It was a blazing hot day in Kelashin. Heat rose off the ground, transforming the city into a wavy mirage of mortar and stone. It was precisely the sort of day you on which you wouldn't want to have to run around in bare feet on hot sand. There were plenty of people going about bare foot on the sandy streets however, for in between the copper plated roof tops and the never ending revelry of the upper classes much of the city was occupied by the poor and the lowly, not that they counted for anything.

Kelashin was the best city in the world. Everybody knew that. The palace that rose in twisting blue spires towards the endless heavens was the most impressive and wonderful palace in all the known lands and the stinking sprawling city itself was filled with all the wonders of the world. It was home to the richest merchants, the most powerful politicians and the most beautiful starlets. It was a city of aspirations and dreams - and the occasional slave. Seated on high rock above the Waygone river, Kelashin was a bastion of knowledge and culture amidst the arid desert plains that surrounded it.

On that most sunny of sunny days, Rayna found herself perched on a ledge of the Thieves Guild. A slight figure dressed in ill fitting black rags, she picked her way carefully across the thin ornamental plane. Her olive skin was covered in a fine dusting of mud and sand, and her bold green eyes glittered between long dark lashes. Rayna did not consider herself beautiful, but she was undeniably striking.

Biting her lower lip and frowning in concentration, she edged her dusty boot further along the ledge and tested it. These ledges were surely not intended to carry a person's weight, in fact she'd heard rumors that they would collapse if an intruder tried to use them to gain access to the inner sanctum of the guild. Rayna was banking on the fact that she was significantly smaller than the average man and so far, she'd managed to survive.

Four stories up, she had quite a view of the city over the high walls that surrounded the guild compound. It was tempting to take time out to glance about the place, but she reminded herself that she needed to avoid detection at all costs, not because she wasn't allowed in the Thieves Guild, as an apprentice she certainly was, but because getting caught in the middle of yet another stunt would result in another unpleasant punishment.

Rayna was perhaps the most unfortunate of all the apprentices. She should have been a very good thief like her mother and her grandmother before her but it seemed to all that the fates had determined that she should take after her father quite heavily. Her father, suffice to say, had not been a thief. He had been a charming traveling musician who had engaged in a brief, ill advised tryst with Rayna's mother and continued on his way, neither knowing or caring about the baby girl who had entered the world nine months later.

Raised by her mother, Rayna had only ever wanted to be one thing – a thief. Her earliest memories were of clinging to her mother's skirts amidst a sea of good humored men and women who were bedecked with the prettiest jewelry and gold. The life of a thief was a good one, Rayna thought, and the tales that her mother's colleagues told her in her early years only bolstered her romantic dreams.

There was only one obstacle to Rayna's joining the guild – her mother. When Rayna was seven or so, her mother had abruptly left the guild and refused to speak of why. She forbade her only child to follow in her footsteps and Rayna had found herself apprenticed to the local seamstress instead of the guild.

“Damn!” Rayna swore as the edge of the ledge crumbled under her boot. She moved her foot back smartly and pressed hard up against the wall, hoping that the ledge wouldn't collapse entirely or worse, that somebody below would notice the small rock fall and come and investigate. At this point it would be better to die than to be caught mid theft.

She wiped the sweat out her eyes with the back of her sleeve, cursing the dark color of her clothes. She knew she'd be standing out against the sandstone like a sore thumb in her black clothing, but it was traditional, and she liked to follow tradition sometimes.

Thieves almost always wore black. From the lowliest apprentice to the Master of Thieves himself, a man Rayna much admired, they kept a slick and neutral appearance. The exception to this rule, an exception Rayna was evidently ignorant of, was if they happened to be on a job, in which case they usually wore clothing appropriate to the occasion. Stealthy night jobs called for deep blue clothing that blended with the night shadows. A raid on a stately home might very well call for proportionally stately robes.

When one was robbed by the Thieves Guild, one was robbed professionally. One was left with the sense that although one had been relived of one's possessions, there had been some honor in the exchange. A thief stole what you owned, but they did not leave an unseemly mess and they never did anything terribly socially awkward, like getting caught.

At the age of twenty, Rayna had secretly abandoned her dull career as a seamstress and joined the Thieves Guild. It was late in life to become an apprentice, but given her lineage there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she belonged there.

Rayna did not know at first how incredibly ill suited she was to the trade, but the fact soon emerged when her instructors began to teach her the arts of thieving. There were sneaking classes and purloining classes and fleeing drills and all of those skills needed to be mastered completely, but poor Rayna could barely manage to so much as pick the pocket of a straw dummy.

