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Janius picked up on Kaleeth's movements before everyone was done talking. He shifted to sit on the side of her bed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He understood. Everyone else had time to come to terms with their near-death situation. Kaleeth had not.

While the others continued, Janius murmured to Kaleeth while Julan still clung onto her. "We're still here, Kaleeth. We love you. Tell me what is going through your mind."

"That Nord's equipment looked like it was taken from a tomb, too," Fendros added. He wanted to let Kaleeth emote as she needed to, but the conversation was still important. "It could be that he left the Greybeards earlier than we anticipated. If he cared about our children, if he cared about Kaleeth as a wife and possibly a mother, seems to me he might have a family as well. If something is happening...or happened to them, that is my best guess at his motives."

Sabine stood up and quietly walked up to the opposite side of Kaleeth's bed. "Can I get you something for your headache, Kaleeth?" she asked, holding her fingers nervously.
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"It feels like a dagger is going through my mind." Kaleeth remarked, becoming increasingly frustrated at the headache. Her pain at the moment, it seemed, was quite literal. Although, the reality of how close she had come to death was likely to trouble her in the coming days as well. "Yes, please. I can hardly think." She answered to Sabine.

Julan hated to see his mother suffering so much, but was at a loss for what to do. He seemed to have just been getting in the way ever since the pack returned, so he was afraid to do anything at the moment. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, near Kaleeth's feet, with his head hung low while trying to hide his tears.

Meesei too kept her eye on Kaleeth, but it seemed that Sabine had taken the initiative in taking care of her needs. In any case, Meesei also needed to concentrate on keeping herself from falling into a similar state. Her burns were exposed to open air, and it was only through her own magic that she was not in agony at the moment. Fortunately, they would heal up sufficiently soon enough that she could avoid any suffering through the night. "That is a possibility. He does likely believe his cause to be just. Knowing his motive could be useful, depending upon the approach we choose. We need to decide if we want to attempt to dissuade Do'rhajul or otherwise break up his team diplomatically, or if we want to try and kill them outright."
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Sabine briskly retrieved a potion from a nearby shelf. It was one of several she had made earlier to treat everyone's injuries in some capacity or another. She removed its stopper as she walked back beside Kaleeth and held it out. "Drink this. It will relieve the pain for a while."

"Thank you, Sabine," Janius said. While he pulled back a little to give Kaleeth space to take her medicine, he held one arm open and caught Julan's eye. "Son, come here."

Whether or not Julan accepted the embrace, Janius spoke to him all the same. "We're sorry to give you a scare like this. Are you okay?"

Fendros sighed. "To be honest, any surprises and advantages we may have held beforehand were spent in that fight. We know much more about them now, but they also learned more about us. Perhaps I'm still shaken from the ambush, but I cannot come up with any way to defeat them or ambush them short of taking huge risks." He lifted his brow. "At the same time, we only have leads on Yerig. We might try to persuade him, or even try to make Do'Rhajul read our evidence, but we know little in how to persuade the others. Especially that madwoman with her staff." Fendros' eyes wandered. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"I was lucky against Do'Rhajul. I crippled him." Sabine lowered herself down on a seat again and pushed her straight arms onto her knees nervously. "I could have killed him. I do not think I could defeat him again."
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"You are stronger than I was when I faced him." Meesei said to Sabine. "I could not get past his defenses, at the time. Perhaps he has slowed down with time, but he is not the invincible foe we once feared. He can be beaten. Of course, we need not defeat him in battle, necessarily, but we do all need to be aware of the risks of any plan we decide upon."

Meesei uncrossed her legs and placed them flat on the ground, hesitating a moment before standing up to her feet. From the outside, she still looked terrible. The scars from the lightning cut across half of her body, and looked almost like a tree imprinted onto her scales. However, she had been focusing on the more important, internal injuries, so she felt much better than before. As usual, she would be able to heal her scars. "We do not need to convince all of them. If we can make just a few of them doubt the righteousness of their cause, then we can break down their strength. Even if they do not directly help us against their former allies, removing even one or two parts of their team could be all we need. Their strategy focused on having an answer to all of our abilities and strengths. If we are allowed to help each other in the battle, then their strategy fails. However, it is important to realize that there is still risk to approaching any of them diplomatically. We have the original copy of the notes we found in Elsweyr, but getting those notes to them will still be risky. I would wager that the Breton, Arinette, will not be dissuaded by anything. She is a zealot, and a loyal follower of Vile. She may be one of the few among them who knows the truth. If we want to get those notes to them, we have to make sure that she does not see them first, or she will simply destroy them. We could try to hide the notes among the belongings of Do'rhajul, or perhaps Yerig, but that will require finding and sneaking into their camp. I do not need to tell you why that would be risky. But, even so, it may be safer than the alternatives."

