[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[EliteCommander]

While Meesei did look to be growing even angrier with Janius, her expression did soften as she looked to Sabine, at least slightly. "Sabine, you are not losing me. I have lost some weight, and some muscle, sure, but that is all reversible. It is an...inconvenience while I carry out my research. I am not doing anything that will permanently harm me; trust me. Do not let the others convince you that I do not know what I am doing."

"You know the stories, Meesei." Ahnasha interrupted. "Brilliant mages have been sucked into Apocrypha and lost their minds as a result. What is that book...Doors of Oblivion, I believe? The one that tells the story of how one of the foremost experts on Oblivion, and a master conjurer, went insane in that realm. At this point, you have wasted away to the point that it will only take one more mistake to end everything. If you lose track of time even once and remain in Apocrypha for too long, then you will die of starvation, or perhaps dehydration. Your body can't take much more."

Again, Meesei started to bare her teeth. "I am not going to make mistakes, Ahnasha. All you know is what you've read in books, but I have experienced it all firsthand. I am getting weary of all of you getting together and...harassing me about something you are all ignorant about. No more of this. I am done, I am leaving. I am sorry, but if anyone mentions this again, there will be...punishment."

Immediately, Meesei stood up and stormed out of the room, albeit shakily. Ahnasha stood up to chase after her, but Lorag reached up and put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Hold on." He said, waiting for Meesei to be out of earshot.

Throughout the confrontation, Lorag had been silent, but he had been watching Meesei closely, as if studying her reactions to everything that was said to her. "We can't keep doing this. Not the way we've been doin' it. Gathering everyone up, tryin' to convince her she's killing herself. It's not working. She just thinks we're all ganging up on her. Look, I'm not big on talkin' to people or anything, but I know that when you go up against real stubborn defenses, you can't just keep banging your head against them 'till they break. We've got to figure out some other approach."

[Muttonhawk]

Janius bent forward over the table, supporting his head with his hand and elbow. They were back to where they started. "What other approaches are there?" He hissed. "We are her inferiors, being family doesn't seem enough anymore."

Though clearly just as disappointed, Fendros spoke his thoughts out loud in case it helped come up with ideas. "We cannot take that book away by force. She keeps it close, even in her sleep. She even threatened us, just then, if we try to bother her about it again." He looked up at a corner of the room and took a frustrated breath. "We cannot exactly find an antidote for the gas. That has been pursued for the past several years."

"I have seen this pattern with other addicts," Janius said, cupping a claw-fingered hand in the air. "The more the retreats into that book, the more she pushes us away. The more we express concern about the book, the more she will retreat to it. We have to make her realise what she is doing so she can come out of it herself." He faced the others with wide eyes. "That is the only chance we have without destroying the book!"

"I could-" Sabine caught her breath and looked down. Her stoic look was beginning to show cracks. "She still loves us, yes? She still cares? I think I have an idea. I do not want to do it, and you will not like it, but it might work." Sabine hesitated just in case anyone else had ideas of their own. There was a hint of desperation behind the reluctance in her speech.

[EliteCommander]

Lorag nodded to Sabine. "I did notice something, during all that. She was angry at most of us, but when she was talking to you, she kinda...softened up a bit, I guess. You've always meant a lot to her. Even if that infernal book's driving her mad, it don't look like that's changed. Not much, at least."

Kaleeth was disheartened by the whole situation, but she did see the point that Lorag was making. "I think you're right. When we all get together, I think we end up overwhelming her. She thinks we're all trying to gang up on her. But if just Sabine does something, then she might not get as angry. What kind of idea did you have in mind, Sabine? You don't seem too enthusiastic; is it something dangerous?" She asked.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine did not look up. Her voice got quieter as she continued. "I have tried talking to her before. Before we all tried this. I want to try to talk to her again and if that does not work..." She pursed her lips. "I will challenge her for the position of champion."

