"Perhaps the age of this place also lent to its secrecy," Fendros thought out loud. He looked around the rafters of the room, "This place is large, but surprisingly secluded."

Janius narrowed one eye and leaned towards Ra'kalesh. "Who are the Dagi?" he asked.

Before Peiter spoke to Tzirret, he was starting blankly at the table in front of him with his hands in his lap. His eyes flicked up curiously at the question. "Um, I...no this one is not afraid of these people," he mumbled before looking into his lap, "He is just tired, that is all."

Interested in what was going on, Gallus leaned and looked at whatever Tzirret was looking at. He spoke clearly enough for Peiter and Sabine to hear, but not particularly loud, "You have been working on that necklace for quite a while now. I've not seen a spare moment you've spent doing anything else but either carving it or inspecting it. Have you been staying up late trying to perfect it?" Gallus grinned, "Is it a gift for someone in your future?"

Tzirret seemed to shrink a little at this, shuffling with his hands to put them in his pockets. "It is nothing, really," he said, clearly lying by his body language.

"The Dagi are a kind of Khajiit, just like the Cathay or Pahmar." Ra'kalesh explained. "They are of a similar form to a Suthay, but smaller than most other Khajiit. There are some in the clan, which you may meet. With their size, they are at home in branches even higher than these, and it is often their preferred home. They are also known to be naturally talented mages, which can make for interesting structures in the treetops."

Ahnasha's mother had told her about the Dagi in the past, and indeed, many aspects of Elsweyr and the Khajiit people. She knew that they were small and tree-dwelling mages, but she never really imagined what their homes must have been like. She would not have imagined anything like the outpost, or even the larger hideout that the clan must have had. She supposed that an actual Dagi home would be smaller, and higher in the trees, but it still allowed her to compare her experience with the notions she had before. "These are the kinds of things I always wanted to see if I ever visited Elsweyr. All the variety of Khajiit forms and the way they live, the colorful and flowing Khajiit architecture, the authentic moon sugar treats. I just wish I could have come here in better times."

One thing that Tzirret wasn't was a good liar. Peiter leaned forward on to the table as he looked at him skeptically, with his brow raised. Tzirret was putting a great deal of effort into the trinket he was carving, more than Peiter was used to seeing from him. And, he had a feeling that it wasn't simply because of his pride in his kill. If nothing else, it showed that he cared a great deal about it. "That's a lot of work to put into 'nothing.' Don't be ashamed, I think it would be a great gift for any girl you might find in this place, or elsewhere. If that is what you intend to do with it. Just make sure to keep something of the minotaur for yourself, alright? You don't have to always be thinking about others; you can have something of your own from time to time."

Janius leaned back in his chair, "Well, just when I thought I had seen them all..."

"Indeed," Fendros responded to Ahnasha, "For a journey driven by such serious matters, we have seen much and more. Perhaps we'll have more time to take it in on the way home...or wherever we next end up."

Tzirret licked one side of his teeth and held up his hunting horn in one hand. "This one did make this for himself," Tzirret said. The horn was well carved from one of the minotaur horns Tzirret had kept. It was attached by a leather strap slung over his shoulder, but was otherwise rather plain. When Tzirret turned it in his hand, he revealed where he had carefully written his name, but no other defining features. "This one was going to ask a smith back home to reinforce it with bronze or something."

The horn was neatly done, but Sabine's curiosity had been piqued by the jewellery. If Tzirret had spent so much time on it, especially with the care put into his hunting horn, it must have been pretty. "Can we see the necklace, Tzirret?" she asked.

Lowering his horn and putting his hand back into his pocket, Tzirret looked down again. He responded slowly and carefully, "This one would like to keep it a secret."

The answer confused Sabine more than anything. She held her head back and frowned, "Why? You are not giving it to any of us, are you?"

At that, Tzirret looked up and leaned forward, turning his head side to side and inspecting everyone at the table. He sat back and considered for a moment, ears rising halfway. Somewhat apprehensively, he pulled the necklace out of his pocket and held it over the table in his hand. It was obscured by his hand but for the thin leather strap that hung out from it. Tzirret carefully placed it on the table and brought his hand back to reveal it. The sight elicited an intake of breath from Sabine.

