EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi waved her hand dismissively. "You could tease Ri'vashi with anything, Gallus. It's your specialty. But, how about instead of talking about each others' love lives, we find something more interesting to do? Something that doesn't involve dwelling on all of these...serious things." She suggested.

By this point, Ri'vashi had gone through the last of her drink, but it would be a simple matter to get another, if she so desired. It all depended on how much and for how long Gallus intended to drink that evening. Ri'vashi, though she could not shake her concerns for her responsibilities, was glad to get a break from them.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi crossed her arms, staring down Gallus with a hard-to-read expression. Though, she did look away for just a moment to take another drink. "Ri'vashi...thinks she should do as Ri'vashi pleases. Maybe she will speak to him; maybe she won't. Maybe Ri'vashi just doesn't need a romance in her life right now. That is a possibility for someone, you know? Even if this one cannot claim personal experience, she does know that she has been happy before, without anyone being that close to her, emotionally speaking. Can't you say that about yourself? That you've been happy without having someone you'd consider a 'romantic' partner? It might be easier for Ri'vashi to just not try to connect herself to someone like that."

Though she was comfortable speaking with Gallus about such personal matters, she could not help but to shift uncomfortably in her seat. Being able to speak to someone about it still did not mean it was pleasant by any means. She spoke up again, mostly just to fill the silence. "Oh, and, it isn't really accurate to call Ri'vashi a clan leader anymore. She doesn't have a clan to lead. She is more of a General now."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi snorted. "Heh, Ri'vashi would be the only one who could hurt Ri'vashi in that situation. You've never really felt all of her strength, Gallus, she can promise you that."

As they started speaking about Nazaklim once more, Ri'vashi brought up her hand and rested her cheek against it. "He's busy, mostly. Like Ri'vashi. Well, not as much as Ri'vashi, but he doesn't like to be idle. Because of the nature of Black Marsh, it can be harder to supply his clan when they need it. The swamps make it harder for them to earn gold, so we have to supply more to them than a lot of other clans. Nazaklim likes to be as helpful as possible in return. But, that means he appreciates his time with friends even more. Ri'vashi finds he is very good at separating work from leisure."

Ri'vashi rubbed the back of her neck. "But, um, just to be clear, we are not together, or anything like that. We are just friends."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well...not really." Ri'vashi answered, shrugging her shoulders. "He's a force of nature in terms of brute force, but he doesn't have the same finesse as Ri'vashi. Any werecrocodile is going to be physically powerful, but he isn't any faster than the average warrior. Still, Ri'vashi doesn't have to hold back with him. It's nice to know that you don't have to always be so careful just to not hurt someone else."

Since Gallus had opted to tease Ri'vashi, she felt free to fire right back at him. "Ri'vashi knows how fragile you are. It's not your fault, of course; can't help that you were born that way. At least Ri'vashi didn't break your hip that night outside Vile's fortress." She grinned.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi laughed. "Hmm, neither did Ri'vashi. She had never been interested in anyone that wasn't Khajiit before. Or, to be entirely honest, had never felt attraction to anyone that wasn't Khajiit. It is hard to say that Ri'vashi was actually 'interested' in anyone when she was growing up, since she was too afraid to let herself be interested. But, she supposes you changed that. You were nice, and you look good enough for being fur-less, so maybe Ri'vashi started to appreciate other kinds of people. Though if she is being honest, you do look more handsome as a werewolf." She joked.

So as not to keep the focus too much on Gallus, Ri'vashi continued. "Anyways, the Argonian representative, Nazaklim, doesn't serve as a warrior himself, but he used to be a soldier before he became a werecrocodile. So he knows what it's like to fight, and Ri'vashi respects the kinds of decisions he makes. He does well for his clan. Plus, he's strong enough to keep up with Ri'vashi when sparring. A bit stronger, actually."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi shook her head and laughed. "Darahil smiling? Now she knows you are lying to her."

