Rowena was barely in the city gates before she had a greatsword nearly catch her shoulder. She rolled to avoid it and turned to her attacker, trying to scramble for weapons at the same time. It was one of the guards. "What're you-? I am tha-"

"Maven's orders," was the man's only response before he went to swing again.

She rolled again, and then, from behind her,

"Rowa!"

She turned sharply, then ducked again when a waraxe's blade came dangerously close to her head. She stopped upon recognizing the battlecry that the axe's owner did: Maul- the same one who had called her name.

The man ducked and slid to avoid another guard's sword, then drew Rowena's dagger from its sheath before tossing it at her. "Took you long enough!" he barked.

"What is going on?!" Rowena demanded, thrusting the dagger into the guard's chest as he stumbled from the weight of his latest blow.

"Maven gave a kill order a matter of hours ago. Anyone who's not entirely loyal to her that her own people know of die!" Maul reported, then stumbled a bit on his latest recovery from dispatching his opponent. "Also got the order to kill you on sight because she… felt her end was near by your hand or something. Since you're back and bloody and she's not, you won whatever fight was coming. Quick, back to back!" he barked, and Rowena stumbled to obey.

"Then… why are you defending me here?" Rowena replied. "Last I checked-"

"Last I checked you saved my life. She just pays me…"

"That still doesn't-"

"I'm a bit more honorable then materialistic, Princess. I owe you my life, least I can do is keep you and yours out of trouble." Maul replied. "The guards are closer to the city. Saw your redheaded friend running past here a while ago, headed to the kids. The bald one's around. Those are all the ones I remember having to… deal with, concerning speaking out against Maven?"

"No, I… shit, Balimund!" she realized before charging down one of the docks to get to the other side of the city.

Maul groaned upon watching her run and narrowly miss stray arrows and swords before he ran after her.

The pair arrived just in time to stop a guard from embedding her sword into Balimund's back. Rowena threw herself against the woman and went to work parrying the shots when another guard flanked her. Maul tackled the newcomer away and Rowena backed up- right into the corner between the wall to the shop and the city gate. She arched forward to run back into the fray and stopped short upon feeling a sharp, burning pain in her side. She looked down to find that the guard had just about skewered her with her sword. The rest of the pain caught up with her and she doubled over before throwing herself at the guard again, stumbling when Balimund got to him a moment before.

When he did, the blacksmith spotted the damage, he and Maul fought off the last couple of guards and he bolted over to her. "Rowena!"

She gasped in pain and reached for him with one hand, then yanked the sword out with the other.

"What're you doing?! That'll-"

"I'll be fine, just get me to Honeyside!"

"That's-"

Rowena looked up through blurred vision, and managed to see a few sets of her Guildmembers taking on a few guards. She had the thought to wonder where Maven's family was before she felt herself get weaker. "My people have things handled right now. I just need to get away-"

" 'My peop'-" Balimund began, then scoffed. "You're Thieves Guild, too. I should be surprised."

"I never stole from you- never intended to, either," Rowena countered.

"I know, Kid. Take it easy," Balimund replied. "And it's too far. We'll use my sho-"

"Honeyside's familiar once I get this healed and we can go back out. Just… get me up. Maul-"

"I'll go make sure your people are okay," Maul insisted before running off.

Rowena nodded weakly, then groaned when Balimund picked her up and pain rushed through her.

"Sorry…" Balimund muttered.

She nodded again, then tucked her dagger under her arm and started up a healing spell before pressing her hand to her wound.

After what felt like hours, Rowena sighed in relief when Honeyside came into view. "Thank the Gods…"

Balimund grunted in agreement, then turned to go into the house. He froze a moment later. "Rowa…"

She looked where he was looking to find the door had been kicked in. "Wha…? Let me down."

"Not a chance…" Balimund replied.

A moment later, a fireball whizzed past their heads. There was a second's pause before Teldryn's head peeked up from the window.

