Chapter V. I'm surprised how fast I managed to get this out. I'm sure old readers familiar with the rate of updates for the last version of this story are surprised too. Lately I've found that I'm in the mood to write more often than before. The next chapter probably won't be as fast though since I have less than a week of classes left and final exams are right around the corner. Again, I didn't plan for this chapter to be so long, but it just sort of happened. I hope it's not boring.

The first thing Avernus was aware of upon regaining consciousness was the aching, throbbing pain in the back of his skull from being knocked unconscious. With his hands tied together though, there was nothing he could do about it. Forcing himself to sit up, he found that he had been thrown into a cell similar to the one that Leto's tribe had kept him in, except significantly bigger. More of the strange, wall-mounted Dwemer lamps provided enough illumination for Avernus to see, and looking around his cell, he found that Leto had been put in the cell with him. She was still tied up as well, and was slumped in a corner, apparently still unconscious. He was thankful that they weren't separated. He also noticed, with significant amusement, that they had thrown his cane into the cell with them as well.

Looking beyond their cell, Avernus saw that their cell was just one in a row of adjacent, connected cells in a long, rectangular hall. One end of the hall was a dead end while the other had a small door with a stone table and a couple stone chairs in front of it. Two of Bolg's clan mates, guards most likely judging from the weapons laying on the floor beside them, were sitting at the table and throwing bones to pass the time, not really paying attention to the prisoners.

Avernus was quite grateful for the apparent ineptitude of Bolg's clan mates. Not only were the guards not paying attention to them, but they also seemed to think that binding his hands so his palms were inseparably pressed together was enough to prevent him from using magic, judging from the comment Bolg had made before being knocked unconscious. Sure enough, Avernus found that he could still access his inner reserves of magic and manipulate it when he tried, which meant that they hadn't given him a poison that blocked this connection, Like Leto's tribe had when they captured him. That would certainly make their escape substantially easier.

Turning his attention back to the cells, Avernus found that the cell next to his was occupied. In it was another pair of falmer who both seemed to be of the same subtype as Bolg and his clan. As opposed to Leto's large, bulkier build, these two were small and somewhat scrawny with longer limbs and wiry builds. One was an adult male while the other was a juvenile female. Interestingly, however, unlike Leto and the Haeliattii, Bolg and the Tarnabes, and every other falmer Avernus had seen thus far, these two didn't have massively inflamed and swollen shut eyelids that rendered them blind. Indeed, the little girl, who Avernus assumed was about four or five years old or so, was pressed up against the bars dividing their cells and was staring at Avernus with large eyes that looked like they took up half her face, which Avernus found surprisingly adorable given the more monstrous facial features of the Falmer. Her irises, he noted, were a most unique (at least among surface-dwelling races) shade of violet, and she had long grey hair that fell to her mid-back. Her hands were bound at the wrists in front of her, but her ankles remained unbound, letting her walk around the cell freely. The man, who Avernus assumed was the little girl's father, had his hands tied behind him and was currently sitting in an awkward position with his bound hands underneath his drawn up knees. He had long, tied back, light grey hair that was darker than Leto's but lighter than the little girl's, and eyes the same strange, violet colour of the little girl that were currently flicking between Avernus, Leto, and the little girl in a guarded glare.

"Hi," the little girl said, watching him with that intensely curious, innocent gaze that only small children possess.

"Hello," Avernus said back with a smile. He had always had a soft spot for children.

"What's your name?" the little girl asked inquisitively.

"I'm Avernus," he replied as he oriented himself toward the child. He would need to discuss their plan of escape with Leto and since she was still unconscious, there wasn't much to do on his own, so he decided he might as well indulge the little girl. "And who are you?"

"My name is Artorra," the little girl informed Avernus.

"Artorra," repeated Avernus. "That's a pretty name."

"Why are you so dark?" Artorra asked, obviously referring to Avernus's dark grey skin and black hair, which contrasted starkly with the Falmer's pale skin and light hair. He realized that she had probably never seen any other type of Mer before, but he was amused at how boldly she had asked him and couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Because I am a Dunmer," Avernus answered with a smile. "And you are a Falmer, so I'm a different type of Mer from you."

"Oh," Artorra said, then after a short pause, "Is that why you have black hair?"

Avernus nodded.

"And red eyes?"

Another nod.

