#alexandria lachance aka Fox

[arsonwithgojo]

snippet sunday

I was tagged by @cwahsont​ to do a snippet sunday, so I think I’ll (belatedly because that’s how I am) share a piece that never made it into Wolves  ^-^  I wasn’t sure anyone would care about Fox chatting up a random guard that I had no plans for other than to show her starting to sway the guards of Whiterun in her favor.  So anyways, I cut the following, but it would have fit in Chapter 22, right after Lucien calls Kaidan a teddy bear.  (team dragonborn arriving in Riverwood right after BleakFalls)

I tag @tastelessforestdragon​ and whoever else would like to share stuff!

~~~~~ 

Late afternoon finds us in the guards' training yard, somehow looking like a respectable team of adventurers.  The damaged plates of Kaidan’s armor have been replaced with fresh steel and Lucien looks almost battle ready in his new leather armor, complete with a shield strapped to his back - or at least he would look battle ready if it wasn’t for his giggling as he haphazardly swings his new sword back and forth at a pell under Kaidan’s direction.

“Well look what the cat dragged in!  If it isn’t my favorite dragon hunter,” says a familiar voice as a guard emerges from the stable next to the yard. “Glad to see you’re still in one piece!”

“And if it isn’t my favorite blue eyed guard,” I grin, recognizing him from the inn and more than a little pleased that he seems to remember me so fondly.  “Glad to see your town’s still in one piece.”

“Barely.  I’ve never had charge of such a drunken, disorderly lot.  If someone isn’t brawling in the streets, there’s a drunkard drawing his name in piss on our door.  Even had to break up Camilla and the smith’s wife yesterday.”

I laugh at that, “I do remember Camilla being a little excitable.  She’s certainly a girl who knows what she wants.”

“Yeah and what she wants is the attention of every man within a five mile radius, married or not.  I think you might have been the only woman I’ve ever seen calm her down.”

“I’m pretty good with that kind of thing.”

“Pretty good with flirting, you mean,” he counters, giving me a playful grin and a nudge as we stand side by side and watch the training together.  “I saw.  Felt a little left out though.”

“Well, maybe you need to get better at flirting yourself,” I laugh again, enjoying the banter.  “Your pickup line was to buy me a drink when I already had one in hand.”

“Not all of us have a honeyed tongue like yours.  Maybe you could show me a few tricks,” he fires back.

“You know what, I take it back,” I smirk, looking him up and down.  He’s in uniform, a rugged and well fitted light armor of leather and chainmail, with the dark yellow sash signifying a guard of Whiterun Hold.  His helmet is held under his arm, showing off his short, messy hair, much darker than the average Nord, almost a dusky chestnut.  He’s, well, there’s no denying he’s attractive with his impish smile and laughing eyes and I’m very certain he knows it.  “I'm starting to think you are actually extremely good with flirting.  Did you use a bad line just so I'd think you were harmless?  Good lord, your marks probably don't even know what hit them until you’ve already got them wrapped around your finger.”

“Normally, but my latest mark is giving me a bit of trouble,” he laughs, easing back into friendliness.  He nods at Kaidan and Lucien, now working on how to hold the shield properly.  “Your boss looks like he picked up a new protégé.  Wouldn’t mind having someone like you joining up with us then if you’re interested.  I’ve got fighters aplenty, but the job is mostly deescalating confrontations.  Something a lot of our recruits don’t understand - but a skill you seem to have in spades.”

“Tempting, but we’re already on a job.”

“I heard.  Some mission up to Bleak Falls to get a fancy rock.  I had half a mind to send a guard or two with you, or even go myself.  No offense, but you’re built like a bird.”

“A hawk?”

“A sparrow.”

“Thanks a lot,” I laugh.  “If you’re done hitting on me or making fun of me, maybe you could bring out our horses.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he grins again, motioning for me to follow him inside the stable, “you’re just enjoyable to talk with.  And I admit I’ve been worried my indecision might have led to something bad happening to you up at the barrow.  I’m not usually one to question the Jarl, but I couldn’t believe he sent just the two of you up there on your own.  Either your boss is every bit the warrior he looks or you’re a lot tougher than you look.”

“She is.”

We both turn around and find Kaidan has followed us into the stable.  And looking past him, I can see Lucien on the ground outside struggling to do a push up.

The guard, for his part, seems eager to finally have a chance to talk to Kaidan, “I’m sure she is or she wouldn’t be here.  How was it in there?”

“About what you’d expect.  Every nasty manner of man and monster, but she held her own.  Even saved my life in fact.”

“Saved your life?” the guard looks back at me, surprised.

Our conversation is cut short by the sudden kicking of hooves against a stall door and a loud snorting.  Following the guard leads us to a massive, black warhorse, looking absurdly oversized in the standard size stall.

“That’s…” Kaidan starts, his voice softer and more gentle than I think I've ever heard it.  “How much for that horse?”

“More than you can afford.  It’s meant as a stud for the Jarl’s horses.  I’m just holding it till they take it to the stables outside the city.  Besides, it’s a nasty piece of work,” he adds as another kick shakes the wooden stall door.  “One of ours is laid up in bed with some broken ribs from a kick this morning.  Lucky he wasn’t killed.”

“How much?” I ask, echoing Kaidan’s question and noticing the stillness in his features and the clenched fist betraying that stillness.  He did say he had a horse before the prison…