It was a heavily curved crescent moon, barely half the size of Tzirret's palm, coloured with a mottled brown on off-white of the minotaur horn. Intricately carved onto the lower half of the moon was a napping cat with its tail coiled around the moon's shape. The detail of the cat was rough in places, but the rest of the piece was so smooth that it resembled marble. All of the painstaking hours could be seen in every aspect of the pendant, from the cat's smile to the near perfect curve of the moon itself. Sabine hardly knew Tzirret to even be capable of such a thing.

"It is beautiful," Sabine breathed, looking up at Tzirret with amazement, "When did you learn to make something like this?"

Tzirret still seemed rather blank, but he managed a small smile of self-esteem. "It is what Tzirret did before he turned. As a child, he had to make money for the caravan like everyone else," Tzirret explained, "He did not do it at Bruma, because it reminded him of...bad memories." Tzirret looked at the pendant intently, "After the minotaur attack, he wanted to see if he could try again."

Peiter knew just as little about Tzirret's past before his turning as Sabine, so it came as a surprise to him to see such a well-made creation. It was a well-made piece of art, one like those he had seen selling in shops and with caravans. It impressed him, as well as making him wonder what else he didn't know about Tzirret. Their Khajiit friend, it seemed, was much more complicated a person than he appeared to be on the surface.

"I never knew you could do that, Tzirret." Peiter said as he closely examined the carving. "And you claim you're not talented. It obviously took a lot of practice to get to this point. If you want anyone to come along with you to, I don't know, make you more comfortable when you're meeting new people, you can count on me. I would say not to give this to just anyone, though. Make sure she's someone who you really like, and who really likes you, even more importantly. I honestly don't know how long we will be staying here with this clan, so trying to meet someone here might not be the best idea, but I'm sure you'll be able to find someone eventually. Who knows, maybe once we get back to Bruma, those Khajiit girls won't seem so scary to you?"

Tzirret's mouth slowly settled back into a frown as Peiter mentioned that they probably would not be staying for very long.

"Peiter is right, I think," Sabine added with a wide smile, "the girl who gets that necklace will be lucky."

After Peiter and Sabine finished, Tzirret looked up and spoke gratefully, "I don't know, the thought is still scary." He reached and retrieved the necklace, putting it back into his pocket, "But, thank you for offering to help, Peiter."

While the necklace explained what Tzirret had been doing with his time, his expression was still uncharacteristic. When he was nervous, it was clearly visible, but now and over the past few days, he had just been distant and flat. This had struck Sabine such that she wanted to push the issue. "Is there anything else, Tzirret? You have not been talking much lately."

"No, just tired, like he said," Tzirret said, his small smile returning. Gallus could see that he was holding onto his pendant in his pocket, but he knew that if there were any problems, Tzirret would let him know.

Peiter's smile remained sympathetic. He honestly was not sure if it was just fatigue that had been keeping Tzirret so distant. It was true that they had been doing more work than usual during their searches. Not only were they on their feet walking for the majority of the day, but they were having to cut through a thicker forest than they were accustomed to. Then, after getting back to camp, they had been required to move all the way to their next campsite before finally getting to sleep. As such, it was believable that he would be fatigued, but given his present emotional desires, Peiter also found it equally likely that there could be something more.

"Well, since we've finally found the clan, you should be able to get some rest now. As soon as you can, you should get some sleep. It might be a bit hopeful, but we may even be able to find a proper bed for you. I know myself and Sabine have been...spending a lot of time with each other as of late, but you're still our best friend. I've missed having you around with us." He commented.

Sabine nodded in agreement and smiled.

Tzirret closed his eyes and nodded at the suggestion of sleep, but at Peiter mentioning him being missed, he looked at Peiter with a small measure of surprise. "Oh, right," Tzirret said as he itched his forearm, "Things have been distracting. Sometimes this one feels that he should not impose on you two, though. I do miss being around you both as well."

"Do not be too worried, Tzirret," Sabine reassured with her head angled to one side, "You would not impose on us most of the time, and even if you do, we will not be angry, we will just let you know."

