Two days later my thrall that I had sent to find out about guar hides had still not returned. I decided not to wait, as I was fearful that this woman would leave the Halfway Tavern. I had had two pack guar bought the day before, so I had them hitched up in the early hours of the morning, and then chose two members of my thrall (Sol and Balis, the first members of my thrall), one slave, one vampire (Milie Hastien) to come with me. We were all armed and clothed, and at five in the morning we set off, me and Milie in the wagon and the others outside.

Just as the wagon was pulling out of the gates to my stronghold, there was a knock on the door. In came Nalcarya.

"Swims-In-Shadows, could I please get some of the slaves blood?" she asked,

"Why?" I asked. She wasn't a vampire, she didn't need blood.

"I'm working on something that could make blood drinking slightly less...cumbersome. I'll explain when you return. Can I take a small vial worth of blood?"

"Yeah. Take it from any of the slaves, except for the ones in my thrall. If you need more, try to avoid taking too much from any one slave. You don't want to weaken them too much."

"Thank you, Swims-In-Shadows. Good luck."

She got out of the wagon, and we continued.

We made the journey in about six hours, during which time Milie and I drank some Shein and began to discuss our plans.

"We have a general sort of dress code at the moment; slaves wear rags, thrall and vampires wear armor or nice clothes, but I was thinking, I think we need a more specific dress code. Laboring slaves wear one thing, blood giving slaves wear another, thrall guards wear a specific type of armor, vampiric warriors wear a different type of armor, that sort of thing." Milie explained.

I smiled, "Milie, this is why I love you." I took out a piece of parchment, some ink, and a quill, "What do you think each one should wear?"

"Well, I think that general vampires, ones that don't have a specific position or role, should simply get nice robes and clothes, known to the tailors as 'exquisite' clothing. I can make or order that. I think male vampire warriors should wear different armor to female vampire warriors. Male vampires should wear armor that shows stealth, or power, or invokes fear. Female vampires should wear armor that shows their beauty, yet still shows power. Female vampires that aren't warriors should wear similar sorts of things, but with less emphasis on the show of power."

"Where will we get this armor?"

"There is a woman known as Lady Qarla. She specializes in this sort of thing. Her clothing is known often as "Gothic". I also heard that Meldor the armorer recently imported "Amazonian" armor. Both of these things are likely very expensive, but they would be the best for our female vampires, I think."

[Author's Note: I'm not a goth.]

"You are truly brilliant, Milie. What about the male combat vampires, though?"

"I'm not sure. I've never seen any armor that would suit it perfectly."

The answer came within a few minutes. The wagon door was wrenched open and a person completely clothed in black armor leapt in. They threw a dart at me, and I dodged just in time. They then drew a short sword and leapt at me. Again, I dodged just in time and grabbed their shoulders. Milie darted forward and wrenched the person's helmet off and sunk her fangs into their neck. The person, a male dunmer, let out a gasp and struggled wildly. I had Milie release him and I threw him onto the floor. He looked between Milie and I, his eyes wide with fear. Clearly he hadn't been expecting this.

"Who are you?" I demanded sharply.

"I have no name." he replied, stubbornly.

"What is your title?"

"I have no title."

"Who are you working for?"

He was silent. I repeated my question, a little more angrily. He HAD tried to kill me.

"Answer me, assassin, or I will feed you to my vampires!"

He smiled. "The Dark Brotherhood bids you hello, Swims-In-Shadows." There was a flash of fire, and he collapsed, his face and hand charred. He had committed suicide. After contemplating all this, I picked up the man's helmet.

"Milie," I said, "I think we've found our armor."