Day Fifty-eight: Taxman evasion

I again have a home. A home that I cannot allow the Dark Brotherhood to find. I may not be able to come here often for now, but someday I will complete whatever my fate demands of me and be able to settle here. It is a modest house, though compared to the shacks I have lived in on Vvardenfell it is a castle. A castle fit for a king, with Ahnassi as my queen.

J'Dhannar, true to his word, went to Vivec with me to seek Addhiranirr. I met him for lunch at the Brewer's and Fishmonger's Hall. "Did you find her?" I asked, as steaming bowls of crabmeat chowder were placed before us.

"Yes friend, I found her," he purred back between sips. "She is in the sewers, hiding. There is a Customs and Excise man, very clever, who has come to Vivec City. This agent has taken it into his head that Addhiranirr is a smuggler; a smuggler that for some reason he is very much wanting to catch."

"Well, from what you said before she is a smuggler," I pointed out.

"Yes my good friend Arvil Bren, she is. So are you. I have come to know you well enough. You didn't destroy that skooma. You sold it. Probably some Dwemer weapons from your little war with the cult down in the underworks as well. Your Emperor declares things illegal; skooma, sugar, ebony, Dwemer artifacts. All of a sudden good people are smugglers. My good friend Addhiranirr is a good person, and really not much of a smuggler. This agent has just set his sights on her. For you to talk to her we must do something about this n'wah, Duvianus Platorius."

"What can we do?" I asked. The thought of spearing an Imperial agent in the middle of St. Olms canton crossed my mind briefly. I am really starting to worry about my conscience. Sometimes it seems to have abandoned me when I reached this violent shore. We both pondered quietly while we devoured some magnificent steaks.

The plan we arrived at was worthy of Caius the spymaster himself. Most Dunmer consider that all Khajiit look alike anyway, so it was not too hard for J'Dhannar to disguise himself as a female, given the right clothes. I wished him all the best and gave him a good stake in gold septims. He set off, making it clear to the gondolier and anyone else in earshot that "Vvardenfell would not be wiping its feet on the fur of Addhiranirr any more." I chuckled at his dramatic flair as I set off to complete my part in the plan.

I began in the plaza. As people passed I would stop them to ask if they had seen a Khajiit. Most said no, but some said yes. Those who did would get a description that would do little good, and the name Addhiranirr. Occasionally someone would admit they knew her. " I hear she left the city. She is a good friend of a friend, and I am supposed to get her a message before she leaves for Elswhyr. If someone could definately tell me she left I would try to catch up to her." This line had some slight truth in it. Some. Somewhere.

It was in the common area of the waistworks that the fish took the bait. I was speaking to a Dunmer woman when a man interupted. "Addhiranirr? She is my friend also. You say she has left the city?"

"So I was told. Actually I was told she said she was leaving, but I haven't been able to verify that. I'm not familiar with the city, so I don't know where to start."

The Dunmer woman suggested "You should ask around among the gondoliers. If she was leaving and not coming back she would have too much to carry for a long walk." I couldn't have asked for more if I'd told her what to say.

"Good idea," said the man, and hurried off.

The woman gave me a wink. "Always good to see a taxman scurry. He thinks he is so sly, that one. I heard that Addhiranirr made a great display out of getting on a gondola this afternoon. If she was that obvious about it she must have wanted him to know. She probably swam right back. She is a pretty good swimmer, for a kitty."

I met Addhiranirr in the underworks. The once again abandoned shrine makes a good landmark. She was very pleased with the deception we had crafted, and her friends had already informed her that the taxman had taken ship for Ebonheart following the obvious trail J'Dhannar had left. He would continue using her name until he sailed for Elswhyr.

I got what information she had for Caius. She dismissed the Nerevarine prophecies as a tale to scare little kittens. The Sixth House cult she did not dismiss. They are having a major impact in her world; the world of smuggling. She doesn't know what they are after, but she knows that many of her contacts are now too busy to work with anyone else but the cult. And some have disappeared.