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Morning came upon the Dominion outpost camp with a clear blue sky, what few clouds there were casting hazy shadows on the tents among the grass. This region of Valenwood - northern Malabal Tor, just northwest of Bandaari Tradepost; the town could be seen if one were to stand atop the little knoll at the camp's eastern edge - remained hot at this time of year and hardly dropped a degree during the night. For this reason, most those who slept did so outside their bedrolls, and kept the entry flaps of their tents open.

When it came to foreign or military matters and threats, little of importance happened this far into Aldmeri territory past the Cyrodiil border, although native mischief, for lack of a better word, still goes around, especially in such close proximity to Bandaari, spoken of back on the Isles as a cluster of hoodlums and thieves trading stolen wares. Because of this, only one guard stood watch over the night rather than the more common four or five for a camp this size nearer to disputed Cyrodiil. The haggard wood elf to whom this job had fallen spied the courier shortly before dawn, and led the man to the captain of this outpost upon arrival. Then, he promptly went to sleep; the camp had started to slowly stir to life, spurred on by the aroma of a spiced hoarvor-and-sprigganwood stew cooking.

The Khajiit Marus found himself called upon shortly after awakening from pleasant dreams; a series of short rasps on one of his tent's support poles followed by a curt order alerted him to be at his commanding officer's in five minutes. Several years had taught him to think of these orders as another common occurrence, for more often than not were they just that - orders - rather than punishment for something, as he used to fear. Night winds had blown little grassblades, dust, and an array of other nuisances into his charcoal-black fur; he brushed these out with his claws before getting dressed and stepping outside.

The sun did not hurt his eyes, for he had had plenty of time to grow accustomed to it after it had awoken him. Others who were also awake and about nodded, waved, or smiled their acknowledgement to him as he passed by. Most of these men and women he had been posted with before, although this time, a few strangers had been mixed in as well: a short high elf (she stood about 5'5, so Marus, as well as probably everyone else she spoke to, had originally mistaken her for a Bosmer); a wood elf who looked as if he could arm wrestle three orc chieftains at the same time and win; and a Khajiit who looked more like a two-legged leopard than a true Khajiit, with the same fur colors, markings, and facial structure. Marus saw the Altmer and Bosmer on his way to the commander's tent, but not the Khajiit.

The reason for this presented itself as soon as he pushed back the tent flap and stepped outside: this other Khajiit stood before Commander Richiel and the courier, arms politely behind his back. One of his ears briefly flicked back when Marus entered, and then returned to front.

Marus assumed a similar at-attention posture and nodded his question. "Sir?"

"Good morning, gentlemen." Commander Richiel held a folded note in one hand out to the two Khajiit. Marus took it. "Direct orders from Queen Ayrenn have arrived for you two specifically. You are to go to where the Strid River ends near Skingrad, northeast of here in Cyrodiil. There you will wait for further instruction."

"Yes sir." Marus looked inside the note. It indeed bore Her Majesty's flourished handwriting ,as well as the royal seal at the bottom corner. "But - why Cyrodiil? And why us?"

The courier, a high elf who stood easily a foot above Richiel's head - something wood elves have to deal with in the military - cleared his throat. "Intelligence has led to the belief that there is an artifact which could be of use in a nearby Ayleid ruin. You two are the best infiltrators within a sensible distance of the site; if possible, part of the plan will be for you to get in, find the artifact, and get out before the Covenant catches wind of this. Details are not yet certain, however."

"Yes. From here, it's about the distance from Silvenar to Arenthia. Doable in... oh, a day, a day and a half on horseback." Richiel nodded his thanks to the courier, who bowed and left.

"What should we take?" asked the other Khajiit. Marus looked over at him: he had the thick accent of one who had spent his whole life in Elsweyr, with carefully pronounced words and enunciated T's. Marus, however, spoke in the accent and dialect of a Colovian, which had melded together with those of his peers over the years. Never once had he stepped foot in the homeland of his people.

"Anything you'd take on any other reconnaissance mission. Certainly weapons - Marus, I know you're fond of a knife, but you're unlikely to encounter any enemy forces there or on the way, and I don't think even you can take down a deer with a dagger. Some food for the journey, too, but not much. That area of Cyrodiil has as much wildlife as this part of Valenwood has blades of grass. Anything else?"

"No sir."

"Very well, then." Commander Richiel showed the ghost of a smile. Before joining the Dominion military, Marus had never thought a wood elf capable of prowess in battle similar to that of a Nord. The man before him had been the one to surprise him in this when he yanked the helmet off of one and bludgeoned him to death with it. "You may go. Good luck to you, men. Divines be with you."

"Thank you, sir." Marus bowed, and then the other Khajiit completed his thought: "And with you."

Most of the rest of the camp had awoken by now: over the gentle mumbling of distant conversation and sizzling of breakfast cooking could the sounds of training be heard, the thick thwacks of arrows piercing into hay targets, the metallic clangs of steel on steel, and the soldiers' various huffs and grunts.

