Fendros' heels tilled the soil below him as he tried to hold the Senche back. His delaying tactic worked, but the Senche's resistance jerked him forward suddenly until he fell and was being dragged along the ground. He couldn't maintain his grip. When he moved his head up to see the Senche drive forward, he gasped some dirt into his throat as Ahnasha was struck with the Senche's body in its death throes. Fendros pushed off the ground as quickly as he could and sprinted over to Ahnasha. His first movement was to grab the Senche's legs and roll the dead Khajiit's body off her.

"Ahna! Are you alright?" Fendros asked desperately as he looked over her.

To Gallus, the enemies that were hanging back were just a sign to him that the morale of the enemy was fading. It was an optimistic thought, but the defenders might break and rout soon. That would put an end to the entire battle. He was more than ready for that. However, Gallus was not so blinded as to charge in after them without support. He stayed near Meesei so that the central formation could be defended and still move onwards. If those surrounding them wanted to stay put, it would only mean more spells and arrows thinning the dwindling numbers of the enemy.

There were a few amongst Meesei and Gallus' packs that might have picked up the strange magical activity in the area, but in the heat of battle, it was not easy. The only one who seemed to be acutely aware enough of it to act was Sabine. She was still trying to concentrate on deflecting arrows and spells, but there were fewer than she could justify standing around for. She stepped past the central formation to try and reach the front with her packs. She had to find out what it was and try to protect her pack.

"Sabine, wait!" Uthri called out, but not before Sabine disappeared into the crowd. There was nothing Uthri could do to stop Sabine with Peiter still in his arms.

Ahnasha tried to sit up and draw in breath after it had been knocked out of her. She was sore, and would be bruised rather badly under her fur. Not to mention, she had an intense pain in her left shoulder and was having difficulty moving the arm. "Ah, I think that...flailing corpse dislocated my shoulder. Maybe...cracked a rib."

Allowing Fendros to help her to her feet, Ahnasha looked down at the Senche's corpse and practically growled. In frustration, she kicked at the corpse's head. Archery was now out of the question for her, so she would need to find some other way to help. The other soldiers around them had pushed forward slightly, but she could not stand and think for long. Her frost atronach had already been killed by concentrated spellfire, so she had an opening for another servant. "You know, you oversized wretch, you're not done yet." She muttered to the Senche corpse. She closed her eyes and placed her uninjured hand on the corpse. With no small degree of concentration, she focused most of her remaining magicka into the horse-sized Khajiit in the form of necromantic energy. It was magically exhausting for her, but after a few seconds, the Senche rose up as her new thrall.

"Okay...it will follow your lead." Ahnasha said to Fendros. "I'll be behind you, resting."

Meanwhile, Lorag had pushed through the breach created by Kaleeth. Since she had shifted to helping Ri'vashi, he decided to forge ahead straight into the enemy. He had soldiers with him, so he had no intention of stopping the pace Kaleeth had set. Lorag's armor was now dented, his body bruised and fatigued, but he was still fighting with all of his ferocity. He hooked an enemy spear with the back of his hammer, pushed it aside, then delivered a heavy blow to his opponent's face with his fist. Using his weight to knock the spearman down, Lorag proceeded to stomp on him with his boot while simultaneously making a swing of his hammer towards the next enemy in front of him. The result of that swing, however, was more of a shock than even Lorag could have expected. There was no impact; instead, his hammer simply passed through this "opponent" as if he were not even there. The enemy had not given a reaction, no defense or counterattack, and indeed, had not seemed to move much at all. Lorag could not sense the magic in the air, but even he could tell that it was an illusion. And, looking around, he could see a similar, static behavior from the majority of the enemy's backline.

"By Oblivion...illusions." He muttered, before quickly beginning to shout. "It's an illusion! Most of 'em are illusions! We're not outnumbered!"

Seeing Ahnasha's shoulder bent out of shape was gruesome, but Fendros was relieved enough that she was in no danger of dying. He pulled her up from the ground with one hand.

