Sprinting in from the left, Ahnasha pounced at one of the shades. She growled ferociously and bit down onto its ethereal neck, though found nothing but cold and disappointment as it disappeared in her grasp. Meanwhile, a wave of frost from the last shade washed over Kaleeth, who was too slow to evade. However, she was also perfectly able to take the hit without severe injury. She was bleeding through a few cracks in her scales, but she would be fine.

Meesei ran at one of the specters from the right and slashed into the center of its body. Unlike the others, this one survived her attack, which meant it was most likely the genuine wispmother. Unfortunately, Meesei had to quickly duck away to avoid the ice spike it launched back at her, but the pack now had a definite target.

The wispmother was weakened, identified, and had only one remaining shade. It was likely desperate, which showed in how it started to launch ice spikes as quickly as it could towards the pack. One was in the direction of Rhazii, though it was not perfectly aimed.

Rhazii's panicked mind was too addled by his beast spirit to know how to properly react to the approaching ice spike. His immediate reaction was to duck his head and raise one of his grown arms. He heard the spell impact in front of him and opened his eyes to see that Fendros had jumped between him and the final wispmother image. The ice spike was sticking out of his upper arm as he turned around to Rhazii with bared teeth.

The wispmother was being engaged by most of the pack at this point. Fendros opted to wrap his teeth around the scruff of Rhazii's neck and drag him to safety. Rhazii was large enough that he tried to walk along, but his feet frequently slid on the ground without effect under Fendros' trained strength.

They reached an outcrop that would provide cover and Fendros dropped Rhazii into it. He then pat the ground in a sign to hide himself and growled the word "down" through his teeth. Rhazii obeyed, dropping prone. It wasn't until he hit the ground that he realised how much the initial magic had hurt. He began to whine in pain and shame when Fendros galloped back to see whether the wispmother had been destroyed yet. Rhazii noticed that the ice spike had made Fendros begin to bleed and limp, however long that would last.

The wispmother did not last lost through her final attack. Kaleeth attracted her attention with a charge, then Lorag pounced from behind, finally destroying the specter's corporeal form. Kaleeth took another ice spike in the process, but it merely shattered against one of her ribs and left behind a flesh wound.

The pack had made a kill, but that was only half of the satisfaction that their beast spirits required for the night. All that was left behind from the wispmother was ectoplasm, some ethereal wrappings, and some glow dust from the wisps. There was no meal to be had as a reward for their efforts. Even so, Ahnasha's instinct to hunt was readily overcome by her maternal instinct to protect her son. Immediately after the wispmother was killed, she rushed back to where Fendros had dragged Rhazii. As she came up on his wounded, whining form, she started to sniff over his body to in order to search for any sources of bleeding to see how injured he really was.

Since Meesei had the freedom to transform at will, she reverted back to her Argonian form on the way back to check on Rhazii. Based on what she had observed from the fight, she did not expect him to be seriously harmed. But, she could give him a quick magical examination just to be safe. The wounds on the others were easier for her to gauge, and since there had been no silver involved, she had little doubt they would all recover fairly quickly. It was unlikely they would require her attention.

At this point, Rhazii was more scared than wounded. He had his nose lowered and his ears flat, whining softly in place. When Ahnasha and Meesei inspected him for injury, they found only the damage from the initial frost spell. His skin was a mix stinging and prickly numbness that left marks of red and purple. It would all heal on their own over time while he was in beast form, but healing them now would alleviate the pain and bring his energy back.

Now that the threat had passed, Fendros did not show his teeth anymore. He stood a pace further away than Ahnasha and sniffed at the air around them.

Rhazii did not look up yet, but he breathed in and began to make sounds as if briefly hissing and growling. "Sss...sssrr. Sssrr." It was a word he was having trouble making out. "Ssssrrre...srrry." It soon became clear that he trying to apologise.

It did not take long for Meesei to determine the extent of Rhazii's wounds, as they were mostly superficial. Instead of performing any sort of targeted healing, Meesei simply charged a quick restoration spell into him to numb the pain, and provide a quick boost to his natural regeneration and stamina. It would make him feel better in the short term, and by the time the spell wore off, his natural regeneration would have handled his wounds.

