The companion's ship, the Scarlett proceeded toward Akavir at breakneck speed. The waves battered the ship as if it were a toy a khajiit had a strange infatuation with. The sails were pregnant until the sheer force of the gale assaulted them as the companions tried to control the gale while the small Argonian boy and the tiny Khajiit girl were being tossed about on the benches as the ship battled the elements.
Lance looked over at the green-skinned adult Argonian.
"What are we going to Akavir for?" He almost yelled over the fierce winds.
Hasir narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the smaller Argonian, not sure if he wanted to answer.
"You and your sister sold me and my friends out for what? Glory? Molag Bal's approval? Whatever it is, you betrayed my trust."
Ingio came over to him and pleaded for him to see the light amongst the percieved shadow in their hearts. Hasir drew a deep sigh,
"Hircine damn it!" He hissed. "We are going to Akavir to, erm, well, I have a friend there. She will, I hope, train me, us, before we finally face off against Molag Bal and his horrid creations. Besides that, I thought we would spend some time there to relax. Either that or we can roast some naughty brats." His gaze shot to Lance and Ginger. "Over the fire of dragons until their exterior are as hardened as their hearts.
The older Argonian chuckled at his own joke only to be cowed by Inigo's disapproving glare.
"Okay, that was bady off me to ssay." He said, rubbing his neck in shame. He cast an apologetic glance at both Inigo and Ginger and her brother.
Inigo smiled and said he appreciated the apology. desspite this, Hasir's tail thrashed about madly. He couldn't help feeling ashameed that
Inigo's feline girlfriend couldn't be here while his was alive and well.
"Inigo, it doesn't seem right that Ceralyne should be with us while Ma'kara lost her life to a deranged, or so we thought, Doomstrider."
Inigo held up a hand to silence the Argonian. His tail's sporadic thrashing significantly lessened.
"My friend, it's okay. I am sure whether in Aetherius or Oblivion, that Ma'kara is free of all the grieef that the evil shadow had befallen her." He
tried to sound levelheadead by Hasir could tell just how choked up he was.
The Argonian walked Inigo over to a bench that sttod before the one Lance and her sister occupied and sat him down. Hasir sat beside him and further issued words of comfort.
Aela looked over for her seat and forcefully got to her feet.
"Tell the khajiit to get over it, will you? This happened in the past, though I wasn't there, thank Hircine. He should focus on the present and not perseverate on what has already transpired. Dwelling on the past only brings pain. When my mother died, did I dwell on the past? Hardly. I let the star illuminateed a new path... one without grief and pain."
Hasir stood up and advanced on Aela, making her retreat to the edge of the ship.
"That." He said with a snarl, was a nasty thing to say. Can't you see that Inigo is a puzzle missing crucial pieces? One of which is his lost love? Can't you for once show some empathy towards someone." He poked Aela forcefully in the chesst, "I am so sick of your attitude! Always thinking you are above others! I am so sick of it. "Your heart must be made from Wamasu skin because nothing, it seems, penetrates it!"
Aela stood defiant, even in the face of a snarling lizard.
"My problems are my own. Don't you go saying I've no feeling. I do. It's just... I won't justify myself to a smelly swamp dweeler like you." She spat.
Hasir narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Tell Inigo you''re sorry for making him feel like a puddle of molten armor. Now!" He snarled.
Aela gulped and inched closer to where Inigo was and sat beside him.
Inigo, I, erm, I wanted to say..." She considered her thoughts carefully while until the fiery eyes of the Argonian. "Inigo, I'm... sorry for upseting you. I mean, I said it more to that blasted Argonian than to you, it still clears the sky, I guesss, so I'm sorry." She gave the khajiit a brief hug and sat silently beside him.
Inigo turned to her and smiled, waving it off as easily as a bothersome flea.
"Think nothing of it, my friend. Your hatred toward others often hides a deep-seeated hatred for yourself. If Ma'kara was here, she would have done the same, well, no, she wouldn't, but... my point is that she would be just a forgiving as I am." He hugged a confused Aela.
