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"I know, I know," Selara sighed. "Sorry; it's habit. And I'm no child, Malatar. In skirts or no, I can run." And hiking up her soot-stained violet dress high enough to free her legs, she did, fleeing the scene of what had been her home.

"J'Dar must know what you think we do now, go sleep as if nothing has happened?" J'Dar looked parinoid. "What if the Thalmor burned it, what if the Ayleids burned it, what if a dragon burned? By oblivion what if the daedra are back? We just don't know. J'Dar needs preparations, and with preparations J'Dar needs information."

"You cannot run fast enough." Malatar protested, grabbing Selana by the arm and throwing her over his back. He lowered himself an began running on all fours. In an amazing instant, the Ayleid man had completely transformed into a large, extremely powerful, stunningly beautiful golden lion. "Hold on tightly!" he called to Selana as they entered the thickness of the surrounding wilderness.

Irri nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right." She said. After another moment of silence, she pointed to the ruin. "Are my eyes deceiving me? An Altmer riding a lion?"

"They are not," Kah'jihreed replied after looking in the direction the Bosmer pointed at.
"A peculiar sight."

Sebastien considered J'Dar's words for a moment. He did not think there could be any more ills in the world than there already were and had always been, but J'Dar was right: information was key. Surely such an event wasn't an accident. Eventually he eased back, bringing a hand thoughtfully to his chin. "You're a bright one, J'Dar," he observed. He tapped the air with his finger. "Preparations or not, you have to know who to ask...and shouting at the top of one's lungs isn't quite the way to go about it, hmm? Patience is key, Khajiit."

"J'Dar gets paranoid, he does." J'Dar was thining. "We need to go somewhere. J'Dar needs to know who elses knows. Where else is land to go to. J'Dar expects people to be there, where the knowledge has been spread. Here people may have seen things J'Dar and friend hasn't."

Irri watched for another moment. "There is an inn nearby, maybe we should head there."

"Kah'jihreed would argue that it is wiser to stay away from large groups," the Khajiit countered, though hesitantly. "Control is difficult when there are many."

"Sebastien," the Breton said in introduction, and then gestured toward the inn behind them. "We'll find the knowledge, J'Dar - but let it come to you. The Thalmor were clearing out that area. If anyone's going to come in with information, they're going to come through here. In the meantime perhaps we can figure out what the two of us know. I was close enough to the Ayleid to have gotten a decent view. But such an explosion...it was planned. And well planned, I'd imagine."

"I don't know about you, Kah'jih, but I prefer warm beds on the odd day I can find one." Irri said. "If we keep our wits about us, we'll be fine."

The Khajiit pondered for a moment. Finally, he agreed with a short nod and got to his feet.

"Sebastian you are. The inn, yes the inn, J'Dar agrees with Sebastian. We should walk to the inn and purchase drinks, we shall. We then do as you say and speak none. Maybe we go now, yes?"

Irri took off at a brisk pace towards the inn. "Khajiit!" She called. "What do you do?"

"Fine with me, J'Dar." Sebastien offered a soft smile, plucking a small coin purse from his pocket and offering it to the Khajiit. "Allow me to do the honors. You buy us drinks, and I'll get us a table. Come now." Without waiting for J'Dar's response - and not expecting him to object - he dropped the coin into his paws and passed through the inn of the door, settling, after a moment of quick and languid observation, for a table in the corner with as good a view of the room as he felt they would need.

"Kah'jihreed finds opportunity whenever he can. He keeps his eyes sharp, his ears open, and his hands fast" the Khajiit replied as he walked a bit behind the Wood Elf.
"When a fat Imperial in a tavern wishes something stolen, Kah'jihreed steals it. When a frail woman wishes a strong man to be made weak, Kah'jihreed makes him weak. When Kah'jihreed sees a thing he wishes to obtain but lacks the gold, he obtains it otherwise." He paused for a while, until he asked:
"And what does Irriwen do?"

J'Dar went up to the counter and purchased two of their special drinks and sat down with Sebastian and sat in the corner of the room. He slid the drink across the table to Sebastian and he himself took a swig of the drink.

Irri glanced back, nodding with a strange intensity, like she was focusing entirely on the words she was hearing and forming, like everything was just white noise at that moment. "I survive." She replied. "We aren't too dissimilar. I hunt. I steal. I kill, if I have to." She said, her huge eyes still strangely intent.

Elyntine sat alone at a table inside the inn. She didn't know what to make of this day's events, and although she knew she didn't have enough information to change that, no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't keep what had happened off her mind. But the Dunmer woman's thoughts were interrupted as the inn's door swung open, and two men entered- one Khajiit and one Breton- and sat down at the table next to hers. I should speak with some of the others here, Elyntine thought. Now is a good time to have allies. She turned her chair to face the two men. "Greetings," she said. "My name is Elyntine. Would you two mind if I joined you for a drink?"

"Does Irriwen value friendship?" Kah'jihreed asked, his tone oddly hopeful. "Or does she put a knife in the back of a friend when the gold beckons?"

"Please do Dunmer. How close were you. I be J'Dar, and this is Sebastian." He said pointing to the Manmer.

Sebastien took his drink and nodded politey to J'Dar. He folded his hands about the tankard and considered it for a moment in silence. Before he could drink he was interrupted by the Dunmer woman that spoke to them, and just as quickly J'Dar had invited her to the table. He observed her and gave a polite nod. "Sebastien Geontene - the second, but who counts these days? Please, yes, join us."

A delighted laugh escaped Selara at the unexpectedness of the transformation. Crouching close over the lion's forequarters, she held on for dear life, grinning all the while. "This is far better than any horse," she whispered, though the quiet words were likely lost in the wind that raced by. "Where are we going?" she called, raising her voice in hopes that Malatar would hear her.

"Greetings again to both of you," said Elyntine, taking a seat at the corner table. She sensed an aura of magic around Sebastien. "You have studied the arcane arts, have you not?" she asked him.