"Hey, don't be ashamed, I understand," Janius cooed, "You have been learning about your beast spirit. That's always a good thing." He was a little confronted by what Kaleeth said, but the last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel as if she had done something wrong. Still, if it was as serious as she was implying, then he wanted to help. "We...could try the rope, if you feel you need it. It..." Janius let out the rest of his breath, still a bit unsure. "I don't know, do you feel as if you might transform? How hard did it want to fight? I can't know whether the rope would be strong enough to hold you, even if you don't transform. In any case, I trust you not to seriously injure me." Janius was not completely sure where he was going. He was clearly out of his element, but he did not seem too nervous to do away with the idea completely.

Sabine sat silently for a while, thinking on what Peiter said. She had to recount the times during the war that she had killed. There were plenty, but she never had the same reservations as Peiter did. No times, except perhaps when she killed guards while searching for Fendros and Ahnasha after they had been captured in Black Marsh. She breathed in and gave a response. "It is...not nice killing people, Peiter. It is never nice. Most people I have killed, they have wanted to kill me or my family or my friends. Sometimes, though, there are people that exploit others to stand between us and them. It is not nice killing those people either, but...the best we can do is not be like our enemies. We should never exploit people like that. Even in a war." Sabine bowed her head and closed her eyes, "I hate this war."

---

"Um...this one is unsure." Tzirret curled his lips and licked his teeth for a moment, "We will definitely be staying at Orcrest until Meesei leads the attack on the stronghold, but...Tzirret does not know if he will be going with them to fight." Tzirret's eyes went down and up, "It depends on what Gallus wants. One of the reasons that my pack was needed on this journey was to help watch over Newt and Rhazii, the children. Tzirret might have to be one of the people who does that."

The next thought brought a deep sigh to Tzirret's lips. He lowered his head, but the darkness hid the other visual cues of his sadness. After the counter strike and possibly helping the Senchal clan to resettle, he would most likely be going home to Bruma, away from Ma'tanza. "A break would be nice, he thinks," he added, trying not to think that far into the future.

Kaleeth appeared rather uncertain, but nevertheless, calmed herself after a few moments of deep breaths. She still seemed nervous as she looked at Janius, but nevertheless, she suddenly put her arms back around him and rolled over on top of him. "I think I'll be fine. Just...grab it if I start clawing at you or something."

Peiter adopted a similar posture to Sabine, and allowed his head to rest on top of hers. While it was better than worrying about the storm, the topic the conversation had shifted to was hardly pleasant. "I don't know if that makes it easier or not. I don't know that we have killed anyone you could call innocent, but the fact that it's a possibility has kept me up at night before. Honestly...I don't know if I'm cut out to be a soldier. I can do the work involved; I'm getting better at fighting. Just being a guard would be great; I could protect people, and know that if I have to fight someone, it's definitely someone that deserves it. With war, though, I don't really know who my enemy is."

Peiter brought up one of his hands and rubbed his head. "Maybe it would be best not to think about this. I'd rather not keep us both up tonight with guilt. Let's try to think positive. What do you feel like doing?"

---

Ma'tanza looked around uncomfortably following Tzirret's mention of the attack on the stronghold. "Ma'tanza doesn't know what she is going to have to do. With the attack, that is. This one is a mage, and she has been trained to join the warriors. She doesn't know if she will need to be in the fight as well. S'nishi will be, and Ma'tanza wants to help protect her sister, but...she also is afraid. This one has been training for it, but she has never been in a real battle before. She would be more comfortable being a healer for the wounded. She also hopes you don't have to fight either. This one does not want to have to worry about you getting hurt."

The corner of Sabine's mouth tightened up into one cheek. She wasn't keen on dwelling on such a dark subject either, but as for what to do? She wasn't immediately inspired. One obvious possibility came to mind, although that would require cleaning up all the equipment she had unceremoniously tossed into their tent in the rush. She slowly slid out of Peiter's arms and began to pack it away regardless. She would have had to eventually anyway.

