"...Pardon?" Fendros was clearly confused. Mentioning bloodlines was oddly specific for heated racism. It was not something that Fendros had ever witnessed, and he had taken part in such prejudice for much of his earlier life. "What does ancestry have to do with any of this?"

At this point, Gallus crossed his arms where he stood. Even he had an eyebrow raised as his gaze went from Fendros back to Irenya. He would have to judge whether to take her aside based on how certain she was on dropping the subject in front of everyone.

---

The fire breather's final display was a sight that permeated sounds of awe through the entire crowd. A huge serpent made from a rainbow fire flowed forth from his mouth, curling and twisting in the air. It seemed to have no end as it spelled out some glyph that was lost on all of them. From the standpoint of any mage, the control required for such a spell was astonishing, but the detail that was sculpted from each individual scale helped everyone to appreciate it. Once it seemed like the heat would singe everyone's eyebrows, the serpent disappeared like the rest of the displays. It was then that the mage began to bow and the crowd clapped and cheered. Tzirret pushed to the front to give a coin to the mage in the bucket he held forth.

"I would like that," Sabine answered Peiter with a wide smile. The smile didn't last long as a thought occurred to her, "Do you mean now, or did you want to see more performances?"

Eventually, Tzirret made his way back to the pair. The heat was radiating off his fur from being so close, even in the tropical sun. He was more excited than ever, "That was amazing! This one has not seen a fire breather since he was a cub!"

Irenya was not keen on giving Fendros, or anybody else, any sort of detailed answer at the moment. "I said, I am done talking about this." She repeated. Evidently, she had said something she had not intended to say, and she was just trying to get away from the conversation right now. Even so, she could not stop herself from allowing her eyes to hover on a nervous-looking Rhazii for a noticeable amount of time.

Ahnasha was still seething, and Irenya's refusal to speak was not helping. She saw the Dunmer woman looking at her son, which further fueled her anger. If Irenya gave any direct insult to Rhazii, it was quite possible that Ahnasha could become violent.

---

Peiter gave an uncertain look to the sun above them. "Well...we don't have all that much time right now, honestly. I doubt we could have much of a training session right now. Next time we get a chance, though, we should definitely do it. I'll have to make sure to get my hands on some training swords at some point. Maybe we can look for those acrobats, or just browse through the market? We could probably find some training swords there, now that I think about it." He suggested.

Tzirret had quite obviously been pleased with the performance, so when he returned to them, Peiter put his arm around his shoulders and gave a supportive smile. "See, aren't you glad you came? And you didn't even need us standing right beside you."

With no answer and no way of getting one, Fendros held Irenya's eyes for only a moment longer before they averted. Instead, Fendros looked to Rhazii and stroked his head comfortingly. It was then that Fendros noticed Irenya looking at his son, but he could only speculate what was meant by her comment. It might have been Rhazii being the child of a Dunmer and a Khajiit that upset her, it might have been something else. Fendros couldn't be sure.

"Well," Gallus said to break the awkward silence that had formed, "I think I'll go and get another drink. That moon sugar is making my head spin." With that, he spun on his heel and started towards the bar. He left Irenya with a fleeting look that promised a talk later on.

The rest looked about awkwardly, resuming their meals. There wasn't really much they could do about the issue, but it would have been better to address while they were further from Senchal.

---

Sabine inwardly chided herself for thinking they would have time to do any training, but she didn't dwell on it. With Tzirret's approach, she couldn't help but chuckle at his demeanour.

"Yes, this was good idea," Tzirret admitted slowly, but still smiling. "This one gives apologies for being..." Tzirret looked at the ground, "...cowardly before."

"It is no matter, Tzirret," Sabine leaned forward to be level with Tzirret's eyes, "You came with us, that's what matters."

Tzirret's eyes looked to Sabine and his smile returned a little.

Sabine's attention turned back to Peiter, "We should look around more. We could get practice swords if you do not mind carrying them around everywhere."

Peiter, Tzirret, and Sabine wandered the market for a while longer. Peiter decided to go ahead and purchase wooden practice swords from himself and Sabine to use later. He would have preferred to buy metal swords so they would have the right weight, but even the cheapest he could find were considerably more expensive than those made of wood. They were also able to watch other performances, but with the time restrictions they were under, they were only able to watch two more before heading back to the tavern.

