[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[Muttonhawk]

Sensible enough, Fendros thought. They seemed to hunt well enough as a team today, but it would be something to get into the habit of, especially when their enemies would have a better knowledge of all of them than Fendros felt confident to describe with his own understanding.

Fendros paused to glance at the cake Ahnasha had found as she sat next to him. Her expression from taking the first bite seemed so enjoyable that it appeared exaggerated. In the dim light of the cave, Fendros didn't spot the extra ingredient sprinkled over it. "I had no idea you liked sweetrolls that much, Ahnasha," Fendros said with a raised eyebrow and a slow, inquisitive tone. Across from him, Janius stifled a chuckle, he had recognised the smell of the moon sugar since Ahnasha had started hauling it back. He wasn't a user himself, but was amused at Fendros' interpretation.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha chuckled. "Indeed, this is the first think I have eaten in months that isn't meat. It's not so much the sweetroll as it is the moon sugar, though. There is a very good reason my people are so fond of it. And no, you cannot have any. That would probably be a very bad idea." She said, quickly finishing off the rest of the confection. She laid down on her back and took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, enjoying the sensations it gave her. "I really do wish you could experience this, but, like I said, bad idea. You might get addicted or something."

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros did a double take at the mention of moon sugar. "Ah," he said, the situation making more sense now. Khajiit substances were another reason why their kind held a stigma in his eyes. Though of the few skooma and moon sugar addicts he had encountered, there were only few khajiits among them.

"You need not worry about me," Fendros assured, "I tried skooma once before in my adolescence. It... let's just say I had a bad reaction." Fendros thought back to the hallucinations that he had mostly forgotten from that one time years ago. It was worse than any nightmares he had experienced before, much because he was awake during the trip. It made his skin crawl just thinking about it. "Just please don't put any in my food, okay?"

After a few seconds, Fendros took a breath to speak and looked over to Ahnasha's face. She looked so relaxed and full of bliss that Fendros was hesitant to interrupt, but it was important. "Is it safe to be eating that while you're pregnant?" Fendros asked, trying not to sound preachy.

[EliteCommander]

"Ah, don't worry about it. I am Khajiit, remember? Moon sugar only appears naturally in Elsweyr, and it is deeply intertwined in our culture. You would be hard pressed to find a Khajiit in the homeland who does not eat moon sugar, even when with child. It's probably one of the reasons we have such strong resistances to it. Moon sugar does not effect us in the same way it does other races. Any of you all could potentially get addicted to it, but I do not have to worry about that near as much. Skooma on the other hand..that's just poison. I'm glad you gave it up when you did, because you probably would have taken over your life had you not." She said, sitting back up.

Ahnasha placed a hand on his shoulder and stared him in the eyes. "Seriously, never go near that stuff, or my moon sugar. If you're going to be a father, you'll need to be at your best."

[Muttonhawk]

Curious, Fendros thought in response to Ahnasha's explanations, well, if their race is resistant to it, it's probably not a problem.

Ahnasha was obviously very concerned about Fendros and skooma. Fendros smiled and breathed a laugh out of his nose, he had just said not to worry. Putting an arm around her shoulder, Fendros brought their faces close and looked straight back at her eyes. "Ahna, I would never. I promise," he said quietly. It would not be a difficult promise to keep, as it was one that he had implicitly committed to himself after the first time, but he thought it only fair to put Ahnasha's mind at ease.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha smiled, throwing her arm over his shoulders as well as she let out a chuckle. "Thank you, I'll make sure to hold you to that one, count on it. Also, do me a favor and keep me away from alcohol; that would be bad for our child. Right now, I wouldn't even consider drinking, but after Meesei told me what to expect after a few months...well, let's just say I'll probably be wanting a drink to help deal with it all." She said. She was still holding her arm around his shoulder, as she was reluctant to let go of him.

Meanwhile, Meesei was finishing up skinning the headless Altmer. She separated the skin from the body and laid it over a rock to dry, then dragged the corpse over to a mostly empty sack near the fire so she could start to cutting the meat. "Do not worry Ahnasha, I'm going to make sure no harm comes to your child. If it means I have to tie you up in the back of a cave and force you to make the right choices, then that is what I will do." She said with a laugh, something that was directly opposed to the macabre act she was performing in cutting up the Altmer corpse.

