EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha rubbed the top of Rhazii's head once more. "Maybe, it depends on what Shevari is cooking. I suppose it will be a surprise for us all." She answered before climbing out of bed herself. Once they were all dressed, they headed out into the dining room to join the rest of the family.

The morning was far less tense than the previous night, though Ahnasha could not shake her nerves. Through breakfast, she worried constantly about accidentally saying something to contradict the story they had conjured the previous night. Small details were likely to go unnoticed, or could be explained away, but it would only take one significant misstep to unravel the narrative they had created. Otherwise, it was a pleasant breakfast, cooked with all of the quality they had come to expect from Shevari.

The ship was leaving in the afternoon, so they did have about six or so hours to spend with Ahnasha's family. Shevari did have to leave after a few hours, but both her parents and her brother remained with them the entire day. They even closed the shop for the day so as to be able to give as much attention to them as possible. Fortunately, they did not have to expand their lie too greatly; they only had to give a few more details about their shop and describe their friends. For the latter, no lies were required, as they needed only describe their own pack in vague enough terms to leave out the lycanthropy. Fendros was also able to learn more about Ahnasha's parents, and their lives in Leyawiin. Once they had moved past the topic of Ahnasha's false life, she was able to enjoy the time with her family. Her father even only shared a single embarrassing childhood story about her, regarding the time when she mistook a freshly-hatched mudcrab for a seashell.

Eventually, the time drew near that they would have to return to the ship. They had not been given an exact hour of departure, so unfortunately, they had to be back sooner rather than later. Knowing this, everyone began to gather in the main room of the shop for their final goodbyes. S'nashi emerged from the back room carrying a single tiger lily in her hand. Her usual ritual was to place the tiger lily at the base of the candlestick on the mantle, and to ensure that the candle was lit. This time, however, she approached the fireplace with a smile on her face. For the first time in nine years, she took the engraved silver candlestick off of the mantle, then handed it to Fendros.

"I do not think we will be needing this anymore." S'nashi commented. For Ahnasha, she took the tiger lily and gently pushed its stem through her fur, just above her ear. "I know not everything about this has been pleasant, but I am glad that the three of you came to us yesterday. I feel like I am finally at peace."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I think I may bring us to the point where they are getting ready to get back to the ship. Everything that needed to happen happened the previous night.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha chuckled at Fendros' sudden clumsiness. "I know, I know, it was just...interesting, is all." She said with a smirk. Leaning forward, she gave him a quick kiss. "Don't worry about it too much; it's not like we could invite our parents to a wedding."

Turning back around, Ahnasha carefully climbed into the bed so as not to wake Rhazii. She pulled the fur blanket over herself and moved as far over on the bed as possible to make room for Fendros. It was not a double bed, so it would be rather cramped. "Let's just try to get some sleep. Tomorrow, Hircine willing, will hopefully not be nearly as difficult as today."

---

For Ahnasha, the night was as restful as a lycan could reasonably expect. She did awake once to a nightmare, but it was nothing related to the trauma she and Fendros had been seeing Najira for. It was simply a nightmare brought on by her beast blood. She awoke for good early in the morning to a knock at the door, followed by her brother's voice.

"Sorry to wake you, but I figured you wouldn't want to oversleep today. Shevari is about to start breakfast." Vasiq said loudly through the door.

Ahnasha yawned and stretched out her muscles as she sat up in the bed. "Thank you, brother. We'll be out soon." She answered before turning to Rhazii, who had also been awoken by the knocking. She rubbed her hand across his forehead and smiled. "Sleep well, Ma'rhazii?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha sighed. "I don't know, honestly. I am glad to be able to see them, I just hope I'm not causing even more pain in the future. I'm hoping I really am right about hiding the truth. I'm doing the best I can, and making the decisions I think are right, but only time will tell if I'm correct in it all. It could be that we're both wrong about everything.

Shaking her head, Ahnasha stood up and walked over to the corner of the room to get undressed. "At least we don't have to leave first thing tomorrow morning. I can have time for proper goodbyes. I'm going to try to avoid talking about this 'life' of ours as much as possible, and try to keep the topic on them. Just in case, let's make sure we stay together the whole time so there are no contradictions." Pausing a moment, Ahnasha walked over and hugged Fendros tightly. This whole day would not have been possible were it not for his willingness to go out of his way for her benefit, and no matter how it turned out, she knew he did it all just to help her. "And thank you, for everything. I love you, Fendros. I love everything about you."

Once Ahnasha released him, she sat down once again on the side of the bed, at which point a thought crossed her mind: something that had occurred to her before, but was not appropriate to bring up. "By the way...you told them we were married?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha still could not bring herself to make eye contact with Fendros, so she kept her eyes facing straight ahead as she answered. "I don't think my brother will be any different. We're just going to have to make sure we're always the ones doing the visiting instead of them. I mean, Leyawiin may still be in Cyrodiil, but it is on the exact opposite side of the province as Bruma. That is not a journey you just make on a whim, or unannounced. They can't just go on long journeys like we can; they have to tend to their business. As for Rhazii..."

