I bought a small pack in the market, along with some supplies. I considered buying a proper sword, but cringed at how much that would take from my funds. Instead, I returned to the fighters guild and found an ashwood staff with steel tips among the scattered training weapons. I figured nobody would miss it for a couple days. Besides, I still had magic to bolster my fighting, even if it was a fraction of its former power. I'd have to practice and test my spells along the way so I'd know my limits when danger neared.

Ajira met me at the city's southern wall. I'd been waiting for her, browsing the mages guild charter on the steps of the silt strider platform. She wore her plain blue mage robes and a satchel. The only weapon I saw was a small knife, probably for botany more than combat.

"I don't suppose the silt strider could drop us off." Ajira shook her head, barely acknowledging me. She stood and followed me out of the city alongside the Odai river. The sky was cloudless with a slight breeze. I pulled the oilcloth map from my purse on my belt. "Now if I remember correctly, we have to cross a bridge just outside the walls."

Ajira walked past me and turned left a few feet ahead where the bridge was hidden from my sight by a tree. I tucked the map away and picked up my staff, not wanting to be left behind. She never looked back to see if I was following.

"Ok, I'll follow you," I clarified loudly. She sniffed derisively. "Are you going to maintain this passive-aggressive attitude for the whole trip, because that'll get old really fast. If you remember, I didn't assign you to follow me."

"Of course, Ajira is being silly and should just follow orders happily. That's what the dark elves like Ranis want. They think Khajit are only good as slaves. Divines forbid any of us actually learn anything. No Ajira should just run errands and collect debts like Han-lu and be thankful for the opportunity."

I caught up to her on the stone bridge and kept pace. "Ajira, I'm not like Ranis. I'm just doing a job to get paid. What's wrong with taking care of some guild business once in awhile?"

She reared on me and stuck a furry finger at my chest with a claw just sticking out from the fur. "You are just like Ranis. You only care about the money and the power. You don't care that Ajira is trying to find one last ingredient to invent a more powerful healing potion and you don't care what Manwe is researching. She could find valuable ancient magic items at her dig site that could expand our knowledge of magic tenfold, but as long as Ranis gets her gold and you get paid, you will stymie their work and hurt their researchers without thought. Your stone cold manner may impress Ranis, but I find much to be desired."

I wanted to step back from her onslaught, but I was on the edge of the bridge. Only one other person had talked down to me like that before. Uriel Septim himself. My initial response was to get defensive. "You're right. I've always done things for the money. Why not? What did Manwe ever do for me? I was loyal to my family, because I knew they'd watch my back, but why does this Manwee or Llarer Bareloth deserve as much?"

Ajira shook her head. Despite her shortness, I felt as though she stood over me. "You may never know the answer to that." She backed off, letting me step away from the edge. "My father is a priest of the divines in Elsweyr in a prevalent city. As such, he is occasionally invited to dine with the cities nobles. He also attends to the sick and advises those attempting to overcome their sins. I've seen nearly every walk of life and yet my father is always the happiest. Happier than the nobles with land, money, horses, and good foods, happier than the hero's or adventurers who come to him for healing, and much happier than the criminals who use others for their own gain.

"Maybe you will never learn the joy of giving, but I will explain to you how frustrating it is to sail to Morrowind alone to research new alchemical ingredients to help the sick and afflicted, then be sent as a debt collector along with a low life thug."

She once again turned and stalked off in the direction of our task, leaving me with a lot to think about. I followed about ten paces behind with my free hand in my pocket. This situation reminded me of my talk with the princess in my jail cell, except I had nothing to lord over Ajira. I couldn't think of a single argument where I had the moral high ground. Half of me wanted to forget it and be done with these thoughts, but I couldn't stop. Eventually, I realized that despite our differences in opinion, I wanted Ajira to like me. I recoiled at the thought. Am I going soft?

Finally, I looked up to get my mind off the subject and examined the land around me. The Odai river was far behind us and we traversed a dirt path with two parallel ruts in the dirt from passing carts. A slight breeze blew in from the ocean. Up ahead, I saw that our path led through a narrow gap between mountains. As we progressed, the vegetation thinned out and the ground became dry. The narrow valley emptied out into a completely different landscape as if the low mountains stopped all clouds from crossing. The slight breeze from before now carried bits of dust and dirt.