"Where are your fingers and toes?" she asked, obviously referring to the digits that Avernus had lost after he was captured by the Aldmeri Dominion in the Great War. Rather than being affronted by such an invasive question, Avernus found it amusingly cute how she lacked the proper understanding that such a question would normally be considered rude.

"Artorra," the male falmer began to admonish, speaking for the first time since Avernus woke and causing the little girl to turn around to stare at him with her head cocked to the side. "Stop pestering him. You're being rude."

"But papa-" Artorra began to protest but was interrupted by the man now confirmed to be her father.

"No, Torra, it's rude. Now stop it," he commanded.

"Okay," the little girl relented, sounding very dejected, before going off to a corner to sit and pout.

"Sorry about the girl," the father apologized. "I'm Nemantorix, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. And I don't mind her questions. She's hardly the first to ask them," said Avernus, which caused Artorra to perk up from her corner.

"So, how'd it come to be that you two got captured by these scumbags?" Nemantorix asked.

"One of their members, Bolg, tried to attack us when he thought we were asleep, but we managed to subdue him and force him to take us to a passage that leads into an adjacent cluster of caves to the north of the cluster we came from," Avernus explained. "We thought our threats of a painful death were enough to convince him to take us there. We certainly handled him roughly, to hopefully convince him that we would follow through on our threats, but Bolg apparently wasn't convinced. He led us into an ambush and we were captured almost instantly. I have to admit, these fetchers are sneakier than I initially gave them credit for."

"Ah. Similar story with us," Nemantorix commented. "We went out from our tribe to hunt for food, myself, my daughter, and a couple others. Our clan's mostly nomadic, but we know the area 'round where we were captured fairly well. But we went a bit too far away from the main camp, and these pricks attacked us as we slept, same as you. Must've taken the others to a different cell block though, 'cause I haven't seen 'em since we were captured."

"Do you know what they intend to do with you?" inquired Avernus.

"Haven't the faintest idea," answered Nemantorix. "I'm certain nothing pleasant, that's for sure. But I don't plan on sticking around long enough to find out. I have to get us outta here somehow. I can't let 'em do anything to my li'l girl!"

"We might be able to help with that, actually," Avernus began to say, but before he could elaborate, their attention was drawn back to a formerly unconscious Leto. She looked like she was just waking up. She wiggled around in her bonds on her side a little before sitting up and turning her head to look at Avernus.

"Fuck, my head hurts," she groaned. "How're you up so fast? I heard you get hit t-What the fuck!" she exclaimed in fear. The reason for her reaction was apparent as soon as Avernus looked at her; Leto's eyes were open. She was staring at Avernus with wide, ice-blue eyes full of panic.

"What the fuck's happened to my face?" she demanded, but her shouting drew the attention of the guards at the door.

"Oy! Quit yer squealin', you Haeliattii whore! Else maybe we'll pry ya 'way from the cripple and have 'rselves a go at ya!" one of the guards shouted as he threw a rock over in their direction, which struck one of the bars of the cell and clanged off. They laughed amongst themselves before turning back to their games.

"You're Haeliattii?" hissed Nemantorex, his demeaner changing suddenly from inquisitive to hostile. "We've heard tales about your tribe. Forget it! We're not going anywhere with you!"

"No I'm not Haeliattii. Not anymore," Leto snapped back. "You ever hear about Haeliattii working with surfacers, let alone crippled surfacers? They'd sooner kill him. We hate the Haeliattii as much as you, if not more. That's why we're running away from them."

"Hmph, we'll see," dismissed Nemantorix, not entirely convinced. But at the moment, Leto didn't care. She was more concerned about what was happening to her since she woke up.

"Avernus, what's happening to my face?" she demanded, still sounding panicked which prompted a chuckle from Avernus.

"Your eyes are open," he answered. "You're using them quite possibly for the first time. What does it feel like?"

"This is what seeing is like?" she asked before squeezing her eyes shut. "Namira's tits, how can you stand it? My…eyes, or whatever, hurt when I use them, and the image they make when they're uncovered is unclear and disorientating. I don't even know what the fuck I'm seeing!"

"Well…I suppose if you've never used your eyes before, then they wouldn't be very good," mused Avernus. "Perhaps they'll get better over time. But we can worry about that later. Now that you're awake, we need to come up with a plan to get out of here."

"Right. If you bring me your hands, I can chew through the rope that's binding them, and then you can untie me," Leto suggested, but Nemantorix was quick to interject with his own thoughts.

