Dark Waters

Sigrid

..::~^~::..

As I entered the Cistern using the ladder, I noticed an almost unfamiliar face. Vitrin sat on one of the edge of a bed, her sword on the chest at the foot. She had probably just slept the length of a day, if not more, but she looked no-where near well rested. I wanted to talk to her, and ask her if Niruin ever found her. All I could hope for was that she didn’t reject my attempt to start a small conversation. I didn’t know her well, but I knew her well enough to know she didn’t like to talk much, so I’d keep it at a minimal. I sat down on the edge of the bed across from her, nobody else was around, but she pretended to not notice that I was there.

“I don’t mean to bother you, or keep you long, I was just wondering how you were. I understand you’re off just as much as I am,” I said, trying to be friendly. She chuckled lightly.

“It doesn’t concern you much,” she said. It wasn’t in an offensive tone, but she clearly didn’t want me in her business.

“I respect that,” I replied, “But Niruin concerns me. Did he ever find you? Is he alright?” If Niruin had found her, I would assume he would be back with her, but I haven’t seen him. Just her, and a strange man I’d never seen before. Aldis, he called himself. He kept himself very shut out from everybody.

“He did,” her sentence was short, and I was reminded of my conversation with Paarthurnax. Vaguely answering one of my questions, yet leading me to more.

“Is he alright?” I pushed further. At this point, I was worried.

“I assume so. As you might have noticed, he didn’t come back,” she looked me in the eyes, and it looked like she was staring into my soul, making me uncomfortable.

“I just-“

“I don’t want to talk about Niruin any longer,” she clarified, and I pursed my lips. No matter how much I pushed, if she didn’t want to talk about Niruin, I could not make her.

“When’s the next time you’re leaving?” I asked, changing the subject, and she shrugged.

“Honestly, I don’t know, really,” she leaned back onto her elbows and looked up at the ceiling, “I’m on a mission, and I’m out for blood. I mean, I’ve killed a lot of people, but…there is one person I want dead. I want to stop his heart from beating, his lungs from filtering oxygen to his blood. I want to be there when he takes his last breath, so he can look at me, and know it was I that killed him,” she said. She sounded so passionate about it that it sent a few chills down my spine.

‘I’m also out for blood,” I compared, “I can guarantee that it’s a different situation completely, but I know where you’re coming from. I’m sorry for whatever happened to you. I don’t know what it is, but obviously it was bad, and I’m sorry,” I stood up after saying this and started to walk away.

“Niruin-“ her voice stopped my footsteps, however I didn’t turn around to face her, “he found me. We…quarreled…and he left. I haven’t seen him since, nor do I have any clue where he might have gone. I thought he would come back here,” she explained. Something made me feel like she wasn’t exactly telling the whole truth, but I wasn’t going to argue with her about what had happened. I turned around, and nodded at her before retreating once again.

I wanted to find Brynjolf. Secretly, I knew I was developing feelings for him. However, I was leaving tomorrow. I had an idea of where the Elder Scroll I needed to find was hidden, and I needed to find it as soon as possible. The longer I waited, the more chance that Alduin had to resurrect the dragons, and take over the world. Still, the thought of leaving Brynjolf pained me, and I knew my feelings for him were much more than I wanted to admit. I found him at his desk, and his eyes lit up as he looked up at him, and I tried to give him a heartful smile.

“Sigrid,” he stood from his chair in respect, and I waved him off.

“Walk with me?” I asked.

“Of course, where would you like to go?” he asked, closing the book he was looking through.

“I was thinking we could walk along the path outside of the city gates. The sunset is beautiful,” I said. This would also give me a chance to be alone with him.

“If you were anybody else, I would think you were taking me away from civilization in order to assassinate me,” I just smiled at this. He knew slightly of my past with the Dark Brotherhood. He was unaware of my full past. I wanted to share this with him tonight. I did know I was leaving tomorrow. I didn’t, however, know when and if I was coming back, “let me tell Ravyn quickly, and I will meet you outside of the south gate,” he smiled at me and I nodded. I left the Cistern through the cemetery, and walked towards the gate, avoiding drawing any attention to myself. I didn’t have to wait long before Brynjolf met me, exactly like he said. We began to walk along the cobblestone pathway, following the lake.

“There were a few things I wanted to talk about,” I said, breaking the silence. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth. I was nervous and I was unsure about how he would take any of the things I had to say, “Mainly of my past.”

“Go on,” he said.

