Most everyone had already cleared away from the archway, though some took a few more steps back when Sabine gave her warning. Ahnasha waited until Sabine brought the stone to a complete stop before placing her hand gently upon it. She applied just a slight amount of force to nudge it into its proper orientation. She did not want to waste time, so as to save Sabine from having to maintain her spell for uncomfortably long, but she took care to go through each step properly. A mistake now would not exactly be disastrous, but it would mean another day or more of delays to reset the enchantments. 

Merely by being in their positions, the stones were already weakly connected by non-visible currents of magicka between the runes on their ends. With her hands on the stone, Ahnasha could feel the connection the objects that would charge the stones' binding enchantments, which were two varla stones at either side of the archway. Ahnasha would not be opening the portal itself now, but activating the bindings would officially put them in a time constraint. The stones would hold their charge for a few weeks, after which point the bindings would break down and the stones would become inert. It gave them plenty of time to work with, but if there were any unexpected delays, then they would have to re-enchant an entire new set of stones. 

Taking in a deep breath, Ahnasha applied the small amount of magicka needed to spark the activation of the enchantments, which immediately drew in all of the power held within the varla stones and poured it through the whole of the archway. Although the stones were separate pieces, the enchantments were designed to all behave as a single unit. Ahnasha's role was to make sure that, as those connections strengthened, they did not contort any of the liminal connections in a way that would inhibit a stable portal. While difficult to describe in words to a layman, it was nothing too complex for an experienced conjurer. 

It only took a few seconds for bright violet beams of light to form between each of the portal's stones, and the stones themselves started to glow slightly in the same color. As the bindings activated, Sabine would find herself no longer able to manipulate the keystone telekinetically, but rather, the whole portal felt like a single object from a magical perspective. At that point, it was being held up under its own power. The varla stones, which were previously glowing in a brilliant white, were now just plain, lifeless crystals.

"Okaaay, I think we're good." Ahnasha remarked as she slowly moved her hand away from the glowing stone. "All of the connections seem stable, and the bindings are fully powered. When we activate the sigil stone, the portal should be perfectly stable. Now, I guess we should get this scaffolding taken down."

Their construction team were already mostly looking to Sabine to confirm their instructions, but Sabine may have found herself distracted by the person who suddenly walked up beside her. It was uncertain if she had only just arrived, or had been waiting out of sight until they were done, but even Ahnasha up on the scaffolding had not noticed Hal-Neesa until now. "It is time. Gather up your military leaders, my project is done."  

[hr]

There was a short pause while Meesei soon lost herself staring at Lunise. It was no small urge within her to throw her arms around her with a kiss, but she did have to remind herself that she had more of a purpose to their outing today than just spending quality time together. Although, she had certainly been enjoying every moment they had been able to have together thusfar. "I just love being able to see the sky again. The cave's mushrooms are certainly beautiful in their own way, but it's not quite the same as a clear, blue sky. Maybe we can come out here again later tonight and see the stars?" 

Meesei sat herself up and moved over closer to Lunise. She rested one hand on hers, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. The idea of going farther was tantalizing, but again, there was something else she wanted to do. "We have to take these moments while we can. I am guessing it will only be a few more days at most before we open the portal to Hircine's realm, and I will not be able to avoid work at that point. I think the rest of my pack is ready, for the most part. Most of them have been reconnecting with family these last few months; doing things they would rather not leave undone. I don't have those kinds of old connections to...revisit, though. Both of my parents died before I left my village, and I did not have any siblings, or even close friends, really. There were people I cared about there, of course, but nothing that would be worth the risk of revisiting. What I do have, though...is you. I will be honest when I say that romance was not something I expected to find for as long as I was serving as Hircine's Champion. And certainly not something I was looking for. But, it was something that I found anyway, and you do not know how glad I am that I did. You have made me so, incredibly happy in the time we have been together. There is something I would rather not leave undone, not for me, but rather for you."

At this point, in a rare display, Meesei was actually showing some visible nervousness. She was fully expecting some objections, and was already lining up the rebuttals she had been preparing in her head for the last few weeks. "I plan on coming back from this invasion alive, but if I don't, then there is one gift I would like to have left you with. I want to bring you to Artaeum."