Julan had accepted his father's hug, but he was still left speechless, partially because he did not want to interrupt the important conversation around him, and partly because he was too shaken by the experience. Kaleeth was still weak, but she was able to move herself enough to get closer to Janius. She put one of her arms around him, then the other around her son. She still had a splitting headache, but Sabine's potion was starting to help, so for the moment, she just tried to focus on comforting her family.

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Fendros wiped his eyelid with his fingers. He was not completely convinced. "If nothing else, locating them and watching them before they do us will be helpful for any strategy we try. we might make a diversion and have Ahna slide the papers into Do'Rhajul's belongings. It would depend on where they are and how they secure their baggage. Accomplishing that much could at least demonstrate that we can kill them in their sleep if we wanted to. It would make it clear that we want peace rather than to spring a trap."

"I would think it a good idea to go to the Throat of the World," Janius said. He finally rejoined the conversation, though tried to keep quiet enough not to make Kaleeth's headache worse. "I, at least, want to find out where Yerig came from. Why he's fighting us."
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Lorag raised his brow at Janius. "The Throat of the World? What, to talk to the Greybeards or something. I think I remember pilgrims talkin' about going there when I was stationed in the Rift, but I, uh, don't think they take visitors."

"A locked door would not be likely to stop us." Meesei commented. "But, regardless, I would want to be cautious. Pacifists they may be, but I would not wish to be perceived as...threatening such powerful men. They are said to be so strong in the Voice that they could tear a person apart with a single word. I would say that it is likely an exaggeration, but it also likely has some truth at its core. At any rate, they could perhaps give us more insight into Yerig's origins, but I doubt we would gain any insights into his more recent history. All of our information on him suggests that he has lived as a hermit in the Reach for decades. Descriptions of him that Saras has gathered paint him as a kind old man who offers travelers food and shelter, or even protects them from danger at times. He has always been described as being alone in the mountains, so if he did have a family, they have not been with him for decades. He is obviously no mercenary, so I do wonder how he came to join Do'rhajul. I can think of many possibilities, but it is all speculation.

"It does feel like we're doing that a lot. Speculating." Ahnasha said, before giving a brief sigh. "Still, I do think I'd rather try the diplomatic approach. I don't want to have any more close calls like we did today. I just wish we could get something more solid about why he's with them. I mean...what possibility would even makes sense?"
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Fendros shrugged. "Perhaps there are feral werewolves that have been preying on travellers in the area. Or some cult of Hircine doing the same."

"Or he might want a cure for someone," Janius suggested. "He didn't smell like a lycan himself, but he may be trying to help someone that is. And with Vile promising lycanthropy cures, well...it's a rarity enough to be persuasive."

"Has there been any close investigation of Yerig from around his home?" Fendros asked. "I understand Saras provided this much information. Going to find out more may be redundant if he has already tried. Currently, our only leads are the Reach and the Greybeards."
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Meesei hummed a moment. "Saras has been conducting an investigation to return any bit of information he can find on these people. It honestly would not surprise me if he has already exhausted the options we have been speculating upon. Although, now that we have solid descriptions of the rest of Do'rhajul's team, it is possible he might be able to uncover more information on those he was previously unable to identify." She reasoned.

"I think we're going to have a week or two to plan and decide, whether we like it or not." Ahnasha commented. "There is no way we are going to be ready sooner than that. Kaleeth needs to recover, and the rest of us are not in the best shape either. Still, I think planting those notes sounds like a good plan. I...can do it." She said, albeit hesitantly. "Maybe we can have some of our agents in the area focus on finding their camp, or wherever they might be hiding? I do not want to be surprised again."

