Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gallus understood the signal immediately and stood up with the others, pulling out his hammer and a dagger.

As soon as the warriors revealed themselves, the soldier on watch drew his sword and shouted. "To arms! To arms! This one knew something was wrong!"

The other soldiers immediately leapt into action. Whether they were armoured or not, they grabbed for their swords and their shields, falling into a practiced formation and looking this way and that. Fear and surprise was laced over their faces, but no inch of their bodies looked unprepared to fight.

The only soldier to not react to the alarm was Qito. He still stood completely still opposite Meesei, arms still crossed and his tail padding side to side deliberately. His stare bored into Meesei with equal parts intimidation and inquiry, trying to work her out as she laid out her ultimatum.

"Sir! They mean to kill us!-" One of the soldiers began, but was cut off.

"No," Qito turned his head slightly when he spoke, but did not take his eyes off Meesei, "Qito thinks not." Qito turned his head back to Meesei directly. His voice was low and careful, "This leader...her name, Meesei? Meesei...speak as if she not Dominion, as if tribe not Dominion, but she does not wish hurt upon Dominion. Qito wants to trust Meesei. Qito wishes to know what Meesei is enemy of here. However, Qito values the lives of his men and is oath bound to speak of all. So, he will give choice. One last choice."

Qito raised one arm from their folded position and uncurled one clawed finger. "One, Qito goes with tribe to Orcrest. He forgets about all this, for Meesei was misguided and was sick from the sun. There will be no punish of tribe for threat of Qito and his men. Tribe remains free and lawful." Qito then uncurled another finger, "Two - Meesei must be complete of sure - Qito accepts Meesei offer, Qito rides to Orcrest with his men and supplies to live. Qito will speak of all. All of threats, all of secret enemy, all of Meesei speaking not as Dominion, all of ruse that was slave ship. Meesei and Tribe will be hunt over desert until found. All of tribe will criminal. Lying to soldiers, threat of soldiers, trespass on Dominion." Qito slowly refolded his arm, "Meesei must make choice. There is no other but blood and greater crime. Qito knows she understands."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei's response only narrowed Qito's other eye in even more confusion. He spoke with an insistence that hinted that his patience had been chipped at, but for the sake of understanding, he did not lose his temper.

"Secret enemies? Dangerous?" Qito put up one hand and shook his head, "Qito reminds, this is Dominion soldiers. To danger us is to wake strongest fighting force in Tamriel. Dangerous groups are to handle only by us, in force, not by civilian tribe." Qito crossed his arms, again, finishing firmly, "Tribe and Qito go to Orcrest first. If threat is here, we take Dominion force to contain. Dominion land is made safe by Dominion soldiers. There is no split path. There is no speak of split path."

The new guard on duty made a nervous sound and spoke up to Qito in Ta'agra, he was looking out to the nearby tents. Qito turned and responded similarly to the other soldier, but with insistence, the guard kept speaking. Qito had an exchange with the guard for a few moments, and afterwards, Qito's face softened to curiosity.

"Leader of tribe," Qito remarked, turning his head slowly back to Meesei. He spoke cautiously, "Where are many family in tent normally close to tent of Qito? Where did many family go?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The leader, Qito, turned his head slightly and narrowed an eye. He took a few moments to process what Meesei had said, trying to eliminate the possibility of misunderstanding her. Thankfully, his listending comprehension of Cyrodilic was much better than his speech.

"Qito never had thought that tribe of yours were fugitive or spy, but all must go to Orcrest to check and record." Qito spoke patiently, as if he was convinced that Meesei did not understand. "Qito must remain until all are at Orcrest. We go with you on your reason, then we go to Orcrest. Reason must be quick. Qito must know what reason is." Qito ended sternly, "We still finish mission by end."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The unarmoured Khajiit giving water to the horses turned his head to Meesei with one raised ear. "You are one leader, yes? We speak." The Khajiit quickly finished up and turned to Meesei properly. He looked and sounded slightly groggy, but he gave full attention. "Do she speak Ta'agra? This one speak small Cyrodilic only. He has apology."

The other soldiers gave Meesei an unsure look. They had not interacted with her before. The one brushing sand off their spare clothing made a comment under his breath in Ta'agra that made the leader scowl and give him a serious look. The leader said something firmly in return and the upstart went back to his duties after no more than a nervous affirmation.

"He has apology again." The leader faced Meesei again with his tired face again, "Destir is rude Khajiit. He will be punish. Now, what is speaking reason? Has one of Qito's men be rude Khajiit to tribe?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

All good, I can alter a line.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gallus was leaned forward while seated, looking into the small cooking fire. Having donned it for the occasion, his mail and leather armour itched with sweat already. He wordlessly glanced to Meesei at her question, and then looked around to check his surroundings one last time.

