A Week of Thieving

Aila watched as Kathryn slept. It was such an intriguing sight. She had never actually seen her sleep before. Every night, Aila would fall asleep next to her, but Kathryn would always stay awake. But it had been so long, and even Kathryn had her limits. Aila wanted to watch her, however creepy it might seem. She was obviously dreaming; Aila could see her eye's moving beneath her eyelids, and every once in a while she would mutter something unintelligible. Aila brushed away a stand of hair that was in Kathryn's eyes. It was getting long. She would probably cut it soon. Maybe she should grow it out. Aila tried to imagine her with longer hair. I might suggest it after she wakes up. Either way, Kathryn looked beautiful to Aila.

Aila sniffed the air and made a face. The faint smell of sewer was starting to return. She got out of bed, tring her best not to wake Kathryn, and re-lit a couple scented candles and some incense. They had done wonders, especially for Kathryn. She had put some in her room as well, but she rarely went there. She usually stayed in Aila's room. Kathryn stirred slightly as Aila crawled back into bed.

"Mine... sweetroll." she mumbled in her sleep.

Aila smiled at her senseless words. Kathryn mumbled something else that Aila couldn't understand. Aila lifted her head and lightly pressed her lips against Kathryn's. When she pulled away, Kathryn's eyes were open. "Oh, sorry," Aila said. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Kathryn yawned and said with a smile, "I don't mind." Aila smiled back. They stared at each other for a while before Kathryn asked, "How long have you been awake?"

Aila shrugged. "A few minutes or so. You were sleeping when I woke up."

"So I was."

"What did you dream about?"

Kathryn paused, thinking. "I don't recall."

"Was it about sweetrolls?"

"... Maybe. How did you know?"

"You talk in your sleep."

"I do? What did I say?"

"Mostly gibberish. All I understood was 'mine' and 'sweetroll'."

"Huh. I wonder what to make of that."

"You tell me, Kat. It was your dream."

"Unfortunately, I don't remember what I dreamed about."

"Maybe you're still asleep, and this is all just a dream."

"Now is not the time to get all philosophical, love."

"It wouldn't be such a bad dream though, would it?"

Kathryn smiled. "No, it wouldn't." She pulled Aila close and kissed her.

Aila kissed her back with all the enthusiasm she could muster, which was quite a lot. Aila let out an involuntary moan.

Kathryn pulled away suddenly. "Wait, what time is it?" she asked.

"It's still pretty early," Aila said. She wanted to get back to kissing. "The sun's still down, I think."

"I should probably go before everyone starts waking up." She started to get up, but Aila crawled on top of her and sat on her stomach.

"Oh come on, we still have time. Let's have some fun." she said with a coy smile.

Kathryn looked up at her for a moment before letting out a reluctant sigh. "You are very difficult to argue with."

"I know." She leaned down and continued kissing her. Her hands were far from idle, though. One hand slowly snaked down into Kathryn's nether-regions, while the other moved toward her breast. Aila squeezed both parts, trying to invoke a response from her. What she received, was a satisfying, yet quiet moan. It was odd, during these types of activities, Kathryn was usually the more quiet one, and Aila was the louder one. The opposite would be true in any other situation. Never the less, Aila knew she was enjoying herself. It would be hard not to.

Aila would have been perfectly content to continue with what she was doing, but Kathryn apparently had other ideas. She pushed Aila onto her back, gently but firmly. With a slight smirk on her face, she moved her hand up Aila's thigh... but then stopped as a sudden knock came from the door. "Aila," came a voice. It was Brynjolf's. "You in there, lass?"

"I thought you said it was still early," Kathryn whispered.

"I thought it was," Aila whispered back. "It's hard to tell when you live in a sewer."

The knocking came again. "Aila?"

"Uh... Who is it?" Aila called, trying to buy some time while she got dressed.

"It's Brynjolf. Come on out lass, Mercer's waiting for you and Kathryn."

"Oh damn, I completely forgot," Mercer had told her and Kathryn the other day that he had a special job for them, and that he wanted to see them first thing in the morning. Having overslept and misjudging the time, both of them were now late. And Mercer Frey was not the patient type. "Just... give me a minute!"

"You'd better hurry."

"Kat, help me with this."

As Kathryn tied together the straps of Aila's smallclothes, she whispered, "This is all your fault, you know." Her tone was more mocking than angry, though.

"I know, I know." Aila said. "Just hurry, please."

