The art of thieving

Chapter 4

A/N - Fans of the TV show Friends. I challenge you to find the sneaky reference in this chapter ;)

A few days passed and it was the day before Iniko had to go to Goldenglow to do that job for Maven. Once Iniko had finished the random jobs she'd picked up a few hours ago it was late. She climbed onto a roof of the house she once was determined to buy, Honeyside, and watched the sunset. She had a perfect view of it disappearing slowly under the lake. She also had a view of Goldenglow Estate. She thought about her tactics to get in for a few minutes and returned her attention to the sunset.

About half an hour later Brynjolf came looking for her but instead of taking her back to the guild he joined her. He didn't talk, just sat next to her.

Iniko enjoyed his company, they'd known each other for a almost a week and they became fast friends in that time. 

When the sun finally set and they were surrounded in the dark, cold night Brynjolf finally broke the silence. 

"I'm confident in your skills, lass. I think you're going to do just fine on the job." He turned to her with a soft smile.

She looked back at him. "What about my lockpicking? I'll probably panic and try to unlock something fast." Brynjolf put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She flinched at his touch but quickly relaxed, it'd take some time to get used to genuine contact. 

"Even if you do, lass. You'll be able to open the lock fast enough. Remember you only broke a few, my advice is merely to help you open one without breaking so many picks." 

She smiled at his words. She suddenly no longer felt as anxious as she once did. He let go of her shoulder and she looked up at the stars and lay back on the roof.  

"I believe in you, lass." Brynjolf said and lay down next to her. She felt a blush and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Thanks, lad." she giggled. Brynjolf knew her name but for some reason still insisted on calling her lass. She didn't mind, she liked the way it rolled off his tongue in his accent.

"Wow." he paused, in thought. "No one has dared called me that before." 

"There's a first for everything." she looked into his grassy green eyes, they looked darker at night, and smirked. 

"Aye, that's true." Brynjolf had to admit, the girl had a rare fire in her. 

He took a moment while they were looking at each other in a comfortable silence to take in her appearance. She had a small scar on her right cheekbone, he wondered what from. Her eyes had brown in the centre which faded into a bright blue, he hadn't seen eyes like that before but he could lose himself in them. Her hair, usually loose or pulled into a ponytail, was dark brown, easily mistaken for black. She had freckles over her cheeks and nose. She had thin, soft lips. 

She quickly sat up. "We should go." he nodded and jumped down the roof. She looked down at him as he stumbled to pick himself up. "Smooth."  she joked.

"Don't get smart mouthed on me, lass." Brynjolf laughed. Iniko looked down. It was quite the drop. She looked to her side and saw a spider crawling toward her. 

"Holy shi-!" she stumbled back. "Br- Bryn catch me." she managed to warn the poor man before falling off toward him, he stumbled, catching her just in time. He put her down.

"What was that-?" he frowned, bewildered. She took a moment to catch her breath. 

"A spider was running at me-" she exclaimed. Brynjolf looked at her in astonishment before bursting out laughing.