Marus cleared his throat. "So. What's your name?"

"Mm?" The other Khajiit flicked an ear his way, as if his voice had startled him. "Ah. I am J'zir. And you?"

"Marus."

"Marus." J'zir said the name with a flick of the tongue on the R, making it a sort of half-consonant. "That is not a Khajiiti name."

"No."

"Ah." He nodded and made a face as if pondering something, and fell quiet for a moment. "Marus..."

"Yes?"

J'zir's whiskers twitched. "Nothing, nothing. You will meet this one by the central campfire when you are ready to depart, yes?"

"Oh. Yes, sure."

"You have a horse?"

"Yes."

"Good. You will see this one then."

Marus watched him as he went off toward the western end of the camp, likely where his tent was. He walked with strength, with determination, and with silence - he stepped on tall grass and gravel and twigs, and yet gave off no sound.

He watched until the tan-furred Khajiit disappeared behind a line of tents, and then trudged back towards his own.

~ ~ ~

As it proved, J'zir was a very strange man. He spoke little and let his face reveal even less; he offered no more information about himself than was requested; and he seemed to actively avoid eye contact. Once as a cub, Marus had found a hunk of amber lodged into the trunk of a tree; when he help it up, it glowed the brightest golden-orange he had ever seen. He only knew that J'zir's eyes were this same color from the few short looks at his face the leopard Khajiit allowed him before turning away; whenever he faced him, J'zir - who also stood a bit shorter than Marus - kept his eyes fixed on the ground, as if he were addressing someone high in stature than himself.

A few hours into the journey, the noon sun radiated down from its zenith. Still the sky showed no sign of dulling its heat with gathering clouds; those that did appear were like dust in a river, light and ephemeral, to be dispersed on the current in a matter of minutes.

Marus wiped the back of a paw across his forehead and spat down onto the dirt road cut through the grass. J'zir rode shortly ahead of him on the back of a large black gelding, reins in one paw while the other rested across his body. "So," Marus said, and trotted up closer. "Where are you from?"

J'zir looked over to the west. Somewhere over there, the land sheaved down into the Abecean Sea. Marus had always known coastal climates to be much cooler than their inland counterparts... and, oh, what he'd give to feel the bobbing of a wave rather than that of a horse right now. "East. S'ren-ja."

That was a small town in western Elsweyr, near the larger city of Dune. "Oh, really?"

"Aye." J'zir looked at him for a brief moment from under a raised eyebrow. "Why?"

"I was posted there last spring. Nice place, isn't it?"

"Yes. It is." He turned his gaze back to the road and shifted in his saddle. "I miss it greatly."

"Have any family there?"

"Aye. Mother... brother... someone who I once thought would be this one's life mate. You remind this one of -" He cleared his throat and shook his head.

"...No father?"

"No."

Marus barked a short, bittersweet laugh. "Me neither."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Where did you grow up?"

"A little town south of Chorrol in the Colovian Highlands, in Cyrodiil."

"Ah. I placed your name as Imperial. Did your mother not name you?"

"She would've." Marus shrugged. "I never knew her. She... died, before I could first open my eyes. I was raised by a kind Imperial - Caius, his name is. Was."

"Ah. I... am sorry. Marus..."

"Aye?"

"No, this one - I -" J'zir started and again looked away. "Your name... pleases this one. It is very..." He tilted his head. "Fragrant."

"Ah. Yes." Marus watched him gently squeeze his horse with his ankles and regain the distance between the two. The tip of his tail flicked about, the black spots ringing its length and muddling the revealed fur of his arms looking like rocks in an expanse of sand. "Fragrant."

From then on, little conversation came up between the two, and what did was short and quiet, but not at all unfriendly. J'zir was clearly a reserved individual, a bit distant, but he treated his travelling companion with no less civility than anyone else. Over the course of the day, Marus learned that J'zir had been born into an agrarian family and worked on a farm, but that didn't quite please him, so he left and joined the military of the Dominion. He had a knack for bows, and quickly developed his skills; he surpassed his peers and started to be placed on more secretive and covert missions for his ability to shoot a guar (and many other creatures) in the eye from seventy yards away. There had to be more than just that, though - this Khajiit maintained perfect silence on foot, and his posture and the way he held himself screamed to Marus that he knew very well how to be stealthy, more so than what the military taught.

And aside from that, there was something... different about him, some unspoken facet. It lay in the way he held himself, the way he spoke, the way he regarded and looked at Marus the few times he did, and yet he couldn't say just what, exactly, it was.

Night fell quickly. If the pair hadn't yet crossed the border to Cyrodiil, they were close, based on how the landscape and vegetation had changed since they set out. Marus had begun to recognize some of the plants and flowers that he saw all the time when growing up, yet were strangely absent from the southern regions of Tamriel; and J'zir stuck his nose into the air and sniffed around a bit, muttering something about how 'the air smells different around here'.