Ajira finally stopped where the trail split and asked for the map. She traced our route with a claw. "We are just past the mountains, so fort Moonmoth should be on that hill up ahead."

"Is it a Dunmer fort," I asked?

"No, the Empire has built strongholds throughout Morrowind. This is one of them."

I pointed up a little further on the map. "What's this?" There was a little patch of brown spanning what looked like a very long valley.

"Hopefully a bridge across the foyoda." At my look of confusion, she elaborated. "A foyoda is a valley leading down from red mountain. Last time it erupted, the history books say the lava flowed down the foyoda."

"Got it."

"The map says we go left here." I followed Ajira up the hill. Indeed, there was a stone fort. It probably used to be tall, but ash and dust had piled up against the northern side. In a couple spots, there were only five feet from the ground to the rampart. Two archers stood on the wall with crossbows. They wore their standard issue armor, but also had scarves wrapped around their faces.

Four more soldiers worked outside the walls. Two were digging out the bulwarks and filling a handcart with dirt so it wouldn't overcome the fort entirely. Another two were further up the path dragging an animal carcass back to the fort. They saw us coming and dropped what they were doing to face us.

"Are you two headed into the ashlands?"

I nodded. I hadn't realized that the ashlands were so close, but with the dramatic change of environment, I realized that was where we were headed.

One guard pulled his scarf down to uncover his mouth. His chin was clean shaven according to legion regulation, but he sported an impressively large moustache. "Where to?"

I glanced at the map. "Two places near lake Nabia."

"That's quite a hike. If you've never been in an ash storm before, I wouldn't recommend it."

The other soldier lowered his scarf. "Not to mention bandits. We've gotten word that they've settled into an abandoned Dunmer stronghold called Marandus. You'd probably be safer going the long way."

"What's the long way?"

"Turn around and take the other fork at the bottom of the hill. You'll cross through the bottom of the foyoda and back into green country. From there, find the city of Suran and hire a boat to take you up Nabia river to the lake. It may add a day to your journey though."

"How far is it to the lake from here?"

The moustached soldier rubbed his chin with a gloved hand. "You could probably make it before dark barring an ash storm, but I'm warning you, it's bad country."

Ajira interjected. "Let's just take the suran route. I need to go there soon anyway."

I shook my head. "Hiring a boat could be expensive and we'd be traveling upriver. Maybe we can use that route on our return trip." Ajira bristled at my excusal.

The soldier shook his head. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Here," he unwrapped his scarf and handed it to me. His companion did the same for Ajira. "You'll at least want these. The legion will issue us new ones." They picked up their animal as we thanked them and I recoiled when I got a good look at it. For Azura's sake, it looked like a giant bug with four animal-like legs.

"What is that ugly thing?"

The soldiers chuckled. "It's a nix hound. The wasteland is lousy with them, but their meat is good. That's more than you could say about cliff racers."

The other soldier shook his head. "I hate cliff racers."

Ajira frowned. "Does this one dare ask what a cliff racer is?"

"You'll find out," they replied on their way back to the fort. "Just keep that staff handy."

Ajira and I looked at each other worriedly. I tried to abate my fears, reminding myself of all the other creatures and people I'd fought. Surely, a couple wild animals would be nothing to worry about. I shrugged and took the lead up the dusty path, Ajira reluctantly following.

Now that I was aware of the dangers we would face, I summoned my magic. I needed to know how much I could count on it. At my command, a spectral sword appeared in my hand. The blade was just as vibrant as it was before my coma, but the effort strained my limited abilities and after fifteen seconds, I cut off the spell short. I cringed. It was difficult to tell, but it felt like I'd used most of my magic reserves.

"What was that," asked Ajira?

"I'm practicing my offensive spells. I haven't used them in a long time."

Ajira bit her lip in thought. "Ajira is not really a fighter, but maybe she should learn some fighting spells. You know, to ward off animals. Could you teach her?"

