The sound of a few metal implements scraping against each other gave away Janius' position as he walked over to the campfire with some of the hunters' non-silver weapons. He placed them down where they would be easily seen before looking to Lorag. Janius had overheard Meesei's instructions, so was just about ready to go. "Going hunting?" Janius asked, "Lead on."

-----

Over by the alchemical equipment, Sabine and Ariel continued to work on the explosives. Sabine had demonstrated to Ariel how she had envisioned them to be mixed, and Ariel couldn't see any immediate flaws in the mix. Essentially, it involved thinning the salts with some flour and sand, and very carefully sealing the mix in some clay mugs they had found around the cave with some wax. They stuck a thread of yarn treated with some of the fire salts by a process involving some resin. They had to be extremely careful not to agitate the fire salts too much, but they would at least be safe enough to carry once the wax set. Being experienced with handling such materials, Ariel was relaxed enough to converse, and she felt like trying to talk with her sister some more.

"So, how has living with the pack been, sister?" Ariel started with a smile, trying to be friendly.

Sabine looked up, her face blank, but betraying a little surprise at needing to talk some more. She hesitated, then looked to one side. "It's home," She said, before shrugging slightly.

Ariel nodded, "Your packmates are friendly people. They are very welcoming."

Nodding, Sabine looked down to her work again.

Ariel turned her head slightly, still looking at Sabine. "They have been nice to you as well?"

Sabine looked up at Ariel, nodded, then looked down again.

"Tell me what you like about them," Ariel asked, putting her hands in her lap for a moment and smiling widely. Getting Sabine to talk about anything seemed to be difficult, but Ariel wanted to try and connect some more.

------

As they walked, Fendros' mind went to how exactly he felt like spending some time in the city. His first thoughts were just to walk around and explore. See the different buildings and communities that lived together. If they were lucky, they might find some interesting things at the market. Perhaps they would come across some of the 'proper food' that his father always groaned about. Even just taking in the atmosphere without constantly looking over his shoulder would be nice. Maybe Ahna had some ideas as well.

Along the way, though, Ahnasha stopped for something that Fendros hadn't expected to see. Fendros squatted down next to Ahnasha, angling his head to try and glimpse at what she had found. It was an animal, a small one, he could tell that much by the smell before he even spotted it. When he did see it, it turned out to be some mix of a chicken and a lizard. It wasn't exactly the most majestic or dangerous creatures that Fendros had seen in Morrowind, but it was definitely one of the stranger ones. Fendros was silent at first, not wanting to startle the small creature. Memories of stories told came back to him. "This is a Bantam Guar, isn't it?" He whispered, "My parents told me about these. We didn't keep them on the old plantation, but they were common where my mother and father used to live."

Moving slowly, Fendros picked a stalk of seed-bearing grass from nearby and held it out forward to see if the creature would be interested. Fendros chuckled at its tiny wings, "A quaint little thing, isn't it?"

Making the connection to the bantam guar's description suddenly made Fendros feel as if he had connected with his parent's old life just that little bit more. It wasn't an overwhelming feeling, but fulfilling enough to make him smile. "I don't know whether it's native or not," Fendros continued, "it would have to be hardy to live on Vvardenfell, though."