13th of Hearthfire, 4E 211

 swear, if the Guild's endless business doesn't give me gray hair, my boys sure will.

"Give it back!" yelled one as he chased his twin brother around the Cistern. "That's my septim!"

"If you can't watch your pockets, you don't deserve to keep it."

"You two!" I yelled from my place behind the Guild Master's desk. "Get over here!"

They both stopped chasing one another and came to my desk, faces as red as their hair. They were identical in every way; I could not tell them apart on good days, much less bad ones. They each wore a different colored shirt, but I could not remember who was wearing blue and who was wearing red.

I looked at the little cutpurse, giving him a scowl. "Kyrak, give Adarmir his septim back."

"But Mama, I'm Kyrak! Adarmir was the one who took my money."

I sighed and dragged a hand down my face. "I'm sorry, Kyrak. Adarmir, give it."

They both snickered, their green eyes sparkling with a mischievous glint. "Just kidding, Mama. Kyrak is the one who took my money."

"Oh, you—" I came around my desk and grabbed them each by the point of their halfling ears. They yelped, grabbing at my wrists. Kyrak dropped the septim he stole from Adarmir as he tried to pry my hand off his ear.

"Do you think this is entertaining?" I asked, dragging them to a table. I sat them down on the bench and stood in front of them. They rubbed their ears while I crossed my arms and continued. "Do you think it's fun for me to break up these little spats when I have other work that needs to be done? Do you think I enjoy being lied to?"

"No, Mama," they said in unison, heads bowed in shame.

"All right, then. To be clear, Kyrak is wearing blue today, yes?"

Kyrak nodded. "Yes, Mama."

"And Adarmir is wearing red?"

Adarmir nodded, too. "Yes, Mama."

"Glad we got that straightened out. Now, do I have your word that you won't go switching shirts when I'm not looking?"

They finally looked back up. "We promise, Mama."

I nodded. "Good. Now, go on and play nice. If you have to bother someone, go bother your godfather, and let me get some work done, please."

Without a word, they got off the bench and left, Adarmir picking up his stolen septim on their way out of the Cistern.

With a heavy sigh, I went back to my desk and sank heavily into the chair. I propped my elbows on the smooth wooden surface and rubbed my fingers against my temple. Those two were going to be the death of me, I just knew it.

Etienne came strolling up to my desk, a piteous glint in his dark eyes. "Are my godsons giving you a hard time?"

I nodded. "You want to keep them permanently?"

He gave a good-natured chuckle. "I don't think so. I couldn't handle taking care of those little ankle-biters forever. Not at this age."

"They're only five."

He nodded. "Yeah, and there are two of them. Worse still, I can't tell 'em apart. Seems that you can't, either."

Pursing my lips, I glanced down at my paperwork, although I had no intention of actually looking at it. "Does that make me a terrible mother?"

"'Course not, boss." He sat on the edge of the desk, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. "You're frazzled. You have three kids and a full-time job. You've got a lot on your plate, and not a lot of help. So let me take care of those boys for today, and you focus on running the Guild. All right?"

I sighed in relief. "Thank you, Etienne. You're a saint."

He laughed, pushing off the desk. "I don't know about bein' a saint, but I like to think I do a lot of good." He started to walk away, but stopped mid-stride. "Remind me where Brynjolf and Fai went, would you?"

"They went on a small job together in Windhelm. Bryn insisted that it was time for Fai to learn the ropes."

"When they coming back?"

"Sometime tomorrow, I believe."

"Ah, now I remember. Just trying to keep track of all my godchildren." He gave me a thumbs-up. "Anyway, I better go find those boys before they pick their way into the weapons cache again."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, please do so. For everyone's sake."

But then, as if on cue, Adarmir and Kyrak came sprinting back into the Cistern, brandishing a pair of boots held proudly over their heads. Barefooted Delvin chased after them, spitting curses and promising to "tan their backsides" when he caught them.

I shot up from my seat, ready to punish my sons, but Etienne held his hand in front of me, shaking his head. "I've got this. Don't worry. I won't go easy on them."

Reluctantly, I sat back down. "All right. Just remember you don't do them any favors by letting them off easy."

He chuckled. "What do you take me for, an incompetent fool?"

The boys had made a full lap around the Cistern with Delvin still running after them. They squealed with laughter, streaking towards Etienne and me. My Breton friend stopped them just shy of my desk, taking the boots out of their hands and flinging them Delvin's way.

The older Breton bent over, hands on his knees, and started wheezing. "Them..." he gasped, coughing, "them boys are gonna get what's comin' to 'em. I'll tan their sorry little backsides, I will!"

"Oh, just take your boots and go back to the Flagon, you codger," said Etienne, seizing the twins by the backs of their shirts before they could get away. "Let the godfather take care of this."

Standing upright, Delvin grabbed his boots and pulled them back on, shooting a glare Etienne's way. "If I 'ear that you wen' easy on the little demons—"

"You'll have to catch me before you can do anything to me, and I doubt you have the stamina, old man." Letting go of Adarmir, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag of gold. He tossed it to Delvin, a cheeky grin on his face. "Here. Have a drink. On me."

Grumbling under his breath, Del turned and walked away.

I gave Etienne a weak smile before looking down at my boys. My smile faded into a stern scowl. "You boys are in trouble now. What on Nirn possessed you to steal Delvin's boots?"

"He left them laying around," said Kyrak. "Daddy told us that if anyone leaves anything laying around, they deserve to have it stolen."

"He wasn't talking about Delvin's boots, or anything that any of the Guild members owns. He was talking about other people. We don't steal from the Guild, you got it?"

"We weren't gonna keep them, Mama," said Adarmir. "What would we want with smelly old boots?"

I stood up, walked around my desk, and knelt in front of them. "That is not the point, boys. I know you want to be good thieves, but you're so young. You've got a lot to learn, and there's no point in growing up too fast. Your father and I are going to teach you everything there is to know about thieving. But for now, don't try stealing anything from the adults. They don't take too kindly to little ankle-biters like you filching their things. You understand?"

In unison, they said, "We do, Mama."

I nodded. "You two are going to stay with Etienne now. He's going to make sure you keep your noses clean until your father comes home. When he and Fai get back, he and I are going to discuss your punishment for misbehaving."

They stared at their feet, scarlet hair falling in their faces.

I stood up and leaned against my desk. "Now go with Etienne."

The Breton took my boys away, shooting me a look over his shoulder. I mouthed a silent "thank you" to him, and he gave me a smile and a nod in return.

Once they had gone, I went back to my previous task: sorting through endless stacks of paperwork. It was going to take the rest of the day, easily, to get through it all. Maybe even longer.

I groaned and folded my arms atop the desk, laying my forehead against them. I wish I could trade places with Etienne right about now.

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Yay! Femke made her appearance in this book! I've been waiting to post something about her, but I wanted to finish writing Walk in the Shadows before I did so. Hope you enjoyed this, and I hope that she will soon become a regular in this book!

As always, requests are still OPEN! Don't be afraid to ask for a short story!

Also, if you have a question for me, go check out my Ask the Authoress chapter that I posted not that long ago! Leave a comment with your question, and I'll be more than happy to answer it in the upcoming answers chapter!

Until next time! Love and sweetrolls!