The pack was quick to rise and prepare to leave, even after the previous night's events. After all, they had paid for transport with a carriage, and it would not wait too long on them if they were late. The city streets were not nearly as crowded in early morning as they were at midday, but for the Imperial City, crowded was a relative term, as there were still quite a few people outside preparing for their day. As a side effect of their search for Sabine the day before, Meesei was knew enough about how to navigate the city that Fendros and Janius did not necessarily have to guide the way to the front gate. As planned the pack met Llarasa just before the front gate. Their carriage was directly across the bridge and would be leaving in just over half an hour, so they had some time to talk.
Even after a night's rest, Ahnasha's mood could still hardly be described as "good." She was still angry, stressed, and had a nagging urge to give Monderyn a solid punch to his face, but knowing that this could be the last time Fendros would see his sister, she tried to elevate her own mood. She gave a smile, even if it wasn't a particularly large one. "Yes, we really do come from all over. Well, if you consider a few Cyrodilic cities, Morrowind, and Black Marsh to be 'all over.' Anyway, we are all fine and unharmed. Monderyn is the only one who might have a few bruises. He did frighten Rhazii and threaten me, but I'm keeping his dagger, so I'll consider that a good enough repayment. It will sell for a decent amount."
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As Monderyn was leaving, Ahnasha laid Rhazii back down in the bed, hoping he would be able to get back to sleep. She then moved back to the foot of the bed and sat down beside Fendros and started to rub his shoulder lightly. She wanted to say more, to have something with which she could comfort him, but she had no experience or advice that she could give. All she could do was to give silent comfort in the form of her presence.
For Meesei, there was much she wanted to say, but at the moment, there was little she felt that she should say. In his current emotional state, Meesei guessed that he would need time to calm down and clear his mind. She could any advice she could think of later. "I will let you two rest, but...Fendros, if you need to talk to me, I am always here for you." She said reassuringly before leaving to return to her own room.
Kaleeth let out a relieved sigh, then reached over and set down her mace on the end table at the foot of their bed. "That is good, at least. If anyone can help, it is Meesei. I would hate it if I knew that my family didn't like me, and...I just hope things get better for them. I...will make sure I know where my mace is, for next time." Following Janius' recommendation, she returned to the bed and covered herself in the fur blanket, rolling over and almost immediately taking up more than her fair share of their bed without realizing it.
As Meesei expected, their resolution was not exactly ideal. Monderyn still could not be rid of all of his resentment for Fendros, but at least he seemed to have improved somewhat. He did not like who Fendros had become, but he could accept it, and, more importantly move on. Meesei wished she could have helped them to restore their relationship, but that did not seem possible. Their mutual goodbye would have to be enough.
"Go." Meesei answered Monderyn, stepping to the side to allow him to pass. "...and I wish you well." She added. No matter how he felt about her, she could remain civil.
---
Almost from the moment the noises in the other room awoke her and she darted up from her bed, Kaleeth had been frantically searching through her bags. It sounded like an attack, so she wanted to arm herself, but unfortunately, she was not quite as certain as she thought she was on the location of her weapon. She had to search through several bags to find it, during which time Janius walked next door much more calmly to check on the situation. By the time he returned, she was standing in the middle of the room with her mace, looking both guilty and embarrassed. "I...was too slow, wasn't I? Is everything alright?"
It was not quite accurate to say that Meesei was "pleased" about anything in this situation, but nevertheless, it was good that Fendros and Monderyn were talking. Even if arguing was a better description of their words, it was something at least. She doubted the pair would ever restore their relationship as it was before. Too much had happened to allow the pain to be forgotten, and it was not as if Fendros could convince him in to immediately give up his prejudices. Though, it was perhaps possible for Fendros to plant the seed of doubt in his mind. In any event, it might be that they would never become friendly with one another again. Certainly, it would be wonderful if they could, but Meesei was not so optimistic. Closure was what Meesei hoped they could achieve, something that would let them be at peace. Until their argument reached its conclusion, Meesei was standing ready to keep the peace, and with spells of paralyze and silence at her disposal, that was not an altogether complicated task. Currently, their volume was at a much more manageable level, so whoever else that might have heard the commotion would hopefully not find it worthwhile to investigate.