"Oh, he can tell most of the time," Tzirret replied, looking to the table, "It is more that we were all busy with the searching. It left little time."

It only took a minute or so longer for the door to the meeting hall to open once more. Following just behind his assistant, Ri'nakhad stepped slowly into the room. He was an elderly Khajiit with grey fur, who walked with a cane. His stature was notably smaller than a Suthay-raht, moreso than would just be expected with age. It was possible that he was a Suthay, rather than the taller, more common Suthay-raht. Compared to others of his age, he did not actually look especially weak and frail, but he obviously lacked in physical capabilities compared to most lycans. Immediately, Meesei rose from the table and approached to greet him.

"So this one's assistant has not gone mad. Hircine's Champion truly has found us." Ri'nakhad said, smiling warmly as he extended his hand to Meesei.

"Yes, I am Meesei. We came to Elsweyr to investigate the lack of communication with the Senchal clan. We have since rescued a pride from imprisonment from Vile's forces, and learned of the attack that drove you from your original home. We are here to help eliminate the threat of Vile's forces in this region." Meesei explained.

At the behest of his assistant, Ri'nakhad took his seat at the table and prompted Meesei to take a seat nearby. "Ri'nakhad will admit, few in the clan have seriously spoken of victory against the enemy in quite some time. But, if you are here, perhaps our vitory is truly Hircine's will after all? And...Ra'kalesh, this one knew he recognized you. It is good to see you alive, friend. Is your pride alright, or has only Sees-No-Colors survived?"

Ra'kalesh shook his head. "No, this one's pride is alive and well. He merely told them to take the opportunity to rest once we arrived here. Colors was not held prisoner like the rest of us, but rather forced to serve our captors, so this one felt you may want to speak to him yourself."

Ri'nakhad smiled. "That is good to hear. This one feared you were all lost with the rest of the clan. You and your pride may have as much rest as you require. And the same is true of your pack, Champion. It could not have been simple to find us. Is there anything at all which any of you require?"

Given his preivous description by Ra'kalesh and his pack, Ri'nakhad was surprisingly fit and lively. Many in the packs were expecting someone with similar physical condition to Najirra, though this was clearly not the case, despite the cane. His warm welcome was in contrast to the desperation that the clan seemed to be in, though whether it was simply keeping up a strong exterior or feeling genuine hope, there was no telling.

Gallus looked briefly over the packs in response to Ri'nakhad's question. No one spoke up. There were no medical issues or otherwise, so Gallus just gave a smile and responded to Ri'nakhad appropriately. "I think food and lodgings is all we need for now. It is luxury enough to find today that our search was not in vain." Gallus was not presumptuous enough to introduce himself this time. The main dialogue would be between Ri'nakhad and Meesei for now.

"Anything we have is yours to make use of." Ri'nakhad answered to Gallus. "It seems word of your arrival has already started spreading through the clan. This one was even approached on the way to the hall by someone volunteering their own room up in the trees for your use for as long as you are here. Ri'nakhad does not doubt others will make the same offer. There are some here who see you and your pack as heroes."

Meesei could not help but to give a slight smile. "I do certainly appreciate that sentiment, but that is a praise I intend to earn, rather than receive on reputation. I believe we have found a way to disrupt Vile's forces in this region." She commented before reaching into her bag and producing one of her maps of Elsweyr. She unrolled it on the table between them, and pointed to one of the circles near Corinthe. "From what we have gathered, this is around the location of the enemy's fortress in Elsweyr. If we capture it, then not only could we eliminate their central command, but also learn more about their operations in the region."

Ri'nakhad leaned over the map, giving a sigh as he saw the marked location. "That was what we were attempting to do before the attack. We did not learn its exact location, but we did have scouts skirting close to that area. We know it will be very well defended, however. You would need a large force and a strong plan in order to take it, but this one is afraid that his clan's remaining warriors will not be nearly enough to stage such an assault. We simply lost too many during the attack."

Meesei nodded in understanding. "I know, I did not expect your clan to be in a position to face them alone. That is why I intend to enlist the aid of the Orcrest clan in this attack."

