EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei did not expect that the memory of Fendros' "death" was pleasant in any sense, but at the very least, Calia now had the knowledge that Fendros was perfectly safe to temper the pain of recalling it. Regardless, she was quick to move on from the topic. "If Fendros ever decides that he wants to explore learning magic again, I will certainly be willing to teach him. There are ways to train an atronach without relying on potions. They absorb beneficial spells from outside sources just as much as they do harmful ones. In that way, an instructor can regenerate the magicka of an atronach pupil manually. As for myself, I was originally trained by my father, ever since I could form memories. He was what my people call a Treeminder. It is a title that holds slightly different meanings in different villages, but in mine, he was a magical and spiritual leader. I was to be his replacement, so he trained me all his life. After he died, I did take his place, though that was only for a short time before I came to Hircine. Ever since then, I have been studying into the higher mysteries of magic on my own. It is a passion of mine. My father always told me that I was particularly in tune with the arcane, and while that could be attributed to parental bias, I have learned more in a shorter time than most."

Meesei gave a shrug, also following Ahnasha's trend of useless physical expressions. "I was able to become Hircine's Champion, the leader of all of his followers across Tamriel, and beyond. Among lycans, strength is what grants the right to leadership, and I can be challenged by any lycan for my title. Theoretically, at least, I am the most powerful lycan in Tamriel. Whether or not that is true depends on if there is a more powerful lycan out there that I simply have not met."

"Teach it to hunt, obviously." Ahnasha answered fairly quickly. "I imagine it is much easier to track prey from the sky, so if I could train a bird right, then I'd never lose my prey. And it could probably catch small creatures too. It would be better than a housecat in every way, really. Unfortunately, I never had any real idea of how to tame or train animals. There were no beast taming books passing through my parents' store. One time I captured a young mudcrab and tried to tame it, but that lasted only a few weeks. It nearly pinched off my finger, so I ate it."

Ahnasha happened to be referring to the finger she had lost years ago, and when she raised up her hand and looked at the where it once was, she gave an amused huff. "Maybe the little beast put a curse on it."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei shook her head. "I wish Hircine could give us such knowledge, but unfortunately, he is not a Daedra who peers into the future. No, I believe Hircine saw his potential by observing him in the moment. He knows the marks of a skilled hunter, naturally. What Fendros accomplished, killing a werewolf alone in close combat, is no small feat. Now, I can give my judgment of his potential based on my own experiences with him. Overall, he is a fast learner. With the training of Ahnasha, Lorag, and several others, he has become quite the skilled archer, and is talented with a blade. He can hunt as well as any of us, despite not having been a lycan for as long. I believe that if he truly dedicates himself to a task, he will accomplish it. Being an atronach, I would say that he also has the potential to be a powerful mage, but he has never shown a real interest in magic, to my knowledge. At the very least, he is more resistant to magic than the average person."

After thinking about her own explanation for a few moments, another thought came into Meesei's mind. "I have a question, actually. Given the scene you found with the werewolf, but without Fendros' body, did you suspect the truth of what happened?"

Aside from hunting animals, Ahnasha was actually rather fond of pets. Or at least, some types of pets. Looking between the two brothers, Ahnasha gave a shrug. "Eh, personally, cats have always annoyed me. I'll concede that they can be useful if they kill vermin, but they are just so lazy most of the time. You never really get the feeling that a housecat actually cares about its owner, like a dog does. It's even worse when you have a cat that is just pampered by its owner; then they don't even kill rats. You certainly can't train them to do much of anything. I remember when I was a cub. I wanted to tame a bird of some kind; I had all sorts of ideas in my head of what I could train it to do." Ahnasha explained, not seeing any form of irony in any of her words.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei did not appear bothered in the slightest by Calia's turn of phrase. Intent meant much more to her than anything else. Otherwise, Lorag would offend her rather frequently. "Yes, I still remember that day rather clearly. It happened before I became Champion, but I have always had a strong connection with Hircine, ever since I first became one of his followers. He visited me in a dream, instructed me to search for your son. Daedra, as I am sure you know, have only limited power in Tamriel, but they do bear at least some connection to their own creations. Not enough to control them, but enough to be aware of them. I believe Hircine knew what that feral lycan who attacked Fendros had done, and he saw something in him. Potential. You see, your son, by himself, had killed the werewolf that ambushed him, but he was badly wounded and quickly infected. Enough of the lycan's blood found its way into his body that he transformed that very night. I tracked him down the next morning and found him unconscious. Lycans regenerate quickly, and can survive wounds that would kill a normal person, so he would have survived, but I healed him regardless. I took him to my pack, explained what happened to the best of my knowledge, and explained to him what he was. Naturally, he was hesitant to trust us at first, but he understood that he could not return to his old life."

