Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros nodded to each piece of input. "It'll all depend on what kind of person the owner is. Who knows? Maybe he's a Hircine worshipper with a grudge against Clavicus Vile in the end." He allowed himself an amused hum.

"I don't have any good reason to believe it isn't genuine," Janius responded to Kaleeth. "It's true that the stereotypical Thalmor would probably gag at the thought of being in Lunise's position. But...I don't know. There's something else, I think. She did refer to her time in Rimmen rather often. Perhaps that softened her view of other races somewhat." Janius turned his hand. "Than again, she did seem self-conscious when the subject of Thalmor doctrine was even approached...and when Kaj-Julan asked about her preference of partner. I doubt it's a simple this-or-that."

Janius leaned to peer at the conversation at the head of the pack. He itched his sweating scalp and leaned back to Kaleeth. "You know, I actually wouldn't know who to expect Meesei would be matched with. Amongst anyone we have met, anyway."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Very well," Fendros said. "We ought to make a plan once we have that information. I had it in my head that we might pretend the axe is a long lost heirloom. It could be that our man doesn't much care for such sentimental matters, though." He shrugged. "We'll see."

"Maybe there can be a curse on the axe?" Sabine suggested. "It is closer to the truth. If something bad will happen to the wielder, we might get it from its owner for free."

Meanwhile, Janius and Kaleeth brought up the rear of the procession. Janius felt somewhat exposed going into the city without his armour on, but the heat made it impractical at best and heatstroke-inducing at worst. Besides, he had other matters on his mind. He leaned to Kaleeth, repeating a conversation they had last night. "I am still in awe that it was the justicar. It was strange to see her out of that uniform. And...socialising with us. What do you make of it?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei's affection was returned in full. Lunise pulled her close, passionately joining their lips together as if trying to fuse them into one body. She was just as lost to time as Meesei was. On and on their passion went until the outside of the tent was all but forgotten.

Inevitably, Lunise and Meesei's embrace intensified until the first cord on Lunise's dress being undone. In a monumental feat of self-control, Lunise pulled back from the kiss and gently pushed Meesei back by the shoulder. "Ah-ah," Lunise warned in a whisper, catching her breath. "I may be in love with you, Meesei, but I plan on waking up in a bed in Valenwood tomorrow morning."

In the pause that followed, Lunise made a strange noise. Two stifled vocalisations on her outward breath. It took a moment for Meesei to recognise it as laughter. Lunise grinned and closed her eyes, quietly laughing more until she was out of breath. Her head lolled to one side. Even with glistening lines drawing back from her eyes, Lunise was the happiest Meesei had ever seen her.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise laid a finger over the front of Meesei's mouth. "Stop," she whispered.

Her stare did not abate. She was wordless for moments where thoughts and feelings passed by, only just making way for anything to say. "I...I could not have predicted this," she managed. She took a breath in and out, shivering. "Even in these months. I think I felt it all along. It's such a madness." She blinked and more tears flowed down. "It could bring my life to destruction. I remember what it is now, even if I doubted its full possibility."

Lunise brought her arms up around Meesei's torso and held her tightly. "You're so free. You're honest and surrounded by kind family. And yet you are grounded and wise. You can and do care for yourself. All you have built is from your own determination, not given to you without merit. This self-made creature." Lunise took two more quick breaths. Her attempt to suppress her crying was melting away. "I look upon you and see what I wish to be a part of. And I see it in an Argonian, of all things. Doing what some elves spend centuries even getting close to. I tried to remain reserved. I kept stepping towards you nonetheless, as if compelled. And now I am here, with you...pretending there is still some space for denial so I can go back to being some Thalmor intimidator. There is no such room left. I would prefer to be here. Here in this...fantasy with a beautiful woman where...I know that the effort to be wanted is not in controlling others, but simply...being. We are here because we want to be."