Ahnasha had not witnessed everything personally, but she knew that Rhazii made several mistakes. At the very least, she saw that he had frozen up and reacted poorly when the wispmother attacked. However, it was also not the ideal time to lecture him. It was questionable if he would even remember most of the night, and even Ahnasha's mind was not entirely her own. She could save her criticisms until after their hunt. For now, they still needed to find a meal.

After dealing with Rhazii, Meesei made her way back to Kaj-Julan. He had hidden himself away behind a rock that he had been peeking around for the duration of the fight, and now that Meesei was approaching, he stepped out from behind it nervously. "Is...Rhazii okay, Aunt Meesei?" He asked.

Meesei gave a reassuring nod. "He will be fine. Such wounds are not severe for a lycan."

Seeing as Lorag looked like he was ready to start leading the pack again, Meesei took a deep breath, then transformed herself back to her werewolf form. She knelt down to allow Julan back up onto her shoulders, then returned to the pack. Provided the chaurus were not close enough to have been frightened away by the fighting, it would not take long for them to locate their next prey.

With Lorag beginning to walk, Fendros huffed in Rhazii's direction to get his attention. Rhazii stood up and began to pad along with his ears still flat. They all began moving again, this time with Rhazii's excitement dampened. He paid more attention to his surroundings and stayed closer to the pack as they all closed in on the chaurus' trail.

In particular, Fendros made sure to keep looking over his shoulder to confirm that Rhazii had not wandered off again. The boy probably didn't even know that he was doing something wrong with how strongly his beast spirit was with him. Fendros also did not remember his first turning, traumatic though it was. Although, Fendros believed that there would be no more close calls tonight.

Aside from the wispmother, the hunt started to proceed as normal. The nearby chaurus were aware enough to relocate as a result of the noise from the fight with the wispmother, but they could not cover their scent effectively enough to prevent the pack from tracking them. As near as Lorag could tell, there were three or four of them that were fairly young. Still, they would provide some meat for the pack, and an opportunity for Rhazii to make his first kill as a werewolf.

When they finally caught sight of the chaurus, they had crested a hill and managed to catch a glimpse of them through the giant mushrooms. They were near a river, which provided them with another option for an approach. Kaleeth decided to move around wide and enter the river, then approach silently from under the surface. If the pack rushed them and forced them to cross the river, then Kaleeth would be laying in wait for an ambush. Against a few juvenile and young adult chaurus, it was entirely unnecessary. But, it provided an example to Rhazii and Julan of intelligent methods of hunting.

While they were awaiting for Kaleeth to get into position, Ahnasha knelt down alongside Rhazii, peering through the mushrooms at the chaurus. She extended forward a claw to point at one of the younger chaurus at the right of the group. "You will kill it. Stay close to me." She said, calmly but authoritatively. She wanted him to gain some experience more than anything from this hunt. After they had their meal, they would be able to rest, then eventually transform back. At that point, she could talk to him about his mistakes.

Rhazii did not verbally respond to Ahnasha. He stared across at the target he had been shown and his nostrils pulsed to smell at the air. When Ahnasha began to move, he kept close to the point of lockstep with Ahnasha's trotting paces.

The rest of the pack were experienced enough to know the plan without Lorag confirming it to them. They took up positions opposite the waterway in preparation to strike. Fendros and Sabine were allocated to the sides to keep the chaurus escaping across the edge of the water while the others would leap out.

Rhazii was tense and sprung. Chaurus meat was not the tastiest of flesh, but his beast spirit did not mind. He was opening and closing his mouth, licking the sides of his snout as he began to salivate. The hardest part was not getting so excited that he would begin wagging his tail or leaping out prematurely. The gaze of his parents kept him tempered for the most part. He didn't take his eyes off his prey.

Despite the experience the pack had in their beast forms, the moons enhanced the strength their beast spirits had in their minds. They could still follow their plan, but the anticipation of the kill was even more intense the closer they approached. They weaved between the glowing mushrooms to get in position as close as they could, though the mere fact that they were glowing meant that they would have to start their charge from further back than usual, since they were more visible in the mushrooms' light. Fortunately, they had the numbers to close in around their prey from all directions.

The others were handling some of the larger chaurus, so Ahnasha focused on guiding Rhazii. She motioned for him to stay close beside him, then led him on a path through the mushrooms that would maximize their chances of remaining unseen for as long as possible. The light was making them more visible, but as long as there was enough of the fungus between them and the chaurus, they could remain hidden. She also made sure to demonstrate the best practices for how to approach prey. She stepped in just the right ways to remain silent, and kept her eyes firmly on the prey ahead of them.