In reaction, Fendros shifted his gaze to Sabine's eyes and lowered his brow. Janius' eyes widened in surprise. It was unthinkable to even attempt, especially since the fresh memories of the last challenger were with them. However, if Meesei did not want to kill Sabine, this would clearly be one way of getting her attention back to reality. Then again, that wasn't exactly convincing enough for Fendros.

"Sabine, if you publicly challenge her, you will seal your fate," he protested. "What you say is rash."

Sabine looked at Fendros and tried to defend her idea. "I know her magic. I could survive."

Janius butted in. "No, Sabine, that would be far too dangerous. Think about it, if Meesei doesn't make an example of you for challenging her, her authority is threatened. You should not put her in that position."

"What if I threaten to challenge her with only her knowing?" Sabine pleaded, looking to the others. "You said we had to get her to come out to us, Janius. Will that not work?"

Fendros crossed his arms and Janius sighed and shook his head. Sabine waited to hear other opinions.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha tapped her claw against the table rhythmically, her mind filled with conflicting thoughts on Sabine's suggestion. "It is true that Meesei would never want to hurt you like that. Even after all that has happened, I could never imagine her hurting you. Just like I could never imagine hurting my own child. Mora couldn't have changed that. I won't lie, it could work if it was done privately. But...that is a very large 'if'. Because if that challenge went public; if the clan learned about it..."

Ahnasha let out a sigh. "Janius is completely correct. If knowledge of your challenge spread, then there is no way it could end well. Those kinds of challenges aren't always to the death, but if she wanted to win, then she would have to hurt you badly. And, well, if you won, then you would have to be the Champion. Conceding to her, or her somehow winning without a fight...that could cause some real unrest in the clans if news of that spread. Especially considering how rumors can change. Still, you might be the key to this Sabine. You are basically her daughter. Is there any less risky way you can think of to inspire her to see what she is doing? Or maybe you could just...take the book? If you just approached her and took the book away from her, do you think she would be willing to hurt you over it? Is it possible to destroy it? I know some Daedric artifacts can be indestructible."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine gave Ahnasha just a glance before looking down again. "I do not know how to destroy it. Meesei has said that it is indestructible. As far as she knew." She closed her eyes. "I do not even know how I would take it from her anyway. She is almost scared to let it go."

"You could ask," Fendros said. His eyes looked to the others. "I am not joking. She might simply let you hold it. She would trust you, even if you might break that trust this time. So, as Ahna asked, would she be willing to hurt you over it?"

Sabine brought her hands up to clutch the hair at the sides of her head, overwhelmed. "I do not know..."

Janius reached a hand to Sabine's shoulder. "Look, what's important right now is getting the book off Meesei. We do not have to destroy it just yet, and I can't imagine Meesei hurting you either. Or any of us, for that matter, but you were always like her daughter." Janius squeezed Sabine's shoulder. "If you like, you can try to get her in private. Do you think you'll need our help?"

For a while, Sabine was wordless. She leaned up on her chair and ran her fingers over her eyes with her tears welling up again.

"We can wait outside while you do it if that would make you feel-"

"No." Sabine said with new determination. "I will speak with her. I will try to get the book. I have to try."

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha partially raised up her hand off the table. "No need to lock ourselves into a plan just yet. We need to take the time to really think this through." She cautioned. "You might try to show her how she is hurting you, in more depth than just saying that she is. That might be less prone to make her angry. Or, we could take another approach entirely. She does still sleep sometimes, and when she does, she is exhausted enough to sleep like a rock. Maybe we could steal the book, silently? Unlike a skooma addict, she doesn't have the option of just going and getting another book. We're far from the first, and probably aren't going to be the last to confront her about the book. She won't really know who to blame."

Lorag crossed his arms, his expression skeptical at best towards Ahnasha. "If that book is stolen, Alpha is going to go on a rampage lookin' for it. As weak as her body is, she's still the strongest of us. None of us could stop her magic, and she's not exactly rational right now. If she decides to blame someone, it don't matter if they're guilty or not. She'll punish 'em. She'd be too angry to worry about proving it."