Meesei nodded in agreement. "That makes the most sense for now. I will be sure to speak to him. Just...try to do what you can to recover for now; mentally and physically. Rest, try to comfort our families. Rhazii appeared rather stressed when he left, I believe. It would not do well for all of us to spend the next week fearing for our next encounter with our enemy."
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Janius held Julan a little closer for a moment. "I can agree with that," he said.

"You're right about Rhazii," Fendros said. He took a deep, slow breath and stood up. "We had better go find him. If he went where I think he's going, he'll be with trustworthy company, but he might end up hurting himself." Fendros looked over to Ahnasha and her healer. "Are you well enough to come with me, Ahna?"

Sabine took the empty flask from Kaleeth and put it aside, then finding a seat once more. "Meesei, do you need any help healing?" she asked.
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Ahnasha rubbed her hand over her bandages for a moment. "It's a bit sore, but yeah, I'll live. I can come with you. I wouldn't want Rhazii getting in too much over his head, at least not without us around." She said as she slowly pulled herself up to her feet. As they started out the door, she put her arm around Fendros at his waist and leaned up against him. She was having no trouble standing, but the experience had, of course, put many "what-if" scenarios through her mind, particularly with how badly Kaleeth had been hurt. With that in mind, she certainly was not going to object to spending more time with her family.

Now that she had calmed, Kaleeth laid herself back down on her side, but kept one hand on Julan's. He still looked frightened, but the tears were at least gone from his eyes. Kaleeth laid her head back on her pillow and looked up at the ceiling for a few moments before drifting her eyes back over to Janius and Julan. "I think I need to rest for a while; I'm very tired. Are you two going to be okay?"

Meesei raised up a hand and shook her head gently. "Thank you, but I believe I will be okay. I am recovering, I just need some more time. I have dulled my pain for now, and it should subside by the time I go to sleep. Fortunately, no silver touched me today. You can feel free to do as you..." Meesei began, but halted herself as a thought came through her mind. "...actually, after I speak to Saras, would you like to join me? Just talk for a while, spend some time together? It has been a while."
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Without a word, Fendros brought his hand up behind Ahnasha's head and ran a hand over one of her ears on their way out. He had been wearing a strong face since the battle ended. Inside was someone in need of just as much comfort as Ahnasha.

Janius nodded to Kaleeth. "Of course." He smiled and squeezed her shoulder before looking to Julan. "What about you, boy? How are you holding up? Feel like getting something to eat with me?"

At Meesei's answer, Sabine's lips broadened into a smile and she nodded. "I would love to. I will go and visit Karl to let him know I am okay while you find Saras."



While there were few words between Ahnasha and Fendros, they eventually separated to the point of hand-holding for the sake of convenience. Several sets of eyes amongst the clan regarded Ahnasha's fresh bandages with worry, though they were not accosted.

The sounds of clacking wasters predictably came from a square where many militia drills were held. When Ahnasha and Fendros rounded the corner, they saw a little more than they bargained for. A small group of warriors stood around the singular source of the wooden melee, all watching whatever was going on. Only Ri'vashi's head was clear from over the top of the crowd as she towered over them. An angered shout recognisable as Rhazii's voice precluded another exchange that lasted only two hits before Rhazii grunted in pain and sounded like he stumbled to the ground.

"Azura, how long has he been at it?" Fendros commented. He picked up his pace to a brisk walk. The crowd looked over their shoulders and parted to let him and Ahnasha through. Where normally they would be goading and encouraging, they were all quiet, dubious, and unsure what to do.

They saw Rhazii on one knee, completely out of breath, and trying to push himself up from the ground by the point of his wooden sword. Innumerable scrapes and bruises peeked out from his fur wherever he was not clothed. Ri'vashi, in contrast, was unharmed and holding a stiff guard with her wooden sword raised.
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Saras was not particularly hard for Meesei to find, since word of her pack's quick and stressful return had reached him by that point. He did not wish to disturb the pack during their recovery, so instead he was taking an account of which agents he had available to follow up on the inevitable aftermath of the pack's encounter. Meesei essentially needed only to confirm what he had already been planning to do.

