Chapter 281 - Solving Problems
A/n: the 5000 votes extra!
Also, In the name of her Meowjesty Nefertiti the first, we thank the patron who wanted to keep his name hidden and also @Joseph Townsned.
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*Ysolda's House*
When the two girls were captured last night by Wulfur and Jon, Wulfur took them back to Ysolda's house and made sure to keep an eye on them. An hour passed and Jon came to check on them. He left Nefertiti to keep an eye on the girls and headed to the inn with Wulfur.
The girls woke up at night and found themselves back at their home. It was a terrifying scene to wake up and see each other as the two of them remember clearly that they were attacked while brewing their Skooma. The two of them looked at the window and saw the daylight.
The warm daylight didn't bring them any warmth at all, instead, they broke into cold sweat.
"Why are we here?" Akara asked.
"... I- I don't know. Was it Ulag? Did he betray us?"
"... Akara doesn't think so… Someone sneaked on me and knocked me down. What about you?"
"I remember… I remember now! Someone hanged me from the mill and… Mara's Mercy! They made me say everything."
As Ysolda remembered what happened and told Akara, the later shot out of the bed and looked at Ysolda with terror.
"Then… the guards will come for us! The Jarl! They will execute us!"
The two girls were in a state of terror, it has been two years since they started their business and established themselves well. They were always on alert and never kept a single clue around them. Nothing can be related to them in any way.
Now that Ysolda spilled the beans, no one knew what type of character was that man who interrogated her.
Was he a competitor or one of the Jarl's thanes?
"Let's calm down first. We need a plan?" Akara said as she started thinking.
"… We… we can leave! Let's pack our things and return to Riften." Ysolda said.
"Are you serious? Whoever caught you brought us here? They know who we are and are able to go past the guards! This one thinks we are playing in the palm of that person already." Akara said.
"Dammit! What to do then? I- I- Right! Jon… he and the others are in town! Jon can help us." Ysolda said.
Akara became silent for a while and closed her eyes.
"This one is not sure about that… do you think Svidi told Jon anything?"
"No… we had to be rude to her so she doesn't find out what we are up to. If she already did then… I am not sure anymore!" Ysolda held her head and sat on the ground about to break into tears.
Akara sat beside Ysolda and grabbed her shoulders.
"It's okay… Akara thinks we should better go to them. Jon said he has influence, right? If we told him that we are in some sort of trouble and we need to leave Whiterun, he will help us."
"... Yes, that's better. Let's come up with something fast."
As the two of them started planning how to get out of this situation, a voice interrupted them.
"Hooman already knows."
It was a voice of a young girl but there was no such one in this house, the two girls looked around like mad and their eyes landed on a black cat. She was sitting on a shelf beside Akara's bed and looking down on them.
Not sure if what they heard was right or hallucination, they kept staring at the cat waiting for it to talk again.
Nefertiti calmly jumped down of the shelf to the bed and stretched her back and forelimbs the same way a normal cat would do and sat tall facing Akara and Ysolda.
"You two are in deep trouble."
""Ah!""
The two girls looked at her and exclaimed in a dumb voice. Akara had an enlightenment and spoke.
"You are an Alfiq?"
"No." Nefertiti replied and transformed into her Human Form.
A cute girl appeared instead of the cat and sat on the bed while swinging her legs like a cute child. On top of her head, there were two black cat ears that blended with her hair and a tail appeared behind her.
"You are an Ohmes-Raht?" Akara asked.
"No." Nefertiti replied and transformed into her Werecat Form.
The girls were terrified and hugged each other.
"... Are you a Suthay?" Akara asked.
"No." Nefertiti replied and transformed into her Beast Form.
"A- Are you a Senche?" Akara asked.
"Are you going to keep asking meow? I am obviously a cat." Nefertiti became annoyed and transformed back to her Human Form.
[A/n: Those types of Khajiit are shown in Discord's Gallery.]
""... A cat?"" The girls were not willing to believe that. Even Akara, who is a Khajiit, couldn't wrap her head around the situation.
"Yes, and Jon is my Hooman. We never met before because I was taken a nap. Call me Nefertiti… and no, I won't accept your prayers." Nefertiti said as she acted high and godly.
"Wait, you know Jon?" Ysolda shot up.
"Told you, he is my Hooman."
"... whatever that is! Can you please help us?" Ysolda said.