Lorag started their charge the moment one of the chaurus spotted them. All at once, the pack bolted ahead, weaving between the mushroom trees to close in from all sides. Naturally, Ahnasha was much faster than Rhazii, so she could reach the chaurus she had pointed out to Rhazii first, but fortunately, her maternal instinct to teach her child allowed her to avoid the temptation of attacking herself. Instead, she was going to circle around it and try to make sure it did not flee into the water. She would be close to keep Rhazii from being hurt, but she wanted him to make the kill.

As soon as the pack began charging in, Rhazii bolted forth on all fours faster than he had ever moved on his own before. He felt a rush of excitement as the young chaurus he pursued began to scuttle away in a panicked reaction to Ahnasha leaping around it. He closed in, even as it tried to run, and jumped to reach it.

His claws were held forward and scratched along the surface of the beast's body. His hands slid -- its chitinous shell was too smooth to grip. His jaws got a better grip around one of the chaurus' legs. The chaurus was pinned down under Rhazii's weight even as it tried to crawl away, Rhazii's feet dragged along the ground to slow it. When Rhazii growled and whipped his head to snap the leg he was biting, the chaurus turned around to try and bite him back with its venomous mandibles. Rhazii saw a chance to get at its exposed neck and met it before the chaurus could bite. He held the creature's head back and held another of its legs while he tried desperately to wrap his teeth around the shell of its neck. It took a few moments of furious snapping before he found a narrow part and crushed down with his jaw. Ichor leaked out of the new holes punctured through the area. Rhazii held on and kept the creature pinned for long enough for it to stop squirming.

While it was not the cleanest of kills, Rhazii had the natural instincts of how to attack the creature. Something like a deer would have been easier for him, since it had a less well-protected neck, but it was dead regardless. The rest of the attack was going as well as expected for the remainder of the pack. Some of the chaurus had fought back, while others had fled into the water, but the result was the same in both cases.

For the sake of Rhazii, Ahnasha was able to forego the usual order for eating their kills. Chaurus, with their hard shells, could be more difficult to eat than normal prey. Not to mention, Rhazii would need to avoid the venom gland. He had spoke about it before, but it was a different matter to be able to act on those rational thoughts during a full moon. Fortunately, his beast spirit would also naturally want to avoid any questionable meat, and the venom gland was particularly acidic. Once Rhazii had been eating on it for a while, Ahnasha did intend to join in as well. She did not expect him to put up any protest, given that his beast spirit was likely well-aware of its place in the pack, but she had to make sure that he was not prone to fighting against higher ranked members of the pack. In particular, she did not want him trying to steal any of Kaleeth's meals.

Rhazii's eyes were wide and wild while he tried to pry apart the chaurus' segmented exoskeleton to get at the meat underneath. Between his look and the way he had trouble solving the puzzle that was the chitin, it was clear that he was completely overtaken by his beast spirit. He ate happily, pulling off pieces and snapping them up until he could swallow them. His ears were pert and his eyes focussed away from all the details around him. It wasn't obvious whether he was avoiding the more acidic flesh or whether he was just missing it by coincidence.

Ahnasha had to clack her teeth to get Rhazii to back off so she could eat, but he got the message quickly. His ears and head went down and he shuffled away until he was out of Ahnasha's reach.

About a minute later, still licking the remnants from his teeth, Rhazii looked around with more awareness again. He was going to be last to eat the rest of the kills, so he padded over to Kaj-Julan and began to sniff around his face and shoulders.

Altogether, the pack had collected a fair amount of meat for them. Chaurus were not as fast as werewolves, and the insects had been outnumbered, so there was not much of a chance for them to escape. The pack could certainly eat more than what they had, but it would be enough for everyone to have something. Certainly, it would satisfy their beasts enough to allow them to rest and transform back after a while. All apart from Kaleeth collected their kills together on land, while Kaleeth herself was nowhere to be seen. Most likely, she was under the surface of the water with her kill.

Despite the massive size difference between them at the moment, and the insect blood currently coating Rhazii's fur, Julan had no inhibitions about approaching Rhazii. Whan Rhazii started to sniff at his face, he laughed and reached up to scratch him behind his ears. "Heh, you are a big cat-dog." He grinned. "You pulled that thing open! What did it taste like? Did it get its pincers on you? How hard is it to keep running around like that after that ghost lady hit you?"

