another unfinished daewen/brynjolf

She pressed the switch of the fake, stone coffin that concealed her destination from view. The sound of stone grinding on stone slowly filled the cistern below. One of the guild members, Sapphire, ran through to the main area of the Ragged Flagon.

"Brynjolf," she said, stopping behind a hooded man drinking from a dirty tankard at a small wooden table. He'd asked her to report to him the moment she heard that familiar sound. It could only be one person, no one else returned so late at night, "she's back." The man pulled his hood down away from his face.

"Thanks, lass." he responded. She went back through the secret passage to the cistern, passing the new arrival on her way.

She was a bosmer. Short and skinny, perfect build for a sneak thief, and very good with a bow. Clad in the guild master's uniform she waltzed into the Flagon like she owned it. She didn't, but she was in charge of everyone it in at least. The girl smiled upon seeing her friends; or family as she preferred to think of them. They were more of a family to her than her real one back in Valenwood, anyway.

She waved hurriedly at everyone and rushed over to meet with Tonilia, a redguard woman and an excellent fence for the guild. Daewen had picked up so many things while she'd been gone that Tonilia only just had enough coin to buy them all from her.

"You bring more every time you come back, girl." she laughs as she puts away all of her newly acquired jewels and trinkets.

"Sorry," the elf replied. She begins to walk over to the table where Brynjolf is sitting, but continues talking. "You know I can't help myself. It's why I fit in so well around here. Isn't that right, Bryn?"

"Uh, yeah" he answered as she plopped herself down in the empty chair across from him and helped herself to a piece of his bread.

He knew first hand how good of a thief she was. The first thing she did upon meeting him was try to pick his pocket. He's sure she'd have succeeded if he hadn't stepped back unexpectedly, knocking her to the ground. He remembered turning around to help her up and seeing her with a bag of his coin in her hand. She laughed sheepishly and held the bag out to him. He snatched it from her as she stood up, brushing the dust from her leather armour.

It was the last time he ever saw her wear that, he thought to himself. The second he sent her to Tonilia to get her Thieves Guild armour she changed into it and never took it off, except to upgrade to the Guild Master's armour, but that wasn't much of a change.

He looked up from his drink to see her talking away to him. She obviously hadn't noticed that he wasn't listening, that his mind was somewhere else. Still thinking about her, but not about what she was saying. She'd pulled down her hood revealing her face. Not classically beautiful, but with perfect features. Her very short hair allowed for perfect view of her long elven ears which twitches occasionally when she laughed, Brynjolf had noticed.

The redheaded Nord realised he was staring. Again. Of course, she hadn't noticed, being so absorbed in a tale of dragonslaying. Sometimes after she returned from adventuring with her odd little jester friend she'd tell these stories for hours and hours. The other guild members often went to bed while she was still talking, but Brynjolf never did. He tried to be around her as much as possible when she was there, he never knew when she'd disappear back out into Skyrim's wilds.

The Bosmer snapped her fingers in front of Brynjolf's face, bringing him back to his senses. She laughed. He noticed the twitch of her ears again.


"You awake there, Bryn? Girl might think you're interested, staring at her like that." She put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands, staring back at him. Her large, dark eyes shining in the light from the candle between them. He wished to tell her. He'd always thought it was wrong for a thief to be in a relationship. They worked best alone. There had been girls in the past, but nothing more than sex, no feelings were involved. Until he met her. Maybe he should just go for it. Maybe he was wrong and a thief could be with someone, especially another thief.

"Funny you should say that, lass..." he replied, eventually. The elf laughed, ears twitching slightly again. Then, her ears pointed slightly, like an alert puppy. She looked nervous, realising that he  wasn't playing with her. He didn't want to scare her away now, that would just make things awkward. Then again, just shutting up after that wouldn't make things any better. The nord was struggling to think of what to say next when the girl spoke up instead.

"Bryn... you look flustered. You were joking there, right? I mean... you don't..." she looked away from him, running her hand through her dark hair and trying to tuck it behind her ear, but it was far too short. She smiled mischievously but Brynjolf wasn't looking. 

"Lass, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said-" He was cut off by the sound of her chair scraping across the stone floor as she stood up very suddenly. Stepping around the table she motioned for him to stand up also. Confused, he got up from his chair to face her. She was quite a lot shorter than him. Unusual for an elf, but it worked for her. 

Suddenly, the girl moved closer to him. Awkwardly she threw her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. Brynjolf was shocked, but not opposed to her sudden movements. He moved his arms around her waist, returning the hug. 

He could smell her. He'd smelled her before but never this close. She smelled of nightshade, which he thought suited her perfectly. Beautiful, but deadly.