble. So, Mjoll brushed past Vex and opened the door, her other hand gesturing her out angrily. "Just leave me be Vex," she ordered.
"No!" Sharply said Vex, shaking her head and planting her foot down in a way that made Mjoll think of a child. "You're going to give me a damn good reason why you're willing to risk Yosa'Min's life because of some hurt feelings!"
"She doesn't need me," Mjoll tightly responded, "She has you and Lydia and your Guild."
Shaking her head in return, Vex dismissed the nord's reasoning. "No, she doesn't. She's only really got Lydia, Iona and I."
"Iona?" Mjoll furrowed her brow, not recognizing that name.
"Her housecarl here in Riften," Vex explained, "If you'd bothered to talk with her you'd have known that. Remember her trying to win you back by becoming thane?" She mockingly asked, rolling amber eyes.
"Yes, I remember that, and I remember her telling me she hadn't left your Guild either," Mjoll said back tightly, as if struggling not to slap her.
"Do you only remember the negatives?" Vex asked with disbelief, "You're a blind dumb woman indeed, what it was about you that she fell for I don't see in the slightest."
Mjoll shook her head angrily, gesturing for Vex to leave forcefully again. "She tried to fake honor and dignity! She tried to lie to me once more!"
"She cleaned up this city believe it or not! She got rid of those who were selling skooma all across Riften, something that your noble guard couldn't do themselves and obvious something you couldn't or wouldn't do." Vex jeered poisonously, "And got rid of those bandits that were harassing all the trade routes. Riften would have bled itself dry or starved by now if it weren't for her."
Mjoll's anger faltered for a moment. "She did that?"
"And more, if only you'd listen. Get your head out of your ass and learn a few things before you make judgments," sneered Vex, "Your ignorance is starting to hurt."
Infuriated with the insults, Mjoll stepped over and grabbed Vex's wrist, wrenching her towards her and dragging her out the door. Vex gasped as she was thrown outside, stumbling to catch herself before she fell over, and looked to the bunkhouse entrance where Mjoll stood angrily. "You bitch!" Shouted Mjoll.
"You fucking hypocrite!" Returned Vex.
Mjoll shook her head, and stepped outside, slamming the door behind her. "I've put up with your games long enough, leave me be!"
"Not if it means condemning Yosa!" Vex puffed her chest out a bit, trying to see more formidable. Without any weapons or armor on either of them, it would easily mean if they were to fight it would be a share of blows. Mjoll could easily outhit her in a fist-fight, a prospect Vex would prefer not to realize.
"Why do you still even care for her?" Mjoll demanded, this time getting in her face. "Like you said, she lied and betrayed you first!"
Rolling her eyes as if it were obvious, Vex shoved Mjoll back some, gaining a bit of breathing room. "Because I can actually learn to recognize where fault really lies and forgive someone! I hate you, not her."
"And who's fault was that kiss in Markarth then? Hers, or yours?" Sneered Mjoll, asking the question that had been burning in her heart since she'd found out about it.
Vex lifted her chin proudly. "Mine."
Mjoll faltered, having not expected that response, and certainly not with such swiftness. "What really happened in that inn then?"
"We were evading the guard because we'd broken out of the prison, and ducked into the inn. There were no clothes to change into so in a last ditch effort I told her to strip. By the time our clothes were off, the guard were at the door, so I kissed her." Mjoll visibly stiffened as Vex kept on. She could picture the two of them nude on a stone bed, twisting about locked in a passionate kiss, and it made her sick to imagine. "I kissed her long and hard and it was amazing, perhaps one of the best kisses we'd shared," Vex said with a sultry tone before she let her hate slip back into her voice, "But she hated every single second of it. She cried. All she cared about was what you would think about it, how furious you would be. She was afraid of you not understanding, and her fears were rightly placed too."
"She didn't need to fear me if she'd explained," Mjoll said, not entirely sounding defensive anymore.
Vex mockingly laughed, walking a bit closer to the nord. "Would you have honestly have given her a chance?" Mjoll deflated a bit, golden eyes wavering long enough for Vex to spot and pounce upon. "Six months later, and you still haven't."
"Vex..." Mjoll's voice faltered, hands falling at her sides.
