Meesei placed her hand gently on Ariel's shoulder after she lowered her head. "I am sure you did what you felt was best. It might help you to try to get your mind off of it for a while. It is probably too late in the day to accomplish anything as far as preparations are concerned, so you should take the time to relax. Do something you want to do. Perhaps...is there anywhere in the city you would like to show us, now that you have lived here a few years? Or perhaps you would just like to catch up with your sister alone?" She asked

Ariel took in a short breath through her mouth and quickly nodded. "Yes, I did say that I would at least show Kaleeth-rei around the city." She raised her head and wiped her eyes with two fingers on one hand, one after the other. "I think some air will help." She sniffed. "I just need a moment to be...presentable. I do not want to worry anyone else."

Just beneath Ariel's line of sight, Sabine stood up and wrapped her arms around Ariel's torso. Ariel was surprised for a moment, then released her breath, brought her arms around Sabine, and began silently shedding tears again.

---

The remainder of the day had Ariel happily giving the pack a newly informed tour of Thorn, or at least the places Ariel frequented. As was to be expected from someone who had lived in a city and been in contact with its natives, she showed the pack all sorts of places that would never have been apparent to fresh tourists. Places to eat, places to shop, places to carouse, and many more things to know. They were even introduced to new merchants that gave better prices for the kinds of things that the pack would sell for coin; hides, alchemical ingredients, and the like. A particularly resonant moment was when Kaleeth was even given a look at one of the few overlapping features between the city and her old life -- a religious ceremony at the central hist tree.

Even with all Ariel was able to fit in, the day ended quickly. The pack settled in for the night with Sabine looking to Meesei for comfort. She was understandably worried for Sabine, though it was not difficult to give some effective assurances. Ariel did not have such assurances when she ventured home.

Somehow, through a night of sleep-depriving worry, Ariel woke up as early as her daily schedule dictated to her. Anxiety gave way to grogginess and a desire for breakfast more than anything. She had motivated herself in her mind to leave seeing Rukeewei for after her morning routine. It made her eat slowly.

While Ariel had convinced herself to hold off on speaking to Rukeewei, he was a bit more impatient. He had skipped his breakfast entirely and persuaded his brother to watch the inn for a short time while he sought out Ariel. He entered her shop before she opened for the day, unlocking the door with his copy of her key, and made his way nervously upstairs. He was quiet as he stopped just outside her door, and paused to collect his thoughts.

Rukeewei had been almost as sleepless as Ariel the previous night, as he had spent most of it thinking on every angle of this situation that had been suddenly dropped on them. He thought about it at every angle he could. At some points, he went back to feeling fear at the thought of lycans in his inn, while at others, he felt nothing but sympathy for Ariel about everything that had happened to her sister. The thoughts of what he would do for his brother if he were in similar trouble kept him from being too angry at Ariel for lying to him for so long. After a few moments, he opened the door slowly to Ariel having her breakfast withing. "Ariel...dear, I...think I'm ready to talk."

The anxiety had put Ariel on such an edge that the sound of the door opening made her jolt in her seat. When she saw it was Rukeewei, she exhaled and placed a hand over her collarbone.

"You gave me a fright," she said through a nervous laugh. "I was going to see how you were after breakfast, I...Um..." She looked at her food. "I'm sorry if yesterday was sudden. I didn't want to keep secrets from you, I just needed to keep Sabine safe, and it wasn't something that I thought would result in this offer, and..."

Ariel was beginning her usual increased pace of words, showing her own nervousness. Rukeewei knew her for long enough that it was in times like these that it was better to interrupt her than allow it to escalate.

"Ariel." Rukeewei interrupted, though the pause lingered in the air for several seconds before he finally continued. "You told me all of this yesterday, and I've had..." Rukeewei exhaled. "...plenty of time to think about it. You should have told me all of this before, or at least told me you are acquainted with lycanthropes. I know you said that it was Sabine's secret to share and everything, and I would normally agree with that if it only meant something to her. But this is something that you knew could come back into your life. Something that has come back into our life."

