EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei was chuckling internally right along with Sabine upon Ariel's reaction. Eventually, Ariel regained her composure enough to continue her questioning. "His father is a staunch traditionalist, from what I heard." Meesei answered. "I never met him myself, though I imagine I would have liked to. I have to admit that I get some personal enjoyment over proving my magical prowess to those who doubt me. Especially if they are doubting me for being Argonian. Regardless, the majority of Fendros' family were eventually glad to see him, so I believe Ahnasha and Fendros found the wedding to be a success."

"Have there been any troubles for you here?" Meesei continued, looking curiously at Ariel. "I know you are with Rukeewei; has his family been accommodating to you? Or does he have family in the city, other than his brother? Are there any people in the city who have mistreated you because of it? Thorn does have more outside influence than a lot of Black Marsh cities, but I know well how isolationist Argonians can be. Luckily, Black Marsh has never had anything specifically against Bretons, being on the exact opposite side of Tamriel from High Rock."

---

Again, the Argonian took a while to respond. He looked Gallus and Cuts over from top to bottom, the suspicion never leaving his eyes. Obviously, he was having difficulty resolving what to do about the information that had been thrust upon him, let alone Gallus' insistence to come inside. "Outsiders have caused nothing but pain ever since they have stepped into our lives. If my nephew's sickness wasn't enough, they come and take away the only parent he had left. But, if you really are their enemy..."

The Argonian gave another look over Gallus, particularly focusing on his blade. "If you both give me your weapons, I will let you into my home."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei shook her head lightly. "I am sorry. I know it is a tempting topic of conversation, but I would rather us not speak of it at all, unless it is necessary. It is, after all, the most important secret we have, and you never know who may be listening at any time. Particularly in a place as crowded as Thorn. That said, as long as we do not physically describe our home, I have no problem speaking about events in the clan."

After another sip of tea, Meesei clasped her hands together in front of her. "Regardless, the others are securing rooms for us in Rukeewei's inn, so we will be heading over there later. I am glad everything has been going well for you. In light of recent events, I believe I have come to appreciate stability far more than I ever have before. The knowledge that your next day will be as safe and prosperous as the previous is comforting, to say the least. Perhaps that is why Ahnasha and Fendros elected to be married."

---

The man did not respond immediately. In fact, it took some time for him to react at all. He lowered his head slightly, closing his eyes as he allowed the silence to hang over them in the air. He breathed out slowly, and at first, only seemed to speak his response as an afterthought. "We had feared this for a while, but that does not make it less...painful to hear."

Looking back up at Gallus, the Argonian started to bare his teeth ever so slightly. "But if you are...if you..." He started before quickly becoming frustrated with Cyrodilic and switching to Jel. "If you are one of those degenerates that used her grief to take her away from us, then I would have you nowhere near my nephew."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei took a sip of her tea, glad to finally be able to relax properly after so long being cramped up within the ship. "The journey itself was mostly dull, fortunately. There were no surprises, just walking and sailing. Though, we did have some...mostly pleasant affairs in Cheydinhal. As for Skyrim, it has been a good home for us, perhaps just because we have been able to find such a wonderfully secluded home within it. I apologize that we have not been able to describe it to you as of yet, but I have taken to being exceptionally careful concerning its secrecy. Our letters may take a bit longer to reach one another, but you can rest assured that we are safe."

Taking another drink, Meesei looked around the room. It was obviously not as decorated as the shop below, but it was more indicative of Ariel's personal life in the city. "It is good to see that your shop seems to be doing well. I heard you faced some flooding damage, though that is nothing uncommon in Black Marsh. Most buildings tend to be built for it. Has everything else been going well in the city? Any interesting stories to tell?" She asked.

---

The mention of Dar-Tzesa's name caused the man to immediately become much more severe, and further strengthened his suspicion. He appeared to be on-edge, but did not yet do anything to distance himself from Gallus. He merely kept his grip tightly on the door as his gaze went down to the feather in Gallus' hand. "I would ask you to explain yourself to me, clearly and...directly."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The first thing Meesei noticed upon stepping into the shop was, of course, the scent. With all of the perfumes and other volatile liquids, the scents were particularly overwhelming for an Argonian lycanthrope. She would not say it aloud, but it was honestly not especially pleasant, though she suspected the perfumes would be much more agreeable when taken individually. In any case, the average Argonian nose would not be as offended, so it was not likely an issue to her business.

Aside from the scents, Meesei was pleased to see the shop in its fully completed state. After all this time, Ariel had no doubt had the chance to get everything just as she wanted to maximize both her business, and personal satisfaction. Granted, Ariel did not have too much space to work with, but the shop did give a sense of her tastes.

Stepping inside, Meesei was of course much less excitable than Sabine, and she did not squeeze the breath out of Ariel like Sabine when she hugged her, but she wore a smile nonetheless. Ariel was one of the first friends she had made outside her pack since she first left her village, and one of the few non-lycan friends she had now. Ariel had made great sacrifices to help them in the past, so Meesei held a great deal of respect and trust for her. “It is good to see you, Ariel. My apologies for the delay in getting here; we had a detour through Cheydinhal that caused the journey to take longer than we initially told you in our last letter. Regardless, we are all safe and in good health. Still, I expect there will be quite a lot of catching up to do.”

---

As Gallus might have suspected, the man’s immediate reaction was one of suspicion. It was a common reaction for the majority of the people he had been questioning that day, but this time, the man took on a more notably defensive posture than usual. He held his hand tightly on the door, ready to slam it shut at a moment’s notice.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to need a more…specific reason why a strange outsider is wanting to talk to my nephew before I do anything.” The Argonian responded.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I've been working on a paper, but I'm just about to turn it in, so I should be able to post soon.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines decadent as being "marked by decay or decline," so...I stand by my wording!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight.

Also, to you remember if I gave any family details about Yizan-Lei?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

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.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'll just set up the scene for what he finds, then. Though, maybe not all at once tonight. Need to get to bed soon.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Just so I know, who would you like me to be in charge of for Gallus' thing? I do have things in mind for what he will find at his eventual destination.