“I bought it off the Thalmor for two thousand, but it’s worth twice that.”

We don’t have anything near that amount.  We might be able to scrape together eight hundred if we sell off a few things… “How much for me to buy it?”

The guard laughs, “You think I should give you a special rate?”

“I thought I was your favorite dragon hunter.”

“Well, yes, but I can’t just write off a loss of two thousand gold to make a pretty woman smile,” he says, oddly looking almost frustrated that he can’t just let me have my way.

That’s good.  He’s loyal to his duty, but it seems like the challenge of finding my favor might come in a close second.  Again, it seems extremely strange that he’s so eager and that I made such an impression on him, but I’m not going to question my luck.  Now I just need to figure out what he responds to… he said he enjoys my conversation and he’s very quick witted… maybe he’s just bored and enjoys the dance my conversation provides.  …I think I’ll just throw everything at him at once then and see who dances better.

“You wouldn’t need to.  The Jarl will cover all two thousand,” I begin.

“The Jarl is just going to give you two thousand gold?  I find that highly unlikely.  If I take your word and it ends up coming back to bite me in the arse, it'll be a demotion if not worse.”

“He’ll pay if he wants his rock.  And I’m sure he does because it’s needed to help fight the dragons.  It’s up to you though.  I can ask by courier and we can sit here for a few days and wait for an answer while the dragons burn down another village, possibly this one.  Or, I can finish our quest and ride into Whiterun tonight on the back of that stallion.”

“You’d let Riverwood burn to have this horse?”

“No, but it sounds like you would.”

“Fucking hell.  Look I can’t just…”

Another kick splinters the door of the stall as the horse continues to snort and toss its head.  And the next moment, Kaidan’s inside the stall, whispering something too low to catch.  Slowly, the horse quiets enough that Kaidan can get in closer, stroking its neck as he continues to talk to it.  And… it wickers, nuzzling into his neck and blowing at his hair.

I’m almost positive now.  “Look, this was his horse.  It was stolen and we’d like it back."

"That's not my problem."

“The destruction it's wreaking on that door is.  How much will it be to fix that?  And once Kaidan’s gone, who knows how that horse will react?  Maybe you’ll need to rebuild the entire stable.”

“It wasn’t kicking down the door till he got in here.  The stallion’s wild, but I’m very good at gentling wild animals.”

“I hope so, because I imagine you’ll be out a lot more than two thousand if you’re not.  Or… we’re borrowing the Jarl’s horses anyway.  Let us borrow this one.  Your stable remains intact, and we either drop the horse at Pelagia Farm ourselves or we return in a few days with the money."

"And suppose you run off with it?"

"Do I look like a bandit?  If my word is so worthless to you, I’ve got collateral.  We’ve got an original Nordic dragon claw, silver and sapphire, worth at least five hundred gold on its own, and it supposedly unlocks a small fortune in a barrow over in Ivarstead.”

He answers slower this time, "Maybe… give me a moment to think."

Nope, I want to keep the momentum.  "Please?  Anything else you want too, just name it."  I'm well aware of how to tilt my head, the seemingly worried little bite of my lower lip that just happens to draw attention to my mouth, just how much of a subtle pout and batting of eyes I can get away with before it's obvious what I'm doing.

“Fucking hell,” he repeats again, definitely eyeing my lips as he runs a hand back through his hair, “did you actually fight monsters in that barrow or did you just ask them to keel over and they listened?  I know exactly what you’re doing.”

“Is it working?” I ask, my pout now something a little more mischievous with the hint of a grin and a raised eyebrow.

“You can borrow the damn horse.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that, though you might get more if you keep making that face," he smirks, looking me up and down.  "It seems I completely misjudged who the leader of your group is."

“Thank you,” I smile, not a flirting one or some lighthearted grin, but a real smile. “I don’t think I caught your name?”

“Lieutenant Erich Emberson, Ma’am.”

“Alexandria.”

He smiles, “Alexandria.  I’ll watch for your return then.”

“Kaidan?” I ask.

“Aye?” he answers, still focused on looking over the horse… no, his horse.

“Can you ready the horses for us?  I’ll just be a few minutes.”

“Sure thing,” his voice is gruff, a little more husky than normal.

“Erich, how do you feel about magic?”

“Depends why you’re asking.”

“I’m a healer.  If you want, I can see to your man.”

“You’re just one surprise after another, aren’t you?” Erich says, suddenly looking desperate and leading the way.  “Follow me.  We’d be glad to have any help you can lend.  There’s no alchemist in the village, so potions have been impossible to come by.  And priests don’t travel much anymore with the war.  Truth be told I’m not sure he would’ve lasted the night.  He’s been coughing up blood and wheezing something awful.  If you can help him, you can forget about the money.”

“I’m not helping to get something in return.  And I certainly don't want my debt relieved by holding a man’s life over your head,” I frown, trying to keep pace with his long strides.  “I was bluffing earlier about the village thing too.  I wouldn't use people's lives and livelihoods to blackmail you and the Jarl.”

“You sounded damn convincing.”

“I was trying too.  But honestly, I was kind of expecting you to turn me down.  My real plan was to just flirt, get you drunk, and come back and steal the horse later.”

Erich bursts into laughter, “Gods help the man or woman that stands in your way, eh?  Well, if there’s nothing else you’ll accept for payment just know you have my gratitude and respect then.”