Turala continued to lead such that Ahnasha could not see her face, but her voice was solemn. "I want to presume the process of your decision, but, your mate, he is young. The young are naive of death close to themselves. It's...cruel that you would..." Turala seemed to cut herself off. She hesitated and glanced over her shoulder to Ahnasha for a moment. "It's none of my business," she said quickly before Ahnasha could respond, "Never mind."

No more words were spoken by Turala by the time the grey walls of the city came into view. They reached Bruma in much less time than they had spent marching away from it, courtesy of their pace, but also Turala's shortcut. A quick check-in with Finley's pack had them following one of the sentries a short distance from the city to retrace the steps of their Altmer quarry once Turala vouched for Ahnasha. Before long, they were following a different trail. This one was on a wider mountain path, but it was headed uphill, to the north.

Back with the warband, Oswall's nostrils flared out a huff of steam in amusement. "I have kept a rearguard this whole time, but if you believe they should trail further for safety, I see no reason to object. As for stealth, there's hardly anywhere to hide, let alone darkness in which to sneak." Oswall gestured to the snowy slopes around them. Up this high, there was little vegetation or tall rocks to contradict him. Anyone sneaking would have to stalk through taller snowdrifts on all fours. "Lorag," Oswall regarded the Orc with less of a barking tone than with the others in the warband, "Get back to the four bringing up the rear and wait until we're roughly..." He paused to look at the path ahead, "...three hundred paces ahead of you before following. You know the rest."

The warband continued for another half an hour, ever vigilant. An uneasiness was coming over everyone with how quiet and uneventful this day had been given the potential hazards. Eventually, Meesei detected Galsek turning sharply south again. He was now heading downhill again, back to an elevation he could have reached more easily by not taking the path up the gorge.