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

[EliteCommander]

Lorag nodded. "We can offer to help her search when she learns about it. Might not be perfect, but it could help. I spoke to Saras as I was getting you all back here. He knows about this, and he agrees that something needs to be done about the Champion. He's had a hard time keeping people from questioning things with her in this state. Once you have the book, you'll be going to the Summerset Isles, Sabine. Saras can't guarantee that all of the propylon guards will stay quiet, so you'll teleport to Valenwood, then he'll have someone take you by boat the rest of the ways. You'll be pretty isolated for a while, so, you know, be prepared for that. I guess no one's also gonna really force you to go where Saras wants you to, but he's pretty good at these sorts of things, so I trust him."

Kaleeth was obviously quite sympathetic to Sabine. "Are you sure you want to go alone, Sabine? Maybe some of us could come with you, help keep you from having to be alone for so long? We could just say some of us worked with you, instead of all of us. It might be easier to get through this together."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine's breathing stilled. Whether or not she had thought about the prospect of being away from her family for so long, she still had to pause. It would be much nicer to have someone to keep her company. Perhaps Kaleeth could. Thoughts of taking Kaleeth or anyone else away from their child while Meesei raged quickly started to suppress such a desire. The potential backlash against them personally sealed the matter shut.

"No, I do not want anyone to be at risk like that," Sabine said quickly. "Not any of you. It will be lonely, but...no, none of you should come with me."

Janius responded with a cautious suggestion. "Do you have any friends that could go with you? Anyone that could not reasonably be blamed by Meesei for any of this?"

In spite of her anxious pose, Sabine's eyes lit up slightly. She was silent for another few moments, giving the opportunity for others to comment.

[EliteCommander]

Lorag looked uncertain at Janius' suggestion. "I don't know, that could be risky. Alpha ain't exactly thinking reasonably right now. Might end up casting blame no matter how little sense it makes. She'll probably get a clearer head once she's away from that book, but that hinges on her not finding Sabine quickly. And telling anyone else about this plan could be a bad idea."

"Take your time to decide, Sabine. Don't rush into it." Ahnasha said to Sabine. "We do need to act soon, but we can spare some minutes. Hours even. Even if we can't find anyone to accompany you right now, Saras might be able to send someone later to keep you company. Someone you know. I'm ready to plan the theft whenever you are."

[Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha's reassurance caused Sabine to relax over time. She took the minutes offered in silent thought while the others waited. It almost got to the point where Janius was going to ask if they should be deciding on anything else when Sabine spoke up again.

"I cannot think of anyone to come with me who is not needed here," she said slowly. "All of my friends are doing research. Lorag is leading the pack and the rest of you would be away from your children. I do not want to go alone but I may have to."

[EliteCommander]

"Don't worry. Even if you have to be alone for a while, we can probably get someone to you under Meesei's nose eventually. Some of us might be able to visit under the guise of missions. You won't be isolated forever. And hopefully, Meesei will come to her senses sooner rather than later." Ahnasha said reassuringly. "Come on, we should get you some potions, enchanted items, or anything else you need to get the book. We should all come too and wait down the hall, just in case something goes wrong. We might be able to help. After that...I guess we'll be ready to go through with this."

Lorag gave a nod. "You all do that. I'm gonna go talk to Saras and make sure everything is ready for when you need to go. We're going to need to get you out of here quick once you have that book."

[Muttonhawk]

For one more long moment, Sabine closed her eyes and sighed through her nose. When she opened them again, she brought her knees away from her face and looked more resolute. "Okay. I have some potions already. I can make some more to help. I know how to make some potions that Meesei does not know about that might help." She stood up from her seat, looking down from the middle of everyone. "We should go and prepare."

The pack began to move, but before Sabine left, Fendros stayed. "Sabine." He spread his arms. Sabine blinked and stepped up to hug him. "This will work out," Fendros assured. Once the hug was over, Janius offered one as well. "It may seem terrifying, but this will help," he said. "You're a brave one."

Sabine began to tear up again, but she kept her mouth shut. She hugged everyone else as well, even if this wasn't a final goodbye. Lorag got another quick hug as well, even if he did not know how to deal with it.

The next few hours was spent sourcing ingredients, magical implements, and supplies to travel. It was all spur of the moment and sudden for a night-time plan, but it was not as if Meesei was present to hear the rumours and whispers that might result from it. Sabine made a potion to render herself invisible, scentless, muffled, and -- for a short time -- obscure the flow of her life force to become invisible to life detection magic. It was an experimental effect that she had toyed with outside of anyone's knowledge, mainly because it required some rudimentary necromancy to work. It would make her seem like an undead creature for barely half a minute. Meesei could detect her if she suspected an undead creature to be in her midst. Sabine rode on the assumption that Meesei would not try until she was gone.