"Hmm, I am not sure what I want to do," Sabine said while gathering everything up. "We could keep talking. I know I would like to keep cuddling." Sabine gave Peiter a smile in the dark as an idea came to mind. "We could have a magic lesson." The last piece of equipment was put away and Sabine leaned forward, took Peiter by the shoulders while kneeling, and planted a kiss on his lips. "I might reward you if you do well."

---

Although it was hard to see, Tzirret gave Ma'tanza a look of concern as she spoke. "This one did not know that Ma'tanza was going to fight...well, might fight, but..." Tzirret thought back to the tumult of the battle in the halls of the clanhome. He was safe because he was on the back lines, but Ma'tanza could go the same way as the mages that were taken down by crossbow bolts above the gate. The very thought made Tzirret horrified.

Tzirret did not even hesitate as he took Ma'tanza gently by the arm. "This one has been in a battle before. It is...Tzirret cannot make Ma'tanza's decisions for her, but he...it...they target mages specifically. The enemy. If you fight, Tzirret would want to be there to help. He might be scared as well, but he could not stay behind. He could not stand it." Tzirret's voice began to waver, "Has S'nishi talked to Ma'tanza about this at all?"

Peiter grinned as well, placing his hands on Sabine’s hips as he leaned into her kiss. “Well, I suppose we couldn’t really do a sword lesson in here, and it would be nice to actually have some light.”

Slightly reluctantly, Peiter pulled back away from Sabine and sat up straight. By this point, they had been practicing long enough that Peiter could actually cast simple spells, though with no small amount of concentration. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, then charged as much alteration energy as he could through his hand in front of him. Eventually, the magic coalesced into a stable ball of magelight. Granted, it was dimmer, and would be shorter lived than anything Sabine could create, but it did completely illuminate their small tent.

“That’s better. So, what first?” Peiter asked.

Ma’tanza nodded briefly before looking down. ”Yes, we have spoken about it. Neither of us really know what is going to be asked of us. If our clan’s warriors are joining in the attack, then S’nishi will definitely be there, but it is not so clear for Ma’tanza. This one is a combat mage and knows how to fight. She is still an apprentice to her mentor, but she has been training for years and is hardly a novice anymore. She is just as good, or even better, than some of the clan’s other combat mages. But…Ma’tanza isn’t officially one of the clan’s protectors. She never intended to fight for a living. This one may be ordered to join the fight, but she could also have a choice for what to do.”

Looking back up, Ma’tanza stared into Tzirret’s eyes with no shortage of uncertainty. ”If Ma’tanza does have a choice, what do you think she should do? Should she join S’nishi in the fight, or stay back in safety and help heal the wounded? This one knows you don’t want to decide for her, but she does want your advice.”

Sabine sat back on her heels. "I think we should practice your basic restoration. The sooner you are able to seal up little cuts, the sooner I will be able to teach you how to treat sunburn." Sabine fished out a dagger from her bag. "Remind me...where did we leave off since last time? Have you been practising?"

Still with his hand on Ma'tanza's arm, Tzirret looked around uncomfortably. On one hand, he did not want S'nishi to be put in more danger because Ma'tanza was absent, but more powerfully, Tzirret didn't want Ma'tanza to be hurt either. She may be a competent or even a powerful mage, but she was no soldier.

"Well, S'nishi is...she is experienced as well as strong. Battle is..." Tzirret stopped, he did not want to beat around the bush. "This one thinks that it is not best for Ma'tanza to be around the fighting. She would see horrible things whether she was on the front lines or healing the wounded, but..." Tzirret sighed with frustration at himself and ran his fingers over his head, "Tzirret is sorry...it is just...every time he thinks of you going to a battle, he thinks of the people who were shot by the enemy hunters at Bruma. They went for the mages first, even the powerful ones had trouble. It..." Tzirret moved his hand from Ma'tanza's arm to her hand and squeezed it, "Tzirret may not be bravest, but he still does not want to see Ma'tanza get hurt."

