With Fire and Sword

"If I may ask," He looked down at the ground and then back over to Swings. "Is that by choice or by chance?" It was curious to him, as there were many of his kind in Skyrim, and throughout large parts of Tamriel at large, but Swings didn't seem the kind to avoid an entire race of people on a prejudicial whim.

He picked at the grass, occasionally picking up a flower and turning it around in his fingers appreciatively.

"We don't really have paws in the traditional sense, of course, I was joking. Well, most of us don't. Some types of Khajiit do. But I can imagine your claws are much more difficult to cope with as a musician than ours are. Many of us can retract ours." He demonstrated, hand flexing as sharp black claws appeared and disappeared from what appeared to be his fingertips themselves.

He laughed as well. “I’m not sure if that’d make much difference to J’Ram’s pained ears.” Swings shrugged. “I don’t know if he enjoys the music or not, as I said, but he hasn’t complained yet. Maybe that’s just marital politeness, as it were.”

"Oh, gods, no! Not at all! I can tell you from experience, and you can trust me on this because I attempted to teach D'Jar to play my lute, that hearing someone learn and practice in earnest is quite endearing. He's lucky he had his dashing looks and his gentle heart to win me over, because those giant paws of his are definitely not meant for music." He chuckled.

End

"Ah," He raised a finger to emphasize a point, "or, you could play him one awful song fifty times, and by the fiftieth time, it will be closer to a wonderful song than it is to an awful one. Though I guess hearing the same song fifty times is sometimes torturous even if the song is amazing." He laughed.

I mean, gods, he still coddles me even though he knows I'm even harder to kill now. Heh.

He nodded sadly at the last comment. “I do know good people who have faced harder times than they deserve. Ah, but these are the sorts of things we can never know, why this or that happens, hm?”

"I'm utterly useless at it. I still play my lute, though. D'Jar likes to hear it while he works on hides and such. And it gives me something to do while he works on hides and such, too." He chuckled.

"Well, I suppose that would be a nice way for things to work. I wouldn't hold hope for it, though, if I'm speaking from experience."

So what have you been doing since I've been away? Wooing lovers? Felling great beasts? Building fantastic monuments?

What have I been doing? Last Seed had a double moon. I'd never been through that before, and it was... rough. *He shrugs* Nothing we couldn't handle though. Just had to make sure there weren't any sort of... lasting problems. Stayed away for a moon or two just in case.

Evening, brother! It's been too long.

"But that is the opinion of the soldier still in me, I suppose."