#consulting-khajiit

[spoonmagister]

A Glimpse Beyond Reality

The voice from beyond — the CHIME — had been subtly reminding me of the Grand Purpose for days. Having recovered from the bout of disease I had been exposed to at the Black Shalk Cornerclub, it was time to fulfill this purpose, though I knew the Cosmic Dealings I was about to facilitate would garner much suspicion and rumor-milling.

For this purpose I secured transportation of 400 scribs — the source of which was never clear to me, but was only made possible after intense studying of the Baar Dau rock, consultation of the Spoons, and hours of attempts at Making Contact with the Beyond through the use of angular arm gestures. I have little memory of the event, though it seems a transaction was made in which I paid 14 units of Time (and the passage thereof) and 10 Khajiit, whom residents of Uvirith’s Grave report seeing “lifted into the sky.” It has also been reported that several residents went mad following the events, and they have been placed into the Prison for the safety of all. The payment of Time, as I understood it, was to be collected at a later point.

Following the imbibing of copious amounts of Intelligence and Luck serum, a Scrib Vitamin spell capable of inoculating large swathes of scrib was developed. I brought two Telvanni guards down into the scrib pen to keep the townsfolk out — rumors were spreading regarding “dark occult” activity beneath the Tower — and proceeded to ready the spell.

As the magicks casually left my palm, I blinked, and the hallucination known as Reality paused. What began as a tiny spark amongst one scrib spread at an alarming rate to all 400 scribs and — I can only assume — the two guards as well. The spark gave way to a wave of blue light which then seemed to ignite, sending out a shower of what can only be described as a cloud of the Cosmos itself, a stellar nursery of stars made known directly over the scrib pen. Each star seemed to feed off the next, gaining intensity until only light seemed to exist.

And then it did not.

I blinked a second time and found darkness. The torches had been extinguished. I heard the inane babbling of voices somewhere in the distance, muffled by armored helmets. I would later discover, upon receipt of a bill for weekly imported goods to Tel Uvirith, that two weeks had passed. The sound of moving earth and boiling liquids rumbled from an unknown distance. And the CHIME!

The CHIME and its MESSAGE had tones both jubilant and ominous. I could not gather a meaning in my current state, but when I was able to return to the surface, I did with an innate impression that my glimpse into the Cosmos had not gone unnoticed.

Something had left a Mark.

[jo-jaska]

Jo'jaska's Diary: 16th of Hearthfire

The spymaster Caius has departed, and left Jo'jaska to his own devices. Khajiit is now the highest-ranking member of the Blades on Vvardenfell, though apparently this means very little in practice. Jo'jaska will just continue trying to fulfill the prophecy of the Nerevarine. His next step is to seek out some of the missing prophecies.

Jo'jaska's Diary: 17th of Hearthfire

His search for the lost prophecies has brought this one somewhere unexpected: the Holomayan monastery, where he is camped out as he waits for dawn so that he may enter. Apparently the random, secluded place that Jo'jaska sought shelter in when he was first stranded on this island is actually the hideout of a group of renegade Temple priests. Jo'jaska wonders if their suspicion of him when he first came here was actually justified fear that he might have been an enemy, rather than unfounded suspicion of him for being a khajiit.

When khajiit delivered the prophecies to the wise woman, she told Jo'jaska to leave her to consult with the spirits "until the moons have come and gone." She did not specify if she meant a night or a month, but it sounded to Jo'jaska like she would need a while to do what she needed to. Khajiit will check back in one week.

Jo'jaska's Diary: 20th of Hearthfire

Jo'jaska's friend Ajira has told him of something very exciting! She says that she has found the location of a powerful artifact, the Staff of Magnus, and has given Jo'jaska this knowledge. She says that she only wishes to see the staff, and it is Jo'jaska's to keep.

Jo'jaska's Diary: 21st of Hearthfire

The staff is truly a beautiful thing, and very powerful as well. Ajira has apparently heard tell of another artifact for Jo'jaska to collect, but he will not do so- at least not now. This one thinks he should have a better place to store such things than Caius's old home before he collects any more of them. At the moment he has several pieces of glass armor, a daedric war-axe, his two staves, a glass longsword, quite a lot of moon sugar, and several bottles of very expensive alcohol just laying in a pile in the one-room house.

Instead this one will simply explore around, honing his skills and gathering other valuables. There are many smugglers' dens and bandit lairs on this island, and Jo'jaska feels that he would make much better use of their possessions than they.

[venacoeurva]

Dusk with 6 and/or 20? Big fan of the Dovahkitty

Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

Dusk will listen to his sister for everything, she's always been a figure to look up to and he sought out advice by. He's got a bit of an irrationally anxious view of it, though, because something went wrong when he didn't seek her out over something....and one of those times was that he ended up in Skyrim on a cart and almost got beheaded. He doesn't want a repeat, especially as a father, so gets anxious if he can't consult her on some major things.

Meanwhile, Dusk basically ignores anything Miraak does or says unless he's destroying something or about to. There's a reason why he ended up living with Wren

What do they like that nobody else does?

Not a case of nobody, but he's seen as a bit weird with other Khajiit due to his fondness for the cold, his family's genes of long dense fur really make a difference, but even his immediate family doesn't like the cold as much as he does. The merchant caravans were really confused to see him just wandering around in light robes--so I guess that'd be him looking like he's enjoying a nice spring day in Dawnstar or s/t

[officialleehadan]

Bring a Crowbar

Hello darlings! Today’s story was brought to you by L! Darling, thank you so much for all your support. It means absolutely everything to me! Enjoy!

Prompt: "Snatch everything not nailed down, and for anything that is, bring a pry bar!" —Old Khajiit Proverb.

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“So, I hear that you have a very interesting history before you were a lawman.”

The accent was Texan. The voice was Leonardo’s.

Will turned to see the thief leaning against the wooden bar of the coffee shop. They had the best lox in the city, and Will stopped in for breakfast at least twice a week, and for coffee more often than that. Apparently Leonardo had taken it as an ideal place to arrange a meeting. Will wasn’t entirely sure why the thief had come looking for him outside their official contact, but he didn’t particularly mind.

“I’m very good at what I do,” he said, and took his bagel and lox with a nod for the barista behind the counter. “Are you joining me?”

“Didn’t know I rated a breakfast invitation,” Leonardo said, and eyed the bagel. “Is that as good as it looks?”

“Best in the city. I’ll meet you at the corner table,” Will told him and left Leonardo to order his own breakfast. I wasn’t long until Leonardo joined him, bagel and tea in hand. Will noted the tea but didn’t comment on it. “So, is there a reason you’ve decided to accost me before I even make it into the office?

