Perhaps in the heat of the moment at the gate, Ma'tanza's last sentence would be less true, but Tzirret was embarrassed enough by now it turned out that it was true enough for now. With Ma'tanza's words and smile, Tzirret dropped his worries. "Okay," Tzirret swallowed and nodded, "This one guesses he is just overreacting then."

Though it still held a bit of tension, Tzirret returned Ma'tanza's smile and drew her into a hug. "He is sorry for worrying about nothing," Tzirret said in a descending tone, as if his words were routine. The hug lasted longer than Tzirret intended - he even planted a kiss on the side of Ma'tanza's head - but they pulled away soon enough. Tzirret had a much more relieved smile on his face at that point. "Let's keep looking for a bath."

---

Gallus didn't laugh along with Ri'vashi. He barely managed a smile. He was still looking forward in thought as Ri'vashi spoke, but he turned his eyes up to look at her by the time she finished. "But of course. If you need me, just ask around. There aren't many wolves among these clans." Gallus looked forward again, his smile fading. "I think I'll stick around for a bit, maybe do some target practice. That tends to straighten out my thoughts. I'll probably see what Meesei got out of the prisoners afterwards. I'll see to you later, Ri'vashi."

In the hours following the Senchal clan’s arrival in the stronghold, most were able to settle in surprisingly quickly. Apart from a few representatives, none of the members of either clans had met one another before, but they all had enough common ground to relate to one another. The cultures of Anequina and Pelletine were notably different, but as lycans, they had similar lifestyles that moved beyond those boundaries. As well, the war had, over the last few years, created at least one positive effect among Tamriel’s lycans in the form of unity. They had one common enemy; a goal that could unite them no matter how disparate their backgrounds or beliefs. In this case, the fact that they were mostly Khajiit of Elsweyr simply sped up their acceptance of one another.

Meesei had taken the time to question the prisoners they had captured, though she had not gone into a detailed interrogation just yet. For that, she would rather have others present to assist, particularly Ri’vashi, since she was more familiar with them. For her first round of questioning, she was simply testing to see what they would freely admit. Apart from the Argonian, who was still unconscious, she was able to learn their names, and managed to get a few to confess to at least being infiltrators. Before retiring for the night, she did meet briefly with Ri’vashi and Ri’nakhad, mostly to introduce them so they could discuss the werevultures they would be sending out as scouts the next day.

Just as when they had first arrived at the Senchal clan’s outpost, Meesei, her pack, as well as Gallus’ were offered proper quarters closer to the leaders of the Orcrest clan. In that, both Ri’vashi and Dro’cahi were agreed. Meesei left it up to each member of her and Gallus’ pack on whether they would accept, but she gladly took one of the rooms, and personally thanked the individual who had offered it to her.

---

The next morning, Meesei awoke early and had her breakfast before most in the clan had awoken. With permission from the person whose room she was using, she had taken one of her cloaks and modified it slightly to fit her, so she did not stand out quite as much in the crowds. For the first matter she needed to deal with for the day, she sought out Ri’vashi, then headed with her to find Gallus. By this point the Argonian impostor would likely have awakened, or could be awakened, so she wanted to begin the interrogation.

Gallus was in the middle of breakfast when Meesei and Ri’vashi approached. It was not necessary that they begin immediately, so she sat down beside him to wait for him to finish. “Gallus, I believe it is time for us to interrogate the prisoners. Feel free to finish your meal first, however.”

Nearby, Ahnasha and Fendros were eating their breakfast with Rhazii, as usual. Ahnasha was sitting beside Rhazii, taking small samples of his food to make sure it did not contain moon sugar before he could eat it. As such, she was not conversing with Fendros at the moment. There was nothing strange about any element of this scene until Irenya, of all people, moved to the seat next to Fendros. Despite how unusual it was for her to, as it seemed, seek him out, she did not say anything at first. For a minute or so, she simply sat silently, and somewhat awkwardly, while she ate her meal. But eventually, she spoke up in a calm, but ever so slightly nervous tone. “So…Fendros. Have you been finding everything you need here?”

