Ahnasha accepted Calia's hand. "Well, if I am skilled enough, then maybe I will have the Elven time to wait. There is nothing I would like more than for all of us to be able to visit all of you, as family. Maybe have you meet my family as well. Maybe since all of his family doesn't see it the same way, and even his local priest, for that matter, it might help change his mind."

There was another pause, and Ahnasha spoke up with genuine concern. "Do you...think anything bad will come of this? I saw how he struck Llarasa shortly after we arrived yesterday. I won't lie, that...infuriated me."

Meesei gave a light smile, looking towards Rhazii. "He will always be there to protect his little brother. Is that not right, Rhazii? I think he will be the model of a bigger brother. And big he will be. Rhazii is Cathay, so he will be a fair bit larger than the average Khajiit you commonly see in Cyrodiil. It is going to be...interesting to deal with when his lycanthropy starts to manifest itself. I do not envy your position when he reaches adolescence, Fendros." Meesei chuckled.

Calia stood herself up, her dress making silken slides as it lengthened to near the floor again. "That will not be happening again, I can assure you of that," Calia said severely. "It takes being pushed to the utmost limit for Rossarm to become violent, and when he does, I am just as infuriated as you, if not more. Though adopted, Llarasa is our daughter, and she is not for Rossarm to strike. Even if Fendros' arrival affected him so deeply as to lash out, he has no excuse. I have spoken to Rossarm personally regarding the matter and he conceded as much. Unfortunately, he did not extend any concessions to Fendros."

Meesei had spoken nearby, but Calia could only face in her general direction. Holding Ahnasha's hand aloft, she spoke. "Would you mind leading me to Meesei, Ahnasha?"

Though Calia spoke casually enough that it could have been overlooked, she had placed Ahnasha with a small degree of trust in her request.

Rhazii grinned back at Meesei. He was enjoying all the attention.

"It will be challenge regardless of his transformations, I should think." Fendros ruffled the top of Rhazii's head. "You're already a mischievous child as it is, Rhazii. Being a teenager will be an adventure for everyone."

Monderyn held a neutral, if curious, look. "How large to these...Cathay grow?" he asked.

"About..." Fendros stuck out his lower lip and raised a down-turned palm above his head. "...A head and a half taller than me? I've seen a few myself. Not the most imposing of all Khajiit, but Rhazii here will be bigger than both of us by the time he turns fifteen."

"Hmph," Monderyn acknowledged. "Looks like you'll keep the edge over Newt on size, then."

"Mama and dada say I shouldn't play fight with Newt too much because I am too big," Rhazii chimed in. "He can run just as fast as me. We play tag instead."

Were she closer to him, Meesei would have given Rhazii a pat on the back. "Indeed. I am sure you will find other forms of competition over time, something more fair." She commented before turning her attention back to the brothers. "And both of them are going to have Leaps to protect them. He is going to be one fearsome guard dog, especially as he matures. I was worried we were going to be forced to be rid of our wamasu eventually, but now that we have access to professional beast tamers, I believe he will be a safe companion."

At about that time, Ahnasha walked over, guiding Calia just behind her. She had not been particularly happy that Rossarm could even be pushed to the point of violence against his own family, but it was good to hear that they did not simply accept it without argument. She stayed ahead of Calia while keeping a hold of her hand to make sure she did not walk her into anything, and would help her down onto the pew if necessary. She supposed the sound of their voices would be enough to notify Calia that they had arrived, so she did not need to say it explicitly.

"Greetings. Calia, correct? It is a pleasure to meet you." Meesei greeted as they approached.

Monderyn appeared confused by Meesei's words for a while, but Calia approached before he could ask further.

"And you must be Meesei, whom I have heard much about by now. Greetings." Calia let go of Ahnasha's hand and extended her own to Meesei to greet her. Her demeanour seemed cordial as she searched for and took a seat next to Meesei, but she did not seem uncomfortable. "I heard you are the leader of this group that Fendros has been with? I apologise for being forward, but might I inspect your ring?"

With Meesei now speaking to another, Monderyn turned his confused look to Fendros. "What kind of dog breed is a 'wamasu'?"

"Leaps is a big lizard!" Rhazii pealed. "He plays with us."

"Leaps-On-Elves is not exactly a dog," Fendros explained. "He's an orphaned animal from Black Marsh. Kaleeth and Janius found him as an egg and he hatched before they could eat it. His mother was dead, so we've kept him around. He's growing big as well, but he's loyal and intelligent." Fendros shrugged, "It's good to have something close to a guard dog that isn't frightened by the likes of us."