Inside the tavern, the argument had ended, but only because Irenya refused to talk about it any longer. Ahnasha ended up ordering a moon-sugar filled drink to go along with her food in order to help calm down, but there was little chance that she was going to just drop this topic forever. Later, when they were outside the walls of the city, it would take even more effort to prevent her from turning to violence as a way to vent her frustrations.

Ra'maranja and the others returned to the tavern almost exactly on time. He had not explained what they needed to do in the city, though a few of them were carrying some extra bags. Colors had somethings of a stressed expression, and he now had a bandage tied across the palm of his right hand. Although, he said nothing about it when they met up with Meesei's packs once more.

"Greetings. Ra'maranja is glad to see you all again. Come, if we leave now, we should be able to reach the supply outpost well-before nightfall. From there, this one will send one of his own to inform our leader." He explained before prompting everyone to follow him out of the tavern. They headed through the gate into the city itself so they could cut through to the city's northwestern exit. From there, they would head down the road until they were out of sight, then straight into the Tenmar forest.

Apart from a few small bouts of conversation, the impact of the previous argument had a lingering impact. Everyone was quiet as they finished their food and drink. Fendros was as frustrated as Ahnasha that the problem with Irenya could not be resolved there, but he stopped short of becoming as angry as she was. Rhazii was scared by the confrontation, but more importantly then, he didn't want any further attention drawn to themselves in the city.

Tzirret, Sabine, and Peiter arrived back to see the tension first hand, but without context, it was rather awkward. After hearing about what happened from Janius after they began moving out, Sabine wasn't slightly glad that she wasn't around for the argument.

As the packs followed Ra'maranja out of the city with, presumably, extra supplies carried by his pack, Fendros felt at the same time safer and less safe. They were out of the city, and a seedy city it was, but he had to place trust in strangers where the situation with the Senchal clan was not certain. Not only that, but he had to hope that Ahnasha and Irenya would not decide to renew their feud at the first opportunity without some kind of mediation.

In some effort to ease the mistrust, Janius approached Colours on the road. "What happened to your hand?"

Once the group had exited the gates of Senchal, the transition from the sprawling city to the wilds was quick, and rather abrupt. The road cut through the middle of the forest, though it was only of the absolute minimum width to be a serviceable pathway for carriages, as the forest seemed like it would constantly be growing to overtake it. Frequent maintenance was likely required for the road to be usable. Even with the trees that had been felled to make the path, the tall trees of the Tenmar forest still formed a canopy far above them. Honestly, it was more accurate to call it a jungle than a forest. The songs of the birds, insects, frogs, and other creatures around them were constant, and notably loud.

Although the forest was an impressive sight to behold, the climate was less than pleasant for most of them. The cool ocean breeze had kept the packs comfortable in the city, but the farther they drew from the coast, the more abundantly clear it became that they were, indeed, in a tropical region. While the trees did provide shade from the sun, it was hardly of any help in the tropical jungle. Black Marsh had been hotter and more humid, but not by all that large of a margin. Most of the pack started sweating enough that their city clothes were certainly going to need a wash. A Khajiit's fur was designed to keep heat out in the desert, but the humidity alone was certainly enough to get to Ahnasha. Meesei, Kaleeth, and Newt, however, all felt perfectly comfortable.

Colors was briefly surprised when Janius approached him. Looking down, he lightly rubbed the cloth bandage. "Oh, that. We...were in the market, and I accidentally slipped on a puddle of what I hope was water. Don't know what I actually cut my hand on. I...can be clumsy at times."

The droning and the heat of the jungle hit almost all of them hard. It wasn't ten minutes before the familiar fatigue that the humid heat brought on returned. There was at least solid ground here, unlike Black Marsh, but it was far from even. Not even the road was smooth enough not to catch one's foot on the occasional root.

"Ah, I see," Janius said, not sure if he should laugh or feel bad for Colours. In any case, he extended his hand, "My name's Janius- er..." Janius realised that he had extended a hand that would match Colours' wounded palm, so he switched hands quickly. "Have you been part of the clan for long? What is it like?"

