Sorry the update took so long guys I've just moved house so that's why there was a delay :-) Thanks for the favs and reviews so far, please keep them coming, I'm always keen to know what people think of my writing, characters, plot etc.

Seraphina Solita sucked in a deep breath before sinking gently beneath the surface of the pool just outside the entrance to the Elven Gardens District. As she shut her eyes and attempted to cease her breathing she contemplated that Armand would be furious with her. Stealing from the Talos Plaza District was risky and the thieves were only meant to go there at night time when contracted to but Umbacano had insulted the Imperial woman for the last time so she had decided on revenge. She contemplated calmly as she continued to hold her breath that Armand would not be the only one to berate her.

"Where did she go?" Matthias Draconis snapped as his boots came to a halt on the cobbled path. He glanced left and right angrily before glowering back at the two lesser guards who had followed anxiously after him. He had only just started guard duty, swapping with the weary Surius who had remarked that, as usual, it had been a slow night. Matthias had been expecting a morning to match, if she had at least waited until after midday then he might have had his coffee and been alert and ready for her!

"Damn you Usheeja!" the Breton cursed as turned about on the path. Just ahead of him, over a low, marble fence and down ten feet, a small bubble appeared in the decorative lotus pool on the left, causing a lotus flower to bob a little to the right. "Find her!" Matthias snarled at the other guards before he took a blind chance and ran up to the wooden gates leading to the Elven Gardens District; she could not have gone far.

The two guards exchanged a nervous glance before they separated, one heading to the left and the other to the right. It was shortly after that Seraphina dared to poke part of her head up, she took in a quick, sharp, damp breath through her nostrils as she listened carefully to the sounds above. Hearing no guards or suspicious murmurs, she raised the rest of her head and took in a large gulp of air before swimming to the path leading out of the pool. She scurried up, quick on her feet, wincing at the telltale damp footprints she left behind her.

Once the Imperial was out of the pool she was swift to study her surroundings before hurrying into the shadows of the towering, expensive buildings of the Talos Plaza District and heading south to where the Temple District lay. She moved to the outer paths of the posh district, grinning happily at the nobles who gave her a wide berth and commented loudly about her wet appearance. She paused briefly amongst some rose bushes to shed her soaked purple coat, it was too big for her anyway, before continuing on her way clad in a peasant's short sleeved, ruffled, cream top, a rundown, patchwork formerly blue waistcoat and tight, brown trousers with their loose, shredded ends shoved into her thieved black boots. It was not a memorable attire which was exactly the point, although she did stand out a little too much in the Imperial City's richest district as a poor beggar, once she was in the Market District she would blend in better.

With ease she made it through the wooden gates to the Temple District with only a few disapproving looks from the city guards who marked her as another beggar from the Waterfront District. Almost everyone in the city knew Seraphina Solita dwelled in dodgy quarters with the thieves and beggars when she was in the city but the guards did not think she had any worthwhile connections with the thieves and had caught her just once, five years ago, for the petty theft of gold silk shoes. The guards had been all set to throw her in the dungeons to rot for a few days but then an anonymous sum of gold had been paid for the shoes and her release and despite the stern Hieronymus Lex's desires to see her rot anyway, Itius Hayn had taken the more forgiving view that she was just a misguided teenager and he had accepted the payment and seen her released. Seraphina had yet to forgive the shoes' owner Erissare Arenim for reporting her to the guard and had been more than delighted when the Gray Fox had presented the shoes to her a month later as a gift. It did not matter that they were too narrow and small, even now, five years later, Seraphina still treasured the shoes.

The Temple District made Seraphina frown with scorn, it held the two storey houses of the middle class, all lined up together with tall, white pillars between them, jade green roofs and the outer ring of the district behind them, the trademark white columns of the Imperial City. It was not the hint of wealth that drifted from the Talos Plaza to the Temple District that irked Seraphina but rather the temple that gave the district its namesake. The Temple of the One was hard to miss, in the centre of the district it was a huge, greying, domed building with arched, stained glass windows. It also had two sets of steps ringing around it and its own path of carefully cleaned cobbled stones. Dedicated to Akatosh, it was a holy and highly respectable place, it should have welcomed everyone and yet when Seraphina had ventured there once she had found herself brutally shoved away by a guard and told to go back to the gutter. Funny how the gods only seemed to favour their rich worshippers.

