Cearbhail: Finally, we get to the refugee camp.

-Nexa-

So, our little delay from departing only led to a…small lecture from our overseer. It turned out that my father chose one of the more…strict Shadowmasters to watch over us. It was Shadowmaster Julanza. I remembered him from when I was a child. He was a silent giant who always watched over me as a child. I was convinced that he was my babysitter, but he was also my trainer. Ever since I was hatched from an egg, he was the one teaching me the finer basics of stabbing with a knife and using magic. I was not just some run of the mill shadowscale; I was trained as a shadowwraith as well. Normally, most shadowscales don't utilize most magics, only the one that allows us to shadowport. Shadowmaster Julanza taught me the stronger points of Destruction and Illusion when I was two. By the time I was three, I knew where I knife had to go to make someone die. The answer…anywhere as long as it went in deep enough.

Unfortunately, since I was the daughter of the Warlord, I was not sent to the Shadowscale Basic like everyone else. I was not sent to the Dark Brotherhood. I was raised by Shadowmaster Julanza. I was trained by Shadowmaster Julanza. If I had to name the one person who talked with me every day…who took care of me every day…who made sure I ran by a strict schedule of what to do and eat…It was always Shadowmaster Julanza. This man was more of a father to me than my own father was.

All that being said, I knew how this man worked. As soon as we arrived in Gideon, the first thing I saw was the back of the Shadowmaster standing in front of us. He was still an Argonian but he was so built looking that he looked more imposing than any Nord I've ever seen. He wore the scaly armor of a shadowscale, but his armor had some interwoven black/purple fabrics that made up a battlemage appearance. His eyes glared down at me, the rest of his head hidden by a head mask that all Shadowmasters wore. When he turned to face us, I could feel his glare right at me.

"You're late." Is all he said.

My entire squad froze at seeing him. I was the only one who bowed and looked down at the ground. "My apologies, sir. I was…unprepared." I knew the answer he wanted to hear and this was it. It would save the rest of my squad from feeling his wrath.

He glared down at me, his dark red eyes searching through my soul. He finally looked away. "The town is ready for the refugees. Your assignment still stands. Make sure they refugees settle in with little to no hassle. Be quick about it and then report to me. I want all the men over the age of 15 to assemble here in the courtyard for inspection. I want all the other children in the play area for evaluation. I want all the adult females in the nursery for evaluation as well. But most of all, out of all those groups, I want anyone who wants to fight and anyone who has a strong infinity towards magic to report to me. Understood?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir. It will be done."

He turned away. "Make sure that it is. And when you are finished with this task, you are to report to me for punishment. You and your squad need to learn their place. You are the finest Argonia has to offer and I will not allow you to embarrass our nation in a time of war."

I nodded and looked back at my squad. I looked over at Vistha and said, "Vistha…you're good at spotting good fighters, right?"

He nodded. "I am the best, ma'am."

"Good, then I want you to walk around the refugees asking for anyone who wishes to fight. Your duty will be to bring all the fighters to Shadowmaster Julanza." He nodded. I looked over at Oleeme, who nodded with understanding.

"You wish of me to magically scan all magic users and bring them forth to the Shadowmaster. I understand." He bowed deeply to me.

I could only hold my growl. "Yes…do that." I looked over at Nakuma, the other shadowwraith. "You…" I pointed to her. "I want you to make sure our runes are still set and strong. Make sure no one can scry into this town. I want the Aedra to believe it's just a hole in the ground."

She nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

I looked over at the two remaining shadowscales. I looked over at Meesei and Ram-ku. I nodded to them and said, "Meesei, get all the women to their housing. Ram-ku, get all the men to their housing. I will escort the children."

Shadowmaster looked back at me. "No, you will not. I will see to the children's care. I want you to meet up with the Battlemage Group 4 and see about coordinating with your new teammates. I want you to see about using them to help the refugees settle in. Once we're done here, we're moving out to our next assignment."

I bowed to him. "Yes, sir."

He smirked at me. "There is just…one more thing. The Khajiit with red eyes…I will meet him. I have to report everything about him to your father. Since we will eventually kill him, I would like to know him." He glanced at me to read my expression. I knew he was looking for any indication about my resolve to kill Vatu.

I did not give him anything. Instead, I bowed and said, "I will see to it that you two meet." My stomach started tuning into a very thick knot. With the squad I had, I wasn't sure if I could help keep Vatu alive. They were very loyal shadowscales and I did not want to hint that I was not going to kill my friend. My only option was to get my squad to like him. That was the only way I could resolve this. I had to show them the type of Khajiit Vatu was. He wasn't just an animal to be killed, he was a person like the rest of us. I hated to say something like that, seeing as I took lives all the time. But this was personal to me. I loved him…I think.

So, I stepped away from him and walked up to the entrance to the town. I could not see the refugees yet but I bet it would not be long before they got here. The path through the Black Marsh was a very slow one. I'm sure we had guides up front that were escorting the refugees through the thick poisonous waters and vegetation as we spoke. I estimated about another hour or so before they'd start coming into the town. I might as well look at all the lodgings while I waited.