"Oh, it is...nice. Quite nice. They are the family I never had. It has wealth, power, agreeable friends, and beautiful, um, 'companions.' I would do anything to protect them. It is the best clan in Tamriel, if I do say so myself. Our leader has kept us strong for decades." Colors explained. Meesei gave him a curious look upon his last statement, though did not say anything aloud for the moment.

Shortly afterwards, the group reached the point where they had to branch off of the road and straight into the forest itself. Ra'maranja led the way, using his shortblade to hack through thicker areas of brush. He quickly outpaced Meesei's packs at first, but he slowed down once he realized that he was leading a group which was not as experienced in navigating the jungle.

Peiter looked to be absolutely miserable in the heat, and having go through all of the effort to trudge their way through the brush was certainly not helping. Chorrol, where he was born, was temperate at best, and Bruma, even in the summer months, was almost always cold. As such, he was among the least prepared in the group for the heat. Nevertheless, he tried to distract himself by joining in on the conversation. "You said you went to the market? Me and a few of the others did as well. We didn't see you, or we would have helped. Sabine has been learning restoration, do you think you would want to look at him?" He asked, turning his head to Sabine for confirmation.

Colors shook his head. "Oh, no, that won't be necessary. The cut wasn't that bad, and it would just slow us down."

"That sounds good. More stable than we were up north a few years ago by the sounds. Though, I can't say the weather is an advantage down here." Janius let out a small laugh.

Sabine was sweating like a rain cloud as well, but at least she had some practice in the tropical weather. She peered up curiously when asked to check on Colours' wound. She started to move towards him despite his protests and began to charge a bright yellow spell in one hand. "I can mend it while we walk," she said, "If it is not bad, it will not be difficult."

Colors pulled back his hand, away from Sabine. "No, really, it's fine. I don't want to trouble you."

Just ahead of them, a Khajiit woman from Ra'maranja's group turned her head back towards them. "Don't worry, this one took care of that lout's little cut. And he was such a cub about it, too." She snickered, raising up her hand and charging a small amount of restoration magic through it for a moment.

Colors rubbed the back of his neck and gave a somewhat forced laugh. "Ah, but can you truly blame me, my lady? I do not care that I am both lycan and Argonian, the streets of Senchal are positively foul with waste. With how my luck has been going the past few months, a toxin only deadly to my kind would find its way into my wound. Of course, I am most grateful for your assistance." He said to the Khajiit before looking to Sabine and giving a bow. "And for the offer of assistance from such a kind and beautiful mage."

Sabine stopped and let her spell fade. She looked to the woman ahead of them while she spoke and figured there probably wasn't much of any helpful healing to do if that was the case. As for Colours' compliment, Sabine wasn't quite sure how to take it. She dubiously glanced to Peiter, then back to Colours. "Your welcome," she said finally and unsurely, more as an automatic response than anything else. Now she knew how Meesei had felt.

"Don't tease the girl, Colours," Janius said after a chuckle, "She's young and impressionable."

"I am an adult," Sabine said to Janius, somewhat annoyed.

Janius looked back to her and immediately contradicted his own advice, "Oh? So you are interested, are you?"

Sabine went red with anger and embarrassment. There was no hesitation in her response, "No!"

With nothing else but a laugh, Janius continued onwards. It wasn't often that he got the opportunity to get Sabine back for the pranks she had pulled on him.

Sabine just fell back to where she had been previously in the group, looking rather glum.

"So, how many are in the clan, approximately?" Janius asked, continuing where they had left off.

Colors scratched his head. "I...can't say, really. It has certainly grown in the past few years. It really felt like a town, or even a city. Hundreds, at least." He answered. He had entirely ignored Janius' comment about teasing Sabine, though with this Argonian, it was difficult to tell if he was teasing, or was actually serious.

---

The walk took a few hours, and by the attitudes of some of Ra'maranja's group, that was longer than usual. The jungle was new terrain for most of them, and even their experience in Black Marsh did not translate over entirely to this new location. Nevertheless, they did finally reach their destination with several hours of daylight remaining; although, even once they had stopped, Meesei's packs were still not certain they had arrived at all. Ra'maranja had halted in a section of the jungle that looked no different from any other. There did not seem to be any buildings or structures, no caves or anything else that might be considered shelter.

