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.

[hr]
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.