Chapter Fifteen
Waking up in the woods while lying on the ground was surprisingly peaceful, despite the pain from my hip digging into the hard dirt. I stretched and rolled over to see Mal in his bedroll next to mine. We agreed the night before not to let on that anything might be happening between us – because it very well might be nothing.
The group sets off into the Topal Bay Jungle and Ormvard fell into step next to me. I feel slightly relieved when I realize Mal is trying to keep his distance today.
"We should arrive in Leyawiin tomorrow," Ormvard told me in attempts to start conversation.
"I've never been there," I shrugged. I was far too distracted to have conversation, even with Ormvard.
"At least you'll be back in Cyrodiil. That has to count for something."
I almost said that it didn't count for anything, but then remembered what Mal had told me about Ormvard losing his brothers in a dragon attack. The dragons had been plaguing Skyrim longer than Cyrodiil and he would probably be happy to set eyes on any part of Skyrim still intact. I gave him a weak smile and said, "Yes, it'll be good to be in my own realm again."
"I would probably think I was in Sovengarde is I ever set eyes on Skyrim again," he sighed. I patted him on his muscular arm in attempts to console him. Whenever he spoke of Skyrim he reminded me of a poor, lost puppy.
We walked in silence for a while longer when suddenly Frelene pulls out an arrow and notches it in her bow. We all freeze and Jurgis gives her a questioning look. She nods toward a thick piece of foliage that I just realized was shaking very slightly. Suddenly, a young female Khajiit fell out of the bush and dropped a basket full of plants.
Everyone stood and stared at her for a long moment, so I walked up and offered her my hand. She gave me her soft paw and I assisted her up and then helped her put all of her ingredients back into her basket. Most of them I recognized from my alchemy book, but some of them I didn't know.
"How much would you take for these?"
The Khajiit looked at me blankly and then said, "This one would take 20 gold but needs to keep the basket."
"You have a deal," I smiled at her. I wrapped the plants in a dirty linen shirt from my bag and then we carried on once the Khajiit was out of sight going the opposite direction.
The humidity in the jungle was worse than an afternoon in Sun's Height on Anvil's docks. When I thought I couldn't take it anymore in my leather armor, the road curved sharply to the right and we come out of the jungle. Things began to quickly look more like normal. The trees shrunk and the grass was shorter. I could even spot some familiar plants.
Aylied ruins show up left of the road and we see that they are actually a surrounding wall for a tiny Khajiit village. Lugrub, speaking for the first time all day, tells us that this is Alabaster and we'll be stopping here for the night. We enter through a torn down part of the wall and I see that Alabaster is only made up of five houses and a well. Lugrub leads us to the last house on the left and he opens the door without knocking.
Walking into the small house, I first saw a storage area on my right and then it opened up into a large room with a fire pit in the center. Also in the large room was a bed tucked away in a little nook and a table and chairs. Lugrub walked into the back part of the house and opened up a trapdoor hidden under a raveling rug.
We went down the ladder one by one and came out into a huge, cave-like room that reminded me of the Mages' Guild in Riverhold. Torch sconces lit the room like daylight and a huge round table sat in the middle. The table was piled with books and papers. Only three people sat at the huge table, though: two Khajiit and a Breton.
Unlike Urzog in Orcrest, the leader of the White-Gold Rebellion base in Alabaster, Ri'uraabi, participated in pleasantries before requesting a tactical update from Jurgis and Lugrub. Before they delved too deep into conversation, Jurgis let the majority of us out of the meeting room to find our beds for the night.
Most of my group was brought into different Khajiit homes for the night, but I decided that I wanted to sleep under the stars. I tucked myself in a little spot between the base house and the white Aylied wall. No one knew where I was and I fell into a deep sleep very quickly.
I slept soundly until strong hands were shaking me awake. I opened my eyes to see both Mal and Ormvard standing over me. I yawned at them and buried my head into my bedroll.
"Get up, Emi! We've been looking for you everywhere," Ormvard said while kicking my foot with his metal boot.
"What do you want," I grumbled.
"We thought we could eat breakfast together…and then we couldn't find you," Mal said through his beard, which had been growing wilder by the day.
"I wanted some privacy," I said, eyeing Mal, "Can't we talk about breakfast in the morning?"
"It is morning," Ormvard said with a big, Nordic smile and then he grabbed me out of my bedroll and threw me over his shoulder.
"Oh, no! No, no, no, no! It's still dark! This cannot be happening…" I shouted while trying to wriggle free from Ormvard.
"Day has to start sometime, elf. Now get yourself together because we're about to go inside," Ormvard informed me as he gently sat me down on the front porch.
"Can't we just eat out here?" I begged, not wanting to be around anyone yet. I knew I still had bed head and the guys didn't even let me put on shoes.
They looked at one another and then Mal winked at me and said, "I'll see what I can get for you."
He came back out with a couple of apples and sat on the porch railing with me as I ate. We sat in a comfortable silence until I was finished, and then I left without a word to go get ready to get back onto the road.
The seven of us slowly grouped at the edge of town as one by one they appeared from the Khajiit homes in which they slept. Once we were all there, our Khajiit companion said, "This is where Jo'Basha leaves you. This one must return to Riverhold and be with own kind. May Alkosh watch your steps and Azurah light your way." With a bow, the Mage turned and walked the opposite way in which our group would travel.
"How are we going to get past the border guards?" I ask once we begin walking.
"We have a write of pass from the Count of Leyawiin," Mal smiled. "Though I doubt they'll stop a large group such as us. We're a lot less suspicious than one or two people attempting to cross."
After leaving Alabaster, we began down a very steep hill. Around the time we had been walking so long that my legs were numb, Mal suddenly taps me on the shoulder and points off into the distance. I look up to see the peeks of Leyawiin over the trees in the distance.
"We're back in Cyrodiil," he smiled at me and gave my arm an affectionate squeeze. For the first time I truly realize that Cyrodiil is his home too.