Narsi's answer was certainly a lot to unpack, but it did finally give Julan some much-needed context as to why she had been so insistent on pushing people away. He still did not have much of an idea of who her mother was, but he knew he did not have any obvious answer to just solve her problems. Still, he did feel that he could help her understand some things in a way that could shift her attitude. Slowly, he shook his head, now speaking more softly. Given the subject, he was worried that he could end up angering her again. "No, I don't think it's true that he just...didn't care. I know I can't read Uncle Lorag's mind or anything, but he's been very busy. Our parents have, our whole pack has. They always have to give their everything to fighting the war."

Julan hesitated, showing some uncertainty in his expression in the few silent moments it took for him to think about Narsi's perspective. "Has...anyone told you about the war yet? About what our pack has been fighting? What [i]all[/i] the clans have been having to fight? It's another Daedra, and his followers. Clavicus Vile. They've been literally hunting for our souls for our whole lives. At first it was just fighting like you normally think of, but then they had this...gas. It, well, just ripped lycan souls out of their bodies. Just like that. It could just kill us as soon as we breathed it. It was terrifying to know about; to know what...could happen. There were some clans that were found and attacked with the gas, and it just...killed everyone. There was no way to fight it, we just had to hope that we would be hidden. I remember having so many nightmares..."

Julan's discomfort was showing through quite obviously, so he was quick to interrupt himself and continue. "There's an antidote now, though. Aunt Sabine and her sister were able to figure one out, and things have gotten a lot better since then. For a while there wasn't really enough for everyone, but now our parents say we have enough to keep everyone safe. Everyone isn't so afraid all the time, and apparently we're winning the war. I...well, like I said, I guess I can't really say for sure what Uncle Lorag was thinking, but...maybe he thought it would be better for you if you weren't here back then? And maybe he thinks things can be different now?"

[hr]

"No, it wasn't." Ahnasha answered dryly. She stared out the window rather than at Fendros, but her tone made it seem as if all of her emotion had already been drained from her. "You could have been right, or wrong, but that was the one thing you really needed to understand. I just wish you would have realized it much sooner."

Finally, Ahnasha brought herself to make eye contact with Fendros once more. "I still don't know if my family really believed what I told them. Our goodbyes this morning...they just felt like superficial words to me. They might still doubt me, but were too nervous to say anything. There was no nice, neat resolution, if you were hoping for one. This will probably be hanging over my head for the next few weeks, maybe months, until we start exchanging letters again."