EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha nodded along with Janius. "You might be right. Actually...you know what, that had better be it, or something like it. Because if the forgemaster dragged us all down here for nothing, I might just have some anger to take out on him. I have, uh...something I need to be doing." She remarked, her voice rather suddenly becoming softer and more calm.

"Relax, the man ain't that stupid." Lorag remarked. He was not outwardly showing the kind of curiosity or anticipation as most of the others, though he did seem to have a keen interest in watching the nearest forge. "He wouldn't risk wasting the Champion's time, or ours. In case you've forgotten, we're in charge of this whole place, and he's...what? The third forgemaster we've had in the past two years? He'll make it worth our time."

It might not have been fair to say that the forgemaster had understated how long the pack would be waiting, with how vague he had been, but they did end up waiting more than just a minute or two. Still, it was not more than ten minutes later that the door finally opened, and what it revealed would likely overshadow any agitation that the wait may have caused.

Meesei led the way through the door, no longer in her Argonian form. Janius had been correct in his guess, though it was no normal suit of armor that the forgemaster had crafted. Meesei's werewolf form was now armored in a suit primarily crafted from what could only be the bones of a dragon. The bone plates covered the majority of her imposing form, though at the joints and at any gap in the armor, one could see chainmail that appeared to be made from pure ebony. It was hard to identify many of the bones on sight, as they had likely been grinded into more ergonomic shapes, but they fit together well-enough for her to retain most of her range of motion. This was not likely the first time that an armored suit had been made for a werewolf with particularly good control, but it would perhaps be a safe wager to say that none had ever been crafted of such fine materials. Even her claws were now tipped with the claws of a dragon. Of any type of armor that werewolf could wear, bone did seem like a fitting material, and the fact that said bone was stronger than any metal seemed fitting for the Champion of a Daedric Prince.

The helm of Meesei's armor looked to be made from at least a portion of one of the dragons' skulls and covered the majority of her head, which obscured Meesei's own reaction to the armor. However, the forgemaster himself wore his pride openly in his expression as he walked out alongside Meesei.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei grinned back at Janius. "Oh, no, I got the feeling that he was being quite intentionally vague. He wants this to be a surprise. But, I agree with Ahnasha's assessment. He would not have requested all of us if it did not pertain to all of us. He did only take the title of forgemaster a few months ago, so perhaps he is wanting to impress? To forge us his mastercraft works."

Even out in the hallways, it was quite obvious they were nearing the smithy. They had gone through great effort to make sure the place was well-ventilated, but that did not stop the heat from the many forges from filling the relatively tight space. Anyone who could sweat was probably doing so by the time they were in the smithy. At this point, the forges were in use almost constantly through the day and night, thanks to the blacksmiths that had been brought in from other clans to assist with invasion preparations. Dwemer metal from all around the cavern was constantly being salvaged, melted down, and forged into new weapons and armor for their warriors. Their armories were practically overflowing, with still more equipment on the way.

The largest smithy was a long room with a tall ceiling, yet still managed to feel as crowded as it was hot. Forges and smelters lined the walls all the way to the end of the chamber. They were built in the Nordic style, but their design had been modified to connect to the Dwemer steam pipes that ran along the walls. The rest of the room felt like a sort of ordered chaos, at least to an outsider. Meesei could not spot any obvious order to the carts of Dwemer scraps moving to and from the smelters, tables of scattered tools, and piles of coal, but clearly, the blacksmiths themselves had their own systems they were familiar with.

It did not take long after Meesei's pack stepped into the smithy for the forgemaster himself to greet them. He had more than likely been waiting on them. Interestingly, the blacksmiths of the clan were almost more competitive than the warriors. The title of forgemaster had changed hands several times through the years, and it seemed like every few months there was another challenge among them to test their craftsmanship. Such competition was certainly suitable for servants of Hircine, but Meesei had a feeling that the situation would not likely be too different even if they were not lycans. The current forgemaster was a Nord man named Valgar Blue-Shield, who, on first glance, seemed to fit every description of a "typical Nord blacksmith" that one could make. He was a tall, rough-looking man who seemed to live with a permanent coat of soot on his hands. He was bald, but with a beard thick enough to be mistaken for a bird's nest.

