Journal Entry Six

We spoke late into the evening over glasses of a delectable Breton Port. Caius listened more then he spoke, and when he did, he asked me very open ended questions to keep my answers longer and descriptive. He asked me of my twin sister, Setsuna. He asked of my first kill. How hunger and desperation had driven me to slit the throat of a traveling merchant.

He took in all my descriptions thoroughly, never judging me, never discounting my feelings. He neither gave any support for the decisions I had made, or made me feel like I was a victim of society. He simply got to know me. And he reached his conclusions.

"You're an accomplished executioner. That has it's place in our trade. I don't think you crave killing, any more then you feel guilt over it." He said looking at me with a very neutral expression.

"I also think you're a rough gem. Educated by monks, a bit of a dabbler in alchemy, whether you realize it or not, vinification is quite similar to producing poisons. A necessary aspect of our trade." He said with a pointed finger, and arched brow.

"You're smarter then you let on, but you let your emotions get the better of you. You need to learn to listen. And I don't mean to what people are saying to you, I mean, what people are really saying, and what they're not. The most important aspect of our trade."

"You will be trained in all these things, and more. But, while you might think you're good with that bow and blade, you wouldn't last five minutes in a fair fight."

"Am I being trained in combat as well?" I asked.

"No. It would cast suspicion on myself and my agents if the clamor of blades clanging from our houses. So we're going to kill two Racers with one arrow. I want you to join a guild, preferably Fighters Guild. Get some combat experience, learn the terrain, learn to work within the parameters of a military model. You meet once a week with me, you report every detail of your missions, what you've seen, what color a random plant is on you're way to a job, everything."

He paused and took a sip of his port. "When you're on your off time, train with the Blades Agents, also join the Thieves Guild if you like. I handle a few things through them, and you should be able to reap the benefits. They will of course ask a few things of you, but you'll learn how to perform subterfuge while maintaining a legitimate cover. Also report everything with the Guild to me."

I nodded. It wasn't a bad plan. But I still had a Sister to worry about.

"Spymaster--"

"Caius." he stopped me.

"Caius, do we receive a wage for our work? I hardly expect loyalty to the Empire feeds all of you."

He smirked at this. "You receive Two Hundred Drakes per month, plus expenses. That means tavern rooms, not manors. If you want a house, that's on you. I'd set you up, but again, we have to maintain a public image. I'm the local 'sugar tooth'. You're the local outlander mercenary with shadowy connections. Besides, the Fighters Guild will set you up with room and board."

"Now, I want you too make contact with 'Sugar-Lips Habasi', shes the local Ringleader for the Guild. Tell her I'm your sponsor, and that you want to join. She'll have a little test for you to perform. Do it. Don't get caught. She's not the only one testing you. Now, its very late, I want you to head over to Tyermaillin's House, three doors down, on the first floor. He's our alchemist, and has an extra bunk. The code word to identify yourself as a fellow agent, is the phrase: "The fish bite hard in the Bitter Coast."

Weary from my talk with Caius, and stumbling a bit from the moderately powerful spirits, I managed to make it to the house that the Spymaster had directed me to, answering my knocks was a Robed Altmer.

"The fish bite hard in the Bitter Coast." I slurred out.

"They do indeed. Come in." he said with an particular indifference.

"Caius said to ask you for your bunk."

"Thats generally why agents come through, I'm just support here. Help yourself." he said pointing the spare bed, behind some vanity walls, and sitting back down to his alchemy set, releasing the pleasant smell of boiling and burned herbs into the air.

Perhaps they were slightly narcotic in nature, or perhaps it was the strong drink, but I fell to a deep slumber in minutes.

I awoke to the sound of a snoring Altmer. His morning halitosis was strong enough to overwhelm the scents of the other ingredients in his humbly sized house. Taking my leave silently, I exited and made the short walk to the Cornerclub, where I had previously made contact unknowingly with the Thieves Guild, and ordered a hearty breakfast. It was one of the largest meals I had in some time. I felt like a king with a full stomach.

Sniffing around the joint, I followed Caius' orders and looked for a Sugar-Lips Habasi. She wasn't to hard to find with the total occupancy being two Khajiit in the place. The other being Chirranir, whom was as tight-lipped as every one else in the place.

The Khajiit was a colorful personality, speaking in a voice that rose and fell with the words she was trying to produce in her thick Ta'agra accent.


"So, Caius is your sponsor, and you wish to join the Guild. Very well, Habasi won't lie, she is a Thief. But anyone can walk in here and say: 'I want to join, I want to be good at stealing.' No. We don't take just anyone Muthsera. There is an object I want you to procure for Habasi. You deliver it, you're in. Nalcarya, the gold-skin alchemist in town has a stone of a particular cut. Find it."

That was it, my initiation, my test, find and steal a diamond that was cut in a unique way. It was a that object, which just so happened to be valuable, to determine my skill and independent capability as a thief. Well, I had been one for years, so making it official didn't seem like it could hurt to me.

Like any good thief, I intended to pull off my stunt at night. When people were asleep, and guards thought that any old creak was probably just a rat. How right they were. In the meantime, I had the daylight hours to pass. Time to see what the local fighters guild had to say.

The local steward was a Nord a full head taller then me, with a surly attitude that spoke volumes of her attitude to her subordinates. They were lesser people that got in her way constantly.

"Well, speak up Dunmer. What do you want? Are you here to hire a mercenary?"

"No, Sera. I'm here to join the Fighters Guild."

She looked at me like I had just told her that I drank the last of all the mead in the world. Then a smile broke out on her face.

"Hahaha! You're serious? All right. I could use a few new men. Problem with my outfit: Too many people don't know how to follow orders. I'm the local chapter steward. What I say goes. Don't do anything stupid, and you won't get killed. Its that simple."

"Are those the official rules?" I asked half smart-Aleck.

She took another look at me, the bonemold bracers on her arms making a scraping noise as they crossed across her torso.

"Obey the orders of all your superiors, in all things carry yourself with utmost professionalism, always maintain yourself, your equipment, and your armor. Never harm the innocent, and never fall for the craven tricks of the weak." she said with a disbelieving smile, like she was vomiting each syllable.

"But the Nine forbid anyone actually follow these rules." she sighed. "No one follows my orders, these 'soldiers' slouch everywhere, getting drunk in public half the time, walking around with dull weapons and rusty armor, and you could convince them to jump in the odai if you tossed a drake in it."

"So. Since your new. You get the grunt work. In the residential district across the river, you'll find a Drarayne Thelas. She has an infestation, and you're her exterminator." She said flicking her finger against the hilt of my blade.

Drarayne Thelas was a nice woman, if not a bit insane. But hey to each thier own, even if thier own was pillows. The complete and total adoration of pillows.