The "promotion" (if it could be called as such) brought new types of jobs for Sable. At first, she enjoyed the challenge they brought as the stakes were higher; the targets generally being wealthier with better security. The objects stolen were generally more valuable as well. But eventually, these jobs became just as tedious as all the others. Both Brynjolf and Mercer choose their words much more carefully ever since the plant job for Maven Black-Briar. Now the common instruction was that no one was to be killed. Blast them for ruining her fun. Still, she tried to find ways to make jobs more exciting, sometimes seeing if she could steal whatever the needed item was during the day time. Once, she had convinced an idiot to give her the object she was sent to steal. It had taken some real effort and a rather long lecture from Brynjolf afterwards about the appropriate use of the guild's treasury, but she had convinced the poor fool that his newly acquired gold and emerald amulet was really a cursed dragon priest artifact. He had actually thought she was doing him a favor as he happily handed it over to her.
This job, however, promised a great amount of hazard. The guild had been on the hunt for a jewel encrusted gold broche for some time and had finally learned it belonged to one of the Jarls of Skyrim. Siddgier, the ruler of Falkreath hold was found to have come into possession of the broche and as it was his current favorite toy, it never left his person. It was likely going to have to be a pickpocket job. The bad news was that time was running short on the contract and Siddgier was currently in Windhelm to attend a ball hosted by Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of the Eastmarch hold. Not only a pickpocket job, but in a room full of aristocracy and guards. If the thief was caught, it was unlikely they would be returning to the Ragged Flagon, the beloved home of the thieves guild, hidden in the sewers beneath Riften. Brynjolf had given the assignment to Sable stating that the time crunch and extreme risk of being caught was tailor made for their resident Special Acquirer and, that in his estimation, she was the best pickpocket the guild had.
Brynjolf was a damn good liar, but this was like he wasn't even trying. There was none better at pickpocketing than the guild's own Vipir the Fleet and everyone knew it. Sable was guessing that Brynjolf was almost hoping she would be caught and thrown in the Eastmarch dungeon for the rest of her life or executed. Still, she figured that the job wouldn't have been assigned to her if any of the others could pull it off and she almost hoped that her inward knowing smirk wasn't showing too much. Almost.
Some conversations with Vex and Sapphire, the only other women in the guild, revealed that Siddgier was quite the lazy type, who avoided his duties as if they would infect him with Bone-Break Fever, and that he fancied himself a bit of a charmer with the ladies. Sable was quite satisfied with that information. She could turn his weaknesses into strengths for her. A nice dress that showed off her curves along with some of her ample cleavage would easily make up for her slight deficiencies at pickpocketing.
It hadn't taken her long to gain Siddgier's attention at the party. Her fair skin – even by the standards of her Nord kin – combined with her stark white hair and pale blue-silver eyes once again attracted attention. Even more so in the beautiful dress she was wearing. It was a crimson red that was trimmed with cream and gold. She could smell mead on his breath as he drunkenly asked her to dance. Despite her revulsion, Sable did her best to fake being impressed. Not only did she accept the invitation, but played the part of a young maiden simply beguiled by his chauvinistic advances quite well. She didn't bother to unglue his eyes from her partially exposed bosom. It only worked to her advantage. Just as she was about to attempt one of his pockets, Siddgier suddenly stopped dancing and took her by the arm, leading her to a darkened corner of the grand hall.
Expulsion or not, she resolved that she would kill him if he kissed or attempted to grope her, but she ended up quite surprised at her luck when they got there. As soon as they were seated out of the way of the ongoing party, he fished out of a pocket the very thing she was sent to steal out of it.
"Look at this." He slurred. "There is not another like it in all of Skyrim and I own it."
Sable just stared, not quite sure of her response. She was simply dumbfounded by both how this turn of events favored her and the beauty of the piece. It was a large, flawless diamond set in an oval of gold with a mixture of sapphires and emeralds dancing around it. The white-haired thief couldn't help but imagine how marvelous she would look with it resting at her shoulders just off her cleavage in the beautiful dress she was wearing. She suddenly regretted leaving her treasured ribbon.
"I have lots of treasures like this you know." The jarl murmured drunkenly, breaking her reverie. "I just know you would look so pretty in some of the jewelry in my treasury."
Sable almost laughed. This was his game. He was going to try to impress his way into her bed with shiny baubles. Granted, it was such a radiant one, but it certainly wasn't worth giving herself up to the lout. Of greatest importance in life was power, and right now, with Siddgier, she was quite powerful. At that moment, one of the serving men walked in with a fresh tray of mead filled goblets.
"Oh, my lord! May I hold it?" Sable said suggestively. "I've never seen anything so desirable." Normally, she would have laughed at such a forced innuendo, but in his drunken state, Siddgier took the bait with no hesitation, thrusting it into her hands.
Sable couldn't believe that it had been so easy. She took in the broche for a moment, but her admiration was broken as she realized that Siddgier was leaning in closer to her. She looked to his face and saw his eyes closed and his lips pursed. He was a real charmer alright. The drunk slob probably couldn't tell her what color her eyes were and now expected a kiss after pushing a trinket in her hand.