"That won't work," he plainly stated. "I tried that with my daughter when we were thrown in here, and I was violently ill within seconds. They put some kind of poison on the rope."

"Or I can do this," Avernus said, prompting Nemantorix and Artorra to turn their gazes toward him.

"Do what?" Leto asked.

"Magic," Avernus answered, as he focused his energy to form telekinetic forces and fields, and directed them very specifically toward the ropes binding his hands so that they began to loosen and untie. Soon enough, the ropes binding Avernus's hands had been completely untied and fell to the floor, leaving him with full use of his hands.

"Fortunately for us, these idiots don't seem to know anything about magic or how to inhibit it," said Avernus as he crawled over to Leto and began manually untying the ropes that wrapped tightly around her torso. This proved to be difficult since Bolg's clan mates had used many complicated knots, but after a few minutes of working at it, Leto was soon unbound too.

"Ah, that feels much better," Leto purred as she stood up and stretched out her arms behind her head.

Avernus and Leto then stood up and went over to the bars separating their cell from Nemantorix and Artorra's cell and reached through and untied them as well.

"So now that we're all untied, how are we going to actually get out of here?" inquired Nemantorix.

"I can get us out of these cells easily enough," Avernus informed him, "but Leto and I don't know the way to the passage that leads into the adjacent cluster of caves. Where were you and your daughter captured?"

"By a river in the next cluster," answered Nemantorix, "but we they knocked us out too when we were taken so we couldn't tell you where the passage is either. We don't even know what's outside this cell block."

"Then we'll need to find Bolg, or someone else who can take us there," remarked Avernus.

"But I need to get my weapons and supplies back," Leto cut in. "We won't make it very far if all I have to fight with are my teeth and claws."

"I have some things I need to recover as well," Nemantorix added.

"Alright, so we need to find where they stashed our gear, and then find someone to take us to the passage," summarized Avernus.

"We should also steal whatever supplies they might have on our way out; rations, medicine, rope, things like that," Leto suggested.

"And I could use some better clothes," grumbled Avernus.

"And how exactly are we going to get to the storerooms and the exits once we get out of this cell," asked Nemantorix. "I doubt they'll just let us walk around and pillage their stores without a problem."

"I thought we were gonna fight our way out," asked Leto, as if this had already been decided.

"We're not just gonna fight our way through the entire Tarnabes clan," snapped Nemantorix. "Just the two of us plus your crippled friend and my child? Are you crazy? That'll never work, and I'm not risking Artorra's safety in such a reckless plan."

"It'll work out fine," insisted Leto. "The Tarnabes are scrawny little runts. They won't be able to stand up in a proper fight. And Avernus can use his magic to kill them too. Between the three of us, we should be fine."

"Scrawny compared to you maybe, but they're about the same size as me, and there's a lot more of them than there are of me," hissed Nemantorix. "And what about if they just set up another ambush for us somewhere, hide where we can't get to them and lure us into a trap? They seem like they're good at that kinda thing."

This seemed to give Leto pause. That had been how she and Avernus were captured, after all, and an escape would be pointless if they would just get captured right after.

"Well?" demanded Nemantorix.

"I'm thinking," snapped Leto.

"Perhaps we could use a hostage to lead us out?" suggested Avernus.

"That could work," mused Leto, "but we'd need someone whose life they actually gave two shits about, someone important, like Bolg. If we could lure that little bitch over here, we could make this work."

"But how do we lure him down here?" questioned Nemantorix.

"Hmm, I'm not sure yet. Maybe if we-" Leto started to say, but was cut off by the sound of the door at the end of the hall opening. Avernus, Leto, and Nemantorix immediately stopped their conversation and turned to their attention toward the door.

Three new guards came in, two females and one male, but they didn't look like they were relieving the two guards that were already posted by the door. They were all armed with spears and were marching toward their cells.

"Bolg's ready for another one already, eh?" questioned one of the guards at the table as he heard his compatriots enter.

"That's right," said one of the newcomer guards, a female in between the male and the other female. She appeared to be the leader of the new trio. "And we get ta have a bit o' fun with him first 'fore Bolg has him killed."

So they were killing the prisoners from Nemantorix's clan. Upon hearing this, Leto silently moved over to the bars that separated their cells and passed a loop of rope through before reaching through with her arms to grasp it again. Avernus readied some offensive magic and channelled it into his palm. They couldn't let anything happen to Nemantorix and Artorra. Not only did they need their help to escape Bolg's clan, but to sit and do nothing when they could help protect them would as bad as condemning them to death themselves.