Gallus was catching up with Uthri when Meesei found him. They appeared to be in the middle of a serious conversation when Meesei arrived, but Gallus completely changed his demeanour when he spotted her and Ri'vashi walking up to them. It was odd to see only Uthri and Gallus together for a meal, but with Peiter and Tzirret taking more of their meals elsewhere and Irenya apparently otherwise occupied, there they were.

"Right, of course," Gallus said, slightly stilted. He bowed his head to each of them, "Good morning."

"Good morning to you both," Uthri said as well with a smile. She sounded much more natural than Gallus.

After hurriedly finishing another mouthful, Gallus seemed to have gathered himself substantially. He paused in his eating to ask, "So, these prisoners. How did you want to approach this interrogation?"

When Irenya took a seat next to Fendros, he paused in his eating to give her a strange look. "Good morning?" Fendros said as a courtesy, despite it revealing confusion. Without much else, Fendros just continued eating.

The apparent attempt at conversation that Irenya made only served to exacerbate Fendros' confusion, but he humoured her all the same. Perhaps she was just trying to be nice for a change. Fendros answered with a similar tone to Irenya, "More or less, yes. With the clan being generous enough to provide us all with rooms, I would say we even have more than we need. What about yourself? I trust you have been busy treating the impostor, yes?"

"Hmm, it is difficult to say what will work at this point." Meesei answered. She crossed one arm over the other and held her hand up to her chin as she thought. "I have not yet questioned them enough to know how forthcoming they will be. Plain torture, in my experience, is not useful for obtaining accurate information. People will simply say whatever you want to hear. They have to have another motivation. In my questioning last night, I determined most of their names, and a few admitted to being infiltrators. Any information they can give us, we of course want, but right now, the primary questions we need answered are about their intentions, and their base of operations. If they refuse to cooperate, our best chance may be to use them against one another. Some of them might give away information that we could use in other interrogations, or if we can discover any specific connections between them, we might be able to take advantage of them. It would be useful if we could identify which one of them is the leader."

Once she was asked a question she could answer, Irenya was able to speak more confidently. "Yes, the impostor is stable. She was still unconscious when I left her last night, but according to the healers I questioned earlier this morning, she awoke in the middle of the night." She explained. However, her confidence faded once more after the conversation once again fell to her. She went back to her meal briefly before forcing herself to speak up once more.

"You and your...family, are you in good health? Have there been any complications from the conditions we have been in over the last few weeks. I had to prevent two cases of heat stroke during our travels, and some people were too conservative with their water rations. Be sure you are all properly hydrated, just in case." Irenya continued.

With little breakfast remaining, Gallus didn't have too much else to discuss before they would head to the dungeon, but he did have one idea to propose. "I was thinking. What if..." Gallus leaned forward and slowed his speech, "...we were to attempt a ruse. They know you two; the clan leader and the champion of Hircine, but I am just a tag-along. They don't know me, that much was clear from the taunts of that assassin." Gallus straightened and lifted a hand, "Now, I would see them questioned more conventionally to test their loyalties before we try anything, but if I get some privacy with them one on one and put myself across as a potential defector - give them some hope of escape, even - well, we could gain the trust of one if it is done right?" He offered a gesture to Meesei, "As well, playing them off one another may be useful. If one seems more likely to betray than another, we could push them to act by saying that their friends are turning against them. It could be delicate, but knowing the right words for the right people will make all the difference."

Gallus put the last of his breakfast into his mouth and chewed with a smug smile. They would probably head off after Meesei responded.

"Uhm...we have been fine, thank you for asking," Fendros said, glancing to Ahnasha and Rhazii, and then back to Irenya. "On the road, Rhazii and Ahnasha had a few headaches, and if any of us stood up to quickly, we would get quite powerful head rushes, but apart from that, no problems, no." Fendros looked to his food and almost took another bite, "I'm mostly glad that we didn't have to worry about sunburn so much."

Fendros wasn't sure what Irenya's intentions were, but her shifts in confidence hinted at wanting to ask something in particular. Out of habitual respect for elders, Fendros did not presume to ask Irenya to get to the point. In fact, it was actually odd to have someone elder to him act so nervously around him.