Fendros had seen enough of Ahnasha's raised corpses to be used to them. He felt thankful that she had decided to raise an enemy corpse again, but more than that, he looked impressed. "This is the biggest one you've brought up yet, isn't it?" Fendros remarked while looking at it. He shook off the moment; there was no time. He took Ahnasha's healthy arm, "See if you can get someone to put your shoulder back."

With that, Fendros moved to collect his shield and deal with the rest of the flanking force that the atronach was holding. The Senche officer's corpse loped breathlessly behind him with a disturbing blank visage.

Gallus countered his opponent and struck him in the face with the front of his hammer when Lorag had begun shouting. He continued with a strike to the blind spot he had created in the soldier's visor and the enemy spun to the ground, letting go of his spear, unconscious.

"They seem rather too real to..." Gallus' quip in return faded as none of the immediate standing enemies showed any signs of life, let alone movement. It might have helped other morale in the warband, but Gallus was cordial to this realisation. "Keep moving forward!" he shouted out, "Keep your wits about you! Something has to be making these..."

Lorag charged into the illusions, passing through each one with no hint of resistance. Other lycan warriors folloed suit, but none of the well-over a hundred "soldiers" ahead of them so much as moved in response. It did not take long after lycans began pushing into the illusions that the enemy decided it was no longer worthwhile to maintain them. Suddenly, almost two-thirds of the enemy force's initial numbers disappeared into thin air. About half of the lycan formation now had a mostly clear path to the treeline, and those that were still in the middle of the split enemy force could now advance straight ahead without fear. The situation, it seemed, was not nearly as dire as it had first appeared. All that was between them and the forest were the enemy mages that had been maintaining the illusion, but they seemed more interested in fleeing than fighting. If Meesei's mist ritual prior to the battle was any indication, their spell likely drained them of magicka.

Between Ri'vashi, Kaleeth, and Janius, they had killed the enemy which had Ri'vashi surrounded, and the remainder ahead of them had been simple illusions. Seeing as there were now no longer any enemies ahead of them, Ri'vashi turned around to help those still behind them. At present, the lycans actually outnumbered the enemy by a good margin, though Ri'vashi was still intent on retreating. That gas alone was enough to kill every lycan present, and they had no way of knowing how much the enemy still possessed. "Soldiers, to the rear! Hold here to cover the escape of the wounded!" She shouted.

Ahnasha and Fendros had just reached the empty clearing where the illusions had been when the order was given to turn around. There had been no time for Ahnasha to receive healing, though she still did not seem to recognize herself as counting among the wounded. She conjured up a sword with her good arm, then turned around along with Fendros and her thrall to help hold the line.

Meesei, meanwhile, had no illusions of where she needed to be, but her strength was rapidly failing. In keeping herself upright with telekinesis, Meesei had been forced to neglect the healing magic she was using to sustain herself. For a few seconds, she tried sauntering in the direction of the treeline, but her magic was growing too weak to hold herself upright. Soon enough, she collapsed, and was only barely managing to cling to consciousness as she tried to form another healing spell. She still had the magicka for the spell, but she was too weakened to focus on it coherently. Her bleeding had never halted entirely, so her blood loss was quickly catching up to her. As well, the insidious effects of the silver were causing increasingly severe harm. At some point during her fight with the General, silver had chipped off in her body, and was now in her blood. The pain was unbearable, but her cries did not last long before she lost consciousness. Laying face down in the grass, she of course attracted the attention of any lycan within sight of her. She had become eerily still.

Her heart had stopped.

The line that formed up against the enemy to allow the wounded to escape was tired, but determined. The enemy was not nearly as worrying here, with their forces diminished almost to nothing. They dared the enemy to come forward. Thankfully, enough seemed to be fleeing that the others would soon follow.

Gallus was the first nearby to react to Meesei's failing health. He spotted her collapsing over his shoulder and spun around to help her. He pulled at her arm to help her up to no avail. "Get up, champion! We have to keep moving!"

