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Ssarak Dyreackthanose

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The death of the bird made Ssarak’s next decision for him. He saw Lyn re-enter the gala and intended to speak with her, but there was first another matter that quickly presented itself to him. He felt pressure against his ward, much more than before. Fortunately, his training clued him in to the nature of this attack, being that it originated from a group of psychomancers. This was not something he could ignore.

It did not take long at all for Ssarak to react. He leaned himself up against the nearest wall and placed his concentration first in to his own defense. He reached his hand into one of his pockets and placed his hand over one of the psychomancy runes the college had supplies to each student. He did not yet need it, but if he found himself starting to be overwhelmed, he could use it to bolster his defense. He hoped it would not become necessary, as this was his first real challenge at the gala. The first chance to demonstrate to at least a part of the Djarkel court the might that the College could bring to bear.

Ssarak could have attempted a wide concentration attack against each of his opponents at once, but that was not his specialization. His expertise was in focused concentration, he felt he could overcome that particular limitation with some creativity that played to his strengths. With his expert focused ability, he could break through a weak ward quickly, and often without notice. So, he quickly surveyed his attackers as best as he could and singled out the weakest ward he could locate within the few seconds he gave himself. From there, he worked to break through as quickly as he could while still maintaining his own ward. Once he was through, he intended to maximize the effect with the least amount of magical effort as possible. The psychomancers attacking him were all across the room, but their locations would be irrelevant. He would influence his target’s psychomantic “perceptions” to direct him or her to attack the wards of one of his allies, specifically the strongest ward of an attacker that Ssarak could currently identify, all while still thinking that they were attacking Ssarak’s wards. The result of this single action would be threefold: one less opponent would be directing attacks on Ssarak’s ward, another opponent’s attacks would be weakened by the sudden attacks against their ward, and Ssarak would gain unwitting help in retaliating against his attackers. All-in-all, it would have a fairly drastic impact on the mental battle compared to the amount of effort Ssarak had to put into his trick. And the more times he could do it, the more times the effect would compound. As long as he could maintain his own ward, it would not be long before the advantage turned towards him. He would just need to think of an appropriate punishment for his opponents that was not too extreme.
Sounds fine. I'm expecting most of the future scenes until we get through a few skips will be shorter, so no need to devote anything to travel. One scene would be with Gallus in Gideon, and the other one would be Meesei and Sabine going to speak to Ariel in Thorn.
Ahnasha gave a shrug. "Well, I guess we will see in time how much his family can influence him. Quite a lot of time, granted, but time regardless. Just try to focus on the positive."

The conversation essentially ended on that note when Fendros pulled her in for a kiss. As Fendros said, it was not something that either of them really wanted to dwell on. They had a few hours before they were due to return to Cheydinhal and find the tavern. Lorag returned after about another half hour, though he did not say a single word about why he had left the temple, or what he had been doing in the city. Given the mood he was in, even Meesei did not feel that it would be prudent to ask about it at the moment. Lorag was the kind of person who needed solitude as well as conversation, at different times. Given that the wedding had gone well in all of the obvious ways, the overall mood around camp was good. Meesei took the time to fashion a rough leather binding for her black book to keep it closed unless she specifically wanted to open it, while the rest of the pack passed the time in whatever ways came to mind.
Think we should move on to something else? If so, to where? I don't have anything specific in mind for anyone to say to Calia, Llarasa, or Monderyn that they haven't already said.
Ahnasha actually gave something of a chuckle when she made a connection between two of the points that Fendros made. "Hmm, well it might not be as bad as you think. There may be other Dunmer in Cheydinhal who would agree with him, but as you just said, it would apparently be shameful for him to tell them about you. So, he either has to admit to his friends what happened so that he can talk to them about it, taking on that shame in the process, or keep the secret and still have no one to validate his opinion. From what you said, it seems he will probably choose the latter. And of course, not every Dunmer in the city may be so traditionalist. It is still primarily an Imperial city, with Dunmer influence, but many of the Dunmer families have lived there for generations. Elven generations. Think back on when you were growing up; do you really know exactly how traditional all of your family's Dunmer friends were? If it's anything like where I grew up, those kinds of conversations don't come up very often if the people involved are looking to avoid conflict." She asked.
"Well I meant what I said earlier." Ahnasha responded, giving no uncertainty in her tone. Monderyn's discomfort made a bit more sense after Fendros' explanation, but she honestly did not expect that he would be a problem long-term. The only real issue was, of course, Rossarm. Even having only met him for a few minutes, she felt safe in calling him stubborn. Under any other circumstances, she would not even think about putting in any effort to reason with him, but him being Fendros' father made him, unfortunately, important.

