Sorry for the delay. If you get bored waiting for updates try reading some of my other fics (they could use the reviews :P). Morrowind belongs to Bethesda.

The next day brought a blessed lack of guar and noise. There was a huge area outside Balmora where the grass had be trampled and muddied, but other than that it was as if the celebrations and tribulations of the day before had never been.

Winterbell woke up full of purpose, her weapons were fixed, her potions bag full, and her ingredients bag empty. However, when she consulted the battered journal she wrote her 'to-do' lists in the only thing uncrossed was 'Dwemer ring for Baladas'.

Winterbell looked up at the fluffy clouds drifting across an antronach blue sky and reflected that it was a bit of a waste of nice weather to go tracking through the ash wilderness. She opened all her windows and sat at her workbench, just thinking.

It had come as a bit of a shock when Marayan had mentioned that they'd known each other for a year. The time had flown. Winterbell thought back to those first few difficult and yet exhilarating days she'd spent in Vvardenfell.
"I never did go back to Pelagiad," she said to herself. She looked around her room, as if seeing all the knick-knacks she'd collected for the first time. It dawned on her that she was actually quite wealthy.
"Baladas can wait a bit longer," she declared, "I'm going on holiday!"

And so, Winterbell unpacked her weapons, packed some clothes and quite a bit of money, and carefully locked her house. It felt odd to be wearing a skirt instead of a robe and shoes instead of tough walking boots, but it was with high spirits that Winterbell carried her bag to the stilt-strider dock.

Deciding to play the lady of leisure instead of the toughened adventurer Winterbell took the strider to Seyda Neen and then waited for an appropriately large group of merchants and their hirelings to escort her to Pelagiad.

It was the fastest non-magical way to travel, and as she had done that day almost a year ago, Winterbell arrived in Pelagiad in time for lunch. After taking a room at the Halfway Tavern Winterbell settled in to spend the rest of the afternoon drinking iced firepetal tea under the big tree outside the tavern.

Before leaving Balmora she'd procured a copy of The Poison Song: Complete and Unabridged. The tea was soon left forgotten at her elbow as she was soon lost in the creepy story.

When someone put a hand on her shoulder she yelped and jumped. She turned to the source of her distraction. Marayan looked almost as startled as she did; holding his hand up as if it had been burned.
"What are you doing here? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"I'm sorry, I had no idea you were so highly strung. What on earth are you reading?"
Winterbell held up the book, "You didn't answer my question, Dren."
"I'm visiting my brother. After the incident yesterday Estir was only too happy to give me some time off." He nodded at the book, "I remember sneaking that out of Vedam's library when I was fourteen. It gave me nightmares. What are you doing here?"
"I'm on holiday."
"Estir gave you time off as well?"
"It didn't even cross my mind to ask her," Winterbell said cheerfully.
Marayan nodded resignedly, "You will be you, Winterbell. I'll probably see you later; I should go and pay my respects to my brother."
"Probably. Don't kill each other." She waved her hand and returned to her book.

For reasons she wasn't quite sure of, Winterbell decided to be sociable and have dinner downstairs in the tavern. She even pulled her hair up. As it turned out, 'sociable' actually meant sitting in the corner reading. Winterbell stayed there for most of the evening, and it wasn't until the barmaid started hinting that it was close to closing time that Winterbell noticed Marayan hadn't returned.

She briefly considered the possibility that his brother had done him in, and then dismissed it as unlikely. Besides, she thought, she wasn't going to save his sorry hide twice in as many days. Winterbell eventually gave up and went to bed.

The bed was comfortable but Winterbell couldn't sleep. The cool breeze that wafted in off the lake was laden with the scent of flowers and just as Winterbell started to drift off a guard would walk past, his steel boots clopping on the paving stones. Winterbell irritably shut the window, but then it was too warm to sleep.

Winterbell crankily got out of bed and opened the windows again. The two moons bathed Pelagiad in an orangey light and Winterbell leant on the windowsill and wondered why she was worried about sleeping. She was on holiday; she could sleep in as late as she pleased the next day. With a snap of her fingers Winterbell lit the lamps in her room and looked for her book.

Five minutes later had Winterbell wishing she knew a detect book spell. With a sigh she decided she'd left it downstairs in the tavern. Hastily shrugging on a robe and grabbing a candlestick Winterbell padded downstairs.

The tavern was dark and silent, with all the chairs stacked on top of the tables. Winterbell wandered behind the bar, assuming that if anyone had found the book they would have put in there. Sure enough, the tome was sitting on a pile of trays behind the counter. Winterbell picked up the book and dusted it off critically, checking to make sure it was still in one piece.

"Hey, whatrr you doin'?" Winterbell jumped as she heard a masculine voice rumble out of the shadows. She frowned and snapped her fingers again, and a candle spluttered to life near the elbow of the person huddling at one of the tables over the far side of the room.

Marayan grimaced and shielded his eyes from the sudden light. The Dunmer had been there some time, judging by the bottles in front of him. Winterbell raised an eyebrow and sauntered over.
"Oh, 's you 'Bell. I thought it mightta been a thief."
"I'm not the one helping myself to the supplies of flin. Dren, what are you doing?"
"Doing?" He thumped his hand on the table, "I'm…I'm drinking. Quite a lot, as it sho happens."
"I suppose your credit is good. Try not to trip over anything on the way upstairs, I'll see you later."

