EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As the group stepped into the room, the raven flew down from atop the bookshelf and happened to set down behind the wall to their left. Seconds later, Marcaille emerged from behind the wall wearing a plain grey and black dress with her hands clasped together, looking over Ariel curiously. The door behind them suddenly started to close, as if on its own.

"Sabine, I see you've returned from your journey. And I do not need to ask who this is; I can see the resemblance. Ariel, you must be. Your sister has mentioned you before. It is a pleasure to meet an alchemical prodigy as yourself. It is rare to meet one as young as you who could accomplish something as impressive as the suppression gas. I was a sister of Glenmoril Wyrd, so we always had a particularly close relationship with Hircine, but even I did not create such a thing." Marcaille said in a somewhat protracted greeting before turning her gaze towards Rukeewei. "Hmm, but I do not recognize you. Who might you be?"

---

After finally being able to stow away their belongings, and have a nice meal and bath, Kaleeth and Janius had agreed to help Newt find his other friends in the clan. Eventually, they found a few in one of the smaller courtyards, so Kaleeth and Janius decided to relax on a nearby stone bench while the children played. It was not particularly comfortable itself, but Kaleeth was still content leaning up to Janius and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I wonder how long we'll have here this time, before something else...takes us away. I can't complain about this last trip though; It was nice to return to Black Marsh. I wish we could have seen my family, but there is always later, I guess. I just hope the next thing isn't too dangerous. Maybe I should see if that blacksmith would still make me armor?" Kaleeth commented. Although, she had not actually mentioned anything about a blacksmith to him before.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For the most part, Rukeewei stayed silent, and somewhat distant as Sabine guided them around the city. He was not accustomed to such a style of living and would have a hard time getting used to the idea of being able to use any good or service without any real payment, even if it was all rationed. He wondered how they kept track of it all. Given the size of the clan, he felt that it would be more efficient to just use gold, or something similar, to make rationing easier. Regardless, he did at least give greetings to the people they met while being sure not to give any hints to his overall nervousness.

A few seconds after Sabine knocked on the metal door, it slowly opened on its own, possibly under the influence of magic. It was certainly odd, but just as much of a clear invitation as a verbal answer. The quarters that Marcaille had been granted were, by her request, were much more spacious than those of pretty much anyone else in the clan. She wanted to have the space to perform any research or experimentation she desired at any time, and given her role in the clan, Meesei had granted almost every request. The chamber had obviously not been used as quarters by the Dwemer, as there was a fountain in the very center of the room that was connected to the city's water pipes. It produced the low, but constant noise of flowing water, but since water was needed universally for potions, it was quite convenient for an alchemist. The ceiling was tall, and there were two stone walls to the left and right of the entryway that extended from the wall to about halfway across the room, which divided the room into thirds. Marcaille had placed her bed on the far left of the room, though it was obscured behind a wall, an alchemy workstation in the center, and an enchanting work station to the far right. She had a small library worth of books spread between two bookshelves, as well as a large collection of ingredients and magical trinkets that would perhaps not be unfamiliar for a Breton witch. Interestingly, a large raven sat near the top of one of the tall bookshelves. Ravens, of course, not being a creature that lived underground in Skyrim.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Marcaille would be in her private chamber. Though, they might not see her immediately upon entering...

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"It loos safe...hopefully." Rukeewei muttered under his breath as they were disembarking the carriage. At this point, the surprise of each new, spectacular sight was starting to be lessened, since he was beginning to expect everything to be so exotic. Interestingly, it was not the Dwarven architecture or mechanical guards that impressed him the most as they climbed up the stairway and made their way towards the main courtyard. What caught his attention was that the Silent City felt much more...familiar than he was expecting. Dwarven buildings aside, it was not at all what he was expecting out of a settlement of lycanthropes. It was not some camp in the wilderness, but rather an organized settlement with proper buildings and homes. It felt crowded, with people walking through actual streets between buildings, or congregating and conversing in the courtyard. It felt like an actual city, albeit on a smaller scale than something like Thorn. It would certainly not hurt his chances of adjusting.

