EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gripped the book tightly, her claws doing nothing to even scratch its surface. She could hear what the others were saying, but she was not paying particularly close attention to it. All she was focusing on was the book in her hands. After a few moments, and giving a low growl, she turned around wordlessly and stepped up to the cliff once more.

Regardless of any potential protests from the others, Meesei reared back, then threw the book over the cliff as hard as she could, sending it down into the waters of the river far below. Afterwards, she simply stared down into the water, breathing heavily with her hands clenched into fists.

Lorag crossed his arms and gave a simple grunt. "Hmph, good enough for me."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I am Champion." Meesei repeated, though her tone carried little enthusiasm in the statement. "Though I expect, if I have any desire to hold on to that tile, I am going to have to defend it far more than I have before. I think the war kept most of the ambitious occupied, but now I have given them reason to act. That Altmer was probably just the first of many. But..."

Meesei took in a deep breath, trying to find in her mind any possible silver lining to the situation she had created. "Maybe I do not have to start from the beginning. At least I was wise at one point in my life: I have my council. Ri'vashi, Saras, the others, they have been managing the war in my absence, correct? I know they would not have given up. Perhaps, with their help, I can find my role again?"

Once Meesei set her sights on the Black Book in Fendros' hands, her expression became focused and severe. She fell into silence for a few moments, then extended out her hand towards him. With a surprisingly powerful burst of telekinesis, she yanked the book from Fendros' hands and pulled it to hers. She stared at the book, her hands trembling slightly as she bared her teeth angrily.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I have lost so much time with you, Sabine." Meesei said, her voice almost hoarse from her previous sobbing. Finally, she reached her arms around Sabine and pulled her into a hug. "I cannot ask you to forgive me. I do not deserve to be forgiven. I saw what I have done to you when I struck you, in far more ways than just a simple strike with the hand. You had been telling me for so long, but I always thought it would be worth it. I...I did do it for you, for all of you. I did not lie about that. I did not want power; I wanted to make our future brighter, but I fear I have just made it more bleak."

With considerable effort, Meesei started to pull herself up to her feet, using Sabine for support, and moved herself farther from the cliff's edge. Her legs buckled visibly due to her weakened muscles. "I believe I understand now. There are some things I simply cannot change. But...I believe I have changed the clans with my actions. I do not know if my name can ever hold the same confidence or authority it once had among them. Is there even a place for me anymore?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

After a few, tense moments of silence, Meesei finally turned her head towards Sabine. The immense regret she felt was painted across her face. "I wanted to change things for us. I...do not think I was tricked. No, I was not lied to. Mora did not lie. I just convinced myself I could do the impossible. I thought it was all going to be worth it in the end. I thought all the time I sacrificed would be returned tenfold. I just hurt you, did I not? I hurt everyone. And squandered the time we do have doing it."

Meesei looked down towards the ground, though she also turned herself towards Sabine and somewhat farther from the cliff. "I do not know if I can recover from this. My body might heal, but can I be trusted now? Do I deserve to be trusted? How much doubt have I sown among the clans? I hardly even know what has been going on in the world since I absorbed myself into that book. I do not even know what has been happening to the clans in my absence. All I remember is vague pestering from Saras about responsibilities I was ignoring. Have the clans been faring poorly?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei had been absorbed in her despair to the extent that she had not noticed her pack approach. Even their voices were little more than noise in her mind. It was only once Sabine was right next to her that she actually realized she was not alone. She recoiled slightly away from Sabine's voice, leaning herself ever closer to the cliff's edge.

"Sabine? No...no you should not be here. You should leave; away from me. I am unworthy of you. Wholly and completely unworthy. I have been blind. I have failed in every single way that I could have failed. I tried so...terribly hard. I tried to make everything better for us, but I have just made everything so much worse. How much have I squandered? How much time is gone?" Even as she spoke, Meesei could not stop sobbing. She had no composure, and not everything she said made complete sense. It was difficult to say how much of her behavior came from remorse and conscious acknowledgment of her situation, and how much stemmed from her sleep deprivation. There was little question that this was the lowest point of Meesei's life to date. Her body and mind were broken, making her like a shell of the woman her pack had known. And all of it stemmed from the book Fendros was holding.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

At the gate, Lorag stopped to speak to the nearest guard on-duty. He was a Nord man and, like many of the guards in the city, someone that Lorag at least knew the name of. "Hronmond, did the Champion pass through here, did she leave the city?"

"Aye, sir. She came through about half an hour ago. Didn't say a word beyond ordering me to open the gate. She was...well forgive me for saying this sir, but she was strange. Seemed very distracted and looked...unwell. She wasn't even dressed, and I didn't think Argonians were fond of the cool air out of the city. She looked like she was in a hurry, but I have no idea where she could be heading. Seemed like she was making her way towards the river." He explained.

