"Yes, Meesei," Gallus said, glancing to Lorag and getting to work tying up the bandit leader under Fendros' watch. It was without any pomp or ceremony that Gallus pulled out the dagger sticking out of her leg afterwards. "You should pick your marks more closely, thief," Gallus said to her as they lead her to a tree they could secure her to, "Five against thirteen and a juvenile wamasu? One could be driven to assume that you were planning to get killed..."

Janius jogged after Kaleeth a short distance to the water. He stopped and put his hands over his head with anxiety when Kaleeth dove under. Kaleeth returning with Newt caused a weight to be lifted from his shoulders. He embraced them both tightly, "Thank the eight. It was fortunate that you were both under the water." He walked back to the others with Kaleeth and Newt, "It looks like it was only Leaps that was hurt. I hope he's alright."

Leaps was not alright, but he was getting the care he needed. Without too many words, Sabine was eventually relegated to weaving spells to suppress Leaps' pain. Irenya needed the space to treat the wound and remove the arrow. It was just as well; Sabine's hands were shaking too much to give precise treatment.

Sabine's magicka ran short by the time Peiter spoke up. The way he reminded her of Leaps' sacrifice, as well as the assumption that Leaps would be okay, brought Sabine's emotions to a tipping point. Her eyes welled up and she let out what sounded like a cough. She leaned down and put her arms around Leaps' neck. With shuddering sobs that let forth the built up tension and worry, Sabine cried into the wamasu's neck. "I thought I was going to die..." Sabine said between strained breaths, her voice muffled by speaking into Leaps.

At this point, the bandit leader had been taken care of and Ahnasha had found Rhazii, so Fendros padded around briefly to sniff at the air for more assailants. After finding no traces, he approached Ahnasha and Rhazii and transformed back into Dunmer form.

Rhazii was crying from the terrifying experience still, but he was beginning to settle in Ahnasha's arms. He said some words, but they seemed to melt into one another as he spoke while crying. "Dada shouted and I stayed, but I looked and there was fire and I got scared and people were getting hurt..."

Fendros put his arms around them both and rubbed his thumb over Rhazii's head. "There, there, little one. It's over now. The only fire is the camp fire now." Fendros wished that Rhazii hadn't peeked around the rock in the first place, but it was unfortunate that he was spooked further by Sabine's fire. It may have saved her life, but Rhazii's phobia had been with him almost all of his life.

After tying the woman to a tree, searching her, and tying her ankles together, Gallus stood in front of her with a knife in his hand. He felt its edge by looking down and pinching the blade with his other hand. "Your friend didn't end up killing Sabine, so I'm feeling magnanimous," Gallus' voice was back to its usual egotistical confidence, "All you have to do to live is answer my questions, understand?"

Although the two drivers had a head-start, Meesei could run faster, and for longer. As well, it seemed that the pair had not counted on a lycan’s tracking ability, because they had stopped to catch their breath a few minutes after getting out of sight. Meesei was silent as she approached, so by the time they spotted her, she was too close for them to be able to run away effectively.

The Nord woman stood between Meesei and her son protectively, though her only weapon was a small dagger. “You…you’re all werewolves, aren’t you? I saw those beasts on the shore; I recognize them from the stories. Just…get away from us, you monster!” She shouted, waving her dagger at Meesei.

“We have no desire to harm you; either of you. There has been ample opportunity throughout our journey for us to kill you, but we have not. We just want to get to…” Meesei began, but she was cut off when the Nord began to shout once more.

“No! I’m not believing your lies! The tales say you can turn us into one of those monsters; I’m not trusting you for a second. The Legion will slay all of you beasts!” She yelled defiantly.

Meesei had seen such stubbornness before. Particularly among Nords, tradition was important, so all of those stories she had heard about lycans would be far more important to her than anything Meesei could say. She would not be dissuaded, and more importantly, it seemed like she intended to alert the Legion.

Adopting a more firm, threatening stance, Meesei glared at the Nord. “So you intend to alert the Imperial City guard about what we are?”

