A/N- Hello and a big thanks to my readers out there, as usual. Here's chapter 11, hope you guys enjoy it! See you next week!
Chapter 11: Perplexed
Astrid sat underneath a large tree in front of the farmhouse, gazing at the well in the distance. She felt the bittersweet sadness of the moment. She had saved up a few thousand gold coins from thieving and selling vegetables. She'd also begun a new chapter in her life with a man wanting to make it all better, and yet she still had to finish her prison sentence with Reiner before her plans could come to fruition. She sighed, closing her eyes and feeling the caress of the cold morning air.
The front door of the farmhouse creaked open, yanking Astrid from her thoughts, as Reiner wobbled out of it. He narrowed his blood-shot eyes, protecting them from the intruding sunlight, while lazily scratching his head. "I see you've done a bit better this time, young Astrid. Seventy-three gold - that's a bit more than usual, eh?" he questioned, somehow attempting to make small talk with her. For some reason he wasn't being an ass, and that in and of itself was truly baffling.
Astrid sighed internally, feeling an aching spot where Delvin's presence used to be. "Yeah...Business is certainly picking up, uncle..." she spoke softly, feeling defeated at the moment. Was her heart actually aching for the presence of her thief?
"I enjoyed the breakfast, young Astrid. You did good." Reiner said awkwardly, still scratching his head as he clumsily walked over to her.
Astrid could feel her face falling slack with his attempts at being civil. Had Reiner lost his mind? Had he contracted some fatal illness while she'd been away? What in Oblivion was he up to? Unlike Delvin, she had every right to question her uncle's motives.
"Did Nona teach you how to cook?" Reiner asked curiously, seating himself beside her under the old tree. Now Astrid was truly bewildered.
Her heart already aching, she gazed off in the distance, feeling her eyes glass over. "Mother taught me everything..." she answered quietly.
"Heh. Figured so..." Reiner mumbled, staring at the ground. He seemed to be lost in a far off, forgotten place in time. "Nona was quite the cook, herself."
"The best," Astrid's lips curved up in a tiny half-smile. Her mother - that faint, glimmering, divine being who the world so cruelly snuffed out like a candle in a storm. "She was the best at everything, really..." she continued, feeling her heart break a little more with each word. "She shouldn't have died. She didn't deserve it..." Even her own animosity toward her mother's submissive nature couldn't be matched by the fact that she still loved her very deeply. Somewhere in the dark, shattered places in her heart, her mother's life hadn't been forgotten.
"No, she didn't..." Reiner replied, barely above a whisper. "Our bastard father needed to go long before she did..."
"What?" Astrid's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Isn't he dead, too?"
"I dunno...He accompanied some bandits on a raid one day and never returned. It was years ago. Good riddance, I'd say. I'd presume he's dead by now, anyway. That is, if he didn't die on his little mission. He was a mean son of a bitch. He treated our Ma' like a damned slave till the day she died. He beat on me day in and day out. He said girls were useless, so he didn't even bother with Nona. Then he wondered what made me such an arse...Heh..."
Astrid listened intently, taking it all in. "Why did she leave? Why did she run off with an asshole like my father?"
Reiner gazed off in the distance, his features growing sober and still. "...She said she couldn't take it anymore. By that time, Ma' was dead and buried and Nona was stuck with us. I didn't want her to go. For Talos' sake, she was the only one who made it tolerable here. Pa' would come home drunk, beat the damned daylights outta me, and then Nona..." Reiner stopped abruptly, turning his face away from Astrid's view. "She just happened to be there...Pa' was a bloody monster, and then I was...I can't say I blame her...This place was a prison...Still is, really..."
Astrid suddenly felt every muscle in her body tense, every hair bristle, and a blanket of ice fell over her, chilling her to the bone. There was something terrible in those vague traces of her mother's past - something dark, freezing, and altogether terrifying. Astrid could feel it - see it - on her uncle's face.
"Your mother never knew a good man, so she left with another bloody prick. Out of the kettle and right back into the fire, eh?" he spat, seeming bitter about her mother's choice to leave.
A long period of deathly silence fell between them, as Astrid tried calming down the flood of terror racing through her mind. This life of terror - of cruelty - went back for seemingly generations. Monsters had bred yet more monsters to feed upon the innocent and unwitting victims of her existence, including her mother.
"I know I ain't good to you, young Astrid." Reiner commented, abruptly, completely shocking her. Was that some sort of half-baked apology? Or, was it simply an observation? Was there a tiny chance in the plane of Nirn that he was attempting to finally get along with her? Perhaps Delvin was right in more ways than one about Reiner's profit increase.
Feeling a tiny flicker of hope, Astrid attempted to lighten the mood. Maybe it would work to her advantage until she could leave. "Join the crowd, uncle." she smirked playfully. She could certainly be amicable, if it worked to serve her purpose.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it..." Reiner grumbled, not completely serious. It seemed to be working well enough. "Look, I need to ask a big favor of you tonight..."
Astrid nearly gasped, "Since when do you ask for anything? Wow, uncle...I had no idea you could be tolerable..." She then chuckled, unable to contain her surprise. Much to her disbelief, things were starting to look up for a change. First, Delvin and the guild, and now Reiner was being civilized of all things?
"Yeah, well there's a lot of things about me you don't know, dear niece..." his voice turned a bit icy again, but he quickly remained composed, attempting to keep the mood in its lightened state. "Just don't go double-crossin' me or anything and we'll be square. I won't bark orders at you no more unless you give me no choice. If you go against me, though, all that'll change real damn quick, understand?" Reiner glared, completely losing the warmth of the conversation.
His expression was cold and nearly emotionless, leaving Astrid to cautiously nod in agreement. "So...What is it you need?" she asked, still apprehensive about the whole thing.
"A group of my clients are coming over tonight. I need you to prepare a feast and serve them. They'll be buying an arse load of my weapons, and I'm hoping to make a hardy chunk of coin off of 'em." A slimy grin traced his lips, and Astrid could taste the greed emanating from his voice.
"You aren't going to add poison as the secret ingredient again, are you?" Astrid remarked, before even thinking. She had to admit, she wasn't exactly used to the thought of sparing Reiner's feelings for the sake of getting along. She'd have to remember to work on that.
Reiner shot her a look, but then quickly retained his composure. "That would be a fool's errand this time, young Astrid." he answered, while Astrid remembered that the last attempt was just as foolish in her opinion. "There's too many of 'em this time. If some grew ill and died, while others didn't, they'd realize what I was doin' and come back for me."
Astrid paused for a moment, feeling dread well up inside of her. There would be a lot of criminals and ruffians around her in the near future, and she didn't like the thought of that one bit. Of course, she knew good and well that she had no choice in the matter. "Very well, uncle. I'll start working on it in a few hours," she glanced at him, truly baffled and unnerved by how calm and controlled he seemed at the moment, "if that is alright..."
Reiner shrugged casually. "I don't see why not." With that, he promplty stood up, leaving her alone to her thoughts once more.
Astrid looked up into the bright, brilliant sun and the clear sky overhead. If a person didn't know any better, they would think it to be a warm spring day in Skyrim. However, no matter how sunny and bright things seemed, Astrid felt the truth of the season in the icy wind that blew about her, causing her to chill. The same could be said for her life, she reasoned. However bright and optimistic things seemed at the moment, she couldn't ignore the icy chill that crawled up her spine, resting just beneath the surface of her consciousness.
