Gunmar hammered away at the metal, creating a new shoulder plate for one of his trolls. Looking up he saw the Dragonborn walking towards him. Always dark in the castle, she was in flickering shadows until she stepped into the torchlight.
"By the gods! What happened?" He exclaimed looking at her covered in blood.
The trolls snorted and pounded the ground, the smell of blood agitating them.
Totally unbothered by her appearance, she threw something towards him. Looking down, he saw the head of a vampire roll and stop at his boots.
"I’ve returned triumphant. This vampire will never plague Riften again!" She exclaimed with pride.
The bloody head of the vampire stared at him with its red eyes. Wrenching his gaze from his feet, he looked back at her beaming face.
"We're you successful in discretion this time?" He said looking her up and down.
"Ahhhhh...maybe?" She trailed off. Her appearance stating otherwise. It was quite a gruesome sight.
He remembered the last several missions she came back from--tales of being chased by guards and townspeople. Often returning covered in blood from battle, but not this much.
Throwing down his tools with a sigh, he beckoned her to follow him.
Leaving the castle, they walked down the hill, passing a very confused Agmaer on the way. She gave Gunmar a funny look when he stopped in front of the Dayspring Falls. With a sweet smile on his face, he picked her up and flung her in the water. After a huge splash, she spluttered to the surface, flapping against the water.
She swam towards land, until her feet met the gravelly bottom. Standing up, she pushed her wet hair away from her face and saw Gunmar, muscled arms crossed, with a crooked smile on his face.
"Now clean that off." He said throwing a cloth at her and moving away.
"You could always help," she said with a sly grin.
He hesitated, strongly tempted, as she started peeling off her armour, letting them splash into the shallow water. His green eyes trained on her every movement.
"Gunmar, there you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I've got the best idea for a new crossbow design, if we..." Sorine stopped, seeing Gunmar frozen staring at Y/N, "Oh, Y/N! Why wonder Agmaer was acting weird when I asked if he had seen you, Gunmar. You two seem...busy. I can come back later."
Gunmar flushed, looked at Y/N`s grinning face and her disheveled appearance then back to Sorine's amused look. Sorine raised an eyebrow but left back up the path.
“Don’t worry, the schematics can wait.” Sorine called over her shoulder.
He heard another piece of armour hit the water and turned to see all of Y/N’s armour gently bobbing in the water.
Florentius walked up behind Gunmar, surprising him.
“Ahh, swimming lessons is it today? Always useful. What’s that Lord? Excellent idea, beautiful weather for it.” Florentius said, as he started hopping while taking his boots off.
All her armour off, she backed into the water, floating, giving an amused grin to Gunmar as Florentius made his way in, talking about the best swimming forms.
Looking at her out of her armour, free of the blood and grime, her hair flowing in the water, his mouth twitched in irritation at Florentius’ presence.
“Next time, try discretion.” He said to her, watching Florentius paddle towards her.
Shaking his head, Gunmar turned around and followed after Sorine, gritting his teeth. As he left he could still hear Florentius chatting to his Lord while Y/N's laughter faded into the distance.