Her failure as a thief need not have been such a big deal. There were many positions needed in the guild and she could easily have spent her working life acting as a lookout or bringing the other thieves oranges at half thieving time. Unfortunately for Rayna, and the guild at large, she would not accept her own inability and insisted on practicing her skills unceasingly – usually on other members of the guild.

It was in these endeavors that she learned one of the not so secrets of the guild. If you want to enrage a thief, steal from him. If you want to enrage him doubly, do so badly. After a few failed attempts on her instructors, Rayna had decided that she was ready for the big time. After all, repeated failure could only ever end in success, right?

“This time,” Rayna promised herself.

She crouched on what remained of the ledge, clinging to the crumbling plaster with tense, strong fingers. The item she had in mind would surely prove to everyone that she deserved to be a proper member of the guild.

Peeking in the lattice that covered the window of her target, Rayna spied the prize. It was nothing really, just a bauble. Ordinarily it wouldn't have caught her eye. But less important than what it was, was who it belonged to. The shiny blue glass ornament was owned by Peta, the sister of the Master of Thieves himself and second in command.

Rayna didn't know Peta very well. She didn't know any of the thieves very well, let alone those in the upper echelons of power. She knew she was taking a risk, but that was all she could do now. There had been too many failures, too many mistakes. A grand triumph was necessary. To have stolen something from such a highly ranked member of the guild would be to have demonstrated one's skills undeniably. Like many who lack talent, Rayna was unable to discern the fact that she lacked talent and was convinced that if she only kept trying she would one day succeed.

Slipping a thin metal wedge out of her sleeve, Rayna began quietly levering the lattice away from the window. A thrill of nerves ran through her lower belly as she glanced down for a moment and saw the sheer drop below the ledge. Thieving was fun, she thought to herself recklessly.

Restraining a small giggle of glee, she popped the lattice out of its frame and propped it carefully up on the ledge. There was still glass in the frame beyond, but she had a plan for that. Using the same thin metal bar she began scraping away at the mortar between the wooden frame and the stone wall. The noise seemed very loud, but she didn't see anyone looking up at her. Progress was slow and laborious and the sun beat down on her shoulders. Sweat dripped into her eyes and stung them unpleasantly but eventually the window loosened and Rayna was able to lower it carefully into the ledge along with its lattice.

Now entirely unimpeded by obstacles, she stretched out her cramped legs, felt them crumble beneath her due to being rendered entirely useless from having the blood cut off from them, and fell head first into the room.

“Took you long enough.”

A voice. A voice that should not have been there. Rayna shut her eyes. As if shutting her eyes would help the fact that she was busted. Really busted.

“Who are you?”

The voice didn't seem all that angry, which reassured Rayna considerably. It seemed neutral if anything, as if having people fall through the window did not at all concern the owner of the voice.

“My name is Rayna,” she said timidly, opening her eyes a sliver. Her suspicions as to the owner of the voice were confirmed as she found herself looking at Peta, a dark haired, beautiful woman who instantly made her feel ashamed of her very existence.

She was wearing black, like Rayna, but Peta's short black dress matched with the long leather boots she wore made her look sensual and alluring. Rayna's dusty rags made her look like she'd been set out for the garbage man to collect.

“Rayna...” Peta sounded thoughtful. “You look familiar...”

Rayna had a fair idea of why that was. She looked like her mother enough that people who had known her occasionally did a double take. She wasn't about to inform the sister of the Master of Thieves however and bring further shame on her mother's name.

Peta snapped her fingers and pointed at her. “Aya's kid?”

“Yes Ma'am,” Rayna admitted.

“Wondered what had happened to you,” Peta said, poking Rayna with the toe of her boot. Rayna remained on the ground, hoping that staying down might earn her some measure of mercy. “You joined months ago I heard. There was some excitement.”

There was silence for a moment, a silence laden with significance. The guild had been excited to welcome Rayna. It was anticipated that her apprenticeship would be short, but as the days and weeks went on and Rayna continued to fail repeatedly, the excitement had waned and where she had once been treated with some deference by the instructors, she was now treated just like any other failing apprentice – harshly.

“I've been having some... trouble...” Rayna explained lamely.

“How is your mother?” Peta asked conversationally as she walked across the well furnished room.

