EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Oh." Julan remarked, looking over both Kaleeth and Zharan respectively. He looked worried, or at the very least, nervous. "That, um, seems like it would take a while. Those marks go all over."

"Indeed, the tattoos can take many hours to apply." Thorantilth chimed in from the other side of the hut. He was back at his alchemy station, presumably preparing another potion for Julan's recovery. "The marks of the leviathan in particular can take a while. They are a greater honor to receive, and tend to have more detail. They will cover your body, limbs, and tail to at least some degree, and will depict the most fearsome creature to inhabit these swamps. Unfortunately, it will take me a few days to gather and prepare the ink. I was not expecting any rites so close to our village's migration, so I did not have any on-hand."

---

Ahnasha was tempted, but hesitant. "I'm...not sure. I promised him I wouldn't follow him, and I don't want to make myself a liar. You're free to go after him, but...maybe I can just wait at the bandits' camp. You can go find him, talk to him, and if he thinks he's ready to talk to me again, you can bring him back to me. Otherwise, I'll just make my way back to the city eventually, I suppose. Maybe I can even cook a meal for us. Hopefully, the scavengers haven't ruined too much of the meat."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For Kaleeth, it felt somewhat odd to see Janius and her father agreeing with each other, and even moreso as Zharan continued. He was not as upbeat and encouraging as Janius, but they were nevertheless on the same side.

"I cannot deny that either, it is rare for one to succeed in that rite, especially at your age. You have much to learn, but you also have promise. Cleverness. Dedication. Seeing one of my own family receive the marks of the Leviathan was a dream ever since I first had a family to think about. So...make sure you don't end up wasting that potential." Zharan said, quite quickly returning to his stern, critical self. "Don't ever do something like that again if there's any other choice. If a fight isn't life or death, then you don't take those kinds of risks. You keep your body healthy enough to fight again another day. Being reckless can just end up leaving you with a crippling injury, and nothing to show for it." He warned, lightly pressing his cane into Julan's side.

Zharan's warning did visibly dampen some of Julan's mood, but it did seem like he was speaking from a position of experience, at least. Regardless, Julan was now actually feeling proud of what he had done. He had won and lost many practice fights back home, but this definitely seemed like the most impactful for him so far. Although, there were still some questions going through his mind. "Since I won, that means I'm getting...marks? What, um, exactly does that mean? What's a leviathan?"

---

Ahnasha took a moment to think. It was tempting to put off their family matters in light of everything that had happened, but on the other hand, it would probably be in their best interest if their families did not have any reason to believe something was wrong. "Tomorrow, you say? I...think we will be ready by then. Just a night to calm down, sleep on it; I think it will be enough."

"Now, for where Rhazii is...we went to the northwest. We headed off into the forest along the road, about halfway to your family's vineyard, cut north around it, then headed northwest a ways. It took us a few hours to find the bandits' camp, but with all the blood in the air, it shouldn't take as long for you to find it. Scavengers are probably there by this point, so you might just be able to follow the vultures. The last place that I know for sure he went was where we hid our belongings, about a minute's jog east of the camp. He went there to take the healing potions I told him about. He wanted to be alone, and I promised I wouldn't follow him, so I don't know where he went from there. But, I doubt he would be able to hide his trail from you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan looked down at his leg. He showed some discomfort, but more from the sight of all the blood than anything he was feeling. "Well...I won. And I'm not really hurting anymore, so I guess I feel good. Did I fight well?"

Xharanthixil stepped out around Kaleeth, crossing his arms with something of a judgmental stare towards Julan. "I think you're a featherbrained idiot for going on fighting in that kind of a state." He chided, before letting out a sigh. "But, you do have heart, at least. Heart, stubbornness, and a lot of endurance. Maybe a bit of cleverness in there too. You're lucky Argrei didn't have an answer to all your magic, though. That boy also needs some practice."