The trio stopped in front of Nemantorix's cell, unlocked it, and stepped inside.

"Come on now, might as well cooperate, else this'll be a whole lot more difficult for everyone here," the leader of the guards said as they all levelled their spears at Nemantorix, who had backed up against the back wall of the cell, and started slowly advancing on him.

As soon as the guard nearest to the bars dividing their two cells, the male, stepped within arm's reach of Leto, chaos erupted in the cells. Leto quickly looped the rope over his head so that it wrapped around his neck, and pulled hard. He gave a squeak of surprise before he was crushed against the bars and strangled by Leto. The remaining two guards faltered upon witnessing their comrade getting attacked by a prisoner who was supposed to be tied up, and Nemantorix took advantage of their momentary distraction to lunge at the leader of the guards with a snarl, knock away her spear, and start grappling with her. Just as he lunged forward, Avernus released his magic in the form of a bolt of powerful lightning that lanced across through the bars and across Nemantorix's cell, lighting up the whole cell block brightly for a brief moment as It travelled, and impacted the third guard, the other female not engaged by Leto or Nemantorix. She was flung into the bars on the opposite side of Nemantorix's cell and collapsed in a smoking, motionless heap.

"What the fuck!?" exclaimed the one of the guards at the table in alarm upon hearing the commotion in the cells, and he and his companion grabbed their swords and rushed over to help the other guards

"Shit! They got outta their binds!" one of the new guards realized as he and his friend burst through the door into Nemantorix's cell and rushed to the aid of the female guard still grappling with Nemantorix. Neither he, nor the guard leader seemed to be getting the upper hand, but with the two arriving guards, that would change very soon.

"Papa!" Artorra cried in warning before snarling and launching her tiny body at the legs of the nearest guard in defense of her father. For a brief fraction of a second, Avernus mused over how curious it was that, rather than cowering or fleeing like any surface-dwelling child would, Artorra's first instinct was to attack with what natural weapons her immature body possessed. It was interesting little glimpse into the psyche of the modern Falmer. But he quickly shoved such thoughts aside for when there was a more appropriate time to ponder them.

Avernus watched as little Artorra used her teeth and her little claws to do what little damage she could to the guard who went after her father, but it seemed that she just proved to be more of an annoyance than any serious threat.

"Little brat!" the guard cried before slugging her in the face with his free hand. Avernus watched Artorra's tiny body go sprawling to the ground as the guard then brought his spear to bear and prepared to run the child through. Adrenalin flooded his body as he prepared another bolt of lightning, and time seemed to slow down as he watched the guard begin his thrust. Right at that moment, Avernus released the magic and a second bolt of brilliantly bright electricity lanced across the cell and struck the guard a fraction of a second before his spear could pierce Artorra' flesh. When the bolt struck the guard, his spear went wide and he collapsed and starting convulsing on the ground. Avernus gave him another bolt of lightning, and the guard's writhing stopped. Turning his attention back to the little girl, he found that Artorra had adopted a wide-eyed look of fear on her face, terrified at what had almost happened, and was visibly shaking. But she didn't cry.

Meanwhile, Leto was continuing to strangle the one guard when the two door guards had burst into the cell. She tried opening her eyes to see like Avernus could, since it seemed to give him an advantage, but when she tried, all she perceived was pain in her eyes and a messy, unfocused, unclear image that made little sense to her. But she could hear well enough, and from the sound of it, the two guards from the table by the door would certainly kill the other falmer and his daughter unless she and Avernus could help him. But strangling the guard from the initial trio was taking far too long. So Leto loosened her grip a little before jerking his head back and smashing it into the bars of the cell, briefly stunning him. Taking advantage of his momentary disorientation, Leto dropped the rope and dug into his throat with her claws, worming her fingers inside and tearing at his flesh. The guard began to scream in pain, but soon enough, she came to his trachea and promptly severed it. The guard gurgled as blood and air trickled and bubbled out from his throat, and he collapsed in a boneless heap at the foot of the bars, his life very quickly leaving his body. Bending down, Leto picked up his fallen spear and hurled it through the bars into the second door guard, the one who Avernus hadn't killed.

