EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Leeus only served to make Julan more nervous with the attention she was placing on him, and he was still anxiously picking fruitlessly at the dried mud caked onto this scales. The blood might not have been so bad by itself, but he wanted to slap himself for slipping in the mud afterwards. Everything about his reaction to Leeus' kiss was embarrassing in the worst ways for him. Though, at least she did not seem to be making fun of him for it.

Leeus actually seemed briefly confused, tilting her head slightly to the side towards Janius. "Helping him? I mean, I don't know if I've really been trying to do that, he's just...fun to be around. We've all been getting along with him." She answered before quickly returning her attention to Julan. Although, she did notice the anxiety that he was doing a poor job of hiding, and was observant enough to see him trying to wipe away the mud.

"It was kind of funny how you fell like that, but...it wasn't your fault or anything. You just hurt your leg, is all." Leeus remarked.

Though initially embarrassed about it being mentioned at all, Leeus' approach did help Julan to calm down. "I, um, yeah, that was it. I could...really focus to fight through it during the duel, but it started to hurt a lot afterwards. I'm, uh, tough enough to handle some pain, obviously; I just got a little distracted for a second."

Leeus laughed for a moment. "I guess so. How bad is it? Can you walk around? Why don't we go get you washed up? I can even help you wash your back." Leeus smiled.

Julan rubbed the side of his neck. "I'm, uh, not sure if I can leave yet. Can I?"

Thorantilth hummed a moment, focusing his gaze on Julan's wounded leg. "Normally, I would not let you move around so soon. But, your body seems to be healing...unusually quickly, if I am being honest. I have no reason to keep you here." He answered, with his attention firmly on Julan's parents by the end.

---

"Yes, what's done is done." Ahnasha repeated. "I guess we'll see what we can do to help him cope once you find him. I'm going to get myself cleaned up properly once we're at the camp, and maybe cook up something for us to eat if I have the time afterwards. Still, take your time, once you find him. I have a feeling he could really use his father right now. Just do what you can for him. Only worry about bringing him to me if you think it's a good idea."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius' permission was plenty enough to rush excitedly into the room and over to Julan. While Julan had not been in the best state to respond to Leeus before, she evidently had not lost any of the excitement from seeing him win. She rushed over to him as quickly as she could in the confined space, grinning the whole time. "I can't believe you won, Julan! Argrei might not have been the best, but he wasn't the worst. None of our friends could beat him. I didn't think anyone could just break a spear in half like that."

Leeus sat herself down beside Julan, looking him over, and even going as far as curiously squeezing his bicep. "I know you look strong, but how in the Void did you get that strong?"

Strangely enough, even before Leeus put Julan on the spot with her question, he was acting somewhat unusual. He was looking away from her and breathing a bit more quickly. It could have been interpreted as a result of the conversation he had before about her with Janius, but the fact that he was subtly trying to cover up or rub away the mud and dried blood covering him suggested he may have simply been embarrassed to be in such a filthy state in front of her. "I, um...my father taught me how." He answered.

---

Ahnasha shrugged lightly. "I did not think it would be so troubling for him. He has been training to be a warrior, so he had to have expected this to come eventually. He has already killed Falmer, whose kind at least used to be people. It just seemed like a natural progression of his training, and I made sure to select opponents who deserved their deaths. I just wanted to make sure he was ready, and wouldn't put himself in danger in a real fight."

Last of the Jedi (EliteCommander and Sep)

"Very well, as long as we take an appropriately cautious approach, I suppose we can simply drop out of hyperspace somewhere along the way, without too much of a detour." Kresst agreed.

Kresst did not have anything more to discuss with Mevenn, but he was not finished quite yet. He turned his attention to Mach, taking his time to observe the Human clone's features. "I suppose we could all use some rest, but Mach, you have been mostly silent thusfar. And yet, you are just as bound up in all of this as we are. I would like to hear your thoughts."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth looked down at her arm and ran a claw over one of the vines. "Well, I don't know how it all works, but I remember them using this really sharp reed to...well, 'stab' the ink into my scales doesn't really sound right. I know they use the reed to get the ink under the scales to draw the marks. They also use some magic to make it all go faster."

Thorantilth briefly interrupted them by bringing Julan a small clay bowl filled with a light red liquid. "Please drink this. It will last a while, and help your body recover." He instructed before joining in on the conversation as well. "The magic is not strictly necessary, but quite helpful. It could take weeks of sessions to finish marks as large and detailed as those without it. And do not worry about the pain; a mild potion can numb you enough that you will hardly feel it."

"Wow, this all sounds like...a really big deal. I didn't even think about all of this before." Julan commented, still seeming somewhat nervous.

Soon after, there was another interruption, this time from the hut's entrance. Peering in around the door's curtain was the face of Hal-Leeus, who spoke somewhat hesitantly. "Hello, um...can I come in too?"

---

Ahnasha had been anticipating the question to come up eventually. She might have told Fendros on her own beforehand, were it not for the general regret she felt at the situation as a whole. Regardless, she answered quickly and directly. "Yes, one man. He did not take it well, I believe because he was frightened and trying to flee before dying. The bandits were not terribly disciplined. They did not have lookouts, and between my arrows and atronachs, I killed most of them in just the first few moments. Rhazii performed well, and did not hesitate when in the midst of a fight, when he was in danger. But, I could see he felt guilty. I did talk to him after that, explain things, and it looked like it worked. He calmed down, until I killed the Khajiit."

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?"