---

"Like I said, I'm pretty sure his beast was still influencing him." Ahnasha remarked. Once she finished unwrapping the bandage, she got out of her dress as well, revealing yet more bloodstained fur. Granted, much of it had come from the bandit she had started to feast on back at the camp. "If he had lost control, I suppose I would have been able to get him to submit before it broke into a fight. He had just enough will to want to run away. He did spill blood first, but...I thought he had lost control. Couldn't let him rampage through the countryside like that, so...I did what we're supposed to do. Precision strikes to the joints, stop him from fighting back while causing as little damage as possible. Something easily healed."

Ahnasha could not hide her regret. "I'm going to need a thorough bath before we meet back up with your family." She remarked, drinking the potion quickly, then tossing the waterskin back onto the bed. "Hopefully my arm heals up before then. We'll need to get Rhazii back here too, and hopefully in a good enough mental state to deal with our families. Honestly, though, I'm at least not too worried about my family anymore. All things considered, I suppose their approval or disapproval is not the most important thing in the world."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Thorantilth was quick to act, regardless of who did or did not decide to listen to him. Argrei, despite being the loser of the duel, was in far better shape than Julan. Another healer simply offered him a potion, while Thorantilth focused all of his attention on Julan. He gave him a quick, strong healing spell to begin in order to dull his pain, then ushered him along away from the crowd and led him back to his hut on the other side of the Hist tree. He did not actually say anything about whether or not any of the others could follow, but after a few moments, Kaleeth decided to risk following after with Janius. At worst, she would just wait outside the hut until Thorantilth told her she could come in.

After Thorantilth took Julan away, she returned to her friends, though Zharanthixil joined Kaleeth and Janius without a word. He had only made rare comments during the fight, but none were especially negative. At least, he was no more negative than Janius might have expected from him.

By the time Kaleeth and Janius stepped through the curtain into Thorantilth's hut, he had already given Julan a place to lie down, and was in the middle of giving him a potion. Already, though, Julan looked to be less distracted by pain, so they would be more free to talk.

---

Ahnasha pulled up her sleeve, revealing the bloody bandages underneath. "I don't know. I do appreciate the sentiment, but you didn't terrify your son to the point that he tried to bite your arm off."

Ahnasha started to unwrap the cloth, being careful enough to keep the dried blood from sticking and pulling out some of her fur in the process. The laceration was closed by this point, and would end up healing, but it was a rather deep wound that had dyed most of her arm's fur red with blood. "Sorry...I just don't think I was prepared for that. I thought he lost control, so I chased him, did what we were trained to do in that situation. But, it was him. I'm sure his beast spirit was influencing him, but it was still him. I just want everything to go back to normal. I don't know how to fix what I am, but maybe I should just start working on pretending."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan did not show any response to what Janius said, even his congratulations. Instead, he seemed to be intentionally avoiding looking at Leeus while just going wherever Janius guided him. He did not say anything to his friends, Leeus, or either of his parents, but his expression spoke for him. His eyes were closed, gritting his teeth, and leaning heavily onto Janius for support. The tears were hard to separate from the mud and blood, but he was obviously in significant pain. He did not have the experience or training to deal with painful injuries like his parents.

As much as Kaleeth wanted to congratulate Julan as well, his well-being took precedence. She placed her hand lightly on Janius' shoulder, with a concerned look down towards Julan. "We should get him to the healer." She suggested, though Janius could see that Thorantilth was already maneuvering through the crowd towards them.

---

Ahnasha shrugged. "I don't know. The bandits chose to be thieves and murderers; why should I pity them? Even the Counts of Cyrodilic cities put out bounties on people like that. You could be legally rewarded by the Empire, of all things, for hunting them like animals. And that's just what we did. We hunted them; we set out specifically to kill them. The only thoughts that even entered my mind before we started was how it could be good training for Rhazii. How it would put him against more intelligent opponents than his usual prey, but with me still there to watch over him and keep him safe. The lives of those people did not factor into my thoughts at all."