Holding her eyes shut, Lunise choked on a sob and held her head forward. With a sniff, she pressed a hand to the back of Meesei's head and brought their foreheads together. "I am quite sure I have fallen in love with you as well, Meesei."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was a sense of relief in Lunise when Meesei kissed her, much like the relaxation she had when they were usually only in one another's company. Even though people they knew were barely a short walk away, the privacy and dark of the tent brought Lunise back into mask-shed state that only Meesei truly got to see.

When Meesei broke the kiss and said those four words, Lunise was thrown back into consciousness hard enough to render her frozen where she laid. Though Lunise could hardly see Meesei, Meesei could see Lunise's face caught in a rictus of shock and confusion.

Lunise slowly closed her mouth. Her angled elven eyes half-closed, though not in anger or derision. A high voice that Meesei didn't recognise at first came from Lunise's mouth. "You truly mean that, don't you?" It was more a statement than a question, breaking pitch in places as voices tend to do when emotionally charged. Lunise blinked and a pair of tears ran back from the corner of her eyes down to the bedding behind her head.

She showed her teeth and gasped in an upset breath.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Meesei," Lunise said gently. She lifted her hand up to Meesei's cheek. "Your family has been most welcoming to me. I think, every now and then, I could join you all for a meal."

Lunise sat down more comfortably beside Meesei with her legs to one side. She readjusted her arms to hold Meesei while leaning in against her. "I was surprised, actually. I know I can be venomous, it is a behaviour I have habituated. Even when I realised that I was being...uncharitable, I was not rebuffed for it by your pack." She breathed out from pouted lips. "It does tire me, however, to make the effort to stay quiet when a thought passes through my mind." Lunise turned her head to the glint of Meesei's eye in the dark. "Do you believe I was sufferable enough tonight?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Of course. That is no trouble at all." Lunise said to Meesei.

Janius shrugged. "Your choice, Lunise. Maybe next time."

Only another minute of eating passed. The last of the dessert was had, enjoyed as it was by all, before Lunise took Meesei's hand to stand up. While facing away from the pack, Lunise had her stern scowl yet was looking at the ground as if troubled. She didn't say a word as she was lead to Meesei's tent.

The look on Meesei's face before she was hugged was a surprise to Lunise. Perhaps it was because she wasn't paying attention to just how excited Meesei had been over dinner. Lunise, of course, hugged her back and even smiled.

"Have I truly passed the test so well?" Lunise asked incredulously, pulling back enough to see Meesei's face. She could barely make out her outline in the dark of the tent. "I was unsure if I was being patient enough."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The encouragement around her only caused Lunise to start clenching her jaw. All the comments built up until Meesei finally asked more directly. She returned the eye contact, quickly blinked twice, and a tension she had been holding in her arms and shoulders loosened with a silent outward breath.

"Meesei, I would rather not be pressured," Lunise said with a low voice, extending a flat hand. "If you do not mind. I think I should head back now." Her fingers curled and she swallowed. Meesei, at least, could see that she was holding something back.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise had barely even picked up her bowl before Julan made her look up with surprise once again. She took a short breath in. "A swim? I..." she let out part of her breath, at a loss for words. "Oh, I couldn't, it is rather late in the evening and I am rather fatigued."

"I'll swim," Rhazii said nearby. "Anything to wash out this sand."

"I think I shall swim as well," Sabine added with a smile.

"Huh," Fendros said in realisation. "We swim a lot when we're near water, don't we?"

Janius grinned. "Meesei, if your new partner is to be one of us, I think she should take the rite of passage and swim, don't you think?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Oh-" Lunise's eyes bulged, looking absently over Julan's shoulder. Her forced smile had disappeared, replaced with a kind of shock that she had never expressed to the pack. She was paralysed for several heartbeats.

Janius, Fendros, and Sabine let out small, lighthearted chuckles at Julan's enthusiasm.

Lunise's silence-breaking words were slow and out of breath. "...That is nice of you to say, Kaj-Julan." She carefully lifted her splayed hands up and placed them up behind Julan's back. She blinked and pat her hands on him, but did not squeeze like he did her. Eventually, she brought her hands back to his sides to awkwardly encourage him away. "I should finish my dessert. Excuse me."