Monderyn itched at his forehead, trying to take everything in. "The wonders never cease today."

Rhazii continued his input. "Uncle Janius and dada trained him to protect us. Me and Newt like to nap with him."

Meesei gave a curious look at Calia after her rather forward request. Though, at least Calia herself acknowledged it. "Ah, so Ahnasha has informed you of my position. I assume she has not been too specific, so I may be able to clarify some things, if you have any questions. Obviously, you must know of my Ring and its importance. Here, you can look...or, I suppose you will need to actually touch it."

Meesei extended her hand forward, gently touching Calia's to let her know where it was. She was perfectly fine with allowing Calia to inspect the ring while she was wearing it, though Meesei did not like to actually remove her ring unless she had a very good reason.

Ahnasha, meanwhile, took a seat next to Fendros, and by the time she had settled in, had picked up on what the others were discussing. She wished they had Leaps with them to show to Monderyn, but it likely would not have been wise to bring him into the temple. "Luckily, Leaps isn't too electric yet. At least, he doesn't shock people all the time. Every one in a while, you'll get a pretty big static shock from touching him, but as long as you're holding on to him, it doesn't seem to happen. Maybe once he gets older, he'll actually be able to control it better."

"Thank you," Calia held up both her hands and carefully searched for Meesei's fingers and her ring. She did not pull it off, but she ran her fingers over the surface for a moment. At this proximity, Meesei could feel the subtle magic flowing through Calia's fingers in order to probe at the ring in more ways than touch, though it was easily identifiable as nothing that would harm the ring.

After a few moments, Calia let go of Meesei's hand and assumed a similar pose on her seat as she had when speaking with Ahnasha. "That is indeed no ordinary ring, Meesei. I would say that I am relieved to hear that I have not been lied to or spoken to by anyone deluded, but the implications are...not trivial." Calia smiled and exhaled through her nose in embarrassment. "But I am being rude. I need not be as much a concerned mother in front of you, Champion of Hircine." Calia held her head forward slightly. "Now, I am told you were the one who recovered Fendros in the forest. Could you perhaps recount those events to me? With whatever surrounding details are necessary. I like to hear it from the lizard's mouth, as it were."

Calia seemed almost too comfortable to let a racially insensitive turn of phrase slip her mouth. It was unclear in her expression if it was innocently accidental or deliberate.

"Shock? What do you mean?" Monderyn asked Ahnasha.

"He gets you," Rhazii held up one finger and poked Monderyn in the upper arm, clacking his tongue to imitate a small shocking arc.

Fendros, not wanting to frustrate Monderyn as before, gently took Rhazii's arm. "Not so rough, Rhazii," he said firmly.

Monderyn rubbed the prodded area, but did not seem surprised or disgusted this time.

"Wamasu's, when grown to a size, have the natural ability to arc a sort of magical lightning from their mouths," Fendros explained. "It can be dangerous, but Leaps is careful with it. We were once waylaid by highwaymen a while ago and Leaps shocked one of them in the back with more force than we had seen before. I suppose that's also like a dog; they can bite incredibly hard when attacking or threatened, but there are playful nips every now and then that aren't meant to do harm."

"Do you have a wamasu, too?" Rhazii asked Monderyn.

Monderyn raised his brow and shook his head. "I think I would have noticed by now, Rhazii. I do not."

Meesei did not appear bothered in the slightest by Calia's turn of phrase. Intent meant much more to her than anything else. Otherwise, Lorag would offend her rather frequently. "Yes, I still remember that day rather clearly. It happened before I became Champion, but I have always had a strong connection with Hircine, ever since I first became one of his followers. He visited me in a dream, instructed me to search for your son. Daedra, as I am sure you know, have only limited power in Tamriel, but they do bear at least some connection to their own creations. Not enough to control them, but enough to be aware of them. I believe Hircine knew what that feral lycan who attacked Fendros had done, and he saw something in him. Potential. You see, your son, by himself, had killed the werewolf that ambushed him, but he was badly wounded and quickly infected. Enough of the lycan's blood found its way into his body that he transformed that very night. I tracked him down the next morning and found him unconscious. Lycans regenerate quickly, and can survive wounds that would kill a normal person, so he would have survived, but I healed him regardless. I took him to my pack, explained what happened to the best of my knowledge, and explained to him what he was. Naturally, he was hesitant to trust us at first, but he understood that he could not return to his old life."

