Chapter Text
Most people didn’t consider thieving to be a job. However, Keith would argue otherwise; with the way the Thieves Guild worked, it very much felt like a proper job. He had contracts to fulfill and his salary was based on the quality of execution of said contracts. That sounded like a proper job to him, and said job paid well enough for him to never have to worry about surviving.
His other job, however, didn’t pay at all. At least not in coins. He had picked it up involuntarily when he decided to become a semi-permanent resident of Whiterun. That second job of his was making sure Jesper the guard didn’t meet his untimely demise at the hands of the Dragonborn, or anyone else for that matter, even Jesper’s own clumsiness. Keith didn’t understand how or why he had picked up this second ‘job’, but he just kept doing it. Maybe it was because he found Jesper’s misadventures incredibly entertaining to watch, or maybe it was because of something else entirely. It was a mystery to him why he felt that if Jesper were to die of unfortunate circumstances, it would impact him negatively; which was weird considering he didn’t even know of Jesper’s existence a few months ago.
Of course, he never made his help obvious. He had an image to uphold after all. But he did ‘play nice’ with Jesper. He let himself be caught by him frequently, knowing how easy it was to break out of the Whiterun jails, that was hardly a set back. That somehow did wonders for the guard’s self-esteem and overall spirit. Jesper was more fun to watch when he was in a good mood, so that was a win in Keith’s book. He also did other things here and there to help him out in secret, because he wasn’t supposed to be a ‘good guy’, so all of his good deeds had to be off the records.
Usually, all this was pretty easy.
Usually.
Today, however, wasn’t a regular day. No, today, he was freezing his ass off in Winterhold of all places because for some reason, the commander had decided that Jesper should follow the Dragonborn around again. And of course Keith had followed them, because Jesper’s likelihood of survival was greatly lowered whenever the Dragonborn was involved. So here he was, walking on the ice field in the Sea of Ghost, because the divine-damned Dragonborn had business with a certain madman that somehow lived out there. They had to be careful when walking, so they wouldn’t fall through the ice and into the freezing waters below. Knowing Jesper’s clumsiness, that was easier said than done. Keith was following at a safe distance to not be seen, although the visibility was awful because of the snow storm they were trekking through, so being seen wasn’t really much of a concern. Eventually they made it to the outpost. Unfortunately, they were there for barely an hour before the Dragonborn left and started making his way back. Great, just great.
And of course, the mild snow storm had turned into a proper blizzard. Even better.
It didn’t take long for Jesper to lose track of the Dragonborn, who somehow seemed unaffected by the snow and the wind, and get lost in the field of snow and ice. Keith had been following him more closely, not that Jesper could tell considering they could barely see 3 feet in front of them, and the helmet only made the visibility worse. Keith knew that for a fact. It was a wonder guards could see anything out of these dumb helmets. Knowing that, he shouldn’t have been surprised when Jesper fell through a hole between the thick ice layers and into the water. Keith waited a moment by the hole, ready to help pull Jesper out. But Jesper never came back to the surface. So in a moment of pure adrenaline, Keith jumped in. In retrospect, it was a dumb thing to do; his chances of finding Jesper underwater were slim to none, and then he had to make it out as well.
But something in the back of his brain just couldn’t handle the idea of Jesper dying without at least trying to get him out of there.
Luckily, that stupid helmet of his was reflective enough that Keith was able to find the guard and drag him back to the surface. Once out of the hole, he quickly took Jesper’s helmet off so he could breathe. Jesper coughed up water and took a deep breath. It was a wonder that Jesper was still conscious, at least enough to be able to cough out the water he had swallowed, however Keith didn’t count on that to be the case for long.
“What- I-” Jesper barely got these words out, before coughing again.
“We have to get out of here quickly, otherwise we’ll freeze to death,” Keith said as he helped Jesper to his feet.