"We have arrived. Ra'maranja will send one of his own to speak with the clan leader. It is further on into the Tenmar forest. Considering how long it took us to get here, you may need to stay here for the night." Ra'maranja explained.

Ahnasha looked around, confused. "That's fine and everything, but...where's the supply outpost?"

Ra'maranja grinned, then lifted his hand to point straight up. The leaves of the trees mostly obscured it, but if they looked closely, they could see what were essentially houses built around the trees above them. The structures were close to the top of the tall trees, but there were ramps and bridges, both to connect the trees, and to lead down closer to the ground. Ra'maranja walked over to one of the trees and grabbed a vine-like rope leading up to one of the lower walkways. "Khajiit hopes you can climb."

Ahnasha furrowed her brow. "We can, but what about Leaps?" She asked, motioning to the wamasu.

Ra'maranja chuckled. "Not to worry. There is a platform up in the walkways attached to pulleys. A lift. We use it to hoist the supplies up to the houses; it should hold the creature's weight. It can hold people too, if you don't want to climb with your children."

Peiter craned his neck back to look up at the houses high above them before nudging Sabine beside. "Those are, um, high, aren't they? At least...no one will be able to surprise us...I guess. Well, since we're going to be here for a while, maybe we could go ahead and do that training?" He suggested.

There was a laugh from Janius upon the structures above being pointed out. He put his hands on his hips and commented, "Amazing! I never would have found this without knowing. Hey, Kaleeth," Janius looked to her, "Did you want to climb or take the platform?"

Enthusiastic, Rhazii motioned to climb down from Fendros' back, where he was being carried. He was the first to run up to the rope Ra'maranja was holding to try and climb it. "Wait, hold on, Rhazii!" Fendros stepped up after him and caught him by the waist before the cub could climb higher than a metre. With a laugh, Fendros held onto him and lowered him onto the ground. "It's a long way up, Rhazii. We'll take the pulley platform."

Sabine was just as amazed by the treetop platforms. She took a few moments to respond to Peiter as he asked about the training. Instead of saying any words immediately, she looked at him, then walked to the trunk of the tree with the rope. After some rummaging, she found a second rope leading up. She then shot Peiter a challenging grin.

While there was much growing in Sabine since her ritual, one vestige of her childhood she still enjoyed was climbing trees. She didn't get to do much of any tree climbing in the clan for three straight years, but this opportunity was for a higher climb than normal. She wouldn't pass it up. "If you get to the top before me, you get to pick swords or spells," Sabine said, before grabbing one of the ropes with both hands and striding up the tree trunk at speed. She was a little slower than usual, courtesy of the journey, but she wasn't playing to lose.

Tzirret was breathing heavily through his mouth and sat down after the group stopped. His ears had been flat the entire time as they trudged through the heat. The weather had done well to sap his strength. He looked up with astonishment at Sabine. "There is no energy in this one. How is there energy in that one?" he asked no one in particular.

Gallus ran his tongue around in his mouth for a moment, regarding the outpost. "I guess they'll get the lift for us," he said, before looking to Ra'maranja, "How strong are those ropes? Can they hold more than one at a time?"

Perhaps observing what he thought he would look like climbing up the tree in Sabine and Peiter, Rhazii had an open-mouthed smile as he watched them. "Mama, dada, I want to climb the tree!" Rhazii pleaded.

Peiter was quick to run to the rope once Sabine issued the challenge. He did not like heights, but one thing he hated more was to lose a challenge. And, as long as he refrained from looking down, he could probably forget about how high he was climbing. Sabine did have an advantage from starting first, but he was not far behind her. Tree climbing was not necessarily one of his hobbies, but rope climbing something he had done before in training, albeit reluctantly. Through his combat training, one thing Peiter did have was upper body strength, which was quite important in this sort of climbing. His pace was surprisingly rapid, causing him to quickly gain on her. After his loss in their last foot race, he had the resolve make sure he was the victor here.

