Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Vilana's assessment was understandable to Uthri. She looked up, nodded, and pulled a deep, conceding frown, "That's fair. Doesn't mean you can't try." Uthri angled her head and looked at Vilana, "Are you afraid of her?"

"Not touching you," Sabine raised her open palms to Peiter, her wide smile suppressing laughter. "It is real, you can trust me." Sabine poked her head forward and spoke in a jokingly jerky and scathing tone, "If you don't, you can just wait for the illusion to wear off." Sabine extended a finger and poked Peiter on the cheek with her last word. She then brought her head back again and grinned, returning to a casual tone, "If you are out of breath and you drink it, it will work."

Sabine wondered in that moment how she would even create an illusion like Peiter described, let alone maintain it. She was not the greatest illusionist in Tamriel by a wide margin.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Uthri craned her head forward and raised an eyebrow. "You would be surprised. You are probably the first of your clan that she would speak to. Think about it, it would help her to know what the attitudes are towards her here. On top of that, there will be time to talk walking to the clan anyway. I doubt she would demand silence for the whole walk." Uthri snorted and brought her head back, "What? Is there a rumour that she bites people's heads off?"

Sabine was going to refute Peiter's claim that she could get any ingredient she could fathom with her connections, but she would admit that she had never tried. Granted, there were many things that Sabine had never even seen before, and she preferred to forage things herself, but there were some things in books that she had read about. It would be a way to fill gaps in her repertoire while in Bruma. She would consider it for later.

As for Peiter's reaction to the ingredients she presented, Sabine laughed at his expression. "It is not a joke. You might have got some magic when you mixed them before, but you have to treat it properly." Sabine extended her hands and gestured for Peiter to take the ingredients. She then washed out her mortar with some water and a cloth and placed it in front of Peiter with the pestle sticking out. "Now, put the corn and wheat in the mortar..."

What followed was a series of instructions that would seem awfully similar to crushing the ingredients together and making a lumpy and husky dough, but the way the water was added and the way the mixture was processed seemed to have some very pedantic and precise cues. To Peiter, the methods might have seemed inconsequential, but Sabine refrained from flooding his mind with the minutiae of alchemy. About five minutes later, the last instruction was to cut the dough into small pieces in the mortar and to pour a vial's worth of water over the top. In front of Peiter's eyes, the water began to take a vibrant green hue and clouded over. Once it stopped changing colour, Sabine instructed to carefully pour the water into a vial. The end product was weak, but unmistakably different to mere mixing. The remaining dough was grey and inconsistent, barely nutritious any more.

"Congratulations, Peiter," Sabine grinned, "You have just made a stamina potion. It will not be as powerful as usual, but it will work." Sabine purposely understated just how weak it would be - she could make a stamina potion orders of magnitude more effective with more a complex process - but she did not lie about it working.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I have to cook dinner. I'll probably be a while. G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"That is understandable, I suppose," Uthri said with a shrug, before quickly looking up and continuing, "But not because any of the rumours are true or false, I don't know what you have heard. What I can tell you is that she knows what she is doing, and what she is doing is fighting this war. I have travelled with her long enough to know that she is wise and powerful, but not beyond an honest conversation." Uthri briefly flicked a finger in Vilana's direction, "I will tell you what. Come up with a few questions, I am willing to bet that she would answer you openly. You two may have plenty to talk about before she reaches your clan leader." Having reminded herself, Uthri narrowed her eyes and asked curiously, "Who is your leader, by the way? Did the one before the attack survive, or have you selected a new one?"

Sabine smiled and almost tuned out when Peiter went in-depth. It was his passion, but Sabine didn't quite share his fervour. Still, she considered what he asked, pausing for a moment. "I think...if I got to work with ingredients from each side of Tamriel...if I could experiment with ingredients from the planes of Oblivion..." Sabine looked to the sky and leaned on her hand, "If I could bypass some of the problems I sometimes with alchemy, the complicated ones, I think then I would be a master." She resumed her work and answered casually, "That might take thirty years. Maybe more." Sabine placed the now running shortening into her mortar and started mixing in a rough white powder, "Ahnasha is a master archer and Meesei is a master mage, but it is different with alchemy. It is not something you can master in one place. You have to go looking for new things all of the time. Every new place and every new ingredient expands your understanding. The techniques you have to practise when you experiment do not require as much time or effort as fighting or magic." In order for Peiter to not feel overwhelmed, Sabine turned, put a hand on his cheek, and smiled. "Thank you for the compliment anyway."

The next ingredients in the potion were some flower stamens and some dust scraped off a pale, flaky stone. It made the mixture gritty looking, but it began to thicken until it was a paste. There were no other observable effects as Sabine scraped the paste into a clay vessel to enclose it.

With the work done, Sabine turned to again Peiter, "I could show you how to make a potion to restore your stamina, if you like. It is the simplest thing to make." She put her hands into her ingredients bag and pulled them out, both full of seeds. When she opened her hands to show Peiter, one was full of dried corn kernels and the other was full of wheat kernels. "This is all you need, with some water as well."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While Uthri just gave a knowing smile, she internally felt a little foolish for disclosing that much information. Although, they had already established trust and she had already shared the plan. It would not to any harm to let Vilana know. "Yep. What did you expect?" Uthri said, "An entire large scale clan swallows up a number of messengers and gives no word at all? She saw fit to investigate, herself." Uthri spread her hands, "And here we are."

