The sun was rising as Reyes Drinar slipped into consciousness. The bite of the cold night had, if anything, worsened with the steel dawn, and his arm still ached. As he opened his eyes, he was sensitive to the smell he had not detected the night before, now that the magic of the bracer had worked it's course; the moldering odor of stale vomit and dried sweat and urine stuck in his throat. The bracer had been a mercy the night before, but now he was fully alert, and he would have been sick if there was anything in his stomach. Instead, he gagged and coughed as he shook off the last vestiges of his sleep still hanging in tatters from his mind.

'He's awake.' Said a voice nearby. The voice was strange, as if there was something abnormal in the shape of the speaker's jaw.

'Hello?' called Reyes in a voice still raw with nausea.

'It's a child.' Said the strange voice again. It seemed to be coming from his right.

'I can see that.' Said another. This one was fluid and dusty, if that is not a contradiction, and fainter. Reyes could see person it belonged to, a tall, fan-eared Argonian in the first pod. Several corroded iron rings hung at irregular intervals all around the edges of his left ear, and Reyes could see a long, blue scar stretching all the way down from his knee to his ankle on his scaled leg.

'I am called Under-Leaf.' Said the Argonian to Reyes.

The other voice spoke again. 'Actually, his name's Wet-Leaf-Under-Guar's-'

'Silence!' hissed the Argonian.

'Well, it is.' Said the other voice.

'And my charming companion is the Khajiit lady Ahfraskha' said Under-Leaf, heavily accenting the word 'charming' and glancing in the general direction of Ahfraskha's pod.

'Honestly, I can't imagine having a name like that.' Said Ahfraskha archly, and Reyes could detect the smile in her voice.

'You'd be surprised how odd your name sound to us.' Said Under-Leaf. Then he smiled viciously, with no humour. 'Especially if you translate it.'

'You wouldn't dare!' said Ahfraskha, her voice frightened.

'So be quiet while I talk to our new friend here.' Said Under-Leaf crisply. He turned to look at Reyes. 'What is your name, Dunmer?' he said kindly.

'Reyes Drinar.' Reyes said quietly, quite astonished by the conversation he had just heard between his two fellow slaves. Such an exchange in a situation like this was quite unusual.

'Rae-hes.' Mimicked Under-Leaf with difficulty. Then he bowed sardonically with what room he had within the cramped pod. 'Welcome to our humble abode.'

Reyes got to his feet, finding that the smell wasn't nearly so bad if he stood. He pressed his head against the side of his pod, trying to catch a glimpse of Ahfraskha, but she was hidden from view.

'You won't be able to see her.' Said Under-Leaf. 'I can't see her either. Only you and I can see each other.'

Immediately a furry, pawed arm stuck itself out of Ahfraskha's pod and started waving energetically to Reyes and obscuring Under-Leaf. 'Hi there.' Called Ahfraskha in musical notes.

Under-leaf sighed. 'I apologize for her.' He said. 'She is slightly insane. I think it had something to do with the sugar.'

'It did not!' countered Ahfraskha irritably, and her arm stopped waving and made rude gestures at Under-Leaf. 'And I am not insane! A little mad maybe, but never insane!'

Ahfraskha kept chattering loudly as Under-Leaf started talking to Reyes again. 'I'm afraid you're a slave now, young one.' He said solemnly. 'It is a hard life. We are sold off to, at best, strict disciplinarians and, at worst, brutal master's who have lost, or never had, understanding of the word compassion. A word of advice: always do as you're told, and never talk back, or you will feel the lash, and the ones that the Master uses is especially cruel, and leave you scarred for a long time indeed.'

'Like the one on your leg?' Reyes asked. The sight of the wound made him cringe.

Under-leaf glanced down. 'No,' he said 'I received this the day I was caught. The raiders that hunt for slaves in the Black Marsh have strong arrows, and as I was running from such a party an arrow deflected off a tree and gashed open my leg.' Reyes nodded. 'How were you brought here?' asked Under-Leaf, twisting his angular head to the side in an absent gesture of curiosity.

'I tried to pick the slavemaster's pocket.' Answered Reyes regretfully. 'He must have heard me, because he grabbed me and brought me to the slave market.'

'Ah, yes.' Murmured Under-Leaf thoughtfully. 'Slavemasters always have keen hearing, most likely to listen for unwanted remarks from their slaves. No matter how much you grow to hate our Master, never curse him behind his back. I've made that mistake often, and paid for it.'