"My lord, they have brought out another round of mead. Would you do me the favor of getting me a glass?" She said, feigning that she had been unaware of his advance. "I would be ever so grateful."
The last sentence she tried to say with as much innuendo laden sensuality as possible. It had the desired effect as Siddgier mumbled something about it being his pleasure and got up, his treasure completely forgotten, to chase the servant across the room and fetch a goblet of mead for his newest conquest.
Sable, using the shadows their corner afforded, pushed the broche into her dress and left the room unseen.
Outside, it was snowing gently. Sable began to wonder if it was ever not snowing in Windhelm. In all the times she had been there, it was always snowing. She supposed there had to be times when it wasn't snowing because the street ways were always traversable. Though she had to admit, she did like Windhelm some. The almost perpetual snow gave Windhelm a cold, almost calculating, and sometimes gloomy feel to it. She liked it. She decided that the darker nights in this city, with the deep, expansive shadows almost perfectly reflected herself.
She looked up at the sky. The clouds obscured most of the light any stars and the twin moons would have provided. Windhelm was going to be a very dark place tonight. Perfect. She smiled as she set out into the city. The dress she was wearing, while somewhat heavy, provided very little protection from the cold, so she headed straight for the stall of a certain merchant. Niranye, ran a shop in an outside market where she bought and sold just about anything. While the guild had not yet become powerful enough in Windhelm yet for the altmer to be comfortable with acting as a fence for them, she did still have sympathies to the thieves stemming from her past exploits in the Summerset Isles, before she came to Skyrim. Sable made for Niranye's stall unseen by the patrolling guards. With the cloud cover, the shadows were almost impenetrable this night. Once there, she picked the lock to one of the cabinets. Inside, it was bare. There was nothing in it. But then, she hadn't come to steal anything. Sable pried up the false bottom to the cabinet. The opening underneath ran the length of Niranye's stall, large enough to fit the much warmer and many pocketed leather armor that was the trademark of the thieves guild. Sable gathered up her armor that the high elf had allowed her to stash there and was about to leave when something caught her eye. Underneath her armor, was a gold pendant on thin gold chain. The pendant had two flawless amethysts set into it. It was undoubtedly valuable and equally pretty. It had not been there when she had stashed her armor the night before. Why would Niranye intentionally set it under her armor? A gift maybe? That seemed unlikely though and she just didn't trust it. But there was no reason to leave her a gift when she was the one that received a favor. As she thought, her eyes began roaming every inch of the stall. Finally she spotted it.
On the right hand side of the stall near the base of the main post, there was a small symbol carved into the wood. It was a simple upright four sided diamond with two overlapping circles across the front of it. Sable smiled. Niranye was testing the resolve of the guild. The symbol marked that she and her stall of goods were under the protection of the thieves guild. The high elf, apparently, didn't fully trust the strength of her new business relationship and had left some bait (some rather valuable and tempting bait) for her. Sable took the necklace and replaced the false bottom. After removing and pocketing the chain, she set the pendant in the otherwise empty cabinet, closed the small door and locked it back up. She was arguably overstepping her bounds here, but she wanted to send a message to Niranye. The Thieves Guild has passed your little test, elf; don't test us again.
Sable made her way to a nearby inn and "borrowed" a room just long enough to change out of the dress and into her armor. She left the dress with great regret. There was a long journey ahead of her to get back to Riften and though she dearly wanted to keep the beautiful gown, she knew it just wasn't practical. Maybe she could hide it someplace and come back for it, she thought. She eventually dismissed it as she had no idea when she might be back in Windhelm. The dress could easily be found and removed or destroyed by the elements before she returned. She held it to her and looked down over her body to remember exactly how pretty she had looked in it, then gently laid it out on the bed with a sigh and left the inn.
Outside, it was still snowing as Sable set off for the gate out of the city. She again avoided being seen by the guards even though she didn't have to. Even in her guild armor it was unlikely they would stop her. With the civil war raging, many of the guards had been re-assigned into the infantry, so the city was stretched thin and they generally only intervened if there was a crime actively being committed. Still, it made her feel powerful to be so close to someone when they had no awareness of her presence. And, after her time in the thieves guild, sneaking was pretty much a force of habit.
The gate, however, was pretty much impossible to get by unseen. There were always at least one guard to either side of the gate and it was always bathed in torchlight. And one almost always got stopped at the gate by the guards. Mainly just so they would have someone to chatter with. Sometimes, Sable was convinced that the tedium of their gossip would kill her before they could get the heavy doors open.
Sable, approached casually and was hailed by the guard. They agreed to let her out. One went to turn the crank to open the large heavy doors. She cringed through the awkward moment of silence while the other just stared at her before starting his inane banter.
"Did you hear about that Aretino, boy?" the guard started. "They say he's trying to perform some ritual to try to summon the Dark Brotherhood. I suppose someone should stop him, but personally, I'll have nothing to do with that evil business."
Sable, initially tried to ignore the guard, but the word ritual caught her ear. Rituals were usually done to gain some sort of power, were they not? She had heard about people performing the Black Sacrament in order to enact a contact with the assassins, but she did not know what was involved. Maybe she could even pretend to be an assassin and have at least some fun on this trip.