Ahnasha shrugged. "Well, maybe we can steal it, then pin the theft on someone else?"

"And who'd you pin it on? She'll kill anyone who she things stole it. Probably painfully." Lorag countered.

Ahnasha gave a brief sigh. "Obviously we would need to blame someone who deserves it." She clarified, prompting a curious look from Lorag. It was a callous suggestion, considering that the only people who could be reasonably blamed for a theft would be people within the clan.

[Muttonhawk]

"There is no need to goad Meesei into making mistakes just to have the book away from her," Fendros said to Ahnasha. "She is already going to have enough to regret once she understands how this has affected us. Having her unleashed against someone innocent would be cruel on her as well as anyone who is blamed."

Sabine was more receptive to Ahnasha's plan, but not the exact way she envisioned it. She paid attention to everyone and eventually spoke up. "I could write a letter. In place of the book, I could leave a letter saying how this has affected us, why I took the book, and that I will be away for a while. I could come back after a month or two. Hopefully she will have recovered by then and we can talk about it."

"Sabine, you would go out on your own?" Janius looked sympathetic. "You are doing research work here, aren't you? Where would you go?"

"I do not exactly know." Sabine pinched at her fingers. "The propylons can take me around so that I will be hard to track. Anyway, I do not want to risk telling anyone else where I might go."

Fendros fell back in his chair and breathed out through puffed cheeks. "It is safer than challenging her, at least. This just seems so drastic, though."

Sabine clarified. "I want to try speaking to her first. One more time. Before all of this."

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth was actually starting to have some hope now that they were forming some plans that at least seemed like they could work. None of them were ideal, but she doubted that an ideal solution even existed. The suggestions of the others did give her some ideas, however. "It doesn't have to be you. I think you have the best chance of convincing her of what she's doing, Sabine, but if we are going to steal the book, it doesn't have to be you that leaves. I mean, Saras has people that are really good at this, right? Spies, those kind of people. We could steal the book, and Saras can have one of his spies take the blame and leave. His people are experts at staying hidden. Once Meesei gets better, we can tell her the truth."

"That...could work." Ahnasha responded, but she obviously still had some doubts. "But we would have to convince her that whoever took the book stole it alone. We wouldn't want her blaming Saras. If Sabine did it, then Saras wouldn't be exposed to any blame."

Kaleeth looked down, holding one hand over the other on the table. "Yes but...what if she doesn't think Sabine did it alone? What if she blames us? She...she might do something to us."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine shook her head and looked to Kaleeth. "If I write in my letter that none of you were involved, she would believe it. I do not think she would hurt any of you because of my actions." Sabine looked across. "She may be acting strangely because of the book, but she is still very smart."

Janius was leaning to one side with his temple pressed onto his finger. "Really, it is more likely that Meesei would enlist Saras and his friends to find whoever takes the book. He has been nothing, if not loyal."

"I know how to hide from them," Sabine said flatly.

"What?" Janius said quietly with an incredulous look.

Sabine's response was blank. "I can smell the agents and I can hide my scent and appearance."

Fendros sighed. "Sabine, if it were that simple, Saras' agents would not be nearly as effective. The only way you could avoid them is to live on your own for a while. Or some place where you know no one. Even then..." Fendros held a fist forward, raising his fingers one by one. "You'll need a new name, you'll need to change your hair, you'd need to keep your face away from the public as much as possible, you would change your mannerisms...the list goes on. Scent and physical appearance can only do so much." Fendros turned his head to Ahnasha. "If we can get Saras on our side for this, I say we should. This concerns him as much as any other clan lycan."

"No, he just as likely to go straight to Meesei and put a stop to this all," Janius protested. "Sabine should go."

Sabine lowered her head again. She felt as though they would take a long time to come to an agreement on anything here.