With the equipment assembled, Sabine joined up with Ahansha again to see if there was any advice or equipment she thought to bring. After that would be confirming the plan to disappear with Saras via Lorag, and then executing it all.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha was with Sabine, though the rest of the pack, apart from the children, were also close by. Fortunately, the rooms for everyone in the Champion's pack were close by to Meesei's room, so it was far from unusual for them all to be in the area. Each of them were waiting and listening for any hint of something going wrong. Also, no one had too much of an idea of what they would actually do if Sabine was discovered. None of them wanted to have to fight their Champion, their friend, but no one was certain on how easy it would be to reason with Meesei either.

Ahnasha leaned in close to Sabine, whispering to her. "Okay, I'll wait here. Meesei does usually lock her door, at least when sleeping. I know you can magically unlock doors, but if she has any protections against that, then I might be able to get it open manually with a lockpick for you. Just try to be quick; the less time you are in there, the better."

However, once Sabine did make her way over to the door, she would find it, strangely, entirely unlocked. And once inside, she would find that Meesei was not present at all, despite the fact that it was well into the night at a time that Meesei would normally be fast asleep. Her room would also be a mess, with her belongings scattered around the room as if thrown about in a fit of anger. And, in the fireplace on the opposite wall from the entrance, Sabine would see Mora's Black book in the middle of the flames. Though, being a Daedric artifact, it was entirely unharmed.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine did not say a word. She simply nodded and approached the door with her hand extended. She did her best to detect any traps or surveillance on the door, which revealed the first oddity; that it was not even locked. No wards were present, nothing to bar it or cause an alarm. Sabine looked hesitantly back at Ahnasha and back to the door. She could not stop here.

From an almost empty bag around her shoulder, Sabine withdrew a small potion and downed it. An image of the space behind her poured over her head and quickly down to her toes, rendering her invisible. The door then swung open with uncanny silence.

The next clues within the room brought Sabine to a dumbfounded standstill. She tried looking around at the corners and under the bed. Meesei was nowhere to be seen and the place was a mess. The strange shape in the fireplace was quickly noticed, however. Sabine knew she did not have much time before her potion wore off, so she improvised. She took up the tongs for adjusting logs and carefully drew out the book. The sliding sound coupled with the way sparks danced off the disturbed fuel ruined all notion of immediate stealth, though that did not appear to be a problem anymore.

Once it was out of the fire, Sabine quickly brushed off the book on the floor, being careful not to burn her hands. She wasted no time in stuffing it into her shoulder bag, dropping the tongs, and making her way outside, not even bothering to close the door.

Ahnasha could only detect Sabine's approach once her visible form appeared a short distance in front of her while she was walking. Sabine had a worried look. She addressed everyone. "I have it, but something is wrong. Meesei is not there. She left the book in the fire, but it is not burned. And..." She peeked over her shoulder to the still open door. "...She has thrown her belongings around."

[EliteCommander]

Lorag crossed his arms as he looked down towards Sabine's bag. He could sense the scent of soot emanating faintly from it. "She threw around all her stuff? Sounds like she was real mad. It doesn't really sound like anything Meesei would do, but neither does anything else that's been happening."

The majority of the pack was conflicted or confused in their expressions, but Kaleeth was willing to show some hope. "But, you said you found the book in the fire? Even if it can't burn...it does sound like she tried to burn it. That's a good thing, right? Maybe...what happened between her and Sabine did something to her? Maybe we can still talk to her?"

Lorag nodded, but spoke quickly and seriously. "Maybe, but if we want to do anything with her, we've got to actually find her first. It's been hours since Sabine talked to her; she could be anywhere right now. But, unless she can just magic herself out of reality, which is honestly a possibility with her, then she must've left a scent somewhere around here. Let's go to her door and see if we can pick up a trail. Might be hard to follow it all the way through the city, but unless she was invisible, which again, a possibility, then some of the night guards might've seen her."

Meesei's scent could indeed be found at her door, and there was a definite, fresh trail for them to follow. Between her scent and the night guards, she had a trail that the pack would be able to follow all the way down to the front entrance of the Silent City.

[Muttonhawk]

"Okay," Sabine said. She clutched the still warm bag containing the book and followed along Meesei's trail with the rest of the pack.

They were virtually wordless as they searched. None were sure what Meesei was doing, thinking, or even going. Their worry grew as they progressed to the front gate.

"She left," Janius stated. "Why would she leave?"

Fendros stood and looked out onto Blackreach. "No idea, but she cannot have wanted to go far unless she was heading to a propylon. We should keep going."

Sabine held the bag tighter to her chest. She hoped that they would find her soon, though a niggling feeling told her to keep the book away from her.

