EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei smiled, then crossed her arms in feigned disappointment. "Well, if you cannot decide amongst yourselves, then clearly the best choice is just to rotate who gets the bed. Barring any surprise injuries, I will forego my turns in the bed. Although, if too much trouble comes of it...I may just give one of the beds to Leaps."

Meesei went into the starboard room with Leaps in tow. Naturally, the captain was not particularly comfortable having the wamasu on board, but they had paid a fair price for his passage, and Meesei had assured him that Leaps would not be leaving their rooms unsupervised. Kaleeth, of course, remained with Janius and found a place for her belongings in the port room with him and Newt. Ahnasha decided to go with the room in the stern, partially because it gave her and Fendros a better chance at the bed than if she picked the room with Kaleeth and Janius. Lorag, who did not actually care much about his accommodations, selected the stern room seemingly at random. Irenya, once she saw how the others were dividing themselves. rather quickly selected the same room as Kaleeth and Janius. Pieter brought his belongings into the starboard room; although, despite having been with the pack for a few weeks, he still seemed somewhat nervous as sharing a room with the Champion.

Overall, Meesei's pack was reasonably comfortable with the voyage, as they had been at sea three years ago for even longer than this journey was expected to take. They knew what to expect, apart from Newt and Rhazii, as he had been too young at the time to understand. Irenya too did not seem to be bothered. Given how long she had lived, she had likely been on such a voyage before. Uthri had never sailed, but she did not seem to be bothered by it. Pieter, however, was somewhat nervous. After everyone was situated in their rooms, he approached Tzirret and Sabine. "So...what do you think about all of this? You think this will be fun, relaxing, or boring enough to make us rip our hair out?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

So I may have written the traveling part of the post in the downtime. I never really like writing travel, I always like to get it out of the way.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Somewhat reluctantly, the packs began work on moving their camp for the night. They gathered their supplies from the carriages and packed away the rest of the camp. In the process, Meesei made sure to find a moment where she was not being watched to go through the caravan driver’s store of coins to take back the fee they had paid to take the journey, plus everything the driver had beforehand. Even Meesei found it distasteful, but there was no sense in leaving the coin with the carriages.

In addition to untying and escorting their prisoner to their new camp, they also had to transport Leaps. He could walk, but Irenya advised that he should rest as much as possible. Fortunately, Kaleeth, in her werecrocodile form, could carry the juvenile wamasu with ease.

The packs did not need to set up camp too far from the original one, so they lost only under two hours of sleep. The next morning, they awoke early to attempt to make up some time they would lose by traveling on foot. The sun had barely risen when they finished their breakfast and were ready to get moving. Deciding that she would rather not be executed, they left their prisoner unarmed and alone. If she cared enough about it, she could return to the site of the attack to bury her friends.

Once back on the road, the pack moved at a reasonable pace towards the Imperial City. Both Irenya and Meesei paid special attention to Leaps as they traveled, since he was having to walk once more. Overall, he seemed to be doing fine, but both healers checked on him periodically. Aside from caring for Leaps, the rest of the journey was thankfully not eventful. They arrived in Weye by the afternoon, then headed into the Imperial City itself with hours of daylight still remaining. Immediately, Meesei brought them to the docks and began her search for a vessel which would take them to Senchal. She expected it would take her quite some time to locate a vessel, if she was even able to find one that day, but it seemed that fortune had favored her in her search. She found a Bosmer captain who was returning to Valenwood and was willing to take them on board and make a brief stop in Senchal, since it was a port on the way. He was leaving the next morning, so the price of passage was made more expensive by the fact that he had to make arrangements for passengers on short notice, but since Meesei had been able to recuperate their losses for the journey to the Imperial City, the price did not matter.

The packs spent the night in the waterfront district to save on gold then made for the docks at the break of dawn. The ship was smaller than the last vessel Meesei’s pack had been aboard, but they were also the only passengers. According to the captain, they would actually have three rooms between them, not that any room aboard a ship could be considered “spacious.” It would still likely be cramped, particularly since Leaps would have to stay in one of the rooms as well.

The packs boarded as some last minute cargo was being loaded onto the vessel. Once Meesei finalized the payment, a particularly short Bosmer crew member led them down to the bottom deck and to their rooms. All three were near one another, with two being across from one another on the sides of the ship, and the third between them at the stern. Each room contained little more than three hammocks, which had likely been set up the previous night, and a double bed that appeared significantly more comfortable. Now, it was just a matter of deciding who would be in what rooms, and in what beds.

“Hmm, so how do we decide who gets the nice beds? My vote goes to an archery tournament.” Ahnasha joked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei shook her head towards Gallus. "I too like to provide aid to others when I can, but in this case, I believe your charity may be misplaced. Remember, anything she says could be a lie, and her actions thusfar have not inspired confidence. Although, as you say, I do not believe her to be a threat either. A thief is not going to go to the guard, and I highly doubt she would follow us all the way to Chorrol." Meesei answered. She lied about their destination only because the bandit was listening, and she was potentially going to be set free.