With every ounce of effort he could put forth, Peiter forced himself to climb as fast as his arms could carry him until he finally reached the top, and he was fairly certain that he had been the victor. As he pulled himself up onto the platform, however, he ended up taking a glance down at the forest floor below. Immediately, he dropped down onto his back on the platform, looking up to the sky. He breathed heavily, nearly panicking from the height they were at. "I...regret everything. Just...way too high. Why are you calm? How can you be calm up here?"

Meesei smiled as she stood just behind Tzirret, watching the race from below. "She is dedicated, they both are. When they see a goal, or a challenge, they do everything they can to achieve it." She said before shrugging her shoulders. "Or perhaps it was simply a stamina restoration spell."

Kaleeth, who had been carrying Newt, handed over the hatchling to Janius. "I think you should take Newt up on the lift." She suggested before quickly walking up to the base of the rope. "It has been years since I've climbed a tree anywhere close to this. Not since I lived in Black Marsh."

"The ropes can hold multiple people." Ra'maranja began. "But you still might want to go one at a time, to be safe. It's what we usually do."

Ahnasha couldn't help but to smile at Rhazii's excitement, though there was of course no way she could allow him to climb the rope, especially alone. "Don't worry, little cub. We will all be in the trees soon enough; we are just going to take the lift."

"This one wishes that he knew how to do that magic," Tzirret mumbled to himself.

Fendros looked up after Sabine and Peiter, following where Rhazii was looking. Rhazii seemed mildly disappointed that he didn't get to climb himself, but he was still watching the race. Fendros gave a quiet comment to Ahnasha, "Those two remind me of a couple I know." He looked at Ahnasha properly, "Do you want to take Rhazii up, or shall I?"

As much practice as Sabine had with climbing, Peiter had the strength and the speed to overtake her. She hoisted herself up to the platform to find Peiter on his back and breathing fast. Faster than simply being out of breath. Sabine stood up on the platform with no particular fear of falling and made her way over to him, catching her own breath. She squat down beside him. "We won't fall," Sabine said simply. She angled her head back slightly and looked down her nose at him, smiling, "You win." She sat herself down, "What do you want to do? Swords or spells?"

"Sabine! The lift, please!" Fendros' voice rang out patiently from below.

Sabine rolled her eyes and stood up to find out how the lift worked. It seemed to be some kind of geared and ratcheted crank; much safer than heaving it up and down by hand. It took about half a minute for Sabine to work out how to release the ratchet and lower the platform to the ground.

Once Kaleeth began up one of the ropes, Gallus gave Ra'maranja a nod. "Very well, Uthri, Irenya, Tzirret," Gallus looked to his pack mates, "Queue up, orderly now."

Tzirret sighed and stood up, but was beaten to the rope by Uthri, who didn't waste any time ascending the tree. Being an outdoors woman gave her no small proficiency in climbing.

When Irenya approached, however, Gallus approached her and lifted a hand to halt her. With a half-smile, he placed a hand on her shoulder. He spoke to her quietly, "My friend, you and I will remain a moment longer to load baggage onto the lift." Gallus' look did not leave a difficult guess as to why Irenya had been chosen for the task. Any single person could have dealt with the baggage themselves.

It took a while for Peiter to calm down enough to actually will himself to stand up, and he was still nervous even once he did. At the very least, the platforms and walkways did have ropes strung along the sides to serve as guard railings. For Peiter, it was a small comfort, but it was at least enough to make him willing to move. He made his way over to Sabine, who had already figured out the platform and was getting ready to bring up the first passenger.

"After all that effort...we're definitely doing swords first. Let's just, uh, make sure to hold the session down there. Not up here. You know, it's safer that way." Peiter answered. He was still breathing heavily from the exertion of climbing, and wiped some sweat from his brow. "I had hoped it would be cooler up here. I...have no idea why I thought that. I can't imagine a place other than Oblivion itself being hotter than this."

Kaleeth was quick to start the climb up the ropes, while Ahnasha stayed down with Rhazii to make sure he didn't get any ideas about trying to follow. Lorag, while he would have preferred to climb, knew that it would be best not to try it in the steel armor he was wearing, so he could wait on the lift. Meesei also decided to wait in order to stay with Leaps and make sure he stayed secure on the lift once it was his turn.

