EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Vilana shook her head. "No, but there's a rumor that she's very powerful. People can be afraid of those who can easily outmatch them. Some distrust her because she's Argonian, and others just see her as being far above themselves. For some people, especially ones who are really devout to Hircine, seeing his Champion is like seeing the Mane, or a better analogy for you, seeing the Emperor. There is fear in talking to someone like that. You're around her all the time, so you're used to it, but the Champion is second only to Hircine himself: the one who we all serve. Whether people think good or ill of her, they're not going to be able to just carry on a normal conversation with her."

Peiter had followed Sabine's instructions skeptically, but as accurately as he could. To have simple grains make a magical potion was hard to believe. It was not until the mixture he was making suddenly shifted into a green color that his eyes widened, still in disbelief. How could it be possible that something he had eaten his entire life, something that most people ate throughout their lives, could have magical properties. What was left over of the dough hardly looked edible, while the liquid had the familiar look of a stamina potion.

Once finished, Peiter held the bottle up against the light to get a better look at the liquid within. "Unbelievable." He said, with his mouth slightly agape. After a few moments, he turned his head to Sabine and raised his brow. "Hmm...how do I know this isn't an illusion? Like when you tricked me into thinking you were about to burn a hole in my stomach." He spoke with a measure of satisfaction in his voice, as if he had uncovered her scheme before it was finished.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Yeah, I'm about to go to bed, goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Vilana gave a nod. "He's still alive, yes. He has been too old to fight for a while now, so he made it out alive. His name is Ri'nakhad, and he has been our leader for as long as I've been a part of the clan. As I said, he trusts the Champion, so I wouldn't expect trouble from him. One or two of his lieutenants, maybe, but not him. As for me, I, uh, I don't think I want to bother the Champion. I'm sure she has much more important matters to deal with than to worry what I think." She answered, with a hint of nervousness in her expression. It was almost as if she was afraid of the idea of speaking to Meesei.

"I think you're underestimating yourself, honestly." Peiter responded. "Thirty years sounds like a very long time for someone with your talent, and I'm not just saying that because it's you. You're only eighteen years of age, but you're at the very least an expert in the craft. Not to mention, you have connections. Bruma is a central location in Tamriel, and our clan is basically the center of all of the clans. And, your alpha is the Champion herself. If you want to get an ingredient, I'm pretty sure she can get it for you. All you have to do is ask."

When Sabine showed Peiter handfulls of wheat and corn, he gave her a look almost as if she were mad. To say he was confused would have been an understatement. "Corn and wheat? I mixed corn and wheat plenty of times back at home, but I never got any sort of magic out of it. Are you trying to play a joke on me or something? Saying it is true, what do you actually do to it to get it to be magical? It would have to be more than just crushing it together."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"The Champion herself?" Vilana said, obviously still surprised. "That's a bit hard to believe, honestly. The Champion has been leading the war effort from Cyrodiil for so long, I figured that was where she was needed. If you're telling the truth, then I'm not really sure what to think. There are so many rumors that go around about her, I don't really know what is true. Her reputation is almost larger than life. Some people look up to her as a hero, others think she has somehow deceived everyone. I'll be honest, I don't really know what to think. I suppose Hircine picks his Champion for a reason. Our clan leader trusts her, but I won't lie, some people may not like her."

Peiter nodded in response to Sabine. "Well, you'd be right, mostly. I think most people want to at least try to become a master of what they're good at. It's not just swordsmanship that interests me, though, but close quarters fighting in general. Swordsmanship has that certain...nobility to it, but I can't deny how effective polearms are. They're weapons of war for a reason. Reach is just such a great advantage. What about you, though? You've been studying alchemy most of your life, haven't you; what else is left for you to learn? How long do you think it would take to be considered a master? Would you say that anyone else in your pack is a master of anything?" He asked. All the while, he was paying close attention to what she was trying to make. Although, just as before, he did not have much of a concept of what she was trying to create. Given what she was starting with, he wondered if he had a bad smell about him.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, it's good that we at least know where we can find our enemy." Vilana responded, though as soon as Uthri had finished speaking, she took on a curious expression and seemed to be in thought. After a few moments' pause, she leaned forward with a furrowed brow. "But you said...Meesei would fill me in? That's the name of Hircine's Champion, is it not?"