The Nord stepped back, suddenly realizing the mistake she had just made. “No, no, I’m not…I won’t…I just want you all to get away from us. We won’t tell the Legion…”

“No.” Meesei interrupted. “I do not believe you. You see myself and my family as monsters for just being what we are. I believe that, the moment you are away from us, you will tell the guard everything. You know who we are, where we are going, and where we came from. You are going to attempt to hurt my family, and I will not let that happen.”

---

Pieter, again, had a hard time finding the right words. He was just as shaken as Sabine by the whole affair, though he did not have as strong of a connection to Leaps as she did. The wamasu was a rather large and tough creature; surely with Irenya's healing, he would be able to recover? Since the arrow had not been immediately lethal, it did give him hope that was the case. It meant that Irenya would have ample opportunity to mend the damaged flesh.

Seeing Sabine in such a state, and the thoughts of what might have happened, brought a few tears to Pieter's eyes as well, though he tried to hold them back. Letting out a deep breath, he hugged Sabine. "It was...too close. Leaps will be fine, I know it. Irenya is the best healer I know."

Newt had not seen everything as clearly as Rhazii, so he was more confused than frightened. For Ahnasha, however, she was trying to do what she could to calm Rhazii. She held him close to try and allow him to be comforted by his mother's embrace. Although, at his age, calming his fears was not as simple as it used to be. "Only the bad people were burned, and the fire is gone now. If you want, we can go back in the water; no fire will ever get you there."

After some time of silence, the bandit leader just started shaking her head. "it was not supposed to be a fight. We were just meant to get in, get some things, and get out. There was an opportunity; we had to take it. No one was supposed to die."

Sabine was a little surprised by Peiter's hug. It caused her to tense up slightly, then return to how she was. There was no other outward reaction, but inside, Sabine was grateful for the comforting words and gesture.

After a while, Rhazii's crying began to slow. He shook his head at Ahnasha's suggestion. He spoke, but he still didn't lift his head from his mother's chest. "I'm cold, mama," he said. Indeed, he was beginning to shiver. It was probably a combination of coming down from the shock and the fact that night was falling.

"I'll go get your clothes, Rhazii," Fendros responded as he let Ahnasha and Rhazii go and proceeded to where they had all put their belongings before swimming.

---

Over by the tree where the bandit was tied up, Gallus seemed indifferent to her initial answer. "Mhm, mhm," he lifted his eyes to hers, "What's your name, thief? How much did you know about us?"

The bandit sat with her head lowered, offering no resistance to the ropes binding her. The signs of depression were painted all across her face, along with a hint of pain from her leg wound. There was a delay of a few seconds after Gallus' question before she looked up at him. "Does it really matter? I know it looked like you had a lot of supplies, and at least one or two of you are apparently werewolves or something."

The woman paused a moment, her gaze drifting towards the bodies of her dead allies. Tears started to form within her eyes before she closed them and looked to the ground. "Nothing matters anymore."

Gallus pursed his lips awkwardly. Either this bandit was a fantastic actor, or it really was nothing more than her entire life slain with her friends over by the shore. He looked up at the stars forming in the sky and paced around in thought for roughly half a minute. With a final sigh, he lowered himself to be seated right up next to the bandit, whether she would mind her personal space being invaded or not.