[Muttonhawk]

"Okay, no drinks either," Fendros added, rolling his eyes. It was nice just to sit together. It wasn't quite the same warmth with the chitin armour still partially on, but it was still pleasant. Fendros looked over at Meesei as she spoke, his eyes moving between her face, her bloodied hands clutching the Altmer-shaped pink, white and yellow muscular structure and the bound dagger. Fendros let out a nervous laugh, "Somehow I'm more inclined to believe you while you're doing that, Meesei." While he spoke, Fendros tried to keep his eyes off the skinned corpse. It was a little less recognisable, but there was still some squeamishness he felt, mostly from the smell of its organs.

Looking back to Ahnasha, Fendros continued, "so how are you? Have any effects come up yet? From the pregnancy, I mean."

[EliteCommander]

"Nothing yet, but it won't be long. It will be months before it becomes visually obvious, but there are some..unpleasant symptoms that will happen a bit earlier. I think I'm ready to deal with it, though, at least I hope so. Runt said she could make potions to alleviate some of my symptoms, as long as she has the spare ingredients. I'll probably have to deal with things like, nausea and vomiting...and fatigue, headaches, nosebleeds, soreness, abdominal pain...you know, all the fun stuff." Ahnasha said, giving him a pat on the back and another laugh. "Don't worry, as long as you dedicate yourself to serving my every whim, I probably won't get upset with you. Probably. Mood swings are also pretty common, according to Meesei."

Ahnasha still didn't blame Fendros for what happened, though she was a bit worried about how she might feel in the future. With all the symptoms she had just described, she realized she might not be in her right mind at all times soon enough.

[Muttonhawk]

"Understood," Fendros said after almost whistling at the long list of misfortunes that Ahnasha would have to suffer. He didn't know whether it were khajiit pregnancies that had it so bad, or whether his rudimentary knowledge of the whole condition had come up short. "I'll uh... I think I'll make sure to consult Runt on what ingredients she might need. It sounds like you're going to need all the help you can get." Fendros said with a slightly worried expression. Ahnasha sure had it hard in this situation.

Fendros looked around, "I don't know what we'd do without the rest of the pack. In this matter in particular." Fendros smiled back at her and pulled her a bit closer with his arm, "I'll try my best for that 'every whim' thing, though." Fendros let go of Ahnasha and leaned forward to get up, "for a start, are you hungry, or did that cake spoil your dinner?" He felt peckish himself, and it was getting close to mealtime anyway.

[EliteCommander]

"Hmm, I could do with some dinner. Something raw, as usual." Ahnasha said, smiling as she embraced the idea of someone serving her needs. It would be nice to have someone helping her, as there was a lot she would need to start thinking about soon enough. After dealing with this Orc werwolf hunter, it would probably be best for her to stay out of danger. Between her lycan regeneration and Meesei's healing capabilities, she could reasonably be expected to survive some rather terrible wounds, but the same was not true for her child. It would probably also be helpful for her to start varying her diet beyond just meat. Perhaps using moon sugar as a spice would help to make that more bearable.

"I'm just hoping to reach this Orc before it gets too bad. I'm glad I can shift safely into my werewolf form while in this state, else I probably wouldn't be nearly as helpful in the coming hunt." She commented.

[Muttonhawk]

"Quite," Fendros replied, getting up to fetch a couple of portions of meat from the pack's storage. If it were up to him, Fendros would rather have Ahnasha out of danger altogether, but he knew how much it meant to her to prove her worth. He very much doubted that he would be able to convince her otherwise. He reached into the sack and pulled out a fresh portion of what seemed to be some kind of limb, then dug a little deeper for his own meal. There was just as high a chance that what he pulled out for himself was the flesh of one of the people they killed today, but he tried not to make it a problem.