Rukeewei walked up to Ariel and took the hand bearing her wedding ring, holding it up between them. "You remember the vows? That we would be 'as one with each other until we become one with the trees.' Our lives became one life that day, so when something happens to one of us, it happens to both of us. I had a right to know that this could happen." Rukeewei's voice was firm, but not exactly angry. Evidently, he had thought about the matter enough to rid himself of any rash emotions.

As predicted, Ariel stopped when Rukeewei interrupted her. She stared up at him with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth.

When referring to the wedding vows, Ariel swallowed and lowered her eyes to her ring.

Ariel waited for a moment to be sure that Rukeewei was done before she even thought of something to say. After a slow blink, she stood up from her chair with her head bowed. Her voice came out low and deep. "You...You did." She was unable to look him in the eyes. "I haven't done a very good job of keeping that vow."

Ariel's hand tightened and loosened around Rukeewei's. There were no more rapid excuses and she was left with nothing else to say.

Rukeewei breathed deeply. "Okay." He said simply, followed by another, somewhat tense pause. He was having almost as much trouble speaking as Ariel, though for different reasons. He had clearly been upset, but he had not shown any sort of anger. "You know that, and you should always remember it, but there is still the here and now to deal with, so we need to figure out what to do together. I know you want to keep your sister safe, so I do too. Your family is my family. What do I need to do to help you do that?"

While he had been hurt by Ariel's secrecy, Rukeewei was sounding just as supportive of her as ever. Even after a three-year long lie, his tone made him sound more disappointed in her than actually angry.

Ariel quietly cleared her throat. "Right, well," Ariel began to speak flatly. "Settling affairs here in the city is the first thing. We will need to see the An-Xileel to settle whatever is owed, then take measures to see that the shop and the inn are taken care of. And then, packing should be light. The pack tends to supply themselves as they go, so there is no need to be too...too worried about the weather or anything..."

Ariel's trailing off came with her trying to blink away her emotions, but she couldn't distract herself with minor details in front of Rukeewei. She took in a shaky breath and let a tear drip from her turned-down face. "You can't just let it go like that," she croaked. "I don't want you to think I could just get away with keeping secrets, Rukeewei. You don't deserve that. How can I fix this? Please, I want to make it up to you."

"So you really are wanting me to leave here." Rukeewei said, looking away for a moment. It seemed as if he were speaking to himself more than anything. "But, there is no way for you to 'fix' anything. Things happen as they are, and that can't be helped. Doing something nice for me now isn't going to change what happened. All that you can do anything about now is the things you haven't done yet."

Again, Rukeewei looked away uncomfortably. "I...still really don't want to leave here. This is home. But I know your sister is in trouble, and I know this is the only way you have to help her. And, like I said, our lives are one. What happens to you, happens to me. So, this is the only choice. I suppose...if you want to do something, is there anything you want to tell me? Anything at all, about anything? Any secrets you don't want to keep?"

Ariel paused, silently weeping for a moment. She eventually took a deep breath in an attempt to speak at a level voice. "There are details about how I tried to cure Sabine. I didn't get to tell you everything yesterday before you left. I did many things that I am...not at all proud of." Ariel turned her body slightly towards the table. "Sit down and I will tell you. You should know what happened, but first..."

At last, Ariel lifted her face to show her tear-streaked, despondent face. "Rukeewei, I know how much it means that you would even consider leaving Thorn for so long. I want you to come with me, and it means so much, but just know that I don't want you to irreparably damage your life here. If you are going to lose too much by doing this, then do not come. If our lives are one now, I want to take care of yours as well." Ariel lifted Rukeewei's hand in both of hers. "Are you truly prepared to see this through?"

Rukeewei's expression was anything but confident, but he answered firmly nonetheless. "There is no other choice. I could not bear to let you go alone. What if something happens on the way, or what if you get infected with that lycanthropy disease? I could not live apart from you like that, not for so long. My brother is capable of running the inn, especially if he can hire someone to help. My inn will be fine; my parents will not be happy, and they probably won't let this go, but I can handle that."

Rukeewei let out a sigh. "I know there's not much I can do to help. I'll just be...there, doing nothing. I can't protect you, or myself, really. I haven't so much as been in a fist fight since I was just a hatchling. I know I won't be useful, but I can at least try to keep you happy; to be your reminder of home." He tried to bring himself to smile. "Besides, you can keep me safe with your witch-magic, can't you?"

