[h2]A Fated Reunion[/h2]

[b][i]Something that happens when Hank Hill and Derv Dribble get drinking beers by the fence[/i][/b]

The Hlaalu looked up at the newcomer yelling about her friend, that he quickly pieced together was the khajiit that was pressing uncomfortably between his ribs with the end of the staff. However, it was not the shouts of Niernen that gave him pause, but rather the actions of Solveig giving his companion a drawn out and brutal demise that made his fingers give out, the weapons clashing to the floor as the fight left the Hlaalu as surely as the colour drained from his face.

Do'Karth stepped back and struck the Hlaalu hard in the kneecap with this staff, a sharp crack filled the air as did the dunmer's scream as he fell to the floor, cradling a surely broken bone. One couldn't run if your knee was broken, and considering both of the crossbowman's shots had consequences, Do'Karth felt vindicated as he knocked both weapons out of the Hlaalu's reach with foot and staff, and only then did he turn at the voice, one the khajiit had initially thought belonged to one of his companions in the heat of the skirmish.

Niernen was standing before him, gaunt and pale as a vampire, her cheeks saturated with tears. Do'Karth was at a loss for words, for he had truly thought she had perished. "Niernen, you're..." he said, the air clutching at his throat but not able to find the words. "How is this possible?" he asked walking over to her at a brisk pace, dropping his staff as he took his friend into his arms. Part of him was beyond elated to see her safe, another part of him was confounded, and yet another had to make sure he was real. She looked traumatized, and somehow she had managed to track him down. Of course she needed comforting.

"Do'Karth tried to find you, he is so sorry he failed." he said softly.

Niernen tried to answer Do'Karth's questions, opening her mouth to speak, but she was overcome with emotion when the Khajiit took her in his arms. Her throat closed up and she buried her face in the fur by the nape of his neck and wept -- she wept for joy at having found Do'Karth again, but also in anguish as the horrors and the suffering of the past few weeks washed over her and she finally allowed herself to break. She wept for the death of her Nix-Hound, Garm, and the loss of her family. They were out of reach in Morrowind and she had no idea when she would see them again or what had happened to them. She wept for her pain and broken bones and, a little vainly, for the sorry state of her precious hair.

Her shoulders rose and fell with each ragged breath and choking sob and she lifted her arms, sharp stabs of pain in her left shoulder be damned, to embrace Do'Karth. Niernen said something but it was incomprehensibly muffled. Eventually the Dunmeri woman managed to calm down and regained some of her composure. She lifted her head out of Do'Karth's fur and interspersed the last of her sobs with a sheepish chuckle. 

"It's really you," she whispered at last and looked up to meet Do'Karth's gaze. "Azura must have guided my path, I can think of no other explanation. The Kamal hunted us down when we escaped from the city and I was separated from all of you," she said, her voice regaining some of its confidence and substance, and continued. "They chased me east and then the thrice-damned Armigers captured me when I reached Morrowind and sold me to the Kamal to be used as as a slave! Can you believe that? Then I was transferred onto one of their ships and these ridiculous pirates attacked the ship after a storm and I was able to escape with one other Dunmer. We drifted in a little dingy for... more than day, at least, and we made landfall here. Ashav found us. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him, and then Madura said you were down here, and, well, here I am," she said and smiled, beaming. "And here you are!" Niernen caressed Do'Karth's furry cheek with her good hand and laughed, genuinely, for the first time in ages. 


Do'Karth's heart sank as Niernen recounted her ordeal, and he knew all too well of the brutality the Kamal were capable of inflicting; he shuddered to think of what they did to those they decided to enslave. It really did feel as if one of the divines had allowed for this reunion, and for that he was thankful. "Here we are." He agreed, wiping a tear away from her face. "This one can hardly believe it, he is astonished by your tale. Perhaps Azurah brought you back, and for that, Do'Karth is grateful for her." he smiled, guiding her away from the bodies and carnage that had just unfolded. It was quite the range of emotions for such a short amount of time. "Do'Karth is sorry about your hound, he truly is. He understood you two were well bonded... are you injured?" he asked, concerned.