[EliteCommander]

"Why do you think that Saras would support Meesei in this?" Ahnasha responded to Janius. "Everyone on the council is either concerned for her, or just frustrated with the situation. Saras himself has had to put in a lot of effort to try and suppress all the rumors that have been floating around the clans. Even with the war going a bit better for us, morale has been down because of it. I don't think people are as confident in Meesei or the rest of us as they used to be. That alone could be very bad for the war. I think Saras would support us."

Lorag nodded. "Might be true. Actually, it's probably true. Saras works a lot more with the council than he does with Alpha herself. 'Course, if he don't agree with us and he does tell her, then we'll never be gettin' that book. And if we don't him, well, he's very good at findin' people."

Kaleeth let out a sigh. "Hopefully, Sabine can just talk her out of all of this."

[Muttonhawk]

"I would like to do that first," Sabine said to Kaleeth. She turned to the others and spoke with just enough assertion to conclude things. "I will try to speak with her. If that does not work, we can speak with Saras and I will take the book."

Few things brought Sabine to speak up with such a tone. Fendros was the first to speak after a pause. "Very well. That appears to be the best chance we have. Sabine, if you need help with any of this, you know where to find us. Are you sure you want to go alone?"

Sabine looked away for a few heartbeats. "Yes. I do not want to risk anyone. And I do not want anyone to think I am not doing this because it is my decision and not someone else's."

"Alright," Janius nodded and peered around. "Are there any other details to work out?"

[EliteCommander]

There were a few moments of silence as everyone glanced around at one another. After a few moments, it was clear that no one else had any comment, so Lorag gave a brief nod. "Guess we've got somethin' of a plan then. Guess I'll try to think of how to bring this to Saras if talking to her don't work. I doubt it'll be too much of a risk just to talk to her. At least not for you. If she's willing to raise a hand against you, then she just isn't Meesei anymore."

Kaleeth looked to Sabine, though her gaze lowered quickly. "I...wish I could help you somehow, but I know crowding her won't help. I guess she is probably going to be in her room to get some sleep. Hopefully you won't have to wake her up. Do you think you want to go see her right away, or wait a bit to talk to her? She might be upset right now, but wait too long and she might end up going into the book again."

It was the general feeling among the group that they wanted to do more to help Sabine, but there was not much they could all do together. Ahnasha was trying to go through all the ways she could covertly take the book, while Kaleeth was simply trying to figure out how to ensure Meesei did not take her potential anger out on anyone else.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine began to stand up. "I will see what she is doing now. I will leave her alone for a while if she is sleeping."

The meeting was just about over. Fendros and Janius were beginning to get up as well. Sabine remained standing in place, looking to the others with one hand holding her other elbow. "Thank you for helping. I wish we could all do more. I will find you if I cannot convince her to stop going into the book so much."

---

Shortly after the meeting, Sabine found herself looking for Meesei directly. She tried Meesei's chambers at first, though she was not beyond asking around or trying other places that she knew Meesei to frequent these days.

[EliteCommander]

Fortunately for Sabine, Meesei was right where she had expected her to be. Meesei was already in her bed with her belongings, the book included, packed away, but she had only laid down a few moments prior. So, she told Sabine to let herself in when she heard the knock at her door.

Even for Sabine, it would be hard for her to gauge how Meesei was feeling when she stepped into the room. Other than being obviously fatigued, her expression was unmistakably serious, but not quite irritated or angered. She had been upset with Sabine before, but from the way she had spoke during the meeting, it seemed that she thought Sabine had been convinced to oppose her.

"Good evening...Sabine. Is there something you need?" Meesei asked.

[Muttonhawk]

"I am not disturbing you?"

Sabine crept in furtively around the door. She walked up to Meesei with one hand clasped in the other on her front. Even though she had grown into an adult a long time ago, the way she moved still echoed the nervousness she often showed decades prior. She stopped and sat on the edge of Meesei's bed, not looking at her directly.

"I am sorry if we upset you," Sabine quietly began. "I missed you at my birthday dinner."

---

Meanwhile, Fendros had walked out of the meeting with some uncertainty on his face. It was understandable given the previous topic, though something different was in his head this time.

