The months following the discovery of the Silent City had Meesei's pack feel like they were moving into the Bruma clan's old clanhome all over again. New routines were set, new locations were there to navigate, new rules, a new atmosphere, and plenty of new people. Veahiliec, the Ayleid city that was the previous clanhome, was large, though it was still cramped and labyrinthine enough that it was more of a lair. The Silent City, with its tall ceiling, separate buildings, streets, and walkways, felt like an actual town. For those that had grown up in cities and towns, it was surreal and nostalgic after a while. For those that had never lived in a town, it was completely new.
Janius resumed his position with the militia with a full timetable. There were always more expeditions to protect or areas to patrol. It was a mild comfort that they wouldn't have to worry about legion patrols, but that didn't quite outweigh the danger of the Falmer's poison. It was painful and had the potential to incapacitate them with a scratch. He was thankful that they kept to themselves after the clan asserted dominance of the area.
Between helping the resettling of the clan and watching over the children, Fendros discussed the details of the marriage with Ahnasha over the letters they shared with Llarasa. They all had different ideas of what exactly they wanted to do, probably because neither of them knew exactly what they wanted to do. Each time, the only thing they could agree on was to go to Cheydinhal to try and marry under the reclamations. That much always caused Fendros more anxiety than he would have liked, as it involved visiting his family. The hope of making amends with them, or at least showing them his new life rather than hiding, was something he rationally wanted to do. He only feared what their reaction would be. When they wrote to Llarasa mentioning that they would be visiting eventually, even Llarasa was dubious about admitting things to the family, though she was verbally thrilled, not only to see them again, but to also be at their marriage.
Meanwhile, Sabine's life did not slow down for a second. As before, she was working feverishly with the other alchemists find a countermeasure for the soul tearing gas. If this didn't take up enough of her time, she found input with the research into the enchantments in the city, such as the automatons and the great glowing ball that lit the place and grew the crops. Just as she had predicted, the soul gem clusters throughout the cavern gave her more resources for enchantment than she knew what to do with. Project after project piled up on her list, and she loved it all. However, while living this life, her social interactions had decreased. She tried to find time to spend with Peiter and her friends where she could, though these ended up being infrequent gatherings. Peiter was somewhat busy as well, with his new magical tutelage, though it was getting clear that the pain of not being in each other's presence was beginning to fade.
As for Gallus' pack, things were in various states of highs and lows. The months of relative stability, routine, and activity were what they all needed to properly heal from their experiences in Elsweyr. Uthri was back to her jolly, outspoken self, but remained motherly to the boys where they needed support. Tzirret in particular was struck by bouts of emotion when enough time went by without receiving a letter from Ma'tanza, but even he was improving. He managed to strike up friendships with some other boys and girls that he had to share manual labour with. It turned out that a few of them were hobby artists like him. He still found it tiring to socialise for too long, though socialising at all was showing a profound improvement in his health.
Gallus himself had a bumpy ride during the resettlement. His decision in the end with his flairs Persephone and Olivia was to avoid them. This did not end well. One night, when he rejoined his pack for dinner, he had visibly bruises around his left eye and his right cheek. He didn't say a word to explain it, but they knew that Persephone and Olivia were right and left handed, respectively. The rumour mill filled in the gaps, revealing that both had worked out what was going on. This meant, unfortunately for Gallus, that he was back to his womanising ways. It was not as egregious as before, perhaps because he was now being reined in by his new friends, Ri'vashi and Meesei. Nevertheless, his contributions to the clan were tireless and outweighed his infrequent social indiscretions. Not least of his contributions was being there to take care of Tzirret and Peiter more actively. He may not have been the best role model, but with the issues they were both dealing with, he was there as a safety net for them both. A safety net they both had use for over the months.
The only major disturbance that affected everyone over the three months was the death of Najirra. Two months into the resettlement, his body began to slow down and he could see his death coming. From his bedroll, his daughters took care of him and he summoned some of his old charges to speak with them. Counted amongst them were Fendros and Ahnasha, to which he said that they had overcome a great challenge with their problems and they should never doubt their ability to overcome more. Indeed, it had been six months since Fendros had required a dose of Sabine's dreaming medicine. The exercises they had been taught had not vanquished the Black Marsh episode from their minds, but at least their lives were closer to normal. Najirra's heart stopped four days later and the entire clan was present at his cremation. His daughters, Vharei and Saraya, took up his mantle to heal the minds of those in the clan that needed help.
And now, three months in, the clan was more or less rooted into their new home. The regular meetings of the clan leadership were almost indistinguishable from how they were when they were the Bruma clan. The next to join Meesei in the meeting room was the clan leader, Vera. She walked in with a number of scrolls under one arm and gave Meesei a nod as she walked in. "Good day, Meesei." She found her seat and spread the scrolls in front of herself. "Three months. I never thought we would be where we are when we left. It's still a mystery as to what happened with the previous owners, my wager is still on followers of Mora clearing the place. It makes it rather uneasy, but at least we're safe from other things." Vera looked up from her scrolls and smiled, "And the last full moons were the first where I didn't worry about our clan getting found. There is so much space down here that releasing some livestock into the caves gives us something closer to a controlled hunt than I ever could have fathomed."
Interrupting the conversation was Oswall pushing through the double doors with Gallus. "Good morning!" he announced.
"Champion, leader," Gallus greeted with a half smile. "I spotted the others approaching. They should be here in less than a minute."
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