Dodger found herself slowly coming to as the world around her blurred into focus and things started to make sense again. The Bosmer grumbled as she pulled her arm, trying to rub her face but quickly found herself restricted, she quikly glanced up and gasped, eventually growling in frustration.
“Oh you… shitting me?” She grumbled, looking to her left arm as well as he ankles. She’d been tied down, though she was fully clothed, so it was unlikely going to lead to any exciting kinky shit, like the other times she was tied down to a four-post bed.
She slumped back, resting with a rather irritated frown on her face, she would’ve rather have woken up dead or not at all… Why couldn’t that attractive Breton girl have killed her, what did she want at this point!?
Dodger started thrashing around again, growing restless and bored, incredibly bored. She threw her head back and began to scream out, yelling gibberish and a number of expletives for attention, like a baby that wanted Breast feeding… actually that wasn’t far off from Dodger’s needs but still.
She continued to shout and screech, hoping that something would happen, even if it was just a guard stepping into the room and smacking her across the face to shut her up. She eventually got her wish, in some form or another as the large, strong, wooden door slowly creaked open and Alexia stepped inside.
Dodger quickly fell silent as she entered, her eye remained fixated on her as she looked her over, looking somewhat annoyed at the disturbance.
“Was that really necessary?” She asked, breathlessly as she pulled up a chair and her Butler stepped in beside her.
“It worked, didn’t it?” Dodger asked, with a rather mischievous grin. She wasn’t exactly wrong, how else would they have known that she was awake.
“Now, where the shit am I? Are we… Dating or something?” She asked, tugging at the ropes, it kind of baffled Alexia for a brief moment before she leant forward, lightly shaking her head.
“N-No… We took you off the road, after you attacked me. Don’t you remember?”
Dodger simply shrugged her head, prompting Alexia to sigh.
“Maybe that’s for the best, the herbs must’ve done their job…”
“Wait, herbs? What herbs?” Dodger asked, was she drugged or something? Again, it would make… some semblance of sense at this point.
“They’re… Herbs, from Elsweyr, they’re said to be good for the mind. I’ve been slipping them into your drinks for the last week now. I was… hoping to reverse whatever had been done to make you so… savage.” The Breton admitted, with a sigh as she brought her hands together.
“I apologise if you see it as a… an intrusive act but you didn’t leave me much choice. You just babbled, cackled, growled and sometimes even shrieked at me when we woke you up the first time. We’ve spent the last week trying to set you straight.”
Dodger furrowed her brow, truly not having a clue what she was on about.
“So… I was barking mad, when you first met me? Must be some friggin’ good herbs if they can fix my head in a week.”
“They are, they’re five hundred gold per leaf.” The Breton explained, with a shrug. Obviously this caused Dodger’s toes to shrivel as she stared at her, wondering if she was the mad one.
“H-How much!?” She asked, even skooma was cheaper than that, the shit that rotted your mind. Who in the hell of it would pay that kind of money to help someone who tried to rob them and possibly murder them!?
“It’s okay, the hardest part was getting them delivered, I managed it but it cost me quite a bit as I had to have them teleported. Still, it was worth it, I suppose.” Alexia mused, getting comfortable.
“It seems to have done the trick…”
“I’m sure the bath also did some good.” The Buttler suggested, bringing his hands together over his cane.
“Y-Yes… Galtus and I bathed you as well.” Alexia admitted, somewhat sheepishly.
“You… Smelled somewhat ripe when we brought you in.”
“Wait, you took my clothes off and shit?” Dodger asked, with a faint smirk, though she didn’t ask one back.
“Yes, we managed to take your clothes off and scrape the said ‘shit’ off of you.” Galtus confirmed, rocking his cane about.
“Seriously, it’s like you’d been rolling around in the stuff, like a pig.”
“Heh, if I was crazy, I probably did…” Dodger asked, giving him a light smirk as she sat up and made eye contact with her rescuer.
