It had seemed like a simple plan, really. Not even an imaginative one - after all, she got the idea from the person who had done the same to her.

 

There were purses everywhere she looked, just hanging from people's belts (a mistake she would never make again!) All she had to do was...take one.

 

She waited. She studied. She planned. She picked the perfect spot, an alleyway that was narrow enough that people passing by could not help but brush up against each other to pass, but wide enough that she wouldn't be stuck. She waited for the perfect mark - two women, no armed men, no guards in sight. Sloan stepped forward, moved with as much nonchalant ease as she could, then, just as she brushed past them with a mumbled, "Excuse me," she grabbed the purse and ran.

 

At least, she tried to. The part she had forgotten was that her thief had cut the thong that tied the purse to her belt. The woman grunted as Sloan yanked on the purse, then they both tumbled to the ground. The woman screamed, and her friend joined in by yelling, "Thief! Someone help!" Sloan swore as she extricated herself from the woman's skirts and ran. She didn't look back at the commotion behind, and when guards pounded in her direction from the front of the alley, she dove down an even narrower side alley. Shouts rang out behind her, circled around, soon seemed to be on every side. She continued to run. She burst out of the alley directly into the central market. Dusk had fallen but the market still contained a fair number of people. Enough to lose herself in?

 

The hope was short-lived. She was spotted before she had managed three steps, so she turned and ran again. More guards poured out of a road in front of her, so she veered left, then right. Soon her only path lay down a wooden staircase. She took it without hesitation, though the smell of the canal grew overwhelming the lower she got. The stairs ended on a wooden walkway that skirted the dirty water.

 

Sloan had no time to think - her pursuers flung themselves down the stairs. She ran, crossing a plank that bridged the canal, along the walkway on the other side. The canal took a slight bend to the right, and as soon as she rounded the bend and was thus momentarily out of view of her pursuers, she opened the first door she came to - feeling fortunate that it was unlocked - and jumped inside.

 

It was, from what Sloan could tell at a glance, an inn. Several heads turned her way as she entered. She had never heard of an inn on the Lower Strand, but she didn't have any time to consider the matter further, because the door crashed open even as she tried to slip out of the main room toward a hallway that beckoned beyond. She never made it beyond the counter that dominated the far wall - a strong hand grabbed her as she tried to pass. Her eyes followed the hand's beautifully manicured nails up its milky white arm to the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The woman didn't so much as glance in Sloan's direction.

 

"Welcome, gentlemen," she said to the soldiers who had spilled through the doorway. "How may we serve you tonight?"

 

The soldiers, to their credit, did not look flummoxed. "Sorry to trouble you, ma'am," one said as he stepped toward Sloan. "We're just after this pickpocket. Hand her over and we'll be on our way."

 

"Pickpocket?" The woman blinked at Sloan as if seeing her for the first time. "Sir, I believe you are mistaken. This is our newest employee. We've been waiting for her to arrive from Whiterun for a month." She glanced at Sloan again. "You DO look a fright, girl. That must have been quite a trip you took."

 

Sloan froze as all eyes turned to her. "Um..." she stammered as her mind whirled, trying to figure out what she was supposed to say. "Yes, ma'am. I'm...sorry it took so long."

 

The woman smiled, then turned back to the soldiers. "There, now, you see?"

 

The head guard looked a little uncertain but did not back down. "Now look, this girl tried to steal a woman's purse. She was seen by witnesses."

 

The woman looked back at Sloan. "Is this true?"

 

"Oh, no ma'am!" Sloan shook her head. The rush through the city did her good, because she could not have faked the flushed coloring or the trembling that shook her limbs as the adrenaline started to ebb away. "It was a mistake! I just tripped on a loose cobblestone and fell into her!"

 

This earned another smile, and the woman looked back at the soldier. "Was anything actually stolen?"

 

"Well...no. She wasn't able to..."

 

"It sounds like you can't really prove it wasn't an accident."

 

"Well, I..."

 

"Look." The woman smiled, and her smile lit up the room. The soldiers seemed to stand straighter. "If you drop this matter and leave my new girl in my care, I promise I'll make sure she doesn't get into further trouble." The men shuffled a bit, but before they could say anything, she added, "I know you gentlemen had to do some extra work today. I don't want such work to go unrewarded. If you all come back after your shift tonight, we'll give each of you a free toss."

 

This statement, confusing as it was to Sloan, clearly meant something to the men. Every one of them started to beam, and the tension left the room in the blink of an eye. "That's mighty generous, ma'am!" The leader touched his domed helmet. "I can see that this was just a misunderstanding. Sorry to trouble you, ma'am! And you, ma'am!" He touched his helmet again, this time looking straight at Sloan. She gave him a weak nod in response. Apparently satisfied, he barked a word to the other guards and they turned and filed out the door.

 

Once they were gone, the woman released her grip. Sloan turned to her, gratitude in her heart. "Thank you, ma'am. I don't..."

 

The woman cut her off. The smile was gone, replaced by a look of cunning speculation. "Quiet, girl. You have just cost me five hundred septims. You will pay me back."

 

Sloan nodded, although her heart sank at the words. Five hundred! Might as well have been fifty thousand, for all the chance Sloan would ever have enough.

 

The woman grabbed Sloan's face, forced her to turn her head to one side, then the other. "Show me your teeth." Sloan opened her mouth with orphanage bred obedience. The woman looked in her mouth, then grunted. "Not bad. Marie!" Another woman, nearly as beautiful, appeared in the doorway.

 

 "Ma'am?"

 

"Get her washed up. Check her out."

 

"Yes, ma'am." Marie gave a little curtsy, then beckoned to Sloan. Sloan backed away from the counter, then attempted an awkward curtsy of her own. This earned the ghost of a smile on the woman's face. The thought of running crossed Sloan's mind, but she turned instead and followed Marie down a dimly lit hallway. She wasn't sure what this place was, but at least she was not likely to starve to death here.