Meesei was careful to maintain her position as Janius and Sabine cracked the door to peer inside. She leaned to the left to whisper back to him, being careful to keep an eye on Monderyn. "There is no violence anymore, if that is your worry, but...only time will tell if this turns out 'okay.' Fendros is trying to talk out his issues with Monderyn. I will tell you what happens." She explained.
There was a pause in the conversation, but neither Meesei nor Ahnasha intervened. There was quite a lot Ahnasha _wanted_ to say, but she was now composed enough that she realized this was something personal for Fendros. She might find a way to help, but at the moment, all she could do was to let the Fendros and Monderyn continue to talk.
Meesei did not know why or how Monderyn found Fendros, and while him leaving was a preferable outcome to Fendros murdering him, she was not satisfied that it was the best outcome. She suspected that, once he calmed down and anger did not rule his mind, Fendros would regret giving up so soon on his brother. As well, there was the more practical issue of Monderyn knowing they were lycans, as well as where they were staying. She could not let him simply walk away so easily. She stood firm and stared him down with her arms crossed, blocking him from reaching the door. If he attempted to use force, he would find himself with far less success than he expected.
"No." Meesei said, her tone demanding attention. "You shall not pass until this is resolved. Fendros, this moment is going to follow you for the rest of your life, and I am not letting you leave it like this. There will be no more fighting, no more shouting. I will make certain of that. You are going to talk until you have an understanding." She commanded. Meesei did not expect that Monderyn and Fendros were going to suddenly become friends, not like with Llarasa, but it was not so farfetched that they might have at least a tense understanding of the other's situation.
Once Fendros started to shift back to his Dunmer form, Ahnasha walked over to the bed and set down the dagger so she could scoop up Rhazii into her arms. He was crying from all of the shouting, but now that the room was comparatively more silent, she had a chance to calm him. After Fendros told Monderyn to leave, she expected to spend the next hour or two comforting Fendros, but to her surprise, Meesei blocked him from leaving and demanded that they speak. Ahnasha did not feel that it was a good idea, but Meesei's tone showed how serious she was. In the brief silence that followed Meesei's order, Ahnasha focused her attention on Monderyn. She doubted he would listen to anything she had to say, but she supposed it wasn't impossible that he might consider a good enough argument. "Fendros has been spending months on end refining his control, and you saw what his beast is still capable of. How do you think he would have fared back then?"
Ahnasha could hardly stand to listen to Monderyn's justifications for his actions. By the reasoning he was using, Ahnasha found him frustratingly thick-headed, but her anger was nowhere near Fendros'. He seemed to be on the brink of attacking through their entire exchange, to the point that it only took one insult to cause him to snap.
As Fendros reared back for the killing blow, Ahnasha, despite her anger, still brought herself to act. She would not have shed a tear if Monderyn were to die, as it was not he that she sought to protect. Her instant reaction was instead motivated by the desire to protect Fendros. If he killed his own brother in a fit of rage, he would never forgive himself. Ahnasha stepped forward and grabbed a hold of Fendros' wrist as it was reared back behind him. She could not really stop him in this form if he was truly intent on strking, but for him to strike would require that he force his way through her. "Fendros!" She said firmly, staring into his wolfen eyes. "He is your brother. He is a thick-headed idiot with no idea what you sacrificed for him, but he is still your brother."
At the same time, several of the others had made it into the room, in varying stages of alertness. As expected, it was Meesei who was the most calm and collected, even in such a dangerous situation. She carefully closed the door behind them, then spoke in a calm, but authoritative voice. "Fendros, you need to shift back, before we attract the attention of anyone else in the building."
Perhaps she should have expected it, but nevertheless, Monderyn's sudden attack caught Ahnasha off guard. She bared her teeth at the sight of the knife, and even as it was against her throat, she intended to fight back. She was moments away from conjuring a blade of her own when Fendros intervened, with ferocious efficiency. He pinned Monderyn to the ground with no contest, as he had nowhere near the strength to overpower Fendros. As soon as Monderyn dropped his blade, Ahnasha snatched it up, being careful not to touch the metal herself.
