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

[EliteCommander]

With his arms crossed, Lorag stepped up closer to Fendros. "Mhmm. Well, if you're gonna be the one to do this, if no one's challenging you for the position, then you still need some kind of challenge. You said you don't know if you could protect your position from mages? Well then that's what you've got to learn. Sabine, you can fight Fendros. Teach him how to beat you. Also teach him how to take advantage of that birthsign of his. Maybe get you some magic trinkets, or see if there's some other kind of magic or something that can make that birthsign better. I don't know what all the details will be; I just know that you're going to work on those weaknesses of yours."

"You've never learned any kind of magic or anything, right? You think you could pick up something to protect you from magic?" Lorag asked Fendros.

---

While Julan had been willing to let Rhazii take his time to observe the house, it was not long before he started growing impatient. He looked around nervously to make sure that there was no one watching them, then looked up at Rhazii as he lightly tapped his foot against the ground.

It was clear that Rhazii was not seeing what he had expected, but without being able to see for himself, Julan did not have much of an idea of what he was looking at. "Come on, hurry up. Do you see them? Or is it their butler, or...house governor? Can we knock on the door now?" Julan asked in a whisper just loud enough for Rhazii's Khajiit ears to hear.

[Muttonhawk]

Lorag's answer was not quite what Sabine was expecting. Her face went from worried to receptive. She would still be fighting Fendros, but not to challenge him. Sabine could stand to train him.

"I have learned some magic," Fendros clarified. "I know magical theory inside and out, I only learned basic spells because of the difficulty practicing."

Sabine spoke up. "I can help with that. I will teach you. Meesei might help too." Her eyes glanced at Lorag. "I will teach you until you know you can best me, Fendros. Until I know you can best me."

There was clear relief in her voice from knowing that she did not have to fight him to a dangerous end for Lorag's position.

---

Rhazii's ear tweaked. "Huh?" He looked down to Julan. "Yeah, wait a moment," he whispered. Hand by hand, he climbed back down to ground level. He hung from his arms as far as he could for the final drop and bent his knees deeply. Even then, there was a crunch of grass that made them both cringe.

"I saw an old couple, let's go to knock." Rhazii hastily lead the sneak back to the street so they could approach normally.

As they approached the front door, Rhazii spoke from the corner of his mouth. "There was also an Imperial girl. A Khajiit maid, too. Probably a different one to your father's. She's​ too young. Fur's too bright. Like...almost orange. Dusty or something."

There were two lit windows on the way up the tree.

"Little black streaks down her face. Around her eyes and ears..."

[EliteCommander]

Lorag looked like he was somewhat less irritated, though he looked no less serious. "Good. If that spell absorption makes you resistant to magic already, then I figure even more magic resistance would make you a tough soldier for them to fight."

There were a few moments of silence as Lorag looked around the room. With no comments from the others, Lorag figured that the matter was as settled as it was going to get for the moment. "Okay, guess that's it. You'll take my spot in the pack, Fendros. I'll keep my role for now, while we're on this mission. But, once we're back at the clan, you'll take over. 'Course, I'll still be doing most of the same things I'm doing now; you're not going to be taking over all my jobs, but the Alpha will be goin' to you first for jobs she'd normally have given me. Just be ready to do a lot more training in a short bit of time. You need to be ready as quick as possible. Sabine and Meesei can help you learn what you need, and Sabine'll train with you until you know you can't lose. Make sure to get all that fear and doubt out of your head and be ready to learn faster and better than you ever have before."

Lorag started to walk towards the door, but as he was stepping past Fendros, he stopped and put a hand on his shoulder. "After Sabine, you'll be fighting Meesei."

---

Julan had a mildly confused expression listening to Rhazii as they started to approach the door. "Um...okay?" He commented. He was not quite sure why Rhazii was spending so much time describing the maid. It was like he paid more attention to her than the people they were actually there to talk to.

Regardless, there did not seem to be anything standing in the way of them approaching the house, so Julan eagerly walked up to the door and started to knock. With all the other people in the house, there was no guarantee that it would actually be his grandparents who would answer. But, he had been thinking for hours on what he would say whether it was them, or someone else.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros kept a stoic look to hide whatever uncertainties he had. He nodded stiffly to Lorag's instructions. The last statement made Fendros look ahead and blink. He was holding his breath.

