[Skyrim, Outside the Honningbrew Meadery] Dark Deeds (pseudo-open)

((If your character has a reason he or she might run into this meeting for some reason, please PM me and i'll try to work something out.))

Watching the roads for travellers, Calith impatiently paced up and down the short road close to the Meadery silently urging for his contact to arrive.
He knew it was his own fault for so readily agreeing to thief’s time and place, but he couldn’t help resenting waiting in the open with the sun beating down overhead. Dusk, even perhaps the early hours of the dawn, would have been far more preferable this and with no knowing who else might have been reading the pages of the daedric tomes he kept expecting to see armed guards marching towards him. Warriors having learned of his actions the previous day and somehow learned of the bosmer’s crime. Word travelled fast in Whiterun, and even as he had been checking the Drunken Huntsman for any ambushers, he had overheard mention of his victim’s discovery.

Calith sighed and shook his head, trying to remove such thoughts from his mind. Just wait for the thief, he told himself, wait for him to arrive, make sure his wares are worth their price, then leave. Stay no longer than you have to.

Jalum-Ek, thief extraordinaire, had had just about enough of Skyrim and his departure from the frozen wasteland was well overdue. There was just one last sale to make, and then he would leave the Nordic homeland, never to return. Life was… decent, for once, and as an independent thief, you can’t ask for much more. Currently travelling by cart, courtesy of a fellow argonian merchant who’d had enough of Skyrim just like he had, they had just passed Whiterun, coming up to the place he had asked Calith to meet him. No doubt he would be able to see them approaching.

The merchant had certainly seen Calith.

"Hey, this the guy you were selling to?" the merchant asked.

Jalum raised himself from his sitting position – there was only one seat for the front of the cart, so he had been forced to sit among the wares– taking a good look at the (probably not still) pacing bosmer. In all likelyhood, it was Calith; who the hell else would be waiting around in the middle of the road.

“Yeah, looks like him. Stop here, I won’t be a moment,” Jalum replied.

Jalum hopped off the cart as the merchant brought it to a stop a way off from Calith. Walking up to the bosmer confidently, his one green eye studied him cautiously; Calith's resemblance to the picture that appeared by what he wrote in the books was uncanny, to say the least. Suddenly being approached by a strange argonian would cause alarm, or at the very least suspicion, in most people, though given their arrangement, Jalum was confident the quiver full of arrows he had in his hand and the second he had slung over his shoulder would assuage any worries the bosmer might have. He grinned, stopping a few feet short of Calith.

"I believe you're looking for some arrows."

Calith had paused upon seeing the cart come to a halt and one of its occupants jump off, walking towards him. For a fleeting moment he was concerned that someone had recognised him and reached for his sword before he saw the arrows in the argonian's hand.

"I believe you're looking for some arrows."

"So I am" Calith nodded, still not entirely relaxing his sword arm an letting his hand come to rest upon its hilt. "Before we do business, i'd like to be certain it's you. Could you produce the book you own?" It seemed a reasonable enough method of being certain the thief was Jalum-Ek, only a few others owned the tomes and both of the other argonians writing in them were not lacking an eye.

((Apologies for the delay))

Calith’s tenseness did not go unnoticed by the argonian, but it was hardly unusual. Buying stolen goods – unless you were specifically a fence – tended to put people on edge.

At Calith’s request, Jalum put the quiver down, then took a moderately sized off of his back, pulling out his book. It was a rather fancy, with an ornate pattern on the cover being made out of silver and gold that had been inlaid into it. He tossed it to Calith’s feet.

“Stupid thing. Would've saved myself a lot of trouble if I'd left it in that noble's house. At least it's providing some benefit now." Jalum reached for the quiver he had laid on the floor, pulling an arrow from it. It was Imperial, steel tipped, just as Calith had asked. He examined it briefly before taking off the quiver he had on his shoulder and laying it on the floor next to the other.

One first quiver seemed to be all Imperial arrows, twenty in total, including the one Jalum had removed. The other quiver contained sixteen orcish arrows plus six ebony.

"Aye, I know the feeling" Calith answered as the book was dropped before him, relaxing somewhat at the sight of it and letting his hand fall to his side. That proved the lizard was who he claimed he was.
The first batch of arrows placed before him was what he would have expected to see delivered to him by the thief, removing one from the quiver he examined it. It was no worse than he had been expecting, somewhat worn and blunted but still usable, probably stolen from a guardhouse somewhere.
What he'd not expected was the second quiver and its contents, orc arrows were always welcome ammunition but he'd seldom seen ebony arrows let alone had a chance to use one. Dropping the one he had been examining, he eagerly withdrew one of the four from amidst the prichalcum tipped arrows and held it up to the light. "Now this i'd not expected" he grinned looking back at Jalum "good to know it wasn't a mistake agreeing to this exchange. Name your price."

Jalum grinned when Calith eagerly examined the ebony arrow. It was always good to see happy customers, if only because it’d mean he’d definately be getting paid.

“Thank you for the complement. When you’re leaving the city you’re stealing from, I always try to get as good a parting gift as possible. Poor fletcher who I took them from is going to have a very unhappy client on his hands. As for prices, two septims apiece for the Imperial arrows, four for the orc and seven for the ebony. Ten for a quiver, but I’m guessing you have your own. That good with you?”

Calith considered the offer for a moment. He was asking for steeper prices than Calith would usually have been willing pay, but he didn't want to drive the thief off or waste time haggling. The sooner he was rearmed and leaving Whiterun the better. "Deal" he agreed, "I'll take the ones of orc and ebony make. Not the quiver, I have my own."
He was reaching for his coinpurse when he noticed movement further up the road leading from the city. Six figures moving in their direction, drawn weapons glinting visibly in the sunlight. "Argonian," he asked quietly "how much for safe passage out of this hold?"