Afterwards, Meesei returned to her chambers and awaited Sabine. She had settled in a room in the upper floors of one of the Silent City's towers. It was one of the original Dwemer structures, rather than one of the additions that the clan had been making over the years. It was a larger space that gave her ample room for her own personal training and research. Since she no longer used Apocrypha as a source of knowledge, she had returned to exploring new abilities, and improving her existing ones, through more traditional practice. She had an enchanting table, complete with array of magical focuses and other baubles. On the opposite side of the room was small table with a collection of carved bone totems; her own shrine to Hircine. An attuned mage might be able to detect some warding magic she had enchanted into some of her belongings to protect against any errant spells that grew larger than she expected. Aside from that, she had a reasonable amount of open floor space.

---

"You over-committed on your last swing. It took too long for you to recover, so you were not able to respond in time to Ri'vashi's attack." Ri'vashi explained as Rhazii struggled to get back to his feet. "Among your peers, you are usually the strongest and can force your way through many situations, but you must not neglect precision and agility. Among skilled opponents, it is often far more impactful. You will particularly need to hone your precise movements when we spar in beast form. You will not be able to overpower a werebear, just as you cannot overpower Ri'vashi now."

With a firm, two handed grip on her sword, Ri'vashi did not wait for Rhazii to strike first. Taking aim at the center of his chest, she thrust her wooden blade straight towards him: a seemingly straightforward attack.
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Meesei could hear shuffling feet before a set of raps on the door. It opened after a moment to reveal Sabine's face looking in. She caught Meesei's eye and smiled. As she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, Meesei noticed that she was less tense and pale than she was in the infirmary. She walked up to Meesei to give her a quick hug.

"Hello. I am sorry if I kept you waiting," Sabine said. She had not kept Meesei waiting very long at all.



Rhazii was only halfway through getting up before Ri'vashi struck. He barely managed to turn his waster in time to parry, yet the wooden slide stopped with the point roughly prodding his upper arm. He let out a small yell of pain before attempting a counterattack. He was clearly sluggish and tired. To his credit, Rhazii's cut to Ri'vashi's arm was made with proper footwork and covered his defences. He showed a better technique than Fendros had seen before today. However, even an amateur fighter had the time to defend against it.

One of the soldiers surreptitiously spoke up to Fendros and Ahnasha. "Uh, Ahnasha and Fendros, right?" He pointed to them both. Neither of them knew the soldier's name, but few soldiers in the clan didn't know them. "That's your son, isn't it? He's been sparring for at least an hour straight now. He won't take breaks or give up." The soldier winced as Rhazii was struck back once again. "You have an impressive boy, don't get me wrong, but...at this point he's just getting beaten to a pulp."

That was enough for Fendros. He stepped forward before Rhazii could get to his feet again. "Excuse me, Ri'vashi." He held up a hand as he stepped between the two. "Rhazii, what do you think you're doing?"

Rhazii closed his mouth and avoided eye contact. Even though he was breathing heavily from the activity, his brow betrayed some quiet anger. His voice was surprisingly subdued. "I'm training, father. Let me continue."
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Meesei simply chuckled. "You are quite punctual, Sabine, do not worry." She responded. After finally releasing her grip on Sabine, she walked over to her fireplace and knelt down next to it to ignite the firewood she had prepared. The air was already comfortably warm within the city, as a result of the Dwemer machinery in the walls, but Meesei still enjoyed some extra warmth from time to time. After the fire was lit, and without as much as needing to look at what she was doing, Meesei telekinetically pulled one of her chairs across the floor so she could take a seat in front of the flames.

Even with her scars being in much the same state as they had been in the infirmary, Meesei appeared remarkably different now that they were in the comfort of her own quarters. She did not sustain the poise and presence that she had to maintain at most other times. She had not dressed since transforming, so she did not have her usual enchanted adornments, bone necklaces, and the like which gave her the air of an experienced hunter. She did not sit up straight and stiff to show her strong composure, but rather, she was laying back lazily in the chair with her arms behind her head, and her legs stretched out as close to the flames as was safe. Closing her eyes, she smiled and slowly wiggled her toes as she enjoyed the warmth of the fire against her sore feet. After a few seconds, she moved one of her hands down and gently traced a claw across one of the lightning scars that cut diagonally across her stomach. It was a temporary mark, fortunately, but quite prominent, and actually not altogether hideous. It was the kind of scar that she would imagine some warriors would actually like to have, were they not temporary even for non-lycans. She did not have a hint of mystique or prestige about her, but instead just appeared to be a wounded Argonian. She was not a symbol of strength, but a tired woman, showing a few early signs of aging. Her scales did not have quite the vibrant colors they once had, which was more apparent in this lighting.

