To Take a Life

Life, Career

Natalya shadows Dimitri on a job in Rybaslav.

Natalya walked into the room with Dimitri and closed the door as she pulled her wig off. Dimitri was quiet as he sat down on the bed and opened his notes. "Is this normal?" She asked him. "Donning disguises for these sorts of jobs?" Dimitri nodded as he looked down at the paper. "Important ones. Sometimes they want people to know it was the KAV so they make it blatant and obvious. But they've started doing less of that and moving toward stealthier approaches in the last few years," he explained, still reading. Natalya walked over to the small fireplace and started a fire. They were in Rybaslav, one of the coldest regions in the north of Lenisily, pretending to be a couple passing through the small fishing village. It worked quite well, actually. They passed for a poor couple well enough, being a wood elf and a half-elf. Dimitri had a job here and Natalya was supposed to shadow him and get an idea of what it's actually like to work in the field. Natalya sighed happily from the small fire and stood up and sat down next to Dimitri on the bed. She was glad to get away from the compound - away from Pufuktin and Milosh and all the other assholes there. "Well, what happens next?" she asked him excitedly. Dimitri looked up and gave her a funny look. "What do you think this is? A vacation?" he asked her, confused by her excitement. Her demeanor dropped. "I'm just excited, is all. To finally be in the field." Dimitri gave her a pitying look and sighed. "Our target is a wood-elf who runs the docks here," he explained. "Supposedly he's been sneaking in illegal imports from Schmain so we are here to kill him and find out what exactly he's been bringing in." He pulled out a ground plan of the docks to show her. "Here is his home. He's married and they have an adult child who lives in their house as well. If they interfere or see anything we are to... remove them as well. I'd prefer to avoid that if we could, though," he said. Natalya shook her head. "Aren't they accomplices, though? If we remove him, won't they continue to do what he was already doing?" Dimitri shrugged. "My orders were to kill him and get the information we need. Luckily, he tends to spend his evenings outside on the docks, taking an evening smoke so I can take him out there, from a distance," he explained. "The hard part will be sneaking in and finding the documents we're looking for without waking the family," he said as he looked over the plans. "Or we sneak in during the day after they go out for work and then we take him out that night," Natalya suggested. Dimitri turned and smiled at her. "You're catching on fast," he said, smiling proudly at her. "Exactly," he said, turning back to the map. "Always look for better, more reliable options. Never just go with the first plan someone suggests. There are normally holes or loose ends," he instructed. Natalya smiled, feeling proud of herself. "Great. So how are you going to break in?" she asked him. Dimitri studied the map. "See this entrance here at the back? There should be enough shadows there during the middle of the day to slip around and pick the lock, which will probably be a breeze considering how old this place is," he observed. They talked through more possibilities and more scenarios until they were lying on the bed together with Dimitri lying against the headboard and Natalya sitting up at the footboard with their maps and papers spread across the bed between them. "So you're saying that we shouldn't swim under the dock and then drill up into the floor of the kitchen because it's excessive?" she teased him. Dimitri laughed and chucked a crumpled ball of paper at her, hitting her directly in the forehead. "Okay, it's time for bed," he decided as their planning started to become silly jests. Natalya chucked the ball back at him and he caught it and chucked it at her again, hitting her in the chest. "Hey!" she laughed. "No! We can stay up for another hour right?!" she begged him. He rolled his eyes. "I actually have to sleep, Nat! I know you don't know what that is but I need it, and like, at least six hours of it," he laughed at her. "Work on your forgery while you're up or something," he suggested, still giggling as he settled down in the bed. She sighed and cleaned off the bed so Dimitri could sleep. "Hey Nat, you can rest in the bed," he told her. "I don't really know how you meditate or whatever but if you want, the bed's big enough," he offered her, giving her a nervous look. She smiled at his offer. "I normally sit up, unless it's too cold," she explained. "I think I'll rest by the fire, though," she told him. Dimitri nodded. "Take a blanket at least. It's freezing here," he told her. Natalya took one of the smaller ones and settled down on the ground next to the small fire. "Goodnight, Natalya," Dimitri called from the bed. "Goodnight, Dimitri," she told him, watching the crackling flames. Natalya woke before Dimitri, shivering on the floor next to the fire that had all but died at that point. She hurriedly lit it again and got the flames back up and heard Dimitri make a loud noise causing her to jump in fear. She stood and walked over to the bed and looked down at the half-elf who was sprawled out on his side with his eyes closed. She leaned down a bit and he made the noise again which came from his nose, as if he couldn't breath. She gently poked him in the shoulder and he opened his eyes groggily at her. "What's wrong?" he whispered. "Your