"Ever seen a minotaur?" Marus asked when they stopped. They had chosen a spot near a little off-rivulet of the Strid, in a clearing in a sparse forest. He always felt uncomfortable without the dappled shade of at least one tree on his body while he slept.

"A - a what?" J'zir looked at him over his horse as worked on detaching his pack from the saddle. His eyes seemed to maintain a light of their own against the approaching night. "I think this one's brother caught one once. It is a fish, yes?"

"No - no. It's... a big creature, like a man tried to transform himself into a bull and stopped halfway through. Horned, hairy. Wide around as four Nords, just as strong, just as smelly." Marus watched his companion's face for a reaction, a grin on his own; J'zir, unimpressed, continued unloading his things and then brought his mount over to a nearby tree to tie it down. "They crush skulls between a finger and thumb, pick their teeth with spinal columns, and wield warhammers in one hand. You see them around Cyrodiil every now and then."

"Indeed?" The other Khajiit held his paw out for the reins of Marus's horse. "In deep Elsweyr we have cave crawlers."

"Cave crawlers?"

"Cave crawlers. They are... ah." He bent down, picked up a rock about the size of his head, and showed the underside to Marus, who had begun gathering wood for a fire. A millipede, long and bronze-black, reared up on its hind thousand-or-so legs at the disturbance. "These, but man-sized, at least. They get upwards of... oh, fifteen feet long, but the longer ones are hunted. Each leg section makes a fine crossbow bolt shaft. Straight and strong as bone, less brittle." He peeled the insect from the stone and turned it around in the air, held precariously between two claws. His face belied his disgust. "Instead of... of just one pair of... of, ah... mouth..."

"Mandibles?"

"Yes! Cave crawlers have two, one on top of the other. These are good for knives, axeblades, decoration, ocean fishing hooks." As J'zir spoke, Marus stacked up what wood he had found in the immediate vicinity and set to starting a fire. He enjoyed listening to the leopard Khajiit speak: his tone and timbre of voice were pleasing and soothing. They reminded him of freshly harvested cinnamon. "Cave crawlers come in a few different varieties - ravenous, voracious, gluttonous, insatiable, to name a few. When they smell prey, they click their jaws -" - he clicked his tongue a few times - "-and it bounces off the cave walls, and you can't tell where it's coming from."

The fire crackled to life, casting a warm orange glow over the clearing. Marus sat back against the trunk of a nearby tree. "You seem to know a lot about these. All my experience with minotaurs comes from how I saw one. Once."

"Aye. Experience." J'zir flicked them millipede into the fire and wiped his paws on his pants. His golden eyes, caught, sharpened, and reflected the light of the fire, turning his irises the orange of late sunrise. He crouched down and rolled up his left sleeve, having to remove the leather bracer first; silver-pink scars fissured through the fur of his upper arm in a sharp-angled half-circle. "Bad experience. This one couldn't shoot a bow for months."

"By Akatosh..." Marus held a paw out to the scar, then caught himself; he looked at J'zir, who nodded his consent. The scar felt like soft leather on his pads. "...I thought you didn't know how to shoot a bow until joining the military?"

"I-I... this one -" J'zir flicked his ears. The scar continued on to his shoulder; he paused for a moment to shrug off the simple leather vest and cotton shirt he wore. "...Farming is not enough to support a family. I hunted as well."

"Where in Oblivion did you encounter a cave crawler? Looks like more than one..." When J'zir removed his shirt, it became clear that he bore not one scar, but rather three or four, stretching from his left arm to upper back to right shoulder. The scars were easy to trace, especially in this light; his predominant fur color changed from an even tan to a dark greyish umber along his back, and the reflective pink stood out in the firelight.

"In a... ah..."

He trailed off and straightened slightly when Marus's fingers traced up the scars along his upper back. He pressed in and rubbed gently, coaxing a soft "...mmm~" out of the leopard Khajiit. After a moment, he moved on, and J'zir cleared his throat and shook himself out.

"- in a cave near this one's house as a cub... it feeds the town well, which I knew, and then stretches on far beyond that, when I didn't know. This one barely managed to escape with his life -" The fire cracked, which gave J'zir a start. He looked around sheepishly. "And so was born this one's fear of the dark, and all that crawls within it."

"You're afraid of the dark?"

"Is that not what I just said?"

"That just seems... odd." Marus folded his paws in his lap and sat back against the tree, and J'zir simply lay back on his elbows alongside the fire. In contrast to his back, his fur melded to a warm silver-grey and then white at his chest and belly, devoid of the dark rosettes that embellished the rest of his body.

"Odd?"

"Odd."

"Why odd?"

"Richiel said we're infiltrators. I know I am, and I also know how much prowling around in the dark that requires. It seems strange to me that someone whose success relies on darkness is afraid of it."

"Well, Marus..." J'zir shrugged. "It is not just the darkness I am afraid of, but rather, being alone in the dark."