The blonde Imperial turned away from the temple, stepping out of its vast shadow as she continued on her journey. She appreciated the early morning autumn sun even though it was not warm enough to take away the damp she had condemned herself to. She knew if she did not get dry soon she risked a chill but thought firmly that it was worth the Ayelid artefact she had pocketed. It was an odd looking statue and meant little to her, in fact she was seriously contemplating ditching it in the harbour just to spite Umbacano but knew that if she did she would earn a even worse scorning from the thieves.

She paused outside a familiar house and thought to herself, 'will he be awake so early? Maybe I should just head on, he probably wouldn't appreciate me dripping all over his floor but then...' A mischievous smile crossed her face as she headed towards the wooden door. 'It would be a good excuse to undress.'

She gave the wooden door a quick rap with its iron knocker, it was only an hour after dawn and highly unlikely that he was awake but she had to try. When she got no response she considered continuing on her way but it was hard to resist delaying the inevitable scorn, so she instead glanced about for onlookers and seeing none, she plucked out a lockpick and made quick work of his lock. Another thing to be frowned upon but he wouldn't tell anyone, though he would probably scorn her.

Seraphina smiled as she pocketed the lockpick and slipped into the house quietly, closing the door behind her softly. She crept along the wooden floor as delicately as she could, heading to the stairs, hoping to surprise him. She relished her stealth as she manoeuvred up the steps, familiar enough with them to know which ones creaked. At the top she opened a door to the left and stood there aghast, he was not alone.

"Roland?"

His beautiful gold eyes flashed open as he shot up in alarm. "Sera?" he stuttered in astonishment as the female beside him gave a low groan of complaint.

Seraphina looked at the handsome Breton with a teary gaze and murmured sardonically, "surprise," before she turned and fled back the way she had come, this time without attempting to be subtle.

Two hours later found the rash blonde back in the familiar territory of the Waterfront District cradling a cup of coffee and whiskey, which at this point was more whiskey than coffee. The plucky Bosmer Methredhel, who had given her the beverage, gave her a sympathetic smile whilst Armand Christophe continued to scowl at her and began berate her.

"Why would you steal from Umbacano?" the Redguard demanded angrily. He had arrived ten minutes ago after hearing of the Imperial's arrival in Methredhel's rundown shack.

Seraphina shrugged and quipped cynically, "why do you think I did it?"

"Because everyone is gossiping about it," he retorted as he folded his arms and continued to frown down at her, "a young woman clad in a purple coat outwitted Umbacano's guards during the dawn to steal an artefact, who else would be so reckless and stupid apart from you?" The Redguard let out a heavy sigh letting his disapproval be known. In truth for the eight years he had known the Imperial woman he had always seemed to find himself exasperated with her, sure she was a good thief but that was hardly a surprise given she had arrived to the Imperial City clinging to the trouser leg of the Gray Fox himself. With the master of all thieves to raise and mentor her it was no wonder she had shown real talent but she was reckless, bold, cocky and rash and far too keen of acts of vengeance and spite, abusing her skills for personal motives. "It is not the way of the Guild to act freelance," Armand reminded her, "taking such silly risks puts all of us in danger."

Seraphina rolled her eyes up at him though she knew he was right. The truth was she just could not deal with his lecture right now, Umbacano and his statue, it meant nothing, a moment of spite forgotten thanks to her sudden heartache.

"You need to take me seriously!" Armand shouted as he started to lose his temper with the woman. "If it weren't for the Gray Fox you wouldn't even be in this Guild anymore."

"Armand," Methredhel chided lightly as she looked at him pleadingly with her warm, brown eyes. "Sera knows she was foolish but she's just had a bad shock today, she doesn't mean to be rude."

"A shock?" Armand quipped dryly as he turned his glower on the elf. Methredhel was the Guild's newest member as of two months ago and she was already showing a lot of potential but her budding friendship with Seraphina was something the Redguard doyen though might hinder her. "Well I had a shock learning that one of the thieves under my jurisdiction decided to steal from the Talos Plaza in broad daylight and even let themselves be seen!"

"They didn't know me," Seraphina snarled before she took another swig from the mug and grimaced slightly at the taste, "none of that lot know anyone from the Waterfront."

"Yeah that's what they let you think," Armand chided as he turned his scowl back on the blonde, "and then they see you near some guards and suddenly it all comes back to them."

"Alright," Methredhel interrupted before Seraphina could snap something back, "please Armand, she's not thinking straight."

"I know that," the Redguard grumbled. "What happened anyway? Apart from the fact that you went swimming," he added sarcastically as he looked at the clothes drying before Methredhel's low fire pointedly.