Getting only pained cries from her in response had him curse under his breath, crouch down, and lift Meesei over his shoulder. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the healers in the defensive formation. It was that point that Sabine found them.

Sabine ran to catch up with Gallus, charging her own healing magic. If Meesei wasn't healing herself, she would have to. "Gallus! Let me help Meesei! She cannot hold on!"

Gallus turned his head, but did not stop moving. "Not yet!" He shouted. They both ran into the tree line before Gallus slid to a halt and placed down Meesei on her back.

Sabine fell to her knees and poured everything she had into healing Meesei's body. There was a tense few seconds where they both observed, but Gallus realised the situation before Sabine did. He had brought his ear to Meesei's mouth to listen for her breath for ten full seconds before his shoulders lowered and his eyes widened. He sat up and blinked twice.

"No..." Sabine whimpered as she continued to try to heal Meesei.

Gallus slowly stood up and turned away, blank-faced. Some errant soldiers were gathering around them, but he avoided all of their eyes. No one was making any sounds around them, except Sabine. Sabine was weeping again, desperately trying to deny the situation with her healing magic. Gallus shouldered past the gathered people towards the front line again.

That just left Sabine alone over Meesei's body, surrounded by strangers. Eventually, her magicka ran dry. At that point her tears were revealed to be falling onto Meesei's abdomen, making the drying blood run in rivulets again. Her strained red face took in a small, wheezing breath through her open mouth, finally realising futility.

Sabine let her head fall upon Meesei's chest as she wrapped her arms around her body. Sabine convulsed with sobs that were muffled by her hair.

Despite the situation, and the fact that Vile's forces which were still in sight, almost everyone that saw Meesei being held in Sabine's trembling arms stopped, apart from those who were too severely wounded. The enemy would be growing no closer, as with their ruse revealed, many of them were already in retreat towards what remained of the fortress. However, that would do little for the Champion. For a few moments, the only sounds were murmurs of concern among the growing crowd, and Sabine's sobs.

Since the enemy was in a disorganized retreat, Ahnasha had pulled back into the forest to have her arm tended to. When she saw the crowd of people stopped just beyond the treeline, she was about to shout at them to get moving before she moved close enough to see what they were watching. Seeing Meesei being held in Sabine's arms, she could not know for certain what her condition was, but the first thought in her mind was seeming frighteningly likely. "Hircine...guard us..."

Meesei's life had been drained from her body, by silver and blood loss. Her bones were cracked, her muscles shredded, and her scales torn open. Her appearance seemed to embody death, and yet...that life had not been entirely extinguished. Her heart and breathing had stopped, but only for a few moments before Sabine had reached her. Sabine's outpouring of rejuvenating magicka had given a spark to her heart. It caused it to beat, erratically and weakly, but it beat nonetheless. Her condition was as dire as ever, but within her there was still a small, fleeting glint of life.

After a few more moments of poured emotion and constricted breathing from Sabine, she stopped abruptly and opened her eyes. Her breathing began to quicken and her face softened from sadness to shock. The murmuring around them became more dominant. That seemed to make her sit up and flick her head around. "QUIET!" she snapped at the top of her lungs, before placing her ear against Meesei's chest again. The brief silence was just enough for Sabine to confirm that what she heard was reality.

Sabine sat up again. Her tears were still running, but her expression was now one of frantic determination. She placed her hands flat against Meesei's upper chest and over her heart, and then her healing magic began to glow gold again. It was weaker, but more focussed. Still, it only lasted a few seconds before flickering away. Looking around and hyperventilating, Sabine pat at the bare skin on her hip. Her potions were left behind when she transformed. She turned her attention to those around her. No one looked to be a mage, except for one.

"Magicka potion!" Sabine shouted with more authority than she had ever displayed. She extended a hand in the direction of the mage's belt. "Now! Now, or she will die!"