"Why's that?"

"If there is someone else with this one, I can believe they will be alert to what I am not."

"So you're not afraid now?"

"No." J'zir looked over. In this light did his eyes truly look to be of amber. "You are loud. Anything that attacks will first go for you. Not this one."

Marus scoffed. "Oh, be quiet and get to sleep. We'll leave early tomorrow."

"Mm, yes. We do have a mission." The leopard Khajiit sat up and pulled his pack to him, having taken a bedroll with him. Little dead leaves and twigs caught in the fur of his back...

...fur which had been so soft, so warm to Marus's pads. J'zir gave off a gentle, dry scent, not at all unpleasant, like the medley of spices which hung in the air along the thoroughfare of a Khajiiti caravan. "Hey, you've got..."

"Hm? Oh." J'zir swept the debris off himself, leaving Marus with a half-extended paw. "Thank you. Good night, Marus. Today was... I enjoyed getting to know you." He set up his bedroll far enough away from the fire so that his outline became indistinct in the darkness, but his eyes still glowed like the fire itself.

"Yes." Marus worked on his own bedroll, and slid into it fully clothed, save for his boots. Nothing was worse than being caught unarmed and unarmored during the night when both of these things were required.

Except perhaps cave crawlers.

"Good night, J'zir."

"Sleep well."

"Aye. You too."

~ ~ ~

Marus awoke to the scent of... of cooking... something. He momentarily forgot where he was upon awakening, but seeing the scars along J'zir's back in the morning sunlight as he worked over the fire brought the previous night back.

J'zir's ear closest to Marus flicked his direction, soon followed by his head. He smiled softly and held up the metal pan that he held over the fire. "Good morning. Cooking goose."

"Goose?" Marus sniffed the air - only now did he realize that he hadn't eaten last night. He wiggled out of his bedroll, stretched his arms over his head, yawned, and knelt down beside the other Khajiit. "By the Eight, that smells good. Where'd you get goose?"

"Caught it. Shot it. Two goose - geese, ahem. This one already ate his." He tilted the pan towards Marus and nodded; he gingerly picked it up with his claws, wary of its heat, and bit into the hunk of meat. "I kept the feathers in case there is time for fletching at the site."

"Good thinking." Marus nodded and took another bite out of the meat. "This is good. Where'd you get the pan? Don't imagine that's something you'd just find out here."

"The commander said to bring whatever is usually brought. A cooked meal is always better than an uncooked one, is it not?" J'zir gave him a grin, and then stood to go wash the pan in the river.

Again, Marus watched him as he went off. At some point during the night J'zir had shed his leather leggings, so that now he wore only a pair of black fabric pants which were somewhat tight on him. He was clearly muscled - he recognized that in the way the firelight danced off his chest and belly the previous night, and when he felt his arm - and yet he still retained a lither body form, one that, had Marus not known whose it was, would mistake for a woman's from the back. J'zir's movements were smooth and graceful, something he hadn't noticed until now. If he were to -

The leopard Khajiit suddenly turned an eye this way, and Marus had to act as though he were deeply interested in the roasted goose. Still, though, he could see that spotted tail flick around in the corner of his vision, and felt that J'zir watched him back.

~ ~ ~

As though the gods had heard the multitude of foul-mouthed complaints spewed back in camp, today the sun hid behind a roiling sea of stone-grey clouds and blazed much less fiercely, even through the boughs of the trees that had become steadily more common as the pair progressed along the river. Marus felt certain that they were in Cyrodiil now; he didn't exactly recognize the landscape or surroundings, but something had certainly changed. Cyrodiil maintained an air of open emptiness, what with the great war - they had passed a few travelers the previous day, but so far, none today. Anything could happen on such contested soil, and the average civilian had the mind to not try their luck.

"Oh." Ahead of him, J'zir pointed off to the right, ears perked. "Look."

In the trees slept white stone structures, pocked and fissured with age. Arches rose between branches above half-buried walkways, and crumbled statues stood guard amid ancient outdoor courtyards. "Aye," replied Marus. He had seen many of these sites in his childhood. "Ayleid ruins."

"Ayleid? What is that?"

"Ancient race of elves that used to rule Cyrodiil. I'm... not entirely sure what became of them."

"Pah. Elves." J'zir shook his head. "Ruins look exactly like those this one has seen in Valenwood, but... smaller. No creativity. Couldn't tell an Altmer ruin from an allied-"

"Ayleid."

"- Ayleid one. Know what looks like Khajiiti architecture? Nothing. High elves and their... their tall bodies, and tall foreheads, and big ruins... is everything about them big?"

"No. They exaggerate most of the time."

"Mm. Shouldn't we stop here? We are supposed to find a ruin, yes?"

"Well, yes, but first we were ordered to camp at the end of the Strid - see, over there, it still goes on. There's several ruins in Cyrodiil. Several cities. This one isn't ours."

