Gallus peered up to Peiter, looked for a moment, and then shook his head. "No, Irenya never really told me where her family was." Gallus looked ahead and leaned his mouth on his palm to think. He continued after bringing his hand to his chin instead. "But now that you mention it...no, I'm not sure her family would appreciate some Imperial coming out of nowhere and telling some tall tale about a Daedric war."

Uthri crossed her arms, unimpressed. "What is this about, then, Gallus?"

Rather than get defensive, Gallus sat up straight and put his hands on his crossed-legged knees. "I made a promise," he answered. "Back when we imprisoned the imposters at Orcrest, I was in charge of interrogating the Argonian that was impersonating Meesei." Gallus flicked his eyes briefly to Peiter's severed arm. "To be honest, she tortured herself more than I would have ever needed to. With her arm torn out and all. I didn't need to do anything but question and reward with pain relief to find out that she wasn't really a long time follower of Vile."

Gallus thought back to the way she pleaded and screamed and had to rub his eyes to distract himself. "She did it because of a false promise. They promised that if she played Meesei's part, they would give a cure for her son's degenerative disease. She finally told me her son's name and the city he was from and that he wouldn't have anyone else to take care of him."

"And you believed her!?" Uthri interrupted. "Gallus, she was..." she bared her teeth and rubbed a temple, trailing off in anger. "What reason do you have to believe any of that when she is just as likely to be lying to you to try and gain sympathy!?!"

Gallus responded surprisingly calmly. "Because her spirit was broken, I could see it. And she knew she was about to die. She didn't plead for her life. Only her son's. I promised that I would find him."

[hr]
Sabine let out a long sigh. She closed her eyes for a silent few seconds and then spoke. "I do not think I have any more questions for now."

Sabine reached with one hand around Meesei's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you," Sabine said. Then, still with a tired frown, Sabine made her way out of the tent.