Meesei's expression was notably uncertain with Gallus' suggestion. "I...cannot say that will not work, but it seems to me like a long shot. They are prisoners, and know that we are going to interrogate them. I doubt they will trust anything that any of us say. If it is to have a chance of working, you would have to make your conversion to defector believable. You could...make them believe that they are affecting our loyalty. You recall how the Imperial taunted you? I would be willing to wager he is going to do so again. Perhaps this time, you can make it seem like he is getting to you? I will leave you alone, and you can beat him senseless. Make it seem like he is angering you, then leave him. After a few sessions, he may believe he is affecting you."

Irenya nodded. "Yes, our skin is quite resistant to such affects. And...I suppose Khajiit fur does much the same thing." She commented. Her breakfast was still mostly untouched, as she was eating rather slowly. Even with the large pauses between speaking, she was too distracted to focus on her food. Instead, she kept glancing over to Ahnasha, who was still focused on helping Rhazii with his breakfast. At this point, she had not yet noticed her.

Taking in a deep breath, Irenya asked yet another question. "Out of...curiosity, are you married to your mate? Um, to Ahnasha? Have you gone through the proper ceremonies, that is?" She asked. It was a seemingly random and personal question, with no obvious reason on why Irenya would be asking, or why she would even care. She had never shown any signs of caring about Fendros and Ahnasha's personal life, beyond voicing her objections to it, so to say that her current line of questioning was peculiar would be an understatement.

"Certaintly," Gallus said after swallowing the last of his meal. He didn't seem discouraged at all by Meesei's concerns, but took in her words attentively. "Though, first I would take a look at all of them, try to inspect their temperaments, and construct a more informed plan."

Gallus stood up from his seat and waved to Uthri. "See you, Uthri."

Uthri just nodded respectively.

"We should go and see them now, I think," Gallus said to Meesei and Ri'vashi.

Irenya's following question gave Fendros pause. Now things were beginning to get clearer. Fendros lifted his brow and gave her a sideways look, before looking down and thinking carefully about what to say. He saw no reason to be anything less than honest for the most part. It was not as if Irenya's high opinion was required to validate them.

"Well...in a word, no," Fendros started. He narrowed one eye and rubbed his upper arm with his free hand. "But, you see, it's not straight-forward. We come from different backgrounds, different ceremonies for marriage and all that. Hircine's cult doesn't really formalise such relationships, so it's been like that so far; de facto." Fendros shrugged, "If we were to go through a ceremony, well, it would either be in the Tribunal Temple, in the eyes of our ancestors and the reclamations, or with the Temple of the Eight. Neither of us are especially attached to those religions any more, but...we would have to decide, we would have to work out how to do it, and..." Fendros peered over to Irenya, "To be honest, I don't think it's been on our minds."

A glint of dishonesty came through Fendros' tone as he finished speaking. It was more likely with all that had been going on recently, that he would rather not be thinking about marriage, in spite of the thoughts lingering.

With no further delays, Meesei, Gallus, and Ri'vashi made their way down to the prison cells. The stronghold had a specialized prison built into it, though ironically, the clan had to carry out the supplies they had been storing in most of the cells in order to make room for their prisoners. The rooms had solid stone construction, with heavy, windowless iron doors. The only opening was a slot near the bottom which opened inwards, and could be used to slide in food without opening the door.

Meesei led the group to the last door at the end of the hallway, which contained the only prisoner she had not yet interviewed. The impostor, even if she was not the leader, would have to have some knowledge of their goals in order to carry out her sabotage. As such, she was the natural one to begin interrogating first. As soon as Ri'vashi unlocked and opened the door for them, they were met with sobbing from within. As a precaution, the Argonian had her legs and remaining arm shackled with chains designed to hold through a transformation. She, like the other prisoners, had been stripped of all her belongings to prevent them from improvising any tools, but she did not appear to have the will to resist. She had her head hung low, and did not raise it even to look at who was coming to question her. All she did to acknowledge them was to speak breifly between her cries. "It still hurts. It's not there, but it still hurts! I can feel the shackle on my wrist...but it's not there. It's not there." She sobbed.

