"No, no," Janius assured. He called over to the others where they were still moving to the barracks. "I'll catch up with you in a minute."

He didn't take him far. Just to one side of the courtyard away from the immediate ears of any patrolling guards. Janius looked down on his son with a hand on his hip. "Now, Julan, I have an admission. If you hadn't noticed..." He leaned down slightly and lowered his voice. "I'm terrified to meet my mother and father again. You see, my relationship with them was not the same as yours with Kaleeth and me. Neither is it like Rhazii and his parents. For a while in the mess room, I was considering putting off helping Aurana -- a sister I had never met and should have been more excited to find out about. Putting it off for who-knows-when." He stood up straight again. "But you stood up for her. You helped me realise that I should be helping her like anyone in my family. And regardless of your jaunt with Rhazii this evening, I'm proud that you stood up for your family. Now come here."

Janius stepped forward and gave Julan a warm hug, patting his back.

[hr]
Meesei's move to pull away was not met with resistance by Lunise, though her still red eyes danced around Meesei's outline as if ambivalent about the intimacy. Still, her arms remained around Meesei.

"My mother and father are both academics. Mother studies the arcane, while father studies life. Plants, animals, people, and such. He was a hard man. Mother taught me most of what I know about magic, but she joined the Psijic Order when I was sixteen years old. She visited often. I haven't seen her since Artaeum disappeared. Sparse trips back to Alinor allow me to visit father, though only every few decades." Lunise's eyes finally settled on looking at the end of Meesei's snout. "My friends are few or far flung. There are those I have not spoken to in a century simply by going down different paths. Those that I have still kept contact with are in Rimmen. Some Thalmor colleagues, Ren, Dauluga, Yasasha. Altmer. Not the humblest company, but respectful of competence. We all worked together to keep the region stable. There's A Khajiiti tavern keeper, Tivi, that has listened to some of my problems where state secrets are not involved. The officers of a Khajiiti militia that I trained, Saucra and Tejizka. They were invaluable in connecting with the Anequinan culture. I have spoken to few since I began searching for and liaising with you outside of Elsweyr. I suppose that makes my only other friend Marod, if our bickering respect could be called friendship. We shall never let each other hear it, but there are times where we defer to an unspoken trust between us."

Finally, Lunise made eye contact with Meesei. Her eyes turned up with an almost threatening leer. "If you speak to Marod of anything that has or will go on in this room, I will personally snap off your horns and drive them through your tongue."

Lunise did not hold onto the threat for long. Her eyes returned to Meesei's snout. "At any rate, if it is not rude to ask, perhaps you could tell me how you came to assemble your pack? I understand that a lycan's family is its pack. It has been curious to watch you all interact. I also wonder if you ever see your own blood family during all this."