Lorag had already walked past. Fendros still spoke one word in a low voice. "Understood."

With Lorag leaving, the meeting was all but adjourned. Janius stood up and regarded Fendros with a hand on one hip. "Good luck, Fendros. I won't pretend that it's going to be easy. I think you can do it, though."

Fendros did not respond with more than a glance. He was looking wide-eyed into space, reflecting.

---

Despite his reserved frown, Rhazii stared at the door with his tail gently swaying. They could hear the sound of shoes on floorboards from within. A latch on the door slid, the door clunked, and a ray of yellow light emerged from within. The door opened to reveal a tall, bald aging Imperial man with a lit candle in one hand and the door handle in the other.

Cleanly dressed and dignified, he looked at both Rhazii and Julan with weathered eyes, settling on Rhazii. "Can I help you, young sirs?"

Rhazii looked to Julan.

[EliteCommander]

The silence in the air persisted for a time after Lorag had left the room. Regardless of how directly or indirectly involved they had been, the meeting gave everyone much to think about. Ahnasha was the one to eventually break the silence after giving a deep sigh. "So that...was not what I was expecting. I never would have thought I would see a day where Lorag was stepping down. No matter how old he got, I always expected he would, I don't know, go down fighting or something. He must have been talking about this with Meesei for a while."

Ahnasha took Fendros' hand in hers, looking sympathetic. "And I know there's a lot of responsibility being put on you. It's not like you're becoming the Champion or anything, but still, you'll be the second highest ranking lycan in Tamriel. How do you think you're going to go about training him, Sabine? I know magic has never been your strongsuit, so...what can we do to make you more resistant to it?"

---

"Yes, hello, um..." Julan began, obviously nervous. He had been going through his thoughts almost constantly for most of the evening about what he would say if his plan had worked, but his anxiety was momentarily causing him to freeze up. He stumbled over his words and looked down at the floor for a few seconds until he finally stopped himself to take in a deep breath.

"Does, um, Remus and...Aeramina Aetius live here? I'm their...grandson." Julan said, quite suddenly. He had at first intended to pace out that revelation after they were introduced, but he was panicked enough to start rushing through his own thoughts.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros held Ahnasha's hand in return. He otherwise remained still.

Sabine spoke quietly to answer Ahnasha. "Meesei or I could enchant something to wear to make you more resistant, Fendros. Or make your birthsign absorb more magic. But, you will not always have them." Her confidence increased. "I know how to help you practice, though. I know a spell to transfer magicka to another person. I know you said the potions make you feel sick, so I can drink them and give you magicka to practice. We will have to practice every day."

After a blink, Fendros gave a few shallow nods. "Thank you, Sabine." He did not make eye contact.

"It sounds like that's not what's bothering you, Fendros," Janius said, craning his head to one side. "What part is making you think the most?"

Fendros raised his eyes to Janius and sighed. He looked away again, turning his head slightly. "It's just a change. A big change. I want to do what is right for the lycans on Tamriel. It's bigger than any responsibility I thought I would have. And...This will go beyond the war. I wanted to focus on family after the war. This is something I will have to reconcile with those plans." He pulled a brief, nervous smile. "Not to mention, fighting Meesei to prove myself, knowing that she will not hold back, is a terrifying thought. I'm doubting that I'm ready."

---

The wrinkled frown of the man at the door did not so much as twitch. After a thoughtful moment, he tilted his head back, looking down on Julan. His voice was still level and dignified. "This is the Aetius residence, young sir, though I am confused by your claim." His head turned to glance at the stairs behind him and back to Julan. "The only child of the heads of this house is not old enough to have born one of your age. Though more telling is that she is not an Argonian. Are you sure you have the correct household? Where might your parents be?"

[EliteCommander]

"I don't think Meesei would do anything dangerous until she thinks you're ready." Kaleeth commented. There was some guilt in her mind for not being brave enough to accept Lorag's offer, though she knew that she would make for a poor Champion, if the worst came to pass. Unlike some of the others, she was rarely in positions of leadership. "And it sounds like Lorag wants you to to be trained first. I guess Sabine will have to spend a lot of time with you."