“I’ve been doing some digging,” Leonardo said and set his tea aside to cool while he went for his bagel. Will let him talk and got started on his breakfast. “I like to know who I’m working with, you see, and while you’ve been interesting, our little game of cat and mouse over the last two years, I didn’t know as much about you as I’d like.”

“Dig up anything juicy?” Will asked, unconcerned. His record was either sealed or expunged thanks to his work with the Department of Justice, and Alexis knew everything there was to know about his choice of work before he signed on with the DoJ. So did Vanessa, for that matter. There wasn’t much Leonardo could dig up that he wasn’t willing to discuss over coffee. Frankly, Leonardo would probably be more bothered by some of his history than Will was. “I’m a big topic.”

“I was surprised. I took you for a clever government lackey, not a thief with a reputation almost as impressive as mine.”

Leonardo tried for arrogance, but Will could hear the way his Texas drawl went uncertain around the edges. He must have found quite lot, then, including the trail of bodies Will left behind him during his last spectacular heist. He had taken close to eight million off a crime family, but they realized what he was up to on the way out and he had to shoot his way out.

Leonardo might not be a violent thief, but Will, he had been plenty violent in his time.

“I did have something of a reputation for stealing anything not nailed down,” Will admitted and raise his coffee to Leonardo like it was a wine glass. “And for bringing a crowbar for whatever was.”

“Takes a thief to catch one, does it?”

“We have more in common than you think. I jumped ship to the legal forces for the same reason you reached out to me.”

Will’s own catalyzing moment had been a human trafficking ring. He had been approached for his skill at avoiding security systems supposedly as a consult to one of the bigger organized crime families around. The work was fun, paid a fortune, and wasn’t overly problematic, morally speaking.

Right on up to the moment he discovered that the shipment he was organizing was thirty-two women and girls, all under the age of twenty.

He met Alexis three hours later. Given, his entrance into her life had consisted of a series of tips to start with. Nameless, faceless, but detailed enough for her to action on immediately. The girls had been saved, and Will had managed to walk away clean.

That time.

Eventually though, after several years of quietly tipping Alexis off, she reached out with a job offer straight from DoJ brass.

So will left his old life of thievery behind in favor of more interesting puzzles catching the kind of people he used to be. It was good timing after that last heist. He had enemies he couldn’t handle on his own.

So his last big heist turned into his first big bust, and his place in the Department was sealed.

Leonardo was considering him carefully, and was doodling idly on his paper napkin with a cheap ballpoint pen. Will’s own face looked back at him, complete with a cowboy hat. Will was pleased to see that the hat itself was white. Leonardo was too smart not to understand the symbolism of white hats versus black ones. It was a remarkable drawing, considering they had only been sitting for a few minutes.

“it’s interesting to see the difference between your reputations,” he said after a while. His eyes were on the other patrons, but his hand didn’t stop moving, idly shading in the portrait of Will. “It took some work you know. Finding out who you were. The DoJ vanished your old life properly.”

“They’ll do it for you too if you stay useful and ask nicely,” Will pointed out with a chuckle. His bagel was gone, and so was most of his coffee. “Is there a reason for this morning chat?”

“I like to know who I’m working with,” Leonardo reiterated. “Your reputation as a thief is interesting. Your reputation for treating criminals well is more interesting.”

“Most people get into the life because they have no other choice,” Will said reasonably. He had gotten into it because he was poor, and good at the work. Leonardo probably had done the same. “So, do I pass the test?”

“Not yet, but the essay part of the diagnostic is over,” Leonardo said, and grinned as he stood. “There’s a package waiting for you at work. Can’t imagine who it’s from. Have fun, Cowboy. I expect we’re going to have a very interesting week.”

+++

Confidence Scheme:

Deliberately Careless (Subscriber Only!)

Pure Guess

Phone Trace (Subscriber Only!)

De Vinci Terrace (Subscriber Only!)

Criminal Portraiture (Subscriber Only!)

Evidence Report

Bring a Crowbar (New!)

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MASTERLIST

[saturniandragon]

🌌 MILKY WAY: What was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

For your TES OCs

Oh, oh goodness, Nebu I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to ramble a million words so things sort of make sense. I hope you have the patience to read this entire thing.

🌌 MILKY WAY: What was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

---Skyrim---

Draqanar: (I practically never talk about this dude anywhere in my blog, because he's pretty much retired, but I want to tell the story anyway)

It's a bit complex, Draqanar (Khajiit male) was both my first and my second Skyrim OC I've created. He is first, in a sense that I first completed the game with this character, although he is second in a sense that he's not the first character I produced from the character creation menu.

Technically speaking the first Skyrim character I created was an Argonian, predictably named after, you guess it, Adrastea. I came into Skyrim totally blind, not knowing anything like naming conventions or the lore about the universe (hell I didn't even know you could create your own character), other than "arrow in the knee" references in memes. He chose the Warrior stone, with sword and shield equipment.

Bleak Falls Barrow was the time I realized sword and shield did not fit my style at all. I consulted to my best friend who was pretty much a Skyrim veteran that time (and by that time, I mean, 2019 lol, I was that late to start playing the game) and asked which race would be suitable for more of a stealth play style. He suggested Khajiit, so then Draqanar was born.

So he was created because I wanted a stealth playstyle. I wasn't aware yet that you could go back to previous saves or choose a different standing stone.

I used a Khajiit name generator because, like I said, I have zero idea of Khajiit naming convention, and I wanted to be fully immersed in the game. His full name is Draqanar Raitannil, but after some hours into the game and discovering that Khajiit NPCs only have single-word names, I unofficially removed his last name.

His appearance was pretty much bare. I think I chose one of the available presets, modified it a bit and just decided it was good enough. I thought I would make this dude an evil reckless character, hence the dark coloration, but he ends up being possibly the nicest guy you would ever meet. And with him I also discover just how effective stealth archer playstyle really is, in Skyrim.

He's married to Shahvee. After some 600 hours with him, I decided to retire him since there's no more lore to develop for him.

Adrastea: And then Adrastea. The proper Adrastea. Not an Argonian this time, but an Argonian-based race which was pretty much an Argonian-dragon hybrid called Draconian. By this time my copy of Skyrim was filled to the brim with mods.

No inspiration this time, I just wanted to insert the Saturn Adrastea into Skyrim to see how close I could replicate him.

