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Kaleeth shook her head. "She didn't say anything, but...I don't think that really matters anymore. Petty things like that don't really carry over after death, I don't think. Especially now that she understands the reasons for everything." She answered, after which she simply closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax.




Just as planned, Ahnasha and Fendros informed Meesei of their intentions as soon as they met up with her the next day. She did take some slight convincing that Rossarm would even be worth the trouble, but for the most part, she trusted both Fendros and Ahnasha's judgement. As such, she had wasted no time in returning to Blackreach to have Marod write up the writ Calia requested, then brought him back with them in case the personal presence of a Penitus Oculatus agent was needed. If all went to plan, none of them would be talking to Rossarm before he had agreed to help, but both Ahnasha and Meesei wanted to be prepared regardless.

All four of them were waiting in the inn for Calia to arrive. There was at least some good luck for Ahnasha in that her family had all gone back to the castle that morning for another meeting with the Count's steward, so she had, thusfar, managed to avoid any difficult conversations with her family. Though, she knew one would be coming up sooner or later. For now, it would be up to Calia to take the writ to Rossarm and convince him to help, assuming she still intended to follow through with the plan.




It had been calm in the scholar's loft for much of the day, aside from a few, colorful curses from Marcaiile venting her frustration. She was not usually one to be so emotional, but neither again was it common for her to have such consistent failures as she had been having the past few weeks. She had taken up study into the mysterious ore known as Aetherium that could be found all over Blackreach, but no amount of effort or creativity on her part had produced even a hint of results that would allude to the supposed power the Dwemer texts claimed it held. Needless to say, they were no closer to understanding it than they had been for years.

For Sabine, that routine would be broken when Saras came through the door into her work area, with one of the Dwemer scholars in tow. As was usual for the Dunmer when he was working, he wasted no time in getting straight to the point. "Miss Montgrave, there is an urgent matter which requires your immediate attention. It involves the vampire, Hal-Neesa. She is demanding to see the Champion right away, but as both Meesei and Mr. Avarul are currently away from Blackreach, you are currently the highest ranking lycan in the clan."
There's one short one I have in mind right now. After it, we can pick back up with Julan. Narsi and Lorag might be best to get to just before, or as everyone else is getting back.

Shall I assume that Marod agrees to write up the writ?
I think it's time to skip ahead for both scenes. Though, I didn't have much else in mind for the group with Kaleeth until Julan's marks are finished, which would be about time for them to leave. There is another scene that I have in mind between different characters that is fairly important, which I could skip to.
With Janius beside her, Kaleeth allowed her body and mind to relax more and more. Not everything that the Hist had revealed to her had been comforting for her, but at least he could be. She eventually ended up laying back, resting her head on his chest and just listening to every beat of his heart. "It's okay, I just...it is what I wanted I guess. To have answers, that is. I guess all there is left is for me to go live out the destiny the Hist chose for me. At least we'll have each other. Hopefully we don't die in the invasion."




"Okay. I...suppose we have our plan, then. Let's just hope that he is in a good mood tomorrow." Ahnasha replied. She had never heard of the technique that Calia described, but it hardly seemed farfetched to her. Not only had she witnessed far more spectacular displays of magic, but she was intimately familiar with the life essence of living beings, and particularly how they bound the soul to the body.

Ahnasha turned her head towards the door. "I...suppose we should return to my family. I honestly have no idea how I'm going to explain everything that happened to them, once they start getting calmed down enough to start asking questions."
Just as quickly as Eeruna had started the ambush, she hit the engines again after the remaining fighters started to disperse from their formation, and narrowly avoided the fractured hull of a Munificent-class frigate in the process. She heard Mevenn's quip, but at this point, was far to focused to give any reply. Mach was certainly a competent gunner and Mevenn could manage the shields near perfectly, but it was all just delaying until Eeruna could get them out.

Eeruna had little issue avoiding any path that would give the Venator a clear shot, but the fighters were unavoidably pounding the shields. One starfighter managed to get a long enough strafing run to partially damage the leftmost engine, forcing Eeruna to slow down from the reduction in mobility. C2 was able to redirect some extra power from engines to shields, but it would not make too much of a difference.

Fortunately, the debris field gave the starfighters just enough trouble as well that they were able to get near to its end. Eeruna glanced over to C2. "Hyperdrive ready?" She asked, which was met with a few affirmative beeps. "Good, then we'll jump from here."

