[center][h3]A Favour[/h3] [i]by Dervish and Greenie[/i][/center] [hr] [i]14th of Midyear, Late Night, the Oasis[/i] It had been a much long day and Sirine was very happy that it was finally coming to an end. The trek through the desert had been exhausting in itself, but these 'allies and friends' had the former pirate on a constant edge that she couldn't rid herself of. Even after entering the oasis she could see the looks, curiosity, indignancy, hatred. Latro and his lover were merely the tip of the sand dune. It didn't make for good resting, despite the respite from the searing desert sun. Nevertheless, she had freshened up as best as she could, deciding to forgo her full sleeve tunic for a sleeveless one she had found in the wagon, a dull olive green one that was a little loose on her frame but comfortable and airy, and most of all, clean. The sounds of the river were somewhat soothing, even if it didn't replace the ocean waves, so the Imperial Redguard had spent quite a bit of time simply wandering nearby, her eyes had taking in the sights of not only the beauty of the oasis, but the various people within it. They seemed a tight knit group for the most part, and though her curiosity was piqued as to how all these random individuals had come together, she was much more worried that while [i]her[/i] little group kept the peace, one of their allies may not be so magnanimous. She didn't trust them even if Sevari did, and that wouldn't change due to a day's journey together in the desert. Her hand had been quite close to her dagger when she saw the bearded Imperial looking man having what seemed like heated words with Zaveed, though she wasn't close enough to hear what they may have been discussing; even after the man left her tension did not, and it was a little worrisome. [i]Calm yourself. You are going to ruin things first otherwise.[/i] She was almost certain he was [i]the[/i] one though, and she had half a mind to ask the khajiiti if that man had been the one who nearly soul trapped him. However she had refrained; it didn't seem as if he wished for company at the moment, and she wasn’t even sure he would tell if she asked. When Sirine did return- she refused to camp near any of the others- the sun had already set for a good while, and it seemed most were making their way to sleep if they hadn't already. She had her own bedroll which she dropped nearby before striding over, closing the distance between herself and the khajiit. “I have a favour to ask of you, Zaveed,” she started, pulling her dagger from its place at her belt. It looked almost threatening for a good couple of seconds before she turned it around so the handle was now facing him rather than the pointy tip. “As much as I love my locks, another trip through the desert with this hair will probably kill me before any dwemer could have the chance. Do you mind…?” She made a slicing movement in the air near the back of her head, a joke of sorts as she knew very well he would understand what she wanted. “You… want me to cut your hair?” Zaveed asked, incredulously, sitting up from having started to doze off. Of course, he could see perfectly well in the dark, including the glint of metal at her chest. He shook the sleep out of his eyes. “Such a pragmatist.” he said with a hint of a smile as he held out his hand to take the dagger. He felt its weight and balance and checked its edge against the side of his finger; it was sharp, all right. “Are you sure you wish for me to do this? I am no barber.” he cautioned. Sirine raised an eyebrow. "Tsk, I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't." Tapping her foot against the ground, she turned her head and squinted into the darkness. "I doubt anyone else here is, and even if they were, it isn't like I trust anyone, save you and Sevari, not to slit my throat and use the night as an excuse." Looking back at the khajiit, she gave him a genial smile and wink before settling down on the ground. "Just pretend my locks are some men on a ship you've boarded." “So brute force and ignorance it is,” Zaveed teased, taking a few moments to run his fingers through Sirine’s hair and enjoying the sensation of it all. “It’s going to be a shame to destroy something so beautiful.” he chuckled, settling on a length that would be both practical and retain her feminine charm by running her hair between a pair of fingers, which he pinched together and held the hair taunt with his pinky and thumb. The blade cut through the strands like a scythe through wheat. Zaveed was pleased with the first strike, and he felt confident he could pull off a somewhat intentional-looking hairstyle for his companion. “So.” He said, continuing his work and only slightly watching the hair fall like leaves from a tree, “Are you making friends with your new classmates?” he teased, grinning at the absurdity of the situation. For whatever reason, doing something so mundane and domestic gave him visions of this all just being what he imagined school must have been like, with other students in their own little groups. He’d had a somewhat comparable experience aboard the [I]Serpent’s Gale[/I], learning lessons about life and language and the art of battle from those who had survived to tell the tale. Maybe being with another pirate brought about those memories, he decided. Sirine would relate to him better than anyone. “Think of this as a new ship, a new crew. I guess we both have to prove we’re worth some mutton and grog and a cut.” the Khajiit observed. [I]Shink. Shink. Shink.