The Tale of the Opal Assassins

14: Sketchy

               ~Gudrun~
          After a rather eventful journey, we arrived in Windhelm in the morning. We didn't even go into the city. We started heading straight for Riften. However, we shortly realized that there was going to be no way that we'd make it there with us being so tired, so we decided to take a rest in Kynesgrove. I thought about checking out the mine, but instead I decided to take advantage of the hot springs of Eastmarch and relax. My sisters had the same idea.
          Nice hot water was something that we hadn't experienced in a really long time. We had felt warm water, but hot water was a real treat. We needed this.
          "I wonder what's going on back in Westeros," Ingrid began.
           "I don't really know or care," Ireonna replied, "I'm just glad to be home. I wonder if Josh is going to take us by the old manor."
          "I hope so. I think he lives there now when he's not staying at the Dawnstar Sanctuary or out on a job. I'll ask him when we get back to the inn."
          "I hope our parents are doing alright," I mentioned.
          "I'm sure they are," Ingrid replied, "I bet they've been sending plenty of ravens to Dawnstar to check on us. We'll get them when we head back."
          "I don't ever want to go back," Ireonna said, "This is my home, my beautiful home. Westeros is depressing and boring. Can we not just stay here?"
"We are supposed to become the leaders of the Westeros Dark Brotherhood family," Ingrid began, "We are being trained to be the ultimate assassins. We are the Opal Assassins, and our destiny is in Westeros."
"I've always hated the idea of destiny! Mine has always looked bleak..."
"Ireonna, how is your destiny in any way bleak? You will be a leader of something huge. You already spend time with the legendary Dragonborn, and look at the amazing adventures we're having just at present."
"But Tyrion," Ireonna said as a tear fell from her eye.
"He's just a drunken little dwarf! He's worthless! Why should he be even relevant to her life in any way?"
"I love him..."
"Okay," I butted in, "This is getting really strange. Ireonna, when did you start getting so emotional? Ingrid, when did you become a motivational speaker? You guys don't make sense!"
"We don't make sense," Ingrid sarcastically began, "You're then one in a full dress in a damn hot spring!"
"I find being in nothing more than my under-garments quite embarrassing. Besides, it makes me think of all of the times Theon would try to get me to take off my dress when we would play in the river. I'll never be more than fully clothed in public."
"Gudrun," Ireonna added, "This is a hot spring, and Theon is all the way back in Westeros. It's totally fine to be less than dressed here. No ones gonna see you."
"That little asshole better not have convinced you to disrobe around him," Ingrid sternly said, "I'd chop his cock off."
"I wonder how he's doing," I thought out loud.
"I bet he's fine. You'll see him again soon enough..."
After we had soaked in silence for a few minutes, we began to hear something quite close by. At first we dismissed it for an elk, but the sound started to grow a bit louder. It didn't take long for Ingrid to spot a man watching us hiding close by behind a rock. She quickly jumped up out of the spring, grabbed her sword, and charged at the man. She had him pinned to the rock with her blade in no time. I decided to join her, but I was unable to move very quickly with my soaked dress weighing me down so much. I began questioning the man as soon as I made it to them.
"What in Molag Bal's Inferno are you doing," I yelled, "Answer me."
"I can explain," the man stuttered, "I was just sketching! Nothing more! I swear it!"
"What were you sketching," Ingrid asked as she moved her blade closer to the mans chest.
           "In in my bag," the man screaming, "Look in there! My book is in there! Please don't hurt me!"
I reached into the man's bag and pulled out a little book. I flipped through the pages to find little sketches of different things like butterflies, castles, and people. On the most recent page I found an incomplete sketch of my two sisters in the hot spring. I supposed that he didn't draw me because I was fully clothed. Ingrid looked at the sketch with utter disgust.
"This is pathetic," She spat as she tore the page out, "What is your name?"
"B-Bannero," he stuttered.