Only a sharp eye would be able to tell that the people surrounding the various cooking fires were not who they usually were, but it was still dim and early. It could be reasoned that the regular crowd had not arisen yet. If anything stood out, it was Gallus and Meesei. Thankfully, they were just a small detail in a wide picture.

As usual, the soldiers had left one of their number out on watch. He was in his armour, leaning lazily on his lance as he watched the sun rise. The guards had become less attentive after the first several days with the clan. Though they were still vigilant for any runners, they no longer appeared to feel threatened. A couple more of the soldiers were awake, but not dressed in their armour. They were instead knocking sand from their belongings and watering the horses. They had only just woken up, after all. After a moment, the guard on duty pushed himself to a proper standing posture and poked the blunt end of his lance into one of the tents. There was a sound of protest in Ta'agra, but it simply appeared as if they were changing the guard.

Gallus had his eyes locked on them, but he nodded to Meesei. This would be the best time possible. He stood up and clicked his fingers in the direction of the warriors around him. They all eventually signalled their attention and waited. Gallus had one hand on his hammer, but didn't draw it yet. They would all wait for Meesei's signal.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius grinned, "I think there would be some people willing to try that. Perhaps with a healer on hand in your case, but I would call that a good idea."

To Kaleeth's previous concerns, Janius brought his other hand up to hers on his chest and whispered on. "Like I said, try to strike a balance. I should think you occasionally being aggressive is definitely better than being a danger to our son. If it does become a problem, we can talk about it some more at any time."

With that, Janius wrapped both arms around Kaleeth and gave her a kiss. "Who knows? You might enjoy being more assertive," he added.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius took a breath and looked away again, thinking further on Kaleeth's words while still stroking her arm. His mouth went to a frown with how complex it seemed to be. "I think..." Janius began, before taking another few moments.

Once he found a conclusion, Janius looked to Kaleeth and spoke sincerely. "Kaleeth, I remember the times when you really struggled to stay in control. You were always anxious, hating your beast spirit and yourself. Living in fear like that is not something I think is best for you. At the same time, if you continue down this path of letting it influence you, you could change into someone you're not. More of your compassion might be replaced with a sort of violence. At least, that's how I could see it playing out if you do not exercise some restraint, at least." Janius' voice became higher, making a suggestion that he could not know to be plausible, "Is it...possible to strike a balance, do you think? Some aggression would not do too much harm, but some control in return would do wonders. If you really listen to yourself and pay attention, who knows? You could experiment for a while."

Janius' smile returned and he rolled to be closer to Kaleeth. "And remember, I have seen the best and the worst of you and I still love you. Perhaps it might help more to think about what is best for yourself...and Newt." Janius craned his head to see the soft rise and fall of his son's breathing, "What kind of mother would you like to be for him?"

The Jade Stream

At first, Kyang thought that Liu's interrogation was going to involve more verbal convincing than torture. She tried to keep a straight face, but flinched as Liu sank a sword into the bandit's ankle. The clear pain that the man was in was not the easiest thing to watch. As soon as Kyang heard where Liu was going with his 'persuasion' next, Kyang silently excused herself and walked behind a tree. Instead of objecting, or leaving, or doing much of anything, she leaned against the tree, facing away from the scene. She brought one hand to her face and just tried to tune out for a while.

Kyang didn't know that Liu had that kind of cruelty in him. Whenever she had killed bandits, it was always quick. There was sometimes gore, but never any prolonged suffering for the sake of getting information. It just wasn't in Kyang to do something like that. Perhaps she should have spoken up earlier; she might have been able to convince the bandit to talk without crippling him.

The thud of a head landing on the grass prompted Kyang to finally peek out. A headless corpse was not quite as confronting as witnessing torture, but it didn't exactly improve Kyang's mood. "Is this the part where we collect bounty and stop torturing people?" Kyang asked, "I'd like to head back now."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, you didn't hurt me too badly really," Janius rolled onto his back, looking up and sighing through narrow lips, "I don't know. It was different. It was exciting at first, I'll admit, but...you were very aggressive." Janius rolled his head to look at Kaleeth with a reassuring smile, "I think I'll be able to get used to it. That's not really what I've been thinking about most."

Janius brought his hand up to Kaleeth's upper arm and ran it up and down softly. "That night, we were in the moment. We didn't really get to talk much about your beast spirit in particular." Janius looked down, "I think it's great that you are getting more familiar with it, but...now that you have a way to attune yourself better, what did you feel like doing about it?" Janius looked at Kaleeth again angling his head towards hers, "Do you think it would help you to do more fighting? Would you be in better control?"