"Wamasu are said to have 'lightning for blood.'" Ahnasha added. "I'm...pretty sure that's just metaphorical, but it is an apt one. There's actually not a lot written about them, but from what I know, their whole bodies can become electrified when they're threatened. They're more massive than a daedroth as adults, but it will be a while before Leaps is near that size. Plenty of time for plenty of training. As long as he continues learning as well as he has, we'll have a pretty tough protector on our side. Better than any pet I wanted as a cub, I would say." She said with a chuckle.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gave a curious look at Calia after her rather forward request. Though, at least Calia herself acknowledged it. "Ah, so Ahnasha has informed you of my position. I assume she has not been too specific, so I may be able to clarify some things, if you have any questions. Obviously, you must know of my Ring and its importance. Here, you can look...or, I suppose you will need to actually touch it."

Meesei extended her hand forward, gently touching Calia's to let her know where it was. She was perfectly fine with allowing Calia to inspect the ring while she was wearing it, though Meesei did not like to actually remove her ring unless she had a very good reason.

Ahnasha, meanwhile, took a seat next to Fendros, and by the time she had settled in, had picked up on what the others were discussing. She wished they had Leaps with them to show to Monderyn, but it likely would not have been wise to bring him into the temple. "Luckily, Leaps isn't too electric yet. At least, he doesn't shock people all the time. Every one in a while, you'll get a pretty big static shock from touching him, but as long as you're holding on to him, it doesn't seem to happen. Maybe once he gets older, he'll actually be able to control it better."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Were she closer to him, Meesei would have given Rhazii a pat on the back. "Indeed. I am sure you will find other forms of competition over time, something more fair." She commented before turning her attention back to the brothers. "And both of them are going to have Leaps to protect them. He is going to be one fearsome guard dog, especially as he matures. I was worried we were going to be forced to be rid of our wamasu eventually, but now that we have access to professional beast tamers, I believe he will be a safe companion."

At about that time, Ahnasha walked over, guiding Calia just behind her. She had not been particularly happy that Rossarm could even be pushed to the point of violence against his own family, but it was good to hear that they did not simply accept it without argument. She stayed ahead of Calia while keeping a hold of her hand to make sure she did not walk her into anything, and would help her down onto the pew if necessary. She supposed the sound of their voices would be enough to notify Calia that they had arrived, so she did not need to say it explicitly.

"Greetings. Calia, correct? It is a pleasure to meet you." Meesei greeted as they approached.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha accepted Calia's hand. "Well, if I am skilled enough, then maybe I will have the Elven time to wait. There is nothing I would like more than for all of us to be able to visit all of you, as family. Maybe have you meet my family as well. Maybe since all of his family doesn't see it the same way, and even his local priest, for that matter, it might help change his mind."

There was another pause, and Ahnasha spoke up with genuine concern. "Do you...think anything bad will come of this? I saw how he struck Llarasa shortly after we arrived yesterday. I won't lie, that...infuriated me."

