EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Bosmer furrowed his brow, appearing perplexed by the question. "Um, yes, that is this store. We changed the name almost a decade ago. If I may ask, who told you about us? It seems...strange to me that someone would recommend you to my store with a name we haven't used in nine years. Not that I am ungrateful, of course. I am glad to have customers who remember us, even after so long." Still assuming that Fendros was a customer, the Bosmer was making an effort to be polite, but it did seem like he was thinking quite heavily on who might have given Fendros the store's name.

Every bit as curious as Rhazii, Newt ran up to the display as soon as Rhazii called his name. However, the Cathay was a fair bit taller than himself, so Newt did not come close to being able to see inside. He reached up and tried to open the case, but the lock kept it secure. Frustrated, he looked around until he spotted something helpful. Newt tapped Rhazii on the shoulder and pointed to a chair in the corner. "Can't see. I need to...move that."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Walking inside the store, there did not seem to be anything too exceptional about it. Newt had to have his hand held when inside, as he would not doubt get himself into trouble otherwise, with the valuables around them. It was of average size for a store in the city, though only the first floor was accessible for customers. Likely, the owners also lived in their shop on the second floor, which was common for any merchant wealthy enough to actually own a building. It was a general store, with a few rows of counters that had a variety of merchandise from books, to clothes and jewelry, and even preserved foods. Most of the goods appeared to be made locally, though some looked to be imported from surrounding regions like Black Marsh and Elsweyr. And of course, being a general store in a port city, there were a few select items from the farther reaches of Tamriel. The most valuable of the merchandise was locked away in display cases, mostly jewelry and weapons.

There were few parts of the store that were not decorated with something. The furniture was reasonably ornate, and the walls were lined with paintings and various trinkets. Only the mantle above the fireplace seemed oddly bare. On it, there was only a single lit candle, with a freshly picked orange flower sitting at its base.

At the counter was a Bosmer. His age was hard to determine exactly, given the lifespan of elves, but he might have been close to middle-aged. There were no wrinkles on his face, and his brown hair did not yet show any grey, but he did not have the look of someone in his youth. He leaned forward onto the counter and greeted his potential customer with a smile. It was an odd sight to see a Dunmer walking around with a Khajiit and Argonian child in tow, but the Bosmer seemed to pay it no mind. "Hello. What can I help you with today?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I probably should have mentioned that there is a store in the location Ahnasha described, but it is not by that name. The store in that spot is the Tiger Lily Trader.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha let out a sigh, staring down at her meal with an uncertain expression. "Look, I...understand what you're saying. I know you want what is best for me, of course, but you didn't know them. I mean, they weren't bad people or anything, just...it's hard to explain. They cared about me in the wrong way; they wanted so badly for me to be successful that they didn't care if I was happy. I know for certain that they would never accept what I am, and there is no other way I can think of to explain why I would fake my death. I don't know if they would call the guard on me, but they would not make our stay here easy. They would do whatever they could to make sure I followed their wishes."

For a moment, Ahnasha paused, filling the time by taking a few more bites of her breakfast. Eventually, brought herself to make eye contact with Fendros. "Just...I know, why don't you go see for yourself? The store, Topal Goods and Trade, it will be open this time of day. It's across the street from the font entrance of the temple of the divines, at the end of the street closest to the front gate. You can go meet them yourself and see what I mean. You can take Rhazii, and maybe Newt with you. Just...please don't mention my name, okay?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Thanks." Ahnasha said, sitting up in the bed with her back against the wall. She accepted the meat and started on her breakfast, albeit slowly and unenthusiastically. She was, quite understandably, rather distracted by the matter at hand. She sat with her head hung low and, for a while, could not bring herself to answer. Eventually, however, she leaned her head on his shoulder and spoke up.

"I...don't know if it's a good idea anymore. I mean, I faked my death, Fendros. That's not something you just explain away with a few words. They'll ask questions, or get angry...if they even care at all." Ahnasha turned her head away, staring off at nothing in particular. Within her expression, there was a hint of anger. "They did not seem to pay that close of attention to me when I was there; I don't see why it would be any different now. I doubt it took them that long to move on from my 'death.' They were always so focused on grooming me up to be a trader like them, to make sure I could help run that store of theirs: Topal Goods and Trade. They didn't seem to know or care what I wanted, and honestly, I don't even know why they bothered with me. My brother was perfectly enthusiastic to take over that place. I think I should just stay here; it's safer that way. Don't let me keep you here, though. Some of the others are planning on heading out into the city, and I know Rhazii wants to get off this boat. You should show him the city, maybe bring along Newt for him to play with? I know Kaleeth and Janius would probably appreciate the time to themselves."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I was going to wait until tomorrow to skip, but then I did anyway.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"It's probably the biggest I'll ever see." Pieter commented, leaning on the railing as he looked up at the tower. "I wish we could stay here longer. This seems like the kind of place you could spend a lifetime in, but still not see everything. Maybe on the way back, there will be time. I really would like to see all those places myself."