But, the river did soon come to an end - and, had there been no trees, that ruin might still be visible. However, more stone structures could be seen to the east a bit, and even more past that. Perhaps all entrances to the same city. If this place held an object, an artifact, a something which could turn this losing war the Dominion's favor, it only made sense that it was in a large city/

Which probably meant, as Marus had learned of these ruins, some sort of vile denizen inhabited the place. He hoped he wouldn't awaken in the middle of the night to find skeletal fingers around his neck, or a troll about to crush him, or a minotaur with a warhammer in each hand...

J'zir slid off his horse. The Strid ended in a pleasant little clearing, with the water going over a waterfall roughly his height into a clear aquamarine pond which reflected the images and shadows of the trees on its edges, open sky at its center. The clouds muddled and dulled its color, but it still shone with life. Marus wondered, idly, if it turned amber with the sunset. The other Khajiit led his horse over to the water and tied it to a tree, then kicked off his boots and slid his feet into the water.

"Ooh..." His gentle exhalation floated over on the air, making Marus smile as he breathed in the cool Cyrodiil air steeped with trees and flowers and moss and actual green grass, unlike the dry yellow hay which forced its way up out of the ground in Malabal Tor. "Warm water on a cool day. That is nice."

"Bet so. When was the last time you bathed?"

"This one bathes himself, thank you! Like any sensible Khajiit should!"

Worried that he had genuinely hurt the poor leopard's feelings, Marus looked over from his things - and saw a grinning face, once J'zir had finished pulling his shirt off over his head.

"But," he continued, tossing it to the side, "for those hard to reach places..." and leaned back, allowing more of his legs into the water.

"Get someone else to groom those hard-to-reach places."

....Did he really just say that? Sure, that was how Marus talked with the other soldiers from his troop (so long as a superior isn't present, at least), but he hadn't even known J'zir's name at the start of yesterday morning. However, when he once more looked over, a bit shyly this time, it seemed he hadn't heard him.

"Ah..."

Or maybe he had.

"This one..."

"I mean..." Marus encountered a bit of difficulty with one of the straps keeping his pack attached to the saddle, but managed it after a moment with a grunt. "...I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn you're taken. Hell, I'd be even less surprised if it was by more than one woman. Yeah?"

J'zir said nothing, and when Marus looked over, had slid into the water and swam slowly. Strange - either he was fairly new to the military or he was just very shy, as he kept his pants on. Marus had seen everyone in his troop whose name and face he knew at least mostly nude. He said a few quiet words to his horse, knowing full well it wouldn't wander off - dumb beast didn't know how to take a step forward without a rider guiding it - and headed over to the edge of the water, waiting for J'zir to return.

And he did. Something about his people Marus had noticed: Khajiit tended to be either excellent swimmers or terrible ones. J'zir was the former, retaining the same fluid grace he had on land. Golden eyes looked up at Marus after he shook out his headfur. "The water is nice."

"Did you hear me?"

"Aye. I did."

"So what about it?"

He turned over onto his back and wobbled on the surface for a moment as he tried to balance in floating. The fur of his chest looked only mildly damp, despite having been totally submerged; water droplets rolled off of it as off a glass surface. "What about what?"

"You have anyone?"

Hesitation. "No."

"Oh. Touchy subject?"

"Touchy?..."

"Like... uneasy. Uncomfortable."

"Yes." The leopard Khajiit got out on the opposite band, shook his fur out, and turned back to Marus. Something... different shone in his amber eyes, something connected to how he struggled to keep his ears up, though they threatened to flatten. "Very."

And then he disappeared among the trees, tan fur matching the trunks and revealed soil, black rosettes mimicking the asymmetric dappled shadows. He combed the claws of one paw through the fur of his other arm, something some Khajiit do when nervous.

Marus remained watching the space between the trees where he had disappeared, then turned and started setting up the camp. Truth was, all he had brought was his bedroll and tent from the Bandaari Tradepost military camp - which was all he could fit into his pack; everything else that he needed, mainly weapons, he carried on his person.

Perhaps he would cook something.

~ ~ ~

It was dark before J'zir returned, partially due to the looming clouds, and he did so silently: Marus didn't know when, exactly, he came back, except for how he sat partially around the fire when he looked up from sewing a hole in his left bracer. Though it hadn't yet started raining, the sky certainly threatened to open up. Because of this, he had set up and built the fire underneath his tent's rainflap, which was designed with a bowl in the center and a sort of gutter running off to the side, so that it kept smoke from collecting and also allowed any caught rain to drip harmlessly off to the side.

The leopard Khajiit sat with his arms holding his legs to his body, chin on his knees, staring into the flames. Though his eyes reflected the colors of the fire, he didn't seem to actually see it.

"Um..." Marus put down the needle and bracer and retrieved a metal pan from a pit of coals he had constructed to keep the meal warm. "I made a... um... fish... stew. You like fish? It's... spadetail, and salmon, and... glassfish. Oh - I used the pan you brought... sorry for not asking." He poured what was left into a clay bowl which had been with the pan and held it out. "I already ate mine. I hope it's okay. I -"

"I am not hungry."