"Champion, it's an honor to have you in my forge." Valgar greeted, respectfully bowing his head towards Meesei. Though, he had to practically shout thanks to the clanging of metal from the forges nearby.

"Indeed, and it is an honor to have such dedicated people here working to equip our warriors." Meesei replied. "I would ask for a more in-depth tour of your forge since the most recent renovations, but I am afraid my pack does not have a great deal of time to spare in times like this."

The forgemaster gave a quick nod. "Of course. Though I promise, you will not regret taking the time to see me. Still, I will try not to take up any more of your time than necessary. Champion, if you could please follow me, I have something that you will be quite interested to see. If your pack could please wait here, I promise it will not take long to...show you. Then, you will see why I have called you all here."

Meesei agreed and followed the forgemaster into one of the adjacent rooms, leaving the rest of the pack with just a short time to speculate.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan huffed, quickly grabbing a pebble beside him and tossing it at Rhazii. "Hey, stop that! Her name was Hal-Leeus, but she just ended up being...irritating after a while. She was fine at first, but all she ever wanted to do was ask me questions. I enjoyed asking her about the village at first too, but she had a lot more she wanted to ask me. Just...questions, questions, and more boring questions. Her friends were better, though, so it wasn't all bad."

After his attempt at deflection, Julan gave a look around away from the fire and back towards the city. He started to stand up, then glanced back at Narsi. "Are you dry yet? Maybe we should get back, find something new to do. If you've just been alone so far, then I'm sure there's plenty you haven't done yet back in the city."

---

Ahnasha's answer did not come quickly. For a few moments, she just breathed before setting down her mostly-full cup and standing to her feet. "I feel like getting back home. Work on the portal is starting this week, and I am going to have a lot to do helping to get it ready. They are going to need conjurers and enchanters alike working on it. Meesei said I didn't have to see to it personally, but...I would rather make sure it is done right."

Meesei would not be arriving to collect the pair any sooner regardless of what Ahnasha wanted, but that did not stop her from leaving the table regardless. Even if she was no longer angry, it was clear that she was not in the mood for much conversation.

---

The next several weeks saw an almost unprecedented amount of activity in the Blackreach clan. Just as Ahnasha had commented to Fendros, work on their portal began in earnest, which called upon the expertise of the best conjurers and enchanters available from any of Tamriel's lycan clans. Not to mention, both the Empire and Dominion had their hands in assisting with the project. Though it was perhaps pessimistic, Meesei doubted they actually wanted to devote their resources to assist, but it was likely that they would want to have their own experts verify the safety of the portal before they would send any of their own soldiers through it.

Of course, only a small portion of the clan would even notice the portal's construction, since the building site was in a clearing a fair distance away from the city. However, what would be obvious were the other preparations they were making. Namely, they had already begun to bring in people and supplies from all of the clans in Tamriel to take part in the invasion. The bulk of the warriors would not be arriving for some time, as Meesei did not want to weaken the other clans' defenses until the last possible moment, but they were already preparing for them. The Silent City would be housing some of them, but they were building camps to accommodate the bulk of their forces outside the walls. They were only simple wooden barracks, but as some portion of them would need to stay there for weeks, they would be better than tents.

For the moment, the majority of those arriving from other clans were either leaders, or support staff handling the logistics of moving in their army. In addition to the camps themselves, they had to bring in more food stores from other clans, plan for the transport of clean water to each of the camps, and set up infirmaries with skilled healers and sufficient stocks of potions. It was a great deal more work than even Meesei had expected, but fortunately, there were those among the clans who had the sort of experience needed to make it go reasonably smoothly.

Thusfar, the preparations had not required too much additional work from most of Meesei's pack, apart from those, like Ahnasha, who volunteered herself to help. As such, the Silent City's forgemaster was able to find an opportunity to call in all seven of them at once for some matter about which he had been noticeably non-specific. Although, Meesei had been assured that he had only good news for her.

Meesei moved together with her pack, through the tunnels into the depths of the Silent City. Lorag was intending to bring the children out for more training afterwards, so the three of them were tagging along as well. Their forges had been built close to the machines that powered the whole of the city, and were heated by a seemingly limitless supply of steam. From what Meesei had been told by their blacksmiths, adapting the steam to their forges allowed them to operate them more easily, and get their fires even hotter. They had expanded their forges and had built several of them in multiple rooms in the lower floors of the city. Their productivity in forging weapons and armor for their warriors had exceeded expectations...at least until those expectations had been raised up to match.