"That would give us enough forces, but it does come with another problem. Even before the attack, we were having problems with our messengers being intercepted. Now, since Vile's forces have such a strong grip on Pelletine, we are very unlikely to be able to send messages to coordinate the attack." Ri'nakhad said regretfully.

"Yes, that does present an issue." Meesei answered. "It will likely not be possible to use messengers without them being intercepted, but Vile's patrols would not be able to intercept a larger force by themselves. I am aware that you have the means to mask your scents, so if we can send a large force that can move quickly, while covering its tracks, then we can move straight by their patrols before they can organize a larger force. We would be able to stage the attack straight from the Orcrest clan."

Ri'nakhad stared at the map for a few moments in thought. "Hmm, this one sees how that could work, but since it would involve a large dedication of resources on the part of the clan, he would like to involve his lieutenants in this discussion. He could call for them now, but perhaps you would like to hold that meeting in the morning? Ri'nakhad sees the fatigue in your pack...and on yourself, Champion." He suggested.

When she had first taken on her role, Meesei had a tendency to work constantly through her exhaustion, and had erred in her judgment because of it. Now, while she was very focused on her responsibilities, she was at least willing to rest when it was a reasonable option. "Very well, we can have a proper meeting on this matter tomorrow, in the morning. I thank you for your hospitality."

Ri'nakhad bowed slightly. "No thanks are necessary, Champion. It is a pleasure, a privilege, and a relief to have you and your pack among us. Now, does anyone have any questions about this one's clan, or the outpost itself? This one will help however he can."

Ri'nakhad seemed friendly enough that Fendros actually spoke up first. "Ri'nakhad, might we know if there are rules or guidelines we should know while living with your clan? We have a few rules in Bruma, they might be similar or different."

Before Ri'nakhad could answer, Gallus interrupted with an addendum, "I'm sure we could learn the nuances as we go as well, we might do well with a quick tour of this outpost by one of your clansmen? If we have any further questions, we might ask them."

"Mama, do they have sweetrolls here?" Rhazii murmured to Ahnasha.

"Shh, later Rhazii," Fendros attempted to hush his son quietly. The meeting was not over yet.

"Most of the rules would be no different from any civilized settlement." Ri'nakhad answered. "This one gives you permission to take as much food and supplies as you need from our storerooms. Normally, you would be required to dedicate an appropriate amount of labor for anything you take, but this one assumes that what you do for us will more than make up for anything you take."

Pausing a moment, Ri'nakhad turned his head to his assistant, a black-furred Suthay-raht around the age of Sabine and Peiter. "Please show our guests the important points of the outpost."

"But...sir, this one needs to help you..." He protested briefly before Ri'nakhad interrupted him.

"Ri'nakhad can get back to his room without needing help, he assures you. Please, give them a proper tour of the camp and outpost." He requested.

The assistant took in a deep breath before glancing over to Meesei. "Of course, right away."

Upon Ri'nakhad's direction, the assistant led the way out of the meeting hall, with Meesei and the others following right behind. However, as the first few stepped outside, they were met with a crowd of six, mostly different kinds of Khajiit. The one in front was a Dagi-raht woman. She was small, even moreso than a Suthay, and seemed to look up at the group with amazement. Her eyes darted between Kaleeth and Meesei until they settled on Meesei's ring.

"It is her..." She mumbled, mostly to herself. "Champion...this one is sorry if she is intruding but...we all decided that we wanted to volunteer our rooms to you while you are here. It...seems only right that you sleep up here, instead of in the tents in the camp below. Please, it would be an honor to help you and your pride...um, pack, however we can."

Meesei smiled warmly at the Dagi and gave a nod. "If that is what you all wish, then I would be honored to accept. As long as the rest of my pack agrees." She answered. It would be more convenient to have a room closer to the clan's leadership, but she would be lying if she did not admit that an actual room was not appealing for the comfort.

Those who had not seen a Dagi or Dagi-raht up until this point mistook the woman in front of them for a child for a moment. Everyone was of course warned that there would be people coming to offer help, but it didn't stop bewilderment purveying the reaction of the packs.