Marus watched his companion's face. He didn't take his eyes from the fire. "Oh. Okay." He lowered the bowl to his lap, looked at it, then set it off to the side. "Um."

J'zir breathed out a sigh and closed his eyes, leaning his chin further forward on his knees. Behind him, his tail twitched and flitted in the dust, stirring some leaves which had fallen.

"So what do you think this... this artifact is? Could it be daedric? I've heard there's a sword which captures the soul of whoever it cuts, and grows more powerful as it devours more. Or - there's a cloak which allows you to glide effortlessly through any material and thickens the shadows around you, so long as you remain undetected..."

"I do not know."

Marus sighed. "...J'zir."

"What?"

"What's bothering you?"

"Nothing." Thunder rumbled off in the distance, just as a raindrop fell and sizzled upon a log of the fire, followed by another, and then another two, then five... "Nothing is bothering this o- me."

"At least get out of the rain. It'll get bad tonight."

He moved over to allow room for J'zir, who looked over at him, sighed again, and came over. It might just be the light, but it looked like he sat as far away as possible without being in the growing rain.

"If it makes you feel better..." Marus kept his eyes on J'zir. The leopard Khajiit looked over at him then promptly returned his gaze to the fire, ears lowering slightly. "I don't have anyone either. I have in the past. Once. Not now."

"That is not it."

"Then what is? Come on, J'zir. We were getting along so well."

"It..." He shook his head. "Is nothing. It is not important."

"Well... look. I'm sorry I brought it up. I don't know what it is, but... I'll stop prying." Marus crossed his arms in front of him and leaned back, almost knocking over the leather bracer in doing so.

By now, the rain drizzled calmly and steadily, though it would soon grow to its true ferocity. That much could be smelled on the air. Rain always sounded much louder in a forest than open grassland due to all the countless leaves rustling under the weight of the drops and by the urging of the wind which a storm always brought with it.

"...It is not so complex a thing."

Marus looked over. J'zir's ears were down, but not flat.

"It is... like how one prefers poetry, and another song, and a third art. It is like how I would choose a bow, you a dagger, and Richiel some Nord's helmet."

"You heard about that?"

"Everyone did. He is no man with a tiny mouth."

"...Excuse me?"

"Ah. Apologies." He shook his head. "Has a big mouth."

Like art, and music and poetry. Like weapons - like preferences? Marus tilted his head, but before he could say anything:

"This one... I..." J'zir gave him a sad smile. Still his tail flitted uneasily side to side behind him. "...do not... ah, this one, this... male... prefers the touch of... of another over that of a woman."

The rain pattered on, and another distant rumble of thunder reverberated in the earth. Marus watched J'zir's face, and was not surprised to see him look up, catch his eyes, then look away, and then do so a second time.

"J'zir?"

He didn't answer, but instead turned an ear this way.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do... do what?"

Marus gently took the leopard Khajiit's chin in his paw and turned his head his way. J'zir jumped at the contact. "You say something, then look at me, and then - as if you're not supposed to be looking at me - you turn away..." The other Khajiit gave off a pleasant heat, one that could be felt through his thick fur. Marus held his head for a moment longer before releasing it.

"Because... ah..." He swallowed and fidgeted. "...It is nothing. I am - ah..."

"You can tell me."

Golden-amber eyes, reflecting the light of the flames.

"It's only you and me. Nobody else can hear us except the Divines."

"It is not their judgment I am worried of."

"Then whose?"

"Yours." Like two gems in smooth patterned stone.

"Why?"

"This one..." He pulled in a breath, held it, then let it out. "I... look at you and look away because... ah..." He shrugged. "...this one finds you... pleasant to look at. More than that. Attractive? Very."

And again those eyes turned back to the fire. J'zir loosened his posture, stretching one leg out while he kept the other out, and rested an arm on that knee.

"J'zir..."

"Yes...?"

"C'mere."

"What?"

"Come here.'

He moved over a little.

"I said come here."

"Are you angry?"

"No. Now come here."

J'zir pulled himself closer until he was within arm's length of the other Khajiit, who then moved his paw around his bare waist and tugged him closer. J'zir looked like he intended to speak, but a paw came up his back and silenced him - and then, as it gently massaged his neck and upper back, urged a gentle purr out of his throat.

And Marus said nothing. He leaned over and nuzzled the side of J'zir's muzzle, inhaling his dry, spicy aroma, hinted by the bittersweet tang left by his swim earlier. His voice reminded him of freshly harvested cinnamon, while his scent... his actual scent was the salt of desert sand, the loam of a deep forest, the soft aroma of fresh-cut wood. Marus felt the lines, the ridges of the scars on the sensitive pads of his fingers; he felt how the leopard leaned back into his paw and arm, felt how he titled his head away to reveal to him more of his neck. Marus breathed his scent -

It was all J'zir, and he loved it.

