Cearbhail:

A good long chapter today. Maybe not my longest, but it's still pretty up there. And it's not completely done yet. So... anyway, see you later.

=^^= Enjoy...

Dear Ruby,

I had Nexi teleport this to you to let you know that we all made it out alive. So… this is Ahmbra. I'm here with everyone. We lost a few prisoners as we ran away, and the Dwemer army was pushing really hard on us to drive us back into some sort of trap. But between Nexi, Ksaan, Yungsung, Mr. Glowy Eyes, and me… well… we took care of the army. Good thing that floating Dwemer guy with the energy hand cannons didn't try to follow us. Once he noticed that I wasn't his target, he flew after someone else. I think he's after you. After all… we're the only two Khajiits girls in the entire dimension right now, I think. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm ok. We're all ok. But I need to know if you're ok. It's been a few hours, and we've been waiting to see you… or Lydia… or Ashana. We know you three got separated from us on purpose, to distract the Dwemer and see to your healing but… we thought you'd catch up within an hour or something.

If you need us to come in and help you get out, just say the word. Nexi had included a quill, another letter, and a pre-inscribed teleportation seal on an envelope. It just needs a slight spark of magicka and it will teleport back to us. So… write us something. Anything. Tell us you're ok, tell us you have the situation under control… or tell us to come help you. We're ready if you are. Just give us the word.

Ahmbra Dragonis.

…

Looking over the note in my hand, I could not help but think that… if they could teleport something like this to us… couldn't Nexi just teleport us out of here by herself? I quickly wrote down my reply, telling her our situation and if Nexi could teleport us out of here. As soon as I completed my letter, I folded in into the envelope and with a touch of magicka watched it disappear into a ball of Shadow. I hoped I would get a letter back soon. I asked if there was a way for me to be teleported back. Nexi would probably either know the answer or get really mad and destroy stuff until she could figure it out. Probably the latter. Stupid curse, even though I'm not sure any of this is to blame for my curse.

I turned my attention from the vanishing letter over to Lydia and our host: Noish. We spent the last hour walking through the town, walking past plenty shopping malls and other things we don't have in our dimension: like movie theaters. I have no idea why we don't have any movie theaters, but we need to get some. A giant projection screen made out of reviewing quartz or something. We can do it… I know we can. I'm adding it to my many projects. My guild will revolutionize the world. We will have movies!

"So, what did the letter say?" Lydia asked as she looked in my general direction. Hard to tell; her face is covered in a Dwemer helmet.

"Ahmbra was just telling me that everyone is safe and sound in Riverwood. And to ask me if they need to come in and save us."

Lydia sighed. "We worked so hard to make sure we'd at least get someone home safe. To ask them to come back would only put more lives at stake again. We can't let them come back for us."

I was about to tell her what I wrote in my reply when a portal ripped open in front of me. A response letter popped up out of the portal, falling right into my hands… well, falling once I reached out and snatched it. I ripped the letter open and read it aloud. "Unfortunately, Ruby… I would have to be there in person to shadowport you back. I would have to tattoo you with the specific oil and make sure it was perfectly crafted to every inch… just to make sure all of you made it through the portal. I would also have to set up a return point, one drawn out with the same marking. Shadowporting living things is harder with old Shadow shamanism. The main reason is that I have to not only use my own energy to create the portal, but I have to sync it with your own energy… which is very hard for me right now. I'm just not strong enough to shadowport you. I can shadowport to you… but after that… I can't say that I'll be any help past that. Write me back with your orders, Nexi."

I closed the letter and looked over at Lydia. "So…"

Lydia shook her head. "While we could use her help, having her here will only add to the amount of people we'll need to escape with. And if shit hits the windmill… well… she's not experienced in combat."

"I would have to disagree." Ashana said from beside Lydia. "She handled quite a massive force of Dwemer soldiers on her own. She seems to know her chosen craft, which is oil and colored paint warfare. Having her here might allow us to escape easily."