That much brought an amused, if brief, smile to Ariel's face. "If it makes you feel better, yes." She ran a hand over Rukeewei's head and brought him into a hug. "It means enough that you'll be there, darling. I think I'll need a reminder of home with me."

The moment brought some measure of relief to Ariel's sadness, but her mood couldn't be lifted far when the two sat down to retell the missing details of Ariel's former life. Ariel spent much of the time leaning her forehead on her hand with her elbows on the table. In an attempt to stay composed, Ariel spoke in a clinical manner about the various techniques and treatments she had attempted on Sabine which she was captive in her painful silver cage.

The open honesty of the situation revealed rather vivid details of what amounted to physical and emotional torture for Sabine. Alchemical substances that were meant to sedate the beast had only given Sabine hallucinations and waking nightmares. Substances that were meant to suppress or kill the beast spirit without killing Sabine only ended up hurting her and enraging the beast. The closest that Ariel got to a cure was the suppression gas that was explained before; the same that Vile's cultists had made use of.

When she had realised that the suppression gas was just another thing that made the condition worse, Ariel had tried to formulate something else on parchment. She had spent all night trying to think of something new and had fallen asleep on her work. She was awoken by Sabine's quiet crying, influenced with sedative-induced hallucinations. Sabine was quietly pleading to her sister. Ariel recited the words just the same as she had heard them.

"I want to go home, sister. I want to go home."

Sabine repeated the words for as long as she was awake. They crumbled all the remaining justifications that Ariel was doing the right thing. That was the point at which Ariel realised that she was never going to cure Sabine, and was instead hurting her without purpose. It was then that she entertained the idea of releasing Sabine somewhere where she would have a chance to live.

Even with Sabine's healing and forgiveness, the way that she had treated her sister affected Ariel deeply. Try as she might have to hide it, there were times where she had to pause when describing the effects of her failed experiments. By the time they reached the point where Sabine was left on the mainland, Ariel's clinical veneer was in tatters, replaced by heavy crying and guilt.

Thankfully, from that low point, the story took a turn for the better as Ariel recounted what Sabine had told her about the events that followed. Ariel's own life at that time was not particularly interesting, but Sabine's new life with the pack was just what she needed. The secondhand experience was conveyed up until the sisters reunited in the cavern at Vos, at which point the story had less important detail up until Thorn.

Ariel insisted that she tell the whole story throughout the morning. And it did take all morning. By the time they emerged, they were able to meet up with the pack while they were eating lunch to declare their intentions. Preparation began almost immediately.

After several more days, Ariel had paid her debt under the story that she had taken a commission for a delicate medicine required for a Cyrodilic noble that would take her away from the city. She had moved as much stock as she could by heavily discounting it while using the opportunity to inform her more loyal customers that she would be away for a while. Despite Meesei's suggestion, she did not feel that it would be appropriate to write out recipes for some lycan stand-ins and hope that the products would be made with the same quality. Montgrave remedies would be closed until further notice.

Meanwhile, Ariel helped Rukeewei and his brother to find an employee that could assist for the year. Even with the coin they had on hand to keep in reserve for the hire's wages, they settled for a young woman who's husband had recently suffered an injury and needed the work for her family. Even without the sympathy, they would have hired her for her cooking alone. It was hearty and comforting, and lacked nothing in skill.

The pack made themselves useful in whatever ways they could, but even they were too many hands for the work required at times. Between each of them, at least a day and a half worth of their time in Thorn was more of a holiday than a mission. However, they all made sure to hunt before they boarded the ship back to Cyrodiil.

---

The goodbyes were hard for Ariel and especially Rukeewei, but they journey for them was harder. A long journey on a ship was no more entertaining or comfortable for them as it was for the pack. The journey overland when they landed was a familiar brand of gruelling. The pack was both used to such long journeys and had their enhanced endurance to help them. Ariel and Rukeewei had neither, save for Ariel's shorter journey with them from Vos to Thorn. They settled into a routine that had them walking most of the day and sleeping most of the night consistently for days.