Ahnasha nodded to Kaleeth. "He'll have to. Enchanted trinkets would definitely be helpful; you'd be allowed to use them in any kind of duel for your title if you were Champion. But, I have a feeling that Meesei and Lorag both would still want you to be able to defend yourself without them. As for the idea of you actually one day becoming Champion, though, I also thought about what that would mean. I don't want to think that Meesei, or any of us are going to die in this war. After all we've been though, I think we can all finish it together. But if you stay as Meesei's second, you would eventually become Champion. You'll outlive her by hundreds of years. I won't say that I'm against the idea of staying in a central role in the clans, but...I'll also admit that a part of me was hoping to be able to relax after all of this is over. I think we all would deserve that much."

---

The thought had crossed Julan's mind that his grandparents, or whoever he ended up speaking to, might not believe what he said at first. Even being as young as he was, Julan could recognize that his claims would be surprising. He had come up with a few ways to answer the question, but again, he was nervous enough that he did not say much to lead up to his answer. "Um, in the castle. They're in the castle. Janius, that's my father. Janius Aelius. That's my father. He was born here. He told me his parents were Remus and Aeramina. I guess everyone here thought he was killed by spiders a long time ago, but he wasn't. He lived, but he couldn't come back. He didn't want us to come here earlier, but...I wanted to meet my grandparents. I think he's just afraid. Can I meet them?"

[Muttonhawk]

"I wouldn't be so quick to write off the rest of your life on this." Janius attempted to lend some enthusiasm in his tone. "There will be challengers for as long as you remain. Competent leaders, sometimes. Perhaps, after a century and a half, or whatever suits you, you might stand down. Either purposely yield during a challenge, or relinquish your title." Janius gave an encouraging look. "You can to a lot in just a portion of your life."

Fendros peered up and chewed at the inside of his cheek. "It feels strange to think about it that way. I won't know what the situation would be that far ahead. But..." He shook his head. "That's in the far future. Going out to see more of the world, watching Rhazii grow up, that is what I do not want to miss." Fendros looked at Kaleeth. "For now, you're right. I'll be training with Sabine a lot more. We'll see where the road takes us."

Janius stepped up to Kaleeth and put an arm around her where she sat. "We're both fathers, Fendros. You and me. I do not know what lies ahead, but I think you'll find a way to be there for Rhazii. I don't think anyone here doubts you love your family. I agree with Ahnasha that we all deserve a break from the business this war has brought. Some optimism might make that happen. It has a knack for that."

---

The man regarded Julan, statuesque. The candlestick in his hand began to quiver. His voice lowered to a sudden severity. "Crueller tricks have been played on the master and mistress for a chance to burgle or find a free meal in this household. You will step away from this door or I shall call the guards to have you removed."

Rhazii had been quiet up until this point. Now, with the threat of the authorities, he raised his hands defensively. "We're not here for food or to steal anything, we swear." He turned to hiss at Julan. "Say something that only your father knows, quick!"

The stern gaze of the old man fell upon Rhazii, but he did not appear to have the patience to even ask who he was.

[EliteCommander]

Janius' words were of some consolation to Ahnasha. With as long as the war had been going on, it was hard to think of anything they did as being less than permanent. But, as Lorag was clearly showing with this announcement, these titles were not something that necessarily had to be taken by force. She and Fendros would live long lives. Even if he did eventually become the Champion, they always had the choice to just walk away when the time felt right.

Ahnasha nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. I wish Lorag could just keep the title, but I hate to admit that he is probably right. If even half of what that Altmer said is true, the clans are going to need some stability. At least the Morrowind clans will be happy to learn that you're getting a promotion, Fendros. Honestly though, I think this has been a lot for us all to take in, and we probably all deserve some rest right here and now. We should get back."

---

"Um, well, he doesn't like to talk about back then, brother..." Julan began, glaring briefly at Rhazii. "But, um, he did tell me some things. He said his parents became important with the Legion and got a bunch of land for it where they could raise horses and things. His father was the leader of the, um, Fighter's Guild here, so he had father, um...my father, join it too. That was how he got trapped with all the spiders. He said that his parents weren't around so much, so he ended up getting raised a lot by his maid, butler, and...house governor, I think? Oh, and I know what he looks like. He's Imperial. Obviously. Like his parents. And, um, has light hair. Blonde hair, with kind of thick hair on his face. His eyes are brown, and he's really tough and strong. And I think he's..." He said, concentrating on the last detail that came to mind "...thirty...seven years old."