Meesei slowly turned her head so that she could look at Sabine. "So, how has your relationship with Karl been? I have rarely had the opportunity to meet or speak with him, unfortunately."

---

"No, your father is probably right." Ri'vashi said as she stepped up to the pair, holding her wooden sword down at her side. "Ri'vashi thinks the point has been proven. You have made promising progress this last year or two, young one, but it is still just that: progress. You are still years from reaching your destination. Wanting to train is admirable, but destroying your body in the process is...counterproductive."

Ri'vashi glanced to Fendros. "Rhazii did not tell this one everything, but she gathered that he wanted to help your pack directly, correct?"
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While Sabine could perform telekinesis just as well, she opted to carry a seat up to the fireplace next to Meesei. It was a habit she had from alchemy labs, where a careful hand was always the better option. She brought her feet up to sit cross-legged on the chair and smiled a little wider.

Sabine leaned back and answered Meesei's question with her eyes to the ceiling. "Well. Quite well. Being able to visit him while on missions helps a lot. He does not like that I can be away for long periods but he understands." Sabine giggled. "I feel the same way."

An outward breath made Sabine sink a little further into her seat.

"I am glad that I am with him," Sabine added. "Just now, he saw that I was uncomfortable. I told him what had happened. And I cried. I was not nervous to cry. I am a grown woman now, so I do not normally cry about these things. Not in front of others unless it is you, Ariel, or sometimes someone from the pack. But...he held me. He just held me and comforted me." Sabine returned Meesei's eye contact and shifted tone. "Karl is not a prodigy. He is good at Dwemer archaeology. But his occupation and skills are not why I like him. I like him because we can know each others feelings."

Sabine paused to look into the fire. Something wistful passed over her mind. She turned to Meesei again. "I think you would like him if you could speak with him more. Perhaps we can have a meal together some time."



Rhazii struggled to his feet again. "Yes. I want to get better." He glanced up at Ahnasha, then to Ri'vashi, then looked to the ground. "Mother says...mother says I can help the pack fight if I am good enough to beat you, Ri'vashi."

Fendros put one hand on his hip and the other up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "There is more to it than that-"

"-There is not!" Rhazii raised his voice. "That's what you said, wasn't it? Well, I have to get better soon or else you might fight Do'Rhajul again!"

At that point, Fendros realised Rhazii's thoughts. He had to take a deep breath to stop himself from losing his patience. That Rhazii was making a scene in front of all these strangers was not helping.

The soldiers themselves were unsure what to make of the family drama in front of them. A few shuffled away to continue their own training now that the sparring was done. Others were looking at each other nervously.
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Meesei had a soft smile as she looked into the flames. "I understand how you feel perfectly. There is something about love, or a lover, specifically, that is different. The kind of affection is different. I would not call it 'better' that friends or family by any stretch of the imagination. I love you, and the rest of the pack, more deeply than I could ever care about anyone else. It is just...it is difficult to put into words. It fills a...different part of my life. It is two different kinds of love, neither of which I would want to live without." She explained, albeit with some uncertainty at her wording. Even if she had not been as clear as she would have liked, she had a feeling that Sabine understood her.

"It can be difficult to arrange time with Lunise, but I can see her far more than most would be able to in our situation. I feel fortunate that her duties require her to frequently operate independently, and travel often. If she worked in an embassy somewhere, I might never get to see her." Meesei said.

There was another pause, and Meesei turned her head to look over at a pouch on one of her tables. It was one of her satchels that Lorag had recovered for her after the fight, which contained the ring she used to contact Lunise. "A meal does sound nice. I wonder...perhaps tonight would be a good time? And perhaps I could see if Lunise could join us as well? We could have...I suppose you might call it a couples' dinner?"