Of the five guards that had stormed Nemantorix's cell, only one remained: the guard captain that Nemantorix was grappling with. While Avernus, Leto, and Artorra had dealt with the other guards, Nemantorix had slowly but steadily forced her onto the defensive. He had knocked away her spear, which she wasn't expecting, and had used her momentary shock to slam into her and knock her to the ground. He landed on her in such a manner that he now straddled her. The guard drew a concealed dagger from the folds of her clothing, but Nemantorix, possessing the gift of sight, was able to see this and quickly knocked the weapon out of her hand. He went for her throat, but she attempted to block him by batting at his hands. The guard captain managed to clasp hands with Nemantorix and attempted to push him away, but Nemantorix possessed greater brute strength than she and had the advantage of gravity as he threw his body weight against the guard captain pinned beneath him. He slowly pushed her arms to the side and the distance between his teeth and her throat slowly diminished.

However, before Nemantorix could close the gap and sink his teeth into the guard captain's throat, she jerked her head up and smashed her forehead into his face. As stars clouded his vision and his head swam, the guard captain used her moment of respite to knock Nemantorix off of her and leap to her feet. She scooped up her spear and made to impale Nemantorix who was seemingly still shocked and lying on the floor of the cell, but before she could do so, he shot an arm out and seized her lower leg, digging his claws into the soft flesh of her calf. The guard captain shrieked in pain and fell to her knees, her spear clattering to the stone floor once more. Nemantorix then snatched up the fallen dagger and drove it into the guard captain`s chest, sliding the blade between her ribs just below her left breast. Blood spilled out of the wound and down his hand as the guard captain shrieked in pain before her strength gave out and she collapsed to the ground, lying dead next to a panting Nemantorix. With that, the small battle in the cells ended.

Artorra, after a few moments, recovered from the intense fear and panic that had overwhelmed her, and, upon seeing all the dead bodies now resting in her cell, tears flooded her eyes as she realized what had almost happened to her and her father.

"Papa!" the little girl cried as she rushed over to her father and threw her tiny body over his, wrapping her little arms around his neck in a fierce embrace.

"Shhh, baby girl, it's alright. We're safe now," whispered Nemantorix as he tried to soothe his daughter. "The mean people didn't hurt your Papa and we're both unhurt and safe now." He sat up and gathered his young daughter into his arms as he rocked her back and forth, murmuring to her and stroking her hair until she calmed down a little. Avernus watched all this from the other side of the bars, remaining silent and not wishing to intrude.

"Well, looks like we'll be fighting now," Leto remarked to Avernus as she strode up to him. "Can you get us out of this cell?"

"Easily done," replied Avernus as he walked over to their cell door and laid his hand on it. The air in their cell seemed to drop in temperature ever so slightly, and Leto, forcing herself to watch with her eyes, saw the metal bars start to…change. She didn't know how to describe it at first, but soon enough, she was able to detect the smell of rust. Nemantorix too was now watching in fascination as the bars of Avernus's cell door rapidly turned to rust and fell apart. Small pieces of rust flaked off and the bars grew more and more gnarled until the locking mechanism and the hinged disintegrated entirely and the door collapsed, breaking apart under its own weight as it fell to the ground. Leto walked through the now open doorway of their cell and paused to examine a piece of the rusted locking mechanism.

"Fascinating," she remarked before discarding it and walking into Nemantorix's cell to pick up a spear and a sword from the fallen guards. "But anyway, sooner or later, the rest of these pricks are gonna notice that the guards they sent over here didn't come back. We need to figure out what to do next."

"We still need our hostage if we're to have any chance of getting out of this place," stated Avernus.

"We also can't stay here," Nemantorix informed them. "That door's the only way out, and if we linger too long, we'll get trapped when others show up. We need to move."

"But we also don't know anything about the layout of these halls and chambers outside of this room," Avernus reminded them. "What are we going to do? Just wander around blindly until we happen upon a group of Bolg's clan mates that we can subdue?"

"Obviously not," snorted Nemantorix. "Since, out of all four of us, I'm probably the most adept at sneaking around undetected, I can scout out the route ahead briefly and we can decide where to move based on that."

"That could work, but you'll have to be quick about it," stated Avernus. "The longer we wait here while you're off scouting, the more likely that the other clan members will have figured out that something is amiss in the cell blocks."

"Also, they're probably holding our weapons and gear somewhere close to these cells," Leto weighed in. "See if you can't find our stuff and steal it back for us."

"Right, I won't be long then," said Nemantorix before turning to his daughter.

