After minutes of walking, they entered the great Southern elsweyrian city of Senchal. The khajiit walked under the entryway, holding the rabbit tightly and walked through the town. He'd never been here. He noted all of the khajiit architecture. He passed by the market with its stalls selling various fruits, vegetables and other trinkets. finally coming to a sandstone shop with a sign that read Apothecary and Curse Removal.
Inigo entered the shop and his nose was suddenly assaulted by an acrid mix of odors ranging from cinnamon to rosemary with other notes of spices mixed in. He crossed the room to a wooden counter built against the far wall. Behind the counter, he saw a grey colored khajiit who was busy arranging potion ingridients on a pair of shelves behind him. When he saw Inigo, he smiled broadly.
"Greetings, how can I help you on this fine day?" His jovial expression took on a more confused tone as he beheld the rabbit. "I'm sorry, I cannot permit you to bring your, er, pet in here." He said as he made a shooing motion with his hand. Inigo looked at him a bit hurt. "I do, however, remember a similar case where an Argonian came in here holding a rrabiit. It just so happpens that the Argonian's bunny was cursed by a harbinger of fate."
The blue khajiit gripped the counter so hard that his knuckles started to pale.
"Really?" He said, his face brightening. "What was this Argonian's name?"
The Storekeeper smiled and held out his hand. Inigo hesitated for a bit before grasping the old khajiit's hand.
"So sorry, didn't introduce myself earlier, Jodhsakar, please to meet you. Back to my original query, the Argonian's name... it was... Some artist's name. What was it?"
Inigo's eyes went wide as teeba hatsei balls when his mind made the connection. He had no idea his dad came here. He wondered who the poor victim was though.
"Da Vinci came here? when did he come here? Who was transformed? Anyone I know?"
Jodhsakar fixed Inigo with a knowing glance while wiping a glass with a rag.
"That's it, Da Vinci. He was so distraught when he came in. As for who was transformed. I think you may know him." He nodded entusiastically, "Yes, I do believe so. His name is Shak'ri."
Inigo cocked his head in confusion. He'd vaguely remembered his mom talking about him.
"It... rings a distant bell. If memory serves, he is Leah and Atalla's whispering claw instructor."
Jodhsakar's face fell as he saw the khajiit's forlorn expression etched on his furry canvas.
"Forgive me if I'm prying, but... did something happen to her?"
Inigo told the storeowner about Attala's untimely demise. The flood from the old khajiit's eyes was stemmed only by Inigo offering a leather cloth to act as a floodgate to keep the raging waters at bay. Jodhsaka thanked him. Inigo smiled and pocketed the leather cloth.
"Enough walking down memory lane. Back to business. I knew of two people that can, possibly, return your friend back to his scaly state. One of which resides in Senchal. The other, erm, you will have to travel on the back of a dragon of endless night to see her."
Inigo looked at him, thoroughly confused by his choice of words.
"Speak plain Tamrielic, will you? By the gods, what does 'an endless night dragon' even mean?"
Jodhsakar told him in a way that the young khajiit would understand. Ingo thanked him for decrypting the cryptic message. The shopkeeper apologized again and pulled out maps of Senchal and Akavir. Inigo wonderedd how he'd acquired a map of that mysterious island.
"Think, you moron. I was refering to the vast ocean. What lives there? water dragons. The water contains ripple and what causes ripple? The moon. When does the moon come out? At night, what color is the water at Night? pitch black. By the gods, try reading a book, will you? Of course, nothing can penetrate that flea-bitten mind of yours. It seems to be already rattled by sooma."
Inigo looked, outraged, at the shopkeeper. He had never before been ousted so harshly by one of his own race. He glared at the shopkeeper. Cowed by the khajiit's intense gazed, he promptly apologized.
" S...sorry about that. The, erm, shaman, whose name is Ji'kara, lives in this building here." He pointed to a building not too far from the shop. "As for the other one." He said, pulling the map of Akavir towards him, "He lives in a village near the foot of the dragonsky montains in a kingdom called Tang Mo. Interestingly enough, the Tang Mo share the name with their kingdom, you may not have him for the cure, however... if you do go and meet him, he told Tigress who told me that he was the master of Tigress' student's old master, tragic, the way he died, but, he is best saved for later. For when you need some... training. For now, though, go and see Ji'kara, she may be able to assist you."
Inigo thanked him, grabbed the maps from the counter and left the shop clutching the argonian turned rabbit.
Inigo walked through the streets, looking from one house to the next until he found the one described by Jodhsakar. He stepped inside and was greeted by s tan khajiit wearing a silvery-white robe with strange symbols on it.
"Hi. I was told that you could help me with a little problem? Pardon me for being rude, but, what is your name?" He asked, smiling
The female khajiit eyed him from behind the counter, her amber eyes narrowing.
"Yes, this one will help you. For a fee, of course, but, she will. Forgive this one, this one's name is Rubena." She said, gesturing to the glass mugs behind her. "What is it this one can help you with? Perhaps a drink while you and she talk terms, yes?
Inigo promptly shook his head and proffered her the rabbit.
"No thanks, I... er, learned the hard way that drinks and I do not mix." He looked at her and chuckled. "Anyway, This rabbit, he-" Rubena scrutinized him as if he were a juicy fish. "I not bore you with the details. He was turned into this lowly form by one of the harbingers of fate. Have you ever heard of, what was it? Let's see, er, the triad of fate? Althought, I guess they would be known as the quad know that they have four members, erm..."
Rubena put up a hand to stop him and then pointed at the brown rabbit.
"Enough, she will indeed take him off of your hands and fix him for you." Inigo eyed her and wanted to say 'thank you' but something in her eyes made his derail his train and put in on a different track. "You know what? What don't I keep him. I am certain I can find help elsewhere... yes, Elsweyr, I go there. I'll be off then."
He swore to himself.He knew she saw through his attempts at diversion before the words spilled out of the floodgate like an uncontrollable flood. Her smiled took on a mopre sinister tone.
"No, let this one take him. Rubena insists." Inigo stood there like a khajiit torn between smooka and his favorite yarn ball. Before he could say no, Rubena had taken the rabbit, conjured a portal and disappeared.
As though hiss fur had been struck by invisible lightning, Inigo ran out of the store and returned to Jodhsakara's shop. Upon hearing the door slam, the old khajiit spun around.
"Inigo, what in Jode and Jode's name happened? Are you okay?"
Ingo shook his head and launched into a tale of theft a betrayal. Throughout the tale, Jodhsakar's eyes never faltered from Inigo's frantically darting eyes.
"Calm down, my friend." Jodhsakar said as if placating a furious feline, which was, in fact, the case. "You say the Rubena has betrayed us? I have known her all my life and thought she would do something like this sooner or later. We, er, you must find out where she has taken him." From the dire expression on Inigo's face, he gleaned the khajiit's fears. "Ah, so you think she is a servant of Molag Bal and that she has taken him to his castle in Coldharbour, yes? When then, don't stand there, you've a mission to do. Besst get to it." Jodhsakar paused as he saw Inigo's trepidation. "To get there though, I haven't the faintest idea."
Inigo's face grew bright as a sun bathing Wamasu. He could not believe he did not think of this before. It was literally right there in front of him.
"I tthink, based on her color robe, she was a member of the Silver Dawn. The portal she conjured though, hm... I think I can see if any alchemists or mage guilds in town know anything about it; maybe information pertaining to the materials used to conjure it or perhaps a spell."
He left the shop with Jodhsakar looking thoroughly bemused.
Replies