---

"It's not exactly what I said." Ahnasha spoke up, arms crossed. "I did say that if you could defeat Ri'vashi in a fair duel, then you could help us with Do'rhajul. And that is true. If you could somehow manage to defeat Ri'vashi, master swordsman and the military commander of all of the combined lycan warriors from every clan in Tamriel, then I would love to have your help with Do'rhajul. But you cannot, and there is no shame that you cannot, son. It was...meant to be a learning experience for you. Ri'vashi is strong and skilled like Do'rhajul, and I hope through this you have seen what kind of odds you would have to face against in order to fight him. Someone who can predict your every move, respond perfectly every time, and outmaneuver you in ways that do not even seem to make sense in the heat of the moment. That is why you could not come with us earlier. I know you want us to be safe, but...you just have to trust that we are doing everything we can to make sure that none of us get hurt."
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Sabine listened on. She neither had an objection nor did she appear confused. However, the question of gathering everyone up made her reluctant. She rubbed her shoulder with her hand and blinked away. "Maybe not tonight. I am very tired and still a bit shaken." She glanced at Meesei. "Could we do tomorrow night? I would like to just be in your company tonight. And Lunise and Karl are busy so it would be easier for them, probably."

Sabine did not expect there to be a problem. The topic brought a similar question to her head as she was asked. "How are you and Lunise? Have you seen each other since we met her outside of Sentinel?"



Rhazii opened his palms forward in objection. "Then what happened earlier today!? I saw you get shot in the chest, mother! Aunt Kaleeth came back unconscious! You were ambushed and Julan and I couldn't do anything."

"You would have died, Rhazii," Fendros said firmly.

Rhazii pointed with his free hand. "You could have died!"

"Rhazii, that's enough! It is not up to you whether you go to battle or not. You are not ready."

"That's stupid!-"

"That is the truth!"

Fendros had reached the end of his tether. So had Rhazii. In spite of the reasoning, his face twisted into bared teeth and pinned ears. He threw his waster flat onto the stone floor. It cracked and bounced as the wood split. He was stomping away before it was still.

"Rhazii! Stop right there!" Fendros shouted.

Rhazii did not stop or turn around. He instead yelled back in a voice that was clearly breaking into held-back tears. "Get lost!"

Fendros exhaled sharply. His face softened. He addressed Ri'vashi in as polite a voice as he could give. "I am so sorry for wrapping you into this, Ri'vashi. We did not intend for things to get out of hand. Thank you for your patience with our son, but..." He looked at Rhazii's back. Rhazii found some stairs to sit upon and bury his face in his hands with. "...We had better take it from here."

The remaining soldiers had already dispersed to return to their drills.
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"Very well. I will see if I can visit her later tonight to make sure she will be available tomorrow." Meesei responded before lightly shaking her head. "I have not had a chance to meet with her since Sentinel. I am wondering if she will have any sort of perspective on how to deal with Arinette. It seems that she has been able to learn how to make use of the magicka that the staff absorbs, though based on Do'rhajul's reaction to her usage of the staff, there are some limits on what she can safely do. For the most part, however, I am simply looking forward to spending time with Lunise."

"But, aside from all of that, I am just glad to be able to rest for now." Meesei continued. "I have been working on attuning my beast form more closely to magicka, to improve my capabilities in that form. I do not feel too significantly weakened, but it is still not perfect. It essentially requires that I bridge the gap between my two forms and erase the mental gap between them. The Ring helps immensely, of course; it would likely be impossible without it. But progress has been encouraging. As strange as it sounds, there have actually been times where I have forgotten which form I am in."

---

Ri'vashi had her eyes on Rhazii, even as she stepped closer to Fendros and Ahnasha so that they could speak in relative privacy. "Hmm, Ri'vashi has seen this many a time with young warriors. And her father went through it with Ri'vashi when she was a cub. This one thinks his heart is in the right place, but you are both obviously right about him. Still, if you want to placate him, Ri'vashi can say with confidence that he is ready for low-risk tasks. He has all the right techniques. Just take your time, and Ri'vashi is willing to help if she can."