Peiter looked down at the ball of light in his hand. "Um, well...I can charge magicka better than before. I think I know how to make it into restoration energy now, probably. I think I just need a bit of a review of what we went over last time; something about lifeforce, I think?"

Eyeing the dagger with a slight amount of anxiety, Peiter rubbed his neck before returning eye contact. "Say, which of us to you intend to cut with that knife?" He asked. It was not as if he was afraid of minor wounds, but he did not yet trust his own ability to control his own pain.

Ma'tanza nodded in agreement, her expression becoming more relaxed as her fears seemed to have been reaffirmed with Tzirret's answer. "Ma'tanza thinks you may be right. Fighting like that is not what Ma'tanza has been trained for. She would probably just end up getting in the way. S'nishi is a strong warrior, in every sense of the word. She has been fighting for the clan almost as long as we have been with it, and she has hardly ever been hurt. At least not badly. This one is sure she'll be fine for the attack. If the Orcrest clan is well-equipped, she'll be able to get even better armor. In sieges and other big battles, Senche are often covered in plates of metal and chainmail if they're going to be leading a charge or anything. She'll be able to help your friends, and the rest of the clan, better than Ma'tanza ever could."

"Ah, that is right," Sabine said with a nod.

Sabine looked up, holding her dagger by the flat of the blade and tapping the handle against her other palm. She was thinking about how to begin when Peiter asked about the dagger. To his concerns, she smiled and let out a small laugh through her nose. "Probably both of us," she responded, "I will need to demonstrate for you, and then you will have to try. Do not worry, I will make sure it does not hurt."

Once she knew how to give a recap, Sabine explained to Peiter how the life force inside one's body reflected its physicality and could be observed with magicka. With properly placed restoration magic, a mage may manipulate and energise one's life force to heal their wounds more swiftly, though they must understand how the local body part works to heal it most efficiently. The first practical part of the lesson was having Peiter inspect Sabine's hand before and during a cut she placed on her palm and the treatment of it. Soon enough, they moved to inspecting Peiter's hand so he could try. His techniques were less refined, so the healing took longer and left a small scar. However, true to her word, Sabine numbed his hand during the lesson. Healing with the distraction of pain required more practice.

Tzirret's grip on Ma'tanza's hand loosened when he listened. There was still a possibility that Ma'tanza would be ordered to fight, but for now, Tzirret felt as though he could relax. "It sounds like S'nishi will be fine, then," Tzirret commented. In proper response to Ma'tanza's decision, Tzirret brought his other hand to hold Ma'tanza's hand as well gave it another short squeeze, and then looked to Ma'tanza gratefully. "Thank you for listening to this one."

By the next morning, the sandstorm had subsided, so the clan packed up to get moving just as normal. Although, it did take longer to brush away the sand covering the tents, and anything that had been left outside. Their Dominion escort packed their belongings just as quickly, and followed along without a word. Just as before, they did not interact with the clan in any meaningful way, apart from observing them. Even so, the side of the clan nearest to the soldiers was much quieter than it had been during their last few days of walking.

Traversing the desert sands did become marginally easier over the next week, due to their growing experience with the issues it presented. The Humans and Elves were still being sunburned, but it was at least starting to take longer thanks to the tan they were developing. After a few days, the clan was able to mostly relax around the soldiers, though they still rarely spoke to one another directly. In general, the soldiers were respectful to the clan, even if there were more than a few occasions of some of the soldiers, particularly the men, giving long stares to some of the clan's unclothed women. Otherwise, Meesei made sure to keep their scouts scanning the area behind them to be sure they were not still being followed.