Just as the guard had said, the pack was easily able to find Meesei's scent by the river. At first, Lorag worried that she might have started to swim to keep herself from being tracked, but to his surprise, it seemed like she had just been walking alongside the river. Or more accurately based on the tracks, running. He still could not begin to guess what she was doing, but it was clear that she was making no real effort to hide her trail. She either did not care if she was being followed, or simply was not thinking about it.

Even at a quickened pace, the pack would have to follow the river for about half an hour before they found what they were looking for. The trail would lead straight to Meesei herself, though that was not necessarily as encouraging as it could have been. Meesei had followed the river downstream all the way to the point where it reached a waterfall. It was one of many in Blackreach, and like most of them, it was tall and steep. Meesei herself was sitting on her knees precariously close to the cliff near to the river facing the drop, with her head buried in her hands and sobbing almost uncontrollably.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lorag crossed his arms as he looked down towards Sabine's bag. He could sense the scent of soot emanating faintly from it. "She threw around all her stuff? Sounds like she was real mad. It doesn't really sound like anything Meesei would do, but neither does anything else that's been happening."

The majority of the pack was conflicted or confused in their expressions, but Kaleeth was willing to show some hope. "But, you said you found the book in the fire? Even if it can't burn...it does sound like she tried to burn it. That's a good thing, right? Maybe...what happened between her and Sabine did something to her? Maybe we can still talk to her?"

Lorag nodded, but spoke quickly and seriously. "Maybe, but if we want to do anything with her, we've got to actually find her first. It's been hours since Sabine talked to her; she could be anywhere right now. But, unless she can just magic herself out of reality, which is honestly a possibility with her, then she must've left a scent somewhere around here. Let's go to her door and see if we can pick up a trail. Might be hard to follow it all the way through the city, but unless she was invisible, which again, a possibility, then some of the night guards might've seen her."

Meesei's scent could indeed be found at her door, and there was a definite, fresh trail for them to follow. Between her scent and the night guards, she had a trail that the pack would be able to follow all the way down to the front entrance of the Silent City.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha was with Sabine, though the rest of the pack, apart from the children, were also close by. Fortunately, the rooms for everyone in the Champion's pack were close by to Meesei's room, so it was far from unusual for them all to be in the area. Each of them were waiting and listening for any hint of something going wrong. Also, no one had too much of an idea of what they would actually do if Sabine was discovered. None of them wanted to have to fight their Champion, their friend, but no one was certain on how easy it would be to reason with Meesei either.

Ahnasha leaned in close to Sabine, whispering to her. "Okay, I'll wait here. Meesei does usually lock her door, at least when sleeping. I know you can magically unlock doors, but if she has any protections against that, then I might be able to get it open manually with a lockpick for you. Just try to be quick; the less time you are in there, the better."

However, once Sabine did make her way over to the door, she would find it, strangely, entirely unlocked. And once inside, she would find that Meesei was not present at all, despite the fact that it was well into the night at a time that Meesei would normally be fast asleep. Her room would also be a mess, with her belongings scattered around the room as if thrown about in a fit of anger. And, in the fireplace on the opposite wall from the entrance, Sabine would see Mora's Black book in the middle of the flames. Though, being a Daedric artifact, it was entirely unharmed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Don't worry. Even if you have to be alone for a while, we can probably get someone to you under Meesei's nose eventually. Some of us might be able to visit under the guise of missions. You won't be isolated forever. And hopefully, Meesei will come to her senses sooner rather than later." Ahnasha said reassuringly. "Come on, we should get you some potions, enchanted items, or anything else you need to get the book. We should all come too and wait down the hall, just in case something goes wrong. We might be able to help. After that...I guess we'll be ready to go through with this."

Lorag gave a nod. "You all do that. I'm gonna go talk to Saras and make sure everything is ready for when you need to go. We're going to need to get you out of here quick once you have that book."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lorag looked uncertain at Janius' suggestion. "I don't know, that could be risky. Alpha ain't exactly thinking reasonably right now. Might end up casting blame no matter how little sense it makes. She'll probably get a clearer head once she's away from that book, but that hinges on her not finding Sabine quickly. And telling anyone else about this plan could be a bad idea."

"Take your time to decide, Sabine. Don't rush into it." Ahnasha said to Sabine. "We do need to act soon, but we can spare some minutes. Hours even. Even if we can't find anyone to accompany you right now, Saras might be able to send someone later to keep you company. Someone you know. I'm ready to plan the theft whenever you are."