[/I] "I don't think the other students like us very much," Sirine replied, leaning a little back with her eyes closed, feeling much more relaxed than she had the entire day. It was an enjoyable sensation, having one’s hair fiddled with, and she wasn't actually worried if she ended up looking silly in the long run. Hair grew back eventually anyway, and she could already feel a little lighter, though perhaps that was simply from bantering with someone who wasn't looking their way with narrowed eyes. The attention was something she savoured as well, though she would be never mention [i]that[/i] aloud. "The difference is I'm not the captain," she pointed out after a moment of listening to the sound of the dagger slicing away at her hair. "Which if I'm being honest, is quite refreshing in its own way. Following orders, not having to plan and making sure all is executed the right way... sometimes it's fun to be the simple sailor." Her nose wrinkled slightly, thinking of the others in the camp. "Tell me truly, who are we following here, Zaveed? If it's not you or me... then who?" Zaveed stopped his task for a moment. “What a peculiar question. We’re following the trail to your brother. Past that? Who knows. If it doesn’t come to provisioning or the weather, I’ve never been one to look too far to the future. Our new friends are allies of convenience, maybe Sevari wants them to be more. I’d settle for a sense of peace, personally.” Sirine opened her eyes, looking out in the darkness though there wasn't much she could see. "Fair enough," she agreed. "I simply don't see these... friends allowing us to do as we wish, and the thought is a little disconcerting." She lifted a shoulder in a shrug before quickly lowering it, not wishing to disturb the khajiit. "Peace sounds lovely but fleeting. That man in the afternoon, his talk with you hardly seemed peaceful." She frowned as she remembered the sight of the two exchanging words, whatever they may have been. Was it important for her to know whether he was the one? Would Zaveed even tell her? "There isn't much I know about what took place between you and these people," she finally added, her hand fiddling with the coin around her neck. "And in all honesty, there isn't much they can say that will deter me from my path and decision to follow your lead. However, I would much prefer if there is anything important to know that it comes from you rather than them." Zaveed chuckled. “Oh, do not concern yourself with Gregor. He’s a right prick, but I doubt he’s going to lift another finger towards me. It was his girlfriend who chose to save my life; I very much doubt he’d go behind her back and undo her decisions. But naturally, I’ve nothing to hide from you, Sirine. What would you like to know about me? The long and short of my relationship is I broke the arm of their leader, killed her former partner and probable lover in captivity after using him as bait to lure her to me, I captured Raelynn twice and tortured her once for information, and then attacked her father and killed one of his guards to ensure compliance to have her come to me a second time.” Zaveed explained, as if he were talking about the weather. “Oh, and I paraded Daro’Vasora through the streets to demonstrate the capture of a terrorist leader and held a gun to her head to force Latro to surrender rather than do something foolish like attack me in the middle of the streets. So, they probably are a bit more irritable about our history than I am towards them. Does this change your opinion of me?” he asked. "Hm... Would it change your opinion of me if I say it doesn't?" Sirine asked back, raising an eyebrow despite him not being able to see. She had figured it had to be heinous things with the way Latro and Daro'Vasora had spoke- if looks could kill, the khajiit man would have died ten times over. "I don't see any reason why it should. This is a war and these sort of things are bound to happen. Well, they happen no matter what. I know I haven't travelled the world as much as you have, but I have seen enough. You either learn and move forward or you let yourself be downtrodden and left to die." She paused a moment before smiling, recalling the morning conversation between the two khajiit. "You know, I have two older brothers? Calum and Samer. I hadn't thought of them for a long time truth be told, not until I watched you and Sevari argue like idiots in the morning. They were the reason I learned the world isn't a place of fairy tales. I loved them both, I looked up to them, yet they lied and alienated me and made me out as a liar in front of my family. I hated them, I wanted them to pay back for everything they took from me. I worked as a barmaid and a whore until I could make enough septims to buy a small vessel, sailed out in an attempt to compete with them... and the first chance my brothers had, they destroyed my small ship." She laughed humorlessly. "It wasn't until I finally let them... and some others go that I was able to make something of myself. These people, our current allies... I hope they realize this. If they sit in the past, they are scuttling their own boats." Sighing, Sirine attempted a half hearted laugh afterward. "Apologies, I didn't mean to make the mood so heavy. I probably sound like a hypocrite, seeing I hate the dwemer… but the truth is, as long as Bakih is safe once more… well, I don’t know." Zaveed shook his head, continuing to trim her hair unfailingly. “It was something that was bound to come up eventually; I thank you for entrusting me with such honesty.” he said sincerely. “I promise, upon my axes and my name, you will never suffer such indignities again so long as we walk