'What about Ahfraskha?' asked Reyes.

'Oh, she does so openly.' Under-Leaf sighed again. 'I don't believe she even realizes it, but she is beaten almost daily for her transgressions. He paused for a moment to let her ravings, still going strong, accentuate his point.

'And how did she end up here?'

'Oh, I was part of a sugar smuggling ring in a cavern near here until a few months back.' Said Ahfraskha, breaking off from her nonsensical babblings to answer the question. 'When the Legion raided the place, I was caught, but while I was being moved to Wolverine Hall, I escaped and swam out to one of the islands.' There was an embarrassed pause. 'I had a bit too much sugar that night, and I got lost. The next morning, I woke up here. But this is beside the point, aren't you listening? Now, about this scrib-'

'For Vivec's sake, slave, shut up!'

Galdin Llethis, the slavemaster, was striding up to the pens. He was wearing a fine suit that belied his foul disposition. His matted, shoulder length black hair looked as though he had made some attempt at combing it, without much success. He was approaching with long, ominous strides, like an avatar of misery.

'No talking!' he snarled again, and Ahfraskha broke off again to bid him good morning, whereupon Llethis hurled a loose cobblestone he had picked up at her. She stopped talking to pick it up from the floor, and stood with the pebble in her hand, admiring it.

.Llethis sighed hopelessly, and without a further glance to his wares seated himself at the table under the second curve of the slave market's root.

Soon after, a bosmer, himself wearing a slave's bracer, arrived with a pot of steaming saltrice porridge. At Llethis' command, He dished it into three wooden bowls, and pushed them through the bars to the other slaves.

Reyes looked down at his food. It was a viscous, dirty grey colour, and was moving slightly on its very own. It was quite tasteless, and the texture was both grimy and liquid at the same time, but to a boy who hadn't eaten for at least two days, it really didn't matter.

As they ate, other entrepreneurs began to arrive, setting out their wares on tables shaded by cloth awnings, and began hawking as people began to walk the streets of Sadrith Mora.

There were all sorts of people on the streets. Most were guild members from the Hall, and stopped only at the alchemy and equipment stalls. Others were clearly travelers or tourists; easily distinguishable from the travel papers and guides they held in their hands.

It was not long before a distracted looking man, with a netch leather pack slung over his shoulder, moved toward slave market. Llethis, who had perched himself on his chair with his feet on the table, watching the crowd, noticed him and lowered his feet from the table, standing up to receive him. Before the man reached earshot, he threw a glance over his shoulder. 'Don't breathe a word, or it'll be the worse for you.' He whispered, and Reyes knew the warning was directed at him.

The slavemaster knew how to deal with would-be customers. He was an expert merchant, and knew exactly how to deal with outlanders. 'Good morning, sir!' he called genially, assuming such a dazzling, open smile that he looked like someone completely different. 'Welcome to Sadrith Mora! How may I help you today?'

'Yes, yes, hullo.' Said the outlander, a tall balding Nord man with a frizzy short beard. 'I was wondering if you could point me to-' (He glanced down at the scroll, marked on the back as "A Guide to Sadrith Mora") 'Fara's Hole in the Wall.'

Without the slightest change in his face, Llethis pointed to the tavern directly across the street. The Nord seemed embarrassed. 'Oh.' He said, squinting at the round door of the tavern. 'I was sure...'

'Don't concern yourself, sir.' Said Llethis, giving a false, convincing chuckle. 'It's easy to miss.'

The Nord thanked him and stepped into the tavern, and Llethis cursed under his breath.

For about an hour, the only other person that passed near the market was a golden-skinned Altmer, who glanced with distaste and disapproval at Llethis. Finally, another man walked up to the slave market. He was a thin, bony Dunmer, and his black hair shot back in spikes behind him. Llethis, who was in his usual position, reading a book, did not notice him.

'A-hem.' Coughed the Dunmer. Llethis looked up. 'Ah, hello sir. Pardon me, I didn't see you.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Said the customer, examining the three slaves. 'Look, I need a slave to help me on the way to Suran from Molag Mar. What can you recommend?'

'I'm afraid I'll have to see your Hospitality Papers first, sir.' Said Llethis.