"We should only have her here if we have no choice." Aku said. "If there are too many of us running around, people will start to get suspicious. Most of us don't even wear armor because of how hot it can be on a common day. It would be weird to see so many armored women running around all at once. Most squads are equal… and always in eight. We're already pushing that boundary, which was why we were challenged earlier today. If Noish hadn't been the General's daughter… things would have ended differently for us. It would have ended in a fight, and possibly our defeat."

So, that was something we'd have to deal with tomorrow. If we left early enough, there wouldn't be a lot of people up running around anyway. But… if Nexi could teleport us if she was able to set up our marker… she could just teleport to us and then come with us. I liked that alternative better. I wrote my response into the letter she sent along with her reply. When I sealed the envelope, the letter vanished into a ball of Shadow. Now… we just had to wait for her.

I looked over to Noish. "Ok, I've sent my reply to Nexi. She'll prepare our teleportation circle… or whatever she's going to prepare. Meanwhile, we're going to lay low in your home and get cleaned up. When she's ready, she'll come over to us and transport us back."

Noish, still not wearing her helmet, smiled. "So… sleepover?"

I nodded, which was hard in this helmet. "Yup, sleepover."

Noish turned around and started heading for her house. "Well, we're almost there so… we just need to continue down this road and… we're there." She only took one step before coming to a closed gate. I wondered why she stopped us here. I didn't see anything past the gate but a long stretch of road leading to what looked like a castle.

"Wow." Lydia said from right beside me. "This place makes my palace seem like a cottage."

Noish shrugged. "Dad believes that it's the little things that count." She said as she walked over to a blinking box with rows of numbers and stuff. She pushed a button, leaning down over the box. "Hey, it's me. Mind opening the gate."

"Right away, Mistress." A voice called through the box. Ah… must be a callbox or something like that.

I looked at the gate as it started to slide open. I didn't see any rope pulling it, or see any guards nearby operating the gat opener. I couldn't believe half the stuff going on right now, but I guess the Dwemer were more advanced than us. They are really good at building mechanical stuff, so I couldn't let myself get confused whenever I see something I don't understand. If I pulled out a crystal wand and started shooting lightning over the place, I'm sure I'd confuse Noish just as easily.

As soon as the gate finished opening, Noish nodded to us. "Come on. I'll take you to our cart. Our chauffeur will take us to the house."

I looked over at Lydia as she started looking around. "Well, well, well. This is quite the welcoming. Let me guess… you have a giant line of maids and servants waiting for us at the door, bowing at us as soon as we enter, all of them saying, 'Welcome home, master.'"

Noish chuckled a bit before looking back at us. "What? Don't be ridiculous. I'm just a normal girl." She said as we started taking our seats in what looked like a horseless carriage. The carriage looked very sleek, very stylish… very cherry red. As soon as Noish slid into the vehicle, the rest of us followed. The seats were very comfortable and probably made out of something even richer than leather. As soon as I sat down, I felt like I could fall asleep on the spot. I was also the last one to enter the carriage, so I had to squeeze myself into the seat as the Dwemer waiting in front of the carriage walked back to shut the door behind me. I felt so squashed between the door and Aku, and this armor was not helping.

"Can I take this armor off yet?" I looked over at Noish.

She shook her head. "Not until we are safely behind the door of my suite." She looked back at the driver. "Frederickinlishtein. You heard nothing."

"I seem to have developed situational deafness, Mistress. I did not hear a thing just now." He replied as he stuck a key into the mechanical carriage. There was a soft purr, like what I would do in the middle of sleeping, and the carriage sparked to life. We started moving at a quickened pace along the road towards the castle.

"So…you're rich." Was all I could say to Noish. I honestly had no other comments, no other whit that I could possibly conceive at this moment. That and I'm still trying to figure out how this carriage worked.

She shrugged. "My father is the military governor of this town, and one of ten Master Generals. We are a very military-based society and that means my father is pretty much a king of an entire nation. And we've had nothing but time to build stuff. My family has earned their spot the hard way… and every child is awarded some sort of commander position because of our family's strong war background. If you did not hear, I'm Captain Narmenoishproanwinsh. I may only be 15 but I'm already on the pathway to leading my own unit onto Tamriel." She stopped there, not mentioning how she was also throwing that all away to help the rebels stop that from happening. I'm guessing the driver's deafness might become defective at any point if she said the wrong thing.