I walked around the town, inspecting everything. The men's houses were set up wonderfully. For a refugee camp, we were prepared for this. We didn't have tents set up, we actually set up huts made up of foliage. The buildings that were already here were turned into dining facilities, bathing houses, and infirmaries. With the exclusion of the inn being turned into a nursery and a school, everyone was going to live outside in the huts. Don't get me wrong, the huts were huge. They weren't a single room. We had people out here cutting down trees for wood and then using their giant leaves as a top cover.

I looked up at the sky. Argonia received a lot of rain that was why our trees grew so fanatically. Some people think that we received all the rain Elsweyr is supposed to get…that is why their land is nothing but desert and ours is lush with plants. It could be that, I guess. Or we could just live in the part of the world that received everyone else's water because we're closer to the waterways and Elsweyr is so high off the ground. We didn't know. Honestly, it didn't matter. I don't know why I bothered thinking about things other than my orders. I guess I just don't like being a mindless drone.

So, after an hour of waiting and checking up on my squadmates, I could finally see the first person walking into the city. It was an Altmer wearing chainmail/mithril armor. He had long golden hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and a golden face that matched. His lighter yellow eyes were glaring at me. He noticed me and approached, his hand resting comfortably on the hilt of his weapon. I guess he was just as wary of this alliance as he should be.

I bowed to him as he approached. "Welcome to Gideon. I am Shadowscale Nexa, the leader of Shadow Squad. We are your new teammates starting today."

He nodded to me. "I am Erandur. I am the Troop Leader for Group 4." He looked behind him and said, "I have some refugees, as I'm sure you know. Well…they're all that's really left of the Imperial City, Leyawiin, and Cheydinhal. I know that Group 5 is coming through with the survivors of Anvil, Chorrol, and Bruma."

I squinted my eyes. "What about Bravil?"

He shook his head. "They could not escape. The Aedra burnt down the bridge and then…played with them. They never stood a chance." The disgust in his voice was well pronounced. I could tell he hated everything that these creatures stood for. Good, that meant he'd lead his troops without hesitation.

I looked through the group of refugees that continued to march through the trees. I looked around the group, hoping to see Vatu walk through the thick of the woods. I remembered the rumor that Shadowwraith Tar-Meena said. She had a report that a Khajiit died in battle against the Aedra. Vatu was the only Khajiit mage that I knew about. Either it was him or his sister. It couldn't be anyone else. I already jumped through a portal into the other world to fetch him back once, I did not want to do it again. I had some time that I owed to Sithis for entering the world of the dead…and while he was a good lord to serve, he was not a good lord to hold favors for. His favors came with a steep price and I was sure to feel it later.

I saw that the Altmer was looking at me. He looked like he was scanning my eyes for some clue as to what I was thinking. When he noticed that my eyes were drifting over to him again, he said, "So, what are our orders?"

I nodded to him. "First off, I want to know. Did Vatu survive?"

He stood there, almost completely shocked. Then, he nodded his head. "Yeah…he's still with us. He's bringing up the rear with Primrose, and I hope that the rear of the formation is the only rear he's bringing up." He said, raising his eyebrows at me.

His little message brought up so many questions and answers. I could not tell if he was joking or purposely telling me something. I decided to ask him to clarify. "Is that a hint to Vatu dating this…Primrose?"

Erandur shrugged. "We can't tell but they are very close ever since he woke up from his second coma. If you're the Argonian I've heard about…I thought I'd just let you know what to expect." He looked at me like he was expecting an answer.

"I am most likely the Argonian you've heard about." I answered him. I bowed. "Thank you for preparing me for possible heartbreak. Your orders…help the refugees settle in." I pointed to Ram-ku. "The men of the group are going to report to the Argonian over there." I pointed to Meesei. "The females are reporting over to her." Then I pointed back to Shadowmaster. "All the children are reporting over to him. But before we can do any of that…we have a preliminary scan." I waved Oleeme and Vistha over to me.

Erandur looked them over. "What are they going to do?"

I smiled. "Vistha is going to assemble any potential warriors and get them ready for the hike to Helstrom. Oleeme is going to do the same, but with any strong mages he senses among the group."

Erandur nodded. "That is a solid plan. I can see you've given this a lot of thought."

I nodded. "Although it is not my plan, I would have considered similar methods." I looked back at Oleeme and said, "Start your scan. Bring any mages you find to Shadowmaster for briefing." I looked over at Vistha. "Same with you, Vistha. Once Oleeme is finished with his scan, find any people worthy of fighting."

My squad nodded and fanned out. I looked around. The refugees were just now walking into the field. There were a lot more than I could have guessed. Of course, this was only Cyrodiil. Imperial groups were directing more refugees in every day, but it was not going to be my role to just sit here and watch them all. No, the refugees were now in charge of welcoming the new ones into their camp. Once this town filled up, the camp was going to be expanded somewhere else close by. We had some clear fields already being set up just for these purposes.

Cearbhail: Next chapter should be something interesting. Not sure what I'll do for it, though.