After roughly a week's time, the clan was drawing near to Orcrest. They made their camp in the space between two dunes, as usual, to serve as some protection against the wind. From their current location, they would be able to reach Orcrest itself in four days, and according to Ra'jorr, it was the perfect time to confront the soldiers. Their own supplies had run out days prior, so they were now reliant on the clan's food and water. With a four day journey ahead of them, they would still need water to survive it, so they could be forced to abandon the notion following the clan. Meesei, Ri'nakhad, Ra'jorr, and Gallus all met together on the opposite side of the camp from the soldiers to have a final discussion on the details of how to enact their plan. Meesei started them off. "Okay, we should keep this brief. We do not want any of them wandering over here to overhear us. Gallus, you have been watching them for the past day, correct? Do you believe they have noticed anything unusual about us?"

Gallus actually gave a snort, "You mean apart from everything that the Thalmor agent mentioned when they joined us? No, I do not believe so, although..." Gallus trailed off as he looked around the camp, "They have been joining some prides for meals over the past few days, where they are not on watch. I just hope that no one has become too attached...or let their tongue slip."

With a shake of his head, Gallus decided that it would not be an issue. What mattered was that the soldiers did not know what was going to happen today. "Anyway, they have not been hoarding water or anything, so I do not believe they would be able to do anything even if they knew."

The soldiers themselves were grooming their horses and setting up tents as usual. Apart from one of them, who was sitting with another pride for a meal, they were all gathered together.

"We ought to tell that straggler that we have an announcement to give him and all of his friends," Gallus added.

Meesei was glad to hear that the soldiers still seemed oblivious. After keeping up the ruse for so long, the last thing they needed to do was to slip up in the final day. When Gallus suggested gathering together the soldiers, Ri'nakhad gave an uncertain expression as well as looking up at the sky with a frown.

"If this one may, perhaps we should go through with this confrontation in the morning, rather than now. It would give us time to get word to the warriors we will need, and it will let us put distance between us and the soldiers much sooner." Ri'nakhad suggested.

Meesei nodded in agreement. "That is a fair point. I would rather not wait around in camp immediately after forcing them to leave. Confronting them in the morning will allow us to leave immediately. That just leaves the matter of how to go about confronting them. We want to make it abundantly clear that we have more than enough power to kill them, but I would still like to give off the impression that we do not want to kill them. One of the potential advantages of this approach is that they will be able to give their account of what happened with us. If the soldiers give the impression that we are not a militant group, the Dominion may be less driven to pursue us. What do you think we could tell them that would give us some advantage?"

Gallus brought palm hand over his mouth and tapped one cheek with his fingers. He seemed in agreement to go through with the confrontation in the morning, but he was dubious about Meesei's assumption that the right words would absolve the clan of some ramifications. He took about half a minute before his slid his hand down to reveal his mouth and talk.

"At this point, we have already committed to being marked by the Dominion as criminals. I do not believe they would see us expelling these people as anything less than coercion under threat of death." Gallus lowered his hand to rest on the top of his hammer again, "Unless we actually commit to killing one, our desire to not kill them will be implied by letting them go. They will have to take that as it is. As for the words?" Gallus brought his hands behind his back, "The best I can think of is to lie. In that scenario, we may tell them that we are going on an important detour before heading to Orcrest that cannot wait, but we do not have the food and water to accommodate them during that time. We could promise, then, to meet them at the city. It might even buy us some more time that way if they decide to blindly send out a lucky search party."

After a second, Gallus tilted his head, "Although, if we would prefer honesty, we should just be upfront; we're not going to Orcrest, we need you to leave, that is all, ta-ta." Gallus lifted one hand and curled his fingers in a friendly wave. "Of course, in either case, we would have to surround them and confiscate the food and water they might still have on hand, save for what they would need."

"Hmm, I doubt they would believe any lie we could tell them that would involve us not going immediately to Orcrest." Meesei answered. In truth, she doubted that anything they could say, true or false, would give the Dominion much of a positive impression of them. The soldiers themselves might appreciate their decision to spare them, but the bureaucracy they would report to would be largely emotionless in its pursuit of its perceived fugitives. Hopefully, it would not matter in the end. If they could avoid the initial search, identifying them later on would be difficult. It would take time for any information about them to move to cities beyond Orcrest, and even then, they would likely only need to use aliases. It was not as if every guard in the Dominion could memorize the physical description of every known fugitive, and even if they could, the descriptions alone would likely be too generic to prove their identities.