"Your father, by all accounts, is stubborn, but no one with an even reasonably normal mind can last forever opposing everyone they know." Ahnasha contended. "If he had people to validate him, maybe, but everyone he is going to be around on a regular basis is not going to be agreeing with him. Anytime he hears about you, it is going to come from someone who will try to convince him to see you. Even if he goes to his priests, they'll try to talk him into it. Do you really think he'll last a hundred years like that, or even more than a decade or two? If you suggest something to someone enough times, it will start to get to them eventually."
Ahnasha moved herself around in front of Fendros, still keeping her arms around him the entire time. "Now, the wedding was definitely nice and everything, but you and I both know that the biggest issue with this whole thing was your family. They were the unknown, and they were the ones we spent most of our time with. I want to know how you feel about them. I want to know that you're happy with how things have gone with them so far, especially since I've completely avoided the option of literally smacking some sense into your father. Most of them have been glad to see you so far, particularly Llarasa and your mother."

Ahnasha somewhat delayed Fendros' answer by giving him another, proper kiss. She was keeping herself quite close to him, obviously in a good mood despite Fendros' apparent worries.

---

Lorag did not turn back to show the brief uncertainty on his face, nor did he give anymore farewells or other words to Harriet or his daughter as he left. For him, the past two days had been nothing but confusion, anger, and general frustration. These were not the kinds of problems he had any intention of dealing with, and in his mind, he had already done more than anyone should have expected from him. When he finally shut the door behind him, he hoped to never have to deal with it again, no matter how unlikely that hope actually was.
Yeah, we can summarize through that if you like. We should probably be getting to the next bit soon.
After their temporary goodbyes, the group headed back to camp, which was not terribly far from the vineyard itself. Ahnasha reached the point where she could comfortably transform back, though she waited until they arrived at camp, if only so that the rest of the pack did not have to stop and wait on her.

There was some minor arguing from Newt, but fortunately, the children were actually tired enough that it did not take too long to get them to lay down. Ahnasha was, of course, in a reasonably good mood, but even she could not help but to feel relieved after a few hours of constantly watching her own behaviors and words to make a good impression on Fendros' family. Ultimately, no matter her own thoughts on family and how much she really wanted to be close with them, her primary reason for putting in so much effort to get along with every member of his family was for Fendros' benefit. She wanted him to be able to live without worrying about them or how they felt about him, so she was willing to put in as much effort as it took.

Once she finally had a free moment, Ahnasha sneaked up behind Fendros and wrapped her arms around his waist, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder. "So, how is my new husband feeling after all of that?"

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The silence extended for a bit longer after Harriet spoke, as Lorag was mostly just improvising on what he was actually doing in her house. He did not have any real kind of goal from the moment he knocked on her door. "No, I...don't got no more to say. Just, uh, do a good job and all that. I'll...go now."

Lorag's gaze finally found its way to Narsi as he made eye contact with her. "Just take care." He said before turning to walk towards the door.
This time, Meesei expected that her answer would be a bit more well-received. “Of course. We will be staying here for the night regardless, so it does not matter what we do before tomorrow. The largest question would be if you would like to have your dinner only with Fendros, Ahnasha, and Rhazii, or if you wish for all of us to join. I would not wish to impart the financial burden of a meal for all of us solely onto you. I could at least offer to pay for any…excesses ordered by any members of my pack, such as if Lorag decides to drink. Or, more accurately, ‘when.’”

By this point, the group had reached the edge of the vineyard, though they were still obscured from view by the forest. Ahnasha in particular was making sure to stay out of sight. “It looks like the vineyard is just ahead. It should not be too much longer before I can transform back comfortably, but I’m guessing I should probably stay hidden for now. I don’t quite remember how visible your home is from the road.”

---

Lorag rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah, we’re not in Bruma anymore. Left that Ayleid ruin behind. Remember that poison gas Alpha mentioned? Yeah, we didn’t want to be anywhere the enemy knew about. Found a better place, though, somewhere else. Not saying where, but it’s not close to Bruma. If she ever wants a pack, you can just tell whoever Alpha brings here to put in contact with you. Don’t think any clan would turn her away or anything.” Lorag explained. “Oh, and if Vile’s people ever do come here, just get out. Don’t care how tough you think you are, you can’t fight the air.”
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