Seraphina shrugged in the loose, brown, leather garments the Bosmer had lent her. The top hung at her chest, she was not as busty as the brunette elf nor were her shoulders as broad or her hips as narrow. Methredhel had a lean hunter's figure having hunted game with her bow before coming to the city with her two Bosmer friends to make it big; if not for her broad, muscular shoulders her figure would have been enviable. 'I bet if I had her breasts Roland wouldn't have looked twice at anyone,' Seraphina thought morosely as she gazed down at the remaining black liquid in her cup and took another deep swig.

"Roland cheated on her," Methredhel answered quietly as she gazed at her friend sympathetically.

Tears filled the blonde's emerald eyes once more and she only just resisted flinging the cup to the ground in her anger, reminding herself that it was her friend's cup and house and that such a childish and violent action would help no one. 'I should go back and smash his skull in,' she thought vehemently. As she pictured him however she knew she could not lay a finger on him despite what he had done to her.

"Roland..." Armand remarked in puzzlement. "Oh Roland Jenseric," he realised with a knowing shake of his head. "Come on Sera, were you not warned about him?" he queried with a frown.

"That was just a nasty rumour to make me break up with him," Seraphina replied angrily, "he wouldn't be with a married woman."

"Yes, he would," Armand answered flatly, though the sting had gone out of his voice. 'She's only twenty,' he reminded himself, 'and Roland has been her boyfriend for over a year now, her first serious boyfriend. I don't even think the dumb bastard meant to cheat on her, the way people talk it sounds like he really fell for Relfina DuBois.

Seraphina shook her head in disagreement before allowing Methredhel to take the cup from her. "Let's not talk about it anymore," the Bosmer suggested, "it won't do any good. Just relax while your clothes dry out here and think about what you're doing for the rest of the day, don't you have something important planned?"

"Yes," Seraphina agreed as her eyes widened slightly, for a very brief moment there she had almost forgotten. 'Ten years today,' she thought as she hid back a shudder. Normally she was not happy on this day, every year on this day she and he mourned the loss of their identities. She was usually depressed for the entire week as she thought of her mother butchered by arrows as they had fled from assassins and her brother screaming as he tumbled to his death in a river, this year however she was a little happier as she had not seen him in a few months.

He was the fabled Gray Fox, the one person who knew her true name, also the one who had given her, her current name, it seemed unfair that she did not know his true name but she knew that was not his fault. Just as he kept her secret so she kept his, that his mysterious nature was not a blessing but rather a curse. Over the past ten years they had embraced the role of thieves and whilst Seraphina had come to enjoy it she could tell that he, the esteemed leader of the thieves, ironically had not. There was a longing in his eyes and a sorrow in him even when he smiled but try as they might to break his curse neither of them could find a cure.

"Well focus on that then," the wood elf enthused, "and don't let your day be ruined."

Seraphina nodded whilst Armand tutted but withheld anymore lecturing. He had just realised what day it was, every year on this day Seraphina and the almost mythical Gray Fox met somewhere in secret and spent most of the day together. Armand did not know why and he only knew that they met because his superior had admitted to it one evening. He wondered if the Gray Fox would gift him with his presence later, the master thief had been spending less and less time in the city, in part because he had business in the other cities but also because Hieronymus Lex was making it his personal mission to catch the thief and had begun posting more and more guards on the Waterfront. There was no danger yet, and Armand surmised there probably never would be for the Gray Fox but for the rest of them it was starting to get riskier and the likes of Seraphina and her reckless actions were not helping.

"Alright, I'll leave you be," the Redguard lamented, "but no more freelancing Sera." He then added more kindly, "and don't get upset over Roland, you can do a lot better than him." With those parting words the Imperial City doyen exited the rundown shack at last to return to his own rotting, wooden hut.

Nearby, in the shade of the trees, a man clad in black stood watching the retreating Redguard with a slight frown. 'Can this really be the home of thieves?' he pondered dryly, knowing full well that it was. 'How ironic that those who can get their hands on coin quicker than anyone else should live in such squalor.' He tugged his dark hood up closer to his face; glad of it as a sharp wind was beginning to bring an autumnal chill to the day. He needed to be positive that it was definitely her within the shack, once that was confirmed it would all be a matter of timing. It was the same day every year though he had no idea why, a tradition he had taken a while to pick up on but once he had he had marvelled at the simplicity of it all. Who would have thought thieves foolish enough to have a routine one could exploit?

