Selia walked off towards the camp, leaving the now-buried body of Adario behind. Except the arm. She kept Adario's arm. While burying the rest of him, Selia had grown attached to Adario's hand. It was a nice hand. Maybe she'd make it into some kind of weapon. Orc/Dremora bone is probably quite sturdy. It'd have to be strong if it managed to support that fatty! thought Selia, a smile widening on her face. She began to hum the tune to a rather upbeat song about burning an orphanage and eating rabbit esophagi (esophaguses?) as she slipped the arm into her pack. Everyone else appeared to be packed and ready to go. Selia, however, was always packed. Everything she owned she could fit on her person. Everything except her horse, and he wasn't even in the province of Skyrim at the moment. Selia smiled wistfully at this thought, wondering when she'd next be able to see her mentor in Argonia. Hopefully, her mission in Skyrim would be a success, however doubtful that was.
Azaelia followed close behind Selia, probably (falsely) thinking that her chat with the woman had accomplished something. When Azaelia had asked Selia why she had killed Adario, Selia answered with, "Oh, I didn't kill Adario. She did. And you all drove her to it. Didn't you listen to what I said earlier?" Selia then told Azaelia what she felt of the group; from her pure hatred of the stick-in-the-mud Rellian to her indifference for Arith to her casual disliking of Edwin to her pity for the vampire. When Azaelia replied with, "I don't understand why they fear you.", Selia had said, "I am a trained assassin, you know. I understand why they might fear me. But Danacia and Circe... they know what goes on in my head. They wouldn't fear me. They know that I intend to leave you all alive, use you all for some of my own devices. They might, however, fear her. She's not as benevolent as I am." They talked about a few other things, but mostly, that was it.
Selia was thrust back into reality as Edwin spoke up, saying, "Okay everybody, time to head out." Danacia hopped onto her horse, whom Selia thought was horrifically stupid, not at all like her horse, Treasure, and began to head southeast, towards the ruins. Selia rolled her eyes, wondering how a person like Danacia could even be as bossy as she was, then climbed a tree, following from the foliage, dropping to the ground only when the nearest tree was too far to jump to. Sometimes she acted more like an imga then a redguard.
After a few hours of travel, the group halted, ready to eat. Selia dropped from a particularily low branch on her aspen tree perch and drew a sweetroll from her bag, all in one single, fluid motion. She scanned the faces of her colleagues as she munched on the sugary treat. Edwin kept glancing over at Selia and appeared lost in thought. He seemed troubled. Probably wondering what the assassin would do next. Selia's gaze then turned to Azaelia, who was unreadable, as always. Selia liked Azaelia well enough. In her eyes, the nord was the only one in the group deserving of respect, even if her combat tactics were a bit too barbaric for Selia. she glanced over at Arith next, still unsure as to what she thought of him. He seemed nice enough, if a little naive, and his jokes were good fun. Yet, there was something off about him, something Selia just couldn't put her finger on. She glanced over at Circe next, then felt sad for her. In Selia's eyes, vampirism was one of the worst curses imaginable. You were in debt to, not one, but two daedric princes, you couldn't go out in the sunlight, you had to drink blood, which Selia preferred to use as decor, and your skin grew deathly pale. Other than that, Selia considered her a good enough person. Not as much as Azaelia, but still, decent. Finally, she looked over Danacia and Rellian, the two people on the expedition who she outright disliked. She felt pity and anger at the sight of the two wretches (Selia's words, not mine!), wondering how they could go on living when they were such worthless people. A stick-in-the-mud and someone who so casually invaded the privacy of someone; Selia hated them.
As Lunch drew to a close, Selia decided to follow the group on foot for the last leg of their journey. Danacia once again took the lead, and Selia contemplated just grabbing her bow and shooting her. But, that would be rude, and if there was one thing Selia was not, it was (purposely) rude. She was always quite polite, shaking hands with her victims while stabbing them in the back, making sure to introduce herself before cracking a targets neck. So was the life of Selia Anika. Trees disappeared as they continued, something that Selia had suspected would happen as the terrain changed from regular old snow to ice. Around late afternoon/early evening, the party reached their destination; a gigantic canyon littered with various Dwemer buildings. The craggy edges were covered in snow and broken bits of bronze. A dead bosmer in steel armor was impaled on one of the sharper cliffs.
Edwin stepped forward, surveying their surroundings. He looked down into the canyon, then whistled. "Wow, long way down. I think that is our destination, is it not Danacia? We will have to climb down along the ice face there, then perhaps jump down onto the platform around the tower there. Luckily, I brought some climbing gear.", said the mage, his voice echoing around the fissure beneath him. He pointed down to a nearby tower as he spoke, then, when finished, he turned to Arith. "Do you know anything about climbing stuff Arith? I have some experience but I figure a tree-hugger would have more, eh?" Edwin smiled, looking rather stupid, as Selia thought of how much better she would do at this job. Circe laughed at this and walked over to the edge of the fissure. Selia thought briefly of what would happen if she pushed the vampire down there. No! Do not resurface! You shall not! You will not! I can't let you! thought Selia, trying to drown out the other voices chanting in her head, something she normally considered just regular background noise to her life, but was occasionally a problem. For example, right at that exact moment in time, when Selia suddenly felt very homicidal. Luckily, she was snapped back to reality by a certain vampire.
"Perhaps I should go down first. I don't need and climbing equipment and if anyone gets in trouble while they climb I can get to them easily, without any ropes getting in my way.", said Circe, her voice rescuing Selia from herself. Circe began jumping up and down on the ice, testing it's durability. And I thought everyone here but Azaelia and I were stupid... thought Selia, impressed by the fact that someone who had signed up for such a suicide mission had the foresight to test the ice. "The ice appears to be strong where we are, but I would hate for one of you to fall to your deaths.", said Circe. Selia mumbled under her breath, saying, "I wouldn't..." After a small pause, Circe spoke up again, saying, "Well, today at least. Please feel free to fall into a huge crack in the ground any other day." Selia laughed out loud at this. It struck her funnybone, something very few people could do to her when she was in a thinking mood. Circe sat down, dangling her legs off the cliff face, as Selia decided it was her time to shine, and this time, in a more favorable light. "Thank you, Circe, but, much as I'd love for you to impale yourself on some rocky spire of some sort down there, I would like to go first. I am experienced when it comes to climbing. I lived with a tribe of imga in Valenwood for quite a while. Plus, didn't you see how I kept to the trees for much of our travels? That was easy. This may be slightly more difficult, but still, a piece of cake."
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