“She is tolerably well,” Rayna replied politely. Her eyes widened as she saw Peta pick up what could only be described as a birch rod and turn back to her.

“She's a good woman,” Peta noted, “the best, actually,” she said as an afterthought.

“Yes,” Rayna agreed, feeling shame seep into her very core. The look of admiration that people always got when they spoke about Aya was in Peta's eyes. It made her own failure all the more terrible.

“It's obvious she didn't teach you a damn thing,” Peta added somewhat sharply, turning a fierce brown gaze on Rayna. “You made more noise than a dog in bins.”

“She didn't want me to be a thief,” Rayna shrugged.

Peta cocked her head to the side. “She must have changed her mind, as you're here.”

Rayna made a non-committal noise.

“Hm,” Peta mused, stretching a hand out to Rayna. Rayna took it and was pulled to her feet. Standing, she now realized that though Peta certainly seemed larger than life, she was not all that much taller than her. Her swept back and pinned up hair added a few additional inches though, creating the illusion of size. Rayna knew that she must be at least ten years her senior, but there were not many signs of age on the woman's face, her skin was smooth and it looked beautifully soft. When she moved, Rayna caught the hint of a vanilla scent.

“I'm really sorry,” Rayna apologized, hearing her words ring lamely in her own ears.

“What for?”

“For uhm, breaking in...”

“No, I mean what were you here for?” Peta regarded her steadily with a stern gaze.

“For the blue bauble thing,” Rayna pointed to it.

Peta's expression changed from stern to confused. “Why on earth would you risk your neck for some colored glass?”

“Because I wanted to prove I could do it,” Rayna mumbled towards her feet. Having to explain herself was far worse than just being yelled at and beaten.

Peta walked to the window and looked out of it. When she turned around, she looked fiercely angry.

“You little fool! You almost killed yourself!”

She strode towards Rayna and took hold of her. Rayna knew why she was angry, she was angry because there would be hell to pay if Aya found out Rayna had got herself dead at the Thieves Guild. Aya had carved out a fearsome reputation in her time, and though the regard she was held in by the guild had far more to do with their respect for her than their fear of her, there was no doubt that they would not want to bring Aya's ire down upon their heads.

“Ow, lemme go!” Rayna tried her best to squirm out of Peta's grip, but the woman held her ear like a vice and twisting and wriggling only made it hurt more.

“I don't think so,” Peta said grimly, dragging the slightly smaller, much scrawnier figure over to a stool in the corner. The Thieves Guild took itself seriously, and it took its training seriously. Apprentices judged to be lacking in enthusiasm or skill were harshly punished, and if that didn't take, well, there was always the bottom of the river – at least, according to the stories passed around the halls.

Rayna didn't really believe that Peta would toss her into the river to drown, but as the strong woman yanked her pants down and bared her she rather wished that she would. Anything had to be better than yet another beating on her already lined hide.

“Damn kid. How much trouble have you been in?” Peta swore, frowning at Rayna's rear end as Rayna see-sawed back and forth over the stool. Lesser young ladies would have been mortified being bent over like that with their lady parts exposed, but Rayna was hardly one to be mortified, especially as she was more than accustomed to the position she found herself in. It seemed that barely a day went by that one instructor or another wasn't finding fault with her and dragging her off to be punished.

Craning her head over her shoulder and looking in a large gilt framed mirror hanging on the wall Rayna saw her own behind displayed and looking for all the world as if someone had been running small carts across it all morning. There were a few dark lines and between them, blotchy pink red marks.

Rayna shrugged. “They like to take out their frustrations on me, what can I say?”

Peta's eyes met hers. “Is that so. You're simply a poor victim of the system, are you?”

“Absolutely. I never had a chance. My mother didn't love me enough and my father never attended a single dance recital,” Rayna said in pitiful tones.

“Save it for a judge, kid,” Peta said, snorting back what might very well have been laughter. Rayna held her breath and hoped that she was being sufficiently charming. Charm was pretty much her only weapon. She was useless at climbing and swinging, and armed robbery was completely out of the question. She barely knew the pointy end of a dagger from the non pointy end and there wasn't a single instructor still willing to teach her after one of them almost lost his ear.

“But you are the judge, Ma'am, you are the judge, jury and executioner,” Rayna said with wide, earnest eyes.

Peta's eyes remained locked on her bottom for a long moment and Rayna felt herself begin to squirm with embarrassment. There was getting beaten and then there was just hanging about the place half clothed in front of powerful people.

