The Argonian felt like he stepped into another realm; the grey stone walls seemed a farcry from the wood paneling he had seen in
the abandoned house basement. He could only see a few inches in front of his face. He stood there, his mind reeling from the
sudden absence of light. He stood perfectly still to allow his reptilian eyes, not graced with the same ability that the khajiit possess,
to adjust as he allowed his eyes to acclimate to the evegrowing darkness. When Hasir's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he saw
he stood in a room with two large grey wooden doors on either side that led off to other areas of the room the Argonian stood in.
Hasir saw a green and purple scaled Argonian in what looked like black leather armor approached the bewildered Argonian,
"Another Argonian huh? She said, barking a laugh, "let me guess, shadowscale right? By Sithis, the hist just plop you lot out like
flesh flies from a flesh fly pod don't they?" She asked, laughing at the Argonian's awestruck expression.
Hasir closed his mouth but did not look away from the Argonian. Ocheeva grinned and told him her name and where they were.
Hasir returned the gesture and extended his clawed hand,
"Pleased to meet you Ocheeva, my name is Hasir," He said, extending his hand towards hers. He scratched his neck in
embarassment, "I, er... well I am not a shadowscale... at least, I don't think I am, why do you ask?"
The female Argonian led him over to a table in the corner and sat him down, saying she would be right back. Hasir groaned as his
head exploded into a series of images again; a map of Cyrodiil, a daedric shrine, a khajiit that he hardly knew and finally the hist
uttering that plea again.
Hasir cried out as he toppled backwards, hitting his head on the hard stone wall near where the table stood, As Ocheeva rounded the
corner, her claw clamped to a fellow assassin's shoulder,
"Hasir, may I introduce y-" She stopped mid-sentence, her mouth frozen in fear as she rushed over to Hasir, helped him to his feet
uprighted his chair and helped him into it once she had finished checking him for any signs of concussion. Satisfied that he was
alright, she motioned for the red Argonian to take the seat to Hasir's right and sat down in the chair opposite the soon to be
family member.
Hasir rubbed his head and asked Ocheeva who the tertiary Argonian was. She smiled as she gestured to the red Argonian who
smiled, which was hard for Hasir to discern from under the Argonian's extra large hood,
"Hasir, Ocheeva said, looking at him kindly, may I introduce Teinaava."
Hasir tilted his head in the male Argonian's direction, "Lucien told me that there were two, soon to be three, shadowscales in this
brotherhood of shadows, is this true?"
Ocheeva nodded,
"Yes, this is true." She said, nodding. She went bug-eyed as she reached into her leather bag and slid some leather armor like the
set she wore across to Hasir.
He scrutinized the armor with narrowed eyes,
"What is this?" He asked her, picking up the black and red cuirass, holding it at arm's length as if it were covered in some foul
substance.
Ocheeva laughed, shaking her head in disbelief,
"You silly reptile, it isn't toxic, go ahead, put it on." She said, waving her hands in his direction. Hasir did as she asked, he put on the
armor, backwards. Ocheeva and Teinava burst out laughing, much to Hasir's embarrasement. "Hello? Er, who turned out the lights,
Ocheeva? Teinaava?" He asked stupidly as he stood up, tripping over his tail and falling onto the cold stone floor.
Ocheeva went over to him and helped him to his feet while Teinaava worked feverishly to reposition the armor to its proper
alignment. Hasir grinned as he thanked them each in turn,
"Thanks, anyway, erm, you didn't answer my question, Ocheeva. How do you and Teinaava know each other?" He said looking
from one to the other. Ocheeva sighed and sat down and the table again, beckoning the other two Argonians to join her.
When they were all seated, she told Hasir how she and Teinaava met,
"In the land of Blackmarsh, they are a sect of Argonians called shadowscales, Saxhleel who were born under the sign of the shadow.
The moment we are hatched, our eggtenders offered us to the dark brotherhood in order to train us in the way of stealth and
murder. Since Blackmarsh's dark brotherhood is not as, erm, skilled as other sanctuaries on Tamriel we are more often than not
spirited away to other parts of Tamriel."
She looked across the table at Hasir's slightly open mouth and relaxed eyes. Ocheeva motioned between her and Teinaava,
"We are two such shadowscales, myself and Teinaava, "She said as she smiled widely at Hasir. we were born under the sign of the
shadow in the same clutch." She looked at Hasir and tried to explain in a better way that he would understand. "Er, a clutch
is... group of eggs placed around hatching pools." Hasir gaped at her, his tail standing at attention, "Wait, are you two...?" He
asked, gesturing between the two Argonians bewildered.
Ocheeva nodded, steepled her hands on the table and leant closer to Hasir; her glare seemed to pierce his scales,
"Egg-mates. yes, we entered the dark brotherhood together as hatchlings and trained together. We rose through the ranks together
as well. We will train you too if you wish."
She stood up and started to walk to the door on the opposite end of the sanctuary with her eggmate when she stopped, and called
out to Hasir,
"Oh and, er, welcome to the dark brotherhood. An Imperial here doles out the contracts for the budding assassin, if you perform
adequately enough, than I might have tasks for you to perform. Introduce yourself to all the members of the brotherhood." With that
said, she opened the door andshe and Teinaava disappeared behind it, one after the other.
Hasir got up from the table and walked down the adjoining corridor, past a room that had a door the same color as the one Ocheeva
had disappeared into. A few feet ahead, he saw a wood elf and an orc talkng to one another; the latter was expressing his extreme
displeasure,
"Sister, why must we employ sneaking and skulking in our contracts? I want to do contracts my way and not adhere to a set list of
rules. Let us forego the formalities and kill as we please." The orc, Gogron gro-Balmog huffed angrily as the wood elf retorted that
they were assassins not fighter and if he felt that way he should join the fighters guild.
The wood elf smiled as she thought she had put the orc in his place. Hasir walked casually past them, head down as he made his
way to the room at the far end of the corridor. Hasir looked up, his eyes beholding a mean-faced khajiit. The khajiit, who by his
expression didn't like many other races, snarled at the Argonian,
"Ah, a new candidate of the guild, eh?" He asked poking Hasir in the chest, "Listen and listen well Argonian, I assume you don't like
me and I sure as Oblivion don't like you, so keep out of my face and we'll be just fine." The khajiit, who had introduced himself as
M'raaj Daar, said in a raspy voice. The Argonian ignored this, walked down the steps towards the room at the end of the corridor and
opened the grey door.
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