Since lying was not likely to be beneficial, Meesei decided she would rather be at least partially open about their intentions. "I believe I will be honest. I will say that we do not intend to go to Orcrest, and that we will let them leave with enough supplies to get to safety. It would be best if I personally confront them and explain the situation. I would be the one most likely to be able to escape them without harm, if the encounter turns to violence. I do fully expect them to resist in some form, but hopefully it will remain a verbal argument, rather than a physical one. How should we go about forcing their surrender? I believe we need a sufficient show of force to deter a violent response, but I do not want to directly threaten them if it is not necessary."

"I cannot see that being too complicated," Gallus extended a hand with his fingers pointed down and gestured in a small circle, "We gather them up, tell them there's an announcement they need to hear, we make sure to clear the area around their camp of any potential hostages, sidle up with a force, draw weapons, and tell them to discard theirs. We have the numbers, I don't think any of them are lacking in intelligence enough to try anything." Gallus turned his hand up, "Really, the nuance will be in convincing them to leave. If they try to pull rank or exercise some kind of authority — threaten us, even, well...the silent treatment ought to communicate how much that matters."

Gallus turned slightly and laughed softly to himself. He put his hands behind his back and stared up into the dimming sky. "Now it's beginning to sound too easy." He turned his head to Meesei and Ri'nakhad, asking a question that was far from rhetorical, "What is going to go wrong here?"

Ri'nakhad ran a claw through his mane, attempting to contemplate all of the angles of their plan. The Champion would be in the most direct and immediate danger, given that she would be the one that was face-to=face with them. However, he had faith in both her abilities and her judgment, so that was not the aspect of the plan which most concerned him. "Well, just at this one's first impressions with the plan, something could go wrong if they have any suspicion of our motives. We have not approached them in any meaningful way for as long as they have been with us, so calling them all together for an announcement could alert them. Perhaps we should wait until they bring themselves together on their own."

"They do all sleep in the same area." Ra'jorr commented. "If we get to them before breakfast, they should all be in one place. We will just have to warn the warriors to ready themselves discretely in the morning, and inform the other members of the clan nearby that they should back away once the confrontation begins. And, of course, we have to spread the word without alerting the soldiers."

Meesei nodded. It seemed as if the plan would come together if they could settle that final detail. "In that case, the last issue to address is how to ensure the clan knows what to do. Will it be possible to spread that information without it reaching the soldiers?"

"If I'm honest, I don't believe there is any way to guarantee secrecy when we tell everyone." Gallus remarked, "If we must let the people know, we should try to do so as late as possible, and as few people as possible, if we can. That still leaves the chance that the soldiers will catch wind of this, but it will be a the smallest chance we can allow."

Before anyone could respond, Gallus breathed in with another thought. "Ra'jorr," he looked to the pahmar, "we might try sending some warriors sparsely ahead, spread them out to those nearest to the soldiers in the morning. If they are unarmed and unarmoured, they can slip by unnoticed to spread the word quietly. Do you believe that would work?"

Ra'jorr took a few seconds to think on Gallus' suggestion. Specifically, who would be best to carry it out. "Yes...Ra'jorr believes it may. There are some among our warriors who have been with the clan for decades, and will know who to speak to first. This also gives Ra'jorr another idea. He has enough Pahmar, Senche, and mages among his forces to provide an intimidating force without causing any prior alarm. He can send groups of them closer to the soldiers so they can reveal themselves as fighters more quickly when the Champion gives the signal. Once the soldiers know of our intentions, the rest of his warriors will have time to approach as well."

Given the situation, Meesei appeared to be reasonably confident with the plan they had created. "Good, there are still risks, but it seems as if they will be manageable. If there is nothing else, we should separate before the soldiers take notice."