He looked ahead rather than right at her and gesticulated as he spoke with the dagger still in his hand. "You know, I must confess that this is a dilemma for me. Normally, when we encounter those that know of our nature, we have to kill them because they would sooner run to the legion in terror and the legion would send out a party to hunt us down." Gallus grimaced and grinned, sucking in a breath through his teeth, "It's not the best situation, as I am sure you understand, being a thief and all. But, you being a criminal brings up something I've yet to consider. If you've been a highwayman...woman...on these roads for long enough - and not wearing a mask to boot - then you're not likely to run off to the guards, right?" Gallus poked out his bottom lip and shrugged, "Then again, we're on a very important mission, all of us. We have enemies that are either so dangerous that you cannot fathom, or that you are familiar with," He faced her and poked her on the shoulder, "because you could be part of them." Gallus looked ahead again and took another deep breath in through his nose. The tirade was not nearly done yet, "This had me thinking that we would just outright kill you, but that would make no sense! Our enemies would not send five clueless ruffians to merely rob us. I would be lead to believe that even if you were affiliated with our enemies, you would have no clue what you were walking into here. Unfortunately, with your intentions now set, my thoughts wander to the tragic fate of your friends." The previously matter-of-fact tone turned solemn, "I can see they were close to you. I have similar friends amongst us. If I were to simply let you go now, force you to run off, you might pick up a shiny new sword and start hunting my kind. It would be remiss of me to allow that to happen. Too many fall into hate and sadness down that road, losing their minds."

Seemingly done with putting forth his entire thought process, Gallus got up and shifted to a squat at the bandit's eye-level. "As sincerely as I can give it, I present my full apology for the loss of your friends. I cannot bring them back, and I cannot guarantee your freedom, for it is not me who is in charge." He pointed the dagger tip at the bandit, "I would like to give you a choice, however. In the morning, we untie you, give you a shovel, allow you to bury your friends, and we'll be on our way. If you like, I can direct you to where you might have a better life, free from the legion, and much better than stealing pittances on the road. Or, if you truly believe that there is nothing else for you, I can kill you quickly and painlessly. In either case, you will likely never see us again unless you take up my offer for a new life. I know as well as you do that you are no longer a threat to us, so this much I can allow."

Now finally finished indulging the sound of his own voice, Gallus looked at the bandit with an expectant smile. "What'll it be, my dear?"

It was difficult to tell if the woman was even listening for much of Gallus' little speech. Despite his power over her life, she did not much seem to care about his mission, nor who he thought she was affiliated with. She also did not seem to give much attention to his offer, or at least, she did not give a reaction to the possibility of mercy.

"Right, I'm sure you can just give me a better life. I'm sure you can make crops grow, or erase debts. I'm dead no matter what you do to me, beast. Just...let me go if you really want. I'll bury my friends, then...I don't know, probably dig another grave for myself." She answered, her tone surprisingly matter-of-fact about it.

Glancing down for a second, Gallus pulled a quick, wide smile. "You'd be surprised what beasts can do." He leaned forward and patted her roughly on the shoulder a couple of times, "I'll let you have a think about it overnight. You can give me a final answer in the morning." With that, Gallus stood up, sheathed his dagger, and walked back over to the camp fire with everyone else. Gallus had placed the bandit where they could see her, but the consequence was that she could observe them through the night as well.

"I heavily doubt that any of these ne'er-do-wells were sent by you-know-who," Gallus said to the packs gathered, "If they were, I don't think they knew it, or at least they knew not of us. I'll have a chat with Meesei as for what to do with the survivor."

Now that Leaps was stabilised and the danger had all but passed, everyone was dressed and simply coming down from the shock. Janius had gathered up all of the valuables and weapons on the bandits and loaded them onto one of the carriages. Fendros was cooking dinner. Sabine was sitting next to Peiter and a quiet Tzirret by the camp fire as well, with her knees drawn up in a familiar fashion. THough, unlike her state before the ritual, her eyes were not wide and scanning, but low and sad. Tzirret was sitting cross-legged and had washed off his bloodied hand by now, but he didn't have many words. Uthri eventually returned and was caught up with the situation.

It was about half an hour after she left that Meesei walked back into camp, alone. By that point, the pack had searched the bodies of the bandits and recovered anything useful, and were now gathered near the fire. The sun had already set a few minutes prior, so they had only the fire and starlight as sources of light. Leaps was at least stable, with the arrow having been removed and the bleeding halted. However, Irenya maintained that she would need to keep checking on him periodically, and recommended that he be allowed to rest for a while.