"Marus..."

"Mmh."

"I - I..."

J'zir turned his head. Marus took is chance: he leaned in and pressed his lips to the other Khajiit's, eyes closed, fingers still tracing along the ridges of scar and muscle. He kissed him, and held him, and felt no resistance, no reluctance or hesitation - only a quick moment of surprise before he leaned back into it.

That kiss went on and then ended, but led to another, and another, and another - and then J'zir was on his back a foot or so from the fire, Marus over him and holding one arm to the ground while his other paw gripped the soft fur of his chest.

"Um..." Marus swallowed through gentle panting. J'zir looked up at him, amused. "Should I stop?..."

"No."

"Am I going too fast?"

"No." J'zir reached up and traced a claw along the uneven stitching of Marus's shirt. He had to sew that, too. "This is... this is just right. Almost..."

The claw just barely grazed against his skin through fabric and fur, sending a cool shiver through his body. "Almost...?"

J'zir tilted his muzzle up for another kiss, and promptly received one. He held Marus's head down for a moment afterwards and murmured:

"...almost too slow, perhaps."

The paw lifted Marus's shirt a little, and then went on a bit more forcefully. A few simple words had shattered the barrier between the two Khajiit - and now that that was gone, one held the other to the ground (not at all by force - J'zir could move easily if he wanted to). Marus straightened up and assisted in removing his shirt, and then sat back on J'zir's legs.

"Mm..." The leopard Khajiit ran his paw up Marus's revealed belly and chest. "Your fur reminds this one of warm, clear summer nights." His paw slowly traced down his front until it rested on the waistband of his pants. "May I... enjoy the warmth?"

"I would be rude to deny."

J'zir wiggled out from under Marus and knelt before him, golden eyes holding his gaze as his deft fingers, without hesitation, started working at the fastenings of his pants. Marus could feel his movements, slow and deliberate, still a bit nervous even though the leopard Khajiit had let most of his reluctance go.

Warm paws, soft pads, gentle grip. Marus leaned back and lifted up his hips at J'zir's touch. He said that back in S'ren-ja was someone who he had once thought to be his life mate, so he must have some experience - and, gods, it already felt like he certainly did... just holding J'zir down, just kissing him and breathing in his scent proved more than enough to arouse Marus. From the start he had desired him, though he had managed then to mask his want a bit better. Of course, then, the person he wanted wasn't opening his pants with a want of his own, so it was quite a bit easier to do so.

A soft sigh escaped his mouth as J'zir's paw came up over the gentle barbs at the end of his length, much like those found on the tongue of any Khajiit... and, now, it was indeed clear that he knew how to handle a cock: a little flick of his thumb forced a buck upwards accompanied by a gasp and then another exhalation of breath from Marus. When he first entered Richiel's tent and saw this Khajiit standing there, he hadn't thought that in two nights' time this would be happening with him...

Again, he had wanted it. Still, though, he never thought it would happen. When someone like J'zir kept to himself, there probably stood a good reason why; and J'zir's reason prompted him to do all this, prompted him to press upward against Marus's leg when the black Khajiit held him down, prompted him to gently moan into the kisses he received and shudder slightly with want, prompted him to take Marus's cock in his paw and stroke slowly, and now prompted him to move down his body...

His tongue running up along the underside of Marus's length, slow and soft and - and wonderful, made him again lift his hips, up closer to the leopard Khajiit's muzzle. J'zir had his eyes closed and held the base of the cock in one paw while the other worked at his own pants to relieve the pressure on his own want which Marus had felt digging into his leg earlier. This want was also quite evident in J'zir's actions as he made no hesitation in drawing Marus's length into his muzzle and diving down, paw squeezing gently.

With the war going on, any free time in the Dominion military was something hard to come by, and release of a sexual sort even harder. It had been weeks since Marus had last had some time to himself, and because of that, now all his lust, all his want and desire sharpened to a point and made him hump upwards into J'zir's throat, made him hold his head down as far as he could - but then he stopped when he realized what he was doing...

...and J'zir stayed down for a moment longer before he drew himself up and wiped the back of a paw over his mouth. What he wanted was clear on his face: he stood briefly to kick off his pants, revealing the slim, slender form and hard cock Marus had expected, and then pushed him down to his back by his shoulders as had been done to him earlier.

"J'zir..."

"Shh." His legs gently squeezed Marus's sides, and he pressed one paw into the black Khajiit's chest for balance while the other reached down and directed his cock up towards his tail. Marus felt the heat soon after, and dug his claws into the moist earth beneath himself in anticipation. "Marus..." And he began to lower himself.

Such - intense heat and delicious tightness. Marus gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, holding in a tense moan as he tried to keep himself from thrusting upward. J'zir's mouth hung open and he breathed heavily as he sank down onto Marus's length and then came back up a little, again and again, each time coming down a little further until Marus was hilted in him. J'zir, already panting, moved both paws to his companion's belly and rested for a moment; the discomfort which always came from being fucked slowly melded away off his face, and the tension in his back and body also eased and relaxed.