"Now it's feeling a bit less easy. That's good." Gallus smiled and clapped his hands together, "Let's carry this out at first light. Until then, everyone, good evening."

Gallus turned and walked off as the meeting adjourned. He could still see a few minor hiccups that could possibly affect the plan, but nothing that had great enough likelihood to address. Only time would tell if it would work.

That night, once the sun had gone down and almost everyone had retired to their beds, Janius laid with Kaleeth in his arms, who in turn held onto a peacefully sleeping Newt. Janius had walked the day after the sandstorm with endless questions about the scratches and bite marks on his skin inflicted from before. He had managed to play it off as Leaps-On-Elves feeling too playful that morning. Though, the truth was that he and Kaleeth did have to use the rope after a while.

It was a new experience, to say the least. Janius wasn't sure how he felt about it just yet. Due to how tiring it was, the speed at which camp was broken in the morning, and the lack of privacy during the day, they had not really had time to talk about it properly. He had been meaning to address it later, but he never really got around to it until now, a week later.

"Kaleeth, love," Janius whispered so as not to wake Newt, "About that night, the sandstorm. How are you feeling?"

Kaleeth opened her eyes when Janius whispered in her ear. She had been wondering when or if he was going to ask about that night. It had been quite a while by this point, but as it was something she felt at least slightly embarrassed about, she had not brought it up. Slowly she moved Newt slightly to the side and wrapped him in the bedroll so she could roll over and whisper back to Janius.

"That night? It was fine for me; great actually. You're the one I was worried about. I know I scratched you up and...maybe bit you a few times. I'm sorry. It was just all very intense for me, with my beast mixing with my emotions. I didn't lose control or anything, it was more like my beast spirit was just...closer to me. But what about you? You're the one that was hurt." Kaleeth explained.

"Well, you didn't hurt me too badly really," Janius rolled onto his back, looking up and sighing through narrow lips, "I don't know. It was different. It was exciting at first, I'll admit, but...you were very aggressive." Janius rolled his head to look at Kaleeth with a reassuring smile, "I think I'll be able to get used to it. That's not really what I've been thinking about most."

Janius brought his hand up to Kaleeth's upper arm and ran it up and down softly. "That night, we were in the moment. We didn't really get to talk much about your beast spirit in particular." Janius looked down, "I think it's great that you are getting more familiar with it, but...now that you have a way to attune yourself better, what did you feel like doing about it?" Janius looked at Kaleeth again angling his head towards hers, "Do you think it would help you to do more fighting? Would you be in better control?"

Mimicking Janius' posture, Kaleeth rolled onto her back as well and stared up at the roof of their tent. It was quite obvious that she was conflicted. Indeed, she had shown a similar expression a few times over the last week. The matter of her beast spirit was something that had been keeping her awake at night with indecision.

"I...don't know, really. There's just so much to think about with all of this. I know my beast spirit will never be like yours. Crocodiles aren't like wolves, they don't have the same, what is it? Inhibitions? They're not that social, so they don't worry about trying to fit in with the group. It makes me impulsive when my emotions start running high. I think I have a few choices about what I can do. Getting close to my beast like this, it has helped me understand it more. We understand each other, really. When I fight, or use my strength on something, I feel like I'm letting it into my mind a bit. But, I also think I'm getting into its mind in return. It's strange; I know it's influencing me, but I feel like I'm in better control than I've ever been. I don't ever really feel like its going to push me over the edge and take control. Before, it was always a struggle to stay in charge of my mind. It's like fighting, and doing all those other things helps it to vent." Kaleeth explained.

Turning back towards Janius, she reached up and placed a hand on his cheek. "I...think I have to decide. I could try to go back to the way things were before. I could try to suppress it; to keep it contained like you can do with yours. I don't think I would have any of these aggressive emotions anymore, but it would probably be easier for me to lose control. Or, I could keep doing this. I could keep fighting, keep letting it out just a little bit at a time. I don't know what I want to do, or what would be best for me...or you, for that matter."