If the attack wasn't enough, the exchange between Fendros and Monderyn only served to heighten Ahnasha's own anger. Though not as enraged as Fendros, she had no sympathies for his brother. She was not quite to the point where she was willing to kill him, but it would not take a great deal to send her there. She scowled at him, walking to the side so she could be sure he could see her. Whether or not it was her business to become involved was irrelevant to her at the moment; she was too angry to care. "You're the one who destroyed your family, fool. Fendros was the victim of an attack he could not control, he could not stop. He did not choose to leave you, but you...you chose to blame him for putting your lives above his. You chose to hurt your sister. What did Fendros do wrong?"
With the brief pause that followed, Ahnasha could hear some movement in the adjacent rooms. The commotion had awoken at least some of the others in the pack as well, and with Monderyn forcing his way into their room, they were likely not far behind.
It was easy to tell that Ahnasha was nervous when they awoke to voices down the hall. It was hard to place at first. It was shouting, obviously, but the voices were muffled, indistinct. It was Fendros who recognized them first, and with the expression on his face, his warning wasn't even necessary. They had calmed Rhazii, but the silence was brief, as it was only a few seconds later that they heard footsteps approaching to their door. Both of them got up, with Ahnasha making sure to keep Rhazii obscured under the fur blanket.
As Fendros hid himself away in the corner, Ahnasha whispered to him. "I'll...try, but I don't think this will work. He knows you're here." She warned, her tone definitely worried. She was hardly prepared to speak to Monderyn. She had no idea what to say to him if her first plan did not work, and being that they were awoken in the middle of the night, she wasn't even clothed. She slowly approached the door, making sure that her footsteps could be easily heard outside, while frantically trying to determine what exactly to say. Leaning to the side, she cracked the door ever so slightly and looked out so that only a part of her face was visible. She did her best to look and sound frightful as she spoke. "Please leave me alone. I don't know who this Fendros is, you must have the wrong room."
Alright, I'll let you move us on whenever you wish, since I don't know what the next scene entails.
Ahnasha could not be happy with what they learned, but at least the encounter ended much better than it could have. There were still far too many unresolved questions for her liking, ones that would certainly end up bothering Fendros. She returned Fendros' hug until Rhazii started whining for attention between them, at which point she pulled away to sit down on the bed with Rhazii in her lap.
"I'm sure you would have been fine, but if you were going to speak to your sister, it was probably best that she know about me. Perhaps it will make it a bit easier on her to know you have a family?" Ahnasha lifted Rhazii up to her chest, then laid down on her back and looked over out of the window at the sky above. "Why can't the sun hurry up and go down so we can get some rest. It's barely past noon" She said, letting out a fatigued sigh.
---
"That...is not actually an easy question to answer." Meesei commented. It was not too many years ago that Meesei herself would not know what advice to give, though she had learned much more about cities in that time. The pair reached the inn, but instead of going inside immediately, Meesei leaned up against the side of the building, watching the crowds bustling through the outdoor section of the market. "Well, it is not only guards you can talk to, I should say. Anyone might be helpful, but anyone, including guards, could also want to swindle you out of what you have, or worse. It is not always easy to spot someone who is corrupt. Some of them you will know are acting strange as soon as you speak to them, but others are good actors. It helps just to be reasonably cautious with everyone you do not know. Be friendly, and grateful for their help, of course, but do not take risks. If you want to be safe, I would avoid actually following someone unless you really need to. As you saw with Llarasa, some people just want to help and mean you no harm. Actually, I would say _most_ people are like that, but there are some people who may try to lead you somewhere alone to rob you, or even worse than that. It is best to start out by just asking people for directions, and only ask for someone to guide you if that does not work. As for who to ask, guards are a good option, as I said. Beyond that, I would stick to people who you can see have jobs: dock workers, merchants, and so on. Anyone who has an honest, paying job will be less risky."
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