"Wamasu are said to have 'lightning for blood.'" Ahnasha added. "I'm...pretty sure that's just metaphorical, but it is an apt one. There's actually not a lot written about them, but from what I know, their whole bodies can become electrified when they're threatened. They're more massive than a daedroth as adults, but it will be a while before Leaps is near that size. Plenty of time for plenty of training. As long as he continues learning as well as he has, we'll have a pretty tough protector on our side. Better than any pet I wanted as a cub, I would say." She said with a chuckle.

Calia frowned. "That would explain the scene we found in the woods." Her shoulders rose and she let out a breath through a pout. Given what Meesei had seen, adding several hours of rotting to the eviscerated horse and bleeding lycan would have reasonably made the likes of Calia nauseous.

"Has...Hircine given any further details on Fendros' potential?" Calia asked. "Has anything you have seen suggested what that might be? Has he fulfilled his potential with your...pack?"

Monderyn looked down and forced a smile. "By the way you describe it, I think I could handle life without encountering this creature. Or any of its kind, for that matter."

"He's friendly," Rhazii said. "You you have any pets?"

Monderyn's eyes lit up slightly and he responded to Rhazii. He had more sincerity than before. "Actually, we have a couple of hounds and a cat on the vineyard. We put the dogs in their kennel before we returned to the house yesterday, but their still alive, Fendros. Jenny and Racer might even remember you."

Fendros was quietly surprised. "They must be getting old now. Although..." He thought back to other times that dogs reacted to anyone in the pack. It was never friendly. "I am not sure I smell the same way to them."

Rhazii smiled and bounced in his seat. "What is that cat's name?"

"His name is Ankle. He was fond of scratching ankles when he was a kitten," Monderyn chuckled. "Now, not so much. Not since father started carrying a bottle of water around."

Fendros narrowed one eye. "The cat is new. Has there been a mouse problem?"

"It's Llarasa's."

Meesei shook her head. "I wish Hircine could give us such knowledge, but unfortunately, he is not a Daedra who peers into the future. No, I believe Hircine saw his potential by observing him in the moment. He knows the marks of a skilled hunter, naturally. What Fendros accomplished, killing a werewolf alone in close combat, is no small feat. Now, I can give my judgment of his potential based on my own experiences with him. Overall, he is a fast learner. With the training of Ahnasha, Lorag, and several others, he has become quite the skilled archer, and is talented with a blade. He can hunt as well as any of us, despite not having been a lycan for as long. I believe that if he truly dedicates himself to a task, he will accomplish it. Being an atronach, I would say that he also has the potential to be a powerful mage, but he has never shown a real interest in magic, to my knowledge. At the very least, he is more resistant to magic than the average person."

After thinking about her own explanation for a few moments, another thought came into Meesei's mind. "I have a question, actually. Given the scene you found with the werewolf, but without Fendros' body, did you suspect the truth of what happened?"

Aside from hunting animals, Ahnasha was actually rather fond of pets. Or at least, some types of pets. Looking between the two brothers, Ahnasha gave a shrug. "Eh, personally, cats have always annoyed me. I'll concede that they can be useful if they kill vermin, but they are just so lazy most of the time. You never really get the feeling that a housecat actually cares about its owner, like a dog does. It's even worse when you have a cat that is just pampered by its owner; then they don't even kill rats. You certainly can't train them to do much of anything. I remember when I was a cub. I wanted to tame a bird of some kind; I had all sorts of ideas in my head of what I could train it to do." Ahnasha explained, not seeing any form of irony in any of her words.

Calia swallowed and turned her head away slightly, clearly not fond of the memory. "There was so much flesh scattered about that no one could rightly tell which belonged to Fendros, his horse, or the beast itself. The guard suggested that either Fendros had run off, for which there were no tracks or blood trails, or he had been eaten by the beast before it succumbed to its sword wounds. Both scenarios were unlikely, but as the forest was searched further, hope of his continued life waned." Calia closed her eyes in a long blink. "Monderyn went out after the guard had given up, searching and ranging further. He had no luck either."