The second reason is I wanted to try a proper sword and shield style, after canceling the first Adrastea (why yes I just realized, I have too many versions of Adrastea across the board, but fuck it). And for funsies, I messed around with console commands to make him noticeably taller than most NPCs, by setting his height value to 1.05.

The third reason is I wanted to marry Mjoll the Lioness with a different character. Like Draqanar however, he also ended up retired. He has no lore to begin with, and no lore to end it with.

By this point I was pretty much running out of ideas to do in Skyrim. All vanilla marriage candidates are pretty boring, added by the fact there are no Khajiit marriage candidates.

Until I ran into a mod that adds 4 fully-voiced Khajiit marriage candidates, Khajiit Will Follow. They are Ma'kara (F), Bikhai (M), Nanak (M) and S'ariq (M).

Dar'sien: Dar'sien is a lost character, lost in a sense that his save file was in my previous laptop and it broke down to the point it's not recoverable. Basically he's like an alternative Draqanar, but he's orange furred instead and has cowardice trait. Purely created him to marry Ma'kara.

This is the only image of him that I can gather.

Ma'kara questline was long, but it was well written and well constructed. I was blown away. Like, holy shit, if Ma'kara questline was this good, I needed to try marrying the other Khajiit from this mod.

Merri'sa: And now here comes Merri'sa. My current active Skyrim character. Like Dar'sien, she was created purely to marry one of the Khajiit from the mod. This time I chose Bikhai.

Another obstacle, of running out of Khajiit designs and names, especially because I've never designed a female Khajiit before. I turned to Google, and found a female Khajiit preset that looks so good yet simple to replicate, with a fitting name included in the package.

Merri'sa - Khajiit Racemenu preset

Yes, I'm kind of ashamed that Merri'sa is not a name that I came up with (well, I guess Draqanar isn't either, because I used a generator). But the preset looked so good, I just had to grab it. Once in-game I applied some minor modifications, notably the eye color, but largely it's similar to the preset.

And I grew attached to her. Never before I've seen a character look so good. So attached, I decided to develop a mountain of lore that isn't even completed by the time of writing this tumblr post.

She did end up marrying Bikhai. Bikhai's questline doesn't quite have the same quality compared to Ma'kara questline, but I loved it regardless. Plus, I have a female Khajiit to be obsessed about. In fact now she has much longer lore than any of my previous Skyrim characters.

Now the lore is that she was rescued by an Imperial soldier from a burning caravan wreck when she was just a cub, somewhere along the roads of Cyrodiil. The soldier and his wife have suffered 2 years of childless marriage, so they decided to took her in and raised her as their own.

But why she decided to move from Cyrodiil to Skyrim remains to be seen :)

---Elder Scrolls Online---

Now a new title of Elder Scrolls for me, Elder Scrolls Online. Like Skyrim, I came into ESO completely blind, only carrying with me the bare basics of informations of TES races from Skyrim. May 2021 was my first touch in ESO.

Yes, I suppose I did refuse to read the Steam page of ESO before I downloaded the whole thing. But I wanted it to be that way, I want to start from the closest I can be to absolute zero.

Except, those information from Skyrim can't be used here, not in ESO. I was surprised to learn about factions in character creation screen, and every race is tied to at least one of those factions except Imperial race. Which I didn't have, I was playing base game ESO.

More surprise for me to find that Khajiit race is tied to Aldmeri Dominion, a faction that I think a good portion of Skyrim players dislike, especially Skyrim players who have no experience with ESO. I was conflicted, already too accustomed to playing as Khajiit in Skyrim.

I think I was going to choose Argonian, but Ebonheart Pact just sounds way too foreign for me. At least I've heard of Aldmeri Dominion before. So a bit reluctantly, I decided to roll a Khajiit as my first character.

Zanri al-Anaqi:

Now this is a name that I took way too long to come up with. It took so long that I was kicked from character creation screen because of 10 minutes of no activity. If that's not the record for the fastest a player has been kicked from ESO, I don't know what is :))

"Zanri" is a play of "Ryzen", derived from AMD Ryzen, a CPU brand name. I swapped some letters around and added flavor so it sounds Khajiit/Ta'agra.

Next I wanted to add a twist of my own. During my time of Skyrim I notice that Khajiit names have a small Arabic influence in them. In fact, apparently in Arena and Daggerfall "Mohammed" is listed as a possible Khajiit name.

And what other things that are known to have Arabic names? Stars in the night sky! Astronomy was a major thing during Islamic medieval period.* The star Gamma Andromedae is known in its Arabic name as "Almach", itself is derived from "al-‘anāqi", which is Arabic for caracal or desert lynx. I've never laid eyes on Elsweyr, but there's been multiple accounts of Elsweyr being a desert region (there's a reason Skyrim Khajiit NPCs use "warm sands" as greeting). So, naturally a perfect fit.

(*in fact to this day astronomy community around the world still use some Arabic names for stars, like Aldebaran)

Let's use that. Zanri al-Anaqi. Still sounds perfect to this day.

Appearance wise I went with gold/orange fur color and green eyes. Who else has green eyes? Adrastea (Saturn), although I only realized that these two have green eyes after a few months of playing as Zanri, a lucky coincidence.

Oh how times have changed :)

My decision to roll Aldmeri Dominion character in my first playthrough proved to be immensely worth it because of figures like Razum-Dar and Queen Ayrenn.

Ahravani al-Karim:

Ahravani, Avani, Vani or Karim for short. She was created because I wanted some kind of companion character to go alongside Zanri. Something that's closer than just a friend, but not as close as a girlfriend or a wife, if that makes sense. So, step sibling.

I couldn't make her his sibling, because Zanri's lore was already set on him being the only child in his family.

I was going to apply the same naming convention as I did Zanri; Ta'agra first name and Arabic-esque last name. And I also wanted her last name to be derived from a star name, like Zanri.

At first she was going to have "Ainrivva al-Debaran" as her name. Al-Debaran is a star name in Arabic, meaning "the follower", because she was meant to follow Zanri everywhere. But then something changed, I felt her name was a bit off, so I set out to find a replacement.

(eventually Ainrivva al-Debaran became a name for a Khajiit character I have in PCNA server)

I couldn't come up with another fitting name for her. "Ainrivva" was good but felt a bit off for whatever reason. I went back to Khajiit name generator, and obtained "Ahravani" as a replacement.

But I wasn't done. "Ahravani al-Debaran" sounded a bit too long now. I went back to wikipedia, look for another Arabic star name, but couldn't find any other that fits her. Still, I wanted her to have Arabic-esque last name.

