EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan tried to angle his blade around his opponent's spear, but unfortunately, he focused too much on Argrei's weapon to notice his foot delivering a clean kick to Julan's stomach, knocking him onto his back. Argrei was quick to lunge forward, thrusting his spear towards Julan's leg, but despite having the breath knocked out of him, Julan was fast and aware enough to deflect the spear to the side with his blade.

Argrei stabbed the spear into the ground, and Julan quickly shot out a hand to grab it. Much to Argrei's surprise, trying to jerk the spear out of the ground was fruitless with Julan's iron grip. However, Argrei proved capable of thinking and adapting quickly, as he did not waste time trying to wrestle over his spear, and instead just pulled his bone dagger from his belt.

Julan realized that he was not in a great position, and instead of trying to deal with Argrei's dagger from the ground, he decided to make the safe choice and roll to the side, out of its range. While Argrei was working to get his spear out of the mud, he got back up to his feet and raised his guard once more.

With his spear in hand once more, Argrei eyed Julan down, staying just out of range. "Hmph, you're strong for a boy."

"Yeah, and...I can be even stronger." Julan replied, a potentially clever idea coming into his mind. At least, he had not thought of any potentially harmful consequences in the few seconds he was able to think about it. For a moment, Julan's hand glowed with a yellow light, which he cast upon the rest of his body. It was just a basic healing spell, even though he was not injured, but his opponent did not know that. All he would see was that Julan had cast a restoration spell on himself, and Julan knew that there were spells in that school that could enhance a person's strength. He did not know any of those spells, but again, Argrei did not know that.

Zharanthixil had been mostly quiet since they had all came outside together, but the fight was enough to coax the occasional comment from him. In this case, it was even a compliment. Technically. "Well, at least you taught the boy some actually useful magic."

---

"Cruel? I don't...understand. I didn't torture, I didn't make her suffer. I killed her quickly, I..." Ahnasha began, but her excuses started to fade the more she looked into Rhazii's eyes. Even out of his Khajiit form, she could still read his expression, and still read the fear it held. It was true, genuine fear of his own mother, and it was the first thing in years that had made her think twice about the path through life she had taken. About her killing, about her uncompromising ruthlessness towards her enemies. She had always thought it unpleasant, but necessary, and perhaps it was...towards their actual enemies. But, now, Rhazii had planted a seed of doubt in her mind about her own judgement, and that doubt was spreading through every part of her. She had become convicted with her sense of right and wrong. Fendros had challenged her before, but she had always talked him down. But Rhazii had not backed down, and even with all of her authority, and even fighting ability, bearing down on him, he had lasted long enough to give her a moment of genuine, unfiltered self-reflection.

"I didn't know her. I guessed. The guess is probably right, but I...killed just on 'probably'. Maybe...I should..." Ahnasha hesitated, then dropped down onto her knees with tears welling in her eyes. She stared down at her hands, which were shaking visibly. For a few seconds, she closed her eyes and sat in silence before continuing with a defeated tone. "I wasn't looking forward to it. It wasn't that; I didn't enjoy it, it was just...nothing. I felt nothing. I used to, long ago. I didn't like the killing. Not people. But the war, it just...it just kept dragging on. There was never any end; just every day, fighting for our existence. Fighting an enemy that wanted to kill us in the most horrific way just for what we are. For the power in our souls. No choice, there was no choice but to fight; we'd all die if we didn't. But, I think...it changed me. I didn't even notice that girl's screams. I've heard those screams so many times, killed so many who were afraid to die, that I just don't hear them anymore."

Ahnasha looked down at her hand again, which glowed briefly with the aura of conjuration magic. "Then I started studying life and death, and it just...all seemed like it didn't matter anymore. When I kill now, I just...don't feel. Rhazii, I never wanted to hurt you. I didn't want to frighten you; I wanted to keep you far from this life. But I did frighten you. Your own mother shouldn't be terrifying to you. I shouldn't be like this, but this war broke me...and I don't know how to fix that."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Perhaps Julan was intentionally playing off of the perception that he was inexperienced, or perhaps he just thought up a clever idea, but he started the fight by trying to do something unexpected. As Argrei advanced, Julan charged and launched a small fireball at him. Argrei had a longer weapon, but with the ability to use magic on his side, Julan did have a ranged advantage.

Unfortunately, Julan's response could not be entirely unpredictable. Argrei could see the fire forming in his hand, and Julan was not a skilled enough destructionist to be able to launch it before Argrei could reasonably react. He saw where Julan was aiming and sidestepped the fireball, but it allowed Julan to take a swing forward and get in his own weapon's range. He was aiming for Argrei's arm, but he was a fast enough opponent to parry with the haft of his spear. The sharp edge of Janius' blade bit into the wood, but it was nowhere close to breaking through. Julan would have to apply an unnatural level of strength to accomplish that feat in the midst of the battle.