Rhazii had been looking up at both Sabine and Peiter while they spoke. He still looked worried, but not quite as much as before. "I want to stay near you and aunty Sabine," Rhazii responded, not letting go of Peiter's hand.

Sabine gave a small grin and knelt down to Newt and Rhazii. "There is no need to be afraid of these people any more," she said to comfort them, "but you can stay near us if you like. Just make sure we can see you."

"Okay," Rhazii said with a big nod.

Together, the group went to where Sabine had her alchemical equipment set up. Sabine knew that there wasn't anything inherently dangerous unless they ended up playing with her more fragile glassware or poking around her ingredients bag, so she let Rhazii and Newt play in front of her as they were before. At least, she did when they were no longer too nervous. Leaps decided to stay near them, but eventually became curious and did his best to introduce himself to the strangers. At least he wasn't bothering S'ajira any more.

As Sabine resumed what she was working on, she struck up another conversation. "You should know, Peiter, I am no master alchemist. It is just something I like to do." She glanced at him, "I would not mind becoming one, though. Is there something you want to master? My guess is swordsmanship."

Surprisingly enough, Sabine did not take long to finish her first potion. It appeared to be some kind of fragrant oil with a slight luminescence to it. She left it unmarked. Rather than pack up, she began on another substance. Funnily enough, it started with melting shortening fat from the last roast that the group had. Someone less alchemically inclined might have guessed that she was making some kind of soap.

The Jade Stream

Kyang would probably pause and try to ignore questions of accommodation for the moment. She is a little bit broke. At any rate, I think I'll delay until I can get a post with some dialogue. Someone else can go ahead.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Uthri put up her hands, "Hey, I never said anything about making an entire clan cross the desert. I doubt that was part of the plan." She shook her head and chuckled, "Like I said, Meesei will fill the gaps. As for the fortress, I believe we found a map with the location marked when we rescued S'ajira. It was hidden, but the pride pointed it out."

With the strangers around them accepting some hospitality, Sabine felt a little more comfortable with them around. They were polite enough. When she got back to Peiter and the children, she had visibly release some of the tension in her posture. "I am not sure," Sabine responded with a shrug, "The same as before, perhaps? I still have my alchemy to finish."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"If I remember correctly, the plan was to locate you and then seek out the clan at Orcrest to gather up a warband. From there, we were to strike at Vile's cult's fortress. We found out where they are based; near Corinthe." Uthri nodded to one side, "It will mean crossing the desert, and possibly passing Corinthe on the way, but...the situation could be worse. Vile could have found out you were here had we not got here sooner. We would not have known where to start had we not rescued the others."

"Take your time," Sabine assured Peiter, patting him on the arm. She stooped down to speak with Rhazii then, who was still holding onto her, "Stay near Newt and Peiter for the moment, okay?" Rhazii nodded and wrapped his arms around Peiter's arm. From there, Sabine walked calmly to the food supplies and picked up a sack of some of the meat they carried. With a welcoming smile, she went around to each of Vilana's pride and offered them a greeting and a snack. She introduced herself to each of them and told them that it would probably be a while before everyone returned.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It didn't take too long to draw the map. Uthri gestured to where the groups were on it to fill Vilana in. "We are nineteen strong, plus the two little ones. Eleven wolves, seven lions, and a crocodile. We have been spread out in groups of three, with one group watching camp. They move fairly slowly, so you could send someone out to find the leader at least. It might help for getting up to speed." Uthri gestured to S'ajira, "S'ajira and her pride, we found them shortly after we landed. They were imprisoned and being tortured." She pushed aside the memories of first finding the pride and raised her brow, "I will have our leader fill in the gaps when she returns. What of your situation?"

Rhazii and Newt were still a little spooked by all of these strange smelling strangers coming out of the undergrowth, so they stayed close to Peiter and Sabine. Rhazii even held onto Sabine's leg where she stood and looked up to her with flattened ears. "Aunty? Who are these people?" he asked.

"They are friends," Sabine answered with a comforting smile. She ran a hand over Rhazii's head, "They are part of the clan we have been looking for. We just had to make sure first, that is all."

Rhazii looked around at each of them, still unconvinced for now. Leaps sensed his fear and walked up to guard him.

It was then that Sabine answered Peiter. She put an arm around his as her smile turned contemplative. "Yes, we wait," she said, "I am glad that we did not fight." Sabine looked around at the pride around them and looked to Peiter questioningly, "Do you think we should offer some food?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Uthri was about convinced as well. S'ajira's confirmation was enough to have her put her weapons away. "Alright," Uthri sighed with the drama of it all and looked up at Peiter, "You can come down now, Peiter."

The others relaxed. Even Leaps seemed less threatening on everyone's cue. Uthri put some fingers on her temple and a hand on her hip, "Sorry about all that. I would have hoped uniting with the Senchal clan would have been a more joyous occasion. Anyway, we are just watching the camp while the rest of us were searching the area. We're from Bruma, we came down to find you after your reports didn't show." Uthri gave a smile, "I think you will be as glad to see who our leader is as she will be to see you. They are due to come back in the late afternoon, but here, I'll draw you a map of where they are searching..."

Uthri swept aside some leaf litter to expose the topsoil in order to instruct the Imperial on today's search pattern. While she drew it, she asked, "So what are your names? I'm Uthri Wild-Heart."