EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan followed alongside his father, looking at everything he was looking at and listening to him in silence. He was reassuring him that his feelings were natural, though it did not explain why he was feeling them in the first place. Julan had only really just met Leeus, and even he knew that he did not really know her.

Julan scratched his head and shrugged. "Yeah, I think so. You met in this village, when you were coming here to help aunt Sabine. She said she was curious about you and started talking to you. Is there more than that?"

---

Ahnasha had to suppress the instinctual reaction of her beast spirit, which was far more aggressive than she wanted to be towards Rhazii. She stood up tall, taking on a less bestial stance towards Rhazii, despite his apparent threats. "What is getting into you, Rhazii? Are you losing control to your beast? Hmm...emotion can weaken control, and you are not yet used to dealing with them. Just take a moment, breathe, focus. Your beast has its desires, but you are still the one in control. You know you don't want to attack your own mother."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan shook his head. "No, I didn't say anything. I'm not sure what she thinks about me. She's just been nice. I just haven't felt this kind of...thing before. Is it because she's also Argonian? I didn't think that was supposed to matter, like with you and mother. There, um, aren't really any Argonian girls my age back home, but I didn't think it would be anything special. Is it wrong for me to like her that way?"

Julan did not hide that he was now watching Leeus, at least not from Janius. "She really wanted me to join the game."

---

Ahnasha too dropped what she was doing to search for a scent, though after scouring the camp and having that search go on for far longer than she expected, she realized that there was no trail of a Khajiit leaving the camp. "Hmm, odd. I can't seem to find a scent. That could mean magic is involved, unless..."

Ahnasha's voice trailed off as she started to look around and listen more sharply to her surroundings with her other senses. She remained completely still, and completely quiet until, finally, her ear twitched and her head turned towards a small tent close to the center of camp. She walked towards it with as slow, soft steps as her wolf form would allow, then quickly tore away the tent flap. There was a shrill, terrified scream, followed by Ahnasha dragging out the Khajiit bandit by her leg and throwing her into the middle of the camp. The bandit screamed in panic and terror, not so much trying to fight back as just trying in vain to run from Ahnasha. But, despite her tears and overall helplessness, Ahnasha did not falter. She kicked the Khajiit down to the ground again, then stomped her foot down on the bandit's skull, crushing it near-flat almost instantly without hesitation. Without feeling.

"That's a relief. Would have been dangerous having someone like that out there, maybe wanting revenge. Not to mention, I was really looking forward to eating this one." Ahnasha commented, now grinning towards Rhazii. Despite the blood caked in her fur and staining her teeth, she was practically upbeat. "I'm not sure if you've had the pleasure of trying Khajiit in recent memory, but our livers are just divine. Anyways, we can relax now, and have our fill."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Though nervous, Julan did not take as long to reply now that he had finally admitted to the real issue. "Her name is Hal-Leeus. We spent a lot of time together yesterday, after I picked my opponent for the rite. She's...curious, I guessed. Asked me a whole bunch of questions about other places I've been. I don't think the people here get to see much from the outside. Just some rare travelers, and a few books that some of them have traded for. Only a few people can read Cyrodilic, though. Like the Treeminder."

Julan was sidetracked for a few seconds as he watched Leeus. "Anyways, she's...nice. She's a hunter apprentice, so she explained a lot about their training. They're supposed to be really good at fighting in the swamp, against animals or people. They're meant to be fast, quiet, and all of that. I think she was explaining more detailed things too, but I, um, got distracted. I just start feeling so...strange around her. I don't know why; I'm friends with plenty of girls back home, and I don't get that way. It wasn't like that at first, but then we were alone just talking, joking, and I started looking at her, and..." Julan turned his head to Janius, looking confused. "...I don't know why she's so different."

