Small Town Girl

“You’re flustered? You chased me halfway out of Whiterun just to tell me I could hit people.” Icona wasn’t sure of her next step, either. Everything was so far removed from Daggerfall, from her life with the knights, from even the caravans. She didn’t like when rules changed too fast. She wanted to know what to expect, and this was very much not expected.

“I don’t want you t’pay me!”  Briet panicked.  “That’s not what I meant!  I don’t want money.  Or anything.  I just-- Wanted to make sure you were alright.  They can be asses, right?”  She scratched the back of her neck and let her gaze slide away for a moment, before she chanced a glance back at her face.

“My name’s Briet,”  She clumsily interjects just as the Dunmer questions her.  Briet bites her bottom lip, embarrassed, and then glances around to ensure that there’s no one around to see this.  She looks the Dunmer woman straight in the eye.

Icona is good at running, but there’s only so far and fast one can go in heavy armor. And this guard is damn persistent. What in Oblivion is her deal, anyway? She’s too invested in catching a Dunmer red-handed. Literally red-handed, if the smear on her knuckles is anything to go by.

“I don’t fuck anywhere!”  Briet yelled back.  The Dunmer was slowing down, and it was a good thing, too.  Briet was running out of breath, and she was panting by the time she caught up.  Her arms felt limp when she reached out to steady the Dunmer, and then thought better of touching her and simply cut her off instead.

Icona doesn’t trust this woman, not one bit, but what’s the worst that could happen? She’s spent time in jail before. And she really wants to punch this guy.

“Hey-- Wait!”  

She looks at Icona, and then the Nord man.  She glances back and forth, and then steps back.  “Okay,”  she says simply, much to the Nord man’s confusion. As if to emphasize what she means, she jerks his head encouragingly in his direction.

“He was---  He was?”  All aggravation seems to leave her at once, arms relaxed at her side as she turns to look over her shoulder at the Nord who’s still, mercifully, standing, blood streaming down from his nose. “She’s lying--”  He begins, and the guardswoman immediately holds up her hand to silence him as she looks the Dunmer in the eye.

“Because I’m talkin’ to you instead of hauling you off to jail!”  She hollers back, hands clenched at her sides.  Their shouting is starting to draw some attention, and she ignores the stares they’re receiving as she forces herself to calm down.

“I’m a guard!  S’what I’m supposed to do when you come in here all fur and fangs like a sabrecat!”  She yells back, and finally releases the Dunmer.  She stumbled back and to her feet, face flushed.  She planted her feet, and pointed at the Dunmer where she lay.

The little woman is smaller, and her lower center of gravity is just enough to unbalance the mer. She crashes to her ass, dragging the commanding Nord down with her. Of course no one would take Icona’s side. Of course they’d side with the lout she punched.

Briet yells loudly as that hand grasps hold of her hair.  She reaches out blindly, the heel of her hand shoving up against the Dunmer’s face as she tries to regain control of the situation.  She knows how to scrap, and likes to scrap, but this is unprofessional.

Icona is not in the mood to be told to stop. Not when this shitstain of a human had been giving her grief. She’d tried to ignore him. Tried to enjoy her ale. But no, no, he hadn’t let her. Now she’s knocking out his teeth, and she’s the one getting yelled at, dragged off of him?

The first  connects with her jaw, and Briet utters a loud yelp of surprise.  She staggers backwards one step, hands slapped over the wronged area as she stares at the Dunmer woman with an expression somewhere between incredulous and outraged, all wide eyes and a wrinkling nose.

“Oh, I had no idea! The guards just let me through without a second glance!” She pouted, “I’m a herbalist by trade, I thought I could try selling my mixtures out here in Whiterun, they said it was where everyone bought and traded things, and I thought I’d do something different. Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Septimus– my brother, I love him but he is too money hungry!” Partly true. Mostly true. She hoped it seemed true enough.

...Oh.

Well this was… hmm. Where was Delvin and what was taking him so long?

“Yes, a Merchant’s Permit.  And you would have known about it if you had registered with imports when you reached the city, which is standard procedure.”  She pointed in the vague direction.  “But you didn’t.  So I think you’re.. “  Lying?  She didn’t want to accuse a woman of lying.  That was rude.