Meesei approached the fire, though she did not sit down with the others. "I was able to find them, but there is no dissuading them from their views. I know that none of you likely want to go anywhere at the moment, but it would likely be best for us to gather our supplies and move on from their carriages. It is quite evident that they do not wish to be around us. It will take longer, but we should still be able to reach the Imperial City tomorrow, even on foot." Meesei explained. She did not lie explicitly, but she decided not to tell the others that she had slain both the caravan driver and her son to prevent them from warning the Legion. She had not wanted to kill them, but what they knew was potentially dangerous enough to end their mission before it could start, or even bring harm to her pack. However, she was not sure if the others would understand why it was necessary, so it was best that they not know. She was willing to do anything for the protection of her pack, no matter how difficult it became.

While Sabine and Tzirret did not pay Meesei much attention, Fendros and Janius looked dubious. It sounded like the drivers were a loose end now. Thinking on why Meesei would let them go caused the reality to dawn upon them. Neither of them liked it, but it was too late now.

Gallus had no illusions about the fate of the drivers. They had been innocent people, but he himself doubted that they would be convinced after the reaction they gave. Regardless, he had his own loose end to tie up with Meesei. "If I may, Meesei, I spoke to the leader," Gallus looked back at her, she was just out of earshot by the distance, "Five people thrown up against us all. It served no purpose that I can see for Vile to have sent them. She has nothing left, let alone anything to threaten us. I thought, maybe, we could let her bury her companions in the morning and let her go. She's a criminal, so she's not going to dob us in like the drivers were. I was thinking..." Gallus scratched at his upper arm, "...we send her up north with scant details. With a new life, she could be a help."

"You're seriously considering letting that highway bandit know about how to find the clan?" Fendros interjected.

Gallus addressed him with composure, "She needn't know everything. She already knows of us as lycans by now."

Fendros lowered his brow, "You saw her companions, they threatened to kill us. Why should she be any different?"

"She's a thief; they never intended for anyone to die," Gallus retorted, "Like most in her position, Fendros, she is not there because she wants to be. Regardless," Gallus gestured to Meesei with both hands while looking at Fendros, dismissing him, "I would hear Meesei's thoughts."

With a frustrated huff, Fendros silenced himself. It was baffling to him why Gallus would keep her alive at all.

Meesei shook her head towards Gallus. "I too like to provide aid to others when I can, but in this case, I believe your charity may be misplaced. Remember, anything she says could be a lie, and her actions thusfar have not inspired confidence. Although, as you say, I do not believe her to be a threat either. A thief is not going to go to the guard, and I highly doubt she would follow us all the way to Chorrol." Meesei answered. She lied about their destination only because the bandit was listening, and she was potentially going to be set free.

"Regardless, I do not care whether she lives or dies. Were she infected, my answer might change, but I do not find it safe to render that form of aid. If, by morning, no one has decided to kill her, she may live, but we will not be giving her aid." Meesei decided.

After a second, Gallus gave an angled nod. "Understood," he said. With that, he dropped the issue and seated himself. There was silence for a few moments and a judging glare from Fendros, but Gallus paid him no heed. What he spotted next was Tzirret's current state. He hadn't so much as whispered since Gallus had finished with the bandit. Gallus decided to get up again and walk around to Tzirret. "Hey, sunshine, come, let's have a talk."

Tzirret seemed compliant enough. The both of them walked off to a spot out of the way and spoke beyond the clear hearing of anyone else. No one doubted that Tzirret was probably coming to terms with killing someone in beast form.

The rest of the group sat quietly. The ambush had sucked out the mirthful mood they were all in before. It wasn't long before they all had to pack up and shift camp away from the carriages. The bandit leader was attached to another tree nearby the new camp, just to be safe.

Somewhat reluctantly, the packs began work on moving their camp for the night. They gathered their supplies from the carriages and packed away the rest of the camp. In the process, Meesei made sure to find a moment where she was not being watched to go through the caravan driver’s store of coins to take back the fee they had paid to take the journey, plus everything the driver had beforehand. Even Meesei found it distasteful, but there was no sense in leaving the coin with the carriages.