I mulled it over in my head. "Maybe later. Right now, I need to concentrate."

Ajira sniffed. "What if we run into trouble?"

"You should have thought of that before we left. Besides, I'm sure I can handle…" My sentence was cut off when we topped the ridge to find the sturdiest bridge I'd ever seen. Even the stone bridges of Cyrodiil were weak in comparison. It was wide enough to comfortably hold two wagons side by side and maybe even three if they squeezed. It was nearly fifty yards across and made out of a solid brass-like metal. I ventured out onto it and found it completely steady despite an increase in wind speed.

"Who built this thing?"

Ajira thought for a moment. "The dwemer. They were ancient elves and there are supposed to be ruins of their civilization scattered all over this island."

"Impressive. It looks like it's nearly new."

Ajira walked ahead. "Yes well, when you are done swooning over the bridge, you are welcome to join Ajira."

I ignored her and leaned over the edge to see the supports before moving on. The idea that a people would put so much effort into a single bridge astounded me. What did their dwellings look like? I had, of course, heard of the dwemer before, but they hadn't lived in the province that was now called Cyrodiil, so I'd never seen their ruins. One day, I'd have to explore some.

I jogged to keep up with Ajira who was approaching the end of the bridge. There were dried, worn crates piled up on the right side, but Ajira paid no attention to them until we heard a crazed yell of surprise. An old white haired man stood up from among the pile and whirled on Ajira. He wore threadbare pants and nothing but a cuirass of iron armor over his chest. Had I not been so surprised, I might have observed how uncomfortable that had to be. As it was, I leapt after Ajira.

The man went after her, grabbing for her arms, but Ajira struggled to escape and struck out with her claws. The man's arms began to bleed, but he didn't seem to notice.

Finally, I reached them and tackled the man away, bringing my staff into position. The man switched his attentions to me and tried to proceed as though I were unarmed. The steel tips of my weapon swooshed through the air. I smacked him in the head and he kept coming. I landed a savage blow to the knee. The joint buckled for a moment and he fell, but stood right up.

He ran in close and grabbed me in a bear hug, trapping my staff between us. His arms crushed the air from my lungs and I pummeled his head in desperation. I reached for my magic and commanded a weapon to appear in my hand. My racing mind somehow settled on an arrow instead of a dagger and I plunged the summation through the neck hole of his armor repeatedly until he let me go. My staff fell to the bridge and I had to let the arrow go, so I switched to boxing after retreating a few paces to catch my breath.

The human was wide eyed and angry. He bull rushed me, but I stopped him with a straight cross to the nose. I followed with a left hook and a right uppercut starting to realize that he wasn't responding to pain. Before he could recover, I reached around, grabbing him by the cuirass and pushed him against the railing on the edge of the bridge. He grabbed the rail with both hands, but they were slick with blood and slipped easily as I dead lifted him over the side, where he tumbled into the foyoda many feet below and landed with a thud.

Ajira stood frozen in place, breathing heavily. Her terrified eyes met mine. "You will teach Ajira a fighting spell now, yes?"

I swallowed hard and nodded. I'd been foolish not to teach her anything right away. Before I could respond, we heard another sound from among the crates. I picked up my staff and approached the crates to find an Argonian woman humming pleasantly to herself. There were a handful of empty vials and two full ones scattered around. The smell of skooma hung thickly on the air and I spotted a pipe in the Argonians mouth.

The smell had a strange effect on me. My mouth began to water and I noticed my staff moving involuntarily, because my hand was shaking. The Argonian didn't seem to notice us or realize that her friend was missing. She hummed happily, oblivious to the world around her.

Ajira hissed, covering her nose. "Nothing good comes from the skooma." She stepped over the crates and took the remaining bottles in hand, drawing back to throw them into the foyoda. I grabbed her hand before she could fling them and she looked at me, then at my shaking hand. "Oh Han-lu, not you too?"

I wrestled the vials from her grip and stuffed them in my bag. "It's not what you think. I don't use it, but I can sure use the money. I'm the low life thug remember?"

I left Ajira shaking with anger, letting her follow when she chose to. The Agonian continued enjoying her trip, completely oblivious.