The mage, a Suthay-raht Khajiit in light armour and bound swords, seemed overwhelmed by the attention. He dismissed his swords, pulled a small waterskin from his belt and handed it over as quickly as he could. Sabine snatched the skin, uncorked it, and drank it down so fast that she squeezed out more liquid at once than she could put down her throat. The excess spilt out over her cheeks and she leaned forward with a fit of coughing. The potion spilt everywhere, but she had taken in enough of it. Sabine felt her magicka reserves replenish enough to resume her treatment. She threw the skin aside and brought the warm golden light back to her hands.

Everything went into Meesei once more, but rather than flooding more than Sabine could use into false hope, this time it was to keep that little spark alive.

At this point, Gallus had reached the front lines. The news of Meesei's death, temporary as it might have been after Gallus had left, would soon spread. Gallus took Ri'vashi's arm and turned her to see his grave expression. "Clan leader," Gallus said with a tone that spoke more than his words, "This battle is over."

Lorag had moved away from the front with a group of soldiers to protect the last of the wounded from any mages that might still be lingering in the forest, and had reached the crowd around Meesei just as Sabine was shouting for potions. They were words that left little question as to Meesei's current health. Fortunately, a mage produced a potion for Sabine before Lorag went on a rampage to single-handedly tear down the enemy fortress looking for one. Nevertheless, he was hardly idle after Sabine resumed her healing.

"Well, What're ya'll waiting for? Potions! Healing, magic, everything; just get them to her! Now!" Lorag yelled, pacing back and forth beside Sabine. Every aspect of his demeanor, from his voice to the way his boots stomped on the ground, spoke of the desperation and rage within him. Among anyone that knew Lorag, there was absolutely no question that Meesei was the person who held his singular loyalty. No other entity, from his flesh-and-blood family, to Hircine himself, garnered more of his respect than Meesei, so his fervor in wanting to keep Meesei alive was far from unexpected.

Lorag knelt down beside Meesei and slid his arms underneath her body, careful not to interrupt Sabine's healing. He looked Sabine straight in the eyes, with his own showing determination, and the fear he was no longer bothering to hide. "I don't care if I have to carry both of ya. We're going to bring her to the camp, get her to the other healers." He said. This time, he would not be rushing ahead of Sabine.

By the time Gallus reached the frontline, the enemy was in a full retreat, so there was no delay for Gallus to speak to Ri'vashi. She picked up on Gallus' severe demeanor, though she could not know what was causing it. "Yes, the wounded are clear. The enemy has broken off and returned to the fortress. This one doesn't think they have the numbers to mount a counterattack, but we should get our camp moved to safety as quickly as we can regardless. Let's get back to camp and shore up our defenses until the worst of the wounded are dealt with. No one else is dying today."

Sabine was in no state to reflect on the break in Lorag's normally stoic expression. She looked right back at him and responded. "I have to..." The words assembled themselves, more slowly than she would have liked. "I have to keep her alive. Do not move too fast."

As Lorag lifted Meesei up, Sabine stood up with her hands still channelling magic into her. Their effort to walk without breaking the flow of healing magic meant that Sabine and Lorag were slowly sidestepping in tandem to get Meesei towards camp. The immediate crowd around them parted to let them through, but the shuffling of the thick group of people slowed the pace further.

One of the more proactive officers called out, silencing the murmuring and breaking the held breaths of those around them. She shouted for them to clear the way and began to issue orders to fetch medical supplies. A few soldiers were already running to fetch healers, but the officer added a couple more to collect a stretcher for Meesei so she could be moved faster.

Gallus could not quite muster the energy that Ri'vashi was displaying. He looked out to the fortress as she spoke and didn't wait to respond. "Quite. No one else." He shifted his eyes to Ri'vashi's. He breathed in to speak, but instead beckoned her closer, standing on his toes to murmur into her ear. "I believe Meesei is gone."

Ri'vashi looked away, closing her eyes with an expression that quickly came to match Gallus'. "Then...we will save everyone we can. Ri'vashi will organize the camp's defense and direct our scouts. Just...make sure our healers have everything they need." She responded. While it was certainly important to aid the aid the healers in the current crisis, Ri'vashi's orders were mostly intended to allow Gallus to be with his friends, and his pack. Though she had lost many of those she cared about in this attack, she was in a better position to focus on doing what needed to be done in the moment.