"Give her a chance to talk with you Mjoll," Vex's tone shifted to a bit more sincere, "both of you need the opportunity to clear the air, to decide for real what to do next instead of just running around in a pathetic game of hide and seek."
"What would you know of that?" Mjoll snapped defensively, backed into an unwelcome corner.
Vex shrugged, "Perhaps not as much as you'd imagine. The only lover I regret losing is a redguard you and I both are well acquainted with." She watched Mjoll's body tense at the words. Vex could easily tell that she wasn't wrong when she claimed Mjoll still felt something for Yosa'Min, and with the discovery she wanted to hammer it until Mjoll gave in and agreed to helping her. The chink in the armor revealed at last, and she couldn't help but find the irony in it.
"How did you... forgive her?" There was a moment of vulnerability in Mjoll's voice, as if she truly yearned to know the answer.
Vex smiled, staring right at the nord, drinking it in for a few long moments before she answered. "I recognized where she'd fucked up, and where I fucked up too, and decided to put it in the past. There's no point in letting what's happened ruin what could happen, and just mope around like a kicked dog."
"You make it sound so easy."
"Well, you have to talk to her." Vex flicked a hand as the last blow was struck. "Something you won't have a chance to do unless you help me save her."
The Lioness looked at her, trying very very hard to say no again and shout for her to leave. But the prospect of finally getting some real closure... was very tempting. Speaking with a tight voice, Mjoll conceded. "Fine." Vex broke into a wide grin. "I'll help you save Yosa'Min, but only so I can put this all behind me."
"I don't give two shits what your reasons are," Vex spoke with hardly restrained relief, "Just so long as you really help. We need to tell Lydia and Iona what happened, they're probably at her home. I'm not going to explain all this twice."
Mjoll nodded her head, "I'll just, grab my gear real fast," she said, opening the door back up. Vex followed her instead, a certain way she walked that carried confidence that didn't seem to be there last time she'd seen her. Realizing that Vex was more than likely not the same woman in Windhelm, Mjoll quickly made her way upstairs to gather her gear.
By the time she'd come back down, dressed now in iron armor with a battleaxe in hand, Vex had a certain look about her that made Mjoll wonder just what she'd been up to in the meantime, but didn't want to push it. She would have to temper her fury a lot around the imperial, Mjoll was certain of it, but she was willing to try at least to finally close her past. She needed to put it behind her once and for all.
"So, where does Lydia live now?" Mjoll asked, shaking away the last bit of reluctance she felt for it all.
"Not far from here, just down the street at a place called Honeyside," Vex replied. "It's late, so we should probably just go in and make ourselves known, she and the other housecarl sleep in the basement."
Nodding her head, Mjoll followed Vex out, warily watching the imperial saunter down the moonlit street towards a well dressed building at the end. She could vaguely recall hearing it had been bought a few months back. Luckily for both women, the house wasn't that far, the realization that she could have walked such a short distance and settled things properly making Mjoll feel guilty anew. She silently watched Vex press against the door some, one hand fiddling with the lock, the other raised above her head against the wood.
It surprised Mjoll when Vex twisted the knob, and then pulled an honest key from the lock as she opened the door. Was it jealousy that mixed in with that surprise? She shoved the feelings aside, and followed Vex into a home that was din with the light of a dying fire. It was late, and it seemed the residents had both gone off to bed best they could tell.
The nord's skin pricked with anxiety as they entered. Vex was walking comfortably and quickly through the warm home while Mjoll lingered and stumbled almost behind, looking about and taking it all in. Steadily Mjoll felt more and more out of place as the imperial led the way through the house, turning past a large bed and going down a ladder like set of stairs to a cobbled basement. The nord stiffened as she was met with a rather obvious alchemy lab, bizarre ingredients lining shelves and potion bottles resting in crates for filling or marked with a scribbled hand.
Vex was standing by the only door downstairs, the second room connected to the alchemy lab opened by an archway. She knocked twice and then opened it up, Mjoll having crossed over to join her. They were met with an all too interesting sight. They weren't both asleep in bed as had been expected, but instead Iona was resting on her side on her bed asleep, facing out towards the rest of the room. Lydia was sitting against the frame of Iona's bed, a pillow pressed between her head and the bed, a blanket draped across her legs that were flat across the floor. The redheaded nord seemed to have almost curled around Lydia some, as if she'd been looking over her shoulder, and it confused both new arrivals until they spotted a book idly fallen to the side of the brunet.