I was about to ask her something just as the vehicle came to a sudden stop. Since there were two rows of seats, Ashana was sitting right in front of me. As soon as the vehicle came to a stop, I crashed right into Ashana. Nothing weird happened. We're both covered head-to-toe in Dwemer armor after all. It did give me a headache when I slammed into her chest plate though. And I was the only one with a defective seatbelt. Shabla curse.

As soon as I was able, I opened up the door and scrambled out. I didn't wait for the driver to open the door for me; I was too ready to see just how big the castle was. I've seen the Numidium, how big it was. Now… imagine a castle designed for one of those to live in. A whole castle huge enough to hold a Numidium court, like how our castle in Winterhold hosted our courts. And that would be a great way of describing the castle.

Everyone piled out behind me. Lydia whistled at the size of the castle. "Wow… size really does matter. I'll be sure to let Asger know."

I rolled my eyes underneath my mask. "I'll pretend that I'm deaf at the current moment."

"Let's get this over with." Noish said as she led us up to the doorway. The driver bowed to her as she led us past the mechanical carriage. The rest of us all walked behind her as she led us up the stairs. "Ok… just to let you know… this proves nothing." She said as she looked back at Lydia.

She opened the main doorway; and inside was a long red carpet that led into the entryway. Except the entry way was the size of Winterhold's courtroom. And lining the red carpet was a line of maids and servants, all bowing at us as we walked into the entryway. "Welcome home, Mistress." The maids and servants all said in the same singsong melody.

"Yeah, yeah." She said as she waved them off. "You know the drill. Scatter and get back to your lives. Oh… one thing though." She pointed over to us. "These are my friends, and they deserve as much respect as you give me. They are very tired, and very hungry… and very shy. Please take their orders, prepare their meals, and leave them at my personal suite's door. We will be bathing and will be expecting our meal waiting by my entranceway before we are done relaxing in my hot tub. Chop, chop." She clapped her hands. The maids and servants all bowed lower before they turned to swarm over us.

A whole swarm of maids swarmed over me, all trying to take my orders for what I wanted to eat and drink. I'm not good with this type of stuff. I know, I know… I'm a princess too. I get maids to do stuff for me all the time… as well as my crystal spirits. And I know that I am no better than any customer that used to buy me, because I would use Jet to satisfy my fantasies of Maleek when I was younger. But… I promise I never got too weird with Jet. I only ever kissed him… and that's as far as he ever let me get to him.

As the maids swarmed over me, all trying to get me to tell them what I wanted, the only thing I could say was, "I want ramen."

"Ramen?" The all echoed me.

One of them actually scratched their heads at that. "You can have anything in the world…we have the best chefs in the entire Soul Cairn… and you want ramen?"

I nodded. "Yes… ramen with beef and chicken." I reached up to scratch my head, forgetting that I was wearing an entire suit of armor.

Noish scoffed. "Ignore her, she's very shy, like I said. Go ahead and prepare some ramen for her, but as a side dish. Give her the finest of our lobsters and a plate of shrimp. The house special."

I looked over at Noish. "Does the house special include large amounts of honey?"

She nodded. "Of course it does."

"I'm allergic."

She shrugged. "Make it the allergy-aid honey." That was a thing? I love this place already. The maids all nodded and ran off. My friends were finishing up their orders and the maids were scampering off to get our meal started. As soon as all the maids and servants were gone, Noish audibly let a sigh of relief go. "Finally. Come now…my private suite is just three wings to the south, and six wings to the east. Should take us five minutes to walk if we take our time and only two if we hurry." Ok… maybe the castle isn't as large as I thought it was earlier.