Meesei could not help but to smile as they reached the courtyard. After months away, they were home once more. "We have been improving the city ever since we first arrived. It was ruins and rubble when we first found it. Now it looks positively clean; even better than when we left, actually. The work did not cease while we were away. Unfortunately, I have some business I should really deal with, as I often do among the clan. I should inform the council of our return and schedule a meeting to update one another on everything that has transpired. I will see about getting them their own room in the Dwemer war quarters, near our rooms. Until then, you can stay temporarily with one of us. Sabine, you should show your sister and Rukeewei through the city, show them the important places, and perhaps introduce Ariel to Marcaille. I imagine our first meeting with the council will be more productive if our alchemists are able to confer with one another beforehand."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sorry for being slow tonight. I went ahead and did a short timeskip for Meesei's group, since they are out of sync with the other scene anyway.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Yes, I can at least be glad to be down here for that. I'm actually feeling a bit warm right now; I need to find somewhere to put my coat..." Rukeewei began before walking with Ariel into the barracks. It would be hard for him to stop worrying for quite a while, but he could at least find other things to occupy his time with.

The barracks were not exactly spacious, but they were much more comfortable than freezing in tents above ground. As such, they slept better that night than they had since they left the ship in Windhelm. They set out towards the Silent City first thing the next morning, or at least what they approximated to be morning. One effect of living underground was that they tended to lose concept of any normal day and night cycle, something that compounded the longer they stayed underground. Generally, any group sent out away from the clanhome on longer term missions would spend a day or two up in Raldbthar so they could re-acclimate themselves.

Just as Meesei had said, the journey to the Silent City took the better part of a day. However, it was by far the most relaxed part of the trip so far, considering that they were able to ride in the back of a carriage the whole way. Given the distances that needed to be crossed in Blackreach, the clan had brought down horses and constructed carriages to help traverse the road between Raldbthar, the Silent City, and any other outpost they decided to settle. It allowed them to still be well rested as they approached the City itself, which, much like the rest of Blackreach, was a sight to behold for Ariel and Rukeewei. The glowing orb at the city's center could be seen even before the city was in view, so they would know exactly where to look as they emerged from the veritable forest of giant glowing mushrooms. Since taking the Silent City for their own, the clan had cleared away any and all rubble from the area, as well as setting up fortifications of their own. They had built a gatehouse out of stone from collapsed Dwemer structures in the area placed it at the bottom of the massive staircase leading up to the towering city, while the gate itself was entirely metal and ad been scavenged from one of the same collapsed structures. On the surface, it seemed odd to have a gate for a hidden city far underneath Skyrim, but if they were ever attacked, they would be able to close themselves off completely.

---

Ri'vashi actually gave a slight chuckle. "For the longest time, Ri'vashi didn't cope well at all. She kept it all bottled up, broke things, cried alone in her quarters at night, slept with you..." Grinning, Ri'vashi nudged Gallus' elbow. She wanted to make an attempt to at least somewhat elevate his mood, but she quickly returned to being serious. "Anything to help relieve the stress. You remember what Ri'vashi was like back in Elsweyr, how she didn't trust herself? You did help her with that. In just the months since then, Ri'vashi has had a lot of time to think, a lot of time to gain experience with new people. The decisions she has to make are not getting any easier, but she has started to think about some things differently. Try asking yourself this: is there anyone you are currently in command of that you really, truly believe would do a better job than you at what you are doing now?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Only a few seconds after Ariel leaned in to give him a kiss, Rukeewei held his arms more tightly around her, pulling her in even closer. He held the kiss for some time, which also allowed her to feel his quickening heartbeat. Sadly, it was still motivated more by fear than anything. His hands were clutching onto her clothes tightly enough that she could feel his claws pressing into her, and his breathing became more unsteady. With all of the uncertainty they were stepping into, she was the only thing he could hold onto, literally and metaphorically.

"Let's just...make sure to stay together, okay? We need to be together; out of all times, we need to be together right now. I'll try to be optimistic about it all, as long as you're there with me." Rukeewei finally answered.