---

Ahnasha had already left her dress behind, so she just had to drop her bag with the rest of Rhazii's belongings before transforming herself. The point of the hunt was for Rhazii's benefit, but with her beast spirit front and center in her mind, its instincts still informed her decisions. She was higher in rank, so she grunted sternly at Rhazii to follow, then briskly ran back to the bandit camp.

Again, being the current ranking pack member, Ahnasha did not hesitate a moment to begin her feast. The closest body to her was one of the imperials, so she ripped away his shirt, jammed her claws into his ribs, pried them apart, then sank her teeth into one of his lungs. She mostly gave her beast spirit freedom to act as it willed, but Ahnasha still kept out an alert eye around the camp between bites, and her conscious mind was still present enough to notice that something was missing. Namely, there was no Khajiit body where they had left it. Ahnasha's arrow only hit her in the stomach, so it was not an immediate or guaranteed kill.

Ahnasha growled briefly. "I think the Khajiit survived. Probably got away. I don't see a blood trail, though. Might have taken a potion, bandaged herself."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan was quick to snap back in defense of his own excuse. "There's nothing really going on, okay? I don't know their game's rules, and I really wanted to play, but now I can't. That upset me, so now I'm...upset. There's nothing embarrassing, it's just that."

Given his unconvincing expression, Julan focused back on the game to avoid making eye contact with his father. Regardless, he could feel Janius' eyes on him, making his discomfort even more palpable. He tried to ignore it, but ended up watching Leeus again. He had actually understood the rules of the game, so he knew that, from the perspective of the game, there were other players that were being more impactful and would be more interesting to watch. Still, his eyes were on her, at least until he grew anxious enough to look away from everything once more.

"There aren't many Argonians back home. Not my age." Julan finally said softly enough that even Janius would have to concentrate to hear him. "She's very pretty."

---

Ahnasha let out a long breath, this time looking more sympathetic towards Rhazii. "You know we shouldn't waste meat, Rhazii. We are hunters of Hircine: his hounds in this world. It's...I guess you would say blasphemous not to use every part of your kills that you can. You don't want to anger our patron Daedra. Don't worry, if you transform, your beast spirit will help make things easier. Indeed, whenever you fight in your wolf form, you will consume the flesh of your enemies. It is natural for a lycan, and it would be unwise to try and fight it. You just get to choose who you consider an enemy."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan poorly hid a surprised reaction towards Janius' thinly-veiled guess at his true issue. He now forced himself to keep his eyes off of the game entirely and just stared at the water unflinchingly. "Yes...the rite. It's, um, a...really big deal, I think. I need to make sure I...win, since my grandfather really cares about it. And mother. Or, well, I guess, um, mother really just cares that her father really cares about it. I shouldn't let everyone down."

Despite the fact that Janius had not yet responded, Julan was already looking more nervous. He glanced up at his father, and would have been sweating if it were possible for an Argonian. He broke eye contact quickly, just feeling his heart start to beat faster until the silence finally got to him. "I just don't know the rules to their game, okay? That's it." He lied.

---

"I...don't think so." Ahnasha answered. "It's not harmful, painful, or dangerous. I would need to teach you some of the basics of necromancy, just to be able to manipulate the magic in the ritual properly, but I could do most of the hard work. For the most part, though, you don't need to worry about the ritual itself. Just worry about making your decision. The average person might be concerned about hunting enough grand souls, but we're not average. We could go on some mammoth hunts together, or maybe minotaurs or goblins. It honestly sounds like fun."

Finally, Ahnasha stood up, then offered her hand to Rhazii to help him up as well. She was smiling now, despite some of the uneasy topics they had just discussed. "Why don't we go ahead and transform. We can look around for a water source later. Even my beast spirit is starting to get restless, so I have to imagine yours is practically clawing its way out of your mind. I am starving, and we have a whole feast waiting for us back at that camp."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan jumped slightly when Janius suddenly spoke up behind him, despite the fact that he should have been able to hear him coming long before he spoke a word. It was obvious that he had been lost rather deeply in his own thoughts. "Oh, um, yeah, I guess." Julan replied, unconvincingly.