He stepped back further into the cluster of trees behind him as the door opened and out she stepped, tall and blonde with teary, emerald eyes she was mostly Imperial, though her honey skin was a paler gold than most people's and her ears were ever so slightly pointed betraying what the assassin suspected was a Breton heritage. He watched her slip into another hut and then leaned back against an oak tree casually as he prepared for another wait.

"That time of the year again?"

Seraphina nodded up at the suspicious, black clothed Breton leaning against the outer walls of the Imperial City with ease. There was a reason why his nickname was 'Shady Sam', he was so dodgy he couldn't even come into the city anymore without there being trouble and anytime he saw a guard he was quick to vanish. He was handsome, muscular, dark haired, blue eyed and charming when he wanted to be. Seraphina could understand why her late mother had fallen for him; to a sheltered noblewoman the bad boy Breton must have seemed irresistible. She recalled how Lyra had told them how they had met, how he had intruded upon an exclusive party Lyra was attending, surprising her on the balcony and spiriting her up onto the rooftops. Naturally she had screamed until he had protested that he had only wanted a dance. The guards had come too soon for that and he had been forced to flee, but he had found her two nights later and they had shared a dance in private in a garden under the moonlight.

With a romanticised and idyllic image of a charming, bold and brave father, Seraphina had been expecting all of that and more when she had come to the Imperial City eight years ago, seeking him out whilst the Gray Fox sought out the thieves in the capital city. She had been devastated to find a man more criminal than heroic with only a pleasant interest in his child and no desire to raise her. She had been grateful then for the masked thief who had plucked her up and promised her a home, not caring that she would have abandoned him without a moment's thought for the lawbreaking Breton.

Time and experience had softened Seraphina's opinion of the Breton and she had formed a relationship with him despite her initial misgivings but he was still not father material but alas nor was the Gray Fox and despite the thief's best efforts she had never regarded him that way and for the past three years she had viewed him in a much different way.

"Yes," she answered calmly as she turned her attention to the beautiful view before them, "it's been ten years." Down below the green hill the city stood upon was Lake Rumare, over it was a bridge leading to the hamlet Weye and beyond that were several paths of cobblestones and dirt, and a wide expanse of woods, forests, rolling hills, caves and ruins.

The trees looked like they were aflame beneath the afternoon sun, their leaves golden, amber, orange and crimson as their branches sagged with plump fruits, it had been a good season this year and they would be well prepared if winter proved harsh. 'Well the farmers and merchants and wealthy will be well prepared,' Seraphina scorned to herself, 'whilst the rest of us will go cold and hungry as usual.' When winters were long, lean and harsh it was hard to steal, people kept their larders tightly sealed and rarely left their homes, there was little opportunity to find homes empty to rob and even the best thieves found some of the locks on the food stores trickier than usual as people went so far as to invest in magical security.

Sam nodded sombrely; he had grieved Lyra only briefly when his daughter had come to tell him of her death and the death of his son. Finding out that he had a son and daughter had been a bigger surprise and it had, he had to admit, been a grievous blow to learn that his son was dead at the tender age of ten before he could even know him. It was unfair for the Breton to think more highly of his unknown son than his now familiar daughter and Sam knew that but he could not help it, he thought privately that he might have dealt with a son better. As a child in the Imperial City when Seraphina had seen him she had thrown tantrums at him, her lip would tremble, her eyes would water and either she would shriek, sob or simply go red and shake. Sam had been incapable of dealing with that and usually ignored her until the masked thief or a stern faced Breton in rags came to pull her away. Now she was easier to deal with but he did not feel he could share much with her.

"Do you need anything...special?" he queried casually in an attempt to change the subject.

"Same old Sam," she scorned with a small smile and a shake of her head. "No thanks, I've got all I need for now," she assured. Sometimes she found it hard to believe that she was related to him but when she looked at him she saw Thomas there, whilst Seraphina had inherited her mother's blonde hair and emerald eyes Thomas had inherited Sam's dark hair and blue eyes. "I'll see you later," she murmured as she turned away from him.

"Bye."

Her descent down the hill towards the stone bridge was at a leisurely pace as she savoured the cool afternoon air, breathing in the sweet scent of ripe apples mixing with the stale odour of the nearby stables. She felt sorry for the horses there; Sam had informed her that the orc who tended the stables, Snak gra-Bura, had eaten many of the four legged residents.