Once Ri'vashi and the rest of her soldiers retreated into the forest, the battlefield was finally still. It was littered with corpses, both of lycans and Vile's soldiers alike, with even more within the walls of the fortress. From one perspective, the attack could have been considered a success. The enemy fortress was in ruins, destroyed on the orders of their own General. Everything that had been contained within, which Vile's followers had been building to strengthen their position in Elsweyr, was destroyed in a single day. Vile's forces experienced a severe loss of life, and the loss of their command center. But, despite what they had accomplished in the attack, there were few among the lycans who would even consider calling it a victory. There were many within the keep who had not made it out in time to escape, which, in addition to the casualties before and after, meant that nearly half of their initial force were dead or missing. General Do'rhajul had, in all likelihood, escaped, and it was unlikely that they had destroyed the knowledge of how to produce the enemy's deadly gas. As much harm as they had done to Vile's operations in the region, the war was undoubtedly going to take a strong turn for the worse in coming months.

Meanwhile, Lorag and Sabine picked up their pace as much as they could as soon as they were free from the crowd, without sacrificing Sabine's ability to heal. Even Lorag could tell that Meesei was only barely clinging to life. Her heartbeat was faint enough that he could not personally feel it with his hands, and her breaths were worryingly irregular and shallow. With as much blood as she had lost, some of the color had drained from her face and hands, so Lorag was determined to get her to the healers as quickly as they could. In fact, they were able to make it back to camp before the others could even find a usable stretcher.

Thanks to those who had ran ahead, a few healers were already prepared to receive Meesei as soon as they had stepped into camp. The healers were already overburdened with wounded as it was, and supplies were stretched thin, but there were a few who were ready to focus all of their attention on the Champion. Were she conscious, Meesei almost certainly would have wanted the healers not to place any more focus than was required on herself so they could still treat the other wounded effectively, but there was no one present who was willing to take any resources away from treating Meesei. Lorag in particular was willing to sacrifice anything, or anyone, to ensure that Meesei recovered. He wanted to remain by her side until the moment she was fully healed, but the healers, quite understandably, insisted on keeping away anyone who was not directly involved in her treatment.

The chaos that followed the withdrawal lasted for hours. Supplies were being drained, healers were stretched thin. All around an exhausted Sabine, surgeons worked to set Meesei's bones, locate and remove any large chunks of silver, and disperse what was left so that they could stabilise her. In spite of all insistence, Sabine adamantly refused to let another healer take over for her in keeping Meesei's heart going.

Upon his arrival, Gallus became the defacto commander of the medical effort. He found the most experienced healers to triage the countless casualties and saw about commanding and allocating healthy soldiers to assist however they could. Lives were lost and saved, but it seemed to have no effect on Gallus either way. He didn't even visit Uthri, Peiter, or even Tzirret as he constantly had his work cut out.

Uthri stayed near Peiter to ensure his safety. He was stable but still unconscious.

The rest of Meesei's pack came back to the camp only to be roped into to helping the wounded. The only spare moment any of them had to see Meesei was from a short distance. They were warded away by the healers in short order before they could obstruct Meesei's treatment.

Eventually, the rush died down. Meesei was at least brought to the point where she was stable without constant attention. Her pack gathered around her bedroll quietly. Sabine was leaned up against Lorag, looking like she was about to pass out. She was blinking heavily, but was clearly trying to stay awake.

"We should never have let her go ahead alone," Janius broke the silence furtively, "I haven't been this scared since Morrowind."

Fendros' tone wasn't much more optimistic as he looked over Meesei's bandaged body. "Our alpha's hard to kill. She'll pull through."

Word soon reached Gallus' ears that Meesei was still alive. During his administration, he stopped by Meesei to see for himself, but he did not stay longer than a moment. He did the same for Peiter and was strangely absent from then on.

