Utu-ja was never comfortable with social situations.  But, he knew how to fake it when he had to.  He only turned his head to look at the source of the voice that had wished him luck when he had heard from Daelin where they were supposed to go.  Then he turned and raised a long arm to clap the boy on the shoulder as he passed in a friendly way.

"You'll need it more." He said quietly with a gentle look from his deep brown eyes.  The boy would be part of the assault.  Scouting parties had the advantage of stealth to reduce their odds of catching enemy arrows.  "Don't turn into a quiver."  Then he walked on, avoiding notice as before, with his fingers nearly touching the ground.  The boy hadn't been rude so Utu had hope that he would survive.  There weren't enough nice people.

He swung by his tent and grabbed the rest of his gear and his bow before going to Daelin's tent, still arriving well before the other two volunteers.  The tent smelled of herbs and leather and other things that Utu never could seem to recognize.  It smelled like Daelin too.  The smells always made his nostrils tighten a little to keep from being overwhelmed.  Still, it was always a good day when he was here.  It meant work and a chance to impress the boss again and make the nords less of a danger to one misshapen argonian.

Utu-ja had been going to just stand by the entrance and wait as he had done before, but Daelin brought up that other matter.  Utu had been wondering what was going on when he received that paper.  He had looked at it briefly but it was just more ink scratches on paper to him.  It was good luck that he had a chance to deal with this before the work started in earnest.

He reached into one of his oiled packs and drew out the letter.  He looked thoughtful for a moment before stepping forward and putting it down on Daelin's desk.  The letter bothered him a lot.  It even bothered him enough to show in subtle twitches of his tail.  He had no living family or anyone else who could know where he was.  So, how did this letter arrive?  Besides, he couldn't read.  So, who would send something that he couldn't read?

"Daelin, I can't read and nobody should know I'm here."  Utu said simply, holding the letter out for Daelin to take.  "If this is for me at all then it needs to be read for me." 

The argonian was embarrassed at having to bother one of his bosses with this but the letter was too suspicious to leave alone and he didn't want just anyone to find out what was in it.  The whole thing was worrying.  Utu's mind had been swimming around in circles, trying to figure out something that could bring him to the attention of somebody who wrote letters.  He just couldn't think of anything.  His hands were still but his tail had a tension in its movements that betrayed how disquieted he was by this.

[@Frizan][@gcold]