Walk with Shadows

What's the Harm?

Gweneith found herself shaky at first, here in the rift but after a little while there was a comfort. It was not as if someone would be searching for her, after all. She managed to convince Narfi that his dear sister had gone to pick flowers as she often did. She was not sure that anyone would even miss Fenrald at all. He was only present in the village to trade, apart from his secret life from her. She was staying in Riften longer than she needed to by a few days, knowing that she would have to go home soon. It was not that she didn't want to, hell, she even missed the old man's cranky stories. She had pulled a string on her pack, finally getting the last of her stuff ready for travel. The guild here was interesting. Brynjolf asked her to come down and see it. She politely smiled as she looked around the dusty old tavern but he could tell right away it what she thought of it. It was enough to convince her to do a couple more jobs while here. Or perhaps it was the pathetic look on his face when he asked. In either case, she was eager when she helped and was given a cut for her trouble. A cut she used to buy some ingredients for Babette.

She slung the pack over her shoulder, picked up her bow and turned to the door of her room, only to see the man she was desperately trying to now forget leaning on the frame. Her face was even, keeping her cards close to her chest, unlike the man who donned a smile. "Not even going to say goodbye, Lass?" Her eyes lingered on him, watching intently. "I thought we made a good team."

"We did." The answer came swiftly, her eyes flowing over the man before her until she placed her pack back down on the bed. "It felt good working with you. That being said, I have a family that probably should know I'm alive. I'm a little anxious about it, actually."

"Why would you be?" He shook his head. "They certainly would have checked in on you by now."

"Unlikely." She looked into his eyes as he stood before her. "They told me as such. Wouldn't even learn my name until I came back from my first contract. Pretty sure they are used to people not coming back." She playfully sighs.

"Surly you can't think that about yourself. You would be the exception." Her playfulness was tempered with his words. He watches her confidence bottom out, his heart squeezed for her, something that hasn't happened in a while. "Oh, lass, you really do. Listen to me." Her lips thinned out into a straight, almost annoyed yet silent rage. "I think... Wait, why are you looking at me like that?"

She walked to the bed, sitting down and trying to calm herself. After a moment, she looked up to him from her position. "This is why I didn't want to say goodbye. Look, I appreciate that you have this misguided heart that wants to uplift me, but you really needn't bother. Brynjolf I'm not worth it but past that you would be wasting your breath. Don't you feel it? That thick barrier between us." She leaned back a little, holding herself up with tired arms. "It is what stopped us from being a better team. There were close calls. I am better where I am. I don't need a man to tell me about myself."

He walked to the bed, sitting next to her. He took his time, clearly thinking before that charming face looked to her, not smiling but even. "I wasn't trying to... I suppose I knew what I was doing, though I never meant to speak to you as a representative to my entire sex." He paused again and she looked his way. His face was down, his thumbs toying with one another. "I noticed that interacting with you, apart from the few moments I caught you off guard, is like trying to talk to someone underwater. Now I am certain. Gweneith, whoever it was no matter what, he was a fool and you are better off. Just an unbiased observer here with no motive. Any person that makes you feel like this was not someone you needed. No matter how it hurt to expell them."

"How did you know?" Her voice was downright dainty. Something she was used to leaving behind.

"It is easy to see the signs. Wanna talk about it? Keeping it bottled up is not wise." She glanced to him without lifting her head.