---

The ship set sail the moment the last of the cargo had been taken on board. The distance they were traveling would be much greater than the trek from Bruma to the Imperial City, but given the speed afforded to them by the ship it would take about the same amount of time. There would only be one stop along the way, in Leyawiin, so they would arrive in Senchal about as soon as they possible could have.

Life aboard the ship was quick to become routine, since there were few ways a day could actually vary from the last. Meesei, when not socializing with the others, often spent time either meditation on various form of magic in her room, or caring for Leaps. The wamasu had healed rather well from his wound, but he required considerable attention to avoid becoming restless aboard the cramped vessel. With few places he could go, he was enthusiastic for any sort of interaction with either pack. Ahnasha could not exactly train her conjuration aboard the ship, let alone necromancy, so she had to be satisfied just reading her tome. Of course, after years of study, she was reaching the end of what that tome could teach her. However, she still felt that she had a long way to go before she could achieve her goal of life extension, so she would need to find that knowledge elsewhere. Kaleeth would have had difficulty filling up her free time, but Newt gave her plenty to do. Whenever bored, she liked to head above deck and look out over the shore with him, answering any question he could produce. Lorag, after running out of mead, actually managed to work out a deal with the captain to allow him to do some work for coin. The payment wasn't exceptional, but it kept his days filled when there was little else to do. Pieter, true to his word, did everything he could to try and come up with ideas to entertain himself, Tzirret, and Sabine. Some were successes, others failed spectacularly, but he did manage to at least only get into minor trouble with the crew.

The closest thing to an issue was that, after about a week on the, it was pretty much confirmed that Irenya was avoiding Meesei, Ahnasha, and Fendros specifically. Of course, she tried to hide that fact, with minimal success.

It was just after a week had passed that the ship docked in Leyawiin's port, and just like last time, Ahnasha seemed to be having trouble willing herself out of bed. She had once spoke with Fendros about talking to her family, but evidently, it was much more difficult than she had thought to do that now that they were actually at the city. It was made worse by the fact that some of the captain's cargo had been delayed, so they would be staying in port overnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I could move us to Leyawiin in the next skip. Though, I may be too tired to write another skip tonight.

For manageability, I think keeping scenes to a few characters at a time like this one is good. We have plenty of characters present, but we don't have to deal with them all at once. Once we're in Elsweyr and in the mission proper, it will probably just be Meesei's pack, with perhaps one of the others, to mix things up.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm, card games can be fun. If we can get a hold of cards, that is. Although, we don't really have anything to bet. Those kinds of games are always better when there is something at stake. We could always do the same thing as that race a few days ago, give challenges to the loser. The trick would be thinking of somewhat interesting challenges one could actually do aboard this ship." Pieter commented. He tried for a few moments to think of an idea, but his mind came up with nothing.

Pieter shrugged and took a few steps in the direction of the stairs. "Well, no matter what we end up doing, I look forward to trying to figure it out. For now, maybe we can just head up above deck and look at the city? That place is just...unbelievable doesn't do it justice. You were able to stay for a while last time you passed through the city, right Sabine? What was that like?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well..." Pieter began, scratching under his chin as he observed his surroundings. Apart from their rooms, most of the bottom deck was being used for storage. Crates and barrels were stacked up along the sides of the ship, with ropes holding them in place. The path down the center leading to the stairs on the other side of the ship was mostly empty, but relatively narrow. On the deck above them was the mess, crew quarters, and the like. As one might expect, pretty much all of the space on the ship was in use, so they would have to be careful to stay out of the way of the crew.

"The last time you were on a ship, you didn't have us with you. I'm sure there is something we can figure out to pass the time; we just have to be creative. Maybe we could try to teach Leaps some tricks...um, carefully. I doubt the crew would be happy if we accidentally broke any of these crates. Or, perhaps we could try fishing off of the deck? If we can get a fishing rod, that is. I don't suppose you can conjure up a bound fishing rod, can you? Maybe we could catch a dreugh?" He joked, nudging Tzirret's side.