The man grunted, and reached over his shoulder into his backpack, producing a long sheet of parchment, slightly curling at the edges. Llethis' eyes skipped down the page, reading snatches of the contract aloud, examining the clauses for signs of forgery. 'District of the House of Telvanni on the 16th day of Second Seed in the four-hundred-and-twenty-first year of the Reign of our Sovereign King-' he skipped a few lines. 'Muthsera Angaredhel Mage-Lord, Prefect of Hospitality of the Town of Sadrith - and so on - We therefore his Majesty's said Magistrates, have hereby Licensed, and allowed the said Edris Valyon the Merchant, Dunmer, to travel abroad in the town of Sadrith Mora and its environs upon his own recognizance...' he looked up from the parchment. 'Yes, you check out, sir. Let me show you what we have in stock.'

He stood and regarded his items for sale, feigning friendly enthusiasm. 'The Argonian,' he pointed to Under-Leaf, 'name of Wet-Leaf-Under-Guar's-errm...' He glanced around. '-Arse,' he finished 'was captured about three months ago in Argonia. He is strong and endurable, but has somewhat of an attitude. The Khajiit,' He pointed to Ahfraskha, 'is a former criminal named Afraksha-'

'Ahfraskha, you dimwit!' yelled the khajiit.

'Be quiet or I'll sell you at a discount!' threatened Llethis. For some reason, this seemed to terrify Ahfraskha, and she said nothing.

'Yes.' Llethis continued, resuming his façade 'Ahfraskha. She has a temper too, as you may have noticed, but I have never known her to complain. Unfortunately, she is slightly deranged from overuse of skooma, but she comes at a lower price than the other two, of course.'

'The Dunmer lad,' he pointed to Reyes, who saw his eyes flash dangerously as he leered at him. 'I acquired only recently, from a merchant who is now retired.' Reyes knew why he was lying about his capture, naming him a hand-me-down commodity; the sale of Dunmer was often frowned upon in Vvardenfell, and in the entire Morrowind, as it was their homeland. 'As you can see, he is strongly built, and is well suited to menial labour.'

'And what do they cost?' asked the customer.

'Two-thousand four-hundred, one-thousand five-hundred, and two-thousand two-hundred respectively.'

'Two-thousand two-hundred!' exclaimed the Dunmer. 'Even for the boy, that's two-hundred more than I would pay for him in Tel Aruhn!' He was purposefully ignoring Ahfraskha. 'I'll give you four-thousand two-hundred, for the boy and the lizard, and no less.'

They haggled for about a minute more, and finally settled on a total price of four-thousand two-hundred and seventy-five Septims. Llethis unlocked the door to Reyes' cage, and the bar's swung upward. Reyes tentatively stepped out of the dirty cell.

'Come, you two.' Llethis beckoned to the boy and the Argonian, and led them down the root to Edris Valyon. Reyes sneaked a glance at Ahfraskha who waved him goodbye, the glint of madness in her eyes.

Their new owner had already counted out the money, and held out a large bag to the slavemaster, who took it. 'Thank you for your business, sir.' He said, handing him the keys to their bracers. 'Come again!'

The Dunmer snorted. 'Not likely.' And he led them through the streets, toward the docks.

Soon, they were in the hold of the Drowning Mer, a small transport ship their owner had hired for ten Septims to take them to Molag Mar, amongst the other cargo.

'Don't worry.' Said. Under-Leaf comfortingly, laying a hand on Reyes' shoulder. 'You'll get used to it. Our new Master doesn't seem half as bad as Galvin Llethis was.'

Reyes nodded, his eyes downcast. They sat in silence for a while.

'What was it like, where you come from?' asked Reyes, looking up at the tall Argonian, into his reptilian eyes.

Under-Leaf smiled. 'I'll tell you.' he said. 'In the Black Marsh, which you call Argonia, we, the People of the Root, live among the trees and the animals. The trees watch over us, as we watch over them, and no Argonian has ever truly known any home other than the Black Marsh.'

And as Under-Leaf continued his tale, the nine-year-old boy listened, unaware that every minute they were sailing further away from the only home he had ever known, and closer to the pilgrim's city of Molag Mar. When he glanced out a crack in the wood of the ship for a moment, to see how far they had gone from Sadrith Mora, he realised that it was no longer in sight. He didn't really care. For now, he had a friend, the first one he had ever had, and was soon lost in Under-Leaf's powerful words again, feeling the subtly rocking motion of the boat in the calm water, drawing ever closer to it's destination.