[Muttonhawk]

"Yeah," Janius said after a slow breath. Everyone else was in wordless agreement, nodding to various degrees. They made motion to leave the store room.

Sabine left the meeting still looking shaken. However, she was much more certain of things than she had been when Lorag made his announcement. She left quietly behind Janius and Kaleeth.

Fendros slowed to a stop and took Ahnasha by the hand. With no one around in the hallway, he drew her into a tight hug, closing his eyes and leaning the side of his head against hers. He did not say any words for a long while, simply remaining still enough that they could feel one another's hearts beat. They could hear each other breathing. Fendros was tense. His breathing calmed after about a minute.

"Ahna," he finally said. "This will affect both of us -- I should not have just stepped forward. I am sorry." He pulled away to face her, still holding his arms around her. "Tell me honestly, do you approve of all this?"

---

At first, the man was fed up by Julan's excuses. He closed the door halfway. Some of the further words made him stop and listen. The door creaked open again. By the time the old man revealed his face again, his dignified face was showing a chink. Slightly raised eyebrows. He stood staring for a few seconds longer, eyes trading looks between Rhazii and Julan both.

He slowly intoned. "You say you are Janius' son?"

"He's telling the truth, sir," Rhazii said as sincerely as he could. "We just came to visit his grandparents. Nothing suspicious."

"Please, come in. I must consult the heads of the household." The old man stepped a half-turn to allow ingress.

Rhazii stepped in once Julan did. It was awash with the warmth of fires inside the house. It was quiet and peaceful, save for their footsteps and the door shutting behind them.

"What is your name, sir? I'm Rhazii, this is Kaj-Julan." Rhazii put his hand to his chest and pointed the other to Julan.

"You may call me Harald. You may wait here in the sitting room," the old man said, stepping over to a nearby archway and gesturing to a finely upholstered set of furniture in the room beyond. Candles and the fireplace bathed it in an orange glow, revealing a full bookshelf, an expensive looking tea set, and portraits all over the walls.

Harald took up a small bell on a tray and ring it. "Jatinha, we have guests," he projected up the stairs, loud enough to carry through the house while somehow not yelling.

In a central position above the fireplace was a large portrait. Upon it was a well-dressed family, made up of a broadly-built, blond, and middle aged standing Nord man in maroon finery; a seated, pretty blonde Imperial woman in a white dress with her hands folded in her lap; and between them, a blond Imperial boy of around Julan's age with a matching maroon tunic, brown eyes, and a familiar facial shape. The family looked blankly across the room with soft smiles. The boy's mouth was pert at the corner.

Harald waited at the archway, holding up the candle as straight as his back, presumably to wait for a supervisor.

Rhazii took a seat in one of the armchairs. "Woah." His face lit up with surprise at how much the cushions sank under his weight. The large portrait caught his eye shortly after. "Your father looks so young in that picture, look."

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha sighed. "Well...I approve of it more than the alternatives, definitely. I know Lorag is right, so he couldn't keep the title. Sabine...I do think she could do it, but if I am being honest, I do think you would be a better leader. Trust me, if I really disapproved, I would have spoke up in the meeting. Loudly. You won't have to worry about anything from me. If I decide that I don't want to be near the center of attention, or if Rhazii wants the same, then we can just stay away from the politics. You need to just be sure that you're up for this. I know it's not what you want, but you might just be what we need, long term."

After a few more seconds, Ahnasha tried to put on a smile. "But, who knows? Maybe Meesei will figure out how to become our immortal Argonian leader for all time. With all that strange magic she learned, you never know what is possible."

---

Julan spent some time looking around the room after he took a seat beside Rhazii. He had never quite seen a building like it. At least, not the interior of one. Back home in the Silent City, there were many Dwarven buildings that were even larger than this one, but they had an entirely different feel to them. They were not so clean, and almost all of them were crowded, public spaces. It seemed bizarre to him to have so much space for just one family. He was starting to feel distinctly out of his element.