Peiter and Uthri were soon joined by Tzirret. Looking from a distance would see Uthri taking Tzirret's shoulder and speaking to him, before they both embraced one another tightly and began to weep.

Though Meesei was stable enough that her heart was now beating on its own, her overall condition had only marginally improved. As much as they had tried, they could not remove all of the silver from her body. There was little question that her life was being sustained almost solely by the many regeneration potions they had given her. If they were allowed to wear off, her body would not be able to sustain itself for long.

Among most of Meesei's pack, the mood was understandably grim. They all surrounded Meesei's bedroll, but she was still entirely unresponsive. There was no way to know when, or if, she would ever regain consciousness. Even Ahnasha had a difficult time being as optimistic as Fendros was at least trying to be. "I know her bleeding is finally stopped, but...that silver. It's in her blood. I'm almost glad she's not awake, so she can't feel the pain of it. I just wish there was something we could do. Something to get that poison out of her body. It's...hard for lycans to survive that."

Kaleeth was back in her Argonian form, and sat next to Janius with her knees pulled up to her chest. She had been almost entirely silent thusfar, staring at the Ring of Hircine, which she was holding in her hand. "I...don't like having this." She finally said, albeit softly.

Lorag, meanwhile, had not taken the scowl off of his face since he had sat down. When he finally spoke up, it was in a tone that made it seem as if he were growling. "It shouldn't've been like this. She shouldn't've had to do that, when we were leavin' I mean. I saw her; had to put herself into the fight 'cause half our men were too busy soilin' their trousers to follow their orders and get out of the gate. She had to...inspire them and all that nonsense. Shouldn't've happened. Cowards, all of em! I swear, when we get back, I'm gonna find each and every one of them that held back and make sure they get what's comin' to them. Fifty lashes for all of 'em!" He shouted, though, it was not entirely likely that he would follow through on his threats. At the moment, he just needed a place to direct his rage.

It was not long after Lorag's rant that one of the healers, a slightly shorter than usual, light-furred Cathay male approached. There had been a pause in Meesei's treatment while they waited for one of the healers to finish a special potion, but now, it seemed, they were ready to resume. By his expression, he seemed nervous, but determined. "This one's apologies, but...Marcaille has finished brewing her potion. If she is right, it should help remove the silver, but we will need to treat her once more at the same time. Khajiit needs to take the Champion to our tent. We should...know within the hour if the old Breton's idea worked."

There was a pause after Lorag's outburst. Fendros ended it. "She did what she had to."

There was no more time for discussion when the Khajiit healer came forward, not that there was much else to help.

The healer's words caused Sabine to sit up. "I have to stay with her," Sabine said.

In response, Fendros reached over and placed a hand on Sabine's shoulder. "Sabine, you've done more than enough. We should let the healers do their job."

Sabine breathed in to protest, but by the look of everyone around her, she was unlikely to get her way. She looked to the healer, somewhat defeated, and asked, "What are you going to do?"

Janius put his arm around Kaleeth and looked at the ring as well. That at least brought up a more positive topic of conversation. "You made good use of it. We couldn't have made it out without you." Janius turned his eyes to Kaleeth's face, "What are you thinking?"

"Marcaille has brewed a potion that might help us extract the silver from the Champion's blood." The Cathay answered. "It is a complicated procedure, but one we have performed before. There is not time to explain the details now, but Khajiit is willing to tell you later. This one...must tell you that there are no guarantees. The procedure does not always work, and when it does, it is not always enough, but this one has personally seen it save lives before. It will improve her chances, he is certain."

Walking over to Meesei's bedroll, the Cathay knelt down and carefully picked Meesei up in his arms. Though, he continued to look to Sabine sympathetically. "This one knows you want to help, but...the procedure is delicate, and there is not time to teach it. Khajiit promises we will do everything we possibly can for her."

"You better." Lorag muttered under his breath.