Marus released a heated breath and opened his eyes to see, again, that pair of amber looking back.

"You okay?"

"Mhmm." J'zir shifted a little, which made him breathe out a moan; it took a moment for him to gather his thoughts and find the breath and ability to speak again. "You are... big. Thick. I have done this twice before, and each w - was with the same person... but you..."

He trailed off and licked his lips, then moved his paws back up to Marus's chest. "I... he drawled, and pressed his hips back in a way that made the other Khajiit suck in a sharp gasp and then slowly release it. "...want you..."

Marus was unable to form any words in response; his thoughts had been taken over by this tingling, this hot force which J'zir had so skillfully enunciated as 'I want you'. He leaned his head back on the earth as J'zir began to pull himself up along his length, slower and steadier than before but no less pleasurable, still as laden with barely-masked desire. His paws moved up to the warm fur of J'zir's thighs, soft and smooth, and underneath which strained taut muscles as he lifted himself up. Not only this, but his breath came in more uneven inhalations and went in shuddering exhalations.

His entire body shivered, making Marus almost think that he'd give up and collapse; so, he intertwined his paw with J'zir's and gently squeezed. The leopard Khajiit half-opened his eyes, gave him a tired smile, and bent forward over him.

J'zir's movements carried through Marus's body, especially as he shrugged off the discomfort and slight pain of beginning and became more determined and urgent, one paw tightly squeezing Marus's while the other dug into the fur of his chest. Admittedly, the prick of sharp claws on his skin felt... nice amid the indiscernible swamp of other thoughts, feelings, and other things somewhere between these two which totally consumed his mind. He hadn't even noticed that once J'zir had established a comfortable rhythm he straightened up and moved his other paw back to Marus's knee. He moved his hips at an angle, totally burying the other Khajiit's length under his tail each time to came down and then pulling up almost to the end of the tip when he lifted up, his own hard cock twitching in the air and oozing little drips of clear pre.

Its heat warmed Marus's paw when he reached up and started stroking slowly, grip somewhat weak and faltering again each time J'zir pressed down onto him and sent another wave of bright pleasure through his body. The leopard Khajiit didn't seem to mind, though, for he thrust forward into the paw with a little more force and pressed back with another breathy moan each time.

J'zir was steadily increasing the rate with which he fucked himself on Marus's cock; he could feel the bunching and releasing of the muscles in his legs, and each bounce caused both of them to lurch in the grass and then move back. After a while, he leaned back over Marus and pressed his forehead to his, eyes closed, mouth open and breath heavy.

Marus closed the short distance between their lips, moved both paws to J'zir's hips, and took over the movements with a firm thrust upwards - forcing out a sharp moan - followed by a few gentler ones, no slower than the rhythm already set. The pressure of a paw on each of his shoulders held him down and gripped a little tighter with each thrust upwards into the panting and shivering Khajiit.

It was clear he was close, even though no contact came to his own member other than the rubbing of soft-furred bellies against it; it was clear in the way he pushed his hips back and moved them forward against Marus's movements, in how he had to break off the kiss so he could breathe through his mouth, in how he moaned and writhed - and Marus could feel himself getting close, too, for he couldn't help from thrusting up with enough force as to lift J'zir into the air for a quick second, then drawing back down and slamming back in before he had fully returned to the ground.

"A-ah... Marus -"

J'zir could get no more out before Marus, mouth open and panting, pushed deep into him and bucked a few times in unloading his seed - which in turn made J'zir shudder and clench tightly on him, the force of the final thrust causing his own cum to spurt out, as well as cutting off his speech and wiping his mind of whatever he was going to say.

A breeze rustled through the treetops, sounding not unlike their combined breathing amid the rainfall. Marus, totally exhausted, lay back on the grass and let his arms fall from J'zir's sides, and the leopard Khajiit slowly lifted himself off his slick member - earning another gasp - and simply slouched over him.

"Twin moons..." J'zir drawled, and then murmured something in the Khajiiti tongue that Marus couldn't understand. His nose nuzzled into Marus's neck, soon followed by his lips in a tired kiss.

Marus reached over for his pack, but it was too far away, and he once again let his arm fall. "I - ah..." He swallowed and let out a breath, then wiped the back of a paw across his forehead. "...only have the one tent..."

"That is okay." J'zir pulled himself up to a sitting position on the grass, tail flicking around behind him and chest visibly moving with his still-heavy breaths. "This one does not take up much space. We could probably both fit into one bedroll as well..." He stood, faltered, regained his balance, wobbled, and extended a paw down to Marus, who took it and leaned against him.

As the rain continued to fall, pattering off the leaves above and splashing in the nearby pond, Marus could see little more than J'zir's golden eyes. something told him he would enjoy this assignment quite a bit.