Qu'iin

It admittedly broke me to see my old home reduced to a pile of kindling by the Imperials, the Imperials that I now controlled. Brynjolf was heartbroken to see the end of the guild, and it pained me to see him so down, without any hope left at all. His family had disappeared or had been killed, I had deserted him and then had stolen the artefacts that I had entrusted to him, and now nobody had stopped Mercer because I had failed.

'I failed her.' Brynjolf groaned as he put his head in his hands.

'Failed who, Qu'iin wonders?'

'Shadow. She entrusted two very important artefacts of daedric origin to me, and I let them get stolen. Now she won't be able to stop Mercer, and the guild is gone, one of my comrades is dead and it's all because I actually trusted what Xria said and went with her to that damnable Aelyid ruin, Vae is dead and Shadow has completely deserted me. I'm a failure, Qu'iin.'

'Brynjolf can rebuild, Qu'iin will help. Qu'iin wants to build the guild back to what it used to be.'

'But what can you do? You're not a thief, or you would know the way to the cistern already.'

'Qu'iin is not the richest Khajiit in the imperial city, but she writes. Qu'iin writes it all for the East Empire Company. Ledgers and Ledgers. Qu'iin could make a slip up and get diamonds imported to Riften.' It was a feeble excuse to give away the Empire's money, but I needed to help rebuild the Guild.

'You'd do that, for a destroyed guild you've never seen?' Asked Brynjolf, touched by my generosity. Ugh. It reminded me of the days when the Dragonborn was a pure soul, no blood on her hands and her head held high. Those were the days of a clean Skyrim, and now it was probably my fault the guild had been burnt to the ground.

'Qu'iin would. Qu'iin will. Qu'iin will send Freyja, Mour, Ma'dor and Khinder. Stalks-At-Night and maybe even Karthorn Septim too.'

'Karthorn Septim?'

'Brother of Empress Sharinzah Septim. Kind Khajiit from Elsweyr. Qu'iin will set out at once, if that is alright with Brynjolf?'

'Yeah, it's fine. Go, do your thing. I'll make a start here.'

2 Months Later

'Shadow!'

'Karth?'

'Shadow! I heard you'd taken the throne! What are you doing here?' Asked my brother, enveloping me in a bear hug.

'I need your help. You know the Thieves Guild in Skyrim?'

'Yes, you were representing them last time you were here. You beat Skye a few years back.'

'Their home was burnt to the ground by the imperial army just over a year ago. Say that you are Karthorn Septim and that Qu'iin sent you.'

Karth nodded and set off at once.

Back in the destroyed Cistern

Brynjolf had done a really good job at putting everything back together. Karth, Stalks-At-Night, Khinder, Freyja, Mour and Ma'dor were already there and helping. In a few days we had the cistern clean and back to almost normal, we just had to sort out the beds and the Flagon. Mour, Khinder, Stalks-At-Night and I all took a bed each and began to repair them. The wood was still strong enough, just coated in soot, while the furs were all gone. A quick trip to the Riften market soon gave us the supplies we needed.

The Flagon just needed a scrub down and the seating replaced, alongside the balcony that used to stretch out over the calm waters. Ma'dor, Karth, Brynjolf and Freyja all worked tirelessly to rebuild the balcony while the rest of us scrubbed down the main area and mended everything that was broken. I even discreetly replaced Vex's crates for her... if she ever came back.

The guildspace was back to normal, sparkling clean and... eerie. There was no bustle of busy Thieves going about their daily business, none of Vex yelling at Delvin, and none of Tonilia's waspish sarcasm. It seemed so empty without them.

'We need a guild to fill the space.' Commented Karth.

'Agreed.' I Replied.

All that I needed to do was hunt down my old comrades and get them back together...