Despite having been working late the previous night, Ahnasha appeared to be in a strangely good mood. Or at least, she was not showing signs of any fatigue she might have. She was even the first to speak up, smiling lightly. "Okay, so I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering what this all is about. Personally, I'm willing to bet they have something for us. If this was something like new techniques, or...some discovery to make new kinds of weapons for our warriors, then he would just be talking to Meesei. I'm willing to bet he has something for us, specifically. Really, I'm just wondering what."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There isn't much more I have in mind for these scenes. I could skip us ahead. There isn't much left I have in mind to do before they start the invasion, just a few things.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Oh, it's all the way on the other side of Tamriel, In Black Marsh; the north part of it. They're, um, nomads, so the village moves around a lot." Julan answered. "And yeah, I thought they were pretty tough, too. They act more like our clans than I thought they would, but I guess it makes sense. Black Marsh is a dangerous place to live, so they have to work hard to survive."

The topic finally steered Julan towards talking about his trip. So far, he had not had much of a chance to talk about the last few weeks beyond the obvious regarding his tattoos. He had wanted to talk about the trip with Rhazii for a few days now, even before he had returned. He supposed it did not bother him to talk to Narsi about it as well. "It was just weird being around so many more Argonians. They had all sorts of weird customs, and games, and just...ways of doing things. I didn't think that I would think they were weird before I got there, since I'm Argonian too, but...I don't know. I probably shouldn't have thought it would feel normal being there, since I'm not from there. There were, uh...some people who didn't like me, since I was an outsider. But there was one girl who was really curious about me, and she introduced me to her friends. She was nice to me. Kind of...too nice."

---

Ahnasha sighed along with Fendros, finally going through the effort to pour tea first for herself, then Fendros. Although, she just ended up holding the cup up in front of herself for a while, resting her elbows on the table. "Probably best to avoid too complicated of a story. If it comes to it, I will say that you, and only you, were infected some time after we were married. That would make you into more of a victim, and would probably be better received than if you were already a lycan when we met. As long as that the souls of me and Rhazii are safe, then they will probably be fine. Perhaps not at first, but eventually."

Ahnasha placed down her cup after only one sip. She finally made firm eye contact with Fendros, but at least not in a way that suggested anger. "It will still probably be weeks or more before we will know anything, so we best just get back home and try to focus on our preparations. Regardless of anything else, the invasion is still our priority."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan was not given much time to think about his apparent success with Narsi before he himself started to get questioned. He turned his head back towards Rhazii briefly, then glanced down at the scar on his leg. Thanks to his body's capacity for healing, it was rather thin, but still visible if he looked closely enough. "Yeah, that was a part of my trial. Or...um, well, getting stabbed wasn't a part of the trial, I mean. But, um, it did happen because of it."

Julan turned to the side so that both Rhazii and Narsi could see his tattoos. "I met my grandfather for the first time when we went to the village. He wanted me to do the trial. See, the trials are like a, uh, test to see if an apprentice can become a full hunter in the village. I know I'm not from the village, but as long as I passed one of the trials, then I'd still be one of the hunters. Officially, I guess. I think my grandfather really wanted me to be a part of the village; I know he wanted me and my parents all to stay, but...I just ended up doing the trial. They have four of them that you get to choose from, and I chose the trial of might. It's pretty much just a duel, but with real weapons. Not to the death or anything, but it has to be against a full hunter. Someone who is supposed to be bigger, older, stronger, more experienced, and all that. It's apparently a rare trial to pass. I know I probably had an advantage as a lycan, but it was still hard." Julan explained, running one of his claws over his scar. "These tattoos are the marks for the trial of might. They show a swamp leviathan, which is apparently one of the most dangerous monsters in all of Black Marsh. They represent, uh, well...strength."