In addition to untying and escorting their prisoner to their new camp, they also had to transport Leaps. He could walk, but Irenya advised that he should rest as much as possible. Fortunately, Kaleeth, in her werecrocodile form, could carry the juvenile wamasu with ease.

The packs did not need to set up camp too far from the original one, so they lost only under two hours of sleep. The next morning, they awoke early to attempt to make up some time they would lose by traveling on foot. The sun had barely risen when they finished their breakfast and were ready to get moving. Deciding that she would rather not be executed, they left their prisoner unarmed and alone. If she cared enough about it, she could return to the site of the attack to bury her friends.

Once back on the road, the pack moved at a reasonable pace towards the Imperial City. Both Irenya and Meesei paid special attention to Leaps as they traveled, since he was having to walk once more. Overall, he seemed to be doing fine, but both healers checked on him periodically. Aside from caring for Leaps, the rest of the journey was thankfully not eventful. They arrived in Weye by the afternoon, then headed into the Imperial City itself with hours of daylight still remaining. Immediately, Meesei brought them to the docks and began her search for a vessel which would take them to Senchal. She expected it would take her quite some time to locate a vessel, if she was even able to find one that day, but it seemed that fortune had favored her in her search. She found a Bosmer captain who was returning to Valenwood and was willing to take them on board and make a brief stop in Senchal, since it was a port on the way. He was leaving the next morning, so the price of passage was made more expensive by the fact that he had to make arrangements for passengers on short notice, but since Meesei had been able to recuperate their losses for the journey to the Imperial City, the price did not matter.

The packs spent the night in the waterfront district to save on gold then made for the docks at the break of dawn. The ship was smaller than the last vessel Meesei’s pack had been aboard, but they were also the only passengers. According to the captain, they would actually have three rooms between them, not that any room aboard a ship could be considered “spacious.” It would still likely be cramped, particularly since Leaps would have to stay in one of the rooms as well.

The packs boarded as some last minute cargo was being loaded onto the vessel. Once Meesei finalized the payment, a particularly short Bosmer crew member led them down to the bottom deck and to their rooms. All three were near one another, with two being across from one another on the sides of the ship, and the third between them at the stern. Each room contained little more than three hammocks, which had likely been set up the previous night, and a double bed that appeared significantly more comfortable. Now, it was just a matter of deciding who would be in what rooms, and in what beds.

“Hmm, so how do we decide who gets the nice beds? My vote goes to an archery tournament.” Ahnasha joked.

Although there were no more risks taken by the packs leading up to the Imperial City, a night of rest and the exercise of the next day brought them back into higher spirits. Whatever Gallus had said to Tzirret on the night of the ambush, it seemed to get him out of his withdrawn state, but he was still nervous as ever.

When they arrived, the relative safety from bandits in the Imperial City was quickly replaced in sentiment by its maze-like streets and stifling crowds, but they would not be there for long. Anyone who hadn't been there before took the time to take in the sheer scale of the place.

The accommodation on the ship was better than expected, despite the lack of space. Fendros immediately spoke after Ahnasha, "Yep, that is my vote as well."

"Well I've had a sore back for the last few days," Gallus said sarcastically, rubbing a clearly faked pain in his lower back, "Surely I deserve one of these doubles to myself."

Uthri wasn't impressed. "Pft, you've a snowflake's chance in the Deadlands of convincing us, Gallus. Why don't we draw straws?"

Most in the packs seemed to make non-committal shrugs and sounded mild agreement.

Meesei smiled, then crossed her arms in feigned disappointment. "Well, if you cannot decide amongst yourselves, then clearly the best choice is just to rotate who gets the bed. Barring any surprise injuries, I will forego my turns in the bed. Although, if too much trouble comes of it...I may just give one of the beds to Leaps."

