“What do you mean, no?” Sapphire hissed. A brief chat with Niranye and now the two of them were sitting in her house after hours, the Eyes of the Falmer sitting on Niranye's table while the Altmer fence poured herself a strong drink.
“Things I can sell on!” Niranye cried. “Gemstones that look much like any other and that I can lend out to Hermir for her to practice crafting jewellery with, I thought you meant! Not... these! Mara's mercy, Sapphire, no one in Windhelm's got the talent to even dent these!”
“Are you joking,” Sapphire said softly. “Niranye, this heist has been literally years in the planning, two Guild Masters died over this, you would not even believe the trouble Brynjolf and I had getting these bastards, and you're refusing to fence them now? We killed Linwe and pals, you said you'd fence for us!”
“I did. And – and I will. Any other little trinkets, fine. But not these, Sapphire. I've not got the coin to cover even a fraction of their value – they're worth more than this entire house.” Niranye gestured helplessly at the enormous diamonds. “Sapphire, you're a notorious jewel thief, don't tell me you don't have contacts.”
Sapphire did, but the truth was, it was small gemstones, easy to steal, easy to make off with, that she specialised in. Easy to prise out of one jewellery piece, melt down the metal, craft another one out of it, sell it on. She'd learnt smithcraft in the Dark Brotherhood, principally how to do Shrouded Armour and fix up weapons, and then when she'd joined the Guild, Glover had taken her under his wing and honed her skills. It was an extremely good way of converting ill-gotten gems into completely legitimate and saleable goods. Sadly not an option with the Eyes of the Falmer.
“Do you know anyone who might be willing to take these off our hands and not ask questions?” Sapphire sighed. Someone surely must want these, some private collector so well-respected the law wouldn't even touch them. They weren't even stolen property technically, no previous owner to set the guards after them. Just semi-legendary diamonds that those who knew of such things might well guess had been pried out of their previous home.
Niranye was examining one of the Eyes, humming thoughtfully. Which Sapphire hoped meant a buyer might be out there somewhere.
“Maybe,” Niranye said. “If you and Brynjolf are willing to resort to a little trickery. Ever been to Markarth?”
“Many times,” Sapphire grinned. It was amazing just how many gemstones occasionally turned up in the Reach's mines, and their Silver-Blood owners liked to claim them all. Sapphire, unusually for a Nord, had managed to win a few Reachmen over and had become known as a buyer for any gems they could smuggle out on the quiet. She didn't pay market value, of course, but it was better than having the overseers take them all with nothing paid in return.
“Good, then you'll know the Treasury House,” Niranye said. “The Silver-Bloods are richer than Zenithar – if you and Brynjolf pose as a Nord couple from out of Skyrim, on the run from the Thalmor due to Talos worship and needing a steady supply of coin so as to set yourselves up in Ulfric's territory, and the gemstones were the only things you were able to take from your vault, you might be able to get a credit line set up with them. You'll need to practice your Empire-hating rhetoric, but I imagine they'll be willing to turn a blind eye to the origins of your collateral.”
It sounded incredibly chancy to Sapphire's ears, but most things in their line of work were. Brynjolf would not be pleased to hear this, but it didn't sound like they had much choice.
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 21.1
“Things I can sell on!” Niranye cried. “Gemstones that look much like any other and that I can lend out to Hermir for her to practice crafting jewellery with, I thought you meant! Not... these! Mara's mercy, Sapphire, no one in Windhelm's got the talent to even dent these!”
“Are you joking,” Sapphire said softly. “Niranye, this heist has been literally years in the planning, two Guild Masters died over this, you would not even believe the trouble Brynjolf and I had getting these bastards, and you're refusing to fence them now? We killed Linwe and pals, you said you'd fence for us!”
“I did. And – and I will. Any other little trinkets, fine. But not these, Sapphire. I've not got the coin to cover even a fraction of their value – they're worth more than this entire house.” Niranye gestured helplessly at the enormous diamonds. “Sapphire, you're a notorious jewel thief, don't tell me you don't have contacts.”
Sapphire did, but the truth was, it was small gemstones, easy to steal, easy to make off with, that she specialised in. Easy to prise out of one jewellery piece, melt down the metal, craft another one out of it, sell it on. She'd learnt smithcraft in the Dark Brotherhood, principally how to do Shrouded Armour and fix up weapons, and then when she'd joined the Guild, Glover had taken her under his wing and honed her skills. It was an extremely good way of converting ill-gotten gems into completely legitimate and saleable goods. Sadly not an option with the Eyes of the Falmer.
“Do you know anyone who might be willing to take these off our hands and not ask questions?” Sapphire sighed. Someone surely must want these, some private collector so well-respected the law wouldn't even touch them. They weren't even stolen property technically, no previous owner to set the guards after them. Just semi-legendary diamonds that those who knew of such things might well guess had been pried out of their previous home.
Niranye was examining one of the Eyes, humming thoughtfully. Which Sapphire hoped meant a buyer might be out there somewhere.
“Maybe,” Niranye said. “If you and Brynjolf are willing to resort to a little trickery. Ever been to Markarth?”
“Many times,” Sapphire grinned. It was amazing just how many gemstones occasionally turned up in the Reach's mines, and their Silver-Blood owners liked to claim them all. Sapphire, unusually for a Nord, had managed to win a few Reachmen over and had become known as a buyer for any gems they could smuggle out on the quiet. She didn't pay market value, of course, but it was better than having the overseers take them all with nothing paid in return.
“Good, then you'll know the Treasury House,” Niranye said. “The Silver-Bloods are richer than Zenithar – if you and Brynjolf pose as a Nord couple from out of Skyrim, on the run from the Thalmor due to Talos worship and needing a steady supply of coin so as to set yourselves up in Ulfric's territory, and the gemstones were the only things you were able to take from your vault, you might be able to get a credit line set up with them. You'll need to practice your Empire-hating rhetoric, but I imagine they'll be willing to turn a blind eye to the origins of your collateral.”
It sounded incredibly chancy to Sapphire's ears, but most things in their line of work were. Brynjolf would not be pleased to hear this, but it didn't sound like they had much choice.