When she was done, Aila opened up her wardrobe and pulled out her Thieves' Guild Armour. It was made of a strong leather, but lightweight. It had a hood and many hidden pockets for holding lockpicks, coinpurses, and any other items Aila might acquire. There were also a some spots specifically made to hide a small blade, such as a dagger. She dressed as quickly as she could and went over to Kathryn. She wrapped her arms around her waist and kissed her. "I love you." she said.

"I love you too. Now go, I'll follow in a moment."

Aila kissed her once more before finally heading out. "There you are," Brynjolf said as she closed the door behind her. "Have you seen Kathryn? She's not in her room."

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere," Aila said.

"Yes, well, you'd better go see Mercer as soon as you can. He's becoming impatient."

"Right," Aila said and dashed to the Cistern.

As she walked through the doorway that separated the Cistern from the living quarters, Aila saw Mercer give her a look that could have stopped a giant dead in its tracks. Aila gulped and kept walking to his desk. "You were supposed to be here at first light," he said in his usual patronizing voice.

"I'm s-sorry, I... o-overslept... sir," Aila stammered.

He turned his head and looked somewhere past Aila. She followed his gaze and saw Kathryn approaching, clad in her Guild Armour. "And what about you?" Mercer said. "Did you oversleep as well?"

"Something like that," Kathryn said. Aila didn't understand how she could stand in front of Mercer like this and not feel the least bit intimidated. Kathryn smiled at her as she neared. That gave a bit of a boost to Aila's courage, but it faded again when she looked back to Mercer.

"So," he said. "Now that you're finally here, let's get down to business. You two have done well this past week, but now I think it's time to put your skills to the test. A few miles from Riften lies a bee farm called Goldenglow Estate. It's a critical asset to one of our largest clients. The owner has suddenly decided to stop paying."

"So what do you want us to do?" Kathryn asked.

Mercer looked at her in distaste. "I was getting to that, as you might have known had you not interrupted. I want you to break in and find out whatever you can."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Kathryn asked.

"Enough questions!" Mercer said, obviously fed up with her. "Talk to Brynjolf if you need to know more. Now go!"

Aila moved as quickly as she could without running, with Kathryn following closely behind. They left the Cistern and entered the Ragged Flagon. As they sat in an empty table, Aila let out a sigh and looked around the tavern. It was filled with all the usual patrons. All of whom, were part of the Thieves' Guild. Tonilia was the fence. She was at the bar talking with her lover, Vekel, who was also the innkeeper. Tonilia had given Aila and Kathryn their armour, and also told them to come to her if they wanted to sell something that they had stolen.

Vex was right where she usually was, leaning on the wall. She was one of the two people who handed out jobs. The jobs she gave usually involved break-ins. The reason for breaking-in varied. It might be to steal some items of value, or to change some information on a ledger. Aila didn't like her much. She seemed to have bit of a superiority complex. While no one could deny that she was an exceptional thief, Aila thought that she let it go to her head.

Delvin was much more modest. He never bragged about his skill, even though he was a master of stealth. Aila liked him quite a bit, despite him being a bit of an alcoholic. It was early in the morning, and already he was drinking. Even so, he was fun to be around, and he always seemed to have a joke to tell and make her laugh. He taught Aila a few things about staying hidden, and promised to teach her more. He was also the other person who handed out the jobs. He dealt with the more up-close jobs, such as pickpockets and the ilk.

There was no one else in the tavern, except for Brynjolf, who was approaching, yet Aila felt like there should be. It was an odd sensation, and she didn't quite understand it. She ignored the feeling as Brynjolf sat down at the table with them. "Well, you haven't been flayed alive, so that's a good sign. How'd it go with Mercer?" he asked.

"It could've gone better," Aila said. "Kathryn certainly wasn't any help."

"What did I do?" Kathryn asked.

"You kept bugging him with your questions."

"How else was I suppose to know what to do?"

"I'm sure it wasn't entirely Kathryn's fault," Brynjolf said. "Mercer was already annoyed that you two were late. Why weren't you awake at dawn, like you were suppose to?"

Aila and Kathryn looked at each other. Aila felt a blush creeping up her cheeks, and she looked down at her lap, trying to hide it. "We just overslept is all." she said.

"Even you, Kathryn? I always took you for a morning person. And, you weren't in your room this morning. Where were you." Brynjolf said.

"I don't like to sleep in my room. Something about living in the sewers just doesn't appeal to me." Kathryn said.

Brynjolf laughed. "Most people would agree, I think. So tell me lasses, what did Mercer want?"

"You don't know?" Aila said. "Mercer said to talk to you for more information."

"Well in that case, I probably do know. What is it I'm supposed to tell you about?"

"Goldenglow Estate." Kathryn said.

"Goldenglow?" Brynjolf said in surprise. "Not even Vex could get in there, why would he send you?"