Ahnasha was starting to feel frustrated with herself. "Saying those words out loud, I know I should feel something for them. Even if every word I just said is right, that they were dangerous people who needed to be killed before they could hurt anyone else, isn't it normal to at least feel some regret? Even if it is just: 'I wish it didn't have to be this way'? So, I guess to answer you, I do know what I should be feeling. I do think I know what is normal. I think I can act the way Rhazii wants me to, but I'll only ever just be pretending."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The end of the fight was enough to take Kaleeth's mind off of Deerz, at least for the moment. It was even enough to get her to smile at Janius. "I don't know if we should start clapping or anything, but we can go congratulate him."

For Argrei, and Julan in particular, they both looked exhausted from the fight. Once Julan pulled away his blade, Argrei gave a confused stare down at the broken halves of his spear before dropping them both at his feet. He rubbed his sore neck, then simply sat himself down on the ground where he had been standing to catch his breath.

Julan saw his parents approaching him and took a few steps to meet them in the middle, but he soon found himself surrounded by the excited faces of the other young Argonians he had befriended over the past few days. He heard an indistinct mix of cheers and congratulations, along with a few playful shoves that actually caused him a fair degree of discomfort, given his injuries.

However, Julan could not utter a word before Leeus ran up to him, every bit as excited as her friends, and planted a rather long kiss straight on his "lips".

Julan, understandably, was wide-eyed and stunned into speechlessness. Even after Leeus pulled away from him, he took just two steps towards his parents, forgot his limp, and had his wounded leg buckle underneath him. In under a second, he ended up falling face-first into the mud.

---

"Maybe.I don't know if it has anything to do with what happened to me, though." Ahnasha sighed. "I thought it was a good thing for me, to be able to do what I needed to do in this war without hesitation. Without regret, without...question. Our souls depend on us being successful. We've had to kill people that maybe didn't deserve to die, in this war. How many silver or gas shipments did we raid over the years? How many of those were protected just by hired caravan guards who were just doing their jobs, and didn't know what was going on? Even thinking about that...I don't feel anything for them. Their souls just ended up going to Aetherius a few decades early; why does it even matter?"

Ahnasha reached over and grabbed Fendros' hand tightly, at least finally willing to accept Fendros' comfort. "Even if I do still have some empathy left in me, how can I make Rhazii see me as anything but a monster anymore? Maybe you should go find him, make sure he's alright?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth took a long look towards Deerz as he was walking away, before turning her head away with a sigh. "I don't know what to expect anymore."

For much of the crowd, they were simply impressed that Julan was continuing to fight through his injuries, regardless of how the fight seemed to be going otherwise. Argrei had landed another cut on the same leg, which reopened the wound that had already partially closed. Julan had lost a not-insignificant amount of blood by this point, even if he was just going to start regenerating in short order.

Pain was also becoming more of a hindrance for Julan. He was starting to feel the wounds he had first received, and was less experienced at dealing with pain than his parents. Argrei would be able to see tears mixing with blood as they rolled down the side of his snout. Of course, with his pain came a fair amount of anger, and a desire to end this quickly. He knew he was going to lose if he did not do something soon, so almost by instinct, he fell back on something that Kaleeth had relied upon before growing her skills: pure, brute force. At the very least, he had the presence of mind to cast another minor healing spell before making his attack.

With every last bit of strength that he had, Julan let out a desperate scream as he swung towards Argrei's center. It was heavily telegraphed and easily reacted to, but that did not matter. Argrei tried to parry, but Julan adjusted to aim towards the spear itself. He used the unnatural amount of strength required to split the spear's haft clean in two, then twisted his wrist as soon as he heard the snap. Fortunately, Julan managed to turn the sword so that it was the flat of the blade that struck Argrei, because his swing carried straight through onto Argrei's neck. It would leave Argrei painfully bruised, but at least his head was still sitting firmly on his neck.