[EliteCommander]

At the gate, Lorag stopped to speak to the nearest guard on-duty. He was a Nord man and, like many of the guards in the city, someone that Lorag at least knew the name of. "Hronmond, did the Champion pass through here, did she leave the city?"

"Aye, sir. She came through about half an hour ago. Didn't say a word beyond ordering me to open the gate. She was...well forgive me for saying this sir, but she was strange. Seemed very distracted and looked...unwell. She wasn't even dressed, and I didn't think Argonians were fond of the cool air out of the city. She looked like she was in a hurry, but I have no idea where she could be heading. Seemed like she was making her way towards the river." He explained.

Just as the guard had said, the pack was easily able to find Meesei's scent by the river. At first, Lorag worried that she might have started to swim to keep herself from being tracked, but to his surprise, it seemed like she had just been walking alongside the river. Or more accurately based on the tracks, running. He still could not begin to guess what she was doing, but it was clear that she was making no real effort to hide her trail. She either did not care if she was being followed, or simply was not thinking about it.

Even at a quickened pace, the pack would have to follow the river for about half an hour before they found what they were looking for. The trail would lead straight to Meesei herself, though that was not necessarily as encouraging as it could have been. Meesei had followed the river downstream all the way to the point where it reached a waterfall. It was one of many in Blackreach, and like most of them, it was tall and steep. Meesei herself was sitting on her knees precariously close to the cliff near to the river facing the drop, with her head buried in her hands and sobbing almost uncontrollably.

[Muttonhawk]

"There she is!" Janius pointed as soon as she spotted Meesei. From this distance and with the sound of the waterfall, it was hard to make out what she was doing. It soon became clear, if confronting, to them all when they heard her sobbing. Meesei was not one to weep, not with pouring emotion like this. The pack slowed to a stop a short distance away.

An exception was Sabine. She had seen Meesei cry like this before, thought he circumstances were much different and years behind them. Sabine did not take her wide eyes off Meesei as she pushed the bag with Mora's book into Fendros' arms. "Hold this," she softly demanded, before slowly walking up behind Meesei.

"Are you sure...?" Fendros haplessly held onto the book between his palms and looked on. Sabine did not respond to his words at all.

"Meesei?" Sabine murmured just loud enough to hear over the water. Sabine could feel her knees becoming unsteady. She was still nervous from Meesei's previous behaviour, even if she did not seem violent now.

Sabine bowed and craned her head to see the side of Meesei's face. "Are you okay?" she asked gently with a wide-eyed, inquisitive face.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei had been absorbed in her despair to the extent that she had not noticed her pack approach. Even their voices were little more than noise in her mind. It was only once Sabine was right next to her that she actually realized she was not alone. She recoiled slightly away from Sabine's voice, leaning herself ever closer to the cliff's edge.

"Sabine? No...no you should not be here. You should leave; away from me. I am unworthy of you. Wholly and completely unworthy. I have been blind. I have failed in every single way that I could have failed. I tried so...terribly hard. I tried to make everything better for us, but I have just made everything so much worse. How much have I squandered? How much time is gone?" Even as she spoke, Meesei could not stop sobbing. She had no composure, and not everything she said made complete sense. It was difficult to say how much of her behavior came from remorse and conscious acknowledgment of her situation, and how much stemmed from her sleep deprivation. There was little question that this was the lowest point of Meesei's life to date. Her body and mind were broken, making her like a shell of the woman her pack had known. And all of it stemmed from the book Fendros was holding.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine knitted her brow when Meesei pulled back. The way she spoke was as unsettling as it was upsetting. Years ago, Sabine may not have been able to stand up to such a situation. Now, she was mature. She had been raised to adulthood by a stronger woman than the one in front of her, and she had not forgotten it. She knelt down next to Meesei without breaking eye contact.

"Not too much, Meesei," Sabine tried to answer. "But...even if it was worse than this, it does not matter." Sabine carefully tried to reach out and grip Meesei's arm. "You got tricked. It is not your fault. We are all tired and I want you to come home. I just want to go home. There is still time for that." Sabine was open-mouthed. She could feel her tears welling up again. "We can go home and have a meal together. We can talk about magic and life and be happy. I want you to hug me and say that you still care. That is all I want. Please, mother."

[EliteCommander]

After a few, tense moments of silence, Meesei finally turned her head towards Sabine. The immense regret she felt was painted across her face. "I wanted to change things for us. I...do not think I was tricked. No, I was not lied to. Mora did not lie. I just convinced myself I could do the impossible. I thought it was all going to be worth it in the end. I thought all the time I sacrificed would be returned tenfold. I just hurt you, did I not? I hurt everyone. And squandered the time we do have doing it."