"He said it was to put our skills to the test." Kathryn said.

"Hmm... I suppose that makes sense. Well, here's what you need to know. The owner of Goldenglow Estate, Aringoth, is and important asset to Maven Black-Briar. He supplies her with ninety percent of the honey used in her mead. Then one day, he stopped sending her the honey. Without it, Maven will have to find some from other places, which will be time-consuming and costly. With Maven being a crucial client of ours, we sent Vex to find out why he stopped, but she found the place guarded by mercenaries."

"Mercenaries?" Kathryn asked. "Not Riften guards?"

"Aye, mercenaries. Vex barely made it out alive, though she'll never admit it."

"So what exactly do you want us to do?" Aila asked.

"I want you to teach Aringoth a lesson. Go to Goldenglow, break in and find whatever you can as to why he stopped paying Maven and the Guild. Then I want you to burn three of his bee hives. Only three, got it?"

Aila nodded and Kathryn said, "Got it."

"Good. Oh, and also, there's a tunnel somewhere around the estate. If you can find it, then it should provide you with easy access to the inside."

"Doesn't sound too hard," Kathryn said.

"Just be careful of the guards." Brynjolf said.

Aila had the strangest feeling she was being watched. She looked around the tavern again, but no one was paying her any mind. Delvin was busy drinking, Vex was counting some gold, and Vekel and Tonilia were talking. Brynjolf noticed her looking around. "Aila?" he said. "Is something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh no, it's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Kathryn asked. Her eyes were full of concern. "You looked distressed."

Aila gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, I just have an odd feeling."

"What kind of feeling?"

"It's nothing, Kat. Don't worry about it."

"Remember what happened the last time you had an odd feeling?" Kathryn said.

Aila remembered. It didn't turn out well. "This isn't the same feeling, I just feel like I'm being watched."

"By who?"

"I don't know, no one here is looking at me... except for him." Aila pointed to a man sitting in the darkest corner of the Ragged Flagon. At least, she assumed it was a man; there was a mask over his face. She had only just noticed him as she was talking. It was like a shadow had suddenly lifted and revealed him. Yet Aila still had trouble looking directly at him, like something was pulling her eyes away from him. His head was turned almost directly at her. The mask was odd, to say the least. It was black, or near enough to the dark colour. It was carved into the vague shape of a face, though it had no nose, nor any defining features at all, save for two narrow slits for eye-holes and a thin line near the mouth area. The line had a slight downward curve, giving the mask an impression of frowning, as if extremely dissatisfied with something. "Who is that, Brynjolf?"

"Who?" he asked.

"That man over there, in the corner."

Brynjolf strained his eyes to see. "There's no one there, Aila. Oh wait, I see him. I don't know, I've never seen him before."

Kathryn seemed to struggle a moment before seeing him as well. "Who is that?"

The masked man turned his head and looked away, though the feeling of observance still persisted in Aila.

"I'm going to go talk to him," Kathryn said.

"No, don't do that!" Aila exclaimed suddenly.

Kathryn looked at her. "Why not? I want to know what his problem is."

"No, please don't, Kat," Aila pleaded. "I... I really don't think we should talk to him."

"So you want to just ignore him?"

"Yes. Please?"

Kathryn let out a sigh. "Alright. Let's at least go somewhere else."

On that, they all agreed on. The three of them stood and went back into the Cistern and forgot about the man in the mask. In fact, they forgot him a little too soon. They decided to head to the training room to practice their skills, but first Aila had to get her bow. They went to the living quarters to her room. She opened up the door and was about to let everyone in, but when she saw the state of her room she quickly shut the door again. "Um... could you wait outside for a moment?" Aila said.

"Sure," Brynjolf said.

Aila opened up her door and slipped into her room, careful to not let him see inside. She looked around the room and sighed. In the rush to meet Mercer, she had left the room a mess. There were clothes on the floor and the bed was unmade. That alone wasn't so bad, but some of the clothes were Kathryn's. Aila grabbed her bow that was hanging off the wall, slung the quiver across her back, and left her room. She would tidy up later. "Okay, I'm ready."

They went to the training room. It was filled with a variety of equipment; there were archer targets, stuffed dummies, and there were even locked chests to practice lockpicking. Aila and Kathryn positioned themselves across from some archer targets. Kathryn didn't have a bow, but she used the targets to practice aiming her spells. She was getting a lot stronger in magic. There was much more magicka available to her, and she was learning many new spells. The Court Wizard was the only other mage in Riften, so Kathryn had to go to her for new spell tomes. Luckily for her, there were many available to buy. A few days ago, she bought a spell called Muffle. As the name suggests, the spell is suppose to make the caster move silently. A good spell to have, for a thief. Kathryn hadn't been able to actually cast it yet, but according to her, she was close.

