The sound of twigs snapping underfoot accompanied the light footsteps of the Altmeri mage that walked across them, adding to the veritable chorus of noises within the forest that she had found herself in. She had trudged through worse places than this before in service to the Thalmor, but she never did manage to get the hang of pathfinding within the dense embrace of the forest - that was an art better left to her Bosmeri cousins, and it was one of the few things they were good for, short of providing land. She vaguely recalled that the group she had agreed to adventure with contained one of the woodfolk, and made a mental note to keep an eye out on the canopies above for his lurking. It would not do to be taken unawares by a wood elf, though forests were undoubtedly their domain and it would hardly be surprising for her to be at a natural disadvantage. Arrogance was one thing, but letting yourself be killed for it was a mistake that she did not intend to make like so many of her brethren had in the past.

Continuing to trudge through the forest and the murk that seemed to pervade it, she allowed her thoughts to wander back to some of her less uncivilised companions. From what she remembered, there were a decent number of mages within the group - always a positive beginning - and that none of them were Altmeri, which she felt would be a continued source of disappointment in the few days to come. Still, they had one Altmer in her, and that was at least enough to begin with. Maybe they could replace one of the various nondescript Dunmer in the group with a mage of real talent, or perhaps one of the two seemingly identical Bretons? She could tell that each of the Bretons wanted to be someone with true magical talent, and that was enough to pass her initial checks of interest, but the Dunmer seemed... Well, like a typical Dunmer. The Imperial, Hector, was going to be the crux of the group if Aenyarin had to pick an individual to pin that responsibility on - he had been the most approachable, even to her (an agent of the Thalmor, no less) and it seemed like he had the correct attitude, mindset, and most importantly skillset to be a competent adventurer. Whether or not he was a leader was another matter, but Aenyarin's first impressions were rarely wrong after so many years in the business of moulding the psyche of those unfortunate enough to cross the Thalmor and end up caught. "Blackbird", or Hraf Raven-Eye, was one such individual whose first impression would stick with him for a hundred lifetimes, and to Aenyarin, that impression was "dangerous". She had resolved to be eternally vigilant from the moment she laid eyes upon him, and his mannerisms and speech had only proven that initial feeling of distrust correct. She would be watching him most carefully of all in the adventures to come.

Aenyarin turned a corner, mentally running over the directions she'd been given one more time, and musing over how she likely would not make it quite on time - still, that was for the best, as people finding the burial site before her would give her some clues as to where exactly in the wretched forest she should travel. She had noted the occasional footprint in the mulch already, but had gleaned nothing from it beyond a vague direction and the fact that that meant someone had travelled this way previously. Given the relative isolation of the section of forest they were in and the lack of any other tracks suggesting a chase, she could surmise that it was a member of the little adventuring group and had set to following the trail as best as she could. 

When she finally arrived at the clearing, several party members had already arrived ahead of her. Electing not to greet herself brazenly, she merely lifted her hood down and looked forwards towards the entrance to the tomb, then towards the other members of the party. 

"I apologise for the lateness." was all that Aenyarin said, not quite wanting to antagonise anybody of her own accord just yet, but she would certainly speak back when spoken to. It would not have done for her to have begun criticising the other party members before they had even gotten a chance to talk about her first, after all – she had the advantage.