We followed behind Noish as she speedily led us through the hallways. Every so often, we'd run into more servants that would bow at Noish and clean up after our messy boots as we trekked through the pristine hallways. I hadn't noticed just how muddy our boots were… and just how clean the floors were. We left quite the mess behind us. Every few steps I would see a fancy chandelier hanging over our heads, unique metallic statues or maybe offline automatons… and after passing what I expect was the library, we finally came up to Noish's room.

She paused as we came up to her door. "Ok… once we go through these doors… you can finally take off your armor. In the room off to the back right, you'll see my private bathhouse. Grab yourselves some towels and get yourselves in the hot water. The sooner we get all of you clean of all foreign pollutants… the sooner we can be sure that you won't compromise us." She opened the door and we all walked inside. As soon as I walked into the room, a portal of Shadow opened up right in front of me.

A letter fell through the portal. I sighed as I grabbed the falling letter. I waited until everyone was inside the room, and Noish had shut the door behind her before opening the letter up. I cleared my throat and pulled off my helmet, happy to breathe anything but recycled air. "My return circle is set up in Riverwood. In this letter is a folded Shadowport circle. Unfold the circle and lay it out. With a spark of your magicka, I should be able to join you for this sleepover. Ahmbra wishes to join us… so I figured why not? If you're even wondering about the Nord girl… she's preoccupied with her boyfriend. Don't tell her I said that though. Just warm up the portal and I'll be there faster than Ksaan puking on a moving vehicle. Nexi."

I looked over at Lydia, shrugging. "Well, I said I'd let her join us so…" I started unfolding the portal sheet of paper. It was a small triangle folded piece of paper, or at least I thought it was. As I started unfolding it, that tiny piece of paper became several feet long and wide. I was exhausted at just how every fold seemed to have three more folds behind it. She must have used some sort of Alteration or Illusion magicka to make this thing fit inside the envelope folded the way it was. Once I had the whole thing unfolded, it took up a small section of the room.

Looking at the design of the circle, I was amazed at the detail put into the thing. So many colors, twists, sharp corners, precise Daedric runes. Nexi really knew her stuff after all. I'm proud to have her in my guild if she can actually make stuff like this. And seeing her in combat was something else to. She had a lot of magicka to pull off what she did. I wonder what she'll accomplish with some instruction.

I closed my eyes, bending down to lay a finger on the outer line of the circle. I fed a small bit of magicka into the circle's activation and that set the whole thing off. For a few seconds, it was just humming but then a giant portal of Shadow appeared the center. As soon as the circle fell apart, there were four people standing in the circle. Now… I expected Nexi and Ahmbra… I did not expect Dad and Ksaan. And that surprise made me jump back in surprise.

"Dad?" I almost screamed too loudly. I had to cover my mouth and glance at the doorway for Noish's family. When I didn't hear anyone bursting down the door, I looked back at him. He wasn't dressed in his normal monk robes. He was wearing what I assumed was Khajiit armor. It looked very loose and flowing fabric with leather armor plates covering the normal protection zones. In the middle of the chest was a crescent moon crest.

Dad smiled at me. "M'aiq was worried about his Nisha."

"Shh!" Noish said as she forced her way over to Dad. "Don't say that name around here! My father would have her head if she knew she was in my room!" She whispered very fiercely to him.

Dad smiled in his usual crazy fashion. "Ok… M'aiq understands." He looked around the room. "This is a nice room, very Dwemer… if Dwemer were futuristic."

Noish rolled her eyes. "Thanks." She looked over at me. "So… you invited more Khajiits… into a place that is detecting every little piece of pollution specifically looking for… Khajiits?"

I shrugged. "Not my call." I pointed at the very fascinated Nexi as she looked over every little piece of Dwemer tech. "That would be her fault."

"Yo." Nexi waved to me as she started playing with what looked like a small doll. A doll? Looking for the first time at the massive room, I could see for the first time just what was in it. The room was more pink and yellow than Dwemer rust. Of course, very little in this castle looked like Dwemer rust. Sure the walls were all made from Dwemer metal, but beyond that… there were many draperies that were very decorative covering the Dwemer rusty look. And Noish's room was much like that. Very colorful. Her carpet was some sort of geometric design that was mostly yellow and blue, and it meshed together pretty well. It was really soft too. I could tell through my Dwemer boots. Oh… right.

