She sat in the dark hold of the wooden vessel and grumped to herself. She'd been foolish, and just as her friends had said, her impetuous nature had gotten her in trouble... again. Now here she was, sitting in a damp cargo hold, waiting to be dumped on her own on an oversized island with the reputation of a trouble-spot. All her own fault! If she only hadn't tried to cut that guard's purse... she'd known that the knife was too dull, but she'd gone ahead anyway, and the guard had felt it. For that matter, if she'd been less hungry at the time, she wouldn't have been so impatient, and would have looked to be sure that she had a convenient way to slip out of sight, and she'd have sharpened the futzy knife, and.. (And, and and, foolish fox. And this, and that, if, if if. Next time, do not think only of what nice findings would buy, be sure that finding and getting were done before thinking of meals!).
Arissi was Keynari, foxlike race of one of the multitude of islands outside of the usual haunts of men and mer. She was slender and quick, like her wild cousins, but had grown up around the ruins of the one city that her kind had built before the Dremora came. She closed her eyes and hugged her knees, rocking slowly in the darkness, listening to Jiub rustle about the other side of the hold; Jiub, her only friend for some time now, and that only because they were stuck for days aboard the prison-ship. Still, he'd shared what little the guards had given him when he'd seen how thin and hungry she was. She supposed it was natural that they'd either become friends, or opponents scrabbling for whatever the guard brought them, when he remembered. The creaking of the ship's timbers and Jiub's movements had become almost the only sounds she knew, save when they'd talked. Jiub was a prisoner as well, shipped off to Vvardenfell (funny name!) as a convicted thief, though he'd maintained that he'd just stolen some bread and meat until he could "get on his feet". She knew that she herself was a thief, but felt no shame at the name; one did as one had to to live, and a Keynari girl had few options, when her parents were vanished. Probably taken by the Oblivion demons, she thought, and licked her lips, holding back a sniff. She'd find them, if they still lived, and she'd find some way to make the demons shriek for what they'd done to her home. (Foolish vixen, to swear revenge on those so much stronger. Will be lucky to have own bed. But still...if can. then will!). She stretched her legs and settled back against a bag of what felt like grain, and was almost instantly asleep. Her dreams were very strange...
"Wake up. There you go... you were sleeping. Not even last night's storm could wake you." She was being gently shaken, and started to scramble before she realized that it was Jiub leaning over her. She smiled and skittered out from under the dusky Elf.
"Good morning! Jiub says arriving? Arriving where, Arissi wonders? Or are... there?" She looked back and forth in the gloom.
Jiub stood back up. "We've arrived. I'm sure they'll let us go." He turned toward the doorway, and nodded at the sound of bootsteps. "Quiet... here comes the guard."
The Elf stepped back from the door; the guards didn't react well if you were too near when they opened the holding-cell's door. Arissi hopped to peer out of the little barred window. Yes, it was that one, the sneering guardsman that had taunted them through the door's small aperture. His face appeared, peering through the small window's bars, then a clicking sound told of a key in the lock. The door swung outward, and he stood there, smirking and half-bowed, sweeping an arm outward. "This is where you get off, princess. This way." He held out a hand toward Jiub; "Not just yet for you, Dunmer. Don't worry, your turn won't be long in coming."
Arissi stepped toward the door, but slipped sideways past the guardsman; he'd slapped at her ears and shoulders before during the trip, and once pulled her tail as if she was just an animal. Well, his attitude showed what he thought of her; he'd likely make some crack about her making a nice rug for his hearth, too. She flicked her ears backward, then snorted to herself and raised them upright. She wasn't about to let him get to her; she turned and trotted ahead of the guard to the steps leading to the deck's hatch and poked her head out ignoring the guardsman's annoyed grunt, blinking in the bright sunshine. It was so warm on her fur, it felt good. She hoped up onto the deck and looked around, then hopped down to midship and looked up at the other guardsman there. he looked down at her indifferently, then nodded toward the dock, diffidently pointing with one hand. "On the dock's where they'll want you. Talk to the guard there." Immediately he turned away with a bored expression; the vixen looked where he'd indicated, to a wooden platform built out onto the water. It led up to a door in a short stone tower, from which another guardman, this time in armor, was striding toward her. She glanced at the bored guard, then turned to trot onto the dock. Well, at least that one was better than the mean one belowdecks. She stopped at the plank leading to the dock; its angle changed with the rising and falling of the vessel; not so much as when she'd boarded, at least, and now she didn't have chained legs. She looked up at this newer soldier. Wait, he was actually smiling, and not nastily like the one in the hold.
"You've finally arrived! But we weren't told where from." he said. Mistress, he was actually looking her in the eye, and being pleasant! Arissi felt a little better. At least this one was willing to be pleasant. He cocked his head, "I've not seen one of your people before. You're one of those small fox-people, Keyneeri, is it?"
Arissi tried moving her brushy tail from side to side, like Jiub had said would make some people more amenable. "Is Keynari, and yes, Arissi is so. Please, is this place Vvardenfell? Arissi is to stay here?" She looked around a bit; there was something of a smallish town here, apparently based around the squat tower and its dock. A few small buildings, some shacks down by the waterline, and what looked like a trader's shop, aside from the dock's building.
"Yes, this is Vvardenfell, and this village is called Seyda Neen. It's pleasant to see a new face around here. Come with me inside... it's the Census and Excise office. We keep track of who comes in and goes out on vessels, and represent the Emperor's interests here. But you won't have to stay here, you'll be free to do as you like. We'll have some suggestions, of course." He motioned toward the door, but politely. Arissi almost shivered, this was such a change from how she'd been treated since she was captured. She ducked her head and tried to imitate his smile, gaping her jaws slightly and moving her tail again, then turned toward the door and trotted along the walkway.Once inside, she'd been introduced to a balding man in a robe, who called himself an "inspector", and questioned a little about her background... again, politely. He'd even seemed somewhat interested, then had written upon some paper and rolled it up for her. "Welcome to Vvardenfell. It's not much, but it's not bad, once you get used to it. Now, please take these papers and make sure that I've gotten it all correct... you can read? Good. Then through the door to your left and out to show them to the guard captain. He'll give you a release fee... a small fund to help you get started in your new life... and give you some more instructions. Do listen... he's a good man, if a little officious sometimes."
Arissi looked at the document... it appeared to be just what the man said it was, listing her name, race and even mentioned the birth-sign he'd asked her about. She nodded and again ducked her head, before moving toward the door; the guard waiting there unlocked it ahead of her and opened the door for her. She felt surprise again, they were... so polite. She wondered what was awaiting her, looking down the hallway as she stepped through.