Since Julan was distracted, Rhazii was the first to notice the painting, and the first to see the image of his father in it. Julan had seen paintings before, but never one depicting someone he knew. With how young his father appeared in the picture, it took a few seconds after Rhazii mentioned it for him to even be able to recognize him. His first instinct had been to look at the older man in the painting, but then, Julan supposed that would be his grandfather. "That's...wait, that is him! Woah..." Julan repeated after Rhazii, though for different reasons.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros gave an understanding nod at Ahnasha's pause. That much was a relief.

As for her last comment, Fendros smiled back. It was encouraging. "In either case, I will have probably have plenty of time to grow accustomed." He paused, looked at Ahna for a moment, and placed a quick kiss on her lips. "I was not lying when I said I couldn't do this alone. At this point, with all we've overcome together, I couldn't imagine doing anything like this without you."

He let the words linger for a few seconds. Even though he still held uncertainty and tension, Fendros' soft smile at Ahnasha spoke in the opposite direction. He nodded his head in the direction of the hallway. "Come, let's get some sleep before any more life-changing news springs up today."

---

"I've never seen him without the hair on his chin before," Rhazii said. "It's hard enough to imagine him around our age." In spite of Rhazii's comments, he was grasping the arms of his chair firmly enough to show his own anxiety. This place was so full of space and so full of things, yet there were hardly any people.

A set of shoes gently tapped down the stairs behind them. Rhazii turned to see the lower half of a neat black dress descending via white-stockinged feet covered with shiny black slippers. The upper half was cut off by the archway out of the sitting area, though the descenting figure was revealed fully within a moment. She had a white apron, highlighting the rest of her dress and tan furred arms as they held up a teapot in her hands. Her Khajiit face, exactly as Rhazii had described from peeping into the window, looked at the two boys with mostly hidden dubiousness. By her uniform, she was clearly a maid, with youth describing her age as close -- if not younger -- than Rhazii.

"Jatinha, these are the young masters Rhazii and Kaj-Julan," Harald said to the maid. "Look after them while I consult Lord Remus, if you would."

"Yes, Harald." Her accent was from Anequina. She approached the table between the sitting furniture and began to pour hot brown tea into the cups. She did not make eye contact.

"Uh, hi there," Rhazii managed to say. He had a dumb, nervous look on his face.

"The lord and lady shall not be long," Jatinha said with just as level a voice as Harald. Once the tea was poured, she placed the pot on the table and stepped back, facing them with one hand folded over the other and impeccable posture. "Please, enjoy some tea."

Rhazii's eyes went from Jatinha, to Julan, to the tea, and back to Julan. He awkwardly pulled himself forward and leaned to reach one of the two filled teacups. The armchair creaked in the most obnoxious manner possible, only making the pair feel further out of place.

"Hey, Kaj," Rhazii whispered, even though everyone could hear him in the huge, echoing room. "Didn't you say that your father said he was raised by a maid?"

[EliteCommander]

Upon returning to their room, Kaleeth had naturally noticed that Julan and Rhazii were not in their beds, as they were supposed to be. But, the prominently placed note that Julan had left behind quickly drew her attention. The words on the page were certainly in his handwriting, so she did not have any reason to question them.

Kaleeth spoke in a casual tone to Janius. "Did we say the children could leave the room for anything? They went to the kitchen for some dinner and I don't quite remember if we said they could to that."

---

Julan rubbed the back of his neck, not feeling the need to be as quiet as Rhazii as he answered. "Yeah, he was raised by the maid, and the butler, and the house governor. I don't really know what all of those are. But...that would've had to have been a very long time ago, I think."

Julan smiled as he reached for a cup of the tea that Jatinha had offered them. Back home, there was not always much variety in what they could have for food or drink. They had more than enough food in the clan, but that meant a lot of meals with chaurus meat and mushrooms. For drinks, they mostly had only water, and alcohol that he was told he was not allowed to have yet. Tea was more of a treat. He remembered fondly a pair of Khajiit women that made wonderful tea when they were giving him advice on how to handle some of the changes in his personality that his beast spirit had started to cause.

