"That's unbelievable!" Aurana said through laughter. "Did you get to go to the top of one? The view, Divines, could you see the whole world?"

Even Jatinha was placing close attention, even if Aurana was exaggerating possibilities.

"No, not the very top," Rhazii explained. "The branches are too sparse and the leaves still block out a lot." He looked to Jatinha. "Looking down from that high up makes you dizzy, though."

"I wish I could see them." Aurana's excitement made everyone giddy. "So what are the people like there? I read that there's a 'Green Pact' or something that means there's only meat to eat, is that right?"

[hr]
Janius only responded to Kaleeth's suggestion with a apprehensive shrug. His mind was still occupied with his new idea. An idea that Kaleeth had already made him realise was half-baked.

"I just wonder if I can make a difference without going back at all, that's all." Janius avoided Kaleeth's eyes and idly rubbed his scalp. "I'm starting to suspect that my parent may not have come to terms with me being gone. If they're still not going to come to terms with it if I come back and leave again, then I want to try something more...I don't know, targeted?" He bared his teeth nervously and turned his eyes back to Kaleeth's. "I want to make them realise that doing all this to Aurana won't make me come back, and it won't make Aurana much safer. They have to be doing this for emotional reasons. I want to make them realise that."

His shoulders lowered with his outward breath. "But I don't know how."

[hr]
Lunise evidently tried her best to remain composed. She rubbed her exhausted face in her hands for as long as Meesei spoke. How she answered afterwards was not the level and eloquent hum that her voice always had. It was a broken cry, muffled by her hands.

[i]"I have killed Altmer for having those thoughts!"[/i]

The noise was jarring in the confined room.

"I killed them because it was a spit in the face against all we did, my friends and I. Say nothing of treason. It's how we all truly judged it." She pulled in a quick breath. "It was dancing on the graves of my friends who were killed taking the Imperial City. I cannot just turn around and do the same in one night of heated and foolish emotion! I cannot."

A streak of a tear glistened from between Lunise's fingers. Her voice lowered, still cracking. "I am falling, Meesei. I am falling and cannot see where I will land. Every foundation that I ever have built upon is crumbling away."

She sobbed in quiet wheezes, as if trying to cram them back into her lungs in vain. Her audible breaths inward were quick and choked. Her metaphor of crumbling had apparently fully extended to her outward appearance. The combination with her absent uniform rendered her entirely unrecognisable.