Meesei looked down towards the ground, though she also turned herself towards Sabine and somewhat farther from the cliff. "I do not know if I can recover from this. My body might heal, but can I be trusted now? Do I deserve to be trusted? How much doubt have I sown among the clans? I hardly even know what has been going on in the world since I absorbed myself into that book. I do not even know what has been happening to the clans in my absence. All I remember is vague pestering from Saras about responsibilities I was ignoring. Have the clans been faring poorly?"

[Muttonhawk]

Now that Meesei was facing Sabine, she brought her other hand forward to grip her other arm. "They have been trying without you. Many people are angry. They have been struggling without a leader."

Sabine shifted a little closer. "Meesei, I remember you praising me when I thought I could do nothing. I could protest. I could say that I could not trust myself to do any of that. But, no matter how many mistakes I made, you thought I could do it. You kept encouraging me." She looked down and let a breath out through her nose. "I would never be here as I am today without that. Not without you thinking that I was capable. And you were very patient." She turned her eyes up to Meesei again. "You did make some mistakes, just like I have, but I still believe you can help the clans. I still believe you can lead everyone, even if you do not trust yourself. You are weak now, but you can come back stronger."

Sabine looked over at the rest of the pack and back to Meesei again. "All of us have made mistakes and come back stronger. Some were not even mistakes. They were just misfortune. But you helped us every time. We will help you. I will help you. You can come back stronger."

Fendros had his arm around Ahnasha, who wore clothing that showed the top of her faded scar down her front. Janius and Fendros did not say anything, but they would return any look Meesei gave them with a small smile or a nod.

[EliteCommander]

"I have lost so much time with you, Sabine." Meesei said, her voice almost hoarse from her previous sobbing. Finally, she reached her arms around Sabine and pulled her into a hug. "I cannot ask you to forgive me. I do not deserve to be forgiven. I saw what I have done to you when I struck you, in far more ways than just a simple strike with the hand. You had been telling me for so long, but I always thought it would be worth it. I...I did do it for you, for all of you. I did not lie about that. I did not want power; I wanted to make our future brighter, but I fear I have just made it more bleak."

With considerable effort, Meesei started to pull herself up to her feet, using Sabine for support, and moved herself farther from the cliff's edge. Her legs buckled visibly due to her weakened muscles. "I believe I understand now. There are some things I simply cannot change. But...I believe I have changed the clans with my actions. I do not know if my name can ever hold the same confidence or authority it once had among them. Is there even a place for me anymore?"

[Muttonhawk]

At first, Sabine was so nervous that she did not fully commit to Meesei's hug. It took a few moments for the familiar scent and warmth to remind her of who Meesei was to her before the book had affected her. From there, Meesei could feel Sabine's arms gradually tightening around her until it almost became hard to breathe.

"We can...start again," Sabine said into Meesei's shoulder with a high pitched voice.

Sabine did her best to support Meesei over her shoulders. She walked her away from the cliff and towards the rest of the pack. "You will have to see. You are still the champion." Sabine glanced at Fendros and hesitated. "We have to decide what to do with the book."

[EliteCommander]

"I am Champion." Meesei repeated, though her tone carried little enthusiasm in the statement. "Though I expect, if I have any desire to hold on to that tile, I am going to have to defend it far more than I have before. I think the war kept most of the ambitious occupied, but now I have given them reason to act. That Altmer was probably just the first of many. But..."

Meesei took in a deep breath, trying to find in her mind any possible silver lining to the situation she had created. "Maybe I do not have to start from the beginning. At least I was wise at one point in my life: I have my council. Ri'vashi, Saras, the others, they have been managing the war in my absence, correct? I know they would not have given up. Perhaps, with their help, I can find my role again?"

Once Meesei set her sights on the Black Book in Fendros' hands, her expression became focused and severe. She fell into silence for a few moments, then extended out her hand towards him. With a surprisingly powerful burst of telekinesis, she yanked the book from Fendros' hands and pulled it to hers. She stared at the book, her hands trembling slightly as she bared her teeth angrily.

[Muttonhawk]

"They have. They still know you. They can help." Sabine said as they neared the others.

"How are you Mees-" Fendros was cut off when he fumbled at the now empty leather bag in his hands. When he secured it, the pack was staring at Meesei and the book in tense silence.

Sabine resumed cautiously. "It did not burn. I do not know how to destroy it. If we should."

"We should," Janius declared. "If it only going to do more harm, we should not let anyone have it."

Fendros did not sound sold on either answer, but he thought out loud. "It could be hidden. Buried, maybe."

"Before that..." Sabine looked to everyone. "Did everyone hear us?" She asked, referring to the conversation by the cliff.

Fendros nodded. "Sabine was right, Meesei. You can come back from this. We are just glad to have you here."

Despite his adamant tone regarding the book, Janius softened and nodded in agreement with Fendros. "You have not lost us, alpha. We don't intend to lose you."