Janius slowed to a stop behind the gaggle of young Argonian surrounding Julan. Leeus' actions were enough to turn Janius smile into a laugh, but that quickly halted with Julan falling. Janius tried to lunge to catch him but was out of reach.

Julan opened his eyes to see Janius kneeling next to him offering a hand. "I thought I told you to avoid the head and neck, hunter," Janius said. As he began to grin, the seriousness was disarmed and Janius pulled Julan to his feet again. He drew Julan into a quick hug. "Well fought, son. I'm proud of you."

There were other formalities Janius would make sure of, such as having Julan thank his opponent and retrieving his sword. That was to mention nothing of healing Julan's wounds. But Janius first supported Julan enough for his mother to congratulate him.

[hr]
Fendros shook his head. "Rhazii isn't so young anymore. He'll calm down, we can check on him later." He ran his hand down her arm comfortingly. "The war doesn't have to define us, Ahna. You brought up those lives we took, likely uninvolved people. You know what it's like to feel empathy for such people, even if you don't feel it now. The fact that you brought them up at all tells me you still feel something. You [i]can[/i] still feel something. What would you think if you did feel for them, for...for the bandit you killed, perhaps, at the very least?"