Now, Sawaquiamora and her crew were in one of their many hideouts across Skyrim. It was a hidden grotto near Solitude, not too far from the lighthouse. Half of the pirates once under her control had either abandoned her or been eaten by the slaughterfish. She said good riddance.
The only problem with her crew's vast decrease in numbers was that morale was low, and now Sawaquiamora had less dockhands. The grotto wasn't helping their moods, either. Not only was it dark, damp, and moldy, but it was also not quite theirs. In Brinewater Grotto, as it was more formally known by its inhabitants, there was another group of bandits, affiliated with the East Empire Trading Company. Sawaquiamora was on uneasy terms with them; they let her take shelter in the grotto every now and then, but if they caught her and her bandits too deep into their cave, then their would be consequences. Mostly for Sawaquiamora. So, it was natural for her crew to resist staying there.
Currently, they Sawaquiamora was pacing in a corridor just out of sight of her crew. What the situation she'd gotten them into! No ship, few crew, the Aldmeri probably searching for them. Sawaquiamora was decided on one thing: there was no way in Oblivion that she'd give up her pirating career because of this. What did she have left? The Khajiit had no idea.
Kindri coughed conspicuously as he walked towards her. "The crew are unhappy. If you don't do something, we may get more deserters," he said mildly. Sawaquiamora cursed. Couldn't these mutts keep their loyalty for more than five minutes?
"I'll deal with it," Sawaquiamora muttered. She walked back out to the main cavern where the others were waiting. Sure enough, the motley assortment of Redguards, Argonians, and Khajiits were murmuring and complaining.
The captain was filled with rage. "And you call yourselves pirates!" she yowled over the voices. Immediately, the whispers stopped, replaced with grudging attention. Sawaquiamora stood with her back straight and a paw on her scimitar, careful to look as confident as she needed to. "You think that just because we've lost our ship that you can go giving up on me, your captain?!" She spat in disgust. "If you've lost all your balls, you can leave. My crew doesn't need cowards that run at the first sign of losing." The remaining crew shuffled around a bit, but no one moved to leave. If they had, Sawaquiamora would have ordered Kindri to shoot them.
Sawaquiamora stepped towards her crew, eyeing the ones closest to her menacingly. "And we haven't lost yet. Yes, the loss of the Saber was hard, but we can come by another boat. And, with the plan I've got, we'll be swimming in gold soon enough." The Khajiit saw several crew members look at her quizzically, and she quickly thought up the promised plan.
"Those Stormcloaks, they hate the Aldmeri as much as we do, yes?" Several nods. "Those Stormcloaks, they would love to have cheap, good armor, yes?" More nods. Sawaquiamora hesitated before she continued, unsure of her proposition herself. "Well, I'm sure we could get a little revenge on the Aldmeri and get some new Stormcloak armor at the same time. We could arrive right at the gates of Windhelm with those goods and get a warmer welcome than Ulfric himself! So, are you with me?!"
The crew now looked at their captain anew. Shouts of agreement and general rejoicement rose up among them. Sawaquiamora smiled toothily.
Then, she turned back to her secluded section of the cave and reprimanded herself for her stupidity.
Kindri elbowed her playfully. "What was that about, Captain?" If it had been anyone else, Sawaquiamora surely would have gouged out their eyes, the mood she was in.
"I don't even know. I guess desperation taking a hold," she hissed back instead. She had not improved the situation; she had just made it worse!
"May I give you some advice?" Kindri asked. He moved to catch a look at the pirates still cheering in the other area. When I didn't protest, he continued, "You have not a single soul out there who can handle a decent spell. Maybe the Argonians could put up a bit of resistance against the magics of those Aldmeri, but you need someone more attuned to it than a lizard."
The Khajiit flinched at Kindri's casual use of such a derogatory term to describe the Argonians; she didn't like it when people called the Beastfolk animals. "And where do you suggest we get someone that can use spells? It's not like any elf in a million years would help us, and no sane human would give aid to pirates like us," Sawaquiamora spat.
"They would if it was a matter between life and death," Kindri said slyly.
Sawaquiamora glanced at him suspiciously. "What do you have in mind, Cathay-Raht?"
Kindri grinned. "What do you think about a trip into town?"