Then I remembered, there's a character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) named Farah Karim. She's like this very fierce militia leader, unorthodox in her ways but a benevolent character overall. I took her last name as inspiration, modified it from just "Karim" to "al-Karim." Al-Karim is Arabic for "the generous."

(A weird train of thoughts I had just to name a Khajiit character innit lmao)

So there you have it; Ahravani al-Karim. Nowadays I'm a bit lazy to type the entirety of her full name, especially when writing fics, so often I shorten it further to just Vani al-Karim.

Adrastea Drago:

Same case as with Adrastea (Skyrim). No inspiration at all, I just wanted to insert Adrastea (Saturn) into ESO to see how close I could replicate him. Although I did eventually develop some Elder Scrolls-compliant lore about him, so that's something.

-

Well, that concludes it. That was a hell of a roller coaster from start to finish, even for me as the author :)

[kinghlaaluhelseth]

natavi was at first anxious about his fertility when trying to have a baby with helseth like he was paranoid that being a dunmer/altmer/khajiit hybrid would have made his elven fertility Even Weirder even tho the ashlander healers he consulted with said there was nothing wrong with him. he's just a paranoid dude and at one point azura finally decides to intervene by showing him future visions of him raising a child to alleviate his stress. and then he ends up having a rare whopping three kids, all coincidentally being conceived just before a disaster happens-

[ask-demon-princess-astarte]

2 for Az!

Be prepared for angst everyone. But thank you. Also, no cut as I am on mobile. It is a long one.

2. Ruin

——————————————————————

Athis hated sand. There was no two ways about it, it got everywhere, it itched if it made it's way into his clothing, or made his eyes sting. Combine that with the lung-crushing heat and the dunmer began to question why he had agreed to come along on this mission in the first place. The companions had been given a rather unusual job, at least compared to what they were used to.

They had received a letter requesting they accompany an envoy from Skyrim to the land of Elsweyr, serving as their guardians for the length of the journey. Initially, there had been skepticism amongst them all, but, after meeting with the envoy, their Harbinger had agreed. Athis was the only "whelp", as Vilkas called him, to attend the mission, with Ria, Njada and Torvar being punished for destroying the sleeping quarters during a drunken brawl. He was joined by Aela, who was looking forward to the chance to hunt some new prey, Farkas and their Harbinger, the Khajiit, Azirina Kharabbi.

The envoy, a blonde haired Breton woman, had been delighted upon seeing the fabled companions arrive at the docks of Solitude, and overjoyed at the sight of a Khajiit with them, having clasped Azirina's hand in hers and complimented her from the tops of her ears to the tip of her tail. After extracting herself from the woman, Azirina had introduced them all and then they had boarded the boat.

The journey to Elsweyr had been relatively uneventful, and their arrival in the city of Senchal was greeted by amazing sights, smells and sounds. Khajiit of all shapes and sizes roamed the streets and peddled wares, with non-khajiit residents passing with ease. Delicious smells of meat filled their noses, a nearby stand roasting great joints over a fire pit. Immediately, they had moved towards it, only for Azirina to speak up.

"This one would not recommend you eat that." She said, walking over to them. The envoy had paused, having been pulled along by the scent of fresh meat.

"And why is that?" Aela asked. Azirina rolled her eyes and stepped up to the stand, nodding to the large Khajiit manning it.

"That is sugar meat, yes?" She asked them.

"Khajiit is correct. This is the finest sugar meat in Senchal. You would have some, yes?" A female voice came from the large Khajiit, surprising them all. As Azirina paid for some food, Athis leant over to Farkas.

"I thought that was a male." He murmured.

"I'm never going to be able to tell the difference." Farkas whispered in response as Azirina returned, holding a cloth with several small chunks of the meat in her hands.

"Touch the food with your lips, so as not to appear rude." She explained, taking a piece and happily eating it.

"And why can't we eat it?" The envoy asked.

"Many food items contain moon sugar. Khajiit are able to consume moon sugar, we have a resistance to it. However, you do not have this resistance." Azirina explained. She frowned as Aela picked a piece up and stubbornly threw it into her mouth. Immediately, she paled as she chewed.

"This one warned you." Azirina sighed softly. Athis picked up one of the small chunks and touched it to his lips. He felt an overwhelming sweetness coat his lips and the tip of his tongue, the nauseating flavour too much for him. He quickly put the piece down, watching as Farkas and the envoy did the same. Aela proved more stubborn, chewing the piece and swallowing it whilst Azirina rolled her eyes.

"Very well, seeing as how you chose to ignore this one's advice, we must keep an eye on her. Moon sugar causes euphoric states but is highly addictive. And can cause tooth and stomach aches." She explained, watching as Aela rubbed her jaw. She turned, wrapping the meat in a cloth and tucking it into her pouch before heading through the crowded streets.

They walked to the entrance of Senchal, passing countless Khajiit, making them look all around. However, as they moved to leave, they were stopped by two large, jaguar like Khajiit.

"You are the companions from Skyrim, yes?" One of them asked, yellow eyes fixed on each of them.

"Khajiit is correct." Azirina replied, making them focus on her.

"Khajiit need aid. Beyond the walls, in the northern badlands, there is a valley. Rumours seep into the cities that this valley is haunted. Khajiit believes it is just bandits, but you will investigate yes?" He asked them. Azirina turned, looking at the envoy.

"We really need to get to Dune. That is where our meeting is." She replied.

"Dune is to the north. Two of us could go and investigate the valley whilst the other two go with you onto Dune." Farkas said. He turned to Azirina. "You and I will go to Dune."

"I don't think Aela is fit to investigate a potential bandit den." Athis countered. Azirina sighed before turning to Farkas.

"Athis and this one will go and investigate. You take Aela and the Envoy to Dune." She said. Farkas opened his mouth to argue until Azirina took his hands. "This one will be fine. It is probably just bandits. We can deal with it." She reassured him. With a huff, Farkas nodded and the group separated to take on the tasks.

That had been two days ago, though it had felt longer to him. He sighed, emptying the sand from his boot as Azirina consulted a map.

"How much further Harbinger?" He asked, dusting himself down as he stood beside her.

"It should be just on the other side of this valley." Azirina said. She looked down at the ground, watching as the path twisted into a cavernous valley, the great cliffs on either side looming over them like giants. She frowned. "There is no sign of footprints. But it looks like a sandstorm passed through recently." She murmured, leading Athis through the valley. They walked through the eerie shade the cliffs provided for an hour before, suddenly, he tripped over something. He yelled, falling into a pile of sand.