When Gallus moved on to his next question, Ri'vashi was unsurprised. In fact, she had been expecting that question for a while, so she was able to look straight ahead at him confidently, without giving away her actual emotions. "Oh, Ri'vashi had looked at a lot of people since she arrived here. Her eyes work very well, even without as much light." She answered coyly. Regardless, it was only a few seconds before she decided to actually answer honestly.

"The Argonian representative Ri'vashi mentioned is a strong and capable man. Very respectable. Though there is also this...strikingly handsome Khajiit she has seen around the city, though she hasn't spoken much to him. She thinks he farms mushrooms. But anyways, Ri'vashi has not had time for such things. She cannot really afford the extra stress, to tell the truth." She said before leaning in towards Gallus. "But what have you? Have you managed to avoid any more black eyes or bruises from your own trysts?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Morale is invaluable, but against that gas? It just means our warriors will die in a better mood." Ri'vashi sighed. "Still, we do have at least a few small advantages. Using the automatons on the surface would be like sending a signed letter to Do'rhajul himself telling him to search every Dwarven ruin in Skyrim, but we can use them defensively, at least. They can keep troublemakers away from the entrances, without arousing suspicion. Otherwise, we have made the decision to call on Hircine's...other worshipers for assistance. A lot of the warriors won't like it, your father didn't like it, even Ri'vashi doesn't like it, but we all agree it is necessary. Lycans don't tend to like working with lycan hunters that may have once killed their friends and family, but the gas does nothing to them, so they can make attacks more safely."

As much as Ri'vashi liked to vent her troubles, she had to agree that the prospect of discussing something else entirely was even more appealing. So, she certainly did not dwell on it when Gallus changed the subject. "Ri'vashi spent quite a lot of time getting to know her peers, yes. At least as much as they would let her. Saras and Darahil are both similar in that they do not let people get close to them. Though in Darahil's case, there may not be a such thing as 'close' to him. This one is not entirely convinced that he actually feels emotions. It makes him quite reliable, though. Your father, well, meeting him answered many questions about you." Ri'vashi smirked. "But there are a lot more people in the clan than its leadership, and Ri'vashi would call a few of them friends, thank you very much. She can't get too close to her soldiers to avoid any claims of favoritism, but there that Bosmer couple that helps Peralain raise the chaurus, there's that representative from Black Marsh, and she even tried to speak with Ariel's husband for a while to try to help him get more comfortable in this place, but he might still be afraid of Ri'vashi."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi huffed incredulously as they were entering the dining chamber. "How drunk would they have to be to annoy Ri'vashi, of all people?" If not her reputation, she reasoned her size alone would be enough of a deterrent for most drunks. Then again, inebriation and rationality were concepts that rarely mixed. Regardless, she followed Gallus inside, not expecting any issues. Indeed, they were hardly acknowledged apart from passing greetings.

Ri'vashi was not normally a particularly heavy drinker, but her size alone allowed her to easily tolerate what most would consider strong drinks. Indeed, she had to select something strong if she wanted to feel anything of note from her drinks. Given the question that Gallus had opened with, she expected that she was going to go through quite a few drinks before the end of the night. She leaned forward with her head in her hands and let out a sigh. "That is an understatement. Honestly, Ri'vashi wishes she only had the Falmer and Dwemer machines to deal with. She'd rather have a Falmer attack on the city every day than have to deal with Vile. Losing the Arenthia clan really put things into perspective for everyone, this one thinks. They were lucky to have so many survivors, but that was only because of how many of them were werevultures. Almost everyone who was confined to the ground was slaughtered. It is getting difficult for Ri'vashi to bring herself to assign anyone to make any sort of attack against the enemy's forces. We have to slow them down, but she cannot help but to feel that she is sending good men and women to their deaths. Saras' spies have been providing wonderful information, but it has been so hard to do anything with it. Even just a simple ambush on a supply caravan requires absolute perfection from our soldiers. If they make just one mistake, then the gas takes them."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi let out a long sigh as she leaned back in her chair. She looked up at the ceiling in silence for a few seconds before allowing her head to lazily fall to the side in Gallus' direction. "Fine, Ri'vashi will come with you. But she swears, if you are wrong and this does end up causing more work for her." She began, lifting up her hand and poking her finger into his chest. "She is assigning you to do it."