After a pause where those without an opinion shrugged or otherwise expressed ambivalence, Janius offered a suggestion. "It might be less of a disturbance if the children slept up above. They still cry out with nightmares."

Gallus also gave an opinion, "Not that I, or any of my pack, would really mind staying down with the camp I think, but..." He glanced around to the various treetop structures, "...if there is not enough room for everyone, we don't all need to squeeze in, right?"

"I, for one, wouldn't mind spending a night in the trees, if only for the new experience," Uthri said with crossed arms and a less serious tone, "Does Ra'kalesh's pride get the luxury as well? Or even us? I believe the offer was for Meesei's pack, not ours, Gallus."

"Any of you can use our rooms. Champion's pack or not, we're grateful you're here. There are six of them, so you will need to share, but it shouldn't be too crowded." The Dagi-raht answered.

Ra'kalesh looked to Uthri and spoke with a reassuring tone. "You need not worry about this one's pride. They are all likely to be down in the camp, catching up with those we have not seen since the attack. This one desires the same, honestly. Your packs may have the rooms."

"In that case, we will accept." Meesei continued. "Thank you, and may you find Hircine's favor in the days ahead."

The assistant stepped forward and nervously waited until everyone was finished speaking before saying anything himself. "Alright, just...wait near your rooms. This one needs to take the Champion's pack on a quick tour of the outpost. We should not be long."

The Dagi-raht and the others agreed, leaving the assistant to lead the group to their first point of interest. Ra'kalesh stayed with them for the moment, though he intended to go back to his pride once they had seen everything important. Their first destination was the closest, and the one they needed to find perhaps the most quickly. On the north side of the outpost, there were four separate structures built around different trees that the assistant was quick to point out. "These are our storerooms. You can get food and supplies here. There are also barrels of water, but those are there in case of a fire. If you need water, there is a river that flows near the outpost, just to the east. Ri'nakhad said you can take anything you need from the storerooms, so you can go ahead and do that now, if you want."

The packs gave their thanks to those who had gathered to offer their rooms and moved on with the assistant.

The store rooms were naturally an important spot, but there was no immediate need from most in the packs to collect anything. Sabine was the only one who stepped forward and asked for something right then, requesting alchemical ingredients. The search for anything she had named took a short moment, so everyone else was left waiting around.

While standing idly, Gallus spoke his mind, "This place is just an outpost, but I wonder how defensible it is." He looked around to the various treetop buildings, "It feels hard to leave these people here for any amount longer without more protection."

During their short walk, Tzirret had seemingly become anxious and walked hear Ra'kalesh for a while. Now that he had a chance to talk, he addressed Ra'kalesh with nervously clasped hands. "Er, Ra'kalesh? Where about do you think your pride will be staying? Specifically?"

With Gallus' comment, Meesei looked around at the structures around them as well. "Being so high off the ground, the structures themselves would be hard to get to. And, the trees are thick enough that they would take some time to cut down. I recall it mentioned that the clan's former base had enchantments to protect against fire, but since these storerooms carry water, I can only assume that this outpost does not have such enchantments. That could prove to be a problem in the event of an attack. There are a lot of branches and leaves obscuring the camp from the ground, but the presence of the camp would prevent any sort of secrecy if the enemy happened across it. Isolation seems to be what has kept them safe. It is quite a long walk to reach anything of importance from here. Regardless, I would like to make sure the clan's people remain safe. It may be necessary to move everyone."

Ra'kalesh raised his brow at Tzirret. "This one's pride? Well, they are all certainly down at the camp right now, at the moment. Ra'kalesh would imagine they are with the rest of those who are still awake to catch up on lost time. As for where we will sleep, if there are any open tents, we will probably take those. Otherwise, we will just set up our bedrolls close to the other tents. Why do you ask? If you are feeling guilty about having a proper room, please do not. We would much rather be with our clan than in private rooms, especially after all this time."

Heads were turned to Meesei when she suggested a migration of the entire clan. Gallus has suspected that Meesei would entertain the idea, but he still gave a worried look. "Move everyone? That's..." Gallus was lost for words for a moment, looking around the floor for a moment before facing Meesei again, "...I mean, I can't say I have a better solution, but would that really be feasible? Progress would be slow, food scarce, we would be far easier to discover. We would give up the only defence here for a hope of reaching Orcrest without being attacked."