“When did this happen?” Peta asked eventually.

“Uhm, some this morning,” Rayna tried to remember as best she could. “And some yesterday evening.. and some yesterday morning.. and I think maybe the day before that...”

Peta held up her hand to stop her. “I see,” she said.

Rayna held her breath. Maybe the fact that she was so marked would save her. Maybe Peta would take pity on her. Maybe she was a really nice woman after all.

“OWW!” A sudden cut of the rod across the spot where her bottom and thighs met dissuaded her of that notion.

“You're an utter wretch,” Peta lectured her. The anger was back in her voice, and this time Rayna really didn't know why.

“Yes Ma'am, I'm sorry Ma'am,” Rayna agreed. There was no point arguing. Peta was probably right anyway. She was a wretch.

“Oh for the gods' sake, you're too pathetic to beat,” Peta put down the rod and yanked Rayna up to a standing position by the back of her shirt.

Feeling entirely confused, Rayna rubbed her backside and waited to see what might happen next.

“You look so much like her,” Peta said, her hands on her hips as she glowered at Rayna.

“Yes Ma'am,” Rayna agreed neutrally.

“Perhaps that's where the similarities end,” Peta said harshly.

Forcing down her rising anger, Rayna nodded blankly. “Perhaps.”

“Pull your pants up and get back to your studies,” Peta said looking thoroughly disgusted. “Try to do your mother proud.”

“Yes Ma'am, thank you Ma'am.”

Hurriedly, Rayna pulled her pants up and scurried out of the room through the door that Peta opened for her. Her face was a perfect mask of contrite mortification and her rear end stung quite terribly, but there was joy in her heart as she began picking her way down the stairs towards the lower regions of the building.

Her hands were stuck firmly in the pockets of her ill fitting pants, pants that were so large they could have fit an extra person inside them and inside one pocket, with her fingers wrapped around it tightly was a thick volume detailing the history of the thieves guild and a ledger of all their exploits. It was worth far more than its weight in gold. Rayna had swiped it and stuck it inside her pants when Peta was raging about her incompetence and staring out the window at the crumbled ledge.

It had been something of an impulse. Finding herself in the grip of another humiliating failure, Rayna had sought to redeem herself somehow. At first she had determined to take the bauble, but she was certain Peta would notice it missing. There were a great many other trinkets of value in the room, but the moment she laid eyes on the book, she knew that she had found something of real value.

“Not a thief, huh?” Rayna whispered to herself with a little giggle.

It was her first significant triumph and she allowed the thrill to run through her unabated. Let them think she was stupid and slow. Let them think she was foolhardy and untalented. She no longer wanted to show them that she belonged among them, she now knew she did.

As she hurried down the stairs, she heard the rumbles of deep manly voices and immediately scuttled to the edge of the stairs to allow a small party of men to pass. She saw as she glanced up from under her lowered lashes that these were the very highest ranking of the thieves. They were big and tall and they smelled of meat and incense.

Laughing uproariously at some joke, they barely noticed Rayna as they passed by, but Rayna noticed them. She took note of all three of them, the youngest was a strong looking man with long flowing hair he was obviously proud of. He had a handsome, hawk like face and his hands were covered in gold and silver rings. He looked like the sort of fellow who would be severely put off his game by a pimple or a bad hair day. The next member of the party was lined with his age. He wore long robes in the old style and though he spoke softly the others listened to him intently.

The third member of the party was by far the most interesting however, for Rayna was certain that he was none other than the Master of Thieves himself. She had often seen him from afar, when he addressed the guild she hung on his every word and she read his writings over and over, even when they were little more than holiday memoranda, but this was the first time she had ever been this close to him.

Rayna found herself holding her breath as he passed by, not seeing her at all. She was insignificant in comparison to his magnificence. He was dressed in a black shirt open to the waist that revealed a bronzed, muscular torso and tight black pants that further showed his powerful physique. His light brown eyes, eyes so light that they were almost golden almost made her gasp aloud in admiration. Unlike many of the thieves who wore finery to denote their prowess, the Master did not wear any jewelry aside from a thick gold chain around his neck. He did not smile, but his high cheekbones gave him an expression of good humor.

Rayna felt a thrill of excitement as he strode by her so close that she could reach out and touch him. For a moment she thought his gaze fell on her, but he moved on so quickly she could not be sure. Lowering her head, she doubled her pace down the stairs and made her way quickly out of the guild to her little apartment.