After a moment, Ri'vashi took in a long breath, and her expression started to betray some discomfort in her thoughts. "But before Ri'vashi goes...there is something else. You faced down Do'rhajul. He is still in High Rock, yes? You...you have to let Ri'vashi help you. Let her come with you. If he is there, then he needs to pay for what he has done. He is the one responsible for taking away everything Ri'vashi held dear, and he deserves to die."
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Muttonhawk
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Sabine did not respond for a moment. She tilted her head at Meesei, curious. She wrapped her arms around one lifted knee. "It sounds like your are becoming one person. Joining your mind with your beast like that. Do you think...it could turn that way physically? Almost..." Sabine tried to find the words. "It sounds like you could become like a hybrid instead of one and the other. I wonder if you might get caught halfway between transforming and stay that way."

It was difficult to tell whether Sabine was concerned about the possibility or not.



"I see. Thank you." Just as Fendros began to reflect on Rhazii's capabilities, Ri'vashi's request turned his eyes to her, and then to Ahnasha. Rhazii would need a moment to cool off anyway, he thought. Ri'vashi deserved to know what they did.

"As far as we know, he is still in High Rock with his team. They used a powerful magic to escape and we do not know where, exactly. As for having you along..." He took a deep breath in and out as well. He looked at the top of Ahnasha's scar on her front, over to the thinner patch of fur on Rhazii's head, and back to Ri'vashi. "Ahna and I understand why, we do. However, we would have to consult the rest of our pack and we need time to recover from our injuries. Also, we-"

Fendros cut himself off and glanced around. He stepped closer to Ri'vashi and lowered his voice. "We have found information that sheds new light on his motives. He..." Fendros paused. He wanted to be careful with his wording given Ri'vashi's grief. "He, or at least parts of his team, have been fighting under false pretences. If we do kill any of them -- if -- it will not be before attempting to subvert the lies they have been told. Justice, you may find in the end. Vengeance..." He shook his head lightly. "None of us can guarantee."
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Meesei chuckled. "I...do not think that would be possible. Not something so severe. Being caught between transformations would surely kill me, and as for our souls...I doubt I could truly merge with my beast spirit, even if that was my intent. The beast spirit is a Daedra, after all, and Daedra do not have souls. They have a vestige; something which serves the same purpose, but is still fundamentally different from a mortal soul. It is an immortal entity bound to Oblivion, and I believe it would be too different to achieve something like that. I...suppose I cannot say any of this with certainty. I could be wrong, but I have had other theories on what has been happening between myself and my beast spirit. Along with meditation and practice, I have been using conjuration to explore the essence of both my own soul, and the beast's vestige. I used that magic to attempt to modify how it bound with my soul during a transformation, so that my body's energies remained familiar enough to me for me to use my magic, but I think in the process, I accidentally imparted some understanding upon it. It has been gradual, so I do not have as much of a baseline as I would like, but I think instead of gaining greater control over the beast spirit, I have been teaching it to be more like me. I know it sounds crazy, but I do honestly feel like my beast spirit has been calmer as of late. More reasonable, almost rational. If it is true, it might provide an explanation for the mechanism of how I could use magic in that form. My initial assumption was that I was modifying how the vestige bonded with me so that it did not disrupt my magic, but I may have been mistaken. The vestige might be growing to understand what magic is, and therefore does not resist it when I attempt to use it."

Meesei turned her head and looked at Sabine with a curious gaze. "I find it difficult to test with only myself as an example, but perhaps...do you think you would like to help me with an experiment?" She asked.

---

After a few brief moments of confusion, Ri'vashi's expression turned almost suspicious. "This one...you can't..." She stammered before she collected herself enough to whisper back to him. "Ri'vashi can accept that some of his team might be saved from their current path, but Do'rhajul himself...you truly cannot be suggesting letting him live? The man is a murderer, a war criminal. Not even that; he has been treating this war like an extermination. No mercy. Not for innocents, not for children. He killed the only family Ri'vashi knew without remorse. Khajiit does not care if he was lied to, or if he surrenders. There is no amount of rationalizing in the world that could possibly justify his crimes. He needs to die. That is the only way this can end: in battle, or in an execution. Every single breath he takes is an insult to spirits of the friends and family we have lost."
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