“My parents were nobles from High Rock during a time of unrest. They had to flee for their safety, so they came here. Made a nice life for themselves as common villagers, having me. I was a young age when they were killed, and I was taken in by their assassins. Her name was Astrid, and I grew up thinking she was my mom. She led the Dark Brotherhood. Naturally, I was raised as an assassin and was with the Brotherhood until Astrid told me. I was not angry I was an orphan. I was angry she kept that from me. She killed my parents. How could I forgive that?” I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.

“How come she did not kill you?” He asked, placing a calming hand on my shoulder.

“The Brotherhood does not kill children. She took me in and made it look as if I had been killed, though, so I would no longer be a target. She changed my name from Lore to Sigrid.

“So are they the reason you’ve been leaving so often?” he asked, wanting to know more. This meant I would have to explain to him about Nev. The difficult part would be explaining that Nev was the man I was in love with, not my brother.

“No. Before Astrid came clean about all of that, I went on a mission to Helgen with a fellow Brotherhood member, Nevaris…”

“Wait, your brother?” he asked, “Was this during the dragon attack?”

“Slow down,” I said, “Let me finish,” my words were stern, but his constant interrupting was beginning to bother me, “He wasn’t exactly my brother. I loved him. I was in love with him. It doesn’t matter, anyways, because he’s dead. It was during the dragon attack, and Nev was one of the casualties. I watched as his head landed in front of me, as if the dragon was taunting me. As if he knew I was the…” I trailed off, starting to get lost in my thoughts. I had never thought about that actually. Could Alduin have known the whole time that I was the Dragonborn? Is he able to sense that? Killing Nev could be his way of taunting me.

“The what?” Brynjolf pushed, bringing me back to reality.

“The Dragonborn,” I told him, and he looked at me with wide eyes.

“You’re joking with me,” he said, obviously hoping that was what it was.

“Brynjolf, I am the Dragonborn. I’ve been spending this time figuring out how to defeat Alduin. He is one of the oldest dragons, and he is back, resurrecting more, in order to take human souls. I’m so close to figuring it out,” I said, knowing he could not possibly understand everything I was going through, “More than that, though, I have been thinking about my feelings for you,” I looked at him after saying this, wanting to know his reaction. He looked around, and both of our eyes landed on an abandoned shack off to the side of the path.

“Come with me in here,” he grabbed my wrist, and I did not fight as he led me inside. It was lit up in a dark red through the two windows. It was empty of furniture, but piles of hay were scattered out through the room. He turned to me, grabbing my shoulders and looking into my eyes, “I have been doing the same, Sigrid. It’s only right I tell you as soon as I am able, because I feel as if I never know if I’m going to see you again,” he paused, looked down towards the ground, and back into my eyes, “I have fallen so deeply and carelessly in love with you. When you are around, I feel as if I could do everything. When you’re not, the days go by slow. You’re smile brightens up my day, and-“

“I love you, too,” I said back, not capable of explaining my feelings as well as Brynjolf was able to, himself. Still holding onto my shoulders, he pulled me into a deep kiss. His hands then left my shoulder, and focused on removing all of my weapons, and I helped as he removed his. We then fumbled with the armor on one another, removing it in what was now a dark room. We went back to kissing, and falling onto one of the larger piles of hay.

His hands eventually began to feel up my body, and I didn’t resist. I placed my hand over his as he felt up my leg, which was straddling his side, and went up my hip, his hand slipping under my clothes, and trailed further up my side. My hand left the top of his, and wrapped around his neck, pulling his body closer to mine. Eventually, Brynjolf began to remove my clothes, leaving me almost defenseless. I tugged his top off, and he slipped out of his pants. We didn’t exchange words, leaving our heavy breathing to fill the air and the silence. He crawled his way on top of me, between my legs, and looked at me one last time for acceptance. I gazed back at him, my eyes full of life, and he continued on after kissing me deeply.

It was a painful experience at first, and I wasn’t completely aware of what was going on, but eventually it turned into a pleasure so sinful, I could have done this every day for the rest of my life. I knew after this, it would be harder for me to leave. But it was better this way.

For what seemed like hours later, he seemed to have finished himself inside of me, and collapsed on top of me, “I love you, Sig,” he said.

“I love you two, Brynjolf.”

..::~^~::..

I quietly collected my clothes, my armor, and my weapons, and dawned them outside of the shack so I would not make noise enough to wake Brynjolf. I clicked my tongue, causing Shadowmere to emerge from the darkness within the trees, and I mounted him. We ran off, so if it were to have woken him up, I would already be long gone. This was for the best; this is what I had to keep telling myself. Maybe I would see him again one day, and we could pick up where we left off. Maybe I wouldn’t, but I’m glad I could experience that with him before I died.

Now I was headed to Blackreach, to hopefully acquire the Elder Scroll.

©Shannon