Despite her general frustration for work at the moment, Ri'vashi did take the time to organize and secure her documents in a locked Dwemer chest beside her desk. With how fervently Saras had been drilling his new security procedures into the clan's leadership, such measures were routine by this point.

"So, are we planning on staying in the city, or are you going to take her off outside it somewhere for some reason?" Ri'vashi asked. The Dwemer machinery in the city produced enough heat that the air in the city itself tended to be fairly warm, but while the rest of the cavern was not cold by any means, it was cool enough that Ri'vashi preferred to have a coat.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi was at first going to say that she was busy when she heard a knock at her door, but Gallus did not afford her that option. She pretty much knew who it was before she turned around. There were few in the clan who would be so bold with her as Gallus was. After all, she was technically in a position of leadership over all clans.

As Gallus might have expected, Ri'vashi put up some resistance to his suggestions. "Gallus, you know well why Ri'vashi is working. Every new bit of territory we capture comes with it a thousand security concerns. More soldiers to manage, more problems to solve. Saras has started tightening up restrictions on the kind of information we can send out and receive. Now, this one has to write orders to anyone outside the cavern in this code he came up with. And if she's writing to the leaders in different clans, she has to use a whole separate, even more complicated kind of code. It takes forever with how often she has to look at his instructions, and she can't delegate it. She would love to drink, but she has just a few more things to do..."

---

What Tzirret would have noticed upon opening Ma'tanza's letter was that it was not a letter at all. Or at least, it did not seem to be. Folded inside the package was a parchment with a few lines of Daedric writing, along with a small, torn piece of parchment with just a few lines written in Cyrodilic: Tzirret, find a quiet place, then say these words while holding the scroll. What followed was the same phrase as on the scroll, but written out in Cyrodilic lettering so that Tzirret could pronounce it correctly.

As soon as Tzirret spoke the words, he would hear a voice that, while somewhat distorted by the magic, was unmistakably Ma'tanza's: Hello Tzirret! Ma'tanza learned a new enchanting trick, as you can tell. It's not actually too hard, really, but her mentor says that mages don't use it that often since it isn't very useful. One downside of this scroll is that after you use it two or three times, it will stop working and can't be recharged. So...sorry about that, but Ma'tanza thought you might want to hear her voice, so she thought it would be worth it. Anyways, this one was very glad to get your last letter. Though you kind of really do need to be a bit more careful about some of the things you say. Just, um, try not to mention specific important things going on in your clan, or things that might identify it. Ma'tanza wishes we could talk more about those things, but she wants you to be safe. The people in charge of our letters have been giving us lectures about that every single time we send one. But, she is glad that you are having a better time in your new home. Ma'tanza wishes she could be there to swim with you; she isn't so picky about clean or dirty water. It's not like we can get sick. This one would just like to have any water at this point; we always have to be so careful with it here where we are. Luckily, that might change soon. There has been talk going around that it's finally time for our clan to have our own home. Ri'vashi's old clan has been very kind to us, but it is still crowded here, and we have recovered a lot since you left. We apparently have the means to move ourselves to a new place, like things used to be. Ma'tanza is not looking forward to the trip, but we will all be glad to have our own home again. Mi'basa will definitely be glad to have more places to run around and hunt. He has started transforming, and it's hard for him to keep himself calm without many real hunts. Ma'tanza's sister has been good at teaching him, though. She is very experienced. Ma'tanza can only talk for so long with the enchantment, but she hopes that maybe we can talk to each other face-to-face one day again. Did you decide to keep learning about healing? If you did, she is sure you will be good at it. Compassionate healers are always Ma'tanza's favorite. She can feel the soul gem's energy is about to drain, but Ma'tanza misses you too and is looking forward to hearing from you again. Make sure to mention if you want Ma'tanza to send more of these scrolls, or just regular letters. Goodbye!