Rhazii sat down leaning forward in front of Julan. Getting scratched behind the ear was causing him to tilt his head to one side and squint one eye.

The multiple questions would have been hard to approach in his regular form with how quickly they came out in succession, but Rhazii's beast was still firmly in the forefront of his mind. He looked at Julan and whined out a dubious sound that ended with a soft bark. It was only then that his eyes widened slightly and he sat up straighter. Opening his large, sharp-toothed mouth, he breathed in and craned his head forward. He was still for a few seconds, and then made a high whine that warped to a stop when he closed his mouth. He tried again, opening his mouth. This time, the whine was preceded by a cough. He lowered his head, unsure.

Finally, Rhazii brought his head up to look at Kaj-Julan and moved it from side to side. He couldn't speak like his parents in this form. At least not yet.

After a while with no response from Rhazii, despite his clear intention of trying, Julan gave a huff. "Hmph, too much like a big dog I'd say."

Julan cocked his head to the side and started to look Rhazii over both curiously and critically. Naturally, he had been taught about all aspects of lycanthropy for as long as he could remember. He understood that there was another being inside of them; a Daedric "vestige," as his Aunt Meesei described it. He understood that, when it first started to wake up, as it had in Rhazii, it could be hard to control. Particularly during full moons. He had been told that Rhazii might not be entirely himself tonight, though he did have a difficult time really understanding how different he was or was not. Regardless, it was clear they were not going to be having any conversations for a while. "Well...can you still play or something?" He asked.

---

Normally, it was not too long after a kill and subsequent meal that the pack was able to bring themselves to revert forms, but even for experienced lycans, the full moons delayed them. They waited by the water for a time, resting after their hunt. Kaleeth eventually emerged from the water and curled up on the riverbank, and after a while, Julan laid himself down, leaning against her to rest after he exhausted himself playing in the river. Among the pack, only he and Janius were truly comfortable spending any extended time in such close proximity to Kaleeth during the moons. With the exception of her mate and her child, she had complained in the past that her beast grew agitated whenever it felt like it was being crowded. It was highly unlikely that her beast spirit would be able to compel her to do anything violent towards anyone else in the pack, but they gave her space regardless, at the very least for her own comfort.

Ahnasha had been able to transform back before Rhazii, so she was simply waiting for him to be able to follow suit. She would give him some time to recover and regain his normal state of mind, but she would need to speak to him about the hunt.

Rhazii whined out a protesting, wavering whine and bark in response to Julan's judgement. When Julan looked over Rhazii, he tilted his head in turn, curious of what he was thinking.

To the next words, Rhazii understood just enough them to stand up and wag his tail. For no conceivable reason but the fun of it, Rhazii bolted off to run around a pair of glowing mushrooms and galloped back up to Kaj-Julan. He stopped with his chin on the ground, his ears pert, and his eyes looking up expectantly. Rhazii could certainly still play, though his idea of fun was distinctly rooted more in the mind of a young wolf than a Khajiit. For one time in what was a very rare occurance, Julan was the more level and mature one.

---

With the mix of physical activity, a meal, and the recent stress his mind had been under, Rhazii was soon curled up napping nearby to the milling back. His ears were tall, but quirked to the sides reflexively when someone made a sound around him.

Fendros had transformed back as well. He approached Ahnasha and put an arm around her waist, holding her to his side and looking at their sleeping son. "Hm, well, it wasn't exactly the plan tonight. But, he showed some reflexes and attentiveness, even if his beast spirit became a bit too excited at times. I think whoever told us that natural-born lycans have better control was right." He exhaled. "At any rate, he'll soon learn better control and awareness. I doubt he'll forget to leave wisps alone after this, at the very least."

When Fendros was nearing the end of his sentence, Rhazii began to wrinkle and contract. Still curled up, his fur receded back into its natural brown with its sparse patches around his scars. Soon, he was shrunk back into his Khajiit form, half the size of his beast form and with his now feline tail brushing back and forth along the dirt.

"Good timing." Fendros looked at Ahnasha and smiled. "Shall we wake him up?"