---

Irenya was not attempting to read too deeply into Fendros' words. Even just the surface of his answer gave her pause to think. She was obviously uncomfortable, but she gave no hint of judgment, positive or negative, from learning that they had not any sort of ceremony. Although, her next response gave much more clarity to her opinion on the matter. "Well...if you are going to have a family, you should really do it properly. Why not have a ceremony to formalize your...love? I am not particularly familiar with the Eight Divines, but I do not believe either kind of ceremony would need to be extravagant. Hircine does not require that we observe such customs, but neither does he forbid it."

Irenya was touching on a topic that was personal to Fendros and Ahnasha, and while it might not have been her place to insist on such things, it could be seen as a step in the right direction for her. Not only was she now readily acknowledging Ahnasha and Rhazii as Fendros' family, but she was actively encouraging him to formalize that relationship in a ceremony she considered sacred.

The walk to the dungeon was punctuated with a spring in Gallus' step. He knew that the interrogation would be a sordid business, but he felt as though there was valuable information to be had. However, Gallus' confident expression faltered when he heard the words of the impostor imprisoned through the doorway to the cell they opened first. She was pitiful, really. Her apparent pain was not something that Gallus had braced himself for. As well, the complete absence of an arm was as confronting as ever. Her burns, covered by fresh bandages, bordered the stump of her shoulder with cringe-inducing deformity.

Gallus put on a stern face to hide his feelings and slowly stepped into the cell. He needed to try and understand this woman properly in order to give the right approach, but it seemed like she had been in such constant torture that she was broken already. Gallus stepped up to the woman and took a knee on the floor in front of her, staring into her face. "We need to know your name," Gallus said monotonously. Her response would dictate her real disposition.

---

Fendros straightened, listened to Irenya, and blinked. When she was done, he glanced away, took a small breath, and gave a small, conceding nod. "This is true, I'll grant," Fendros said, also rather uncomfortably, but not pushing Irenya away, "We could do something. I suppose it would...not have to be a great..." Fendros trailed off as his face scrunched up a bit. He faced Irenya as if she was wearing a silly hat, "I'm sorry, it is not a problem or anything, but, it's just surprising to hear this from you, Irenya. Can I ask why you are interested in this?"

For a moment, the Argonian was silent, apart from a few sobs. Slowly, she raised her head to look at Gallus, but as soon as she saw Meesei standing up behind him, she started to bare her teeth in rage. Since Meesei was out of her reach, she looked back to Gallus and spat in his face. In contrast to the Imperial from before, however, her demeanor of defiance did not last. "It doesn't matter...nothing matters." She answered as she lowered her head once more.

"Just...kill me. Kill me now! You've already destroyed my life, just put me out of my misery." She added with an utterly defeated tone.

---

Irenya leaned back defensively in her seat, almost on reaction. Fendros' question was probably one she should have been expecting, but she hesitated enough in her answer that it definitely did not seem prepared. "I...do not know what you are implying. I have taken an interest in your spiritual well-being since we first started traveling together. You have a family now, but to have a child and no one to call your wife is certainly not something I would think your ancestors would prefer. There are certain formalities that our ancestors expect by tradition, you understand. I merely want to give you some helpful advice."

Irenya's tone did not necessarily imply that she was lying, but her answer completely ignored all she had said before about Ahnasha and Rhazii being Khajiit. It was a reversal of her previous opinion, and one that had come without Ahnasha or Fendros saying anything more to her.

Thankfully, Gallus saw the intention for the woman to spit in his face far enough in advance that he was able to turn his face away as a reflex. She still landed a solid droplet on his cheek, but at least she didn't get him in the eye. Gallus sighed through his nose and wiped the spittle off with his sleeve. He knew that this would not be the last time he would be spat upon today.

Gallus turned his head to look at Meesei and Ri'vashi, but without any more movements from them, he turned back to the woman and responded. "I'm going off to get a potion that will relieve your pains for a while. When I come back, I will ask you the same question, and perhaps some more. For each satisfactory answer, I will give you a swig of the potion. Take this time to consider." Gallus stood up and turned on his toes to walk out of the cell without acknowledging any response from the woman.