The elf nodded and clenched her jaw when Do'Karth mentioned Garm. "He was [i]so[/i] brave," she whispered and teared up again, remembering how the Nix-Hound had fearlessly thrown itself at the Kamal and their eight-legged war beasts -- but Niernen was grateful for Do'Karth's thoughtfulness in remembering him. She blinked the tears away and took a deep breath, then shook her head at Do'Karth's question. "I mean, yes," she said, correcting herself, "they broke my leg and I'm pretty sure something is wrong with my left shoulder, and maybe some of my ribs, but I'll be alright eventually. I tried to heal myself but I'm not skilled enough." Niernen grimaced at the last few words and sorely regretted not devoting more time to Restoration during her studies. "What happened to all of you, though?" she asked, deeply curious. "You have to tell me everything! And why in Oblivion are you [i]here?[/i]"

The khajiit snorted in amusement. "An excellent question, why are we here?" he grinned, helping support Niernen to a nearby wall so she didn't have to put as much weight on her leg; broken bones were beyond his skill, but she was getting around well enough for now, but it had to be agonizing just to move. It just spoke to her willpower she managed to get down here at all. "Do'Karth can't begin to describe everything that's occurred. Company wise, we retreated to Dawnstar and set up camp and the commanders started recruiting to replace our... ah, losses." he said, gesturing towards the generally direction the lift was located. "This one is certain you noticed the other dunmer coming in.

"We were sent to the College of Winterhold as word was there were mages trapped there that needed to be rescued. The operation was almost successful... storms beset us on the journey back and most of the mages died attempting to retreat from the ship, which was taking on water. When some of us landed on a dingy, we discovered the Armigers and their affiliation with the Akaviri. Turns out that this is bigger than just the Kamal, they have allies." Do'Karth said, gritting his teeth for a moment. The prospect of people willingly joining the Snow Demons was utterly disgraceful. 

"Do'Karth led the group back to Dawnstar, we nearly died in a blizzard and encountered some falmer in a cave we took shelter in. We returned back to Dawnstar, where we finally had some respite from all of this. Do you recall Sevine, the Huntress as others call her?" he asked. "Her and I have entered courtship. It is about the only bright spot since the Siege of Windhelm." he said, smiling fondly. "Of course, Leif wishes Do'Karth to cease living, but that is a problem for another time. He's here on this mission now, although he was injured pretty badly. Do'Karth fears for his life." he said, his smile faltering with genuine concern.

"As for why we are here, there was news that this Armigers had garrisoned these ruins and were looking for something, this one is hazy on the details but after everything he's seen the past few weeks, nothing is too important to overlook. If they are puppets of the Kamal, then there is something foul afoot here." Do'Karth concluded.

Niernen listened with growing amazement as Do'Karth took his turn in recounting his exploits. It seemed that the Company had experienced no shortage of dangerous adventures. Niernen was grateful that the Khajiit had managed to survive all of it.

The news of Do'Karth's courtship with Sevine was another surprise. She raised her eyebrows and queried her memory about this Sevine -- a flash of red hair and a stern look briefly appeared in her mind's eye. Niernen opened her mouth to congratulate Do'Karth on having found love in these trying times and found herself faltering, feeling a twisted knot in her stomach. "That's... that's great, Do'Karth," she said and managed a smile, suppressing the feeling. "I'm happy for you and Sevine. You'll have to properly introduce me sometime. As for Leif, I think I saw him near the entrance as well... his wound looked nasty, but he was talking with the Dunmer woman. I think he'll live," Niernen said, trying to reassure Do'Karth, and patted him on the arm. It was so typical of the Khajiit to be concerned for the well-being of a man that held a grudge against him and Niernen smiled, endeared. Her guts wrenched again.

She swallowed hard and cleared her throat. Niernen never had any time for courtship before, what with her studies and the war. That was not to say she'd never had a crush before -- some of her fellow students and soldiers had been quite strapping, and the knot in her stomach was worryingly similar to that feeling. Trying to distract herself, Niernen focused on the rest of Do'Karth's story. 

"Right, Armigers. Oh, that reminds me, we saw a bonemold ship moored topside before Madura and I came down here. I believe he was supposed to tell Edith. Maybe these men had something to do with it?" she said and looked around at the dead and incapacitated opponents.

"Of course. She'll be thrilled to find you well. We all need good news these days." Do'Karth replied warmly, missing the hesitation in Niernen's voice as she searched for words. "On the plus side for Leif, this one hears women like scars. This one has a few of his own." he chuckled. 

