Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter III - Petty Children

It took almost two hours of insufferable silence before the door to the attic room opened again.

Karliah raised her brow the moment she took stock of the company, and an understanding sigh escaped her lips a second later. It seemed that she had figured out at last why the meadery was so quiet – the tension in the air must have been palpable instantly.

However, she seemed to decide that the best course of action would be to act as if nothing was amiss. Finally! Someone who didn't instantly get tense in that situation.

"Afternoon. I hope you didn't have to wait for long," she uttered casually as she made her way towards the last chair by the large table.

Bishop didn't answer her – he was still concentrating on the papers in his hands. So in the meantime, Karliah nodded amicably at Raven and Aeyrin.

Raven stood up from the table to get Karliah her own bottle of mead, leaving Aeyrin to look over the notes he had made. There wasn't much interesting insight in them, only the information on the specific merchants and caravans – which ones were carrying the biggest shipments and had the most guards, to both make Maven more grateful for preserving the goods, and to make things easier for Aeyrin with the help of the mercenaries. He had several weeks of schedules and routes around Morthal and Dawnstar written down for her – they never knew when a dragon would hit after all.

"You're going through these again?" Karliah leaned over Bishop's shoulder, peering at the parchments. "That's... so... diligent of you," she raised her brow at him curiously. It didn't seem like a good idea to point out that he was just doing it to distract himself. It might make things more uncomfortable again.

"In any case, you can leave it for now. I have something else for you today," Karliah smiled at Bishop conspiratorially.

"Thank the fucking Gods for that! I'm getting bored out of my skull with this cleanup shit. This better be something good," Bishop's face got decorated by a smirk as he tossed the papers aside instantly, without much care to where they landed. So far, it has been nothing but checking in with informants or taking care of things too insignificant to be noteworthy during the already completed phases. It was never anything even remotely exciting.

"A heist of sorts. But it's a little different. You have access to the College, correct?" Karliah leaned down to grab the pack she had previously tossed on the ground. She began rummaging inside before she pulled out several parchments.

"Uhm... not really," Bishop scowled. A heist sounded good to him, but his previous visits to the College were somewhat dependent on Aeyrin's presence. "Don't you?" he redirected the question to Karliah. Wasn't the elf that they had met at The Frozen Hearth a smuggler from the College or something like that?

"Aye, Enthir," Karliah nodded. "But he isn't exactly as... subtle as I would need him to be for this. He actually runs a little black market within the College walls. Most of the people there hardly mind, but... let's just say that he's being watched too closely. But you told me that you were on your way to the College when we met in Winterhold. I assumed that you were allowed inside," she frowned at him in response, obviously disgruntled about having her plan disrupted.

"I was. Well... we were," Bishop threw an uncertain look towards Aeyrin. It was obviously too much to hope for that she would come with him to ensure his access, right?

"The mages let us in because they wanted to study my powers," Aeyrin sighed, explaining. "But we did help them out in the ruins... and the last time we were there, they didn't even question our presence. I'm pretty sure that they'll let you inside," she gave him an encouraging smile. Well, that was not what he was hoping for.