After such a long time in the tropical heat of Black Marsh, northern Cyrodiil and Skyrim only made matters worse. Ariel and Rukeewei began to spend a lot more time in physical contact than their previous work had allowed them to before, but the romantic notion of it was all but completely lost to the biting cold, even with the necessary thick furs.

Their journey eventually brought them closer to the entrance of the Blackreach caverns. Even though Ariel was exhausted, she couldn't help but feel somewhat excited about what a lycan clanhome would be like.

The pack trudged up the snowy, mountainous terrain slowly but surely. It was later at night than they would normally be traveling, but they were close enough to the clanhome that they did not want to wait in camp again, particularly considering the frigid temperatures. Rukeewei was the least comfortable, as one might expect, supplanting Kaleeth for the most number of weather complaints among the pack. Both moons were out, and Masser was full, so it was fairly bright out for nighttime, though Rukeewei was still carrying a torch for the heat.

Journeys such as these were almost routine for the pack by this point, but Rukeewei was both mentally and physically exhausted at this point. The voyage on the ship had actually been novel and somewhat exciting for him at first, since he had never sailed before, but that feeling very quickly subsided. A mundane routine was nothing new to him, but having nothing to do for the majority of the day started to get to him over time. He did spend some time getting to better know the pack, but for much of the time, he was more distant form them than he had been the first time they had met. Knowledge of what they were had unquestionably changed how he saw them, and there was always that hint of caution or nervousness whenever he spoke to them. It was as if part of him expected that they could turn on him at any moment. Regardless, he did start to become somewhat more sociable near the end of the voyage. Rhazii and Newt ended up being the gateway that motivated him to speak with their respective parents. He saw little threat from them, so on at least a subconscious level, he was more comfortable talking about them. In terms of Rukeewei's comfort reaching land had not been much of an improvement. They left Windhelm soon after they arrived, and Eastmarch was a far worse place for him than he had expected. The lands they had to travel across were some of the coldest in Skyrim outside of the Pale, and he had never so much as even experienced a moderately cool day before. Fortunately, they were finally nearing their destination.

Eventually, the pack made their way high enough up the mountain to reach the base of the large, imposing stairway leading up to Raldbthar. The Dwemer ruin looked just the same on the outside as it had when they left, as it likely had for centuries. The clan did not want to give any clues that the ruin was being inhabited, Meesei had mandated that nothing be visibly changed about either the ruin's exterior, or first few rooms. Although, there was no doubt that they had been spotted by their scouts on the way up the mountain.

Rukeewei had to pause, holding his torch behind him so he could get a clear view of the structure towering over them. "What...manner of place is this?" He asked. The Dwemer had never expanded into Black Marsh, so Rukeewei had never seen any examples of Dwemer technology or architecture.

"This is the Dwemer city Raldbthar. It serves as the gateway to our home." Meesei answered.

Ariel could not remember speaking with Rukeewei about Dwemer ruins before, so she elaborated on Meesei's answer.

"The Dwemer were a race of elves that built underground ruins like this all over northern Tamriel. They had powerful magic at their fingertips and they could do things with it that is still not fully understood." Despite the ruin technically being the entrance to the clanhome, Ariel was nervously hushed as they entered. "One day, long ago, they all just up and disappeared without a trace. No one knows for sure what happened to them. They left all this behind, guarded by metal creatures they made."

"You don't have to worry," Janius added. "We worked out the patterns of the spheres long ago. They're no danger to us anymore."

Fendros did not allow them too much relief. "Watch for Falmer as we get deeper. They sometimes come up despite our best attempts to keep them from the entranceway."

Rukeewei slowed down as they climbed up the stairs. "Falmer? I thought you said this place was safe?" He exclaimed. He did not actually know what a Falmer was, but Fendros' tone made it seem dangerous.

"We haven't had any losses from Falmer since a few weeks after we arrived." Ahnasha answered. "I think they're starting to avoid us, like they avoid the Dwemer machines. We just do what we can to make sure they don't organize."

Regardless of Rukeewei's newfound fear, he had little choice but to follow the pack up the stairs and through the massive doors into the ruin. As expected, they had been spotted on their approach by their scouts, since there was already a group of guards in the entry hall to meet them. Although, they were not the only ones to greet them. Alongside the guards was a Dwemer sphere, but instead of attacking or standing in one place mindlessly, it was moving along the sides of the hall, as if patrolling.