Trying to move on, Calia raised her head and faced Meesei again. "Regardless, I am happy to hear that Fendros has realised his talents. We had always tried to teach him magic, but he never enjoyed the drills and practice without being able to regenerate his magicka on his own. He said the potions made him feel sick when he consumed too many." Calia raised another small smile. "I am told you are a talented mage yourself. Was yours a traditional education or..." Calia breathed in to censor herself and think of an appropriate description. "...learned from your own people?"

Monderyn gave Ahnasha a small grin for once. "I think we have common ground on house cats. I have tried to tell Llarasa as much as you have said, but she sees something in it that I do not."

"What did you want to do with a bird?" Fendros turned his head to Ahnasha. It took him a moment after asking to realise that Ahnasha might have been talking about hunting birds rather than the dainty canary that originally came to his mind. Still, he was curious.

Meesei did not expect that the memory of Fendros' "death" was pleasant in any sense, but at the very least, Calia now had the knowledge that Fendros was perfectly safe to temper the pain of recalling it. Regardless, she was quick to move on from the topic. "If Fendros ever decides that he wants to explore learning magic again, I will certainly be willing to teach him. There are ways to train an atronach without relying on potions. They absorb beneficial spells from outside sources just as much as they do harmful ones. In that way, an instructor can regenerate the magicka of an atronach pupil manually. As for myself, I was originally trained by my father, ever since I could form memories. He was what my people call a Treeminder. It is a title that holds slightly different meanings in different villages, but in mine, he was a magical and spiritual leader. I was to be his replacement, so he trained me all his life. After he died, I did take his place, though that was only for a short time before I came to Hircine. Ever since then, I have been studying into the higher mysteries of magic on my own. It is a passion of mine. My father always told me that I was particularly in tune with the arcane, and while that could be attributed to parental bias, I have learned more in a shorter time than most."

Meesei gave a shrug, also following Ahnasha's trend of useless physical expressions. "I was able to become Hircine's Champion, the leader of all of his followers across Tamriel, and beyond. Among lycans, strength is what grants the right to leadership, and I can be challenged by any lycan for my title. Theoretically, at least, I am the most powerful lycan in Tamriel. Whether or not that is true depends on if there is a more powerful lycan out there that I simply have not met."

"Teach it to hunt, obviously." Ahnasha answered fairly quickly. "I imagine it is much easier to track prey from the sky, so if I could train a bird right, then I'd never lose my prey. And it could probably catch small creatures too. It would be better than a housecat in every way, really. Unfortunately, I never had any real idea of how to tame or train animals. There were no beast taming books passing through my parents' store. One time I captured a young mudcrab and tried to tame it, but that lasted only a few weeks. It nearly pinched off my finger, so I ate it."

Ahnasha happened to be referring to the finger she had lost years ago, and when she raised up her hand and looked at the where it once was, she gave an amused huff. "Maybe the little beast put a curse on it."

Calia listened on with interest to Meesei's background. Again, it was difficult to read her expression, let alone what her thoughts might be regarding Meesei's story.

"If you have been taught native Argonian magic, I have no doubt as to your abilities. Respect and care was employed near such people as 'treeminders' back in Morrowind." Calia raised her chin curiously. "I had not expected one from the marsh to be so well spoken. Although, you must have had plenty of practice by now." Calia smiled, but quickly returned to being serious. "Tell me, Meesei. If there was a more powerful lycan than you, someone who challenged you, what would happen?"

Monderyn drew his head back slightly when Ahnasha raised her finger stump. "You lost your finger to a mudcrab?"

"No, it was something else," Fendros clarified quickly, before looking to Ahnasha's finger as well. "Well, you've lost it now. It can't harm you any more, right?"

Rhazii turned himself to look up at his parents. "Mama, dada, can we get a bird?" he asked. "Can we get a dog as well?"

Fendros let out a small laugh. "I'm afraid not, little one."

"Please!" Rhazii said in length.

"Now, pets are a big responsibility, Rhazii," Fendros explained. He raised a finger to Rhazii and tapped him on the forehead. "You're a growing boy, but you have a lot to learn before you get yourself a pet. They don't come as cleverly as Leaps is."

Rhazii argued further. "Then why do we get Leaps...if we can't have other pets?"

"Ah, now Leaps was taken in by Janius and Kaleeth. They trained him, fed him, made sure he didn't run off..."

"Then Janius and Kaleeth can train a bird and a dog!"

Fendros smiled. "Possibly, but if you want a bird or a dog, you will have to train it yourself, Rhazii. Kaleeth and Janius won't train it for you."