"Are you ok?" Azirina asked, walking over to him, only to freeze. Athis followed her gaze to see what he had fallen over. A bleached white rib cage peeked out of the sand, his foot caught between the bones.

"By the three!" He yelled out as the sand shifted, unveiling a skeleton of a large cat like creature. It was as big as, no possibly bigger, then a sabre cat! He yelped, yanking his foot from the rib cage and scrambling to Azirina. He looked up at her to see her staring at the skeleton, her eyes wide as she looked over the bones.

"Harbinger?" Athis began, touching her hand and making her jump. She spun, looking further down the valley as a cold wind blew through, moaning through the stones like ghouls. Athis got to his feet, watching as Azirina suddenly sprinted through the valley. He chased after her, wondering why she behaved this way. As they rounded the corner, he grunted as he collided with her back.

"Harbinger?" He asked, walking forward to see what she saw. Before them, lay the burned out ruins of a village. Tattered banners fluttered in the wind as they stared at the destroyed buildings.

"No." He turned as Azirina spoke, slowly stepping forward and looking over the buildings. Athis paused as he saw more skeletons in a few of the buildings.

"Harbinger, this wasn't due to a bandit attack was it?" He asked her.

"Some bandits probably were here. But they have moved on. They were probably scared off by rumours." She said as she walked forward. She froze as a tattered banner blew in front of her, staring at the symbol. Her eyes widened as she stared at it.

"Harbinger?" Athis began, jumping as Azirina dropped to her knees before him.

"This was my home." She whispered. "This one was born here. This one lived here." Her voice cracked as she looked at the burned building before them. "My family was murdered here." She whispered. Athis looked around, pausing as more bleached bones peeked out at him. He looked at Azirina before making a decision.

"I will head out of the valley, see if I can figure out where these bandits may have gone. Find me when you're ready, Harbinger." He said. He turned and began to head out of the valley, leaving Azirina in the ruins of her home.

[tearlessrain]

apparently I am now my discord server’s local consultant for resolving arguments like “which khajiit furstock design is the horniest” and like... that’s fair.

(it’s cathay-raht)

[pentacass]

Khasiri’s a warrior, and never trained in magic until her old nanny wished to share last words with a son lost to the Knahaten Flu. So that the old Khajiit wouldn’t pass on with regret, Khasiri consulted an illicitly-acquired tome, and managed to raise the son’s spirit after studying necromancy for a year.

Despite her fears, the reunion went smoothly, and the nanny passed on a month later. Khasiri had planned to leave necromancy alone then; but in her travels as a wandering blade-for-hire, she noticed many in grief - be it from loss to the Flu, or the war. So she dabbles in necromancy on the side now, bringing comfort and closure to those unable to move on - both living or dead.

[peacefiresky-archive]

three times lythras Did Crimes

1.

It was deep into a cool, rainy night in the city of Balmora. The rain fell softly - it was more of a mist, really; a blissful retreat from the heat of the sun that so often scorched the ground. The clouds hung so thinly that one could nearly see the stars through them. And somewhere deep in the twisting, narrow alleys of the city, a robotic guar stood on lookout. 

Armed with nothing but a makeshift pick, slender fingers covered in dozens of tiny nicks were coaxing open a stubborn lock. Lythras was working quickly, cursing silently as the lock to the Council Club gave her more trouble than she’d hoped for -- damn paranoid Camonna Tong.

She held back a victory cry as the lock finally gave to. She glanced around, quietly pushing open the door to the Club --

The next day, Caius found he wouldn’t have to go shopping for food or drinks anytime soon. And that the Council Club had to put in an extra bulk order.

2.

The Dren plantation was thrown into pandemonium. Dozens of Argonians and Khajiit had suddenly found their bonds on the ground, simmering with Alteration magic; swiftly, they freed others, and the others freed others, and on and on, until they were able to overpower the slavers --

After the majority of the slaver bastards were killed, Lythras made herself busy by helping the young, ill, and feeble make their way past the plantation’s territory. Once there, the others - far more capable healers than her - whisked them away to be healed and tended to before they’d begin their exodus to… wherever they decided they’d be safe. They didn’t trust her - which was… completely understandable, really. They couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t some sort of trap. A Telvanni wizard, freeing captives? Sure, and Lord Vivec had a stable of large, purebred Cyrodilic horses under Their temple that were the true source of Their divinity.

But they didn’t shun her or shoo her away. They offered her food and drink and they helped her.

After the others were a safe distance away, Lythras turned her attention to the main villa. There was one slaver that hadn’t been killed in the initial assault - and she had business with Master Dren.

3.

“As you know, I have been expected to elect a chief advisor. Preferably a Telvanni house member with views opposite of mine, to balance the House.” Lythras stood straight, her hands clasped firmly behind her back as she addressed her house. Imagine - her. Lythras S’thes, freelance thief and mage, the head of any Dunmer house! The Archmagister of the Telvanni! “I have consulted with the council and received their votes, and I have determined that the best course of action would be to elect Sotha Gizmo to the position.”

Gizmo preened a bit beside her, his head held a little bit higher. Sotha Gizmo. Well, it wasn’t entirely false, Lythras figured.

A wave of angry shouts swept through the crowd of mages, brought down to grumbling murmurs as she raised her hand to silence them. “Gizmo,” she said, “is impartial, as he is… Well, a machine.” A lie. Gizmo was the least impartial creature she knew. He once refused to continue down a road until she gave a dead scrib they’d stumbled across an honorable funeral.

“He was the personal companion of Lord Sotha Sil and the First Council before the Battle at Red Mountain.” Not entirely false. He did at least know the First Council, and he spoke fondly of Seht.

“He is older than all of us - excepting, perhaps, the late, honorable Divayth Fyr, may Almsivi grant his soul rest -” A few chuckles, and Lythras couldn’t help the sly smile that formed, “- and wiser than all of us. It is… unprecedented to elect a fabricant to any standing within a Great House, but I stand by my decision.”

[cruisingheightswithdragons]

Shabarri, the Thief

Shabarri is bitter, and self centered and is apathetic towards others. He’s cynical, and isn’t easy to get along with. In the long run, he’s rather live and work on his own, though deep down he desires someone to be close to. Also, if things get rough, Shabarri will easily give up whatever situation he is in and surrender to avoid any more conflict.

Timeline:

3E, 10

Shabarri is born in Cyrodiil but is abandoned soon afterwards. He is taken in by a lone, imperial thief named Brutus, and is taken to Elsweyr to be raised with khajiiti culture.

