Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise returned Meesei's look. Even without her previous objections, Meesei could tell by the shallowness of her breathing and the tension in her posture that she was immensely conflicted. After another few moments of her disposition only growing worse, Lunise drew Meesei's hands onto her lap and bowed her head, closing her eyes.

Meesei felt her hands get squeezed in the grip of Lunise's fingers as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I cannot so easily go on without you," she trembled. "But I could not die knowing that what we both love would be doomed. If you trust your abilities, Meesei, I will trust you. Say as much and I will stay behind from the invasion."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

She did not want to lose her temper again so quickly, but Lunise could feel her frustration boiling up again. She stopped and clenched her fists momentarily.

"What you are requesting is a harder decision than it may seem," Lunise stated. "I am sure the Battle of the Red Ring was clear enough in the lenses of your scrying."

The battle was not one from which Lunise had ever shared the details with Meesei.

"It took decades to put that behind me, mother. My failure to be there at the lines." Lunise's jaw tightened wherever her mouth closed. "It may have appeared as though I was well after a few months. I was not. How should I force myself back now?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise looked across to Meesei, before looking ahead and eventually shaking her head. "Mother, as far as I understand, if the battle is lost for my absence, the reason to stay behind will be entirely irrelevant." She met Nytala's eyes again, lowering her voice this time. "And that is to say nothing of those I might lose should I stay behind. Those I care deeply for. It will not be the first time I have lost friends and loved ones to a battle I could not be near."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise furrowed her brow, more out of confusion than anger this time. "It may require mentioning that we are aware of the great power concentrated on the plane. However...Why should I not risk my life like everyone else? I am abundantly aware of the danger."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

If she was being fully honest, Lunise would admit she was still holding onto enough frustration and shock that another hug did not quite relax her as it had previously. Nevertheless, no amount of raging would change the reality of the situation. That she would be given any further amount of time to think was fortunate.

Lunise did not turn to look at Meesei until after a pause following Meesei's reaction. Lunise gathered up all the composure she could to finally face her, mask on and jarringly so to Meesei. "Indeed," she said. "If I recall, the last time I was placed in your position, Meesei, you saw fit not to ask any permission to take your subject 'out of time' for whatever private conversation you shared. But that is in the past now. Mother? You mentioned another matter you wished to discuss? With us both?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise closed her eyes and ran a hand down her face. "I was referring to...no, it does not matter..." She sighed heavily. "It stands, I do not see a way to convince her to come here. Not unless..." Her voice lowered to a mumble. "...Not unless I lie to her and..."

She did not want to finish the sentence.

"No," she resolved. "It does not have to be this way yet." She scowled defiantly. "We shall assess the options together. If fate is a lie, we will find a way, with or without the order." She took a much deeper breath. "Thank you for informing me, mother. I will not let the risk you took here go in vain." She fidgeted. "And it was unbecoming for me to raise my voice. Please excuse me."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise's frustration only grew. "Mother, is that what do you truly see her as? Some pawn on a game board?!" Her tone took on a hint of anger. "To say as much would be akin to suggesting that I took up the mantle of a justicar because I wanted a retirement pension! Or...or that you, leaving for Artaeum as it was spirited away from Tamriel, away from father and me, was done for something similarly selfish and base!"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise had hoped Nytala's explanation would have more to qualify it, but where her mother ended it left Lunise bewildered. She turned her eyes up to her with an upturned brow and anxious eyes. She glanced forward and back to Nytala's face. The tumult left her grasping for words.

"Am I to assume..." she said with an attempt to be slow and considered, "that Meesei would need to be convinced to turn her back on what she has been working nearly her entire life upon?!" Lunise's breathing quickened. She lifted her hands in frustration and just as quickly clutched them to her legs. "Do not be mistaken, Meesei has expressed to me her admiration for the Psijic Order, but to ask her to all at once abdicate her involvement with her people...her nation...let alone her family and all else she is close to, for the chance at keeping her soul together after her life ends is..."

Lunise stopped and took a deep breath through her nose.

"I should be clear, mother. I perhaps did not make fully apparent Meesei's devotion." Lunise shook her head, her mouth wide open trying to keep herself well worded. "How am I, even as one who loves her, to convince her otherwise?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The costs of joining the Psijic Order entered Lunise's mind well before Nytala turned her to face her. Even as she did, Nytala saw Lunise's eyes looking right through her.

Lunise carefully took Nytala's hand and placed it on the bench. With a blank frown, she looked at the ground in front of the bench and blinked. She could not take a deeper breath than was absolutely required.

"I must stay on Tamriel to stop the Thalmor leadership," she stated in a monotone. "Meesei must come here to find an answer to her soul, if it is her best chance. There is a significant chance she will decline your offer when she finds out. I cannot allow that."

In a pause, she pulled her lower lip between her teeth.

"She will just attempt the impossible again."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise sat wordless. As if returning to habit, her expression hardened to a stoic frown. She swallowed over her dry throat and tried to speak, clearly holding emotion back. "What you say would explain her talents. Is there anything that can be done? I am aware Meesei's soul is bound for the Hunting Grounds, but..."