Meesei went into the starboard room with Leaps in tow. Naturally, the captain was not particularly comfortable having the wamasu on board, but they had paid a fair price for his passage, and Meesei had assured him that Leaps would not be leaving their rooms unsupervised. Kaleeth, of course, remained with Janius and found a place for her belongings in the port room with him and Newt. Ahnasha decided to go with the room in the stern, partially because it gave her and Fendros a better chance at the bed than if she picked the room with Kaleeth and Janius. Lorag, who did not actually care much about his accommodations, selected the stern room seemingly at random. Irenya, once she saw how the others were dividing themselves. rather quickly selected the same room as Kaleeth and Janius. Pieter brought his belongings into the starboard room; although, despite having been with the pack for a few weeks, he still seemed somewhat nervous as sharing a room with the Champion.

Overall, Meesei's pack was reasonably comfortable with the voyage, as they had been at sea three years ago for even longer than this journey was expected to take. They knew what to expect, apart from Newt and Rhazii, as he had been too young at the time to understand. Irenya too did not seem to be bothered. Given how long she had lived, she had likely been on such a voyage before. Uthri had never sailed, but she did not seem to be bothered by it. Pieter, however, was somewhat nervous. After everyone was situated in their rooms, he approached Tzirret and Sabine. "So...what do you think about all of this? You think this will be fun, relaxing, or boring enough to make us rip our hair out?"

With Meesei's fair compromise, the room arrangements were sorted out in short order. Uthri and Fendros headed stern. Uthri gave no reason, while Fendros just followed Ahnasha. Being friends by closeness of age this point, Tzirret and Sabine took the last places starboard, even if it meant potentially sharing a bed with Leaps. Tzirret had not been so afraid of Leaps while he looked so vulnerable while wounded. That left Gallus occupying the Port room. Despite his comment, he didn't mind taking a hammock. There was no further drama at this stage, as there was a general understanding that they could probably trade rooms if they wanted.

When Peiter approached, Tzirret just looked to Sabine. He had no idea.

"Probably boring, once we get to sea," Sabine said with a wistful smile, "But there is plenty to see on the way to Leyawiin, along the banks."

"There won't be dreugh climbing up the sides of the boat, will there?" Tzirret asked.

Sabine giggled, "No. There were none the last time. Dreugh stay under the water."

"No they don't," Tzirret said, "This one read about it. They sprout legs and go onto land."

"I do not think they climb onto ships, Tzirret, don't worry," Sabine said, reassuringly putting a hand on his shoulder. She addressed Peiter again, "It might be relaxing, but ships are boring."

"Well..." Pieter began, scratching under his chin as he observed his surroundings. Apart from their rooms, most of the bottom deck was being used for storage. Crates and barrels were stacked up along the sides of the ship, with ropes holding them in place. The path down the center leading to the stairs on the other side of the ship was mostly empty, but relatively narrow. On the deck above them was the mess, crew quarters, and the like. As one might expect, pretty much all of the space on the ship was in use, so they would have to be careful to stay out of the way of the crew.

"The last time you were on a ship, you didn't have us with you. I'm sure there is something we can figure out to pass the time; we just have to be creative. Maybe we could try to teach Leaps some tricks...um, carefully. I doubt the crew would be happy if we accidentally broke any of these crates. Or, perhaps we could try fishing off of the deck? If we can get a fishing rod, that is. I don't suppose you can conjure up a bound fishing rod, can you? Maybe we could catch a dreugh?" He joked, nudging Tzirret's side.

The notion of conjuring a bound fishing rod was amusing to Sabine. She could barely conjure a bound blade, let alone anything with moving parts. "I would have to ask Ahnasha if that is even possible," Sabine said through a grin, "I have never used a fishing rod before. It does not look like much, it is just standing and waiting for fish to bite bait, yes?" Sabine shifted her head, remembering something, "The last ship I was on, the crew, they used little wooden cubes and sheets of parchment, I think. They had pictures. They used them to play games. The crew did not want to talk to me, but this crew might be different. We could ask."