"Hey, Ahna, do you have a moment?" He asked, walking beside Ahnasha a short way from the exit of the meeting, away from the others.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei rubbed the side of her head lightly. "Your birthday? Was that not next week? What day is it? I was sure it was the...twelfth of the month today. Or, did learning that spell take more than two days? I...apologize, I seem to be having some difficulty remembering things as of late."

Letting out a sigh, Meesei returned her gaze to Sabine, noting that she was hesitant to return eye contact. "Regardless, what I learned was certainly worthwhile. I am sure you understand."

---

Ahnasha was, understandably, rather distracted by the events of the meeting that had just ended. She almost did not notice Fendros until she heard his voice right beside her. "Oh, um, yeah. There isn't all that much I can do right now, unfortunately. There isn't any other way into Meesei's room other than her door, so I'll have to just be quiet if I need to sneak in."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine did not validate Meesei's reason with a response that addressed it. She sat still while hiding the same sadness that came over her at the dinner. It took a few moments for her to even resume speaking.

"You are in your book more than you are with anything else." Sabine had thought about what she wanted to say. She made a conscious effort to avoid sounding like she was accusing Meesei. "Do you...enjoy being in there?"

---

Fendros nodded. "Yes. To be honest, I think replacing the book with the letter would be better suited to you than Sabine," he said. "Granted, it is probably best that Sabine be the one that leaves in this case, but...I am getting sidetracked." Fendros sucked in a breath through his teeth and took Ahnasha's hand. "Let's talk over here."

With a short walk, Fendros lead Ahnasha to a storage spot where they would probably not be disturbed. Once Fendros had confirmed their privacy, he sat down with his back against a crate and bid Ahnasha join him.

"Back there, you suggested that we pin burgling the book on someone in the clan," Fendros said casually, if hesitantly. "I have begun wondering...who in the clan do you think actually deserves that? I've heard you speak that way against Vile's agents, but never about someone on our side."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei took a moment to sit herself up in her bed, backing up against the wall to support herself. "It is not about enjoying it, but what I can learn. That said, it is the single largest library of information that exists in any world. It is like a paradise for scholars, and mages like myself. The only difficulty is being able to locate the information you are looking for. It would be easy to limit myself to just a few hours a day if I were merely wanting to learn whatever exotic information I happen to find. But, no, I am looking for something specific. Something to win us our war. That takes quite a lot more time and effort. I want to be able to protect you all, so I have to be able to make the necessary sacrifices."

---

Ahnasha took a seat and joined Fendros, though shelooked to be mildly annoyed, despite his cautious tone. "I don't know. I never said we'd have to pin it on someone in the clan, just on someone who deserved it." She said defensively. Of course, her clarification ignored the fact that there was simply no possible way to believably frame someone outside the clan when its location was a closely guarded secret. It was technically possible that Ahnasha had simply been brainstorming and had not put any serious thought into her suggestion when she said it, but such an obvious flaw would be one of the first a person would think of normally.

[Muttonhawk]

For another few seconds, Sabine sat in quiet moderation.

"You say that every time." Sabine's voice twinged upward from her suppressed emotion. "You spend longer in there, each time. You get worse. Each time, you say it is necessary. How long do you truly need to be in the book to find the answer? Do you know?" Sabine's brow began to tighten. "Will that be the same next week? Do you even know if the answer is in there? You keep changing the answers to these questions and end up spending more time in the book. It is getting harder to trust you. I want to trust you."

---

Fendros did not want this talk to turn into another shouting contest, as it often did.

"I'm sorry, Ahna, but I did not see any other way that plan would work," Fendros responded matter-of-factly, yet with reservation to not escalate. He raised his hands. "Look, I'm not here to disparage your ideas, it just felt strange to throw away a life for this issue. Granted, it is important. It just seemed wholly unnecessary, clan member or not. And this has been going on for longer than today."

Fendros sighed and rolled his head to look Ahnasha in the eyes. His voice was low and sincere. "Lives really have become cheaper to you, haven't they?"