Dro'isi's tail flicked back and forth, agitated, as she was lead chained further into the dusty ruins. The Alexanian ruins, if her intuition wasn't confiscated like all of her cargo. And if she was right about where she was, she would also be right about who she was captured by, and that did not bode well. The fact that her smuggled exotic foods and her ships freshwater supply was so quickly fallen upon by the guards also looked grim. The only thing worse then being captured by starved beleaguered guards was starved beleaguered self-righteous rebel soldiers
Smugglers who claimed never to have been caught were liars. In reality it felt like the majority of time in the profession was spent behind bars, the trick was to make us much money as possible and bury it before your 'forced vacation'. The other trick was getting good books into jail with you to help pass the time and more than a little skooma to make friends. But this was a whole different kettle of fish. At best she could hope they'd send her away without water and provisons stripped of all gold, in which she'd have to hope she could find a Khajiit caravan before... Well, they were in a desert. It didn't take much to figure out what could happen
Helping her situation less were the goods she was caught smuggling. She didn't want to bear thinking about what many would say, chills running down her spine even here. Her ship, 'Anvil's Glean', had managed to get itself caught on a sandbank. It was risky to take the river she had this time of year which is why it tended to be quiet on patrols. Unfortunately she had been spotted a couple of days before hand and horsemen had followed from the bank like vultures seeking her supplies. What they had found was more than anyone bargained for.
She was lead to a particularly stifled looking guard, doing his best to write out various letters while aggressively flailing a fan at himself. His eyes raised, and he addressed the latest guests to his fine establishment. Of course Dro'isi was first in line.
"Name?" he asked, before cursing his quill for drying up in the time it took for him to re-apply it. She allowed him to regain composure before answering
"Captain Dro'isi, at your service."
If he noticed her intended lack of Khajiit speak he didn't show it.
"Occupation?"
"Currently?" she shook her manacles and cracked a smile.
He raised his eyes in annoyance. She thought better against making a humorous remark
"Free trader, Captain."
He nodded and went to scrawling. Before long he lifted her profile and deposited it on a pile of letters on his left side, briefly stopping his fanning to do so. He never asked what she was being convicted of, which was another red flag. He was basing their fates on what occupation they had, and there was only two outcomes. If she had to guess, one of them was 'can be used' and the other was 'can be gotten rid of'. She hoped she wasn't just placed in the latter category. If she had simply been captured in possession of gems and trinkets she didn't doubt that they would hire her on the spot to bring them supplies. But things being as they were all bets were off.
"Move along now." And she did, happy to feel a breeze on her fur. She became acutely aware of a rush of relief, knowing that she was moving away from imminent judgement. It gave her a chance. She guessed it wasn't long before she was going to meet her fellow inmates. Without even so much as a meal or bath if she had to guess. Her father was right, there were good prisons to stay in