The ship barreled through tough squalls as it neared Akavir. Kodlak looked behind him to see that Aela was letting go of some of her 'I don't need anyone' tough exterior. He knew that confiding in someone was something she dar not do. He knew she was a hard wall made impregnable and nothing would crumble that wall. He also knew that she harbored a hatred for the race of Argonians ever since one of their race left Katria alone to die in that dwemer ruin when Aela was a child.
Inigo broke free of Aela's embrace to disappear inside the ship's cabin. Hasir stood up instinctively as he spotted the familiar pagodas getting more pronounced as they drew nearer. He wanted to shout out in excitement but felt guilty for the awful state that Ingo was in.
He passed the rows of benches as he closed his clawed hand on the knob. Inside the cabin, the Argonian saw Inigo sitting at a long ornated table surronded by ornate chairs. Hasir sat next to his forlorn friend and smiled comfortingly at him.
"Inigo, I can only guess what you are going through, I've never lost a friend or lover. I can imagine how your soul is like empty space devoid of stars. I feel horrible knowing a friend is in distress.
Inigo removed his head from his hands and smiled weakly at his reptilian friend.
"Thank you, my friend." He said, wiping a tear from his cheek. "I know you were there when she was possessed, but, you don't know how I feel, having someone you care about possed by a dark spirit." He said, scanning Hasir's stoic expression.
Hasir put a hand on Inigo's shoulder, comforting him.
"I haven't been around dark days like that but, well, the Doomstrider, while he may've been under the guise of Adrian at the time, is no longer a day devoid of light." Inigo stared at him, disbelieving. "Yes, he may've tried to stab me with a silver sword and chatize you but trust me when I say that he has changed. He is now a being of fate, forever bound to the formless contract of watching over, but not interfering in, the affairs of mortals, only discerning their fates."
Inigo eyed his Argonian friend.
"Who exactly are these 'beings of fate'?"
Hasir produced a tan leather book from his bag and slid it over to Inigo.
"I found this book while I was browsing the librarry of High Hrothgar many moons ago. This book depicts the quad of fate and describes all you need to know about them."
Inigo opened the book and came to a picture of a crosshatching depicting an everseeing eyeball surround by formless tentacles, a mistress enveloped in webs, a grey skinned individual with strange tatoos of an archaic nature and a black furred khajiit with red eyes chasing a farmer who thought himself above unseen forces. Inigo read the pages following the image.
"The quad of fate are greater than any daedra and aedra as they too must answer to the invisible forces that shape fate. They (the quad of fate) are handpicked from the forces of nature that surround us everyday. Hermaus Mora, the all-seeing eye, is the only one aside from the Doomstrider, to exist outside the influence of Mundus and the tides govern by the moon. This theory ties Hircine to Molag Bal loosely as they were once brothers but one cannot fathom why they became bitten enemies perhaps the forbidden union percipitated and closed shut that link."
Inigo read on as the book described the unholy union and the qaud of fate's abstract connection to Hircine and Molag Bal's forbidden union. Satisfied, the khajiit shut the book and sid it over to Hasir who disposed of it in his bag.
"Inigo," Hasir said nervously, "I fear I've not been forecoming with you. When you told me about losing a love one, erm... I, er, almost lose one I love, my girlfriend, Ceralyne. You see, while I wwas in Whiterun, a quarrel between her and Aela came to blow when Aela shot her with an arrow. I was so distraught, as I thought she was dead. I was relieved when she wasn't, however... this thing wasn't about Ceralyne. It all started when I requested to become a companion. You see Aela and I... we've been..."
Inigo held up a hand to silece the Argonian, saying they can talk more later. Together, they went outside to marvel at the magnificence of the city of Ka'po'tun.
Once on the dock, the party marveled at the magnifecence that was Akavir. When they had their fill, they waled dock the long dock to the stone steps behind that climbed up the side of a mountain to a many-leaved pagoda sitting like a proud dragon overlooking his precious jewels.
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It might just be a glitch but there's no text just a picture.
I didn't add text yet.
Oh okay!