---

Given that Fendros had given several suggestions at once, Ahnasha went about thinking on them one at a time, and some for longer than others. She hesitated for a few seconds, leaning back in thought in her chair. Rather than keeping her hands idle, she reached out and grabbed the pot of tea that Fendros had prepared, though stopped short of actually pouring any more into her cup. "Well, I can still say with confidence that you do know me very well...because I hate the first idea. Probably at least the second worst choice we could make. As for the second...I can at least see where you got the idea from, but I'm really doubting that would work. There's a pretty huge difference between a priest of the Eight and a priest of the Reclamations. Very, fundamentally different. You must really not have much experience with priests of the Eight if you think they have any sort of tendency for open-mindedness towards the Daedra, of all things. Besides...whose sermons do you think gave my mother her beliefs?"

Rather quickly, Ahnasha's trend of dismissiveness came to a rather sudden halt as she worked through in her mind on Fendros' final proposal. Initially, it did sound like a horrible idea, but it did not take too much thought for her to realize what it might accomplish. There was some actual potential for it to turn out well, as long as she took care in ironing out the details of how exactly to present it to her family. It was, of course, much less ideal than if they simply accepted the story she had told them, but there was some possibility to salvage an actual, positive relationship with her family if they did not. "But that third one..." Ahnasha began, setting down both the pot of tea and her empty cup. "...I can't believe I'm saying this, but there might actually be something there. Maybe. If I could put the story together right. Then it becomes almost like a...noble sacrifice on my part. Trying to save the soul of a wild beast. Still, not something I would want to tell them unless I'm sure they didn't buy the first story, but...I can't say it's a bad idea."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, I don't know anything about all of that. Uncle Lorag doesn't talk about those kinds of things very much." Julan answered, lightly shrugging. "I just know that none of that should make you think you can't be happy here. I mean, you're not going to be with your mother forever, right? I know when me and my brother grow up, we're not just going to be with our parents all the time. We'll be working on our own joining other packs, having families of our own; those kinds of things. We can still be around, we don't have to leave them or anything, but...I know that children do have to grow up and have lives of their own. Don't you do it the same way in the city? You'll have to have your own life too, and even if your mother got kicked out, that doesn't mean you can't live here. Or in another clan. And it probably wouldn't be hard to visit and stay close with her, with the propylon chambers. You know, teleporting."

Julan was worried that he was not wording his advice properly, or that there was more he could say, but it was also true that Narsi was acting a fair bit differently than she had been thusfar. She was, at least to some extent, opening up to him. "So...you don't have to act like an outsider. You can just let yourself enjoy being here And besides, if you really want to beat up Lorag, then you're going to be training here for a very long time."

---

"I...appreciate that." Ahnasha answered, though with the long breath she let out and her emotionless tone, it was hard to tell if she was being genuine. "But I wasn't lying about them being busy. They weren't starting their day quite as...early as I might have implied, but now that I've come all the way out here and we took our time eating our breakfast, there probably isn't enough time to catch up with them. We're just going to have to deal with this in the long term. Maybe we'll have time before the invasion to squeeze in a short visit to Leyawiin."

Ahnasha sighed, not looking particularly hopeful. "But I guess I did ask you to think on it, so...what are these ideas?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Narsi's answer was certainly a lot to unpack, but it did finally give Julan some much-needed context as to why she had been so insistent on pushing people away. He still did not have much of an idea of who her mother was, but he knew he did not have any obvious answer to just solve her problems. Still, he did feel that he could help her understand some things in a way that could shift her attitude. Slowly, he shook his head, now speaking more softly. Given the subject, he was worried that he could end up angering her again. "No, I don't think it's true that he just...didn't care. I know I can't read Uncle Lorag's mind or anything, but he's been very busy. Our parents have, our whole pack has. They always have to give their everything to fighting the war."

Julan hesitated, showing some uncertainty in his expression in the few silent moments it took for him to think about Narsi's perspective. "Has...anyone told you about the war yet? About what our pack has been fighting? What all the clans have been having to fight? It's another Daedra, and his followers. Clavicus Vile. They've been literally hunting for our souls for our whole lives. At first it was just fighting like you normally think of, but then they had this...gas. It, well, just ripped lycan souls out of their bodies. Just like that. It could just kill us as soon as we breathed it. It was terrifying to know about; to know what...could happen. There were some clans that were found and attacked with the gas, and it just...killed everyone. There was no way to fight it, we just had to hope that we would be hidden. I remember having so many nightmares..."