Rowena sighed. "Teld?! How-"

Teldryn slowly stood, then disappeared before opening the door a bit wider. "Was a while away, saw an endless amount of flames, saw the city was burning down, figured who else's fault would it be that a city was burning down, remembered you lived- you're hurt," he realized.

"Did you… break in my door?" Rowena asked.

"No choice. Your boyfriend got hit pretty bad by one of the guards. Had to take him somewhere to help him out that was… fairly out of the-" he fired off a shot of ice and the other pair heard a body fall. "Come on, get inside. I'll help you see to that and then you can get your friend."

Balimund looked at Rowena, and when she nodded, he walked back into the house.

After they made it in, Rowena spotted Brynjolf out cold on her bed, bleeding in a diagonal line from his collarbone to hip. "Balimund, let me down."

"But-"

"It's not as bad as it was," Rowena replied, covering up her own flinch as she said it.

Balimund looked uneasy, but he set her down.

Rowena looked at the dark elf. "Teldryn, is he…?"

"Close to it, but I'm sure it would've been worse if I hadn't stumbled into his fight. Let's get to you first."

Rowena opened her mouth to object, but Teldryn clapped his hand over it. "No." steered her towards the bedroom. "Next to your Not-Lover…"

"We saw to that 'Not' thing…" She muttered.

Teldryn chuckled, but she heard it sound uneasy when he saw the wound. "Aw, Teld, you actually do care."

"Oh, hush. You know, I'm not the emotionless cad you all seem to think I am. You are the best boss I've had- guess this just comes with the territory. Now…" He slapped her hand away from her wound, where the healing magic was losing most of its glow and replaced it with his own.

"Bryn-"

"Can bloody wait. We've been holed up in here for the last few minutes, and when I wasn't healing him I was making sure no one interrupted. Also- I wasn't apparently seconds from death anytime recently so my powers aren't dampened. He's in better shape, I promise. You think I would let the Dragonborn's lover be that damaged? You would kill me in an instant if I did." When she made a face, he sighed. "You do play favorites, my dear. We're just lucky you have a lot of favorites," he let his hand hover closer to the wound. After a few moments and an experimental poke he pulled back to see the skin had closed up and the wound had healed. "Good…"

"Good!" Rowena parroted, then turned abruptly to tend to Brynjolf, and Teldryn elbowed his way between them to assist. "Balimund? Anyone coming?"

"Coast is clear," the blacksmith reported. "Looks like all the guards are dead. It's a ghost town now."

Rowena turned back to Brynjolf and started undoing part of his armor to check the healing process. She watched the skin start to knit itself back together and sighed. Not that she didn't trust Teldryn's word that her injury had been worse, but seeing the fact backed up with the reality helped. She saw his breathing calm and saw his face twitch slightly.

The thief opened his eyes and groaned before glancing at his two rescuers. "So is this the status quo now? I go down, I wake up to you two hovering over me? Or just this with the people switched about?"

"Just about," She replied. She leaned down and kissed him before she got up and walked over to the weapon rack.

"What-?" Balimund began.

"Seeing the next generation about taking care of this place…" she walked over and opened the door, only to take a couple of steps back. "Mjoll! Aerin! Get in here now!" she hissed.

A couple of moments later, the pair arrived, and Aerin cast a cautious look around before closing and latching the door.

Rowena looked them up and down. "Thank the gods. I didn't see you at all in the fight and I thought the worst."

"Same to you," Mjoll replied.

"We kept hoping you were travelling, but with you you can never be sure," Aerin added. He spotted the blood on his armor. "Are you?"

"It's fine. Do you two need tending to?" Rowena asked.

"We're fine as well. Managed to duck out of trouble enough." Mjoll replied, then reached over and tugged up on Rowena's armor to ensure she was telling the truth. She looked at the others in the room and then frowned upon seeing Brynjolf. "You?"

"Aye. Me," Brynjolf replied dryly.

