"However, I hope you realize you have just shunned your brightest student yet. I am only being expelled because I overshadowed my Altmer classmates. Maybe tell them to show up to class when I have left, for you will have no one else to shift blame onto," Ko'Shira says as her last words to Dantaine.

Ko'Shira doesn't answer his question. Nothing she could answer would satisfy his curiosity. She knows she's lost this battle...she can only hope Azurah won't be disappointed. This was supposed to be her path.

"I will leave the robes in the sleeping quarters," she says simply.

(Note: I'm not actually sure if there was still racial exclusion in the late 2E. It would make logical sense, considering the Mage's Guild was created by and is largely controlled by Altmer. On top of that, beast races are still discriminated against in the 3 & 4E. I'll have to search for answers.)

No, Ko'Shira. Do not become like them. Do not become hateful. Azurah teaches love and family, not hate.

Dantaine sighs. "Why do you insist on staying somewhere you're not wanted? I don't even know how you were admitted. We haven't allowed a beast to join before. You must've known you'd be shunned."

"Do you have proof of that?" Ko'Shira says. If only he knew. She had been so good at hiding it, yet she's still being thrown out for that exact reason, proof or not. She doubts they actually have anything to bring forth. All she's ever done is be better than those damn Altmer and Imperials...

I couldn't be bothered to take care of my hair any longer. Showers take too long. I need a shower. Did I get the hot water tank fixed? Yes. No. No, yes. I did. I kick off my slippers and underwear, stepping into my shower. The water is cold for at least a minute before it turns hot.

The bathroom is dirty. I was going to clean it last...what day is it today? Who knows. Who cares. I'm almost scared to turn on the light, but I do it anyway. The person looking back at me from the mirror is the same as always. Dark circles, sunken eyes, pale skin. I shaved my head a few weeks ago.

I step into my slippers and pad over to the door to my bedroom, opening it. It creaks, it always has. I bought something to fix it, but I can't remember where I put it. The hallway is dark, barely illuminated by whatever slivers of light make it through the gaps of my blinds. It must be daytime.

Okay now back to sleep 💤💤💤

Just then, a group of mereshki emerge from behind a nearby pile of rocks. It had been a trap. These mereshki were soldiers, not peasants. "Come back out! Damn elves!" One of them calls. Elves, the mereshki call them. Kreshin, they call themselves. Bound to live separately, lest they both die out.

"Please...we have nowhere else to go," one mereshki says. "We're hungry and cold," another said. Xaia listens, but says nothing. She knows mereshki. Mereshki do not beg, not even at their lowest. This is a trap. Xaia disappears back into the trees, ignoring the cries of the peasants.

Their clothes were tattered and their faces dirty. Xaia remembers one of her talks with the mereshki 'leaders'. "The peasants are suffering," they had said. These people must be peasants. Xaia steps quietly across the border, appearing to the mereshki from the trees. Her narrow gaze goes over each.