Meesei gave something of a huff. "Hmm, straight to business I see. I do intend to at least try and survive this night, you know?" Meesei commented, though she quickly moved past it and let out a short sigh. "I suppose I have not made my plans very well known, but I planned for succession years ago. Lorag is my second, and has been for many years. He is a strong, capable warrior, and an experienced leader. He is...rough around the edges, but I am more than confident in his abilities. If anything ever happens to me, he will become the alpha of my pack, and he will bear the Ring. Of course, I cannot simply confer to him the title of Champion. The Ring of Hircine is a powerful artifact, but it is still essentially just a magical trinket. Merely possessing it is not enough to make one Hircine's Champion. Hircine may choose to grant Lorag that title, if he finds him worthy of it, but otherwise, he will bear the Ring and act as my successor until such a time as a new Champion is chosen."

---

Ahnasha did not directly answer Fendros' question. No one truly close to her had ever died in her memory. There was her grandmother, but Ahnasha was very young at the time, so she did not experience the full weight of it. Regardless, she did not think it to be relevant. "Those are things that benefit the [i]living[/i] not the dead. Sure, I understand why people go through all those rites. It helps calm people's minds, give them closure. I am fine with all of that; it makes sense to me, but it still does nothing for the person who died. And, personally, I would rather deny a few of our allies the ability to bury one of their friends, than to have a few extra bodies to bury after the fight. They didn't like it, I know, but would you really rather them be dead than just angry?"