"Bryn…" Rowena warned.

"She started it," Brynjolf countered.

"Wait a minute… you two know…." Mjoll looked between them, then sighed. "The Dragonborn's in the Thieves Guild."

"She's more than in it, Lioness," Brynjolf added.

"Bryn, stop," Rowena replied. "We don't have time for any of this."

Mjoll's frown deepened when she saw Brynjolf blanch for a moment before he backed off. "And you're… involved with the biggest scam artist in the market."

Rowena clenched her jaw in order to stop from biting back with a comment about her and Aerin. "Yes. I am. And it's been a long time coming and in that time you and I have been fine so there should be no change. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see the rest of the Black Briars about how they plan to settle the latest development."

"I'll come with you," Mjoll insisted, then caught Rowena's raised eyebrow. "We've fought well together, and if there's anything to be expected in there, it's an interesting fight."

"Sounds good to me, then," she glanced at her other companions. "Stay put, or if you're planning to go somewhere, make sure the kids are okay."

"What- no! We almost lost you again and you want to go back out?" Brynjolf objected. "Teldryn, bar the door."

"You're not the one paying me, Friend…" Teldryn pointed out.

Rowena sighed. "We'll be fine. If not, I'm just a few yards worth of stumbling to get back here."

The men all turned to look at her, and she sighed.

"You're hardly in any shape to go either, Rowa…" Balimund replied.

"If you want her to stay stop encouraging her," Teldryn muttered.

"Exactly. Look, I'll come back as soon as I can. Promise," She replied before she headed out the door.

She had only made it a matter of feet before she spotted Ingun Blackbriar accidentally headed towards her. She growled and advanced on the woman, only for the other woman to spot her and toss her hands up as quickly as possible.

"Rowa, I swear, I'm not here to harm you! You know my mother and I never saw eye to eye!"

"Ingun, you're my friend, and right now that's the only thing you have going for you that isn't getting you stabbed. Want me to trust you? You tell me what happened here?"

"Mother sensed… felt that you were coming. She sent out a kill order. All of her people… against all of yours." She replied. "Is Mother dead, then? I'd assume so, if you're here and she's not."

"Yes.

"How many were hurt?"

"Minor injuries, from what I've seen. Your people- the Guild took care of all the rest," Ingun replied. "… Is Mother…?"

"Yes," Rowena replied without a thought.

Ingun stared at her, then nodded. "It was only a matter of time, then. I expected someone… else. Someone closer."

Rowena decided not to ask and continued on with a glance at the Keep. "And your brothers?"

"Barricaded themselves in the Keep in case Mother's allies got… arrogant. Or adventurous if they won the fight against your people and assumed they could take on the Keep's people too."

"Good. Then we're off to have a chat with them," Rowena replied.

"Her too?" Ingun asked and glanced at Mjoll.

"All three."

"Fine."

They reached the Keep and a couple of fire spells and a shout later, they had broken in the barricaded door. The sight to behold wasn't one any of them were expecting.

Blood was everywhere. Dead guards were scattered around, and other random bodies of people Rowena had seen only in passing were also dead.

The random bodies weren't the only ones. Rowena figured the Gods had some odd sense of humor when she saw Harrald, Hemming and Sibbi- the latter, she was still unsure of how he was even there- they had all collapsed with a yard of each other, wounds evidently where one of the other two's weapons had clearly done fatal blows. It had come down to politics and power once again. She wasn't sure why Harrald thought he had a chance against them. Then again, he thought he was stronger, so she supposed she did. She spared a glance at Ingun, who was looking at her brothers with a surprising coldness. "… … You know, if it was you and one of them on the floor, the standing brother would be asking for congratulations on being the last," she pointed out. "So… you're now the head of your household, I suppose."

"Yes…" Ingun nodded slowly.

Rowena caught movement out of the corner of her eye and tossed her sword away in favor of setting up a shot with her bow and arrow. "Come out. You've been seen, and I'm a far better shot than anyone in this place probably assumes I am."

