Aaliyah Sendu
(And Erik)
(And Erik)
The journey found Aaliyah riding alongside a man who walked, so softly that she probably would have missed it entirely if not for the Detect Life spell still active, enchanted into her robes by her own invention. Naturally inquisitive, she chose to take the opportunity to strike up a conversation. "Well, I can't say it's exactly what I signed up for so far, but it's interesting, I'll give it that." Her grin was good-natured at the very least, though inwardly she was just hoping that she would not be met with a rude reply. They seemed, from what she had overheard before, rather common hereabouts, and truthfully even the most patient person could be worn down by them eventually. I bet politeness is just as deadly as swords around here. Maybe they're all weak to kindness or something. Oh, a compliment, hit the weak spot! Knockout!
The Redguard snorted, trying not to laugh at her own internal joke, and then realized he was probably now assured that she was hopelessly strange, giggling over nothing at all.
Erik, with neither a horse nor the available resources to summon... something like one, opted to walk the trek, which appeared to be fine, as several others did as well. He was long used to moving over miles of terrain day after day; that was caravan life for you. It had hardened him to the interference of topography, weather, and occasionally hostile indigenous life, so the pace, such as it was, scarcely even registered with him. He walked to the outside of a dusky-skinned Redguard woman on a horse, content to keep to himself for the moment, as social interactions thus far had taken on the character of... well, he wasn't sure he had anything to compare it to, really. Mostly lots of figurative chest-pounding and no lack of self-confidence, and perhaps it would do best just to leave it at that.
He was genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised, therefore, when the woman on the horse spoke to him, her voice conveying a degree of amusement and lightness that thus far had been sorely lacking. The comment itself was a bit charitable, perhaps, but then that was no great vice. Maybe he would have thought otherwise at some other time, but right now, he saw an opportunity and took it. Her poorly-restrained laughter caused him to tilt his head speculatively to the side. "Did I miss a joke? Perhaps there is something on my face?" He knew there wasn't, but he kept his voice light and easy, matching hers and hopefully prolonging the exchange by doing so.
"Not really, and I have no idea," Aaliyah replied with a small shrug. "You'd have to ask someone else unless you wanted me to touch your face to find out, and I think we can both agree that would be really weird." She had no idea if he'd even know what she was getting at, but she chose to assume that he was intelligent enough to figure it out. Explaining the same thing to everyone she met grew to be tiresome, so unless it came up, she usually just avoided mentioning it at all. She shifted slightly on the back of her horse, pulling her legs up so that they were crossed beneath her rather than hanging off either side. It wouldn't be a major balance issue unless she needed to spur Kareem into a run, anyway, and she was getting a mite uncomfortable the way she was.
Erik's brows climbed his forehead, and a disbelieving bark of laughter escaped him. "Perhaps it would be, at that," he agreed, a false sagaciousness entering his tone. It wasn't too hard to make the deductive move from her statements and her lack of eye contact to the inference that she lacked sight, he just found it rather extraordinary. Based on the clothing and lack of weapons, she was a mage, so presumably it could work, a blind woman joining an organization like this, but it was certainly something he'd like to see in action. Preferably from a safe distance.
Whatever the case may be in a fight, her particular circumstances did not seem to much hinder her outside of one. Her horsemanship was clearly much better than his own, and he'd observed her moving about on her own at Helgen, and she'd not hit anything or stumbled, so it stood to reason that she was accustomed to navigating such difficulties herself. This was truly fascinating to him, someone who'd found his ordinary human senses inadequate when he'd possessed a well-honed five. He'd gone as far as lycanthropy (having considered also exposing himself to the sanguinarus disease) in order to sharpen them further, and yet here was somebody getting by apparently just as well as he did with only four mundane, human capacities.
"May this one have your name?" he asked, rather suddenly. Not the most graceful or charismatic way he could have inquired after it, but he somehow doubted she'd take offense.
Aaliyah had the impression that she was being studied, but it didn't much bother her. That was fairly normal for whatever reason, and so she let it slide. The following inquiry was polite enough, and she found it rather agreeable to acquiesce. "Aaliyah Sendu, of the Alik'r, though you're welcome to just use Liya if you like. Most people tend to. How about yourself?" She had to admit, she couldn't quite muster a guess. Normally, she could get a fairly accurate idea of someone's origin from their voice, or their tread, or something like that. This man, though, walked too softly for her to hear (which was a clue in itself, though a small one, considering all the ambient sounds of motion around them), and his tone, while somewhat in keeping with the local Nord modulation, also contained a faint hint of low rasp that she associated with Khajit.
"Erik," he replied mildly, debating how much he should explain the lack of a surname. He went with 'not much at all.' "I am occasionally referred to as Erik the Swift, but that's... well, that was something of a jest that I happened to grow into to some mild degree. At least, I hope I did." That much was straightforward self-deprecation. He knew himself to be quick on his feet, that was just one of his strong suits when it came to fighting. Nevertheless, the statement was the truth, and he'd originally earned the moniker as a form of ridicule.
"There's a hell of a story in there, I'm sure of it," Liya replied, but she chose not to press the point. Maybe she could ask him for it at a later date. It was probable that they'd be working together for a while, unless one of them died in these Dwemer ruins. She'd never been inside one before, but she'd heard tales: giant mechanical constructs, savage, twisted (and pitiable, as far as she was concerned) Falmer, and traps too numerous to count. The Dwemer were supposed to have been mechanical geniuses, but it seemed that their enlightened nature did not extend to their views about how others deserved to be treated, and she felt a little guilty that she was looking forward to walking the ruins, to experience, and hopefully gain some understanding of, that disappeared culture. It didn't linger for long, though (her negative feelings rarely did), and before either of them could speak again, the entrance to the ruins came into view.
They were given an opportunity to rest then, and by mutual if silent consent, Liya and Erik parted ways, she going to tether Kareem and borrow the shade of a tree for a bit of rest, and he to idle the time sharpening his sword and knife on a whetstone. When the moment came to enter the ruins, they both responded to Lynly's sort-of challenge, disappearing into the underground cavern with the Imperial mages and the rest.
The incident at the door left Aaliyah feeling more than a little sick, and she covered her mouth and nose with her scarf to dampen the obviousness of the smell of burning flesh. Her hands immediately found the end of her long braid, toying with the end of it in what was obviously a somewhat nervous gesture. Spirited she might be, but she had not expected the traps to be quite like that, and frankly she wasn't used to being there when people died. It was... disturbing in a way other than the obvious one, and she fervently hoped it would not happen again so soon.
The same smell Liya noticed was admittedly worse for Erik, and he did not relish the tearless sting at the back of his eyes when the odor hit his sensitive olfactory system. "A convenient moment of idiocy," he deadpanned, crossing his arms and trying not to think too hard about the stench. "Particularly when the 'off' switch was on the wall." He was basically completely desensitized to death, so it did not occur to him to feel much pity or sorrow. If you were too stupid to take proper precautions in a Dwemer ruin, then whatever happened to you was your problem.
Sighing through his nose, the Nord stepped into place beside Lynly. "Something tells me we shouldn't let the academics lead any more. Would you like point, or shall I take it?" The option was hers as the commander (or, well, the second-in-command, but she seemed to be doing the actual leading), and he trusted her from experience not to be so foolish, but he was well-suited to detecting traps and the like as well.