Meesei regarded the machine curiously, but without the kind of surprise Ariel or Rukeewei might have expected. "Hmm, I see they have the automatons working now."

"Lookout!" Ariel shouted and began to charge a spell in each hand as soon as she saw the Dwemer sphere. The pack gave her a sudden glance, but by the way the guards did not seem to mind the sphere, there was no need to defend themselves. Meesei's comment and an awkward moment had Ariel relax and make her spells fade.

She was thoroughly abashed, though she regarded Meesei with worry. "The automatons...working? What do you mean? Why isn't it attacking us?"

---

As Gallus had taken the land route back to Skyrim, it had not been an especially long time since he had returned before Meesei's pack arrived home. Of course, no one knew that Meesei had returned yet. Everyone was going about their daily routine around him.

For the past week since Gallus had returned, he had been acting strangely. His outward behaviour was just the same as always; willing to help and prepared to command. He continued supporting Uthri, Tzirret, and Peiter just as he had before while going about the duties that the ruling council had for him. However, whenever asked about his experience in Black Marsh, he darkened and avoided the subject. Cuts-Canes-Faster had shed light to those that asked about the series of events, but he had a more traditionally Argonian perspective that did not understand why Gallus reacted the way he did.

In addition, every day since he arrived back in Blackreach, Gallus had spent about an hour late every night training his hammer blows against a training mannequin. He played off everyone else's questions about such behaviour as 'just training,' but the way he struck the dummy had such anger behind the blows that he evidently wasn't using the time to refine technique.

Even Uthri, firm and direct as she was, couldn't get much out of Gallus than the desire not to talk about it. In desperation, she confided in Ri'vashi and requested that she try to help. She was not only Gallus' friend, but a peer and -- in a pinch -- his superior. By Uthri's reasoning, Gallus was least likely to try and front a strong face to Ri'vashi if pushed about what happened.

Meesei remained distinctly calm, even with Ariel's frightened reaction. "This ruin still had a functioning animonculory when we found it. For a while, it produced hostile automatons until our scholars temporarily shut it down. Before we left, they had made the animonculory produce a non-hostile, but mindless automaton, so we tasked them with studying the machines to produce automatons under our control. Evidently, that research has bore fruit. I am eager to speak with the scholars to see what solutions they found."

Thanks to his unfamiliarity with Dwemer machines, Rukeewei had actually been less startled than Ariel before Meesei's explanation. Still, it was another surprise that seemed to give him more reasons to worry. At the very least, it was already apparent that the air inside the ruin was much warmer than that outside. He extinguished his torch after the doors closed behind them, since the interior of the ruin was well-lit.

With the military discipline of their scouts, they stood respectfully at attention as they greeted Meesei and her pack. "Champion, it is good to see you return. Do you need assistance with anything." A Nord among them asked.

"No thank you. We will be fine heading to the city on our own." Meesei answered. Raldbthar was, of course, a city in itself, and no doubt contained much that would be of interest to someone like Ariel, but Meesei suspected the next great surprise would come when they took the lift down to Blackreach itself.

---

Gallus was quite alone in the training room when Ri'vashi set out to pay him a visit. Others might have used the room during that time, but they had taken to avoiding it whenever Gallus was using it to avoid any potentially awkward situations. Fortunately for Ri'vashi, she had already shown Gallus more than enough awkwardness on her part that she could approach him with relative impunity.

Opening the tall, metal door to the chamber, Ri'vashi paused at the entryway of the room with her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Gallus bashing away one one of the dummies. "Do not bother with this one, she is simply here to investigate the unusual number of broken training dummies coming out of this room recently." She said in a distinctly non-serious tone.

Ariel resumed speaking after they had passed the scouts. She didn't take her eyes off the sphere until it trundled out of sight, though her fear gradually gave way to fascination. "You have Dwemer scholars amongst you," she deduced out loud. "Lycan Dwemer scholars, this is...and you can control them now? This is the first I've ever heard of anyone doing such a thing. Just what are you all up do down here?"

"Many things and more?" Janius commented.