"Artorra, Papa has to go away for a little while," he told the little girl. "You need to stay here with Avernus and Leto, alright? They'll keep you safe until I come back."

"But Papa," cried Artorra, "what if the mean people hurt you and you don't come back?"

"That won't happen, Torra," Nemantorix reassured her. "You know how good a hunter your Papa is?"

"You're the best hunter in the clan, Papa!" Artorra declared with great pride.

"That's right, baby girl. Think of this like a hunt. Papa's gonna go sneak around the mean people like when we're on a hunt, and they won't even know I'm there. I promise I'll come back for you. Now you promise me that you'll stay close to your new friends, okay?"

"Okay, Papa, I promise," said Artorra, feeling a lot less scared now.

"Good girl. I'll be back soon. I love you," said Nemantorix as he kissed his daughter goodbye before standing and turning to face Leto and Avernus.

"I'll be back shortly. Keep her safe for me," he told them.

"Of course," replied Avernus. "Good luck."

With that, Nemantorix gathered the sword he had stolen from the dead guard and headed out the door at the end of the cell block, leaving Avernus and Leto alone with little Artorra.

Leto went over to the dead guards and began collecting their spears and any other useful items that they may have possessed. She also ran her hands over the males' torsos to briefly assess their size. Settling on one, she removed his tunic before walking back to Avernus and handing it to him.

"Here," she said as she handed him the simple garment she had looted. "You and that dead guy are about the same size. Should fit well enough."

"Thanks," Avernus replied as he took the proffered garment and slid it over his head, letting the course fabric fall down around him. While it was somewhat rough, it was nice to finally be wearing something on his torso. It would keep him that much warmer. He didn't particularly care that it had been stolen from a dead body; in the situation that he found himself in, one had to be practical.

Artorra followed Leto into the cell that she and Avernus had previously been locked inside and went to sit in a corner, as far away from the dead bodies in her former cell as possible. For a little while, she just sat with her knees drawn up to her chest and her eyes to the floor as Avernus took a seat himself, facing the entrance to the cell block, and Leto paced around anxiously. After a few moments of silence, Artorra picked her head up and look over to Leto.

"Hi," the little girl said to her.

"Hello," replied Leto somewhat awkwardly.

"Are you Avernus's mate?" Artorra asked innocently. For a moment, Leto seemed too shocked by the question to answer, remaining silent with her mouth hanging open dumbly, but then she started laughing heartily, as if the little girl had told a hilarious joke. For some completely irrational reason that he couldn't fathom, Avernus felt slightly hurt by Leto's reaction, but he quickly dismissed the feeling from his mind.

"No, I'm not," answered Leto. "We didn't meet very long ago, and we're travelling together to run away from other mean people, but we're just friends."

"Oh," said Artorra. The little girl was quiet for a moment, but then something must have occurred to her because she asked Leto another question: "Then why do you smell like Mama when she wants to mate with Papa?"

Leto didn't laugh this time. Instead she just remained silent as a suitable response eluded her. Avernus could even see the skin of her face flush slightly and turn a light shade of pink.

Why indeed? Avernus thought to himself with, he would late admit, more curiosity than he probably should have had. Did that mean that Leto found him attractive? No, of course not, Avernus reprimanded himself as he banished the absurd thought. She was probably more interested in Nemantorix than him since he was actually of the same race as her, and not crippled. But, deciding he didn't feel like letting Leto's embarrassment dragon on more than it already had, he saved Leto having to answer by asking Artorra a question of his own.

"You know what…uh, mating is?" asked Avernus, the unfamiliar term giving him pause.

"Yes," answered Artorra, nodding her head eagerly as if trying to impress Avernus with how much she knew. She then got up from her corner and went to sit next to Avernus. "I saw Mama and Papa mate once, and they told me about it after. They said they mate because they love each other and it's how Mama makes babies, but it was really noisy and smelly, and I think it's gross!"

"Do you now?" asked Avernus with a laugh. Leto, was now watching the two of them cautiously but with interest, and looked grateful that Avernus had steered the conversation away from her.

"Yes! It's weird," insisted Artorra. "Mama said I'll want to mate one day. Isn't that so silly?"

"I don't know. In ten years or so, you might find your Mama was right," teased Avernus.

"Nooo!" whined the little girl.

"What's a year?" Leto suddenly asked from the other side of the cell.