Smirking, Vex walked over and nudged Lydia with her foot, the brunet jumping up with alarm instantly, which woke up Iona. The brunet nord got to her feet, wincing from the uncomfortable way she'd slept, and blinked at Vex with confusion. "What are you..." she tried off, spotting a golden haired woman over Vex's shoulder. "The fuck are you doing here?" It came out with shock rather than the anger Mjoll had expected.
"What happened? Where's Yosa'Min?" Piped up Iona with worry flooding her voice.
"Uh," Mjoll struggled to respond, "Vex will explain."
Both recently awoken women got to their feet properly, disheveled clothing and hair making them quite comedic to look at, but there was no humor to be found on Vex's face as they looked at her. "All right," Vex said, gesturing for Mjoll to move towards them as she started to speak. The nord warily crossed over, only having been told a portion of the full story. "Yosa and I went on a job, a heist at Fort Dawnguard. We failed, and during our escape the leader Isran captured Yosa'Min and killed her horse Archer."
The news hit them each hard, Lydia stumbling back and having to sit on the bed as her head rushed, Iona paling like snow while Mjoll turned to stone. "Is she... alive?" Lydia whispered with disbelief. To think that finally her luck had truly turned sour, was insane. It had almost seemed Yosa'Min was untouchable in the criminal world.
"As far as I know," Vex said with a hint of comfort on her voice, "she is. But, it's rather likely they're torturing her as we speak."
Suddenly Iona was scowling, stepping accusingly towards Vex and shoving her back some. "Why didn't you protect her? The only reason we've been so agreeable about all this is because we thought you'd keep her safe! Yosa isn't who she used to be, she's not at the top of her game! Why would you take her on something so risky?"
"You think I don't know that?" Snapped Vex, amber eyes narrowed. "I take her on jobs because she's only ever alive then!" She shouted angrily. "And this one in particular seemed like it was the best bet to try to make her laugh! And it worked too! As we ran away she started to act like her former self, if only for a few moments but it was really the old Yosa we all love and miss."
Mjoll's eyes widened as she watched the fight brewing, not certain what to say or do. It felt like she hardly knew anyone in here, so much about them seemed different and one she actually had no idea who they were. So, she just awkwardly stood there, feeling guiltier and guiltier as she let her mind wander to what might have been happening to Yosa'Min since she'd sent her away. It took a lot to remind herself of just what Yosa'Min had done to deserve it, steeling her emotions just long enough for her to focus back on the arguing women.
Lydia was on her feet and putting herself between them, the imperial and green eyed nord glaring angrily at one another. "It's not her fault," Lydia was saying, "she tried her best I'm sure but Vex is only one woman." The imperial snorted, Iona rolling her eyes. "If we're going to have any chance of helping our thane Iona, we'll have to work together," Lydia said as she looked directly at her.
"Fine, I can do that," she said swiftly, obviously agitated.
The brunet nodded her head, and then looked at Vex for a moment before her gaze flicked to Mjoll. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Vex got me," Mjoll said with a bit of difficulty. "And, believe it or not I'm here to help. I'm here to rescue Yosa'Min."
Lydia blinked, hazel eyes wide for a few long moments before a smile grew across her face. "Well I'll be... Vex," she turned to the imperial, "you never fail to impress."
"I do try."
"What can the four of us do though?" Iona piped up.
Mjoll frowned in thought, and then looked at them. "I... might have an idea." Vex raised a brow expectantly, arms crossed over her chest while the two housecarls' faces filled with foolish hope. "It might be a long shot though."
"Obviously you've forgotten who we're talking about Kitten," the imperial said, catching Mjoll off-guard with that name. It sounded so wrong coming from her.
Sighing, Mjoll gave a shrug, trying to hide how uncomfortable she was. "I guess I have," she replied looking at the three before her for a long moment. "Seems like a lot of things have changed around here."
AN: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'd love to hear what you think will happen next especially between Vex and Mjoll. Happy Holidays, I'll (probably) see you next year.