Peiter's reaction mirrored Sabine's. The fear that they had once again been ambushed by Vile's minions had hit him as soon as he saw the group approaching from up in the tree, but now that they were pretty much certain that they were allies, he felt an even greater relief. Not only would they not have to search any longer, but they finally had their answer on what happened to the Senchal clan. Despite what happened, they had at least survived. With her suggestion, Peiter nodded. "I suppose so. There isn't much else we can do but pass the time until everyone returns, I suppose." He began before putting his free arm around her shoulders. "And it would be interesting to see the master at work."

Quickly looking down to Rhazii, Peiter took on a more sympathetic expression. "You think you'll feel safe with Newt and Leaps, little one?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Vilana seemed genuinely surprised when Uthri explained the plan. She shifted uncomfortably in place as she looked around at the camp. "You want to move the clan, and all the way to Orcrest? That's, um...well that's going to be really tall order, honestly. I don't see the Clan Leader agreeing to that, but I suppose you'll have to speak with him yourself. My pride are just patrols, and we will do as our leader instructs. But...you said that Vile's fortress is near Corinthe? We were starting to send scouts in that direction before the attack. My pride was one of them. How did you learn their location?"

Among Vilana's pride, most of them accepted and thanked Sabine for the food she offered. While she was walking around, Peiter closed his eyes and breathed slowly. He focused on the conversations around him, rather than the urge to hunt that his beast spirit was giving him. After a minute or so, he felt that the change would be coming on shortly, so he briefly pulled his arm from Rhazii as his body shifted back into his Human form. Though, he made sure to grab his hand again quickly once he was back to help keep him comfortable.

Peiter waited in place until Sabine returned from passing out the meat, so as not to leave the children alone. "We still have most of the day before the others are expected back. What do you think we should do for now?" He asked.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

Once the shuttle diverted towards the planet’s surface, it would only be approximately ten minutes before they would be landing at the temporary settlement. The interceptors remained close alongside the shuttle in case they were threatened by enemy fighters. Although, Avatar’s scans of the enemy fleet did not indicate that they had been detected. Or, if they had, they were not giving a response to the escaping shuttle. Based on Avatar’s scans of the enemy frigates, they were venting heat at a level consistent with what it would expect within ten minutes of the end of heavy usage. As such, it could predict with 73% certainty that the engagement between the two fleets had ended shortly before their departure from the station.

At first, the three ships headed towards the surface at a steep angle in order to get deeper into the atmosphere, which would reduce the ability of the enemy fleet to detect their heat signatures. However, once, they were in the lower stratosphere, they redirected their course to take them straight to the temporary settlement. The areas which they were flying over were not heavily populated, but even so, they remained within the clouds whenever possible in order to reduce their visual signature as well. At the high speeds at which they were traveling, it only took five more minutes before they started to slow to an approach velocity and radioed ahead to the settlement. There was no response from the settlement at first, but once Avatar transmitted the identification code it had been given as a diplomat on the mission, they were cleared for landing.

The settlement itself was small, and consisted entirely of prefabricated structures placed in a cleared section of a temperate forest. According to Avatar’s records, it had 127 inhabitants, including security personnel. Most of the settlers had a role in preparing the planet for the larger planned colonization, such as botanists, geologists, surveyors, and the remaining diplomats who had not been in attendance in the meeting aboard the space station. Unfortunately, the settlement was not heavily defended, as it was meant to rely primarily on the fleet for protection at this early stage of colonization.

All of the settlement’s landing pads were currently occupied when the three ships arrived, so they were directed to land in a cleared area of the forest a few meters outside the main settlement, along with several other shuttles and other vehicles of various classifications. There were Turian, Human, and Quarian shuttles, some of which were military models, which suggested that at least some other ships had managed to escape from the battle above.

