Despite Quinchal wanting the black wolf to be a figment of his imagination; unfortunatelly it had no been, it was all to real. They
both had difficult transformations into their original bodies, but Hasir had a far harder time as he was laying a few feet from Quinchal
who had transformed back already, writhing in agony, screaming for help. Quinchal got up to his feet, walked over and saw that the
argonian was sweating profusely. Poor guy, being torn into two wolves and then have them fuse back into one being must be
incredibly painful. The tsaesci watched sorrowfully as the argonian helplessly trashed about on the ground like he was having a
siezure. After several minutes has passed, the argonian opened his eyes and just lay there, too exhausted to even move. He finally
did stand up and Quinchal had to put his arom around his lower back because he was not sure if Hasir was steady on his feet yet.
After a few feeble attempts, on the argonian's part, to wrench the tsaesci's hand from his lower back insisting he was fine, the
argonian finally prised the tsaesci's hands off of him and told he could stand on his own. Quinchal raised his hands and said he
could've told him. Quinchal felt a spasm of pain and fell back onto the ground. Hasir went to help the Tsaesci up.
Quinchal stared at Hasir and swatted Hasir's hand away.
"I do not need your help, scaled one. You have soiled my family's honor." Quinchal growled at Hasir. Hasir could see that Quinchal's
face has gone from its normal shape of yellow to that of a boiling pot on the stove, complete with steam coming out of the sides.
"Go, get out of here, I am so angry that I do not wish to see you again, EVER!" Quinchal shouted at him.
Hasir sighed sadly and started to walk towards the dock at the end of the peninsula. He saw the crimson scar, he stepped on, paid
the fee to the captain, a black khajiit with white markings on his fur, told him he was heading to Riften. The captain told him to sit
back and enjoy the two hour journey. Hasir went to the back of the boat, past sixteen wooden benches to one near the end and he
sat on the bench, put the leather bag containing his weapons and armor that he had received from Quinchal under the bench and fell
asleep. He had had a long day complete with him fighting with a wolf that was turned against his will.
The waves struck the sides of the ship tossing him this way and that, even though he was fast asleep. A good sized wave hit the
side of the boat waking the slumbering lizard. Hasir wondered what time it was. He looked up at the black sky filled with stars.
"Well," He thought, "that answered one question." Hasir yawned and stretched his arms at the same time. Something caught
Hasir's eye, but he shook his head, reminding himself that the sea can play cruel tricks on the mind.
The black khajiit, whose name was S'ariq, chimed in over the loudspeaker situated just feet from Hasir, on a wooden pole and told
the passengers that they will arrive at Riften in about ten minutes. Hasir looked again at the bench two rows ahead of him and saw
that what he dismissed as a mirage was in fact real. What was sitting on bench was a snowy khajiit wearing red robes, she had sall
tufts of black fur that stood up from each ear. Hasir vacated the bench has was currently sitting on and went over to the bench were
the female khajiit was sitting.
Hasir turned to the female khajiit and saw that she was forlorn. Hasir cleared his throat.
"Ahem! Excuse me miss, but, why are you so sad?" He asked, concerned.
The female khajiit seemed to come out of some kind of trance, she turned slightly towards Hasir.
"This one is glad you are so concerned stranger."
Hasir told her that he always tries his best to help. Hasir then asked her, brow furrowed, why she was so sad.
"This one's brother went to Kagrenzel to find the tools of Kagrenac. However, he found nothing but a cage and he then fell forty feet
into a ravine."
She sighed and rested her head on her elbows. Hasir looked over and saw that her eyes were misted over. He offered his scaly hand
to her, she grabbed it and smiled. He introduced himself.
"I don't think we have been introduced, my name is Hasir." He smiled, showing his pointy teeth.
The white khajiit gulped loudly and was wondering whether he could be trusted or not. Finally, after three minutes of mulling this
thought over in her head, she shook his hand. "This one's name is Ma'kara, pleased to meet you." She smile, hoping it was warm
and friendly, despite the pain she felt inside for her loss.
Hasir yawned audibly. he felt his eyelids drooping, but, he tried really hard to keep his eyes open. He, however, lost the fight. He
could feel himself sliding sidways on the bench, he finally toppled sideways into the white khajiit's lap.