This time, Tzirret decided not to try and make up his own lie and end up floundering. He just went with what Ra'kalesh suggested. "Yes, this one thought he might offer his place," Tzirret looked down and away, "He could come looking for you if needed, he would guess." Tzirret was trying to hide disappointment at no getting a specific answer, but he had enough patience for now.

Sabine emerged in short order, as most alchemical equipment was in the same spot. Gallus sighed as he saw the assistant and conceded to Meesei, "Perhaps it is best that we leave such discussions for the meeting tomorrow."

Ra'kalesh smiled and patted Tzirret on the shoulder. "Well, Ra'kalesh supposes that he cannot say that his pride would deny such an offer, but really, you do not need to worry about it. You have already done so much for this one's pride, you deserve a good night's rest."

"Agreed. We will have a better idea of what kind of position the clan is truly in once we have the input of Ri'nakhad and his council." Meesei responded. Shortly afterwards, they continued with the tour of the outpost. Although, other than the meeting hall and the storerooms, there was not too much of note in the outpost above. Most of the structures were being used as living quarters. The clan had two infirmaries, one down in the camp, and another in the trees, which they were shown. Since Sabine had asked for alchemical supplies, the assistant also pointed out the quarters of the clan's alchemist, in case she needed to speak with him later. From there, they headed back down to the camp below. Just like up above, they were shown the other infirmary, then the fire pits where the clan's chefs could prepare meals if they preferred something cooked. It was not necessary, but, as the assistant explained, had been helpful in keeping up the clan's morale. Lastly, she showed them to the river, then to the latrines just beyond before taking them back up into the outpost above.

As they had promised, the clan members who had volunteered their rooms were waiting outside them when the group returned. There were six rooms total, though not all were next to one another. Only two were actually in the same building. The rest were in separate structures, while one was rather far removed from the rest. In any case, they were all large enough for two or three adults, even if the beds were not quite designed for it.

When members of the group started selecting their rooms, Meesei, interestingly enough, entered a room with Gallus. It was in the building that also had another room for their use, and was comfortable, if small. There was a small table with a single chair, along with a single bed. Much of the furniture and other adornments seemed rather small, suggesting it was possibly the Dagi-raht's room. Fortunately, the bed was large enough to accommodate one of them comfortably, though the pillow was small. She found a place to put down her belongings and waited for the others outside to move away from the door before speaking up. "If you still have the energy, I would like to speak to you in confidence. I do not wish members of the clan to hear until we have a solid plan, but how possible do you think it would be to move the entire clan? Assuming there are enough food stores to make such a journey feasible. It is not a suggestion I want to make lightly, nor without a plan."

Naturally, Peiter decided to select the same room as Sabine, just as he had been doing since they became a couple. He took in a deep breath as they entered the room. It was a minimalistic living space, overall, but far more than they had been used to over the past few weeks. There were two small tables on either side of the room, though only one chair between them, for whatever reason. There was a dresser on the far side of the room, but Peiter preferred to avoid going through the belongings of the room's owner. It had a single bed, though it was not necessarily designed for two people. Of course, neither had the hammock back on the ship.

Peiter found an empty spot on the floor to start placing down his bags, and to carefully lay down his halberd so it would be out of the way. He undressed himself and packed the clothing away neatly into his bags, then laid back on the bed with his feet hanging off the side. "This is...actually kind of nice, isn't it? It's going to be a lot better than sleeping in the mud and dirt."

The packs paired off with two to a room. The regular couples of course were together, with children and Leaps where appropriate, while Uthri decided to share a room with Irenya. This left Lorag with Tzirret, which might have been terrifying for Tzirret had he not gotten used to Lorag as a travelling companion for the past few weeks.

Gallus was as surprised as could be expected to have Meesei opt to share a room with him - he had expected to share with Tzirret to keep an eye on him, but he didn't mind otherwise. Lorag would be scarier than any ad hoc phobia Tzirret could come up with given the conditions. Speculation was short lived in Gallus' mind as Meesei brought up the reason for entering his room.