"Regardless, I do not care whether she lives or dies. Were she infected, my answer might change, but I do not find it safe to render that form of aid. If, by morning, no one has decided to kill her, she may live, but we will not be giving her aid." Meesei decided.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When we get to the point of moving on, I think I'll move us to the point where we are boarding the ship, unless you want to do something before then. There really isn't much that would happen before then, as there wouldn't be time to enjoy the city or anything. Plus, I am rather looking forward to getting to Leyawiin.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It was about half an hour after she left that Meesei walked back into camp, alone. By that point, the pack had searched the bodies of the bandits and recovered anything useful, and were now gathered near the fire. The sun had already set a few minutes prior, so they had only the fire and starlight as sources of light. Leaps was at least stable, with the arrow having been removed and the bleeding halted. However, Irenya maintained that she would need to keep checking on him periodically, and recommended that he be allowed to rest for a while.

Meesei approached the fire, though she did not sit down with the others. "I was able to find them, but there is no dissuading them from their views. I know that none of you likely want to go anywhere at the moment, but it would likely be best for us to gather our supplies and move on from their carriages. It is quite evident that they do not wish to be around us. It will take longer, but we should still be able to reach the Imperial City tomorrow, even on foot." Meesei explained. She did not lie explicitly, but she decided not to tell the others that she had slain both the caravan driver and her son to prevent them from warning the Legion. She had not wanted to kill them, but what they knew was potentially dangerous enough to end their mission before it could start, or even bring harm to her pack. However, she was not sure if the others would understand why it was necessary, so it was best that they not know. She was willing to do anything for the protection of her pack, no matter how difficult it became.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It was difficult to tell if the woman was even listening for much of Gallus' little speech. Despite his power over her life, she did not much seem to care about his mission, nor who he thought she was affiliated with. She also did not seem to give much attention to his offer, or at least, she did not give a reaction to the possibility of mercy.

"Right, I'm sure you can just give me a better life. I'm sure you can make crops grow, or erase debts. I'm dead no matter what you do to me, beast. Just...let me go if you really want. I'll bury my friends, then...I don't know, probably dig another grave for myself." She answered, her tone surprisingly matter-of-fact about it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Alright, I'll just take out that last part and put it in when you're ready.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The bandit sat with her head lowered, offering no resistance to the ropes binding her. The signs of depression were painted all across her face, along with a hint of pain from her leg wound. There was a delay of a few seconds after Gallus' question before she looked up at him. "Does it really matter? I know it looked like you had a lot of supplies, and at least one or two of you are apparently werewolves or something."

The woman paused a moment, her gaze drifting towards the bodies of her dead allies. Tears started to form within her eyes before she closed them and looked to the ground. "Nothing matters anymore."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Although the two drivers had a head-start, Meesei could run faster, and for longer. As well, it seemed that the pair had not counted on a lycan’s tracking ability, because they had stopped to catch their breath a few minutes after getting out of sight. Meesei was silent as she approached, so by the time they spotted her, she was too close for them to be able to run away effectively.

The Nord woman stood between Meesei and her son protectively, though her only weapon was a small dagger. “You…you’re all werewolves, aren’t you? I saw those beasts on the shore; I recognize them from the stories. Just…get away from us, you monster!” She shouted, waving her dagger at Meesei.

“We have no desire to harm you; either of you. There has been ample opportunity throughout our journey for us to kill you, but we have not. We just want to get to…” Meesei began, but she was cut off when the Nord began to shout once more.

“No! I’m not believing your lies! The tales say you can turn us into one of those monsters; I’m not trusting you for a second. The Legion will slay all of you beasts!” She yelled defiantly.

Meesei had seen such stubbornness before. Particularly among Nords, tradition was important, so all of those stories she had heard about lycans would be far more important to her than anything Meesei could say. She would not be dissuaded, and more importantly, it seemed like she intended to alert the Legion.

Adopting a more firm, threatening stance, Meesei glared at the Nord. “So you intend to alert the Imperial City guard about what we are?”

The Nord stepped back, suddenly realizing the mistake she had just made. “No, no, I’m not…I won’t…I just want you all to get away from us. We won’t tell the Legion…”

“No.” Meesei interrupted. “I do not believe you. You see myself and my family as monsters for just being what we are. I believe that, the moment you are away from us, you will tell the guard everything. You know who we are, where we are going, and where we came from. You are going to attempt to hurt my family, and I will not let that happen.”

---

Pieter, again, had a hard time finding the right words. He was just as shaken as Sabine by the whole affair, though he did not have as strong of a connection to Leaps as she did. The wamasu was a rather large and tough creature; surely with Irenya's healing, he would be able to recover? Since the arrow had not been immediately lethal, it did give him hope that was the case. It meant that Irenya would have ample opportunity to mend the damaged flesh.

Seeing Sabine in such a state, and the thoughts of what might have happened, brought a few tears to Pieter's eyes as well, though he tried to hold them back. Letting out a deep breath, he hugged Sabine. "It was...too close. Leaps will be fine, I know it. Irenya is the best healer I know."

Newt had not seen everything as clearly as Rhazii, so he was more confused than frightened. For Ahnasha, however, she was trying to do what she could to calm Rhazii. She held him close to try and allow him to be comforted by his mother's embrace. Although, at his age, calming his fears was not as simple as it used to be. "Only the bad people were burned, and the fire is gone now. If you want, we can go back in the water; no fire will ever get you there."

After some time of silence, the bandit leader just started shaking her head. "it was not supposed to be a fight. We were just meant to get in, get some things, and get out. There was an opportunity; we had to take it. No one was supposed to die."