Ahnasha turned her head towards her son, who was sleeping just behind her on the bed. At his age, he wouldn't understand the real reasons for anything they were doing. It was fortunate that he had been obedient thusfar and said nothing to counter what they had told her parents. They had drilled rather strongly into his mind that he should not mention transforming in public, so the concept of keeping something like that hidden was not new to him. "We'll just tell him that the things we said were to hide the fact that we can transform. He does understand that, so he can understand this at least well-enough. Maybe he won't understand why we lied, but he knows not to speak up about it."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha responded in a low whisper, perhaps even quieter than necessary. Even though her parents' room was all the way down the hall, she spoke as if they were standing right outside the door. "I know, I know, but you don't know them like I do Fendros. They're very devout followers of the Eight. Unless something has changed, they're in the temple every Sundas, and hardly associate with anyone who isn't. And, by how they spoke earlier, I don't think anything is different from before. We are the result of a Daedra's influence; there is no way they would see us as anything but monsters. Abominations. They would probably want to have me caged up until they could find a 'cure,' or some nonsense. They wouldn't be able to do that, but you get the point. They would disown me for sure, and at that point, I would rather they just think I'm dead."

Admittedly, Ahnasha was making a lot of guesses as to how her family would react. But, at the very least, she had little reason to believe that they would accept her. "Look, we can do this, I know we can. They don't have to know. Let's just...write down what we've said so far, to keep the story straight. Once we're back in Bruma, we can just exchange letters, and they won't have to know."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'll probably be getting to bed soon. Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Shevari smiled. "Oh, it is no trouble. I always enjoy cooking for family." She answered. Ahnasha too found herself quite satisfied, as it had been quite a while since she had eaten a well-made Khajiit meal, or had anything to drink but nordic mead, for that matter. Although, she suspected she would have plenty of opportunities for that once they were in Elsweyr. At any rate, she was quick to thank Shevari as well.

As Vasiq volunteered to handle their plates and cutlery, Ahnasha's parents finally stood up from their seats. As much as they wanted to spend yet more time with their daughter, they had been eating by candlelight for a while now. Ahnasha's arrival had delayed their dinner, so it was well-after dark by this point. It was about time for all of them to retire for the night. Shevari was the first to decide it was time to take her leave.

"It has been nice meeting you all, but I should get home now. I've already been out later than usual. Have a good night." She said, which was followed by farewells from everyone else.

S'nashi glanced over to the window and let out a sigh at the darkness outside their home. "I suppose it is time for all of us to get to bed. You can all use Vasiq's old room for the night. He now lives in what is soon to be his restaurant. The room may not be cleaned up at the moment, but we never took out the bed."

"Thank you, mother." Ahnasha responded. She walked up to her mother and gave her a hug, followed by her father. "Have a good night. I promise I will try to stay as long as I can tomorrow."

Eventually, everyone retired to their rooms for the night. Vasiq's old room was down the hall from her parents', and as her mother had said, it had not been cleaned in a while. The bed was disorderly, and there were a few small crates that indicated it would probably end up becoming a storage room over time. Nevertheless, it was more than they could have asked for on such short notice, and certainly more comfortable than their accommodations back on the ship. Ahnasha took a seat on the bed and breathed out a sigh of relief. Overall, the day could have gone much worse than it did, though it was obviously not perfect. The lies she had told could cause problems if they were not careful. She had no intention of bringing that topic up herself at the moment, but she had a feeling that Fendros would be.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gwindir shook his head. "My wife is, but I am not. I am from Valenwood, originally. My parents were not the most traditional of Bosmer, and their efforts to raise me into the Green Pact were half-hearted at best. They did raise me under Y'ffre and the rest of the Bosmeri pantheon, but it only took coming to Leyawiin for me to see the light of the Divines. We've both been traders most of our lives. It was business that brought us together, and love that has kept us together."

S'nashi chimed in afterwards, her eyes glancing around at the building itself. "This shop was originally my parents'. They passed it on to me about ten years before they passed, and I ran it alone for a short time before we married. I had intended to pass it on to my children originally, but, well, my husband will still be able to run it even when our grandchildren have grown old. I have decided to leave it in his hands."

The conversation continued back and forth for a short while before the last of the dishes Shevari was cooking finally finished. One by one, she brought out plates with a wide variety of foods. For Ahnasha and Rhazii, there were two sweetfish fillets, along with a bowl of Elsweyr fondue and caramel pudding that Ahnahsa could portion out appropriately for him. Both Shevari and Vasiq had a dish that Ahnasha could not quite identify just by looking at it, but she knew she recognized it from Morrowind. Gwindir's meal was simply a steak with sides of carrots and corn, and for both S'nashi and Fendros, there was a Dunmer-styled meal. As Shevari had said, she did not have any ash yams, but the potatoes she brought to them smelled almost identical to one. She did, however, have scrib jelly as a topping, with a side of scrib jerky. For drinks, there were the options of water, red or white wine, or canis root tea.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I am trying to remember if Ahnasha's parents are actually locals of Leyawiin.