---

Ri'vashi reached her hand over and placed her hand on Gallus' back once he hunched over, silently allowing him to vent his emotions. It did not take long before he revealed the core of the issue. Yizan's likely death had certainly affected him, but the real problem he faced was failure. Failure to live up to his promises, failure to protect those he cares about, failure in his leadership. He was doubting himself and his own competence in his position. Those were feelings that were not alien in the slightest to Ri'vashi.

"None of us have a very good score, Gallus. It's not your fault. What you can say, though, is that you've been trying harder than almost all of us. Ri'vashi, she was so afraid of making mistakes that she fell for a cheap trick and almost walked half of her entire clan straight into Vile's hands. This one could have been more careful, more...thorough in vetting that impostor, uh...Dar-Tzesa's identity. But, she was so focused on pleasing the 'Champion' that she let her have free reign of the clan. And it's not only Ri'vashi. During the attack, Meesei pushed herself into a bad position and nearly died because she was so focused on killing their general. When you lead, it's your failures that follow you into your nightmares. When we fail, we get other people hurt. We lose friends, make the lives of those we care about worse. Leadership is a terrible burden, something that no sane person should ever want. But, the thing is, no one else does it better than you are right now, Gallus. Ri'vashi has made those kinds of mistakes, Meesei has failed. We just have to press on until we can make those failures more rare. Ri'vashi remembers looking at her father growing up and thinking he was so perfect. She always saw how effortlessly he seemed to keep our people united, safe, and happy. But, she didn't see his failures like he did. Last time Ri'vashi spoke to him about all of this, about leadership, he tried to tell her how not to make his mistakes." Ri'vashi breathed in slowly, forcing herself to make eye contact with him. "The point is, everyone you look up to, no matter how much larger than life they seem, has been haunted by their failures. Your father might have some stories about the things he's done wrong."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rukeewei was still uncertain. "Yes, but how can we really know for sure? We only have their word to go off of. What if this place is great for lycans, but not great for us? We've hardly even seen any of the others that live here yet; just guards that we haven't really spoken to. How could we ever protect ourselves if something goes wrong. Sure, I do believe that Meesei and the others want to keep us safe. They've never done anything wrong to us. But if there are so many of them living in this place, how do we know that not a single one of them will do anything to us? It doesn't matter if Meesei punishes them afterwards, it wouldn't undo the damage they could do to us."

Breathing deeply, Rukeewei wrapped his arms around Ariel. "I just hope we can have a place to ourselves soon. I will feel a lot better if we can just have a safe place to stay out of sight."

---

Ri'vashi looked away slightly for a few moments, though for the sake of empathy, she resumed eye contact. Although, she was still quite uncomfortable saying what she wanted to say. She did not want to give the impression that she was criticizing Gallus, but that would be an easy thing for her to do accidentally. "You were...born into this, right Gallus? Born a lycan. That might make it harder for you to really empathize in this kind of situation. It's something that's hard to understand just from hearing it explained. Ri'vashi was very young when she was turned, but even she remembers it all being horribly frightening. Just, how to describe it..."

There was a flash of inspiration in Ri'vashi's eyes as a thought popped into her mind. "Wait, yes, that might be a good way to put it. The soul-tearing gas, you know it just as well as this one. If you are like Ri'vashi, you have lost sleep just thinking about it. Not only does it kill us outright, but it takes our souls straight into Vile's domain. It puts us in the control of a terrifying Daedra, and keeps us away from our loved ones in death. Dying is frightening enough by itself, but the thought that Ri'vashi would never be able to see her father again...it has been a part of her nightmares for months. That is what becoming a lycan is like for normal people like Yizan. It means taking them away from their families for eternity and being bound to a Daedra that they probably fear and do not trust. To answer your question, this one doesn't think there is a right choice. Giving him a full life would, of course, make his life here better, but we can't really know if he would have been happy in the hunting grounds. The only right choice would be...his choice. Whatever would make him happiest in the long term."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ariel stopped Rukeewei just outside the barracks Meesei guided them to. It consisted of a group of two small Dwemer buildings. They did not look like they could hold too many people overall, but one of the buildings would be sufficient if the beds were densely packed enough. Rukeewei himself looked more uncertain than anything. He certainly was amazed at the scenery, as any average person would be, but it was frightening all the same.