"Akara thinks that she just said the 'he knew'."
"What?"
"Yes, Hooman was the one who caught you two last night."
"..." The two girls turned silent.
"In my opinion, you should sit and wait. You are two bad people and Hooman will deal with you." Nefertiti said and walked to Akara. "Also, you do not fluff. Hooman is disappointed in you."
Even though she said that in a serious tone, it was hard to take the word 'fluff' seriously.
Still, the truth that Jon was the one who discovered them made them feel more afraid. Jon's stance towards Skooma and drugs, in general, was clear. He hated them and whoever who deals with them. There were rumors that those who smuggled Skooma in Winterhold were hanged in public and those who were caught using Skooma were put to a special prison to cure them.
There wasn't much time for them to think as the door of the house was opened and Jon came in with Wulfur.
"So you woke up!" Wulfur said. "Feeling uncomfortable?"
The girls didn't reply and looked at the ground instead.
"I suppose that both of you already know what I told Nefertiti to tell you." Jon said. "Well, let's see… I made a mess out of the place yesterday, I killed your Orc dealer and the men that came with him to backstab you with, I also tipped the guards that some Skooma gang fight was going on yesterday at that farm. The farm owner and his wife were dealt with, I sent some of my men to make sure that they don't say anything I don't want them to say about you two. Everything was taken care off."
As Jon said so, Ysolda and Akara looked at each other happily.
"Jon… I don't know what to say."
"Akara is very thankful."
The two of them fell into the illusion of happiness only to see Jon glaring at them.
"Did I say that you would go unpunished?"
To his words, the two of them shivered and looked at the ground again.
"You two are coming with me even if you don't like it. Nurina will hear of what you did and I will decide your punishment." He said.
The girls looked at him and wanted to retaliate but they were afraid of him.
"I know what do you want to say… I am merely your friend and I have no right to do so to you, but guess what! My second option is for the Jarl to hear about your little business on that farm. I have a thousand way to deliver a word to him." He said.
Jon's words were cold and not the friendly ones they used to hear from him but their options were limited in this situation. Unless they follow Jon, they will be having a dark fate from now on.
The two girls nodded without raising their heads.
"Okay, I'll handle the rest. Jull will take care of you." Jon said as he pointed the Haven Cube ring at them and took them in the Cube's space.
Inside the space, Jullanar would be waiting for them to put the girls into shape and keep them there until they go home.
"This was not the kind of reunion I hoped for." Wulfur said.
"None hoped for this, but they had done a mistake and this is the best course of action. Jull will handle them."
"What will happen to them when we get to Winterhold?"
"Not sure. I will have to tell Nurina first and I am sure she will leave them to me after giving him a straight ten hours of scolding."
"Fucking hell!" Wulfur shivered when he remembered Nurina's scolding.
"Yeah, she will make them feel too bad about their sorry selves to the point that they may commit suicide."
"If they survived it, what will you do?" Wulfur asked.
"I am going to enlist them in the boot camp."
"The Dare Troopers boot camp?"
"Yeah, Ysolda will not last two days but Akara has a future as a fighter. After the first week, I will move Ysolda to management if she wanted, she has a knack for business after all."
Wulfur nodded.
He and Jon closed Ysolda's house and made sure to lock the door and send the key to Ysolda. They then headed to the town that started getting lively in the morning.
"So, what scheme are we performing today?" Wulfur asked.
"Not much of scheme, We just have to make sure that Jon Battle-Born gets married to Olfina Grey-Mane."
"Oh! I am curious how will you do that?"
"Hehe! Simple, let's go to Clan Battle-Born Villa and introduce ourselves, we are carrying a large number of gifts so we will sway the money loving Battle-Borns to the benefits of befriending us. By doing so…"
"The opinion of Jon Battle-Born will rise and they will use him as a link to us." Wulfur continued.
"I love it when you read my mind."
"So you will raise his value in his own family, very sly! What about the Grey-Manes."
"Alina and Bjorna will visit Olfina with Svidi, they also will carry gifts and we will join them later with Jon Battle-Born. Do the same thing with the Grey-Manes in regards to Olfina."
"I like it. If Alina was here she would be so happy seeing you doing good things with sly means." Wulfur said.
"Yeah yeah, she won't shut up about it."
Jon and Wulfur walked together the path to Clan Battle-Born's home. Little did they know that things won't be as simple as they have planned.