During the exchange, Kaleeth spoke, not at a whisper, but soft in comparison to the rest of the crowd. "I almost forgot about magic. How has he been taking to those lessons? Do you think it's enough to give him the advantage?"

---

Ahnasha held on as tightly as she could, but no amount of grip she could have would have been able to resist the sheer force of a werewolf. Her arm bled through re-opened wounds, and she struggled to climb back to her feet. The pain was starting to show through the adrenaline of the fight, but she was still solely focused on Rhazii. He was getting away slowly, but she still could not catch him. With her uninjured arm, she gathered her magicka. She could still cast a spell before he escaped, but she was faced with a choice of which to cast.

The first option played perfectly to Ahnasha's skillset, and she knew it would stop him. She knew her son, and though her mind had still not caught up to the truth of what was upsetting him, she knew what could petrify him in place. Three flame atronachs: she could place one on every side of him. They could swirl an inferno around him, trapping him in place, like in half of the nightmares that had kept him awake at night since he was just a cub. It would horrify him beyond reason, and finally force him to submit.

Ahnasha actually started to shape the spell in her hand when an image took over her mind: her son's wolven face in terror. Horrified in ways that she never wanted him to experience. The image sent a sharp pain through her heart, not just because it was about the suffering of her son, but because it was not just some hypothetical imagining. It was the face she had seen moments ago, as he was fleeing from her. It was not the act of killing that had so harshly affected him, it was her.

Ahnasha's mind was still panicked enough that she could not piece together all of the details, but she knew she did not want to hurt Rhazii any more. She would have to do something else, anything else. Instead of conjuration, the spell she formed was one of illusion: a calming spell. She was skilled in illusion, but no master like with conjuration. She could not just force him to become placid and docile, but perhaps she could take the edge off of his fear? Perhaps just giving him a clear mind with which to think would be enough to allow him to listen.

"Rhazii, please stop! You don't have to kill anyone, I promise! I'm...confused, I'm...broken. Something I did hurt you, something terrified you. If I caused this, then something is wrong with me!" As she pleaded with Rhazii, she released her calm spell onto him. "Please...help me."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As the fight was about to begin, Kaleeth shifted herself closer to Janius, though it was clear that she was far from relaxed. For the most part, she was just looking for some comfort. "I didn't think I would be so nervous about it." She commented. "I never went to one of these rites, and never even though about trying to challenge someone in one. This was a rite for skilled fighters, and I wasn't. I guess I really should be proud of Julan for being good enough to try, but it does all make me nervous. If I knew we were going to be doing this, I would have brought armor for him with us. It would take just one...unlucky mistake for something bad to happen."

Once Master-Hunter Juran stepped in between the two fighters, the crowd quieted down without so much as a word to silence him. He was adorned in ceremonial attire, his armor covered in bones, horns, teeth, and other trophies from all of his notable kills. "This rite, performed in the presence, and in honor of the Hist, gives this young warrior the opportunity to join the ranks of their protectors. Their hunters. Kaj-Julan has announced himself as a warrior beyond any average ability, and shall now prove his claim in battle with one who has already been deemed worthy."

The Master-Hunter stepped back from between the two participants. "Begin!"

Both Julan and his opponent already had their weapons drawn. Julan has his father's sword held in a proper defensive posture, as well as his knife in its scabbard, tied around his waist. Argrei, of course, had a spear leveled towards Julan, along with a long knife, carved from bone, hanging from his leather belt. Argrei was quickly stepping forward to move in range of his spear, but despite needing to advance farther to get in range of his own weapon, Julan was staying still and remaining defensive.

---

Ahnasha could hardly believe what she was hearing. He had been acting as if he was losing control, yet his words could not have been coming from a simple beast spirit. She was at a loss for how to respond beyond tears. Those few words had caused her far more pain than he ever could have inflicted physically. "Rhazii, I...don't understand. You're not making any sense; I'm not a monster, I'm your mother. I love you, son, and I...didn't want to hurt you. I'm so sorry for hurting you, I promise I never wanted to. But...I had no choice. You lost control, and I can't let a feral werewolf go running off into the city. You could get hurt, or end up hurting someone innocent. I had to stop you."