Though Kaleeth wanted to be with Meesei just as much as everyone else, she was just glad to see that Meesei was receiving more attention. Whatever the healers wanted to do, she would just pray to the Hist, Hircine, or whatever being would care that they would be successful. For now, she continued to clutch the Ring in her hands. "I'm thinking this belongs to Meesei, and no one else should ever have it. The way it made me feel...it was perfect control. Absolutely, completely perfect. I don't really have words for it. I could walk around as a werecrocodile as if I had not transformed at all, while my beast spirit simply did everything it could to help me. It was the kind of control that I think every lycan would dream of having, but I never want to wear it again. I want to never be able to wear it, because Meesei is going to get better, then take it from me and wear it herself."

Sabine lowered her head and nodded. However, before the Cathay took Meesei away, Sabine gave Meesei's limp hand a squeeze. Sabien spoke softly as her eyes began to burn again, "I love you, Meesei. Do not die."

Fendros shifted uncomfortably, trying not to reveal his worries any further than he already had.

Sabine let go and looked up at the Cathay again with red eyes. She gave him a nod to proceed and let go of Meesei's hand.

Janius listened to both the healer and Kaleeth, but he waited and watched Meesei get taken away before he answered Kaleeth again. "That sounds like how Meesei described it to me," Janius remarked, "Look, it's just a tool. A powerful tool, granted, but nothing that will take you over. If you do not feel comfortable with it, any one of us could hang onto it if you like."

After a few moments, Sabine slowly stood up from her seated position up against Lorag, sniffed back tears, and turned to walk away.

"Sabine, hold on a moment," Fendros stood up and faced her.

Sabine looked back to see Fendros with his arms spread. Sabine curled her lips nervously, and then moved with reluctance to give Fendros a hug.

Fendros returned the hug. "It'll be okay," he murmured. He was going to promise it so, but none of them truthfully could. Regardless, the hug lasted. It was eerily still, though not awkward. It was still like a dam that was close to bursting. "She'd be proud of you, Sabine."

Sabine burst into muffled tears against Fendros' shoulder.

Sensing the tension, Janius stood up as well, motioning for Kaleeth to do the same. Janius wrapped his arms around Fendros and Sabine as well, giving and receiving comfort that hardly had the opportunity to be exchanged since the battle began that day.

Sabine poured out all the pent up worry she had. Fendros remained stoic, but was clenching his teeth so hard that he was at his limits. Finally, Janius remained quiet, but couldn't help but shed a tear of worry for his friend and alpha. The others may or may not have wanted to join in various degrees, but none could deny that they all shared the same connection to Meesei in that moment. She had been their leader for years. Meesei had once again put herself in incredible danger for all of them, and now they were closer to losing her than ever before.

As Meesei was carried away to one of the healers' tents, the others were left to fill the time before they would know of the procedure's success or failure. Kaleeth's gaze did not break from the Ring as Janius gave her his thoughts on it. "I just want Meesei to have it." She answered simply.

Both Ahnasha and Kaleeth joined the others in their embrace. Kaleeth did not hesitate to show her fears through the tears in her eyes, and while Ahnasha was not crying outright, the others would be able to feel her hands shaking. Lorag, meanwhile, kept his seat and stared blankly ahead. A stranger might have seen him as being emotionless, but anyone who knew him would recognize that he expressed most of his emotions, apart from anger, more subtly.

"I...don't know what to do, about any of this." Ahnasha said, not looking at anyone in particular. "I don't like having to just sit here and wait. I know we shouldn't get in the way of the healers, but...there has to be something? I just don't want to be here, sitting on my tail, while Meesei could be dying. Are there any ingredients we could be gathering for some potion...or some kind of spell or ritual we could prepare?"

The hug lasted for as long as it needed to. Sabine eventually settled down. Everyone got to release at least some tension regarding the situation. Although, no one could go as far as to say that they felt entirely better once they separated.

"I wish I knew, but they seemed to want us out of it," Fendros answered Ahnasha. He turned his head to the edge of the camp, "We could ask to join the foragers for more ingredients, but that won't necessarily be for Meesei." He sighed through his nose and turned to the still teary Sabine, "What do you think, Sabine?"

