This woman was brutal. Marcurio knew from the start that she wasn't a milk drinker, but seeing her in action took his breath away. She was terrifying in the way that she would dance around her opponents slicing away at them with expert strikes. Her eyes would light up; not in the way that a child's would at the sight of sweets, nor the way that a bride would look upon her partner on their wedding day, but like an intelligent beast who had just found their next meal.

By the time he picked his jaw up off the ground, the fight was over. Tansy was looting the bodies and Marcurio was standing in the doorway, dumbstruck.

Noticing that he was being useless, Tansy hauled her loot over and dumped it at his feet.

"I need you to carry this."

Marcurio scoffed at the pile of armor, weapons, and random assortments at his feet, "I am an apprentice wizard, not a pack mule!"

"I hired you to assist me, not whine at the first sign of work," she snarled, "this should be a simple task for a master of the arcane!"

He swallowed his next remark and stuffed the loot into his bag, when placed upon his shoulder it threatened to pull him to the ground. He trudged after her without the slightest hint of complaint.

This fort was being used as a gambling location for the bandits of the area. They trapped and starved wolves and fought them in a ring near the center of the fort. This is where Tansy and Marcurio found the majority of the outlaws. They were drinking and hollering at each other and the wolves below, so they didn't hear the two enter. Tansy snuck up on the pair that were closest and slipped her blades between their ribs. As they hit the floor, a fireball exploded on the other side of the room. Marcurio was lobbing bouts of flame at the outlaws as Tansy swooped in and finished them off as they burned.

A mage woke from a drunken slumber on the far side of the ring and the air crackled with lightning as soon as he realized what was happening. Tansy rolled out of the way as some sparks arced near her, Marcurio took that moment to offer his counterstrike and send the other mage flying into a wall. Tansy charged in after and sliced through his mage armor to open his belly before he could begin healing.

Marcurio was checking the bodies for loot and life as Tansy gathered up all the scattered coin. Piles of the stuff lay everywhere, bags were strewn about and notes of debts owed were tossed in with them. He picked the bodies clean and walked over to where Tansy was at; there was a caged in bar, likely where the largest sums of money were kept.

"I suppose we could blow the door off it's hinges," Marcurio offered.

Instead of acknowledging him, Tansy knelt down and had the lock picked within a minute to get to the treasure inside.

Several enchanted swords, a bow, and large sums of gold. On the way out they found a closet stocked full of Nordic ale. They left the fort loaded down with the best haul Marcurio had ever seen.

Marcurio hoped that they would head back to Riften since it was so late, but Tansy had turned away from the city and into the woods. He tried his best not to grumble as he felt his way through the branches and cobwebs, cursing as one or the other smacked his face. After an eternity of walking, Tansy finally stopped in a small clearing at the base of a large tree. Marcurio dropped his pack and slumped against the tree with a long exhausted sigh. He had dozed off only to be awoken by the smell of meat cooking, and soft singing. He carefully opened his eyes to see that Tansy had started a fire and was cooking a couple rabbits, he opened them fully to see her sitting in the dark away from the fire.

"...as the skies did warn. Banished, sent away. None shall mourn…"

Her voice carried subtly through the night air and filled Marcurio's mind. She sounded hurt, angry, yet accepting. Marcurio didn't expect this from Tansy. He readjusted himself against the tree and his pack fell over. He winced as it's contents clattered against each other. Tansy stopped singing, took a drink of ale, and walked back to the fire.

Marcurio cleared his throat and looked up at her, she handed him a bottle; he accepted and pulled the cork. Knowing better than to ask about her singing, he commented on the lights of the sky. They were dancing in a red-orange hue, fighting the stars for dominance over the sky as Masser watched over. Lost in the celestial display, he jumped when her armor clattered to the ground. Under her armor she wore an old cotton shirt and trousers. They barely fit her and were torn and discolored from dirt and dried blood.

She pulled some poultices from her pack and applied them to the wounds on her arms. Marcurio startled when she crouched in front of him and held out the bottle. He stripped bare to the waist to reach his wounds. He hissed as he applied the healing agent. Tansy saw him struggling to reach a gash on his shoulder and moved to help. He was surprised at the gentleness of her touch as she spread the ointment. He turned to thank her and she was gone, rummaging in her pack for something else.

When she turned back to him, the fire in her eyes made his stomach drop. All his instincts told him to run. She was a hunter, and he; prey. She stalked over to him, the fire hissing and crackling behind her. She descended on him like a hawk, swooping down to crush their mouths together and fist her hand in his hair.

Tansy held out her sheathe for Marcurio to slide the sword into. They finished cleaning their weapons and packed up camp in silence to leave for Riften, a crisp breeze at their back bringing the promise of a clear day.

He'd been trying all morning to break the silence between them. It bothered him that they hadn't spoken after spending the evening together. He's used to holding his partners afterwards and speaking with them. Doesn't matter what they talk about, he just likes to talk. But Tansy took no time for simple, intimate chatter afterwards.

Her whole demeanor gave him ice in his stomach, a cold numbness that came with the feeling of being used, treated like he was less than human. So he let the silence continue all the way back to Riften, where he expected her to leave him.