Brynjolf didn't have much need for practicing, so he just watched the other two. As Kathryn readied an Ice Spike spell, she asked, "So how far away is Goldenglow?"

"It's built on an island in the middle of Lake Honrich," Brynjolf answered. "If you walk along the shore, you'll eventually come across a bridge leading to it. Though it's most like to be guarded. Try to find the tunnel I told you about. Vex give you a better idea of where it is."

"Ugh. Do we have to talk to Vex?" Aila said.

"You don't like her?" Brynjolf said.

"Honestly, no. She's a bit... conceited."

Brynjolf laughed. "Don't let her catch you saying that. But still, you can't deny she's a damn good thief."

"I know, I know. But I still don't like her."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to her, Aila," Kathryn said.

"Thanks," Aila said. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver and nocked it. "How much do you want to bet I can hit that target up there?" There was a stuffed dummy elevated a few meters off the ground. It was a stuffed sack with a target painted on, and it had two sticks poking out the side and one out the top. On the end of each stick was another sack with their own targets painted on.

"Hit it?" said a raspy voice. "We all know you can hit it, Aila." They all turned and saw Delvin entering the room. "Hell, you could probably even get the bulls-eye. Stand a bit farther away, and then you've got a bet."

Aila smiled. She had been joking about the bet part, but she wasn't about to pass up some free gold. "How far and how much?" She asked.

"That's more like it," Delvin said. "I'll give twenty septims if you can hit one of the sacks on the end from here. Ten if you hit the middle one."

"From there?" Aila said. There was quite a bit of distance from where he indicated to the target. She walked to the spot and looked. "I don't know if I can hit it."

"Oh come on lass," Brynjolf said. "You're the best archer in the Guild. Well, except for Niruin."

"That's only because none of you know how to use a bow properly," Aila retorted.

"Cynric does."

Aila rolled her eyes. "Cynric pretends to know."

"Well if you're so skilled, hit that target," Delvin said.

"I didn't say that," Aila protested.

"They're right, though," Kathryn said. Aila looked at her. "You are very good with a bow. Just try it. I know you can hit it."

Aila sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll try. But don't expect a miracle."

She nocked her arrow once more, pulled back, and took aim. With a target so far away, it was more than simply firing. There was no wind, since they were indoors, so Aila didn't have to worry about that, but there were still other factors. Drop-off was one of them. The arrow would drop after she fired, so she would have to aim higher than the target. How high she aimed depended on how far away the target was. No use thinking about it, Aila thought. She aimed as well as she could, and loosed the arrow. It landed with a soft thunk in the top sack. She didn't hit the middle, but she hit it.

"Ha!" Brynjolf exclaimed. "I knew you could hit it."

"I was secretly hoping you would miss," grumbled Delvin. "Well, a bet's a bet. Here's your gold."

"Thank you very much," Aila said.

"Yeah, yeah. So what's been going on with you guys, huh?"

"Mercer gave them them the Goldenglow job," Brynjolf said.

"Really? Goldenglow?"

"Yep. Apparently, Mercer wants..."

While they started talking about them and the job, Kathryn talked to Aila. "I told you, you could do it," she said.

"Yeah, you did." Suddenly, the happiness drained from Aila.

Kathryn obviously noticed. "What's wrong?"

Aila looked over at Brynjolf and Delvin. They were talking to each other, and at the moment, weren't paying attention to them. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "I wanted to kiss you just then, but I couldn't."

Kathryn sighed sadly. "Aila... Believe me, I don't like it any more than you do, but I think it's for the best."

"I know, but... it's just so frustrating."

"I know it is," she placed her hand on Aila's shoulder and smiled. "We'll make up for it tonight, okay? We'll finish what we started this morning."

Aila smiled back. "Okay." Some of the happiness returned to her. She grabbed Kathryn's hand, and they stared at each other for a while.

Delvin interrupted them. "Hey Aila, come with me."

Kathryn dropped her hand, and Aila let it go. "Why?"

"I promised I would teach you some things about sneaking, didn't I? If you're going to Goldenglow, you're gonna need to know what I got to tell."

"Okay, I'm coming." she walked with Delvin out of the training room.

"You remember the first rule of sneaking?" Delvin asked.

"Always stay in the shadows," Aila said.

"Good, that's a very important rule."

Aila looked back and saw Kathryn watching her go. She smiled and waved to her as she left.

Kathryn smiled and waved back.