Julan's discomfort was showing through quite obviously, so he was quick to interrupt himself and continue. "There's an antidote now, though. Aunt Sabine and her sister were able to figure one out, and things have gotten a lot better since then. For a while there wasn't really enough for everyone, but now our parents say we have enough to keep everyone safe. Everyone isn't so afraid all the time, and apparently we're winning the war. I...well, like I said, I guess I can't really say for sure what Uncle Lorag was thinking, but...maybe he thought it would be better for you if you weren't here back then? And maybe he thinks things can be different now?"

---

"No, it wasn't." Ahnasha answered dryly. She stared out the window rather than at Fendros, but her tone made it seem as if all of her emotion had already been drained from her. "You could have been right, or wrong, but that was the one thing you really needed to understand. I just wish you would have realized it much sooner."

Finally, Ahnasha brought herself to make eye contact with Fendros once more. "I still don't know if my family really believed what I told them. Our goodbyes this morning...they just felt like superficial words to me. They might still doubt me, but were too nervous to say anything. There was no nice, neat resolution, if you were hoping for one. This will probably be hanging over my head for the next few weeks, maybe months, until we start exchanging letters again."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Um...no, not really." Julan answered. Unlike the adults of their pack, he did not know who Narsi's mother was, and even if he did, the name "Harriet" did not mean much of anything to him. Her treason was not a tale that had been told in great detail to him. He was aware that Vera's husband had been the former alpha of the clan, and that he had been killed by a traitor, but that was the extent of Julan's knowledge.

Julan rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean...I did wonder about it. I do think it's strange that you would live in a city instead of a clan. But...if you're here now, then surely there's no problem with you living in a clan? Does your mother not like Lorag much anymore? There are other clans, if that's the problem."

---

Complete silence was not entirely Ahnasha's intention, but she also did not intend to bring up the issue at hand in front of Fendros' family. She was not sure if Fendros would be stubborn enough to remain supportive of his own actions, or the time they had apart to cool down would have made him acknowledge the possibility that he made some mistakes. Regardless of her outward demeanor, she did not actually want to be at odds with him, and was hoping that he would be willing to admit to some mistakes once they finally did have a chance to speak.

Ahnasha did make an effort to be friendly with Fendros' family through breakfast, and even Fendros himself as long as they were talking about anything else. Once they were finished eating, Ahnasha decided not to make any effort to avoid a private conversation, if Fendros was ready for one.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Sure you are." Julan responded, tilting his head towards Narsi. "I mean, no one's going to stop you. That's what clans are supposed to be; they're safe places, where lycans can be happy. Out there, there's people that hunt us, guards or townsfolk that would try to kill us, but not here. Every lycan is supposed to be able to be happy here, or in other clans. Part of what our scouts do is try to find lone or, uh, feral lycans and try to bring them in."

Standing slowly, Julan took a step towards Narsi, though she just seemed focused on staring into the fire. He still had little idea what was going on in her mind, and mostly just felt that he was guessing. All he felt fairly sure about was that she was still hiding something, and he probably could not trust most of what she had actually been saying so far. Still, for as difficult as she was being with them, he still felt some sympathy for her. He did not understand her, but he could at least imagine how he might feel in her situation. And his guesses might not be entirely wrong. He spoke hesitantly, but placed his hand lightly on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm guessing...I mean, I suppose you've probably been kind of alone for a long while, especially if it was just you and, I'm guessing, your mother in that city. I get that you're probably not used to this kind of thing, but you don't have to always be alone. Even Orcs don't spend their lives alone in the woods; they have strongholds, and all that. There's no rule keeping you from talking to people and making friends."

---

"Morning, Fendros." Ahnasha replied to him perhaps frustratingly simply. She did not give away many hints in her attitude to him, or anyone else. She did not seem warm towards him, nor distant, and did not give many words to allow for interpretation to begin with. If anything, she might have been distracted by her breakfast.

Regardless of how she had answered openly, Ahnasha could easily see what Calia was doing. Evidently, Fendros had given enough away to suggest that there was something going on between them, but Ahnasha gave no comment on it. If there was anything that might have been surprising to Fendros, it was that she actually bothered to speak up again before being prompted. "I spoke to my family before I left, said my goodbyes. They're probably going to be fairly busy for the rest of the day." She explained. Again, she gave few details, but it did confirm that she had spoken to her family without so much as inviting Fendros to join.