Rhazii stopped to frown and think, then looked at Fendros defiantly. "I can do that."

"Do you know how?"

Rhazii paused again. "Yes!"

Fendros angled his head forward. "Tell me."

"You...um..." Rhazii shot a hand up with his fingers pinching the air. "You give it treats!"

Fendros turned to Ahnasha with the same smile persisting. "What do you think, Ahna?"

"My accent is not as thick as it used to be, as I have been told. I have been away from the Marsh for a while; I do look forward to returning, if only for a short time." Meesei mused, giving a short pause before she continued. "If I were to be challenged, then I would face my challenger in singe combat, and the victor would bear the title of Champion, along with the Ring. Such challenges are not necessarily to the death, though they are of course dangerous. As I said, lycans can survive terrible wounds. I have not been challenged in quite a long time, though. The...atmosphere of our clans is not such that many people are particularly eager or willing to at the moment. Anyone who works with me knows of the depths of my responsibilities, and I do not believe many of them envy my position because of it."

Ahnasha shook her head, though could not help but to smile. "I think we're going to have enough problems with just Leaps by himself. Besides, birds are not easy to train, especially compared to something like a dog. There were good reasons that I didn't have pets as a cub. I would say that you could have one if you could take care of Leaps, but...that probably isn't a good idea. It would also probably be difficult to find the right kind of bird to begin with. You may end up having to settle for a chaurus." Ahnasha laughed.

Leaning forward to peer past Fendros, Ahnasha looked directly to Rhazii. "Do you know how big Leaps will get, little one?"

"I think I understand," Calia said. "You would still be under threat, but if it is single combat, as you say, the I suppose Fendros and his new family would not be caught in the middle. Ideally. That is some comfort."

Calia's tone softened for her next question. "Moving on, I think this will be the last of my little interrogation here. You mentioned that you are visiting your home. How often do you think would Fendros be able to visit here, given your travels?"

Fendros laughed with Ahnasha. "We are not getting a chaurus."

Rhazii giggled along as well. He knew what a chaurus was, but he likely did not understand the depths of keeping one as much as the rest of them. As for answering Ahnasha, he had to stop and think. "Um..." he hummed for a time. "A horse size!?"

At that, Monderyn's eyes widened ever so slightly. He had not been told how big wamasus were either. Given the comparisons to a dog earlier, he was probably still in that mindset until now.

Meesei let out a sigh. "Not often, I am afraid. We are not precisely going to be visiting my home; at least not my village. We are going to my homeland because we need to speak with someone specific, who may be of help to us. While, for our safety as well as yours, I cannot say where we have made our home in much detail, I can safely say that it is far from here, in Skyrim. I do not like being even that specific, but if you intent to write to Fendros, as I have no doubt he intends to write to you, then you will be sending your letters to Windhelm. If our travels bring us to eastern Cyrodiil, I can say that I am certainly willing to detour to the city if at all possible, but I can offer no definite answers as to how often that will be. I do wish there was a more convenient arrangement, but our safety must be paramount, and our home is the safest place for us."

Ahnasha gave a chuckle towards Fendros. "Well we'll have to do something with all those eggs. And we are at least going to have to train Leaps to get along with them, probably."

Briefly, Ahnasha turned her attention back to Monderyn. "When we send those ingredients, I might also send an extra box or two of chaurus eggs. I'll send a recipe for this chaurus egg omelette one of our chefs came up with. It is actually surprisingly good."

For Rhazii's guess, Ahnasha shook her head. "Not that small. Leaps is going to take a lot of effort to take care of. Besides, you still love Leaps, don't you? He has been your friend for your whole life. You wouldn't want to stop giving him enough attention and make him think you don't care about him anymore, would you? Maybe once Leaps gets grown up, you can have a pet." Ahnasha conceded, knowing fully well that it would be many years before Leaps became an adult.

Calia lowered her eyelids. "I understand." She had an expected disappointment in her voice. "All my children are sacred to me, but Fendros is my only son by blood, and my eldest. I would wish that his safety is held to just as high a regard to you as to me."

In an attempt to move on from her darker tone, Calia smiled and faced Meesei again. "I believe that is all the important details I wanted from you, Meesei. Your...pack is always welcome here, though I wish I could say the same of our home. Rossarm may not tolerate Fendros' presence, I am afraid."

Rhazii leaned back on the pew and pouted. He conceded with an "okay," but he was still disappointed.