nose was making a weird noise!" she told him in a quiet whisper. He squinted at her in confusion. "The hell are you talking about?" he asked her. She shrugged. "It sounded like you couldn't breath!" she told him. He rolled his eyes and buried his head back in his pillow. "It's called snoring. It happens when I sleep. Go away!" he told her grumpily as he pulled his blanket up to his chin and went back to sleep. She shrugged and watched him for a moment curiously before walking back over to the fireplace and working on her handwriting like he had suggested. Occasionally he would snore, causing Natalya to jump in surprise, but eventually she got used to it. Finally Dimitri sat up and yawned. "Morning," he told her. "Good morning!" she said, hopping up on the bed excitedly. He gave her an annoyed look. "Did you wake me up last night?" he asked her with a confused look. Natalya shrugged guiltily. "Sorry. I thought you couldn't breath! You were making a weird noise!" she tried to defend herself. Dimitri smiled and laughed at her. "You're a mess. It's called snoring, or a snore. I don't really know why or how it happens, it just does," he told her. She smiled at his laughter. "Is it weird to you that elves don't sleep?" she asked him curiously. He nodded. "Yeah," he told her. "It's such a necessary thing. Do you not feel tired?" he asked her. She shrugged. "Not really, I don't think. It's more of a desire for peace and rest from the world," she tried to explain. Dimitri shrugged. "Well, you look ready to go. Let me get dressed and then we'll head out." He got out of bed and put his clothes on and Natalya packed up the rest of their things in the room. She was sad to leave it. She liked spending time with Dimitri like this. They would be riding a carriage home tonight after the job. They headed out and Dimitri found a spot where he could easily hide tonight and take out the target. They sat and watched the docks for hours in the cold snow and freezing temperatures until they were absolutely sure the entire family had left and Dimitri led her down to the house where they easily snuck in through the back. The house was small and homely and the place reeked of fish. They found the man's desk and rifled through it until they found some documents about trades and figures. Dimitri quickly found what he was looking for and ushered Natalya out of the house. They made it back to their hiding spot where Dimitri showed her the papers and documents. It looked like the man had been sneaking in a surplus of food and some magical items that were unlisted that looked to be fishing supplies to help them catch more fish. "Why is this bad again?" Natalya asked Dimitri. From her assumption it seemed like the man was trying to feed his family and the town. Dimitri shrugged. "He's lying to the government about supplies. He's supposed to report his shipments and how much food he's bringing in from Schmain but he'd been lying and taking some for himself, see?" he showed her the discrepancies in the paperwork. "If the tradesmen don't account for everything they receive then the government can't distribute it fairly," he explained. "So if he takes too much for himself, other people might not get the food they need," he showed her the numbers. Natalya pondered this a moment, finding economics to be rather difficult to understand. "I guess that makes sense," she agreed. Dimitri nodded. "He's also been harboring magical items and tools which is just flat out illegal," he said, carefully folding the documents and tucking them away in his pack. The wind picked up and Natalya huddled down against Dimitri and they waited in their little alcove in the ice until nightfall. As the world became dark around them they watched their wood elf walk out onto the dock. Dimitri drew his bow and carefully aimed it, knowing he needed a quiet, instant death. Natalya watched intensely as Dimitri let his arrow fly with perfect precision, slicing the wood elf's neck like a dagger. He didn't even have time to scream as his body fell over the rope railing on the dock and fell into the water with a soft splash. Natalya looked at Dimitri to see what to do but he nodded back to the docks for her to watch. All of a sudden, a huge tentacle shot out of the water and grabbed the body before pulling it down into the depths of the ocean, removing the evidence so they wouldn't have to. Natalya looked back at Dimitri in horror at what just transpired. He sighed and nodded to move as he put his bow up and led her back to the edge of town to catch their ride. Natalya climbed into the carriage and sat down next to Dimitri in shocked silence. He seemed unfazed by the event but he noticed her upset behavior and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave her a comforting side hug. Natalya leaned against him, shivering from the cold and her fear. Did the wood elf really deserve that? What about his family? Would they assume he just got eaten by a sea monster, never realizing that he had been sentenced to death by their government? Did he really deserve to die? Dimitri held Natalya in his arms and slowly dozed off against her and she started to cry softly so he wouldn't see her tears. She hated appearing weak in front of him but she did love that he never demanded she be anyone but herself around him. She was grateful for his comforting touch. She tried to meditate as they made the long journey back to the compound, clinging to Dimitri for warmth as the crummy wooden box traveled through the tundra.