side by side. This is a much better look for you than being forced into sexual slavery by a cruel master.” he frowned behind her head, stopping for a moment. “I wish I could say I didn’t understand; I do.” Sirine's eyes darkened as she looked down at the ground, her hand now still as she kept a hold of her coin, thumb gently stroking the markings upon it. "Then you understand why this septim means more than it should to me." She felt strange feeling stirring inside of her, a mixture of sadness and anger to think that the one who had taken her away from her place of misery probably suffered the same way she'd had. "How did-" She paused, recollecting her thoughts, and then continued. "What changed that for you?" He mulled that over; it was the coin that had taken on a life of its own, represented a purpose for Zaveed. It was like his dagger, he decided. It was a promise for what life could be, if one were willing to do what was necessary. “I killed the men responsible in their sleep. Never wielded an axe before in my life, and yet it crashed down like waves against a hull. It was like I woke up from a terrible nightmare, and standing above their destroyed bodies, drenched in the blood of those who preyed upon me, I felt alive and [I]powerful[/I] for the first time in my life. Then I had to fight each and every day to pay off that blood debt, but it made me stronger, more resilient. By the time Dar’Narra decided I had paid my dues, my axes were a part of my body, extensions of my will. I vowed to myself I would never let anyone hurt my like that again.” he said, suddenly flipping the dagger over to hold it by the blade to offer it back to Sirine. “How does that look, Beautiful Sirine?” Sirine took hold of the dagger and slipped it back in its sheath before turning around to face the khajiit, lifting a hand and patting her hair. "Well," she replied, giving him a smile, "you're still calling me beautiful, so I will take it as a success. It feels good, light." She shook her head slightly before nodding. "Thank you Zaveed. I'm only the smallest bit sorry for interrupting your sleep." Her smile turned cheeky as she reached over and gave a light tug to his ear; a feeling of nostalgia flooded her as she recalled an old friend, and she let go. "It seems though we've led different lives, there's much we can relate to. It shouldn't feel comforting, but strangely it does. You said you don't think much beyond the present, but still... tell me, Zaveed, when we are finally at sea once more, what is the first thing you will do?" He rubbed his ear, perplexed. What a strange gesture. “It helps to know you were not alone walking a path, even if you didn’t see other travellers until far too late.” He agreed, pondering her question. “I’m not sure, truth be told. Before I nearly perished, before I had met you, I had dreams of making up for lost time to make Captain Greywake a feared name once more, but now…” he glanced over to the tent where Raelynn slept. “I owe it to her to try and be a better man than I was. I just don’t know what that means quite yet, but there’s plenty of time to figure it out.” "Helping me out of that shithole and aiding me in finding my brother I would say is a fine start." Sirine's eyes followed his glance to the tent before looking back at the khajiit. "In time you'll find out, and I suspect so shall I." She was silent for a moment before shaking her head, confusion in her eyes. "This difference, this balance between what is considered good and bad, it's not as white and black as people make it sound... what people deem good, it's very difficult to go back to being that. Or rather, I don’t wish to." She blinked and shook her head yet again, smiling ruefully. "Perhaps a philosophical discussion this late at night isn't the best of things." “You might be right. I was having a pleasant dream that was interrupted by a better one.” He grinned coyly with a wink. “Let’s see where the tides take us, and for now, it calls me back to sleep. Never plot on a tired mind, my mentor used to say… well, before I killed him in single combat. Even absolute bastards can have moments of clarity.” Zaveed brushed away the strands of hair and he returned to his bedroll, laying down with a lazy collapse back onto it, letting out a long, pleased sigh. “Let’s hope you don’t wake up in the morning and regret what I just did to you.” "I doubt I will, but if I do, hair grows back." Sirine stood up, brushing away the strands of hair on her clothes before reaching down and picking up her bedroll. She took a couple of steps before pausing, looking back at the now laying khajiit. After a moment's hesitation, she spoke up again. "If you don't mind... may I sleep here?" She nodded at the ground upon where she stood before continuing in an almost hasty fashion. "Silence drags forth all sorts of memories I'd rather forget." “What a preposterous question.” Zaveed replied with a cheeky grin. “I’d be disappointed if you did not. Please, pick a spot that’s yours. I promise I won’t steal it this time.” There was a slight pause, and then laughter. "Ah, I see, I see," she replied, grinning as she opened her bedroll and lay it down, more than amused that the khajiit remembered her first comment his way at their first meeting. She let out a sigh as she lay back with arms beneath her head, eyes closing. A smile came to her lips; if she tried hard enough, she could pretend she was back on a ship with a crewmate. “Goodnight, Captain Greywake.” “Goodnight, Captain Beautiful.” Zaveed purred, suddenly his breathing started to grow deeper as he lightly began to snore.