Rossarm leaned back in his seat, only so much as flicking his eyes to Ahnasha for a brief time while she spoke. His following pause made it clear that he was conceding to Fendros' reasoning for now. It didn't make it feel any more like a victory. "Then, you were away all this time in the forest?"

Fendros shook his head. "We travelled for a time."

"Where?" Calia tilted her head. She was finally at the same point in Fendros' explanation as Rossarm and was listening intently.

"To give context, the group I was with...a pack. The pack I am still with, they worship Hircine as their patron, due in no small part to their condition." Fendros caught Rossarm's eye and gestured his palm down. "Before you ask, I never abandoned our ancestors or the reclamations. Hircine is mostly incidental."

Rossarm raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"We were guided by our pack alpha's prayers to go to Vos, on Vvardenfell. Then we headed south, to Thorn and Stormhold in Black Marsh. Sailed around to Leyawiin and the Imperial City. And then to Bruma, where we remained for a long while."

Fendros let his words linger. There was an air of disbelief mixed with amazement, mostly from Calia. Fendros' siblings were better informed, but remained quiet. Llarasa took a sip from her tea. Rossarm was a stern statue once again.

As there were no questions just yet, Fendros continued. "I went travelling under the impression that I would never come back here. There was little to no hope of getting enough control to be among civilisation ever again."

Calia knitted her eyebrows and blinked away a welling sadness. "Are you in control now? Is that why you came home?"

There was an uneven breath from Fendros before he decided to nod. "I am in control. I have been for quite some time." Fendros could not face his parents as he continued. "It was other things that kept me away, and other things that brought me back."

Llarasa looked away now. She was beginning to fidget again. Monderyn's brow creased downwards. They both knew.

Before Fendros could elaborate, Rossarm interrupted yet again. "It is no matter now!" This time, Rossarm's voice had a more neutral tone. Not cheerful, but no longer seething. He sat up straight again. "You are home, you have returned. There will be plenty of time to exchange details, though we should put this matter behind us and return to how things were."

Fendros peered over at his father with confusion.

Rossarm sat up straighter. "Your room remains furnished, Fendros. We should head to the township to inform them of your return as soon as we can and get you up to date with our affairs.-"

"Father." Fendros tried to get a word in.

"-It was a tragic event, Fendros, but I am willing to forgive you. You will remain to carry on our name..."

"Father! I am not staying!" Fendros shouted.

Rossarm was halfway through getting out of his chair. He stopped to regard Fendros and slowly sat back down. "And why would that be?" Rossarm's sinister tone returned.

Fendros was so angered all of a sudden that he had no qualms about admitting the next hard truth. Looking his father in the eyes, he angled his head forward and spoke each word as clearly as you could. "I have a son. I have a fiancee."

The veins on Rossarm's temples bulged and he let out a pained breath.

"Ahnasha and I are to be married." Fendros stated. He put his teacup on the table and returned his hands to his knees. The way his fingers twitched showed the hint of regret in his defiance.

The siblings did not react. Calia began to breathe uneasily and raised her fingers to her mouth.

"Fendros." Rossarm wrinkled his nose. His eyes bore holes back at Fendros stare. "You are too young to know best for yourself. You are not to be married. You are to disown these new...close friends of yours. You will take back your words and you will take this last chance to retain the honour of your family."

Calia let out a small whimper. A tear fell from her blind eyes.

Fendros, still angry, looked to his mother and softened his expression. He took a moment to turn to Ahnasha and looked at her as well. When his eyes returned to Rossarm, his response was level and confident. "I cannot do that."

Rossarm shot up to his feet and looked down his nose at Fendros and Ahnasha. He clenched his fists until they were white. "It seems my son died in the forest after all," he muttered.

Calia broke down, leaning forward and covering her face. Her sobbing was quiet, but did not lack grief.

Without any further prompt, Rossarm began to walk out of the room.

"Father! You cannot do that!" Llarasa chased after him, pleading at the top of her lungs. "You cannot just cut Fendros off! He's your son! He's our brother!"

Rossarm did not flinch as he made his way into the hallway. Llarasa's face was beginning to tense in sadness, she continued to follow.

"No! Don't walk away! You have to listen! It wasn't his fault, just let him-AIH!" Llarasa's shriek was punctuated by the sound of skin being slapped. Fendros grabbed Ahnasha's wrist, both in shock and to keep her from getting up. Another footstep and the slamming of the front door was the last they heard of Rossarm in the house.

By this point, Monderyn had calmly stood up and guided Calia up off her seat. "Come, mother, it's time for your medicine."

Calia was in no rush, but she complied as she was lead out of the room by Monderyn's hand. Fendros could only watch.

Llarasa re-emerged into the sitting room holding onto her darkened cheek. Her eyes were wide and welling with tears.

[hr]
Harriet uncrossed her arms and bared her teeth. She breathed in to shout, but stopped and grabbed at the banister beside her. Her eyes wandering up evidenced that she did not want to wake Narsi up. Instead, she held her head forward, staring at Meesei and shaking her head.

"No," she hissed. "You've got it backwards, champion." Her other hand cut at the air. "Not that murder crap, you know I did that, everyone knows. That was a disaster from the beginning. I don't care about running a clan no more. What I mean to say is...why would I have run, huh? I'm an Orc. A [i]stronghold bred[/i] Orc. You think it's okay to die without fighting? I was already dead. If I wanted to run, it wouldn't be from a battle or from a punishment."

Harriet sucked in another breath, glancing at Lorag before continuing to Meesei. "Before that trial, before you carted me around with the warband, that slimy Argonian met up with me and left the room laughing as hard as he could, you know why?" Harriet stuck a thumb onto her chest. "Because he checked my body for any magic shit that Najirra might'a put on me and found a kid. Turns out, after I had a casual dance with that dull brick at the champion's right hand, I took a potion that had been sitting on the shelf for too long. Turns out it didn't work. Now I'm sitting there, right in the middle of the mess that I made, with more than just my own life on the line. Things changed then. I ran because I didn't want some kid to grow up never knowing her mother, 'cept that she was a scheming bitch who was played by the biggest curse of all the Daedric princes." Her voice began to shudder. "I know what it's like to be a lonely werewolf. I wasn't gonna to let that happen for Narsi."

Harriet began stabbing her finger at the air between herself and Meesei, still trying her best to keep her voice down. "So don't you even TRY to suggest that I'm here because I couldn't face death...or because I didn't feel guilty! You wanna know what I think you're thinking? I think you've got it in your head that I bunked in with Lorag here to hedge my bets, to try and get out of a death sentence." Harriet spread her arms. "If you think that, kill me right here. See if I cry. See if I even flinch. It'll be the most respect I'll ever get. Maybe then you can look Narsi in the eyes and tell her that sometimes the world screws you over and she'll end up just like me."

True to her rhetoric, Harriet's gaze was intense enough to look crazed. She was waiting for Meesei's response, even if others might take the news a bit differently.