"Hi, do you know anything about my father? He is the young person in that painting, Janius." Julan said to Jatinha, pointing to the painting on the wall. "I want to know how he grew up here. He doesn't really talk about it much, or say much about it when he does. He told me some about it today, but not too much."

[Muttonhawk]

Janius was just as curious about Rhazii and Julan's absence as Kaleeth was. He tried reading the note over her shoulder and ended up scratching at his back in futility. Still, Kaleeth could read the Jel.

"I didn't say so," Janius said with a shrug. "We have our own food here. Perhaps Fendros or Ahnasha said they could?"

Said couple walked in just as they were mentioned.

"Said what?" Fendros asked.

"Whether the boys could get themselves some dinner at the kitchen. They left a note here."

Fendros frowned and shook his head. "I don't foresee Marod minding if we take a few morsels from this place, but we ought to find them. It's rude for them to take food from a castle without asking."

---

In spite of her trained poise, Jatinha hesitated. Her eyes were drawn to young Janius in the portrait and her voice trembled out an answer. "That would be the master and mistress' son. I never met him, I am afraid. He...died before I began to work here. It is a sensitive subject in this household." She swallowed. "Harald knew him, as well as the young lady Aurana's governor, Renault. Wanda, the previous maid, has unfortunately passed aw-"

Jatinha stopped, her ears bend outwards and she looked to one side. Both Rhazii and Julan could hear some raised voiced muffled through the walls. It was not necessarily anger seeping though, but words were escalating behind closed doors upstairs. Incredulity was a better way to describe it, for all the information they had.

"I-I should not speak so much on behalf of the master and mistress, I am sorry." Jatinha turned her eyes down.

Rhazii was holding his tea in both hands. He offered Jatinha a smile. "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone, promise." He sipped at the tea. It was not as sweet as he would have liked but it was better than plain water. "Thank you for the tea, it's delicious."

Jatinha's lips twitched upwards. She gave a small nod.

"How did you make it so quickly, anyway?" Rhazii asked. He was having a hard time taking his eyes of the maid.

Jatinha breathed in to answer. She was interrupted by the clomping of feet on the stairs. Her mouth and ears lowered as a new figure came into view.

Down the stairs strode a man in an immaculately embroidered beige tunic and velvet trousers. Both Rhazii and Julan were quick to spot that one of his aged Nordic hands rested on the head of a fighting axe hanging from a loop on his belt. His face was impatient, creased with age and scanning until he found the two boys. He had receding grey hair and no goatee, but otherwise had similar facial features to Janius. In spite of his age, he was still tall and strong in appearance.

Behind him was a similarly-aged Imperial woman, who paid more attention to the steps due to the long, beautiful blue dress she wore. Her grey hair was made up into tight spirals that clung to the sides of her head. She had a wide-eyed look that regarded the stairs with a small smile, almost as if she was entertaining a party of ghosts. Given the sheer space in the house, that might not have been far from the truth.

The final member of the group descending to the ground floor was Harald the butler. Still as elegant as ever in spite of what was probably an argument upstairs. Harald stood at the opposite side of the archway to Jatinha while the two nobles approached.

The old man with the axe spoke first. He was firm, but his words spoke of more disdain than his tone. "Which one of you is claiming to be my late son's spawn? Speak quickly, I have no time for tricks."

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose we can go look for them. I really don't want them to end up breaking something by accident. That could cause some frustration; there are a lot of fragile-looking sculptures and other decorative artwork just laying around. I don't know if the boys really understand how expensive those things can be."

After a moment, Ahnasha chuckled. "Besides, I wouldn't mind a glass of wine myself."

---

Julan was somewhat confused about Jatinha's noticeable sheepishness. He did not quite understand why she would be so hesitant to talk about his father. He had assumed that his grandparents, and everyone else in the house, would be happy to hear that Janius was still alive. Although, he also supposed that Jatinha had never known him, since she was apparently the new maid. He was already feeling a little sad that someone who was important to his father had died. If the maid, Wanda, had helped to raise him, then Julan would have wanted to meet her too.