Glancing up to Janius for only a moment, Julan returned his gaze back down to the water. "I guess I...really don't know what I'm getting into. I mean, I don't know any of the hunters, so I don't know how skilled they are. I am worried about it." He said, however; his insincere tone, coupled with the fact that he was quickly glancing over at the apprentices playing their game in the river every few seconds, did hint that it was something else which was really bothering him. If Janius was particularly observant, he might notice the violet-scaled girl that Julan was looking at more than the rest.

---

Ahnasha did hesitate, flashing a brief, worried expression on her face as she tried to come up with the best way to word her answer. She had never told Rhazii, or most others, before, but she had used multiple black souls in the spell to extend her life. "It...doesn't have to." Ahnasha finally answered. "The spells in the ritual require soul energy to reinforce the bonds of your own soul to your body. There are many rogue necromancers who do not care about killing innocents, and will use black souls for those sorts of spells. It requires fewer gems, and is easier to accomplish overall with black souls. But, other strong souls can accomplish the same task. Only those that will fully charge a grand soul gem, though. It can be a challenge to collect them, but hunters like ourselves should not be afraid of a challenge."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth leaned in, resting her head on Janius' shoulder. "Not right now. I've spent all day visiting people. I just want to be with you right now. Let's go see if we can find where we're going to be sleeping."

---

It was two days before Julan's rite was set to take place. On the day in between, Julan selected his opponent for the fight, but since he had no real way of knowing how skilled each of the volunteers were, he did not put much thought into the choice. For the most part, he just focused on mentally preparing himself to perform as well as he could. Although, he did not spend the entire day training. Rather, he was feeling confident enough to try and get to better know some of the other hunter apprentices he had met the day before. Those who did not like Julan had identified themselves rather plainly when they met, so it was not hard for him to avoid them.

Despite being Argonian, Julan still felt like an outsider, and indeed, most of his conversations with the others were about that fact. He spent a lot of time either describing his life back home as best as he could without giving away anything sensitive, or asking them about their lives in the village. He had not been expecting it to be as difficult as it was for him to fit in with others of his own kind. They would often say words he did not understand, make jokes that made no sense to him, or play games with rules he did not know. He had not expected to feel like he would fit in better with bunch of Nord children. But, he could not say that he did not enjoy the experience, for as long as he was able to avoid the more resentful elements of the village.

On the morning of the rite, Julan was outside early, after obviously rushing through his breakfast. The rite was being held later in the day, so for the morning, he was free to do as he pleased. In this case, he was excited to join some of the other apprentices in playing some games after their early-morning training.

When Janius did eventually head outside and spotted Julan near the edge of the village, however, he would find him in seemingly lower spirits than he might have anticipated. As would be expected for an amphibious race of swamp-dwellers, Argonians tended to spend a lot of time in the water, and the children were no different. They were divided into teams, and looked to be fighting over a leather-wrapped ball while swimming at speeds that would leave a Human lost and confused. However, Julan was not involved. Rather, he was sitting alone in the river near its edge, keeping his head down and giving periodic glances towards the others.

---

Ahnasha kept holding on to Rhazii in silence for a short while. She allowed herself time for her tears to subside before she answered him. "I'm...not sure. You can ask them; I'm not going to try and stop you, or anything like that. But, I don't know if they will be able to help you. Their situations are different. My father, I'm sure he has come to terms with my mother's aging, but he has never had the choice I am giving you. Not to mention, he is a devout follower of the Eight. Any application of necromancy is taboo to them, and he would associate life extension with that kind of magic right away. He would be against it right way, just because of that. As for your grandmother on your father's side..."