Her report on the bonemold ship was indeed an interesting development. Perhaps it belonged to the ones they had encountered already? He nodded toward Edith, who was checking up on the others. "She is rather hard to miss at this point, especially for a nosy sort such as Madura. This one overheard these adversaries speaking before attempting a dialog that... did not turn out fortuitously. It seems they are employed by the owners of your bonemold ship. We need to find them. Do'Karth assumes the orange-garbed fool over there has answers."

Orange-garbed fool sounded about right and Niernen laughed her pleasant, pealing laugh again. "It is a [i]ridiculous[/i] outfit, isn't it?" she said. "I'll let Madura do the explaining." Niernen put her back against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment and realized her head was spinning with exhaustion. She hadn't slept in more than a day and all the pain had sucked the energy right out of her. "You don't happen to have any of that soup with you, do you?" Niernen asked and opened one eye to glance at Do'Karth with a half-smile, referring to the lukewarm soup he'd shared with her after their battle against the Kamal in Windhelm.

"This one wishes he did, it is a shame you did not manage to arrive even just yesterday. There was so much food at the festival... perhaps there is leftovers. Most of the food Do'Karth has is back on the ship.  There's this, though." the khajiit said, opening his pouch, fingers brushing on the container of moon sugar before finding the nearly empty jar of honey he'd shared with Sadri a few days prior. He handed this over. "To tide you over, this one hopes. You should return to the surface with the commanders and recover, this place is very dangerous. This one does not wish for your return to be short lived." he said softly, his brow furrowing in concern.

"Oh, thank you," Niernen said and accepted the jar of honey with gratitude. The sugar would probably perk her up a bit and she scooped the remaining honey out of the jar with her fingers and licked it off shamelessly. Now was not the time for decorum. "And you're kidding, right?" she said, her voice a little muffled, heavy with the stickiness of the honey. "You can't reasonably expect me to leave you again. No, I'm coming with you." There was a tone of finality in her voice and she punched Do'Karth's shoulder softly, smiling. Niernen had always been incorrigible and stubborn and some things, it seemed, hadn't changed. The presence of her friend fired up her spirit and she felt better than she had in weeks. That said, Niernen saw the look on Do'Karth's face and sighed, digging deeper in the jar for more of the honey. "I promise I'll stay in the back."

"As this one recalls, you are more than capable from the rear." Do'Karth grinned, shaking his head. "Do'Karth's fur smelt burnt for days after our fight. It is rather comforting to know that this one will have to be reacquainted with that particular sensation. Besides, our foes will have to get past Do'Karth first. That won't happen." he concluded with a wink, looking over towards Edith. "Perhaps we should let Edith know who you are. So far, today is not proving to be very productive with strangers. Everyone is a bit jumpy." he looked back as his friend, grasping Niernen's arm gently. "Niernen," he said, "Do'Karth is grateful you found your way back to him."

Niernen couldn't help but grin at Do'Karth's wink and when he reached for her arm, she covered his hand with her own and gently squeezed. She could feel her heart beating faster and the twisting in her stomach became stronger -- a bittersweet feeling. "I'm really glad too," she said quietly as her copper eyes softened. She stretched out the moment for a few more seconds before finally letting go of Do'Karth's hand and averting her gaze. "Now, you should go tell Edith who I am, and I'm going to reacquaint myself with our friends over there," she said and gestured towards Sadri, Roze, Solveig and Sagax. She narrowed her eyes at Sadri. "Huh," she muttered. "I think I've seen him in Blackmarsh before..."

With one last glance and a smile at Do'Karth, she hobbled over to the other mercenaries and came to a halt a few yards away, cleared her throat and waved awkwardly. "Greetings, sera's," she said and smiled sheepishly. "My name is Niernen. I think some of us may have already met."

When Niernen turned to greet the others, Do'Karth picked up his staff and decided to go collect his orange-clad adversary. When he turned to where he'd left his foe, the dunmer had vanished, and a pit formed in his gut; he was certain the Hlaalu was too injured to move, and he had been so caught up in his own selfish moment with Niernen that he wasn't keeping an eye on who should have been a captive.

"One slipped away." He called out to the others, wishing to give chase but knowing that would be a foolish endeavor.