Once he shut the door behind him, he addressed Meesei and Ri'vashi in a hushed, grave tone. "While it is pitiful, this presents an opportunity. This woman has been tortured by her phantom pains all night. That saves us the trouble if she's willing to take relief for answers. However," Gallus looked to Meesei, "I don't think she'll be cooperative with the one who took the arm off in the first place. What are your thoughts, both?"

---

"...Okay," Fendros said slowly. Irenya's response was not as forthcoming as he wanted, but it was not unexpected. She was a stubborn sort. "Well...actually, if you're okay with it, and if you really want to help, then..." Fendros clasped one of his hands in the other and looked at them nervously. "You wouldn't happen to know...how to run a Tribunal wedding, would you? Weddings between Dunmer where I grew up were so few and far between that I never actually witnessed one. Until now, I hadn't really entertained that particular route because I thought no Tribunal priest would marry me to a Khajiit."

Meesei crossed her arms, glancing towards the closed door. "Hmm, that is a fair point. Looking at me for only a moment seemed to enrage her. An emotionally compromised person can be manipulated, we should probably question her before attempting that. Or rather, you and Ri'vashi should. I will only serve to distract her. Go through with your plan and see what you can learn from her I will wait outside and listen in. If you feel it would be advantageous to agitate her emotions, feel free to call me in." Meesei answered.

Ri'vashi gave a nod. "Of course, Champion. Since Ri'vashi has been around this impostor for most of the time she has been here, this one should be able to call out at least some inconsistencies in her story. This one can get another healing potion for her injury, one moment." She said, motioning to one of the guards nearby in the hallway. "Soldier, fetch us a healing potion, something specialized for pain. As quickly as you can."

---

Irenya rubbed her neck awkwardly with widened eyes. "Oh, well...I am no priestess. I have been to a wedding before, so I am familiar with the ceremony, but I do not know if I would be qualified to run it. I would hate to miss an important detail and displease your ancestors, which would be a definite possibility."

Looking off to the side, Irenya finally continued her meal, though only for a few moments. "You would be best served trying to find someone qualified for such a ceremony. That may be difficult in Elsweyr, but...what about later? We are, in all likelihood, returning to Cyrodiil after this whole affair. Cheydinhal would certainly have someone willing and able to do just what you need."

With everyone in agreement, all that was left to do was to wait for the potion. Gallus crossed his arms and scuffed his feet, but he seemed to be more in thought than anxious. He was working out the details of what he would say.

Faces turned towards the guard as he returned with a potion bottle in hand. Gallus closed the last couple of paces towards him and took the potion quickly. A quick inspection confirmed that it would be appropriate for this task.

Gallus had the cell opened again. This time, he made sure that Meesei was out of the prisoner's sight and scent. His approach was similar to before, stern and slow. He held the potion out as he knelt again so that the prisoner might as it, but he didn't let her touch it.

"Are you ready to answer?" Gallus said, sounding a little less icy now that he was prepared to face her. "What is your name?"

---

Fendros was eating a bit too quickly at this point. He was glad for Irenya's advice, right up until she mentioned Cheydinhal. In that moment, a fleck of hair or blood was sucked into his throat accidentally. Fendros interrupted Irenya with a fit of coughing as he covered his mouth with his wrist and tried to bring out the foreign object.

"Agh, ahem, no," Fendros insisted through his struggle, "No, I don't think..." He coughed hard and swallowed. "Not a good idea..." His voice had a weak whistle to it, irritating him further. He took a moment to concentrate on getting his windpipe clear before trying to answer further.

"Cheydinhal," Fendros resumed, weakly, "Is where my family lives. My birth family."

The Argonian continued looking away from Gallus, despondent. The pain from her burns kept her intermittently in tears, while the shackles and hard stone floor did nothing to help her comfort. "What does it matter? You're going to kill me anyway. I'm just a failure. I'll die as a failure, then get tortured for eternity. That's what I have to look forward to. It doesn't matter what you do to me, because it will only get worse. My life is over, my...existence is over. If you want a name to put on my grave, it is Dar-tzesa." She finally answered.