3E, 20

Brutus begins to train Shabarri in the art of thievery. After a few months of training, he is tasked with stealing a jeweled goblet from a powerful family. Shabarri is almost caught, but fights off a guard, however he loses an eye in the fight before running off with the goblet. He and Brutus continue their thieving career together.

3E, 23

The duo are caught by a dark brotherhood assassin. Brutus fights them off and tells Shabarri to run. The khajiit does so but Brutus is killed by the assassin. Shabarri flees north to Cyrodiil.

He lives in the streets of the Imperial City as a thief and a beggar. During this time he swears vengeance on the one who killed Brutus, and he joins a small group of freelance thieves who have no problem killing their marks to get their loot. Shabarri uses this as training for when the day comes that the assassin is to be killed by him.

3E, 25

Shabarri meets a thief, a khajiit named Bhigai, and the two begin a rivalry. Bhigai always seems to have the upper hand, which infuriates Shabarri. His group of thieves find this rivalry between the two teenagers hilarious, though.

A job goes wrong when Shabarri is caught by an Imperial guard, and taken into questioning. He naively confesses everything, in the hopes he’ll be let go, but he remains in custody.

Two weeks later, Shabarri breaks out of prison, and rushes to find his group of thieves. Remarkably, they are unharmed, but he tells them that the watchmen found out about their criminal actions. The group flee to Cheydinhal one night to avoid capture. They continue their thieving and killing there.

3E, 26

Shabarri is approached by the same guard that captured him a year ago, and is offered to spy on his group and give any information over to the imperial watch in return for safety and coin. He agrees with the offer.

Over the course of a few months, he spies on his group, relaying information about jobs, murders, and stolen goods. The watch stay true to their promise and grant him safety. However they task him with the arrest of Bhigai, which he obliges to. He tracks down his rival, and instead of arresting her, kills her instead. He reports back to the watchmen that he did so in defense, and they relieve him of that mistake.

3E, 28

Shabarri is tasked by the watchmen to escort them to the base of the thief group. The khajiit hesitantly agrees, and does so. The confrontation between him and his group deems him a traitor, when whatchmen start to kill the group members. Shabarri retaliates by killing all the watchmen after all the thieves have been killed. He flees to High Rock. During this time, he begins to have flashbacks of his life as Dro’jargo, but ignores them as random daydreams.

3E, 31

Shabarri makes a living as a thief in High Rock, but becomes a bitter person throughout this time. Through his thieving, he occasionally murders his victims to make his mark, in the hopes he’ll be feared, and perhaps noticed by the assassin that killed Brutus those years ago.

As anticipated, Shabarri comes across the assassin one day, they remember him and tell him that he had been pursuing him for years, as it was part of his contract to kill him. Shabarri asks who hired them, and they respond that a rich khajiit ordered the assassination, as he had stolen a jeweled goblet from them. The khajiit recalls that theft, and attacks the assassin. They fight for a while before Shabarri manages to slit their throat. He now had a new mission: to kill the khajiit family that ordered his and Brutus’ assassination.

3E, 32

Shabarri returns to Elsweyr in search of the family. He intends to disguise himself and work for them as a servant in order to get close to them, which he succeeds in.

The family, consisting of a old Cathay with his Cathay-Raht wife, and their three sons, Cathay, Ohmes, and Dagi. Through his time working for the family, he plots a scheme to kill them all in revenge. As well, his visions of his past lives continue, and he realizes something is up with them, but continues to focus on his mission instead.

In the middle of the night, he sneaks into the eldest son’s (the cathay) room, and kills him in his sleep.

The next night, Shabarri finds the ohmes sneaking out of the manor, and tracks him to a skooma den. He sneaks in and kills all the addicted while they’re high by poisoning the skooma, including the ohmes, and returns to the manor before the family wakes up. The father notices that his son is missing, and sends Shabarri to find him. He returns to the skooma den and carries his body back to the manor, and lies that he died from an overdose.

The next night, Shabarri sneaks into the dagi’s room, and is caught attempting to kill him. He flees, and returns to the Imperial City, dismayed he could not exact his revenge. He lives in the streets as a pickpocket.

He still gets visions from his past lives and decides to find someone who may know something about it. After consulting a priest, he learns that these visions hold importance, but he still has yet to know what it is exactly.

3E, 33

Shabarri finds the mother of the family out shopping. He tracks her to an inn and kills her in her sleep.

That night, he is approached by a member of the Dark Brotherhood’s Black Hand, who claims that Sithis has been watching him, and that although he had a contract against him, the brotherhood is willing to look past that if he joins them in sending souls to the void. Shabarri refuses, and kills the Black Hand member, though it is a struggle, as the assassin is skilled in combat.

He continues living in the streets, and getting visions. He gets a vision of a cave, and fed up with these flashbacks, decides to find the cave. Shabarri sets off to find wherever this cave is, and goes south. He finds the cave, and enters. When he sees the ancient tapestry of Kazin-Dar on the wall, everything becomes clear when he becomes aware of the curse. Shabarri spirals into emotional turmoil. Feeling defeated, he decides to let he curse run its course. When he returns to the Imperial City, he removes his only other eye, and waits for whoever it is that’s meant to kill him.

A few months later, he is approached by a member of the Brotherhood. Shabarri is accepting of his fate, but asks the assassin to let him speak first. She obliges, and he tells her of the curse, and how he’s a reincarnation of an ancient khajiit. He then says that she is part of the curse too, since she is the one who is going to kill him. He admits he had been a horrible person in life, and allows her to end him. The assassin respects his final words, and tells him she’ll bury him by the river. She then kills him, finally fulfilling the contract after 10 years.

[sky-scribbles]

My ESO characters and their (current) mounts and pets! Or younger siblings, in Khashani’s case.

Introductions to each of them below the cut.

Khashani goes about her travels accompanied by her younger sister and brother, an Alfiq Khajiit named Zinathra and a Pahmar named Dhejar. After Khasha abruptly disappeared thanks to the Worm Cult, the siblings set out to find her, and eventually met up with her on Auridon. This led to Dhejar getting struck with a Daedric curse during the battle for Firsthold, hence his rather nightmarish appearance (which will remain until I get enough Crowns to buy a regular Senche mount...)

The siblings are three polar opposites: Khasha is cheerful, indulgent, reckless and self-doubting, while Zinathra is sensible and cynical, and Dhejar is sweet and shy. Still, they’re completely devoted to each other and make a great team.

~

Kaneeth is accompanied by a Vvardvark named Lexi (short for Almalexia) and a summoned horse he calls Mariel. Kaneeth bought Lexi from a pet trader not long after his first love, Reesa, met her tragic end. He was in dire need of something he could shower with affection and receive uncomplicated affection from in return - and thankfully, Lexi is a deeply loving critter who always seems to know when Kaneeth is upset and in need of cuddles.