Irenya let out a sigh when Gallus stopped her. She knew well what this was about. "Is this really necessary...alpha?" She whispered.

In the time Peiter took to calm down and get up, Sabine had already lifted Janius and Newt partway up the height of the tree. The nature of the crank meant that Sabine did not have to put too much strength into turning the wheel. She just had to turn it fast if she wanted to get the platform up in any fast measure of time. The speed made up the effort lost by the weight, so Sabine's already ragged hair was dripping and clinging to her shoulders with the sweat.

"Okay, we can do a sword lesson. Could you please help me with the platform?" Sabine didn't talk for a short while, instead focussing on breathing and turning the wheel on the lift. After Janius and Newt were almost at the top, she spoke again, pausing for breath often, "The only way...to help heat...like this...water...a pond or creek...a beach...swimming..." She swallowed and the wheel suddenly refused to turn any further. A catch had reached the crank that stopped the platform just as it reached the top.

Janius carefully stepped off the platform with Newt onto the stable surface. "Thank you, Sabine," Janius remarked.

Down below, Gallus raised his brow and nodded to Irenya. With how slowly the platform operated, it would be a short while before all others were up in the outpost.

By this time, one of the more practised members of Ra'maranja's pack had climbed up to where Peiter and Sabine were and offered to take over operating the lift. Sabine took a moment to catch her breath again and admire the views offered by the treetop outpost before heading down with Peiter again to start the lesson.

---

Once everyone had either climbed up the ropes or taken a ride on the lift, Irenya and Gallus made quick work of the baggage and Gallus took Irenya slightly out of the way to speak with her privately. They didn't go far, just out of earshot of Peiter and Sabine's lesson.

Gallus took a few moments to pace around as he usually did, crunching old leaves below his feet. Once he had formulated the words properly, he regarded Irenya with a serious look. "I apologise for pulling rank here, Irenya, I prefer to keep things friendly, as you know," Gallus spoke with sincerity, but also with confidence in his position, "Unfortunately, there are times where I have to bring the objective to the priority. We're here for a reason, all of us. From this standpoint, that little scuffle you had with Ahnasha brings up a risk. We don't know what we're heading into, which means you two might have to trust each other at some point. I won't insult you by asking you to simply drop whatever problem you and her have, but it is my responsibility to make sure that it is not a problem for the rest of us, and to do that, I need to know what it is." Gallus clasped his hands behind his back, now frowning. The game player who was juggling two romances at once had been replaced by a genuine alpha. "So, let's hear it."

As they had to take turns, it did take some time for most of everyone to make it up into the trees. Meesei was last, along with Leaps. Fortunately, the lift could support both of them at the same time, so she was able to stay close to the wamasu to ensure that he did not panic on the way up. Leaps certainly became nervous as they began to lift the pair up. He stood quickly and looked down over the edge, so Meesei rubbed the back of his neck gently and repeated the command "stay" until they were high enough that he would not consider jumping. It was unavoidable that Leaps would be stressed by this new experience, but once they were on the platform, he at least had no problem staying away from the edge.

Once most of everyone was up in the trees, Ra'maranja approached the Bosmer in his group. "Continue on to the clan and inform the clan leader of our proposed meeting. We will remain here with the Champion's pack." He ordered, to which the Bosmer quickly agreed. Ra'maranja then moved forward towards one of the ramps leading up to the structures above. "Come, this one will show you to your accommodations. There are four buildings, built entirely around the trunks of the trees. The smaller two mostly just contain beds, while the large one in the middle is basically the living area. The last, medium-sized hut is just for storage, and contains most of the supplies."

Peiter nodded to Sabine as they made their way back to the ropes. "That...makes sense. I can just imagine how good some nice, cold water would feel right about now. We might want to go searching for some after this training; swordfighting can be pretty physically intensive. I imagine they would put a supply outpost somewhere near a source of water." He commented.