"Well Bannero, you are an excellent artist," Ingrid sheathed her sword, "But next time you want to draw someone, get their permission first. Otherwise, we'll have to kill you."
"Understood."
"Now get out of my sight."
Bannero ran away as Ingrid crumbled up the paper and threw it into one of the springs. After that, we decided to go relax in the springs for a little longer. I hadn't considered one very important detail though. The hot springs may have been warm, but Kynesgrove was a fairly cold place. It was snowing, and I was sloshing back to the inn in a soaked dress. Eventually part of it had frozen solid and my sisters had to carry me back. By the time we got inside of the inn, their arms were tired and they straight up dropped me in front of the fire place.
"What happened," Josh asked with a very concerned look on his face.
"Gudrun is a bit too modest some times," Ireonna remarked.
"At least I didn't get sketched," I sassily replied.
"I thought your Nord blood and the fall in Winterhold kept you from feeling the cold," Josh said.
"I don't really feel it. It's just that it's frozen solid so I can't really move."
"We have to get to Riften tomorrow. You better have thawed out by then... And what's this about getting 'sketched?'"
"Long story," Ingrid said.
"Creepy man was trying to sketch us in the hot springs," Ireonna explained, "It's not that long of a story."
          "Who was this man," Josh angrily questioned, "I'll execute him mercilessly!"
          "We thought about doing that," I said, "But he was just a pathetic man, so we tore the page out and let him go. Don't think we didn't threaten him though."
          "Well I knew you three would," Josh laughed, "Ireonna gets pissed way to easily. Ingrid just loves beating up disrespectful men, and you, Gudrun, are a psychopath with a long history of violence."
          "It was kind of hard to run in the dress while it was soaked, but it's impossible to move in it now. Could one of you do me a favor? Just push me a little closer to that fire there. I could take a little more heat."
          Ingrid and Josh picked me up and moved me much closer to the fire.
          "Actually guys," I said as the heat was uncomfortably hitting one spot, "Do you think you could like pick me up and spin me next to it? Kind of like when cooking?"
          "You're an idiot," Ingrid said as she and Josh rotated me beside the fire.
          "Yes," I replied as my dress thawed out very quickly, "But this idiot's idea is working. Ow! Ow! Okay I think I'm good!"
          Ingrid and Josh set me down. I was no longer frozen, but I was soaking wet once again. I had to go change into something else, so I made my way to our room. I decided on wearing just a gown for the night. Tomorrow, my sisters and I would dawn our new armor that Josh had made for us. I loved mind so much. It was the most beautiful attire I had ever owned, and it's purpose was to protect me as I killed.
Being already dressed for bed, I chose to lay down and write in my journal a bit. It was getting very full, and I was soon going to need a new one. After I wrote today's entry, I decided go back and read about the past a little. I turned to a random page and read about the time my sisters and I first met the Starks. My mother was upset with me because I had caught the dress that she wanted me to wear to the dinner on fire the day before. Next, I turned a few pages to find an entry about sneaking out to spend time with Theon. I wonder how he's doing right now. I miss him, but the beauty of my homeland has kept my mind from him. I'm gonna bring him a sweet roll when I return. I'll give him a little taste of my culture. I smile at the thought.
"Getting ready for bed already," Ingrid said as she entered the room. I thought you'd want to go climb up on the roof and look at those classic, beautiful Skyrim auroras."
"I can't believe I hadn't thought of that," I said as I put my journal down and got up, "Let's go do that."
Ingrid and I went outside and climbed up to the top of the roof of the inn to see the beautiful sky. The colors that shone above us looked as if they were created by the explosion of a rainbow, and stars shot across it like Hircine's arrows. Both of the two moons, Masser and Secunda, were visible tonight. It was the perfect night to view the paintings of the Daedra and Aedra. Now I have to wonder if we're somehow related to those artists. I suppose I could just straight forward ask my parents that question when I get home... Yeah... I think I might do that.