"I am glad that it is enjoyable," Sabine said. "I never liked ships much. Too smelly."

Sabine turned her eyes forward again with an abashed grin. "There have been rumours spread," she explained. "I think some things that we have done may not be exactly as they are told. Meesei normally prefers people knowing the truth, but she says that the stories give our people hope. We have needed that since the gas."

Sabine's smile drooped into a curious frown. "I have to admit that I have not heard many of the stories myself. What did you hear?"

[hr]
Marod took a seat at the table with his fingers woven in front of him. He seemed to be the only one of their party comfortable enough to keep his attention solely on Saras.

The previous wide smile appeared again across Marod's face. "If you knew more about the infiltrators than we do, good representative, I would be surprised myself. After all, Lunise has had all of [i]three[/i] attempts on her life since she first began digging deeper." Marod placed a hand on his chest. "My involvement has been relatively safe at only one assassination attempt." He nodded with one corner of his head. "Fortunately, thwarting assassins is part and parcel of my profession."

Marod took a deep breath. "Now then, as much as I would prefer to play at intrigue and information games, I feel it is time I reached the crux of this visit. My pinpointing and contacting your sweeping organisation has been the culmination of over a decade of cooperative, under the records, investigation from myself and Lunise here." He snorted, "In fact, what started all this up was when Lunise met the legendary Meesei herself in the deserts of Anequina. The champion was escorting an entire small town's worth of population through under the story of being escaped slaves. And they disappeared them all! Can you even believe it?"

Lunise's scowl deepened. "Get on with it, Marod."

"Very well, very well," the jolly agent said, mollifying Lunise with waves of his hand. He breathed away his amusement to continue. "Anyway, the point is that while we do not know every different hole you are hiding in, we have enough information to declare you all a continent-wide security threat to both our governments, and could send a recommendation to neutralise the...communities in hiding -- I believe you call them clans -- that we [i]are[/i] aware of. The thing is, that would require manpower, legionnaires lost to their families, and an overall excess of bother. The Empire and the Dominion would much rather reserve their military for staring each other down than fighting guerrilla wars with physically prime creatures of prey."

Marod rolled one hand open on the table and bowed his head to look at Saras frankly. "Now, I may seem like a dolt, but I'm smarter than your average knee-jerk peasant who sees you as mindless monsters." He half shrugged, "Cultists, you might be. Many of you, that is. But we have enough of them that keep to themselves in the Empire that I have little reason to see you as unworkable." Marod's next breath was quick, weaving his fingers just as quickly again. "So here's the proposal: By means very hush-hush, we start a relationship, you and I. A channel of communication between the lycanthrope population and the Empire. Lunise is willing to be a similar go-between for the Dominion." He leaned back and took on an irritated tone. "All the talk of sovereignty, protection, black market trade on the parts of you and Vile's cult, all that can wait. We, first of all, would like to see a resolution to this war. We provide information on our investigations into Vile's cult. In return, we request only three things for now."

He raised one finger at eye level. "First, you finish this war cleanly. No mass murders, no razed towns, nothing big anymore."

Marod's second finger lifted beside the first. "Secondly, you take in the feral lycans that we capture. We do not have the means to rehabilitate them like you do and silver weapons aren't cheap. Neither are lycan slayers."

A third finger went up. "Thirdly, you will keep a dialogue with us after the war is done. You will no longer be able to hide after what has been happening in Tamriel. It benefits us both that us, calm and rational parties, work to find a peaceful future for lycan communities everywhere. I regret that you may not have quite the independent societies that you have anymore. It will mean governors, law, and potentially taxes, but through us it can keep you all a secret to the world at large. In summary, we want to facilitate a peaceful integration so that the Emperor and the Aldmeri have reasons to keep you around. And, I should not have to say that it is better than the alternative."