Jesper was leaning heavily on him as they trekked back to the shore. Luckily they weren’t too far, but there was no way they were making it back to Winterhold in time. However, Keith could spot the familiar structures typical of old Nordic ruins. Those things were big enough that even through the blizzard, he could at least see their shape. He hoped that they wouldn’t run into any draugrs or other undead so they could take refuge there safely. He almost had to drag Jesper to the top, where they found a small burial mound. To Keith’s joy, it looked like the Dragonborn had already been through the place; a draugr was lying dead in the entrance and the chest had been looted. There was also a lot of random junk strewn about, typical of the Dragonborn.
But for once, the Dragonborn’s bad habits might be what would save the both of them.
He let Jesper down inside the mound before looking around the junk on the floor to see if he could find anything to start a fire with. He eventually found some firewood and got a fire started. Keith then found some pelts of various animals under some random ore and ingots so they would be able to keep warm. When he turned his attention back to Jesper, the guard was slumped over, clearly passed out. Keith went over to him and slapped him awake. Thankfully it worked, and made Jesper cough some more.
“Sorry, you have to stay awake until we’re both warm and dry. Come on,” Keith told him before dragging him closer to the fire.
“We have to take our clothes off so they can dry. Here, I found some regular clothes in the pile of cheese,” Keith said, handing the clothes to Jesper.
It was a miracle Jesper was able to change clothes in the state he was in. Keith did have to help him remove his armour due to it being too heavy, but otherwise Jesper was able to manage on his own despite looking like he was on the verge of collapsing. Keith also changed his own clothes, before helping Jesper lay down on the pelts and sitting next to him. Only then did Jesper manage to get some words out.
“I- Thank you,” Jesper said.
“Save your energy. You’ll need it,” Keith replied.
Jesper wasn’t able to get anything else out before passing out from exhaustion. Keith stayed beside him, making sure he was alright. After a few hours, Jesper woke up again and started coughing his lungs out. The guard tried using restoration magic, but he was too unstable to be able to, so Keith had him drink one of the few healing potions he had on hand before laying back down to rest. It happened a few more times before Jesper finally regained his full consciousness and was able to sit up. He still looked exhausted, but he had stopped coughing and was able to talk to Keith properly.
“Thanks for saving me. I really owe you one,” Jesper told him.
“Don’t mention it,” Keith replied.
“What were you doing out there? There’s nothing to steal,” Jesper asked.
“Wrong, I got some mysterious dwemer artifact at the madman’s outpost,” Keith replied.
“Really? You went all the way out there for a dwemer artifact?” Jesper asked.
“Yeah, it was part of an assignment. You know, from the guild,” Keith lied.
“The Thieves Guild sure gives out weird assignments. Anyways, I’m glad you were there. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you,” Jesper replied.
“Honestly, I don’t think either of us would be alive if the Dragonborn hadn’t been through here and left a bunch of random loot laying around,” Keith admitted.
Jesper looked around briefly, noticing the weird amount of stuff everywhere.
“Never thought the Dragonborn’s habit of leaving junk everywhere could ever be useful,” Jesper said.
“Yeah, me neither,” Keith chuckled.
There was a brief moment of silence as they both looked at the fire.
“You should rest some more. It’s night time outside and our clothes aren’t dried yet, so we should sleep,” Keith said.
“Yeah, I could use some more rest. Is there enough pelts for you to lay down?” Jesper asked.
“Nah it’s fine. I’ll just stay put,” Keith replied.
“You should rest too. You can lay down next to me, it’s fine. Would probably be easier to stay warm that way,” Jesper told him.
“I might take you up on that,” Keith yawned, “Alright move over a little.”
Keith laid down beside him on the makeshift bedroll. They were pretty close, but it was warmer and comfortable enough. Keith hadn’t shown it, but he was exhausted as well after this impromptu rescue mission, so as soon as he heard Jesper’s breathing slow down as he fell asleep, Keith felt his tiredness take over and drag him into a dreamless slumber.