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"HALT!" The Inspector shouted.

She stopped and turned around, now trapped on the rooftop of a building with nowhere to go but down. Behind her, Inspector Trudal approached cautiously with two of his best archers beside him.

"Don't try it, Ra'Jirra. The arrows are poison tipped. Just come in and we won't treat you harshly."

"I'm sorry, Inspector," she said, putting her hands to her sides in an expression of hopelessness. "I know too much."

"Wait! Ra'Jirra, DON'T!"

But then she dropped over the edge. The Inspector and his men rushed to the edge, but on the stones below lay the body of the famous Elsweyr spy, a dark pool of blood staining her once beautiful hair.

They ran back through the building to street level, and the Inspector ordered his men to bring help while he waited over the body.

As soon as they were gone, two other men scurried away with the mattress as soon as the archers were out of sight, while the Inspector squatted over Ra'Jirra and lit a pipe.

"You better not get any damn ashes on me," she said from under the matted hair.

"Ashes to ashes," Trudal smiled, not looking at her while onlookers began to peer out of windows. "Besides, the dead can't talk so shut the hell up."

******************************************

A few hours later Ra'Jirra climbed out of her casket and onto the deck of the merchant ship after it was underway and sufficiently far from the shore to avoid any prying eyes. However, few onboard were khajiits and she had yet to meet another khajiit with that jet-black fur, so it wasn't hard to guess who it was that stood at the stern, watching the shoreline disappear.

The dark face and orange eyes turned at her approach, and the sad face instantly changed to a smile when she saw her friend.

"Ra'JIrra!" she said, and embraced the spy tightly. For her part, Ra'Jirra returned the hug enthusiastically. Though technically enemies, the two couldn't be more friendly after what they'd gone through a few months previously.

"Ko! I was so happy to hear they'd chosen you for this mission. It's not your normal line of work as a cryptologist."

"Nonsense. It's practically the same thing. It's all about encoded meanings. Communications, really. It's just this time both sides are supposed to be being as open as possible."

Ra'Jirra turned back to watch as the city of Rihad faded from view, it's stinking atmosphere replaced by the unique and clean smell of salt water spray. This time she didn't curse the city, and wondered if reverse psychology would work on Karma.

"Miss it already?"

"What, Hammerfell? Yeah, a little. But a secret diplomatic mission to Elsweyr - how exciting! So what are you doing onboard?"

"Getting buried actually. Things were getting a little hot for me lately. Somebody in the Dominion really has it out for me. So, with the help of your Inspector, we staged my death."

"Oh! So, you're dead right now?"

"That's right. Sorry, but you're talking to a corpse."

"An awfully pretty corpse, I must say," Ko'Manir said, wrapping her tail around Ra'Jirra's thigh.

Ra'Jirras eyes shot to Ko'Manir's with feigned anger. "I swear, if you say ONE WORD about necrophilia, this isn't going to happen!"

Ko'Manir laughed and they retired to Ra'Jirra's cabin to celebrate their reunion privately.

"So, you've been to sea before I assume?" Ra'Jirra asked later.

"No, this is my first time. Why?"

"It's just unusual. You're not afraid of the water, and you're not seasick yet. That's uncommon for us khajiits."

"Oh, you give me too much credit, Raj. Hammerfell has created a potion that I took before boarding to help with the seasickness. As for water," she shrugged. "Never bothered me."

"Dammit, does Hammerfell always have to be two steps ahead of us?"

Ko'Manir smiled and teased Ra'Jirra intimately. "Sorry, Raj - but if we weren't, your government probably wouldn't have made this overture to us, secret though it is."

Ra'Jirra giggled and pushed Ko'Manir's hand away. "That's so, I admit. If the Imperials knew we were in talks with you directly..."

"Let's see that they don't find out."

*****************************

The funeral was quite touching actually, though honestly Ra'Jirra couldn't understand why they bothered. But, she supposed, one never knew for sure who was working for whom in her line of work. She thought the flag draped coffin was a bit much, and had to wonder just what was in the body bag that slid out from it into the dark water below.

"So, are you going to adopt a new name or something?"

"Oh, you know, whatever the HMSS comes up with. But what about you?"

"Well, one more khajiit on a voyage to Elsweyr isn't really likely to raise much suspicion."

"Will I see you once we're there?"

The dark khajiit shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Will you be in Torval long?"

"Not likely. This subterfuge isn't going to hold water long. I think they've got something planned for me, though what it is I haven't a clue. "Need-to-Know" and all that. What about you? What's got Hammerfell so bothered that they sent an emissary to Elsweyr now?"

"Ra'Jirra, you've got to know that such information is of the highest secrecy."

"No problem. I understand..." Ra'Jirra began, but Ko'Manir motioned to the hammock and they climbed in together."

"You suspect ears in the walls?" Ra'Jirra whispered.

The hammock was made for a single body, but the two found it was actually quite comfortable for two if they didn't mind being piled right on top of each other. Oddly the swaying of the ship through the ocean was comforting in the netting, rather than a constant strain to keep balanced.

"Not really, I just wanted to get close to you," Ko'Manir whispered back. "But you can't be too sure. Did you read about a Hammerfell ship that disappeared a week ago?"

"I did. The story did sound awfully vague."

"This time not due to secrecy. The last time it docked was at Haven in Valenwood. It's destination was Morrowind, but it was never seen again. We suspect the Imperials intercepted it somewhere around the mouth of Topal bay and sunk her."

Ra'Jirra rolled her eyes. "Now look Ko, I know you guys think the Imperials are demons from the lowest depths of Oblivion, but really, why on earth would they want to sink one of your ships? Why even we have a more powerful navy than the Imperials!"

"For now, that's true. But that ship held some new technology that, in the right hands, could change the naval balance of power forever."

Suddenly Ra'Jirra became a lot more interested. She stopped teasing Ko'Manir's ear.

"I can't go into details, but we have reason to believe the Imperials have their own ship, with similar technology now. Ra'Jirra, if they sunk our ship, that is a clear declaration of war. No amount of diplomacy will stop it this time."

"And you need allies."

"Elsweyr occupies a key position beside the Bay of Topal."

"Black Marsh..." Ra'Jirra began, but Ko'Manir interrupted her.

"Argonians. You know no one can negotiate with them. They're... inscrutable. Who knows what their goals are? The only good thing is that the Imperials will do no better with them. They're fiercely independent and protective of the Marsh. There's no way they'd let Imperials or Redguards establish any significant military presence there. But Elsweyr..."

"I see. Well, look, I'm just a tool of the Mane of course. I have no influence at all over politics or allegiances. But your help with my little subterfuge will certainly sway some at least."

Ko'Manir stroked Ra'Jirra's long hair. "I'm afraid, Ra'Jirra, that there was actually some talk about moving that mattress at the last minute."

Ra'Jirra's sighed, "I'm not really surprised. But there are times you have to trust your gut and accept the risk, you know?"

"I know," Ko'Manir said. "Were they getting that close?"

"Close enough I couldn't do my job."

"Ra'Jirra, can I ask you a tough question? Don't answer if you feel you can't."

"What?"

"What would you do if you were ordered to kill me?"

Ra'Jirra shook her head. "Wouldn't happen. I'm not an assassin, Ko."

"You've a license to kill."

"Doesn't mean I get paid to. That's not my job, Ko. But if you really must know, I'd require a damn good reason. If I received such a reason, well, I'd miss you."

"I'll try to make sure you never have a reason."

"Do that, please."