"So? What do you think Tavi?"<br/><br/>The young woman looked at her looming bodyguard with a silvery-blonde eyebrow raised. They were in the middle of the good old Bee and Barb in Riften, back home again after a little job in Morrowind. It hadn't been much. Some up and coming merchant had opened a gem mine. It looked profitable so the Guild had sent her there in disguise to con the deed out of the luckless bastard. It hadn't been that hard. The mark had a soft heart so she and Bolli had pulled the old damsel-in-distress routine. He pretended to beat her, letting the mark act all heroic by "rescuing" her. Then Bolli had knocked off to the taverns while Octavia worked her charms. It had taken a few months of whirlwind "romance" but the merchant was wed to his dear "Lilia". She'd given him a month or so of wedded bliss and then convinced him to take a tour of the mines.<br/><br/>While he was away she'd snuck a little herbal concoction into his favorite drink and some blackmail material in his possessions. When he came back a week later, she served him his dosed drink. Sure enough, he fell asleep. And that's when she'd snuck Bolli in, as planned. He'd wrecked the mansion for a bit, looted anything valuable, and then they'd staged the scene. When her dear husband came to, still confused from the drugs, Bolli had roughed him up and forced him to sign some things. They made it look like "Lilia" was killed by the intruder. Bolli had carried her out, pretending to be dead, and reported back. Sure enough, the Guild was sending its' people down to seize control of the gem mines. The papers her "husband" had signed had given full ownership of the mines to Lilia's family. It was all there, nice and legal. So what if her family was a crime family? And there was the blackmail material to keep him from contesting it too. Fake evidence of his hiring the Dark Brotherhood to kill business rivals and being a cannibal. Things would go badly for the chump if he contested. Lucky him. He got to be a widower and bankrupt at the same time.<br/><br/>Octavia's only regret had been that washing the black dye out of her hair took<em>forever!</em><br/><br/>Still, she wasn't one to rest on her laurels. It'd take time to get the mines up to speed for the Guild and she had plans to get the temple to Nocturnal renovated and expanded to serve as a second home for all Guild members in case their main home in Riften ever became unlivable. That took money. And she was bored. Back a week from Morrowind and after the big celebration there just wasn't that much to do. So this letter talking about a paying gig from the King sounded better than lounging around until the Nightingales or the Guild needed her for something.<br/><br/>"Sure. Why not? We could always do with more gold. Might even get something out of it."<br/><br/>So it was that she found herself in the courtyard on the appointed day, looking around with pale blue eyes. She wore an elegant silken blouse top of red Morrowind silk, cut low to leave her shoulders bare and expose much of her generous breasts. A short, tight red skirt clung to her hips and rear. High black doeskin boots reached to her knees and matching gloves stretched to her elbows. Her silvery-blonde hair was cut in a neat bob, and at her side was her long tapered blade, tinted a dark purple by the secrets of it's forging. A matching longbow with quiver full of arrows was strapped to her back, while a freshly shined elven shield hung on her left arm. The arm that was currently supporting a hand on a curvy hip. Behind her was the hulking Bolli, decked out in his set of orcish armor. His giant warhammer was strapped to his back and in his hands he carried the packs for both of them.<br/><br/>The two thieves eyed those around them with assessing gazes, waiting for the show to start.