"This one, before he turned, he remembers a game with cards as you say," Tzirret said, before turning apprehensive, "I am curious about fishing, but I don't want to catch any dreugh."

"Hmm, card games can be fun. If we can get a hold of cards, that is. Although, we don't really have anything to bet. Those kinds of games are always better when there is something at stake. We could always do the same thing as that race a few days ago, give challenges to the loser. The trick would be thinking of somewhat interesting challenges one could actually do aboard this ship." Pieter commented. He tried for a few moments to think of an idea, but his mind came up with nothing.

Pieter shrugged and took a few steps in the direction of the stairs. "Well, no matter what we end up doing, I look forward to trying to figure it out. For now, maybe we can just head up above deck and look at the city? That place is just...unbelievable doesn't do it justice. You were able to stay for a while last time you passed through the city, right Sabine? What was that like?"

Sabine's expression became sly. She could think of one or two dares off the top of her head. She had no doubt that others would come to her mind.

Tzirret and Sabine both followed Peiter above deck. From where the ship was in the docks, there wasn't much to see of the city itself apart from the walls and the top half of the tower. "Big," Sabine answered, stating the obvious, "Not as smelly as the docks. all of the buildings have the same white stone, all two levels or taller. There's a section that is a big garden, which is very pretty. Also a large circular temple, bigger than any city temple. There was an arena, but we did not go inside. There are not many trees or grass areas, just lots of stone. It's crowded too, but you both know that. The palace in the centre is the largest building I have ever seen." Sabine wondered for a moment, "That is what I remember. We were not here for long enough to see it all. That would take a long time."

"I didn't even see its base and the tower is the biggest building I have ever seen already," Tzirret commented.

"It's probably the biggest I'll ever see." Pieter commented, leaning on the railing as he looked up at the tower. "I wish we could stay here longer. This seems like the kind of place you could spend a lifetime in, but still not see everything. Maybe on the way back, there will be time. I really would like to see all those places myself."

---

The ship set sail the moment the last of the cargo had been taken on board. The distance they were traveling would be much greater than the trek from Bruma to the Imperial City, but given the speed afforded to them by the ship it would take about the same amount of time. There would only be one stop along the way, in Leyawiin, so they would arrive in Senchal about as soon as they possible could have.

Life aboard the ship was quick to become routine, since there were few ways a day could actually vary from the last. Meesei, when not socializing with the others, often spent time either meditation on various form of magic in her room, or caring for Leaps. The wamasu had healed rather well from his wound, but he required considerable attention to avoid becoming restless aboard the cramped vessel. With few places he could go, he was enthusiastic for any sort of interaction with either pack. Ahnasha could not exactly train her conjuration aboard the ship, let alone necromancy, so she had to be satisfied just reading her tome. Of course, after years of study, she was reaching the end of what that tome could teach her. However, she still felt that she had a long way to go before she could achieve her goal of life extension, so she would need to find that knowledge elsewhere. Kaleeth would have had difficulty filling up her free time, but Newt gave her plenty to do. Whenever bored, she liked to head above deck and look out over the shore with him, answering any question he could produce. Lorag, after running out of mead, actually managed to work out a deal with the captain to allow him to do some work for coin. The payment wasn't exceptional, but it kept his days filled when there was little else to do. Pieter, true to his word, did everything he could to try and come up with ideas to entertain himself, Tzirret, and Sabine. Some were successes, others failed spectacularly, but he did manage to at least only get into minor trouble with the crew.

The closest thing to an issue was that, after about a week on the, it was pretty much confirmed that Irenya was avoiding Meesei, Ahnasha, and Fendros specifically. Of course, she tried to hide that fact, with minimal success.

It was just after a week had passed that the ship docked in Leyawiin's port, and just like last time, Ahnasha seemed to be having trouble willing herself out of bed. She had once spoke with Fendros about talking to her family, but evidently, it was much more difficult than she had thought to do that now that they were actually at the city. It was made worse by the fact that some of the captain's cargo had been delayed, so they would be staying in port overnight.