I started pulling off my gauntlets and my boots. It felt great to out of that armor. I called out to Ksaan to help me pull off the Dwemer cuirass. It slid right off, but my fur was pretty ruffled when it slid off. It hurt when some of my fur got pinched. I think it left with the armor. Good thing I know some Alteration magicka that I can use to help regrow my fur. Still hurt like shab though.

It felt great to have that armor off though. And as I looked up, everyone else was taking off their armor as well. I walked over to help Ashana with hers, but I guess she didn't need my help. She pulled out one of her wands and the armor just levitated off her body. She floated in the air, the gauntlet she was still wearing, the boots, the helmet, and the cuirass all just floated right off her. Then she landed gracefully, still glowing with crystal magicka until she was settled on the ground. She looked over at me with a small smile. "Thank you for the effort, Nisha."

"Shh!" Noish whispered to her. "We can't use that name. Her new name should be…"

"Narmen? Are you home already?" The door leading out to the hallway opened up. And… I was standing in front of the door with barely anything on except a shirt and a skirt. Anyone would notice I'm a Khajiit. I tried to run or grab something, but I didn't have enough time. That door practically flew open. And in walked an older looking Dwemer woman. She had long deep brown wavy hair, brown eyes… looked a lot like Noish, only older and wiser. She was wearing something close to silk that had similar geometric patterns throughout it. "Your father…" She paused as her eyes fell on top of me. "Um…" She looked from me to my stripping friends. And then she looked at Noish. She shook her head. "Again?"

Noish looked at the woman. "Mom?! Don't you knock anymore?"

She crossed her arms. "Well, it's a good thing I don't." She closed the door behind her, locking it from the inside. "What would your father think if he saw this?" She looked at me. "Is this that Nisha girl he's always complaining about?" Noish nodded. Noish's mother turned to look at me. "Do you honestly know how to close the dimensional rift connecting the Soul Cairn to Tamriel?"

I shrugged. "We're working on it."

She nodded. "My husband as a good reason to worry then." She looked at Noish, sighing. "If your father sees her…"

Noish nodded. "He will finally have his way to go to war. And… neither of us want that so…"

The mother nodded, rushing to the doorway. "Don't worry, dear. I'll keep him busy tonight if he comes home. Do you have a way to get her out of this room undetected?"

That's when Nexi walked up. "I plan on teleporting us out of the room."

The mother smiled. "Good enough for me." She looked over at Noish. "Take care, daughter. I assume you're leaving with them?" Noish nodded, and the mother frowned. "Please come home when you feel you are able."

"I will, mom."

Her mother smiled. "You look so happy. It's nice seeing you with some friends for a change."

"MOM!"

"Right, good luck, honey." She closed the door behind her. Wow… that was something. Her mom really is a normal parent. And Noish is a typical teenage daughter. Go figure. At least, I'm assuming this is normal. I really have no idea.

I cannot believe I was found out so easily. I had to be more careful. If that had been her father… there would have been a very different conversation just then. Probably would have ended with that giant Numidium chasing me out of his castle. And I didn't want something like that. I would never make it. Too many odds against me.

"Wow… that was close." Ksaan said from beside me. He reached for his chest, taking in deep breaths. "I almost lost control there for a second." I looked to his hand to see that he wasn't wearing his ring anymore. He must have lost it during our all-out fight at the soul converter.

"No more talking!" Noish said, walking over to us. "All you foreign people get yourselves in a bath, now! We need to wash all that crap off of you and make you smell like you're from here."

Everyone rushed to the giant bathhouse in the far back room. Wow… I thought my swimming pool was large… this was probably just as big. We all piled into the large room, all scrambling to grab some towels and stuff. Did I have to bathe with my dad and brother in the same room? That seemed…wrong. Stupid curse.