Meesei gave a light smile, looking towards Rhazii. "He will always be there to protect his little brother. Is that not right, Rhazii? I think he will be the model of a bigger brother. And big he will be. Rhazii is Cathay, so he will be a fair bit larger than the average Khajiit you commonly see in Cyrodiil. It is going to be...interesting to deal with when his lycanthropy starts to manifest itself. I do not envy your position when he reaches adolescence, Fendros." Meesei chuckled.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Thank you. I promise I will keep my family as safe as possible. And we will be sure to send letters when we are able. One advantage of the system of communication we have established is that you should be able to send letters in response as well. Naturally, we will have to be cautious in what we say in the letters, in case someone else reads them, but we will be able to keep you informed. "Ahnasha had to pause and think on any other questions she might have had. "I don't think I have any more to ask; at least not anything important enough to hold you up from speaking with the others. Or...well...I suppose there is one thing. I don't like to even bring it up, but it's something that has been on my mind. Fendros, as you might expect, is very glad we came here. He has been happy to see all of you, to speak to you all and reforge a relationship with you. But, I am worried that his father's opinion might start to weigh on him. What he said to Fendros yesterday...I cannot imagine how I would have felt if my father had done the same. Do you think it is possible that Fendros will ever be able to repair his relationship with him? Do you think he will ever at least be accepting of what happened?"

Meesei too sat down, just on the other side of Monderyn. Being that Monderyn was now speaking with family, Meesei felt that she should step back to be more of an observer in the conversation, but that did not mean she was not interested in it. She had spoken to Fendros about his past before, of course, but they had never delved into any great detail in their conversations. By listening to Monderyn, she could perhaps learn a bit more about Fendros' life from a different perspective than his own.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei is right there now, though she'll probably end up trading with Ahnasha.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I will admit, our lifestyle is not ideal, especially for raising a family." Ahnasha conceded. "But, it is a better life than most lycans could have ever hoped for in years past. Fendros has been through difficulties, but he has come out stronger for it. We all have. I know Fendros is young, especially by Dunmer standards, but I think once you have the chance to speak to him in-depth, you'll see that he has matured. He is, well, a valuable part of our pack, and the clan as a whole."

It did not take too long for Newt to calm down, so Kaleeth soon returned to her conversation with Llarasa. His emotions being as fickle as they were, about the only effect on Newt after a minute or two was that he was a bit more hesitant to stare at Monderyn. For the most part, he was just starting to get tired.

Meesei's expression did not change substantially, but her tone took on a bit more emotion, rather than sounding dull. "I think you would be surprised. Rhazii loves to talk, ever since he first learned how. He is a very friendly child and would love to meet more of his family. Especially if you can think of any stories to tell him. And, I am sure he would have a lot to say about your brother, if you were to ask. You could learn what kind of a father your brother has been."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While her lycan form was not normally something Ahnasha liked to show off in any sort of proximity to a city, she felt she could make an exception in this case. "Yes, that would actually be the easiest thing to prove, provided we do it somewhere that is appropriately private. City guards, as you might imagine, do not take kindly to seeing our lycan forms, and I would not want anyone else to witness you in the presence of a lycan. I am perfectly willing to show you; just be sure we have a safe place. As lycans, we are a fair amount...larger than we are in our normal forms, so we will need an open space if you plan to do it inside. Also, Meesei wears the Ring of Hircine, which marks her as Champion, if you would know how to identify it."

Predictably, Newt started to cry the moment Monderyn raised his voice and did not hesitate to run straight into Janius' arms. The commotion was enough to attract the attention of Kaleeth, who had been speaking to Llarasa only a short distance away. Unaware of what had caused Newt to cry, Kaleeth broke away from her conversation momentarily to walk over to Janius and help to comfort her son. "Aw, what happened little one? Is everything okay?"

Meesei was witness to the entire event, but as she often tended to do in more "diplomatic" situations, her expression was entirely unreadable. There was no anger or malice in her voice, though neither was she exactly friendly. She simply spoke to Monderyn neutrally, as if nothing had just happened. "The little ones have a very expanded sense of family. Among us, it is actually rare to have any blood relatives. Newt and Rhazii are fortunate to have their birth parents, though they still consider themselves family just as much as you do to your siblings and parents. I believe Rhazii would love to get to know you."