Ahnasha let out a deep breath, then allowed her body to revert back to her Khajiit form, even though Rhazii had not yet reverted as well. She wanted to avoid her beast spirit clouding her thoughts, and to give Rhazii the more familiar face of his mother to look into. Despite the not-insignificant risk in doing so, she knelt down and hugged him tightly. "I love you, son, and I'm not letting you go."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Smiling back at his father, Julan took the blade, then took his place in the clearing. He had a few minutes before his opponent joined him, which he spent examining the blade and taking a few practice swings. It was a longer weapon for him proportionally, compared to his father, but he was still more than strong enough to wield it with ease.

Rhazii's opponent, a man by the name of Argrei, while young compared to more experienced hunters, was still very much an adult. He had plain, dark brown scales and bore the marks of the viper, like the majority of other hunters. However, he also was wearing thick, rugged leather armor protecting his chest, legs, and some of his arms, which was likely made from the tough hides of local beasts. Along with the spear he was holding, it was an advantage that Julan was not certain that he could deal with. By contrast, the only garment Julan was was a thin, tattered loincloth. However, his opponent was also quick to notice the imbalance between them.

"Did you not wish to wear your armor for our duel?" Argrei asked.

Julan looked down, almost seeming ashamed. "I don't have any armor to wear." He answered plainly.

Argrei crossed his arms. "Hmm, a hunter of our village is expected to craft and maintain their own armor from the spoils of their own kills. It is a part of the rites as much as fighting ability." He explained, though he soon let out a sigh, then gave a light smile. "But, let no one say that I am not honorable."

Momentarily setting his spear aside, Argrei started to unstrap and remove all of his armor, piece by piece, until he was down to the same attire as Julan. They would still be fighting with different weapons, but without armor to further divide them, their fight would be more of a test of skill than equipment.

---

Ahnasha was stunned speechless. For the first time during their fight, she had no response, and no quick reaction. Rhazii's reply had been far too lucid to be purely the work of his beast spirit, though the wolf was certainly still influencing him to some degree. Now confused and increasingly worried, Ahnasha walked after him, easily keeping pace with his crawling. "Rhazii, I...what do you mean? I don't understand. You...you lost control, but now it's over. Now we can heal you up and get everything back to normal."

Finally, Ahnasha knelt down next to Rhazii, turning him over and staring straight down into his eyes with tears in her own. "Rhazii, please talk to me. I want to help you, but I don't know what's going on. Please, Rhazii...please." She begged.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well...yeah, I don't want to hurt anyone. Obviously." Julan answered. "The Master-Hunter said that the fight will go until one of us concedes, or he judges that a real fight would have been finished. Like, if one of us would have been able to make a killing blow, if that was what we were trying to do."

Julan gave another, quick glance back to the Master-Hunter before giving a final nod to Janius. "I'll take the sword. I think I know how to approach it. I just have to...what's the word...nullify the reach advantage." He commented as he waited for his father to offer him the blade.

---

"It's okay, Rhazii. It's okay." Ahnasha replied immediately, glad to have finally heard something definitely from her son. Her voice in her current form made it harder to convey, but she sounded as reassuring as she could. Even her body language became more passive, making her seem at least somewhat smaller. "It's almost over. I helped make your beast spirit submit. You lost control, so I don't know if you remember anything, but all you have to do is transform back. I wish I hadn't had to hurt you, but if we hurry, I might be able to get you back to my things so I can get you a potion before the pain sets in. We didn't run that far, so it shouldn't take too long."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Although hesitant, Julan did slowly nod in response to Janius. "I know it's hard, and the spear probably had the advantage because of reach and everything, but I just think I would be better with a sword. I don't have enough practice with a spear in duels. Master-Hunter Juran says that as long as the sword isn't enchanted, I can use it."

Julan was looking nervous, though it was hard to tell if it was because of the topic at hand, or the approaching duel in general. "Do you think it's a good idea? Should I try the spear anyway? You know a lot more about this kind of thing."

---

Ahnasha did not waste time, now that the beast had seemingly capitulated. She stood, towering over Rhazii, close enough to pounce quickly should he try anything sudden. Now that she guessed the beast's willpower had been weakened, she spoke more directly towards Rhazii, without her demanding tone or threatening growls.

"Rhazii, I've weakened your beast spirit's will, and pulled it back in line. You should be able to wrestle back control from it. I want you to force the best back inside and transform back to normal. Once you are Khajiit again, it shouldn't be able to influence you for a while." Ahnasha instructed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It was hard to say right away what effect Janius' advice had on Julan, since he went off on his own to return to his friends right away, but it was only a few hours later that Julan's rite was set to begin, so their games could not have lasted too long. Kaleeth had stayed with her father most of the morning, so they headed out to the center of the village together. The terrain was not perfectly even, nor clear grass or mud, but the area near the base of the Hist tree was the most open in the village, at least on one side.