As there was only one bed, Gallus was unrolling his bedroll on the floor while he answered. He did so in a tone that didn't hold much hope for an exodus. "I wish I could give you details on the intricacies of moving a large village-sized population across jungle and desert, but even with what I could predict, it..." he let out an uneasy chuckle, "It would not be easy, to say the least."

With his bedroll set up and his belongings deposited, Gallus grabbed the top of the small chair and turned it around, seating himself onto it carefully. The undersized furniture meant that his knees were higher than his hips while seated, looking slightly comical, but he still treated the conversation seriously. "Father taught me a few things about moving warbands and armies. It will be harder than that, but some concepts will transfer. The most important saying he taught me about this; 'an army marches on its stomach'. Even if we did have enough food for the entire journey and properly rationed it, not only could we not carry it all, but much of it will spoil or be misplaced along the way. Out in the jungle, the hunger might be alleviated with the surrounding game, but the more we hunt, the greater our exposure. Especially when the moons are full." Gallus wiped an eye tiredly, "What I am most afraid of, however, is the desert. I have never been to a desert, but I have heard of them. Little to no regular sources of water, very little hunting game, sandy terrain and inclement weather that stings the eyes. We would need guides and we would need to visit settlements. All up, the journey would be incredibly slow unless we were heartless enough to leave behind the injured and elderly. Not to mention, these aren't soldiers that we would be leading, they are regular people. We would not have the discipline for forced marches or for swift encampments."

With a still worried look, Gallus' eyes shifted up to Meesei and a hint of reckless hope came into his tone. "It's not impossible, at least," he said with a small shrug.

Sabine's actions were similar to Peiter's in most respects. She found a spot for her belongings, she stripped down, and she laid herself onto the bed beside Peiter with a relieved sigh. She closed her eyes for a moment and smiled. "Beds are always softer than I remember. Sometimes too soft." She took a relaxed breath and lolled her head to one side, looking at Peiter, "It will be nice to sleep in a room again, though. And it will be nice to use the river." She stretched and put her arms around Peiter, smile widening, "I need to bathe, and I want to try something with my hair."

Since Gallus was already unpacking his bedroll, Meesei decided to take the bed. She undressed, packed everything into her bags, then pushed them under the bed. She took a seat on top of the bed in a meditative position as she listened to his input on the matter of moving the clan. "Yes, the desert is one of my major concerns. Running into Vile's scouts is also a concern, but I do have a few ideas in mind to mitigate that risk. We could travel with scouts forming a perimeter around the clan to detect, and hopefully eliminate, any of Vile's patrols that may find us. That would also mean they would run into the scouts instead of the bulk of the clan, so the fact that the clan is moving would hopefully remain unknown to them, even if any of them escape. Beyond that, we would only need a sufficiently windy day to, quite literally, cover our tracks once we're in the desert. But, as you said, the desert presents its own problems. Neither of us have even seen a desert before, and perhaps, we should not be the ones planning how to cross it. The word 'Khajiit' means desert-walker; their heritage originates from the sands of Anequina. You recall Do'ajee, yes? She is the warrior who was originally from one of the desert tribes. From what I understand, those tribes can be at least as large as what remains of the clan, and they live their entire lives in the desert. It is doubtful that Do'ajee is the only one who is from the desert, so there may be guides already among us who can help us to cross just as those tribes do."

Peiter too wrapped his arms around Sabine, smiling as he hugged her tightly and planted a quick kiss on her lips once she was finished speaking. "Agreed, though we may want to be careful about getting in the river." He said with a chuckle. "Knowing our luck, we'll be ambushed by bandits the moment we put our feet in the water. It does seem like that's what happens every time we get in the water together, doesn't it?" He joked. "But, yeah, I'll definitely appreciate the chance to finally cool off. Although..."

Peiter reached up and ran his hand through Sabine's hair. "I've never known you as one who cared too much about her appearance. You don't need anything to make you beautiful, in my completely unbiased opinion. Why the change?" He asked curiously.