As if Ashana was reading my mind, she pulled out one of her wands. "Every male on the other side of the bath please." They all walked over there as fast as they could. As soon as they got there, Ashana waved her hand and a giant clear white wall of crystal magicka appeared in the middle of the room. I couldn't see anyone on the other side, but it left more than enough space for all of us to bathe.

"Wow, this wall is impressive." I heard Dad's voice easily enough.

"It is Illusion magicka. It forces us to think there is a solid wall when there is not. I have set up rules that we think it's real, so we can't pass through it even if we want to. But objects and water can." Ashana summed up as she put her wand away and started pulling her clothes off. I forced myself to look away. No reason for me to miss Maleek any more than I already do. I just might have to marry Ashana instead.

"Your clothes will need to be washed as well. Toss them in this rotating whirlpool and it will wash that foreign crap off it. Your armor will have to be placed under that waterfall over there." She pointed to the waterfall on the other side. "Just toss it to the men and they'll take care of it. Right, Aku?"

"Right." He said back.

I started pulling off my own ruined clothes, tossing them in the whirlpool near the corner of the room. Clothes from the men's side came flying through the wall over in bundles and we rushed as we threw them in the whirlpool too. As soon as everything was taken care of, I finally let myself slide into the bubbling hot bubble bath. Oh man… it felt too good to be true. I haven't had one of these since…well… yesterday, I think. This could be a fun night for us. I closed my eyes and leaned back as I let the bubbles massage me. Nothing tonight will top this.

That's when I heard the bell ring near the doorway. "Oh, dinner has arrived."

"Dinner?" Nexi asked as she sat up. "Do I get some?"

"They always make extra if I have friends over, just in case." Does she have friends over often? From what I could tell, she acted like she didn't have many friends, if any at all. Her mother seemed surprised to see her with someone, but not surprised that she was hiding someone in her room.

"And how often is that?" Lydia asked from the other side of the pool. She was in the middle of washing her hair. Oh, I needed to grow mine out. I started feeding Alteration magicka into my mane and my fur, willing it to grow longer. As if my magic, duh, I could feel my hair pull itself back out. Too bad it wouldn't be dyed like the rest of my mane. It would have one awkward auburn patch just sticking out. If I make it long enough, I can braid it and not worry about it.

"Well… this would be the first time, actually." Noish looked away from us. "People avoid me, or they try to use me. Either way… the only guests I've had in this house are usually pets." She looked over at me. "Mom probably thought I was trying to adopt you because I'd always come home with the lost souls of cats and dogs that were used in necromancy." Wow… so that's what her mom meant by 'again' when she looked at me. Noish looked away from us, grabbing onto her arm as she did so. "They were the only real friends I had. They never judged me, never… tried to use my status and wealth to get what they wanted. And that's why I like Aku so much. He's never tried to use me for anything."

"You like Aku?" I could hear a slight defensive tone in Ashana's voice.

"Not like that, Ashana." Aku replied from the other side of the wall. "She's a member of the resistance, but we're all friends and stuff."

The look in Noish's face did not reassure me of that thought. "Um…" I looked from Noish over to Ashana. Ashana was trying to read the same expression from Noish. "I'm not sure that…" A sudden thought came to me. I should keep myself out of this one. Whatever was going on here… it was between the three of them, and I should not get involved. Odd, I know… I love getting involved, but this just seemed too… fragile. Maybe later I should address this. Everyone was looking at me to finish my statement though. So, I finished it. "I'm not sure that…" I pawed at my growing mane. "That this natural color with my blue dye will look nice. Can I get a second opinion?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Nice save, Ruby." It became a bit of an awkward silence after that. Everyone just pretty much bathed quietly. Even Ahmbra and Nexi took the hint and kept the theatrics down while they tried to get the dirt off their fur and scales. Jeez… one little statement could fix this. What statement would that be?

"I'm getting hungry." Ahmbra muttered.

Cearbhail:

So...

I just want everyone to know that the Dwemer have the same technology along the lines of us. Cars, planes... stuff like that. DVD players... yup. So, that carriage was actually a hot-red sports limo. With a bar and everything. Anyway, see you next chapter.