In general, village life would go on as normal during a rite, except for those particularly close to the participants. However, according to Zharanthixil, Julan's rite had attracted a bit more attention than usual. There was more of a crowd gathering, especially among the hunters and apprentices. Fortunately, Julan did not know that the attention was unusual, else he may have been even more nervous.

Kaleeth, her father, and Janius had found a comfortable place to sit underneath the Hist tree, on one of the floor mats from Zharan's hut. Kaleeth was finally feeling comfortable enough to leave her weapons behind and get out of the chitin armor she had been wearing for most of the past few weeks, and was instead just wearing a simple loincloth like many of the other villagers. At the very least, she looked like she fit in.

It was hard to say that Julan was not nervous, but he was not letting it show too much. After spending ten minutes talking to the Master-Hunter, Julan finally pulled himself away for long enough to approach his parents. "I, um, guess we'll be starting soon. I was just wanting to ask, father, can I...use your sword? I just have this knife. They offered to give me a spear, but I don't think I would really be as good with that. I have been trained with it, but only really in formations and stuff. You're the one that has been teaching me with a sword."

---

Ahnasha and Rhazii had sparred many times before, all throughout his training, in and out of their beast forms. They had done everything ranging from light sparring with practice weapons, to rather heavy brawls. It would be easy to say that they should understand each other's styles, and that was partially true, but Rhazii would quickly discover that there was still much for him to learn. Ahnasha had always fought better than Rhazii, but she had also held herself back, simply allowing herself to be better and better the more skilled Rhazii became. Rhazii's training required him to fight against more skilled opponents, but Ahnasha had to fight close enough for their bouts to still be instructive. Now, however, there were no limits, other than the lethality of Ahnasha's attacks. She reacted as quickly as she could, left no openings in her defense, and used tactics that Rhazii simply did not have the experience to respond to. For Rhazii, it was his first true glimpse into why the clans held the Champion's pack in such high regard.

Rhazii's quick strikes looked slow in comparison to what Ahnasha could accomplish. It was not only her physical training, but the degree of control she had over her beast spirit in order to use her wolf form more directly, with fewer mental barriers. She could not control herself as perfectly as Meesei with her Ring, but she was as close as she could be without magic assistance. She dodged Rhazii's swipes, feinted attack after attack to keep Rhazii on edge, perhaps even wondering if she even intended to attack at all. Then, she timed a short flurry of attacks in step with Rhazii's limp, jabbing the claws on her thumbs into him three separate times. Two were minor flesh wounds on his bicep, but the other struck the inside of his elbow directly. She sacrificed allowing Rhazii to scrape his claws across her shoulder, but Ahnasha's precision attacks were calculated and effective. He had caused her some bleeding, but she was compromising his ability to move at all, limb after limb. In her mind, if his restless beast spirit would not lose the will to fight, then she would remove its ability to fight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight, then. I'll reply before going to bed as well.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Probably, I'd imagine. He might not have really understood, having never felt attracted to anyone

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan was still at a loss, and ended up just standing with his mouth half-open for a few seconds before he realized he needed to say something. "Father, you're...confusing." He said, but eventually he started to laugh only slightly uncomfortably.

"I...guess I should just try to make friends. I do understand the game they're playing, so maybe they're still playing it back there. Leeus told me it was 'like hip-and-tail ball, but in the water.' I don't know what that is, but the rules didn't look too complicated. I would have joined, but...she was showing me how to hit the ball right...and she said to watch her hips, and..." Now that he was thinking back, Julan suddenly looked away, visibly embarrassed. "...I just had to get away for a few minutes and think about things. I don't think I made her mad."

---

Ahnasha had, for a while now, been complementary of Rhazii's fighting ability. She had praised his progress, and encouraged him to push farther. That might have given him a fair amount of confidence, but here, in this fight, the gap between them would be fully on display. Rhazii was fast in his attack, but Ahnasha saw it coming easily, and reacted effortlessly. She saw him reaching for her arm, and instead grabbed his, jerking it suddenly in the direction of his own momentum. While he was off balance, she pushed him past her and raked her claws across his back to make a shallow would, though one which still drew blood. However, her hands were only a distraction for the true point of her attack, which was to jam one of the claws on her foot into his ankle. Despite Ahnasha's growing anger, her goal was not to cause Rhazii serious harm. She just needed to get him to stop fighting.

"Submit, wolf! You do not command my son! You obey me!" Ahnasha shouted. Regardless of the fact that Rhazii was not acting exactly like a feral, she simply did not believe that her son could be responsible for what he was doing. Not entirely.