Fendros let out a laugh at Ahnasha's nervousness. "I can wait."

[hr]
The three years that passed held a gradual escalation of importance for the pack. The news of Orcrest falling had hit them all hard, especially having mingled with the people there. That was what started the escalation. Each mission they undertook, each time they set out from the clanhome, they were making more of a tangible difference. Lycans were still on the back foot throughout Tamriel, but they tilted the balance.

Fendros assisted Ahnasha in any way he could to gather black souls. Despite opening up to further magical training, he continued to struggle with anything beyond elementary magical concepts. He instead had to rely on enchantments to trap souls. Thankfully, both Sabine and Meesei could provide such a thing for his bow. He put it to great use. In fact, learning to use enchanted items and potions was a skill that he developed to make up for his shortcomings.

Sabine had well and truly secured her position as a mature adult in the pack. If Meesei's declaration that she was a peer wasn't enough, she was able to shuffle off many burdensome insecurities that were still present from her adolescence. There were fewer times where nuanced speech and innuendos would go over her head. There were even times where she made them herself, to great effect, if only because they are hardly expected from her. One of the most apparent vestiges that she retained was her tendency to not contract her words and instead speak out every word of her sentences in full.

With Sabine's blooming maturity, her magical power only grew as well. Her progress had slowed since she began to reach Meesei's level, though her place as Meesei's peer was manifest whenever the need for magic was present. She gained her own reputation as a terrific mage on the battlefield, though with a different image to Meesei's lightning and flight. Even so, her passion remained firmly in the realms of alchemy. Blackreach offered near-endless avenues of research, especially with as knowledgeable a research partner as Marcaille. The pair spent much of their time continuing to refine the antidote to the soul-tearing gas, amongst other projects.

In spite of her new found knowledge, Sabine remained far less comfortable with Mora's black book than Meesei was. She politely declined Meesei's offer to use it, explaining that she wanted to be the one anchoring Meesei to reality should she delve too far. Not to mention, Sabine suspected that Mora didn't have a vested interest in keeping her alive and sane, unlike Meesei. Naturally, Sabine was the first to reprimand Meesei whenever she overstayed her schedule in Apocrypha. However, the information that Meesei returned with was not something Sabine was suspicious of enough not to discuss and research with Meesei.

Janius' main concern over the next few years revolved around Julan's education. He was old enough now that Janius brought books to teach him to read, write, count, and other lessons that he received at a similar age. Given that they were often travelling, he knew that Julan would not have a consistent education and would fall behind other children if it was so interrupted. Of course, Rhazii was at least a year ahead of Julan's schooling, but he joined in the lessons as well, for fun.

Between raising a child and his clan responsibilities, Janius lead a busy life. Yet still, he had time to improve his fighting skills with Kaleeth and his skills at magic with the Blackreach clan's battlemages. Most notably, his previously lacking wards were a focus of his training, becoming stronger to better protect the front line that so often included Lorag and Kaleeth unprotected from incoming spells.

Growth came in many forms in the pack, but there were none who grew more physically than Rhazii. Now getting ever closer to ten years old, Rhazii was a child taller than any he knew of his age in the clan. He ate more to feed his growth spurts, he settled into such boyish pursuits as weapons and crafts, and he continued to look out for Julan, his brother. Even if Julan annoyed him at times.

While Rhazii continued to be educated by his parents and teachers, Fendros took time to teach him how to string, maintain, and shoot a bow, as well as teaching him the techniques required to survive in the wilds. He was not taught how to fight just yet -- he was forbidden by Fendros to so much as point an arrow at anything that wasn't a small animal he was hunting. The time spent together was joined more by Ahnasha, now that she was no longer spending much of her time in research. Teaching experiences such as that bonded the family closer.

[hr]
As soon as the alarm was raised amongst the enemy, the first to raise a spell against the pack found himself unable to discharge it due to a chitinous arrow through his neck. Another struck the next most dangerous target, and the next. The chaos caused by Kaleeth and Lorag was perfect for obscuring the grey form of Fendros a distance away, shooting from camouflage with an angular, recurve Dwemer bow. The full suit of light chitin armour he wore was perfect for breaking up his silhouette against the rocks. Short of a life detection spell, he was virtually invisible himself.

A third figure in gleaming Dwemer plate joined the formation beside Kaleeth. Janius' own armour still held the original Dwemer helmet visor, showing a eerily still face in rictus as he brought his yellow-bronze axe down on the shoulder of another swordsman. Together, Lorag's broad swings displaced and unbalanced the enemy. Together, Kaleeth and Janius worked in concert to open their stumbling enemies' defences and disable them. They were an unstoppable force, slowly pacing forward over the bodies they laid on the ground.

When the shock of the attack wore off, the enemy began to organise, levelling their bows and raising their shields. That was when a mist carried on a strong wind billowed forth from behind the plated formation's legs and flowed upwards. Lorag, Janius, and Kaleeth all had the such sudden concealment that any arrows or spells that flew their way were almost impossible to aim while they moved. Nothing could help the last few they were striking down as the rest retreated. As the formation emerged from the artificial fog, a cracking in the air struck at the enemy's shields with flying icicles.

Sabine emerged from the fog behind her packmates, glowing with protective magic. In one hand, she had raised a spell to detect life through the fog. In her other hand, extended in front of her, was an icicle charged with more power than the others. She released it without effort between Lorag and Kaleeth, launching a shard of ice as large as a club straight through the wooden shield of an enemy, pinning the shield to his chest and knocking him back with the weight of it. The struck enemy wheezed in pain, trying to get air into his now punctured lung. The enemy formation was broken for just long enough.