Meanwhile, Monderyn looked ambivalent. "Chaurus eggs? You mean those large insect creatures? I thought they were poisonous."

"Their eggs have a lot of uses. They aren't poisonous," Fendros explained. "The adults are, though. You have to be careful with them."

Monderyn brought a hand to his face. "I feel like you're next going to tell me that you're farming dragons like cattle."

Fendros held back his head in a quick laugh. "Can't go telling you everything now, can we?"

"Mama?" Rhazii asked, apparently not too disappointed to retreat from the conversation outright. "Can the Bosmer really tame dragons?"

Meesei gave an understanding nod. "Hmm, I had heard he did not accept the situation as the rest of you had. There is a part of me that wishes I could meet him in person so that I might hear his arguments for myself, to have an open discussion on the issue, but that may not be wise. Regardless, perhaps there may be opportunity in the future for us to meet again. Perhaps one day, I will not have to worry about keeping our home's whereabouts such a closely-guarded secret, and we will not need to approach meetings with the outside world with such caution. If my work comes to fruition, that may one day be the case."

Ahnasha nudged Fendros' side and grinned. "Are you sure we can't say more? He might have some suggestions for what to do with all those dragon bones." She said continuing to laugh. Most likely, Monderyn would assume her to be simply joking, which only further amused her.

"I don't think even the Bosmer could do anything with a dragon, unfortunately." Ahnasha continued. "From what I understand, they're smart like us. They have their own magic language or something."

Calia lifted a gentle smile and angled her head curiously. "Your work? Do you intend to change the impression of lycanthropy? Or Hircine worship?"

"Now I know you're jesting," Monderyn said regarding the dragon bones. He turned his eyes to the door and then to Rhazii. "Well...Rhazii. I suppose I'll have to get used to being your uncle. You're uh..."

Monderyn trailed off and didn't resume his comments until Fendros gave him a slightly concerned look. "Fendros, could I speak to you for a moment?" Monderyn said, flicking his eyes over nearer to one of the altars.

"Of course," Fendros said.

The two of them stood up and walked away from Ahnasha and Rhazii.

Rhazii looked up at Ahnasha, big eyed with confusion. "Mama, did I say something bad?"

Meesei shook her head. "No, unfortunately, I believe that would be beyond my capabilities. It would not be a simple thing to undo thousands of years of...honestly justified fear. No matter how much we want to keep to ourselves, untrained, undisciplined lycans are still very dangerous. It is the safe course of action to regard a lycan with caution and fear. What I intend to do is to stop the organizations hunting us. Then, we will not have to worry about everything we do being scrutinized and investigated."

Ahnasha could not say for certain what exactly Monderyn was going to speak to Fendros about, though she certainly had some ideas in her mind. Looking down to Rhazii, she put her arm around him and pulled him closer, up to her side. "No, little one. Monderyn probably just wants to talk to his brother about something in private. I don't know what about, but probably just something with their family. Why don't we go see your grandmother? She hasn't had too much time with you yet."

"Very well," Calia nodded. "If it is the best way to ensure the safety of Fendros and his friends and family, I wish you all the best in those endeavours."

Calia's smile widened and her head turned to one side. "Now, I cannot help but eavesdrop on the conversation behind me." She slid around in her seat to better face Rhazii. "Hello again, child," she said endearingly.

Upon Ahnasha's suggestion, Rhazii and Ahnasha shuffled along the spaces on the pew to get closer to Calia. Unlike Monderyn, Calia seemed much more comfortable in Rhazii and Ahnasha's presence. Their exchange of words was with similar little anecdotes and stories as it was with Monderyn. There were some suggestions directly to Rhazii that seemed controlling and presumptuous of the parenting of Fendros and Ahnasha, but the exchange was otherwise pleasant.

Fendros and Monderyn spoke to each other at one edge of the room in hushed tones and with anxious faces. Monderyn in particular appeared agitated, constantly running his hands over his face or waving them around. Fendros was evidently trying to keep him moderated by placing a hand on his shoulder and speaking to him eye-to-eye.

Eventually, the children were getting tired and irate enough that movements were made to end the gathering and part ways. The pack and Fendros' family stood outside of the temple, Fendros had an arm around Ahnasha and Monderyn was bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to head home. However, there was one more matter to resolve.

"Ahnasha, Meesei," Calia said. "Might we find somewhere out of the way so I might see one of you in...another form?"