Her mood brightened as she neared the path, she could see a silver gleam up ahead and to the left, a pond near the hamlet Weye, it was small and a place for sightseeing as Lake Rumare was for fishing. It was Seraphina's favourite place though she only ventured there once a year. There she and the Gray Fox would feed the ducks, talk quietly about their lives and reminisce just a little about what they had lost. For the first four years he had reminisced more but when she had failed to take any of it in he had grown angry and eventually he had just stopped. It was a part of the curse, when the Gray Fox tried to talk about who he really was, who he had been, everyone near him seemed to grow deaf and become confused.

The pond itself he had found first, it was a reclusive place where he could stay with her in his thief garb without risking a run-in with the law or someone who was likely to report his presence. He had brought her there on the second anniversary of their first meeting, using feeding the ducks as a means to distract the then twelve-year-old from her grief. It had been a simple ploy but it had worked and had continued to work every year since. It was a distraction, a way to relax and forget even as they remembered.

Seraphina snapped out of her thoughts when she was rudely shoved on the bridge. She glowered up at the male Imperial guilty of the deed. He was just under six feet, brown haired, stern faced and clad in fine middle class robes. Seraphina recognised him as Pennus Mallius, one of the moderately wealthy men from the Temple District. He had not been born into class but rather had earned his coin from adventuring; something the born and bred middleclass people of the city did not let him forget. "Aren't you going to apologise?" he snapped at her.

"Are you kidding me?" she retorted angrily. "You walked into me!"

"Pah, I would never willingly cross paths with a filthy beggar like you," he answered with a glare.

"You weren't always rich," she replied heatedly as she matched his glare with her own, "and even if you were it gives you no right to look down on me."

Without warning he reached out and grabbed her by both shoulders and shook her hard. "Get off me!" she protested as she reached up with her hands to free herself.

"Learn your place beggar!" he snapped before he flung her to the ground. She hit it hard with a painful smack and was momentarily dazed and incapable of avoiding the kick that followed.

She let out a yelp of pain as she wondered in annoyance, 'what in Oblivion has gotten into him? He's not normally such an ass!' She rolled to avoid the next kick and jumped to her feet hastily, tugging out her dagger warningly.

"Threatening me are you?" he quipped mockingly though there was a nervous glint in his brown eyes. He glanced over his shoulder warily, there was a guard at the top of the hill coming towards the bridge but he wasn't near enough to be a witness. "That will get you thrown into jail," he growled at her as he looked back at her. "Two months I should think for pulling a weapon on a respectable middleclass gentleman like myself, you'll rot in there." He gave her a tight, mocking smile. "Unless you make friends with the guards but I think they would object to your diseases and you certainly must have a few, you're Roland Jenseric's wench aren't you?" He let out a sharp, taunting laugh. "Yes, you are," he realised as her emerald eyes narrowed and hardened at his jibes, "well then you will definitely have something since he's bedding more than you."

"SHUT UP!" she shrieked out in a fury as she felt the hot tears building up once more.

'I've gone too far,' Pennus thought as his eyes widened but then he reminded himself, 'no, she needs to strike a blow, that's what he said. Get her to hurt me and then she'll go to jail, it's not right but I really need the money.' He forced himself to laugh at her tauntingly. "Stupid beggar, he hardly had feelings for you, he's too good for you, chances are he just wanted a woman he didn't have to work for. You're filth!" He pushed her again and that was all it took.

In a rage Seraphina lashed out with the dagger, she cut his right arm deeply causing blood to splash along her lilac sleeve. Pennus yelped in pain, pushing back her hand and kicking her defensively before he could help himself. She retaliated with her free hand, punching away his arm. They moved too quickly, she stumbled, he staggered forward and the dagger sank into his chest before she could help it. Both their eyes went wide as the blade slipped in deeper like his flesh was butter; it was too fast and far too easy. She tasted vomit at her lips when she felt her hand become soaked with blood as the dagger pulled it towards his now damp chest.

Pennus opened his mouth as if to say something but only a gargle of blood came out. In horror Seraphina released the dagger and fled. She sprinted up towards the city, rubbing her hand against her top frantically as she did, ignorant to the guard who spied Pennus crumpling to the ground and hastened towards him.

From the shadows of the trees the assassin gave a quiet applause, his palms softened by the black gloves on them. "A fine performance Pennus," he jested quietly, "perhaps better than you had intended. Well you certainly earned your coin, a pity you will not be able to collect it but now I will have the bargaining chip I need."