Now that they were indoors, Rhazii was walking alongside Fendros. His stride was large enough to keep up with their easy pace, but Newt was still short enough that he was being carried. Rhazii was slightly shaken by Ariel's reaction. "Is aunty alright, dada?" He asked.

"Yes, it was just a shock, little one." Fendros cast a smile at Rhazii as they walked.

Ariel was not aware why they were walking onto a circular platform at an apparent dead-end. She eyed the lever in the centre. "Does that open a door?"

Whether anyone was going to answer or not, Sabine pulled the lever all the way back with series of clicking ratchets. The entire platform lurched below them, causing Ariel to jump and hold onto Rukeewei. The descent was slow enough that no one's balance was really challenged, but that didn't loosen Ariel's grip.

---

Gallus stopped mid-swing when he heard Ri'vashi's voice. He didn't face her immediately, instead lowering his weapon, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he opened his eyes and faced her, Gallus wore a smile and spread his arms. "I suppose you've caught me red-handed then, Ri'vashi. How have you been?" Gallus lowered his hammer hand and placed his other fist on his hip. "Decided to start your own midnight training routine, have you?"

"Not all of our scholars are actually lycans themselves, but we have collected quite a few." Meesei answered as they were walking along. "After we found this place, I sent word to all the clans that we had something that would be of interest to any scholar of the Dwemer. There were only one or two among the Bruma clan when we moved, but over time, almost all of the Dwemer scholars among all of the clans had moved here. Curiosity has quite an appeal, I suppose. Several of them also brought in trusted colleagues from outside the clans. From what they have explained to me, there have been other scholars that have gained control over Dwemer machines, just not on a large scale. None of them have ever had access to a Dwemer Aminonculory, from my knowledge. I believe it is the published works of those researchers that our scholars have based their work off of. I have helped them as best as I can, before we left, but sadly, I am not terribly knowledgeable on the Dwemer."

Newt had not recognized the Dwemer automaton to be a potential threat as Ariel had, so he did not quite understand the meaning of Fendros' comment of her being "shocked." He looked down at leaps and waved his hand. "Bad Leaps, no shocking!"

Kaleeth looked down at Newt in her arms. "That's...not what he means."

Rukeewei was, of course, just as startled as Ariel had been. He had never even heard of a lift of this kind. Buildings in Black Marsh did not tend to be too tall, so he had only rarely seen lifts made from simple wood and pulleys. The calm of the pack around them again kept him form trying to run away as soon as the floor started to move, but each of these surprises were starting to compound within him in terms of how frightened he was becoming. With Ariel holding him so tightly, she could easily feel his accelerating heartbeat. "What kind of place is this? It is...insanity."

---

Ri'vashi shook her head lightly. "Not quite."

Resuming her walk, Ri'vashi stepped into the chamber and closed the door behind her. She approached Gallus, being careful not to get too close or stay too distant. "Ri'vashi has been busy, very busy. This clan has grown so much larger than the Orcrest clan ever was, and then she also has to direct the whole military strategy of every other clan. There is always another problem to solve." She exhaled slowly. "Speaking of which, Ri'vashi did not come to talk about herself. You have been acting strangely, Gallus. Others have seen it. She is concerned for you."

Ariel did not have an answer for Rukeewei. Even with the extra things she might have understood to curb it, Rukeewei's words made more sense than she would have liked. She was too scared herself to attempt calming him down. She instead stared at the ascending walls around them without an answer.

"You are safe," Sabine said to Rukeewei with a smile. "The Dwemer built this. It does not break." She strode up to Rukeewei and gently took his and Ariel's forearms in each of her hands. "It is strange. Sorry. You will like the cavern, though. It is pretty."

Ariel tried to believe Sabine. She tried to relax, though the motion of the lift made her maintain a close hold on Rukeewei right up until it stopped.

What Ariel saw beyond struck her dumb and froze her in place.

---

Gallus' smile faded and he began glancing around the floor. "Oh, Hircine's hounds, Ri'vashi, not you too." He spun on one heel to be side on from Ri'vashi and let his hands fall limp. "I am fine, alright? What happened isn't stopping me from doing anything." He pointed across to Ri'vashi with his half-lifted hammer. "And I don't need to see Saraya and Vharei about it either. They have more important problems to sort out with other people."