"I don't know, I just...I still don't want to be here. I want to be home with our friends and family. I want to go back to running my inn and serving drinks. This all just seems like insanity. I mean, what do you make of these machines? Even your friends didn't know about them." Rukeewei responded.

---

Ri'vashi hesitated, uncertain if she was even partially qualified to talk about any of this. If she said the wrong things, she could potentially make the whole situation worse for Gallus. Regardless, she had to show him some kind of support. "Ri'vahsi doesn't really know about all of that with the Hist and them being reborn. She never knew that many Argonians. But, you were offering to make him a lycan to cure him, yes? That is something that is universally difficult to come to terms with, no matter where you're from. Whether you're going to be reincarnated, or end up in somewhere in Oblivion, or Sovngarde, or somewhere else in Aetherius, being a lycan demands that you throw all that away. If someone didn't choose it, then you'd be asking them to eternally disconnect themselves from their families. For someone who is dying, someone who has spent maybe months or even years coming to terms with their mortality, this one can understand why he would make that choice. He was probably ready to pass on long before you arrived, but can you really blame him for wanting to stay connected to his people? Ri'vashi thinks you made the right decision in going to him, letting him know what happened, and letting him find some peace."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Since they were going to be staying the night, Meesei started to guide the others towards the nearby barracks, though she was finding Ariel's continued spree of surprises just as amusing as Sabine. Ahnasha gave a glance towards Fendros while they were heading off of the platform, hesitating a moment before speaking. "Actually, I think that tower to the west might still technically be in, or rather under, the Pale. Though, I guess the cavern itself still does extend a bit went of that. I did scout out that ways with a group once. Not all of the maps of the surface are identical, though so it's kind of hard to tell. It's definitely close, though.

"Regardless of the cavern's exact borders, it is certainly massive, obviously." Meesei added. "If you look out in the distance, you can faintly make out a glow over the horizon. That comes from the Silent City, our home. Also...the cave has a horizon." She chuckled. "From what we have learned of this place, it connected three or four of the Dwemer's largest cities in Skyrim. Although, I would honestly say that Blackreach itself was their largest city. There are Dwemer structures spread all across the cavern. It was a meeting place for them, and a mine for a magical crystal they called Aetherium. Some writings we have found suggest that the Falmer were brought here by the Dwemer as slaves until they rebelled. The records stop rather abruptly, likely when the Dwemer disappeared off of the face of Nirn. As for the dragon, I personally have no idea how it found its way down here. We have not found any use for the bones, as of yet. As mystic as the dragons are in both myth and reality, the bones and scales have no magical properties, and we do not have any smiths with the skill or experience to work with them. So, we just locked them away."

---

Ri'vashi had to pause to think back on what she had picked up over the years about Argonians, with Gallus' reminders to guide her thoughts. "Yes...Ri'vashi is pretty sure she remembers that. About them being reborn, that is. There were not many Argonians in our clan, but this one seems to remember that was a problem for every single one of them. They had a particularly hard time coming to terms with the fact that their souls would be bound to Hircine. Reincarnation is a very important part of their beliefs. There was one thing...Khajiit cannot remember what they call themselves, but she does remember what it means. 'People of the Root.' They believe that they are all connected to each other through their Hist. This one is sorry; she probably isn't the most qualified to talk about this. She just remembers some of the problems she had to deal with when her father was trying to teach her how to lead. But she can say for sure that it wasn't just one priest that was telling the boy all of that. Being reborn is a belief that all of them hold, no matter where they live."

In truth, Ri'vashi was not entirely sure where she was trying to go with her words, but she knew that she wanted to stop Gallus from thinking that he had made any sort of mistake. From what she could remember of speaking with the Argonians in her own clan, she could guess that Gallus had stepped into a culture that was very alien compared to his own.