"Oh right, I suppose you'd be unfamiliar with that concept," mused Avernus. "A year is a measurement of time on the surface. To give you an idea of how long a year is, Artorra is probably about four or five years old and I'm forty-nine years. I can't tell how old you would be though. I'm assuming somewhere around my age, and since we're both young, we'll live for hundreds of years more before we grow old."

"I see," remarked Leto. "Interesting."

After that, there was another period of silence between the three as Avernus and Leto watched the entrance, and Artorra scooted closer to Avernus .

"When's Papa coming back?" Artorra asked in a somewhat dejected tone.

"I'm not sure, Artorra, but I know he'll be back soon," Avernus tried to reassure her.

"He has to," stated Artorra.

Time continued to pass and no further conversations were struck up. Leto continued her pacing and Avernus just sat next to Artorra. He was beginning to wonder if something had happened to Nemantorix. He was only supposed to scout the layout of a small portion of the ruins, near their cell block, since anything else would take too long. Had the other Tarnabes clan members found him?

However, just as Avernus was beginning to doubt his return, Nemantorix strode through the door to the cell block with a large sack over his shoulder and a bow, sword, of arrows strapped to his back.

"Papa!" cried Artorra as she picked herself up off the ground and launched herself at Nemantorix, who dropped the sack to scoop his daughter into his arms.

"I told you I'd come back," he murmured to Artorra as he nuzzled her affectionately. He set her down a moment later and went over to Avernus and Leto, dropping the sack in front of Leto.

"Found these. I'm guessing they're yours," Nemantorix stated as he nudged the sack. Upon opening it, Leto found that it contained the swords, bow, and quiver of arrows she had set out with.

"My weapons!" she exclaimed with delight as she began strapping them back on to herself.

"So, did you find out anything useful?" inquired Avernus.

"Yeah. Found the storerooms, obviously," Nemantorix began to answer. "The rest of our gear is there. I couldn't bring all of it back here, so I just took the weapons. I found another cell block, but there was no sign of my clan mates. Bolg must have taken them away for something. I also found the way to a more central part of these ruins too. It looks like we're way off to the side and outta the way. Some Tarnabes clan members were milling about, and I almost got caught. Had to loop around another way and be more careful. But I know where the main hall is, and Bolg's probably planted his scheming arse somewhere around there. So gear up, and let's be on our way!"

Leto was all too happy to oblige. She strapped her bow and quiver to her back and tucked her one sword into her belt next to two of the three spears she had taken from the guards they had killed. The other sword she held in her left hand while carrying a spear in her right. Nemantorix choice of weapons complemented Leto's as he tucked his sword into his belt and strung his bow. Avernus pulled himself to his feet while Leto and Nemantorix armed themselves, and watched Nemantorix walk over to his daughter when he was finished.

"Ready to leave the bad people and go home, baby girl?" he asked.

"Yes, Papa!"

"Good. I need you to stay very close to us and be very quiet," Nemantorix instructed her. "If bad people come after you, we'll be right there to keep you safe. You did so well when those guards came to take me away, baby girl! I'm so proud of you! If the bad people try to hurt you, you bite them and claw them just like you did until our friends or I can stop them, okay?"

Artorra nodded rapidly in acknowledgement.

"Good girl. You're doing so well, and I'm so proud of you! Now let's go back home to Mama and the rest of the clan," he said before standing up and ushering her to stand behind him.

Leto and Avernus were all ready to go. They stepped out of the small cell, and Leto, being as large and heavily armed as she was, took point. Nemantorix formed up behind her, and Avernus, stood next to little Artorra. The four then set off through the exit to their cell block, prepared to fight their way to Bolg deep in the heart of clan Tarnabes' territory.

I hope the ending here wasn't too awkward. And I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. This chapter is sort of setting the stage for a later development, and the next chapter is really more like the second part of this chapter since they both deal with our party's escape from Bolg and his clan, but I didn't want to cram it all into one chapter; that would just be too long.

Like I mentioned in a previous Author's Note, one of the things I wanted to do with this story is to explore the Falmer and their culture as species, and give depth and life to them beyond the stupidly evil in-game monsters that Bethesda gave us. Just keep this in mind if you're concerned that I'm making them too "people-like," for lack of a better term. But I do plan on retaining some aspects from the game that give them a more monstrous feel, as will (hopefully) become apparent later.

As usual, I'd appreciate it immensely if you'd take the time to give me your thoughts and opinions and let me know how I'm doing in a review. Thanks for reading, and take care!