Ahnasha looked off into the forest, somewhat uncomfortably. "If I am being entirely honest, I'm still not sure how she feels about me and Fendros. She became friendly during our last visit. Sociable, nice even, but I do still wonder if it is just an act. She might not have been expecting me to be with her son for a full, Elven lifetime. She doesn't yet know I have stopped aging for now. I could be wrong; I don't want to assume the worst about her. But, it could influence how she might answer you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth let out a sigh. "Let's hope so. Most of them seem friendly enough to Julan for now, but our visit isn't over yet. And, well, it's our first day here, and Julan has already got into a fight."

Kaleeth did feel that she had plenty of reasons to worry about how this all was going to turn out, but despite those worries, she did finally bring herself to smile. "If you could call that a fight. Maybe we should just leave him to try his hand at making friends, and try to avoid embarrassing him?"

---

"Hmm, but that is something that all Elves end up having to deal with, isn't it?" Ahnasha pointed out. "Entire races of people who have to deal with the fact that they will far outlive most not of their kind. And yet, they all find a way to make peace with it. Of course, they usually do not outlive their own families, which is why I am sure you are having these reservations about it. Believe me, I understand the way you feel about your friends, about Julan, or this hypothetical future wife. If you think about how you would feel about them, well...that's how I feel about you."

Ahnasha had been looking down at the ground as she spoke, and by this point, her voice was starting to get choked up noticeably. When she finally returned eye contact, there were tears in her eyes. "I don't want to lose you, Rhazii." She continued, throwing her arms around him. "I don't want to choose between losing my son to old age, or forcing the love of my life to go through the very same thing with me. And you, for that matter. It doesn't have to be just you. I can do it for others too. Not too many at once; that would not be practical to maintain, but...I could handle keeping a few people alive far past their natural lifespans."

Last of the Jedi (EliteCommander and Sep)

Although Kresst was hesitant to agree, he did not feel there would be much success in trying to argue with Mevenn, and it was true that someone would need to listen to this message. After a moment of thought, he slowly nodded. "Very well, Mevenn."

Kresst shifted his attention back towards Mach, who was still silent after Kresst's intervention. "Although, I do feel that I should reiterate: this message, for whatever reason and by whatever unknown means, almost certainly caused your squad to take up arms against one of their closest friends. You should not hear it until we better understand what is happening, and perhaps how to protect you from falling victim to it. Eeruna, please relay the message."

The Mon Calamari nodded and, after a nervous glance towards the clone, brought up the encrypted message on her datapad and transmitted it to Mevenn's helmet. It would take a few moments for her comms to run through the decryption, but after that, it would play for her immediately.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth did not look as upbeat as Janius, but she did eventually return a grin. "Maybe. I guess it depends on how stubborn they are. If nothing else, the second or third time might be enough to make that point." She said, though she soon looked away with a soft sigh. "It also seems that people do remember me. Even if it isn't fondly."

Nearby, Janius' acute hearing would also be able to listen some of the children talking, away from Julan, but certainly about him. Even after the short fight, some of their opinions were still rather mixed. Julan being an outsider, and the son of a Human, were not details that were going to be easily forgotten. But, it did seem that more were open to outsiders than not. Some described him as strange, but obviously skilled, while others were skeptical that he would fare as well during his rite. Janius would have a hard time hearing everything they were saying, especially outside of his native tongue, but of the words he could hear, the insults were outweighed by words like "strong, nice," and even a few variants of "handsome." Unfortunately, those few with an already-negative opinion did not appear to be easily swayed.

---

"You can take as long as you like, Rhazii. But, I do want to reassure you that it is not nearly as complicated as you probably think it is." Ahnasha explained. Now that she had moved past the barrier of bringing up the topic, she was more relaxed about discussing it. "It takes some preparation, some...materials, but once you have those, it is just a ritual with a few spells. And it is not a permanent change either. One ritual is not suddenly going to make you live for a thousand years. I do wish it were that simple. No, you do have to maintain the magic every decade or so. If you were ever to change your mind, you would not have to take your own life to avoid living hundreds of years longer than you want."