Ahnasha was not quite as positive as Fendros. She did acknowledge that he had done well enough with the chaurus. He struck quickly, and was able to find its weak points before getting hurt himself. They had taught him how to hunt, and the instincts of his beast spirit likely played a strong role in letting him act quickly. With more practice, he would be able to strike with greater speed and certainty. She was not too concerned about that; rather, she was worried about his judgment during the tracking phase of their hunt.

"I think we can wait a minute or two. Maybe try and figure out exactly what to say with him. I agree he was fine once we found the chaurus, but he got you and some of the others hurt by playing around with those wisps. He separated from the pack and didn't follow instructions. It was his first time as a werewolf, so it's not unexpected, but I think we do need to talk to him about it before too much time passes. Can't afford to let him make those kinds of mistakes." Ahnasha suggested.

By this point, Kaleeth had reverted back to her normal form, then gently moved herself away from Julan so that she did not wake him up. Although, she appeared to be rather uncertain of what she actually wanted to do in the moment. At first, she glanced at Janius, then turned her attention to the rest of the pack. She just stared for them a while, at Ahnasha and Fendros, at Lorag, who was still in his werewolf form. After a few moments, she closed her eyes, let out a sigh, and leaned herself back against one of the glowing mushroom trees. It was obvious from the look on her face that something was bothering her.

"Yes," Fendros' smile went down and he nodded. "We ought to talk to him about it. He'll be tired, but it would be best to get it out of the way tonight." Fendros tilted his head, looking at Rhazii. "We should probably be stern, though it's hardly fair if we make him think it was entirely his fault. He might not even remember doing it. We ought to work on it as he gets better control."

Fendros curled his lips. "Honestly, I'm just glad he's okay. I should have been watching him more closely."

Janius was in his beast form lapping at the water in the river when Kaleeth looked at him, catching his eye. Once he had slaked his thirst, he checked on Kaleeth again and picked up on her anxiety. He decided then to transform back and approach her.

"Greetings," he said with a smile, sitting down next to her. He looked at her, lifted one knee, and held up his elbow on it. "Are you okay?" He asked sympathetically.

Ahnasha nodded. "We both should've. I'm used to him being obedient on hunts, but I guess his beast spirit complicated things. It is a fair point, though, that he might not remember what happened. If that's the case, then there isn't much we can say to him right now. Wouldn't do much good to scold him for something he can't remember. At any rate, he's going to need a lot of practice and training. That should probably be what we tell him; that we're going to be getting him in his beast form for training every day. And probably teach him that he can't eat ghosts." She said with a chuckle for at least a brief moment of levity.

Stepping forward, Ahnasha knelt down next to Rhazii and placed her hand on his shoulder, then shook him gently, so as not to startle him awake.

It took a few moments after Janius sat down for Kaleeth to straighten up her posture enough for her to move closer to Janius. She wrapped her tail around his waist, then leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. Though, she did not actually look at him. Instead, she was still staring out towards the others in the pack, seemingly distracted. It was another good ten seconds of silence before she spoke, albeit without much energy in her voice. "Sometimes, I just...don't feel like a real member of the pack."

At Ahnasha's touch, Rhazii groaned lightly and tightened his shut eyes. He stretched out one arm and took a deep breath in, and then stopped to feel at his side. "Ow...I feel..." His face relaxed and his red eyes opened in realisation. "I can talk...? It wasn't a dream? It wasn't." He finally turned his eyes up to Ahnasha and Fendros.

"Hello, little one," Fendros said. "How much do you remember?"

"I..." He propped himself up on one elbow and looked ahead, trying to piece it all together. "I transformed. I felt like it was creeping up from my lungs. It was my beast spirit. I just...I changed. It took over. It hurt. But then I ran really fast. I was following you, dada. I..." The memories we're coming up as Rhazii recalled them. His facial expression changed from amazed to concerned and fearful several times. "I was hurt. I was hit by a...a...it was cold. It stung. I was scared. I think I did something wrong." He looked up again. "But then I...what happened? I...tried talking with Kaj-Julan. I couldn't. Then I ran again. I...it's all really fuzzy. Was I bitten by a chaurus?"

Janius patiently waited for Kaleeth to speak, putting an arm around her shoulders and leaning his head on hers. Her answer caused him to lift his head and look at her face with a small frown. This was not the first time she had spoken about such things, but it was the first time it had been mentioned in years. "How so, my lily? You've been part of the pack for near a decade now."