Odd thing to do considering I saved her from the Alik'r.

I was at Sky Haven trading equipment with the Blades I recruited and improving it with my Smithing skills when these 3 thugs walk through the door. They pick a fight with me, then the Blades and I crush them without much difficulty.

One the body of one of the "Hired Thugs" is a contract from Saadia asking them to "teach me a lesson for being a thief."

Timeout....what is the reasoning on this? I tried approaching her with the contract but got no new dialogue options. I saved her behind from the Alik'r and this is how she repays me? What gives?

You stole something from her.

Does this happen to everyone you steal from? I haven't done much stealing and can't recall stealing anything from her.

I'm not sure the triggers for it. I've heard lots of different NPCs doing it, but don't know if there's a threshold or random chance.

Interesting. I guess I'll have to be more careful when I eventually play a total klepto character.

Still seems odd though considering I saved her life. You'd think the whole "friendship" factor that other NPCs have when they let you take their stuff or hire them for free would come into play since I saved her life though.

Yeah - that's it, the stealing something from her. Thing is that it doesn't even have to be in purpose.

For example, I play on the PC. So for me the "E" key does all kinds of stuff, interacts with people, opens doors, takes stuff and yes - steals stuff.

I walked into the alchemist's shop in Whiterun, I was in a hurry and pushed "E". Evidently my cursor was on some little knick-knack on the counter instead of on the lady behind the counter when I did because I "stole" whatever it was by accident.

Ok - guard busts me, I pay my fine and life goes on. The lady at the store treats me no different. But she still sent thugs after me. So far I've only ran into one batch of them. She treated me no different after I killed them either.

I can't even think of anything I would have accidentally taken. I'm pretty OCD with my inventory, so I drop things I accidentally pick up right away if it's useless. Could possibly have been a gold piece or something like that, as that I probably wouldn't have noticed.

Another possibility, I was going around to different Inns in the game dropping a flawless ruby trying to get the patrons to fight over it. Only worked once in Riften. I could have swore that when I went to pick it back up one time after it failed, it had a red "Steal" on it, but it may have just been my imagination.

Interesting quirk though.

Yep, that's a staple of the TES games - http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm643ut3cz1qj6xzq.jpg

My favorite is when someone attacks me, I kill them then loot their home, and then they send thugs after me from the grave...

Yeah, stealing is weird in this game. Makes me reconsider the Thieves Guild quests.

Ownership of houses can transfer to relatives if you kill someone.
Eg. Anise's sister sends thugs after you, if you loot the cabin after you kill Anise.

Heh - that's funny because what I "stole" was some kind of common ingredient that was laying on the counter. Like the wildflowers or thistle that grows beside every road in Skyrim. For that she hires 3 thugs and sends them 1/2 way across the continent to beat me up or kill me. There are some psycho shopkeepers running around.

I favor thieving playstyles and it doesn't happen -that- often. Through a 30 hour save, I've come across around 4-5 groups of thugs after me? Give or take.

I'm pretty sure the thugs are only sent if you are in some way detected stealing. My character is a total klepto too, but he has only ever been caught once. Consequently, only one band of thugs has ever disappeared from the face of Skyrim. I dragged their bodies into the forest for the wolves, muahahahaha.