Kaneeth hasn’t actually come into contact with any Psijics yet, but he’s always eager to learn more magical fields and after a lot of time spent reading, consulting with his fellows in the Mages’ Guild and staying awake for days on end to practice, he learned how to conjure the mounts that Psijic escorts use. Since many Psijics are elves, he gave her an elven name.

~

Nazmur likes to keep things simple, and is accompanied by a perfectly ordinary dune-hound and perfectly ordinary sorrel horse. Their names are Viola and Beatrice, because Naz loves the theatre so I thought Shakespeare references were appropriate. All three of them are as boisterous and hotheaded as each other.

~

Orsaermo has lived for several centuries and long ago grew tired of thinking up individual names for all his horses, so started calling them all Gryphon. This black mare is Gryphon VII, a quiet and patient creature.

His Salamander, Nuisance, he found in the hands of some exotic creature smugglers during his adventurer days. After taking the various animals off the smugglers’ hands, Orsaermo found the salamander following him about. After several attempts to shoo the ‘nuisance’ away, Mo has given up and let the critter accompany him. Nuisance is much more playful than you’d expect for a giant reptile with a singularly unattractive face, and is one of the few individuals who can reliably make Mo laugh. 

[dibellaskiss]

꒰♡꒱A Walker's Guide to Happy Senche-Tigers

꒰♡꒱Azmu-ra

꒰♡꒱The mind of the senche-tiger is like its tail, weaving impossible shapes before pouncing on its prey. If you are that prey, too bad for you! But grab hold of the tail and the senche-tiger does exactly as you want, so long as your grip remains firm.

In theory one could lead a senche-tiger about by its tail forever, but Azmu-ra does not recommend it. Senches are quite fast, very strong, and entirely capable of holding a grudge! Much better to sieze the mind, but how to do this?

First understand that, like Khajiit, the senche-tigers have a powerful sweet tooth. They also have fine noses and will track moon-sugar down wherever it hides. In pockets, through walls, in the bellies of close friends—anywhere.

Fortunately, the senche-tiger's appetite for sugar is only so great. By keeping your senche-tiger on a steady diet, you can manage its more aggressive desires with more useful pursuits, like rat-catching. You need only know how much moon-sugar is enough moon-sugar.

This is where it gets tricky. The senche sweet tooth waxes and wanes with the moons, starting with the phase under which it was born and ending with its lunar opposites. Size is a factor, also, as larger senche require more moon-sugar!

Some trainers can determine a senche-tiger's appetite for moon-sugar by consulting the local Two Moons, but Azmu-ra does not recommend this. A priestess is not always on hand, and keeping both the temple and your senche supplied with moon-sugar is an expensive proposition!

Also, senche-tigers grow swiftly. Unless fully grown, their appetites will change. Many would-be trainers have little time to regret a low stock of moon-sugar! The resulting carnage is never pretty.

Better to keep a stockpile of moon-sugar on hand. The senche eats until sated, and what is left can be used to ice the sweet roll, spice the pudding, or make delectable moon candy.

Once full of moon-sugar, a senche-tiger wants only two things: meat to fill its belly and a sunny place to bask. This makes them suited to guarding fields and hunting game, but this is about all they can do without years of training. Even then, training can only go so far.

For example, motivating senches to pull farming equipment is not recommended. If your senche-tiger should deign to endure the harness, it will still be inclined to chase anything larger than a field mouse that it spots across the fields. Save yourself the trouble of collecting scattered plows!

While other trainers have had some success with watch-senche and battle-senche, Azmu-ra would strongly discourage training them to eat people unless you are strong and good at fighting. Even then, this one would not recommend it. A senche-tiger's loyalty reaches only so far as its belly, yes?

Hopefully this guide helped you avoid being eaten by your favorite senche-tiger. If not, well … Azmu-ra made no promises!

[forged-through-trials]

Once we had our barrings, we delved into the dungeon. It was around the first corner that we found the first of the Hunters, an Imperial. He came right at me, making the mistake of ignoring Ruin, who came up behind him, and ran him through from spine to sternum. Ruin: Slammed his sword into the guy’s back. “Nothing personal, kid.” Imperial Hunter: “That... meme... is so... last... era!” He groaned and died, slumping to the floor. Ruin: “...” Trials: “...well, he had a point.” Ruin: He frowned. “I thought it was cool.” With our first challenger out of the way, we plucked a key from his body. I tried it on the gate, but it didn’t fit. No chance of us getting lucky on the first try, huh? Well, we’ll just have to clean up the rest of the dungeon, then. We delved deeper and deeper in, dodging traps, when we came upon a path with an open pit trap. Spikes lined he bottom of the pit. All in all, a good idea to avoid falling into it. Further in, we came upon the Nord Hunter. I plincked him with a couple of arrows, but the arrows stuck in his armor and just made him mad. He gave chase, so Ruin and I had to race back through the tunnels, and lured him toward the pit. We jumped over it, while he was caught completely by surprise by the pit, and fell in, landing upon the spikes below.

Between the spikes and the arrows, he had only enough strength to crawl away a foot before finally succumbing to his injuries. A gruesome end, but when you play The Most Dangerous Game, sometimes the prey gets a connect-four before you! I plucked another key from the Nord’s body. By now, I had an idea of how this might work, so we delved deeper in, the two keys we’d pinched opening the door into the deepest depths of the Hunter’s Run.

Deep down, past some twists and turns, we came upon the final hunter. I would’ve expected more, as The Most Dangerous Game just worked better when there’re four hippos competing to gobble up the most marbles, but seemed like we only had three hunters in total to deal with this go ‘round. I readied an arrow, and let it fly, just as he turned around, landing a shot right in collar-bone.

The last hunter was down, and it was a simple matter of collecting his key. With the hunters defeated and the traps disarmed, the route back through the Hunter’s Run was considerably easier. Three keys in hand, I tried them upon the lock near the entrance, the one that barred me from the lever... only find that none of them fit. Perplexed, I looked to Ruin, who was just as confused. We’d ‘won’ Kurdan’s game, so why couldn’t we open the gate and get out? Out of options, we trekked out of the dungeon to see if we could consult Aleron about what to do next. Once we were outside again, we saw Aleron and...