Regardless, Julan and Rhazii did not have to wait all that long before Herald returned with who Julan immediately identified as his grandparents. They both looked like older versions of the people in the painting, so there was no one else they could be. The man seemed a bit more...abrasive than Julan had been expecting, but he did not read too much into it at the moment. Julan reasoned that he was probably confused, or surprised.

Despite the shouting they had heard before, Julan's face lit up once he realized that he was finally meeting his grandparents. Wide-eyed and with a bright smile, he answered the man enthusiastically. "Oh, there's no tricks Mister Remus, I promise! I'm Kaj-Julan, and Janius is my father. I'm your grandson! I've really wanted to meet you, and I hope my father gets to meet you again too. He's here in the city, over in the castle, but I think he's...afraid to come here."

[Muttonhawk]

"Oh, it has been so long since I've tasted wine, I almost forgot how it tastes," Fendros said with an ever-increasing smile. "Let's go. Janius, Kaleeth, Sabine, did you want to accompany us?"

Sabine smiled and shook her head. "I think I just want to get some sleep."

"It couldn't hurt." Janius shrugged and looked to Kaleeth. "I wouldn't mind a drink, or at least finding the boys, how about you?"

They were out of the room soon after. For all they knew, Lorag and Meesei were indulging in some drink themselves.

---

The well dressed older lady, evidently Aeramina, pulled an endearing smile at Julan's enthusiasm. Remus was not so amused.

With strong, loud strides against the floorboards, Remus clomped up to Julan, standing just out of reach of him and looking down his nose. "Young boy," he said calmly through his deep frown. "My son died seventeen years ago. I do not know where your parents might be, but if they died today and I claimed to you that I was your father seventeen years later, I would expect you to disbelieve me."

Rhazii glanced to the faces around them. Harald and Jatinha were not responding. Aeramina was oblivious of any tension in the air.

"You have exactly one minute to explain yourself before I remove you from my home."

At no point was Remus' voiced raised or demanding. He was speaking evenly and carefully. It was his posture, with his hand on his axe, that made up for it.

Rhazii's ear quirked. He looked at the staircase once more. The face of the blonde Imperial girl he had spotted was there for only a second, widened her eyes, and silently darted out of sight.

[EliteCommander]

With no arguments, Ahnasha and Kaleeth joined Fendros and Janius in heading to the kitchen in search of their children. It was around the time of night that the guard was changing so those that were ending their shifts were heading to the kitchen for their own meals as well. It was somewhat unusual for guests to the castle to take food or drink from the same place as the guards, but any association with the Penitus Occulatus meant that they went unquestioned, apart from a few curious looks. They of course did not find the boys at the kitchen, but that was not immediately alarming, as they could have gone to one of the dining rooms. It would not be until the group had gotten their drinks and started to search around that they would have cause to be worried.

---

Julan, still undeterred by Remus' skepticism, held up his hands as he answered back. "No, I promise I'm telling the truth! My father didn't die all that time ago in the spider cave. He lived, he just couldn't come back here. I'm sure he would have wanted to if he could. I...can describe him for you!"

Julan proceeded to give Remus and Aeramina the same kind of description of his father as he had to Harold, though in a bit more detail this time. He even told whatever he could recall about small physical features, like the shape of his ears and the rough size of his nose. He also demonstrated that he knew that Janius went into the cave as a part of a Fighter's Guild contract, and he repeated everything that his father had told him about his own childhood and what their family had been like at that time. Although, he did not include the parts about Janius' parents that Julan thought sounded a bit insulting. At the very least, it could not be denied that Julan knew quite a bit about someone who had supposedly died years before he was even born. In particular, he knew exactly how old Janius would be down to the day, since his mother was keen on celebrating Janius' birthday every year. That had not always been true, since birthdays had not been celebrated in Kaleeth's village, but she had been doing so ever since she learned about the custom.

After he finished giving his description of his father, Julan struggled for a moment to attempt to find more ways to convince his grandparents that he was telling the truth. "Other than that, um...well it wouldn't really be that hard to prove for sure. My father is right here in the city's castle, with the, um...sorry, I always have trouble saying it. Pen-it-us Occu-latus." He said, slowly and deliberately. "I could take you right to him."

