Meesei took in a deep breath as they stepped of the ship and onto Thorn's docks. The salty air of the sea was still ever-present, as it had been for their entire voyage, but it also carried with it the unmistakable scent of the marsh. Not all would consider it pleasant, but for Meesei, it was a cherished part of her memories. For Kaleeth, the feeling was perhaps even stronger, and she showed it far more outwardly. 

"I think you should find a place for us, yes." Meesei responded. "An inn would suffice, since we are already in the city. You might try Rukeewei's inn; I have no doubt he will give us a fair price. Myself and Sabine will go to meet with Ariel. It probably would not do well to crowd her shop all at once, without warning. Just the two of us would draw less attention than a crowd. We will meet up at the inn later."

At that point, the pack split up, with Meesei joining Sabine to head to Ariel's shop. At this time of day, Meesei expected that it would be open, as there were no holidays or other events happening that would prompt it to close. Though, even being just a normal day, Thorn was still as beautiful as Meesei remembered it. The city still had lively decorations, if more subtle than when in the middle of a festival. There was water flowing down the sides of the street from a recent rainstorm, though it looked like it had been a while since the last flood, based on the state of the buildings. 

The crowds were heavy in the streets, especially near the docks, but the parts of town they were crossing felt safe overall. There was a constant guard presence at all times, with one at seemingly every corner. Most of them wielded a spear that allowed their presence to be known, even in a crowd, though they did pass by a few that were a bit more hidden. The city district that contained Ariel's shop was not the wealthiest by any means, but it did benefit from containing businesses that the city had an interest in protecting, so the quality of security was still reasonable. 

As they were finally approaching the shop, Meesei was not entirely sure what to expect. It had been a while since they had written Ariel, especially given the traveling. But, there was no doubt that Sabine was excited. Meesei looked over to her, smiling as she patted her on the back. "I think I will let you take the lead. I will not ruin your reunion by getting to business too quickly."

---

All of the questions that Gallus ask did eventually lead him in the right direction. There actually seemed to be at least two people by the name of "Yizan-Lei" in the city, but as one of them was an old man who did not match the description, it was fairly obvious where they needed to go. Unfortunately, it took them to a rather decadent part of the city. Gideon, for the most part, had all of the comforts one would expect of a Cyrodilic city, but its slums were beset by decay caused by frequent flooding. Without near as many safeguards to protect them, about a third of the houses were seemingly uninhabitable, even if not all of them were actually uninhabited. The rest were small, simple wooden buildings with no more than a few rooms each. The streets themselves were unpaved and not that well-defined, often being split up by the long, branching roots of the Hist tree at the center of the district. The people they passed did not actually seem depressed or dissatisfied exactly; rather, they were suspicious of the obvious outsider that was Gallus. 

The house they finally arrived at was in-tact, but otherwise no different from any of the others around it. Evidently, one of its inhabitants had seen Gallus approaching through a window, as it was only a few seconds after the first knock that the door was opened. The man who answered was an Argonian with dark brown scales and what was essentially a crown of horns on the top of his head. He looked to be somewhere around Meesei's age. "Hello, can I...help you?" He asked in heavily-accented Cyrodilic, looking at Gallus.