Carith rose early in the morning, as she always did, to the sound of the birds chirruping outside her window, and to the sight of the morning sun streaming over the rooftops of Solitude, red as blood, and just as warm. Standing at her bedroom window, nursing a steaming cup of coffee, and considering the day that lay before her. Appointments in the morning, and a free afternoon, to do with what she would. Lovely. She smiled against the lip of her cup.
Her first appointment was with an Ayalea Verdakrov. And it wouldn’t be too long before she arrived. Ayalea’s business, she had been told, concerned someone in Solitude; their meeting promised, then, to be an interesting one.
She readied herself for the day ahead at quite a leisurely pace, pausing now and then to lounge about. After all, Cartih Joraine wasn’t in the habit of rushing around like a headless chicken for anyone. And, as a result, when she finally told her guards that they could let in her guest, if and when she had arrived, she was already running a few minutes late for her first appointment. Not that one could guess from her nonchalance.
Once in her study, waiting for Ayalea, she seated herself on the edge of her desk, and poured herself an early goblet of wine. Some would say wine and work did not mix well; Carith begged to differ.
She disliked having to involve others with her contracts, but reluctantly she admitted to herself she needed help. Her target, a Nord nobleman named Jurgek, had gone missing a short while ago, and no one had any idea what happened to him. She’d known the man from her own days as a noble, and he was despicable; it came as no shock to her that few people cared about his absence. It would’ve been easy to simply write him off as dead and gone, but she had a reputation to keep, and if by chance he showed back up, her client would be a little less than pleased.
Ayalea had already done the work of going through his home and found nothing out of the ordinary. No evidence of a struggle and nothing to show he had even left. A great deal of clothes were there, as well as valuables a nobleman as greedy as Jurgek would never leave behind; she helped herself to a few small items and made a mental note to return after she’d found him.
Delvin had mentioned Carith Joraine to her before, said the woman had herself a network of sort and was fed information from all across the country. He always seemed to know of any illicit business going on in Skyrim. She waved off his suggestion back then believing it was better to find things out for herself, but she’d hit a dead end. She needed help, and this woman was the only person she could think of that might be able to point her in some direction.
She arrived around the time agreed upon and waited to be let through by the woman’s guards. If she felt the need to protect herself, she had to have been at least decent at what she did. They directed her to the study where a woman she could only assume was Carith was already waiting and drinking wine.
“I take it you’re Carith,” Ayalea said, taking a few steps passed the door and into the room.