Eldrin, the Argonian with an Elven name

Chapter 5 - 14th of Second Seed, Second Era 581

Zuryl dumped Muvros onto the floor in front of the Ordinators reception table. She gestured with her head for Eldrin to do the same. Eldrin gently set her down onto the floor.

Kadriel stepped through her friends to talk to the Ordinator. The Guard handed her a sack of coins when two other Ordinators took the mer away.

"And he would like to collect the bounty for Faldrek Arandor," she pointed to Eldrin as if the Ordinator wouldn't know who she was referring to.

Eldrin cursed her memory. She didn't have to remember what they were doing a half a day ago.

The Ordinator addressed their reply to Eldrin, "You'll have to wait in the other room while we confirm your involvement."

The Guard gestured for Eldrin to follow them. He reluctantly nodded and followed them through a couple sets of doors and locks.

Eldrin wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, he was too far away in his guilt over taking a life.

"Wait here." The Ordinator pointed to a bench at the side of the hallway they found themselves in.

Eldrin obliged and sat down on the bench with his tail draped next to him while the Ordinator wandered into an adjacent room.

The lizard sat in the empty hallway patiently for a quarter of an hour. His stomach was resting as far downward as it could in his torso. He still hadn't accepted or analyzed his guilt, it just sat festering in his body, while he pushed the thought of it out of his mind.

A door swung open opposite where he sat.

An Ordinator walked through with a Dunmer woman who had her hands bound behind her back. They walked past the boy with the Dunmer lady staring at him the whole time.

Her skin tone was hidden by a huge bruise in the center of her face, obviously caused by a broken nose. There was something familiar about her. Eldrin searched his memories for where he'd seen her before.

As they were about to enter the next door, the woman turned to the Ordinator and nodded earnestly.

Eldrin's stomach dropped even further as he thought,

The woman I elbowed after I crashed into Faldrek...

He had been too busy looking at her naked body instead of her face making recognizing her impossible.

The lizard stood up and made his way to the door he'd come into this hallway from. Another Ordinator appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his shoulder.

As he turned around Eldrin stated, "I don't suppose you'll let me leave, I've left me fireplace lit." It wasn't a convincing lie but it was the start of one of his rants, "And I know that's irresponsible of me, well it's really irresponsible of me for my neighbors and the landscape, it's just..."

The Ordinator started dragging him down the hall and down a few stairs. He kept rambling as they walked together.

Eldrin knew where he was being taken despite not having been this exact way before; the city prison.

The Guard threw him into a cell and Eldrin struggled to maintain his balance. The lizard asked sarcastically, "Aren't you going to tell me what I've done?"

The Ordinator closed the gate. Something in the sound of the latches sliding into place rubbed Eldrin the wrong way. He had just freed a bunch of captives and this was the thanks he got. He didn't even want to do that much! But he did it and helped clean up some of the riff raff in the process.

The thought that this was ridiculous swirled around in his head and he let a wave of anger wash over him. Words were all he had to dispense the anger.

Eldrin moved to the gate, wrapped his hands around the bars and shouted at the Guard as they walked away, "I didn't realise fucking your mother was a crime!"