A shocked silence fell over the crowd, and even the fighters themselves. With the apparent advantage Argrei had shown throughout the fight, few had expected the outcome. It only took a few seconds for the Master-Hunter to speak, with little apparent emotion. "I judge the fight to be over. The hunter, Kaj-Julan, is victorious."

---

Ahnasha slowly shook her head, her eyes failing to hide her shame. "Not anymore. I guess some early memories still bother me, but the people I kill now are just...nothing."

Ahnasha turned her head away and unconsciously started to tug as his grasp around her. "He saw me kill one of the bandits. It was a Khajitt. She was screaming, terrified like they usually are when they see a werewolf and realize they can't do anything to stop us. I ended it quickly, just stepped on her head, but the way Rhazii described me...like I was an unfeeling monster. Is he wrong? Is he just naive, or...is there something worse about me? A mother should never terrify her son like I did to him."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Finally, Deerz bared his teeth angrily at Janius. If he was bluffing, it had obviously upset him to be found out. "This is not over, Human." He growled, storming off just as quickly as he had arrived.

While Zharanthixil had been unable to hear Deerz's threats, Kaleeth had watched Deerz nervously the entire time and concentrated on listening to the whispers. She moved closer to Janius, softly speaking as she watched Argrei even more closely than before. "Do you think he was lying? What do we do if he wasn't?"

---

"It was Rhazii." Ahnasha answered painfully. "We went bandit hunting. I thought it would be good training for him; a step above simple Falmer. But...I terrified him."

Ahnasha finally looked up from the ground to make eye contact with Fendros. "How many people have we killed, Fendros? How many lives have you taken, just by your hand alone? For a decade, we have fought, we have killed and will keep killing in every single battle. Do the screams bother you anymore? Do they ever make you hesitate, or make you feel guilty? Am I a monster because I feel nothing for them anymore?"

Last of the Jedi (EliteCommander and Sep)

Kresst let out a long breath, silently wishing that Mevenn had not returned to her old self quite so quickly. Still, he kept his emotions in-check, even if that meant behaving more like his fellow Jedi back at the Temple than he cared for. Contrary to Mevenn's perception of him, he did not enjoy their often restrictive, close-minded attitudes any more than she did. However, this situation, he felt, was one that demanded clear minds and level-headed thinking.

Kresst's even tone reflected the state of mind he was attempting to employ. "I am a historian, a scholar. One learns eventually not to make assumptions on what they do not know. There is wisdom in recognizing the limits of your knowledge or ability. If your assumptions are correct and this war is over...then we are in no hurry, are we? Perhaps I am wrong, but we stand to gain much and lose little by taking the cautious approach and ensuring we fully understand the situation before going anywhere potentially...dangerous."

Last of the Jedi (EliteCommander and Sep)

Kresst was not nearly as optimistic as Mevenn, though he could understand why she would be. Kresst could not pretend like he had all of the answers, or any of the answers at all, for that matter. He was not sure by what means one could be able to manipulate the clones to betrayal, but it had obviously happened. Just in the short time he had to think so far, there were a myriad of likely and unlikely scenarios he could imagine that could have caused it, from clever sabotage by the Separatists, and even to betrayal from within the Repbulic. All that he was sure of was that he did not know the truth, and that fact pushed him towards caution.

"I cannot deny that as a possibility. We all know the devious nature of the Sith, but I think we should take care to avoid assumptions. The only certainty that we have is that we are in the dark. I propose we take a cautious approach. It can be difficult to get news this far into the Outer Rim, aside from priority military communications. Even then, who knows how long ago those messages were sent? I suggest we head for the nearest civilized planet in the Outer Rim with a functioning communication network and try to establish secure communications with the Jedi Order. Hopefully, the more-informed Jedi back on Coruscant will be able to shed more light on this confusing situation." Kresst suggested.