Once they had landed, Avatar transferred itself back into its platform within the shuttle. The Geth seemed to spark back to life suddenly, then lifted itself back to its feet just as the shuttle’s ramp was being lowered. Once it was, it revealed four Turian soldiers, all with their rifles trained on the shuttle’s passengers. However, it only took seeing the uniforms of the Humans and the Cabal for them to recognize that they were allies.

“They’re clear, stand down.” One of the Turian’s ordered, prompting them all to lower their weapons. Behind the soldiers, Avatar could see a veritable swarm of activity in and around the settlement. Soldiers and settlers alike seemed to be stripping the settlement bare and loading anything they could into both ground and air vehicles.

The Turian stepped forward and looked into the shuttle. “A passenger shuttle; good, we’ll need it.” He said, more to himself than anyone. “Apologies for the rush, but as you can see, we’re evacuating the settlement. Twenty-five minutes until we leave. If you have any spare room in there, we have settlers in need of transport. We’re trying to bring as many supplies as we can, so we need all the space we can get. Do you have any wounded aboard? We still have spare medical supplies, for now.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Vilana let out a sigh, then sat down in a more relaxed position. "Desperate, overall. If, um, Sajira's pride is from the clan, then you probably already know the first part of the story. We were attacked and lost about two thirds of our number. Some captured, many killed. Our leader ordered our evacuation. We took as many supplies as we could and headed west. We went as far and as fast as possible to keep from being tracked. We ended up going most of the way to Torval before we reached the outpost we're using now. Apparently, it was a secret outpost not used by normal patrols, so we knew that the enemy didn't know about it. We're surviving out here, but that's about it. We've been staying as hidden as possible and have kept contact with the outside at a minimum. We can't afford detection by Vile at this point. We've been trying to build up our reserves of supplies again, but that's about all we've accomplished. If you can get us some actual reinforcements, we might be able to change that."

Newt hid himself behind Leaps for protection, just as he would have to his mother or father had they been present. Peiter sat up straight in attempt to appear strong to help keep the children calm, while also trying to avoid appearing aggressive towards this new pride. He looked over to Uthri and the pride's leader, then gave a nod to Sabine. "We probably shouldn't interrupt, but if they're going to be here a while, we probably should. I'm not sure how much we have left, honestly, but I guess we'll be heading back to their clan after everyone is back. Hopefully, it's a cooler place than this. This fur awful in this heat; I need to hurry and shift back. Just need to calm down a little more."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Imperial woman motioned to her allies to lower their weapons, then approached the camp more calmly. With Uthri's word, Peiter also climbed down to the ground carefully and released the children from his grasp. There was still some tension in the air from the circumstances of their meeting, but the threat of violence seemed to have passed. The Imperial knelt down next to the crude map Uthri was sketching and looked it over. "Hmm, seems like you're covering a wide area. You must have a large group here. It's hard to tell exactly, but I think you might have found us in a day or two. It would probably take too long to try to track all of these search parties down, so if you don't mind, I think I'll have my pride wait here until they return. My pride will be a few hours overdue by that point, but it will take longer than that for anyone to be alarmed. Anyway, my name is Vilana, and I am the leader of this pride. I hope your search party is coming with reinforcements, because we're going to need them."

Peiter, as usual, sat down beside Sabine, still in his beast form. Their beast spirits typically did not like transforming back and forth on a whim, so it would take a while to calm himself and shift back. "Well, armed standoff aside, at least we found them. Or, they found us. I guess we just wait now?" He commented to her.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Khajiit thought heavily for a few more moments before his expression showed some recognition. "That...does sound familiar, yes. She has a Bosmer daughter and married a Suthay-raht, yes? This one thinks he remembers hearing about one of the higher ranking prides in the clan having someone like that. They didn't make it with us when we were first attacked. Is her name...S'aritha...S'ajara, something like that?"

It was not exactly right, but S'ajira felt it was close enough. The Khajiit had managed to give details of her life that the enemy would not have known, so it seemed like he and the others were likely from the clan. S'ajira relaxed her body, then looked up at Uthri and nodded.

The Imperial still stood cautiously, but her tone was less confrontational than before. "Can you trust us now? If it is not one of you, I would like to meet whoever it is that leads you. Are the 'others' you are searching with nearby?"