"Easy, Dragonborn…." a voice replied from behind one of the walls.

Rowena sighed. Saerlund. He was power hungry as much as the others, but he was smart, despite incessant whining about not being respected. She eased up. "So… the former jarl's son, and the now late-newer jarl's daughter… is this going to end the same way as this?" She jabbed her bow in the direction of the dead siblings.

"No, no. I'm willing to talk… so long as she is," Saerlund replied and glanced Ingun's way.

"I have no desire to rule this place," Ingun cut in.

"Nor do I, but it seems like one of us doesn't have much of a choice," Saerlund countered.

Ingun turned to Rowena. "You're… literally the most powerful woman in this room. What say you if neither of us want to rule? You're more of a fit to rule than either of us."

After a beat, Mjoll, who had looked quite uncomfortable until then, shrugged. "She's not wrong."

"This place is already a disaster. I'm not going to add to it by being part of it more than I am."

"Yeah, but I second the notion,"

Rowena jumped, then turned to see half of the Guild, headed by Delvin standing in the doorway, and the latter shifted from heel to toe and smirked, having been the one who seconded it. She made a face, wondering how they had all gotten in without much noise, then turned back. They were all staring now. "Oh, not this again. Look, I don't know why you're all suddenly diplomatic, much less why were none of you more active about it when it really mattered a couple of years ago, but we can't just sit around here and argue and then let the place go without any leadership or it's going to be worse for wear- more than it already is!" She replied, and when she saw all of the people- now even more were cautiously pouring into the Keep to see what the commotion was about. They had gasped at all the blood and bodies, but seeing the Dragonborn in the middle of it with a handful of others was distraction enough. "I mean at this rate if everyone's so aware what the struggle for power has done to this place and is hesitant to risk that again, why not open the floor to people who want to change it for the better- or it better be the better," she announced and hid the flinch at the double words. She hated doing that. She wanted to gawk when the crowd almost looked contemplative. They don't really expect… Oh, no. You've done it now. You've gotten to a solution and half the people in here are going to die over it again. Congratulations, you tried to save Riften, but in the process destroyed it entirely. No chance stopping it now. "So, any takers? Any competition for these people?" She motioned at Saerlund and Ingun.

After a beat, Aerin cleared his throat from the back of the crowd. "If it's one person who can handle it, it's Mjoll."

There were shouts of agreement and outrage. Her attention shifted to the Guildmembers, who had been entirely silent until that point, and then at Thrynn, who had been in a hissed conversation with Niruin, Vekel, Dirge and Viper. After a beat, he straightened out to be taller but kept his head down. "Delvin Mallory!"

There was nothing but outraged shouts this time, and Delvin went from looking surprised to smug to downright insulted at the boos.

Rowena sighed. "Doesn't change the fact that he's a fit leader. You all are," she added, pointing at the others. "Any other takers?" she demanded sarcastically, hoping and praying there was some calm end to this. Was she really about to call this to a vote? She made a mental note to have guards arranged for each of the people. And then there was another safer idea… safer meaning less bloodshed, more than safer for the town. And it was better than a vote. But it was getting them all to agree to it that was going to be the problem. "Right… well… we're gonna work on this, then." She all but yanked Delvin out of the crowd and steered him over to the other three. "Anyone who isn't being considered with all this, get out now, and… we'll send someone when… oh, just get out." When no one moved, she sighed. "NOW!"

That had everyone scrambling to leave. She had to love that particular perk. Even if it wasn't any of the shout shouts, if she so much as raised her voice people knew better than to question the Dragonborn.

After the Keep had cleared out, the remaining four turned to look at her.

"So, what's your actual plan… for all this, Bo…?" Delvin trailed off. "Business. For all this business."

Rowena turned to look at him, then the others. "I have no idea. And that is exactly where all of you come in."

They were all doomed. Again.