---

Irenya curled her lips and looked down at the remainder of her meal briefly. "I see...and I suppose you do not want them at your wedding, then? I cannot say I know where else you could find a nontraditional Dunmer priest, but...well there is nothing saying your wedding has to be within the walls of the city. I am sure your story is a common one in a place like Cheydinhal, with how the Imperials influence the Dunmer there. You could just ask for something discrete."

At this point, it seemed clear that Irenya had come to terms with, and was in support of Fendros' relationship. If not, then the act she was putting on was an elaborate one. What was not clear was why she had her sudden change of heart. Neither Ahnasha, nor anyone else had mentioned speaking to Irenya on Fendros' behalf since their last conversation aboard the ship.

"Let's make it a little better first, Dar-tzesa," Gallus said softly, his lips hinting at a smile. He removed the cork from the potion he held and brought the bottle up to Dar-tzesa's lips. To make sure he was in control, he took Dar-tzesa's jaw with his other hand so she didn't lash out. Dar-tzesa was fed only a sip of the potion.

Gallus spoke on when he brought his arms back and replaced the cork on the potion bottle. "That'll stop the pain for a minute or so, maybe more. Just like I said, any more satisfactory answers will reward you with more relief, so let's keep going." Gallus leaned his arms over his forward knee, "I'll let you decide which question to answer first. What are the names of your companions that you arrived with? What did you plan to accomplish by posing as the champion of Hircine?"

---

Again, Fendros was pleasantly surprised at the apparent support from Irenya. His confused face was replaced by one of realisation and hope. "You think we could do that?" he asked, his mouth curling into an excited grin, "This is beginning to sound far more possible." Fendros looked forward again, exhaled and closed his mouth, feeling a little overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, Fendros' smile faded as another aspect of his reality came about, "Wait...Irenya..." His eyes turned to look at Irenya from one side, "Finding an accepting Tribunal priest is one thing, but are you sure that my ancestors aren't going to be offended no matter how the ceremony takes place?" Fendros gestured to Irenya loosely, "Even you...I don't know why you seem to have changed your mind, but you seemed to have trouble accepting Ahnasha the last time we spoke of this."

Dar-tzesa almost seemed to attempt to resist the potion when he forced her to drink it, but she was not in much of a position to deny anything that Gallus gave her. Regardless, she bared her teeth angrily at Gallus as he spoke. "The only relief you can give me is to kill me, you...dog. This pain, this relief...it's all meaningless. Don't you get it? I'm doomed, dead, abandoned. They told me that I would get cured, and get everything we agreed on, as long as I was successful. Well, I failed, and now I'm going to be tortured by your lord for eternity. Nothing else matters. Nothing you can do to me will matter, because it will only get worse after you kill me. So you can take your potion, and your questions, and shove them up your backside as far as I'm concerned. Because nothing. Matters." She growled.

---

Irenya looked away, down at her meal. "Well, as I said, I am no priestess. If you want answers on how to please your ancestors, you will need to ask the one performing your ceremony. I am sure he will be much more knowledgeable on it than I."

At first, Irenya seemed content to try and ignore Fendros' second question, but the silence in the conversation grew quickly awkward. She looked around nervously, uncertain of how to go about saying anything she was thinking. "That is true, yes, but...I just needed to think about it for a while to...determine how I should feel about it. That is all." She explained, though it was not actually much of an explanation. It was an answer that, while technically true, failed to actually answer his question in any meaningful way.

Gallus remained stone faced through Dar-tzesa's retort. The relief may have allowed her to be defiant, but the nature of her torture may make her regret her words. Gallus was just glad that he didn't have to inflict the torture directly. Once she was done, he simply pocketed the potion, stood up with a sad smile, and then responded quietly. "I'll let you think further on my offer. Call out when you're ready to talk."

