[indent][i]In my five month absence, I write today to state my disappointment in the lack of success my search has gone. My last lead ended when I visited the accursed Dwemer ruin of Mzulft. Although many trials were presented and several times I almost lost my life, I managed to reach the Oculory device housed within. To my sorrow, I discovered it needed a sort of spherical key to power the machine and despite an exhaustive search, the key was not present in Mzuflt nor any clue as to its whereabouts. Curse Sai for abandoning me now when I had to be so close to any sort of progress. He has not spoken to me since I left and I feel his presence has vacated. I am now left to wander and even doubt any success I may have in my venture. 

Auri-El bless me for I am driven to madness in my everlasting loneliness.[/i][/indent]

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Faire's evening camp was based just on the Southern edge of some volcanic hot springs.The smell of campfires were alarming as there were other camps in the area but the temptation of volcanic springs therapy was a great motivator for her to set up camp. Her journal entry was brief and she quickly removed her clothing to begin a long session of therapy in the comfortably hot waters. 

Writing such depressing words and the comfort of the water suddenly caused a flow of exhaustion to sweep of Faire's person. Thankfully it dulled the onslaught of sadness that welled up inside of her. After this journal entry, Faire agreed with herself that this might have been the lowest point in her long, long life. She was without a purpose outside of locating a very small object in this vast world. What was the point of living if she felt like, and very well could be, the last of her kind? Some type of novelty or trinket for people to stare at? A research vessel for scholars to sedate their curiosity? All of that meaningless to the person of Faire. She had greater ambition and talent to see herself fall to that. Her life meant something greater than that and she often told herself that at her lowest moments.

Faire continued to pep herself up from her slumbering depression well into the sun's departure from the sky and eventually into sleep... Only to to disturbed by the slightest of odd movements some time later.

Faire gently opened her eyes as she listened in quietly. No sudden movements were taken as Faire was essentially invisible this late at night lying in the steam and water. She had fallen asleep with no fire and her gear rolled up in her cloak, far away from any foot traffic. Thankfully she was a light sleeper for such an occasion as this. Faire listened as the mumble of conversation slowly became more audible.

"-ing back, ...beli- ...-ine... collapse a- ... sudden like that! It was absolutely terrifying to see the room next to me buried in rubble!" Faire watched as two tall men came into view, just at the foot of the hill Faire was camping at. The men pressed on up and for a second, Faire considered moving but the two men were too preoccupied with the conversation to notice the naked body of Faire lying just within the small spring they passed. The other man chimed in as they had just passed Faire. "Did it kill anyone?" The man from before answered. "Yea. I think it claimed a poor Dunmer lad who was nestled in that section of the mine pretty good. Some arm-..ed guy go-...t...-ough..."

Their conversation carried on but it was mostly mumbles after that. Those two were heading in the direction of the springs, probably to relieve the stress of almost dying in a mine collapse. As to why they didn't stop, Faire had no idea. Maybe a preferred spring? She didn't care past an absent speculation, though. Instead she worried about getting the Nine Divines out of there! The notion that those two could have witnessed Faire in the nude... But those two probably were not the only ones headed towards the springs or around the springs area after the mine collapse. As soon as the mumbles faded into the hissing of steam, Faire scrambled to clothe herself.

Once she did, Faire progressed in a Westward direction for awhile but she was tired, and psychologically she was distracted. She failed to run the same checks and balances that she usually traveled which were silencing her footsteps and detecting lifeforms with her Illusion and Alteration magic, respectively. She had also forgotten to reapply some type of face paint to hide her true skin color and instead, her faced dripped with sweat clearing portions of the dark chalky streaks of charcoal.

In a momentary daze of being lost in her thoughts, she didn't recognize the flicker of a campfire that just peaked around a rock formation. As she rounded the corner, a whole camp came into view that was only about ten meters away from where she had been standing. It was a mixed bunch of races but Faire didn't notice any details as she quickly skipped back behind the rock formation that had blocked the campsite from her point of view in the first place. She took a deep breath, listening to see if her presence had been noticed or not.