Fandom Righting Regrets [Skyrim] - Alba and Savvy

[BegoneThought]

Saorat's eyes darkened as she met Lyla's, murky with sorrowful resignation. It was a look Lyla had only seen once before, on a thief in the Guild with grey hair and weak knees, who had seen so much war he had stopped trying to fight it. Lyla pursed her lips. Saorat was young, likely younger than Lyla herself. She didn't deserve the same weight on her shoulders as an old soldier just shy of a decade away from death. There was still hope for the Khajiit, however, for Saorat had fought tooth and nail against the inevitable conflict. Lyla looked away, running a hand over her unseeing eye. Her rage sedated, she felt an apology bubbling against her lips, but it was dashed away when Saorat mentioned the Black-Briar.

Lyla fought the urge to groan. Loudly. Maven Black-Briar had ties within both of her two previous organizations, and the matriarch had practically abused her relation with the Brotherhood. Every time someone looked at Maven the wrong way, a contract was sent out. Half of the time, Astrid sent Lyla to complete the contracts because Astrid didn't want to use their more prominent members. As her Silencer, Lyla had no choice but to agree. Most of the people contracted didn't even know why they were being killed. Back then, Lyla couldn't have cared less. Now... she wished she could forget the things she had done.

"I agree," Lyla grunted, glancing back to Saorat, then realizing how she could have sounded. "About giving him to the Captain." She knew it was likely inconsequential, but she didn't want the Khajiit to ask how Lyla knew Maven. It wasn't a total lie, because Lyla really did agree that they should give the agent to the Captain. If someone that important was told that one of the guards had an assassin after them, there would be maximum security on the agent. Even the Brotherhood wouldn't risk putting themselves in the open like that. Perhaps a Silencer would be sent, but even then, they would need to lay low. Plus, a Jarl being alerted to Maven's involvement? That would most certainly piss the Black-Briar off. The Brotherhood would be kept busy for some time.

"Alright, let's go. You can take him in, lock him up, do whatever you want. I still think we should just kill him, but if you're going to be difficult, then fine," Lyla finished with only a minuscule amount of bite in her voice. The assassin squirmed in protest, so Lyla gave him a swift kick, hopefully out of sight of her more pacifistic companion. She whistled shortly and Shadowmere huffed, coming to attention next to its rider. Her mount huffed as Lyla sighed, squinting up at it. Getting the larger man up onto Shadowmere's tall (so so tall) back was going to be difficult, at best.

Figuring it would be better than throwing the agent up and over, Lyla gripped Shadowmere and hoisted herself up. She grunted as she shifted to get more comfortable. "Down," she murmured to Shadowmere, squeezing her knees against its girth. It snorted but did as she asked, getting to its knees. Unfortunately, even then, Saorat would have to strive to get the assassin higher than Shadowmere's flank. Lyla held her hand out once again toward Saorat.

"Pass him up to me and I'll pull him over."

 

[AlbaGuBrath]

Saorat bristled a little at the edge in her companion’s voice, but made no mention of it. Biting back wouldn’t help anything, probably only make it worse. For some reason, it hurt her a bit that this stranger she’d scarcely met apparently thought so little of her. There was no reason to be that concerned, she probably wouldn’t ever see her again after today, but it felt as though a familiar friend had rejected her. Lyla reminded her of someone, half-conscious, back in a willfully forgotten history. But for all her trying, it wasn’t completely forgotten, and though she would hardly make the conscious connection, she wanted to make things right.

Nearby, Lyla commanded the horse with a word and asked for the assassin, still struggling on the ground. Saorat tried not to think about how panicked he must be now, knowing that now he would have to face prison and the justice of the jarl. His fear threatened to seep into her own mind, shaking her paws and reminding her of blood and death, but she forced it down with the knowledge that this had to be done. It was for the safety of the people, it was to protect them from the pain and terror he would bring. It was for the best… Huffing slightly under his weight, Saorat heaved him up to a standing position and half-dragged him over to the horse. When he was safely over, they could continue on their way.

They travelled in silence for a while, which in itself wasn’t intolerable, but the unspoken tension was making Saorat’s fur stand on end. Finally, desperate to break it somehow, Saorat started off with the first conversation topic that came to her mind. The horse.
“So, uh… That was pretty impressive, controlling this horse the way you did. It’s a magnificent creature, unlike any beast I’ve ever seen, but uh… I think I would have to stick with something a little less wild.”
She broke into an awkward chuckle and glanced away with embarrassment.
“The first time I tried to ride a horse, I nearly tumbled off its side, and then couldn’t figure out how to make it go forwards. I... accidentally backed into the stable door, caught the back of my head on a beam… But then Fira gave me some pointers and helped me to practice. A good thing too, I would need to ride a fair bit later because…”

She froze, suddenly seeing where the conversation was headed and reluctant to follow it through. Not that she was ashamed of being a soldier, far from it. But now more than ever discretion was critical and she was yet uncertain whether Lyla could be trusted with the fact that, though she’d been allowed to live and given official pardon, there were still people who would consider Saorat a traitor. With a bit of drink in them or in a fit of anger, they might even decide to finish the job the Empire had left unfinished. She glanced at the assassin and suppressed a chill creeping up her spine as she lapsed into silence.