Ma'kara saw this as a comfort and pulled a fur out from her leather bag and placed it over Hasir. It wasn't long until Ma'kara nodded
off too.
Minutes later, Hasir could see golden rays of sunlight, even though his eyes were closed. Hasir blinked a few times, in order to get
the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. He reached over and gently shook Ma'kara awake.
"Thiis one was having a wonderful dream, why did Hasir wake her?" She asked, in her ruso-elsweyrian tone.
Hasir pointed to a city that was looming ever closer. "Ma'kara, we're almost there."
Just then, Ma'kara heard something far off in the distance and dived off the ship and swam to the city that lay a few feet to the
north; The Argonian raised an eyebrow as he wondered why she did what she did. He did have to think long on this, however,
because a massive wave rocked the ship enough to nearly capsize it. Hasir nearly went overboard as he was thrown backwards; He
heard a thud in the captain's quarters signalling that the black and white khajiit did the same as Hasir.
Hasir felt the waves snap the hull of the ship like a twig; He had to scramble up to the bow of the ship as the ship became
waterlogged and began to sink. He looked back in horror as the water level neared the bag; he groaned to himself as he saw the
water take the bag under as the ship began to go vertical. His hand shot out and grasped the strap of the bag just in time but at the
expense of the armor and weapons, which had toppled out when the flap of the bag fell open. He could just about see sunlight
glinting off of the red and golden scaled armor before the set of armor, his sword and the pieces of his bow fell out of sight. Luckily,
he was able to grab hold of the bag soon enough to save the bow and spear Hircine had gifted him with. Hasir crawled over to the
captain's quarters and wrenched it open,
"By the gods, S'ariq!?" Hasir rushed over to him and felt for a pulse, his face fell as he didn't feel one.
He glanced up and saw the khajiit's neck was positioned at an odd angle. Hasir hissed in anger as he nostrils flared, picking up the
red smear of sanguine liquid on the wooden panel. Hasir shook his head and closed Sariq's unseeing eyes with one claw. He then felt
a second shudder and the ship completely capsized, sending the Argonian and the dead Khajiit into the sea. The Argonian gulped
several lungfuls of water before, miming that he was drowning before he knew he was an Argonian and could breath underwater. He
watched S'ariq's corpse as it blew up like a balloon and released its' stored gases.
His face screwed up in disgust as he pinched his nostrils shut. He glared at the corpse,
"Eurgh! Hounds of Hircine, that's disgusting. Why couldn't you've you fallen facing one hundred and eighty degress to south?"
Hasir scoffed and turned away from the corpse; He looked down and to his left, a chest floated inches from the flooor of the ship. He
swam downward to it as if an invisible force had drawn him to it. Hasir tried to open the chest, it did not move; he groaned and
heaved all his weight on the chest, still it did not open. Hasir hissed in anger, pulled a lockpick from his trouser pocket and set to
work on the chest's lock. He had never picked a lock before and thought now was as good a time as any to start learning.
Hasir broke two lockpicks before he heard the telltale 'click' as he had aligned the pick and lock just right. In the water-logged chest
was a set of brown trousers and a white miner's shirt. he grabbed the chest's contents and maneuvered the discarded barrels and
chests along with wooden steps that led to dead ends. Hasir was about to give up when he saw a broken section of the ship that he
was able to swim through.
Hasir gulped great lungfuls of air as he resurfaced. He was disoriented for a short while but quickly regained his wits. He swam the
twelves lengths too riften. When he neared the city, he got caught in a downdraft that pulled him beneath the water. He had to swam
hard to avoid being ripped apart on the jagged rocks, he managed to resurface only for a few moments when he was pulled down
again; this dance of up and down continued for several minutes. On the last length before finding dry land he got pulled down again
and his head struck a rock; he slipped into unconsciousness, A snowy khajiit ran down the stairs next to the floodgates as he was
drifting dangerously close to them. The Khajiit picked up the pace and dove into the cold water; she grabbed the unconscious
Argonian's arm and pulled him ashore.