"I do not know, either," Sabine croaked while she wiped her eyes dry. "I do not know what Marcaille has made or how it exactly works. It might be similar to what Ariel made for Meesei when she was recovering from the spear wound. If that is it, there is nothing else to do to help."

"A ritual is a thought..." Janius spoke up with a careful tone in case his idea came off as unhelpful. "I don't suppose anyone here has something to sacrifice to Hircine?"

Ahnasha approached Janius' idea with just as much skepticism as he had. She was one of the most loyal followers of Hircine among the pack, so she had a fair amount of knowledge of his rituals. "I am not too certain that would work. Hircine is powerful, but I have never heard of him healing his worshipers. Even if that is something he is willing to do, he may not even be able. The power of the Daedra to influence Mundus directly is...limited. He can grant his blessing, confer lycanthropy, through ritual, but to heal someone so gravely wounded...I just don't know. If it is possible, it would require a proper ritual on a properly prepared altar. Nothing makeshift would do. We don't have the time to prepare something like that." She said regretfully. Ahnasha was certainly willing to go out and find any sacrifice she could if it would help Meesei, but she had little hope that it would work.

"I'd rip my own heart out and lay it on an altar if it'd help her." Lorag commented in a tone approaching depression. He had not budged from where he was seated, which, given that their camp was still in dangerous territory, was telling of how deeply the situation was affecting him. Normally, he was the first to step forward and deal with any matters of military or defense.

Crossing her arms, Ahnasha let out a sigh. "I just don't know what else to do but...wait."

---

Just as the healer had told the pack before, the procedure did not take long, though it had been frantic. Assistants ran to and from the tent, which glowed from the healing magic within. When the Cathay emerged from the tent, he of course made his way straight for Meesei's pack. Unfortunately, the expression on his face was not encouraging.

Ahnasha was correct, as far as the pack was concerned. The next space of time was spent waiting in silence, for the most part.

To settle the other big worry in her mind, even if its consequences might make the situation worse, Sabine wandered over to Peiter, Uthri, and Tzirret for a short time. Sabine was relieved to at least see Peiter still alive and recovering. Learning of Irenya's death was something that scraped at the end of Sabine's reserves of energy. She shared some grief with Tzirret and Uthri, who were still understandably upset, but she tried not to dwell long, simply because she needed to at least have some hope left in her mind. She left the still unconscious Peiter with a kiss on his pale forehead before heading back. Meesei's treatment was not meant to take long, and she did not want any delay in knowing its results.

The look of the Cathay healer coming towards them, drew the eyes of all the pack. Sabine began to breathe uneasily. Everyone was nervous.

"What has happened?" Fendros demanded quietly to him.

The Cathay healer became increasingly nervous as he approached the pack. When Fendros questioned him, he hesitated, taking in a deep breath. "We performed the procedure, successfully, but...we fear it may not be enough. The potion worked as intended, and we were able to remove some of the silver. Most of it, actually, but what remains is...stubborn, for the lack of a better word. It is not circulating through her blood any more, but it is is caught in her tissues, some of them vital. It is still harming her, and we have reached the end of what we can do."

The healer could not maintain eye contact, and instead kept his gaze firmly at the ground. His hands were clasped together, and his eyes held deep regret. "The...one piece of good news this one has is that, somehow, the Champion has awoken. She is conscious, and seems perfectly lucid. The silver did not make it into her brain, at least. Her body is still weakening, but you can speak to her."

"But...if Meesei is awake, then that means she can help." Ahnasha responded hopefully. "Her magic, she is a skilled healer. She can help with her own magic; add her power to that of the other healers. No one knows her body better than herself. Surely she still has a chance?"

Again, the Cathay hesitated. The uncertainty and fear was obvious in his expression. "The procedure did improve her chances, yes, but...Khajiit does not wish to lie to you; to give false hope. The Champion is in very bad condition. This one does not know of her healing abilities, but even with that, she is still weakening. We do not believe it is likely for her to survive the night. You...may wish to say your goodbyes."