Without acknowledging anything else from Dar-tzesa's mouth, Gallus turned and walked out again, closing the cell behind him and huddling with Meesei and Ri'vashi. "Well, perhaps she isn't broken by her pain yet, but it's still affecting her. No matter if she has accepted death, she'll likely appreciate the potion more after the pain returns." Gallus turned his head to the closed cell, "I just fear that this might take a while." Gallus thought for a moment while inhaling a deep breath, "Either we leave her to stew and try another prisoner for now, or..." Gallus peered to Meesei, "...you try something more forceful."

---

Fendros was willing to accept that Irenya would not truly know the wishes of his ancestors like a priest would. To that, he shrugged. Her partial explanation of her changing her mind on the matter of his relationship with Ahnasha, however, left him curious.

"Can I ask what changed?" Fendros said curiously, leaning more forward slightly. He tried as best as he could to not sound disapproving or suspicious, but he doubted that there was much that could be done to prevent Irenya being defensive about it if the matter was sensitive.

"Hmm, that may work." Meesei commented, speaking quietly so none of the prisoners could hear her from within the cells. "Although, we will still need to be careful with the information she gives us, if she does talk. We may not be personally torturing her, but she may just say what we want to hear to stop the pain. We will need to confirm anything she says with the other prisoners."

Ri'vashi looked away briefly, towards a specific door off to their right. "This one thinks the Imperial may be a good choice to question next. Of all of them, he has by far been the most defiant. He seems bold, and certainly brave to have tried attacking the Champion. He could be their leader. He has a strong mind, so he may be difficult to break, but he may know the most."

"Do you want to attempt what we spoke of before?" Meesei asked. "If you feign offense at his taunts, beat him in a rage, you might convince him that he is getting into your head."

---

Irenya still could not bring herself to look at Fendros, and especially Ahnasha. She continued to look down, eating small bites of what was left of her meat as if to give an excuse for why she was not speaking. The uncomfortable silence continued hanging in the air for a while, and just as before, it was the silence she could not handle. She glanced up to Fendros for at least a brief moment before she finally spoke up softly. "This place is...not what I was expecting."

Gallus angled his head and furrowed his brow, looking at the floor. "I actually think I might need a bit more clarity on that plan, for what you have in mind, more specifically." Gallus itched at his chin, then looked to Meesei, waving his hands to pantomime the steps. "So, I try to aggressively question him, goad his taunts, feign offence, beat him, he thinks he's in my head...what then?" Gallus lifted a hand, palm up, "Are we trying to make him feel like he is in control and slip up with his information? Are we to allow him to try and turn me? I just want to make sure."

---

Irenya could have been talking about a great number of features about Elsweyr or the clans they had come across, but Fendros wasn't entirely certain of the specifics. There must have been a profound event to turn Irenya's deep seated opinions around.

Fendros slowly sat back and held his hands together, still and patient. When it seemed like Irenya wasn't going to elaborate, he angled his head forward slightly and spoke in an attempt at encouragement. "How so?"

"Well, either would be acceptable, but I believe the second would be more likely to work. You could make him think you are dissatisfied with your subordinate position. Likely, it would be best to go through a few sessions of interrogation before letting on to that idea, but it could lower his guard. He might begin to see you as a vector of escape." Meesei explained. The three started to walk in the direction of the Imperial's cell, while still keeping their voices down.

"Now, if you find this plan agreeable, we should all head in together, question him for a short while, then we will leave you alone with him. Are you comfortable with trying it?" Meesei asked.

---

Irenya had enough discomfort in her expression that she almost looked like she was in pain. When she started to speak, she did so slowly, and without making eye contact with Fendros. "Because...these people are not what I expected. The clan, both of them, they're not...they're not like I was told. It's...confusing. I expected to be met with hostility, with anger, but...the clan hasn't been like that. The only ones who have given me any trouble are those former Thalmor soldiers."

Pausing a moment, Irenya pulled a small object out of her pouch. It appeared to be either a small necklace, or a large bracelet, which was made of string threaded through the teeth of a small animal. "During our travels, a little Khajiit girl, about nine or ten, likely, twisted her ankle. It was nothing serious, and I treated it when requested, but then she just...gave this to me. It's just some trinket, not very well made, but...it looked like it was quite literally the only thing she owned, and she just gave it to me with that...disturbing feline smile."