"Hasir, hold on, you must hold on." She cried frantically while she tried to wake him with chest compressions and mouth breathing,
nothing worked; the Argonian lay motionless on the steps. She looked up to the sky as she prayed for her friend's safety,
"Mother cat, I beg you, please let this one's friend be ok, let him live."
It was then that she caught a glimmer of red among the green scales; it looked like a felled tree who rings have been covered with
blood. Ma'kara smiled while her tail lashed excitedly behind her when she saw the Argonian's eyes flutter open weakly,
"Hello stranger and who might you be?" He asked her, bewildered
Ma'kara's fur stood on end like many tiny white toothpicks; she hoped that Hasir did not suffer amnesia, but that went out the
window when The Argonian fixed her with that vacant stare. she broke down and sobbed into her hands and pleaded with the gods,
"Hasir, you are pulling this one's leg, yes?" She aked, scrutinizing him further
A smile crept over Hasir's face as he looked into her blue eyes and chuckled,
"It was a joke," He tried to laugh but found it hurt even to do that, "As you can see, I am hurt, so can you, er, find a healer or
whatver to get my back onto my feet please?" He said.
He took a few breaths of air and even that hurt. Ma'kara frowned at him and pushed Hasir playfully in the back. The Argonian
stumbled and fell into the water. The Argonian grabbed Ma'kara by the ankle and pulled her in as well, She quickly swan out of the
water and shook her fur out and hissed angrily at the smirking Argonian; he swam over to the dock and was about to climb out when
something came up and dragged him to the depths of the river. Ma'kara roared with laughter as Hasir emerged from the river with
the slaughterfish in hand and raked his claw along the fish's soft underside. Hasir swam to the edge of the river and threw the
slaughterfish at her; she yelped and covered her head with her hands.
Hasir frowned,
"What? I thought khajiit liked fish." He said, confused
Ma'kara sighed, a bit annoyed, and nodded slowly,
"Yes, we khajiit do like fish, preferably with moon sugar sprinkled on top,"
Ma'kara threw her hands up in defeat,
"Wait, so, is your head really injured or is this an act?"
Hasir told her the injury was indeed real and that he could not fake that but that amnesia episode he had was fake. He grinned
broadly at Ma'kara saying that at least they had dinner for the night. Hasir turned to her, tail swaying side to side,
"Look, we can point fingers all we want but the fact remains that we need to get inside the city." He yelled, pointing toward the main
gate. "I was told by someone that someone in this city was looking to repent on his past mistakes."
Ma'kara stared at him in disbelief,
"Repent on his past?" She asked, confused
Hasir shook his head and walked past the khajiit, whose mind was still realing from worrying about what Hasir had said. She knew,
however, that if she healed him there was a good chance that he will make amends for whatever he did wrong to whoever this
creature was; where he was, though, she did not know.
Ma'kara sighed and rolled her eyes as she heard a thud next to her. Her eyes flashed amusedly in his direction,
"Act my furry backside." she scoffed, folding her arms in front of her
She stared at him and sighed as she looked down, opened her leather bag she had dropped beside her and placed the miner's shirt
and trousers inside. She then bent down and grabbed the unconscious Argonian and draped him, like a senche's fur, about her
shoulder and trudged to the city gates, mostly because of his cumbersome frame.
The snowy white khajiit went up the steps and went over to the city gates. Ma'kara saw that the city gates were barred shut and
manned by two city guards. Ma'kara approached a guard and asked him if he could enter the city.
The guard shook his head, knowing that she would ask this sooner or later; all visitors did,
"I'm sorry ma'am, but, I've been under orders not to let anyone inside the city."
Ma'kara pointed to the unconscious Argonian slung about her back,
"Excuse me sir, my friend here fell unconscious and he needs medical attention, can we please enter so he can get the help he
requires?" The guard nodded and allowed them to pass. She handed over the asked gold of ten septims and starred at the guard
evidently waiting for him to say something.
"Everything seems to be in order, you may enter khajiit." The guard squinted because of the intense rays of the sun, "I see
another creature, is he with you?" He asked, gesturing to Hasir.
Ma'kara nodded firmly; She pushed the city's wooden gates open and steeped inside. Ma'kara's jaw hit the floor as she gazed in
utter bewilderment as the city seemed to be run down. A guy Ma'kara had not seen before asked the khajiit if she was here to create
trouble, The khajiit said she was not; Ma'kara walked over to a temple partitioned by two moss-covered walls.