"No!" His hand shot out and surprisingly strong fingers wrapped around her wrist, "Siddown 'Bell! You jus' come and go an' you never...jus' siddown."
Winterbells lips thinned in annoyance, but eventually she slid into the seat opposite Marayan.
"I'm going to make you pay for that when you're sober." She pulled her robe closer around her shoulders, "Fine, have it your way, Dren. What did your brother say?"
"Wha?"
"Well it's obvious something brought on this uncharacteristic bought of debauchery, and I don't think even Estir could blame my influence."
"Orvas didn' say anythin'. It wasn' like that." He lapsed into silence and Winterbell thought wistfully of her bed.

"I grew up there," he said quietly. "On th' plantation. We'd play bandits in the fields and go exshploring. Orvas nearly got me gored by a nix once- he got a real beating for that one. It was home." He looked at her beseechingly, willing her to understand.

Winterbell kept her face neutral, "I take it it's changed a bit?"
"A bit?" He snarled and waved his arm, "A lot!"
"Yes, I gathered- just get to the flaming point!" Winterbell whispered with irritation. She was less impatient with his explanation and more worried that he was going to wake someone up.

"'S horrible." He leant forward and glared at her, "The slaves are treated like- worse than animals. It's like a prison," he enunciated carefully, pushing the words out one by one. "There are so many graves. He's…he's using sugar to keep the slaves in line. And…" He ran a hand across his forehead and gave a dry sob.

"I looked up to him. I trusted him. He is so self-righteous, so smug and sure of himself." Marayan's face was twisted with rage; Winterbell had never seen him so vehement. "And Vedam isn't going to do anything, oh no. He's not going to listen to me. I'm just the youngest one who sits around reading booksh. I don' understand politics the way my preshious, oh-so-worldly brothers do."

"Look, Dren, calm down, please?" Winterbell held up her hands in a placatory gesture.
"Why should I calm down?" he growled, "No matter what I do, it won't make a differensh. No one lishens to the black guar- I'm just there on suff...sh…that thing. Just 'cause I had the guts to go against Father's great plan-"
"Dren." Winterbell reached across and covered his hand with her own, "You had no obligation to follow your parent's wishes. You don't need to feel guilty."
"…'Bell," his words were suddenly think and clumsy, "how'd you?"
"I could read the guilt off your face. Besides, I've been there. In my case, I knew my parents were motivated by genuine concern."
"But to let down the family-"
"I suppose it's different in Cyrodil. There aren't any ancestral tombs, everyone's out for themselves, not their family."
"Thoshe are Imperial ways-" He winced, "I'm startin' to sound like Orvas." He rested his head on the table miserably.
"You're not in any state to work things out now. Look, why don't you go to bed?"

He looked up at her blearily, "'Bell, will you help?"
"Help?"
"There's…I can't ask Ilmeni, and I…I can't do this by myself. You're always so certain of things."
"I may always appear to be certain. Look, it's your life and your family, but the offer still stands- if you want anyone…disposed of."
He finally cracked a smile, "So…yes?"
Winterbell removed her hand and gave and kind of half-shrug half-nod. "I'm going to regret this. Now, will you please go to bed?"
He frowned, "I think," he said carefully, "It would be shimpler if I shtayed here."

Winterbell rolled her eyes and tucked the book into a pocket of her robe, "I disagree, and if I was any better at alteration I'd float you upstairs irregardless of your opinion."
She circled around and took a hold of his arm, "Are you gonna fight me?"
He shook his head, "…I'd lose."
"Right."

Marayan allowed Winterbell to steer him upstairs, the drunken mage stubbing his toes on every step. Winterbell did her best not to breathe. Eventually they swayed and stumbed their way to his room. Winterbell propped him up against the doorjamb.
"All right, I'm not going to tuck you in. You can sleep on the floor for all I care. Just don't cause me any more trouble tonight, okay?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause you trouble, 'Bell."
She shrugged.
"Can…can I make it up to you?"
She raised her eyebrows, "Just what do you have in mind?" she asked warily.
He frowned at her, "Never mind that now, I want to know what you have in mind."
"Get to the point!" she snapped.
"Tomorrow, how about lunch?"
"All right." He looked surprised at her agreement. "We'll see if you're awake by noon, shall we?"

She didn't wait for a reply, instead heading back to her room. She crawled back into bed and flicked through the book, looking for her place.
"Just what is it about this wretched town that makes me be nice to people?"

She remembered Marayan's anger and his performance at the competition the day before and wondered if she'd been underestimating the mage. It had always been obvious that he was a younger sibling, but now it was looking like he was going to try and change his position in the pecking order. The Drens were major players in Morrowind politics, and Winterbell wondered if it might be advantageous to have the attention of the populace on them rather than her when she made her bid for power.

Yes, she thought, this may turn out to be a very smart move indeed, especially if Dren keeps quiet about any part I might play in his family drama. Not that she was looking for reasons to justify helping him; of course not. This was the kind of thing any concerned friend might do.