The moment that Eeruna indicated the coordinates from which she planned to make the jump, the droid beeped erratically, though Eeruna's composure remained unmoved. "I know that's still inside the debris field...yes, I'm perfectly aware that I can't survive becoming 'dust'...just shut your vocabulator."

Turning the ship once more, Eeruna pulled them close to a derelict Venator, just barely managing to turn them tight enough to allow them to fly close to the dorsal side of the wrecked ship. Having the Nightfury so close to the Venator meant that the starfighters could not effectively attack from two sides, funneling them into chasing from the rear. Mach would not have the best angles on some fighters, but Mevenn could focus everything the shields had left towards one side.

The derelict Venator had nearly been split in half during the battle that had destroyed it. The massive hanger was a structural weakpoint for the vessel, so a large hole had been blown clean through the vessel, which Eeruna was heading straight towards. Just like with her ambush not a minute before, she she cut the engines and sent the ship into a slow spin while it moved forward on its own inertia. The fighters were now mostly on one side of them, and Mach again had clear angles, but her true motivation presented itself clearly through the windows of the cockpit. Through the middle of the destroyed Venator was a path into empty space, and to the hyperlane that served as their only hope of escape. However, while the breach was more than large enough for their ship to fit through, it was not a clean path. Plenty of smaller bits of debris were floating in the gap, so they only had a small window to make the jump successfully.

The Nightfury floated towards its jump point, now nearly perpendicular to the Venator. Their position needed to be nearly perfect, as just a few degrees of insufficient or extra spin would be the difference between a successful escape, and having their own debris scattered across the next light year or two. Eeruna was not navigating with the ship's sensors, the display for which she had shut off entirely, nor was she even just looking out the window, as her eyes were closed. She focused, breathing slowly with her hand over the button that would activate the hyperdrive, for good or ill.

There was hardly any sound in the cockpit when Eeruna finally pressed the button, apart from C2's quite loud and alarmed beeping. The stars ahead of them seemed to turn to lines around them as the ship made its jump, leaving their pursuers with nothing but empty space instead of a target.

It took a few seconds after the jump for Eeruna to finally open her eyes. She finally leaned back and allowed her armed to relax down by her sides, though a perceptive eye could see some shaking in her hands. "C2, please compile a damage report." She said dryly, breaking the silence.

Kaleeth gave a shrug that appeared somewhat defeated. She paced around for a few seconds before allowing herself to lean back against the nearest tree, then slowly slide down to sit on the ground beside it. "I don't know. I'm not even sure it does mean anything anymore. Nothing changed. We still have to go fight Vile, and I still can't return to the Hist. I've known that for a long while. I guess I can say that I know now that my mother isn't upset, at least. That's...good, I suppose." She replied, though that revelation did not seem terribly encouraging for her. "I guess it was probably too much for me to expect that any of this would really change anything for me. I do have my answers, at least. I know why it all happened, how it all happened. I don't have to keep guessing or worrying."




"I will make sure to remember that. But..." Ahnasha began, shifting uncomfortably. "...how much do you feel comfortable saying about who he used to be? As I was saying to Fendros earlier, the power I felt was not something I would associate with a hobbyist mage. I understand that you likely would feel it best to allow Rossarm to be the one to divulge his own history, but the Imperials or Thalmor will likely at least want to know of his qualifications. What do you think we should tell them?"
"If we can get just a little farther in this debris field, we can get close enough to the hyperlane to make the jump quickly. Just put some pressure on those fighters." Eeruna answered. The debris gave them cover from the heavy lasers of the Venator, but the fighters were just about to turn into the line-of-sight of their ship. She had a feeling that they were not going to be holding their fire.

Their retrofitted Consular-class ship, while armed, was hardly specialized for war like the starfighters. It was highly unlikely they would simply be able to destroy all of their pursuers, so they would have to be creative to at least put more damage onto them than expected. "Like I said, this ship is like a brick..." Eeruna began, quickly searching for the path ahead with the least density in debris, at which point she tilted the ship while briefly cutting the engines, allowing the vessel to drift straight ahead at an angle under its own inertia. "...luckily for us, I know how to fly a brick."