“Okay, so… let me get this straight, I attacked you. As in… went after you with a knife or something?”
“You shot at me, with a bow and then you went for Lady Alexia with a knife.” He answered for his ‘lady’ and he didn’t exactly seem to happy about it either.
“You weren’t exactly after her life or her jewels either, you had something else in mind from what she said.”
“Galtus, that’s…” Alexia sighed, obviously, she didn’t want to bring that up yet.
“Yes you… You did kiss me, after breaking into my carriage.”
“Oh?” Dodger asked, curiously, eventually smirking again.
“Don’t blame myself to be honest, you’re pretty damn good looking.”
“No… I mean, you ignored my protests and firmly kissed me at knife point… You weren’t going to stop there either.”
The Breton fell silent and glanced away, eventually drawing a glass blade from her pants pocket.
“It had to stick you with this, a letter opener, glazed with a paralysis poison. I was surprised how quickly it worked but given how starved and dehydrated you were, it’s not too much of a surprise that your constitution was so poor.”
“Pfft, bet I can still drink your asses under the table.” Dodger grumbled, with a smirk as she stretched.
“Still… I’m sorry for… What I did, as you said though, I was crazy and… shit…” She mumbled, trailing off as she thought on it, her eye quickly closed as she dropped her head back.
“Shit, shit shit…” She paused, thinking a little more as she fell silent, glancing to the floor.
“Did didn’t… I didn’t actually rape anyone, did I? Like… Before you?”
“If you did.” Alexia said, though she paused, suggesting that she knew the answer and wasn’t willing to be straight about it.
“If you did, it wasn’t your fault, you weren’t… Well. You’re cured now, free of… Whatever took you.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that dozens of people could’ve been raped, murdered, robbed or all three.” Dodger scowled, throwing her head back.
“I know… What’s done is done and I can’t exactly say that you were in a position to avoid such a path, considering your history.” Alexia explained, glancing up to her.
“I saw the scars… Whip marks, a number of stab and burn marks… I know you were a slave at one point…” She sighed, quickly and shuffled forward, glancing down to the floor.
“I knew before I’d caught you… It’s… Why I wanted to help.”
Dodger was quick to furrow her brow, finding herself confused by Alexia’s ramblings.
“How do you…”
“I thought, given the description of you… Wood elf, red hair, eyepatch and a number of scars. I knew that you had to be her, Eralin, the run away slave who murdered Tomur and his Father before fleeing the grounds of House Hermious.”
Dodger furrowed her brow even further, slowly sliding up to face her.
“How’d you know that was me…?”
“It wasn’t easy.” Alexia admitted, glancing away.
“Took quite a bit of detective work, I didn’t have connections with the family anymore, haven’t done for years. Hell, I’d been trying to hide from them myself and when I heard that there was someone out there, scorned like I was I just… Had to look for her, had to help her and make sure that she wouldn’t end up dead as well.” She quickly leant forward, placing her hands-on Dodger’s stomach as she sat on her bed, placing her hands by the Bosmer’s sides and shivering a little as she glanced away.
“I had to save you, I had to make sure that it was me who found you, not Dylon or any heartless lawman. I had to say that…
I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything that my family did to you, had I… Would I been able to, they wouldn’t do it to anyone else, ever again but…” She paused, shuddering a little as she hung her head, and shivered a little as Galtus stepped forward and gently placed his white gloved hand on her shoulder, getting her to nod hurriedly to deflect his concern.
Dodger fell silent, glancing down to Alexia’s hand before eventually looking back up to her face.
“Well… I might be able to forget it if you… Do me one more favour.” She suggested, getting Alexia to look up, meeting her eyes again.
“Eralin… I’d give my life to make up for it, please…” She whispered, leaning forward and getting Dodger to twitch her nose, meeting her gaze with her good eye.
“Could you cut these ropes? They’re starting to chafe a little…”