Ma'kara walked up the huge wooden steps and knocked on the oaken temple door; a dunmer woman answered,
"Hello, how may I help you?" She asked grinning at her
The khajiit gestured to her Argonian friend whose body and tail were limp as a dead fish and showed her the gash on his head; the
woman bade the odd couple to enter. The snowy khajiit entered and laid Hasir on an altar that lay before the shrine to Mara. Ma'kara
approached the figure that had edged closer to them and asked if there was a healer nearby because she knew that the goddess
would not heal anyone who entered her temple; Her sphere was love, not the healing arts.
The woman, Dinya Bralu, craned her neck toward the khajiit,
"Er, forgive me but why do you need a healer? Are you injured?" She asked
Ma'kara shook her head and placed the unconscious Argonian on the bench,
"No, this one is fine, but," she gestured to the Argonian, "this one's friend needs healing."
Dinya looked thoughtful, tracing his entire body with her hands. She stopped, eyes wide, as her finger ran out a red hill of raised
scales,
"Oh dear," She cried, "I am no healer but my husband, Maramal, will be more than glad to help."
Ma'kara thanked her, got up and scoured the entire temple for Maramal; during her search she ran across a redguard male wearing
tan priest robes, he turned away from what he was doing and smiled at her,
"Hello, er, how may I help you on this fine afternoon?" He asked cordially
The white khajiit explained her situation including the part where Hasir got his injury. Maramel nodded and followed her out of the
temple's side room. Maramel's eyes nearly bugged out as he beheld the unconscious Argonian. He did the same injury check as
Dinya had done and like her, he ran his hand over the angry red crater that lay among the green scales.
Ma'kara gasped as the redguard priest's hands became enveloped in a bright yellow light, much brighter than the standard healing
spell. The spell did the trick; the red crater was rising as though it had become a small mesa and spraed out and suddenly turned
the same shade of green as the surrounding scales.
Ma'kara went to grab Hasir and take him out of the temple but Maramel shook his head frowning,
"He will need to stay here, he needs his rest." He said quietly, "but, if you wish you can wait on one of the temple's many benches,
or..." His voice trailed off, looking up and seeing that the blue and white sky from a few hours before had began to turn yellow and
finally, black as night.
He crashed back as if he didn't just trail off seconds before,
"...or you can sleep here, we have numerous beds in the temple," He held up her hand as she was about to give him gold, "No,
keep it; I am doing this out of the kindness of my heart. Go now, you will find the room on your immediate left, just past the statue
of Mara.
She followed his directions and found the room - it was nothing special, it had a small basin next to the bed that lay in the corner
opposite the door. She also found a change of clothes laying on the foot of the bed - an exquisite blue shirt and matching pants
along with a pair of blue shoes sitting near the bed's footboard.
She got undressed and placed her clothes, folded, on the nightstand that was nothing more than a small oaken chest. She turned
out the light and got into bed. She had a nightmare that she was awake in the temple and Hasir was awake but, instead of a lizard
there were two wolves-one white and one black, tearing the khajiit apart.
Morning came and Ma'kara leapt excitedly from her bed, washed in the basin and got dressed into her clothes; stuffing her old ones
into her bag. She emerged into the main room of the temple, seeing Maramel, Dinya and, more importantly, Hasir smiling at her.
Ma'kara glided over to him and hugged him,
"By the moons, Hasir, this one is glad you are awake. How aare you feeling?"
The Argonian said that he was fine and that they should get to the Riften jail because that's where his friend was to be found. Both
he and the khajiit thanked Maramel and Dinya for their hospitality and walked out of the temple, one after the other. The Khajiit
joined the argonian as he meandered through the street and crossed a wooden bridge, turned left and walked down the stone
temple steps to a structure that sat perfectly between two moss-covered walls.
The pair walked up the stairs but did not go inside the main oaken doors, instead, they approached a smaller wooden door with a
sign beside it that proclaimed proudly that this door leads to the jail of Riften. The two creatures pushed the door open and stepped
iinside.
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