Kurdan? Kurdan!? Aleron, get away from him! Kurdan, no! Poor Aleron was struck down even as he tried fruitlessly to defend himself. With one blow of his fiery axe, Kurdan laid the man low. Ruin and I rushed over, our weapons drawn, my teeth grit and bared as I was ready to plant my sword into Kurdan’s good eye immediately.

He seemed undaunted, even as he stood before us, torch in hand, blood still glistening on his axe. Kurdan: “I’m impressed that you killed all of my clients. Oh, well, I suppose this is why they asked to hunt a peasant farmer and not a trained fighter like the two of you. “Speaking of, too bad about Aleron, eh? Didn’t need him anymore now that y’er here. At least, now he’s free of his debts... ha-ha! Ha-ha, ha, ha!” Trials: “You bastard! We won your game! Why??” Kurdan: “Do you really think I could afford to let you leave here? No prey has ever left this island alive, and I aim to keep it that way. “You were right about one thing, though... this is my game, and I’m changing the rules!”

He drew his axe, and the fight was on. A fight that we were at a significant disadvantage at. Kurdan was a wall of meat shelled in armor, and my sword seemed to bounce off of him after most strikes. And Ruin couldn’t help; Kurdan had backup, a Khajiit archer on the overhang above us, so Ruin was busy keeping him busy, leaving me to contend with Kurdan. I’d picked up a few poisons from Shady Sam, and put one to work here, dousing my sword in it. Then I waited for an opening, and when I found it, managed to nick Kurdan on the hand. The poison sapped Kurdan’s strength tremendously, making his swings as weak as an orc-baby... a beefy orc-baby, admittedly, because his strikes still stung like the dickens, but I persevered. With his swings rendered sluggish and slow, he didn’t see my counterattack coming, and with a careful swing, clipped him in the neck, opening an artery. He bled out quickly, slumping to the floor, dead.

Alas, were he but the only one. Poor Aleron; he didn’t stand a chance. Ruin joined me a moment later, having dealt with the Khajiit archer on the overhang, but by then there was nothing we could do for Aleron. Dammit! How am I going to explain this to Ursanne? I promised her I’d get her husband home... We buried Aleron where he fell, then took the real key to this place off of Kurdan’s body. With it in hand, we were finally able to open that gate inside of The Hunter’s Run, and pull the lever to open the front gate. That left us free to traverse back to Bravil to relay the grim news.

Once back in Bravil, we found the new widow in an alley, and though I was hesitant, I confronted her. I must’ve looked quite morose, because she knew something was wrong the moment she saw me. Ursanne: She wore a look of dread and defeat. “Is something wrong? What’s happened to Aleron?” Trials: I cast my eyes away from her, unable to meet her face. “I’m sorry, Ursanne... he didn’t make it.” Ursanne: “When I saw the grave look on your face, I knew something had happened to him. Oh, Aleron, why did you have to get into all of this trouble? Why did you... have to leave me?“ She balled her fists, her eyes shut tight as tears streamed from them. “An-and what of that fetcher, Kurdan?” Ruin: “We were forced to slay him to secure our own escape.” Ursanne: She whimpered, turning away from the two of us. “Then... Aleron’s death has been avenged. Oh, Aleron, I told you the gambling would lead to this. You... you foolish, foolish man!” True to her word, she spared us a few trinkets and a bit of gold as payment for our services. I tried to give them back to her, but she refused, too proud to take back the meager pittance she’d offered in payment. After that, she started to walk away. I called to her, but she refused to answer, insisting that she wanted to be left alone. I sighed, packing up the meager rewards for this trip, and Ruin and I walked the long, lonely street back to the Fighters Guild to retire for the night. This was a harsh lesson to learn; that sometimes, you can’t win ‘em all. But maybe I can at least take solace in knowing that Kurdan’s sick game is put to bed, permanently, and he’s been punished for his crimes. It may not bring back Aleron, or dry Ursanne’s tears, but it’s some small comfort, and minor victory, I can claim.

[thatoneshadyshop]

12th of Sun’s Dawn, 2E 581

Members of the Clan come and go from the Clan Mother’s tent. A steady stream of Khajiit moves in and out of Aiq-Dra’s presence, and more than once, raised voices have been heard from behind the canvases. It means, of course, that Aiq-Dra still consults on the matter which Fayrl brought to her, that she has yet to make her decision either way.

Of course, the decision she weighs is not the decision that Fayrl intended to place before her. Where he thinks she argues with her Council over breaking from the Dominion to ally with the Dunmer, she in fact allows the Clan to distract itself over the prospect of a Dunmer marrying into their midst. 

The self styled bard has no idea he has been undone. He knows not that his scheme lies in tatters, that he has been bettered by his betters. There is a certain satisfaction in knowing what he does not, a certain warm pleasure to be taken in seeing him fret over matters already decided.

One is not so crass as to gloat, however, and it does one more good than ill to affect the part of guide and ally still. So one has found oneself crossing paths with Fayrl more often of late, asking of his well being, telling him in quiet tones of what one hears of the discussion in Aiq-Dra’s tent, of how the Clan is yet undecided and how the Clan Mother has not yet decided how to respond. He will not fully trust one, of course, his are a naturally paranoid and foolish people. Yet in telling him these small nuggets, one hopes to at least unbalance his surety. 

One’s thoughts have turned as well as to what comes next. The dry season stretches before one yet, but it will not last forever. When it lifts, and with one’s service done, one faces the choice of what follows. To return North to frozen Skyrim with Qau-Dar in tow? To see Fayrl back to Morrowind, or see him cast down the rugged side of a mountain peak? Or else to remain in the South a while longer? 

Tis a question one has put to Fayrl, too, when one deigned to suffer his company around the fires of Qau-Dar’s family. Should his offer of alliance be accepted, what does he intend? A triumphant return to Mournhold and the games of his family, who expected him to die? Time still among the Khajiit as an ambassador and friend? Or should he fail? Would he mean to return to Morrowind and risk his own death in penance? Would he seek to pull his son from the jaws of the wolf and go travelling into unknown lands? Or would he take his leave, return to wandering, if the Khajiit should allow him to pass freely from their sight? Should they do so, to where would he go? Return to Skyrim, allied with his own people, cold yet familiar? Seek glory on the battlefield? Retreat to distant High Rock or Hammerfell and live out of sight of the Tribunal gods? Or somewhere else?

One hardly expected an answer from him, of course. One would scarce expect him to be able to answer one if one asked what the sum of his toes was. Yet the question is asked, and for a time, at least, he has chance to ponder it. Much as one does for oneself.

[saturniandragon]

The producer of Cats movie clearly did not consult Bethesda on how to create Khajiits.