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros was somewhat annoyed that the boys had gone off on their own somewhere, but he was the only one thinking negatively of it when Rhazii and Julan were not found in the dining rooms. Everyone assumed that they were exploring the castle somewhere. They left their drinks or took them with them while they searched around. The thought of relaxing for the night was slowly worn out over time. It was replaced with concern. Even broadening their search showed neither hide nor hair of the boys.

Their concern escalated to the point where they began to question the guards on watch. They agreed to split and meet up back in the dining room once they were done. Kaleeth, Ahnasha, and Janius had no luck when they arrived back. Fendros was the last to return with a mask of restrained anger on his face.

"I just spoke with the guards at the gates," he said. "They directed me to the men they took over from in their watch. They saw Rhazii and Julan leave the castle."

---

Remus stood over Julan without shifting a muscle. As Julan's descriptions went on, and as the information became more pertinent and detailed, Remus turned his head slightly. He began to show less stony sureness in his face, instead letting his brow tense ever so slightly. After a minute, he backed into a chair to listen to the rest of what Julan had to say. By this time, Aeramina had taken her own seat on a couch and Jatinha had served her a cup of tea as well.

When Julan finished, Remus sat forward with his fingers woven and held up to his mouth. His eyes bored holes into the wall behind Julan. He did not speak.

"It seems to me that he knows quite an account of our Janius, dear," Aeramina finally spoke. Her voice was poised and matter-of-fact, as if Janius was not her dead son at all. "What course of action shall we take?"

"You young men have made your case." Remus lowered his hands from his lips and stood up. "Kaj-Julan, that was your name?" He looked at Julan and spoke without the intimidation he previously held. "We are heading to court tomorrow morning. If Janius is truly still alive, you will show him to us when we arrive in the main courtyard. Harald? Show our guests out, if you please."

"Of course, sir." Harald stepped forward, half-turned and gestured low towards the archway through which they had arrived.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth's expression rather quickly went from being concerned, to visibly upset. She crossed her arms and started to just slightly show her teeth. "Left the castle? I know we did not give them permission for that. We need to go get them."

Ahnasha was also upset, but her expression was also mixed with some confusion. "I could expect them to want to explore the castle, but leaving it? Usually when Rhazii gets himself into trouble, he at least tries to give himself some room to make excuses. What would make them want to go into the city?"

---

Julan began to appear while openly glad when Remus started to show himself as being more accepting, but he quickly became afraid when he mentioned meeting Janius the next day. He was hesitant to leave. "Um...are you sure you don't want to see him tonight? I...my father is going to be mad if he figures out we came here. We left a note saying we went to get food from the kitchen, but...we've been gone for a while. I asked him before when he was showing us the city if we could visit you, but he said no, and he got mad when I kept asking about it. If we go back and he knows we left, he'll punish us. I think he's afraid to see you. I just know he'll change his mind if he meets you, though. Anyone would be glad to see their parents again after so long."

Facing the prospect of having to go back to the castle without his grandparents, Julan was starting to get a hint of regret. "Do you think I...did the right thing? We could go back and try to get him to the courtyard tomorrow morning, but...I don't know how to explain why we left." He asked.

[Muttonhawk]

"They didn't go out trying to find trouble on the other side of the canal, did they?" Fendros asked. "Where are we going to start looking?"

Janius had been struck silent since Fendros had revealed that they had passed the gates. Only now did he speak, low and concerned. "Julan was very curious about where I grew up. We should look around this side of the canal first. The main streets, where we toured around."

---

Remus was direct. "If you disobeyed your father by coming here, it is up to him on how to deal with you. I expect you shall wear the consequences when you return. Farewell." He turned on his heel and strode briskly back to the stairs to climb them.

Aeramina stood up as well. "It was lovely to meet you both, young men," she said with a smile and a small nod. She was quick to follow Remus again.

Meanwhile, Harald was still patiently waiting for the boys to stand up.

Their abrupt departure left the boys jarred. Rhazii exchanged a confused look with Julan. Neither Harald nor Jatinha seemed to react.

"Hey, Julan?" Rhazii leaned forward in his seat. He quickly finished the rest of his tea in one gulp and faced him. "Let's try to think of something on the way back. I don't think they want to meet uncle Janius tonight." He glanced nervously to the window. "I don't know how much time we have left before our parents come looking for us, too."