Just as the fighters entered the debris field behind them, Eeruna had maneuvered the ship to enough of an angle to optimally overlap the firing arcs of nearly every laser cannon straight towards their angle of approach for a surprise attack.
Kaleeth's thoughts were scattered, and even when she was able to focus on Janius' question, she found herself unable to reason out an answer. She eventually let go of her embrace with Janius, only to end up burying her face in her hands, which muffled the words she finally did speak. "I don't know, I don't know. This has all just been so much at once. I know I want to be with you, and I know the Hist does need to be protected. To protect them is to protect every Argonian. But...was there some other way to have both? To be with you, and to fight Vile? Was it really the only way? I hope my soul did volunteer. I...I can't imagine the Hist could ever be so cruel if I hadn't."




"Perhaps you are right and this experience will help him." Ahnasha remarked. "I wish we could help more directly, but I trust your judgement on this, Calia. I think you stand the best chance out of anyone to persuade him. We can come back tomorrow with the writ, and wait nearby in case you need us."

Ahnasha let out a sigh, leaning forward with her arms crossed over her stomach. "I do trust what you say about him, but I can't help but to worry about the possibilities. I do think that he could be a great help, I just want to try to plan ahead as much as possible to make conflicts less likely. I don't want you to think that I'm having second thoughts about it or anything; I'm just trying to be cautious. Though, I suppose Rossarm isn't too much different from some of the others. We have gathered to gathered together quite a collection of exceptionally powerful and prideful people, and are expecting them all to work together. Really, he will fit right in."
Kaleeth looked perhaps surprisingly uncertain for a question it seemed like she would know the answer to. "I'm...not sure. I don't have all of the memories of my soul. Of my past lives. I might have been willing to be sacrificed before I was even hatched. I think the only way I could ever really know is by dying."




Ahnasha nodded in agreement. "We can still have the Penitus Oculatus agent come in person if you think it would help, but if not, I'm sure we could get a writ to you by...probably later tomorrow evening. I doubt it would take Marod long to write something up."

Despite Calia's offer of help, Ahnasha could not help but to still show some discomfort. She shuffled in place where she was sitting and let out a long breath. "I can't help but to worry that conflict will only be delayed, though. It is inescapable that Meesei is our leader, and...he will have to acknowledge that authority eventually. Meesei is taking a central, leading role in our upcoming plans; even the Empire and Dominion both agreed to it, after Meesei won the right through a trial by combat with the Thalmor's chosen champion. Hopefully being there in Skyrim, fully informed on what is happening, will make him committed enough not to cause trouble. But...you know him best Calia. By our own customs, anyone would be allowed to challenge Meesei if they feel their own will is superior. It's ingrained into the identity of Hircine's followers. If he knew it was an option, do you think Rossarm would do it?"
Kaleeth initially shook her head, but she realized that the explanation she had did not precisely contradict herself. "I, um...somewhat. The word is different in Jel. That is...the best one I can think to use. I was sacrificed for the good of the Hist. They see far, through time and through...possibilities. They knew this was coming, and what Vile was doing. Like with the Oblivion Crisis, when they called back Argonians from all over to defend our homeland before it happened. It's why we were so much more ready for it than other places. Only this time, it's not armies they needed, just...the right people. The right people, in the right places, doing the right things at the right time. They chose me to...sacrifice to Hircine. It's the same with Meesei, and I'm sure other Argonians we don't even know. I think they knew I would be strong as a lycan, and that I would be able to help. Even if it meant giving my soul away to a Daedra."

The brief silence that followed was punctuated by Kaleeth's eyes growing wider as her final revelation came over her. "I went out looking for Hircine that day, but...it wasn't him I found. I remember it now, so clear...I never communed with Hircine. The Hist guided that werecrocodile to me."




"I wish we did not have to ask this of you." Ahnasha began. "I know how you feel. I felt much the same way back when we first learned the true stakes, though I think I've become numb to it by now. We've been fighting Vile for over a decade now. Resisting his plans, waging a slow, methodical war against him. A war we have been winning, I can add, but there is one final effort. One...critical last step. Without it, he will just recover in time."

Regardless of her justification for it, Ahnasha showed her regret openly in her expression, whether she wanted to or not. Her eye's flicked away from Calia's, and there was some strain for her to speak. "I never wanted to cause you this kind of pain or...distress. I know you will worry about your son being in danger, and you will worry about your husband. And...I can't promise that either of them will be safe if we all step up and fight this threat. I can only promise that none of us will be safe if we do not. Perhaps that alone will be enough to convince him, but I would be thankful for any advice you can give to help persuade him. Meesei will be coming to check up on us tomorrow, and we will need to talk to her and tell her of this idea. I have no doubt she will approve of it, and she can bring along a Penitus Oculatus agent if you think it would help give us more credibility."
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