The pair climbed back down the ropes, then found an open area that was as far away from Gallus and Irenya as was reasonable without making it look intentional. They certainly did not want to intrude upon the conversation that they could imagine was occurring at the moment. Peiter set his bag down on a fallen log, then pulled out the two wooden practice swords from within and propped them up against it. Letting out a deep breath, he wiped his brow once more. His energy had already been somewhat drained by the journey to the outpost, and the exertion of climbing up and down the tree, but he could still go through with the training, albeit not for as long as usual. Given the heat, he removed his sweat-drenched shirt and held it up in front of himself for a moment before dropping it onto his bag with something of a disgusted grunt. "I feel like I've already been swimming at this point."

---

Although she had already known what the conversation would be about before it started, Irenya could not help but to be annoyed and frustrated by it. She stood leaned up against a tree with her arms crossed. "And you are talking to me about this? It was the cat that started that fight, not me. If anything, she should be the one you're berating. She shouts at me, calls me a bigot. You know how I treat our little Tzirret, you know that can't be true. It's just...you're not a Dunmer. You wouldn't understand the problem. We hold great reverence for family and ancestors in Morrowind. It is an integral part of the shared culture of all Dunmer. To corrupt that linage with the blood of a cat...it is just wrong. What future is there for Fendros when he has no heir to pass down the traditions of his family? It is a disservice to our people." Irenya reluctantly explained. Of course, even ignoring the matter of whether or not her protests were acceptable, they would do nothing to explain her treatment of Meesei.

Sabine took a slight step back when Peiter waved his shirt around. She was used to seeing nudity, but it didn't make the smell any more pleasant. Of course, she couldn't speak for herself in that regard. "You will get used to the heat," Sabine reassured him as she set down her waterskin. It was the only baggage item she didn't leave with whatever else that was going to be lifted up to the outpost.

Being that she was ready to start, even if it would dirty her city clothes some more, Sabine walked over to the wooden practice swords and picked one up by the handle. She lifted it close to her face and gave it a quick look over before stepping back and trying to assume the guard position that Lorag had taught her years ago.

---

For a moment, Gallus thought Irenya was going to belligerently hold back the reasons for avoiding Fendros and Ahnasha. Thankfully, she eventually got around to explaining herself. He brushed off her comments questioning his decisions, knowing he was above it and Irenya was just frustrated.

"So it is a question of tradition?" Gallus asked rhetorically, "Hmm, it seems like your problem is with Fendros more than Ahnasha. I can understand that." Still keeping his hands behind his back, Gallus curled his lips and breathed in through his nose while looking up at the canopy. He decided to get the full picture before trying to convince Irenya of anything. After a pause, he looked to Irenya again, "Is that all there is? I have noticed that you aren't comfortable around Meesei, either."

Peiter picked up his practice sword as well, though he did not assume a combat stance at first. Instead, he walked around Sabine and observed how she was standing. "Not bad. I'd hold the blade a bit higher, but other than that, it's a proper stance. Especially for a beginner. It's important to note that there is no one 'right' way to fight. No one stance that will be better than all the others. It's just a matter of the situation you're in. How about we start with a quick bout just to see how much you already know."

Taking a few steps away, Peiter stopped, faced Sabine, then assumed his own combat stance. The weapons were practice longswords, so they were meant to be held with two hands. He kept the blade out in front of him in a position that would allow him to respond quickly to attacks at most angles. "Okay...begin."

Staring out, Peiter did not attack immediately. Instead, he stepped forward, but kept far enough away that neither of them could hit the other's body without taking a step forward. He touched the tip of his blade to the end of hers so that he could feel what she was going to do. From there, he gave a simple forward thrust at her torso, just to test her defenses.

---

Irenya was irritated, though whether it was specifically directed at Gallus at the moment was hard to say. She sneered, though was not looking at Gallus. "Yes, I suppose that problem is with Fendros, but I can't say I'm fond of the cat either. Not with her attitude. And she is just as responsible as him for tainting his bloodline. That boy, Fendros, I don't think he even knows what he is doing. He is young, and not from our homeland. He doesn't understand his people, or what he is doing to his traditions."

Upon asking about Meesei, Irenya looked at Gallus with as unemotional of an expression as she could manage. "Meesei is Hircine's Champion, and I am honor-bound to follow her lead for as long as she retains that title." She said with a tone matching her expression. It was an evasive answer which did nothing to actually address the question.