34: Reeh-Jah

I have the answers I need. I know where to go to seek the Cavern of the Incarnate. I also have a new excuse for not going. The possibility of my lengthened lifespan coming to a sudden and sorry end is again on my mind. Will Azura call me Nerevarine, or slay me? It will be a while before I find out. Delays and distractions fall into my path like leaves.

The latest distraction is my slave, Reeh-Jah. I am calling him my slave. It keeps him safe.

Reeh-Jah is an Argonian. I met him at dawn this morning. The arid wastes of Molag Amur are the last place I would have expected to find an Argonian from the Black Marsh. The last place anyone would expect. That's why he was there. It was his best chance to avoid his pursuers. Unfortunately the unarmed runaway slave would have little chance to survive in the wastes. With the slave bracer on his arm draining away any magica he might harness that little chance would be reduced to none. I could not just let him go to his death.

I didn't have time to hear the story of his escape from Tel Aruhn before we were interrupted. We had to explain ourselves on the fly, and claiming Reeh-Jah as my slave seemed the easiest thing to do. Kummu is a scout of the Erabenimsun clan. She came over the hillside out of the sun and was right on top of us. I know that the Erabenimsun would be happy to claim the runaway. Returning runaways is profitable, and times are hard.

Kummu was reasonably friendly, considering. One of the considerations I got from her own mouth. "You would not be welcome in the camp outlander. You may be clanfriend to the Urshilaku, but we are not as worldly." Fortunately there was no need for me to enter the camp.

She completely understood the descriptions of the cryptic verse. I told her the first line. The eye of the needle lies in the teeth of the wind. That one line was actually enough for the highly skilled scout. The valley of the wind lies on the northeastern flank of Red Mountain, and at the head of the valley there is a tall spire of stone known as the needle. The opening of the valley is marked by a pair of formations known as Airan's Teeth. It seems a perfect fit just on that one line. Then I asked her about the second line. The mouth of the cave lies in the skin of the pearl. "Is there anything in that canyon that would fit that?"

"Skin of the pearl. There is a layer of light stone on the needle. It isn't pearly white, but it would be close enough."

I know where to go, but the first thing I needed was a safe haven for myself, and much more difficult, the Argonian. We came here to Tel Fyr. Divayth Fyr is not a typical Telvanni by any means, and as the first success of his pet project I assumed I would be welcomed. He was even friendlier than I expected. It turns out I am not just the first success, I am his only success.

Divayth Fyr developed the potion that arrested the negative symptoms of the corprus disease in me. I was angry when I found out that he expected the potion to kill me. I chose to take it knowing that there was a possibility, but he didn't tell me that the possibility was almost a certainty. Now he has told others that it did work, once. Unfortunately it has killed everyone else that has tried it.

Fyr suggests that it is the sign that I am the Nerevarine and that I should face Azura with confidence. I will keep that in mind when I return to the north. For now I will get a good night's sleep. My companion fell immediately into exhausted slumber. I still don't know how long he has been on the run, or how he survived in the dessicating desert. I need to find a way to get him to the Argonian mission in Ebonheart.

Left to myself I could and obviously would just teleport home. Failing that I would hike back across Molag Amur. Neither of those will serve now, and even though we both have the best reasons to do otherwise we will have to continue deeper into Telvanni territory before we can make our escape. It may be time to abandon my guise as a barbarian and unleash my command of the school of alteration. Reeh-Jah is a natural swimmer. I can be better. Skirting the outermost islands and making our way to Wolverine Hall seems the only choice.