Fendros handed Ahnasha's portion to her and prepared to spit his own to cook it. He sat down next to Ahnasha again and skewered the... he believed it to be guar leg... then inspected it front and back, his expression became curious. Slowly, Fendros brought the raw food to his mouth and bit out a chunk of it. He ended up needing to tear it more than he was used to. As he chewed, he noted the different taste and texture it had from its cooked form. His chewing slowed, he was ambivalent. It was cold, slimy and laborious to chew, but juicy, and with a very different flavour. He swallowed with scrunched eyes, the large mouthful probably needed to be chewed for longer. His stomach felt nervous when the mouthful hit it and he considered the results of his experiment.

"An acquired taste, isn't it?" Janius said, looking in on Fendros' culinary adventure.

Fendros licked out leftovers from his back teeth. "Yes, very." Fendros said.

"Well you might try it in between like I sometimes do. Undercook your meals some more, it might be better than you expect." Janius mentioned.

Fendros bobbed his head to one side, what could be the harm in trying? All this time he had been thoroughly cooking his meals by habit, unless Lorag came by and chided him for it. Fendros made a conscious effort this time to be careful with how he cooked his meat over the campfire and the result was, indeed, pleasantly surprising. The meat was tender, but not overly chewy, except right in the centre. More notably, it retained its juiciness and flavour much more than usual.

The meal virtually capped off the evening, with everyone having finished their cloaks and Fendros having adjusted and somewhat repaired his adjustments to the chitin armour. Fendros eventually swallowed his pride and asked for Lorag's expertise, as he was likely a better armourer than any of them, and the job was finished quickly.

Fendros lay down in his bedroll with a number of thoughts rolling through his mind, making it slightly difficult to get to sleep. He found that these thought were becoming more prevalent the closer they got to finding this 'orc' who was this renowned slayer of lycans. The hunt today only added to those thoughts.

---

Before him was a field of vivid green grass. There was no one around. A treeline enclosed the field, not a fence. This was a world uninhabited, unworried. Everything was so... peaceful.

A voice sounded behind him, he turned around and saw Ahnasha walking towards him from across the field, she was waving. He smiled and waved back. They were both safe in this field.

He began to walk towards her, sharing her infectious smile. He realised that the distance he covered was only increasing the distance between them both. Concerned, he began to jog. He wasn't getting any closer to her.

An orc appeared behind her. Not like Lorag. Bigger. The orc had no face. The orc wielded a vicious spear.

He tried to run faster, but couldn't reach her. He tried to yell, but could not speak. She continued to smile, unaware of the danger.

The orc reared and drove the spear through her back, its tip protruding through her chest. Her face was surprised, saddened. He still could not yell. He still could not reach her.

Her face turned into the face of the Dunmer woman that he had killed. The face rushed up to his, its expression with the same fear as when he had struck her down. The Dunmer woman shrieked like she did when he snapped her arm, except it was prolonged. Like a banshee of horror stories.

He tried to yell, he couldn't speak. He covered his eyes. He felt his own touch. He felt his consciousness.

Fendros suddenly awoke, his heart racing. He took his hands from where they were covering his face. It was the middle of the night by the looks, there was no sound save for a stiff breeze from the mouth of the cave further up. He slowly sat himself up, drenched in a layer of cool sweat. In the dim light of the cave, he spotted Ahnasha peacefully sleeping nearby. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling his tension away. That was a horrible nightmare. Normally they would involve him drowning in the blood of beasts he had killed, or killing the Cheydinhal guard until he realised that they were members of his family dressed in guard uniforms. Never had they involved him seeing another kill someone he cared for, let alone someone from the pack. He couldn't protect Ahnasha in his dream... he realised that it was a very real fear that he had, especially when they were all traveling to find and fight the very person that would pose the most danger to all of them.

Se sat up and calmed himself for a while longer, then settled back down to sleep, hoping that he wouldn't encounter that dream again.

[EliteCommander]

The pack did not stay long in the cave the next day. After some final preparations on the meat they had gathered, they set out to the northeast. Their packs were heavier than when they had arrived, but more supplies meant they could travel farther without stopping. In fact, they went for days without having to stop and hunt again. The cloaks they made also proved to be useful. While most of the pack did not wear them all the time, as soon as an ashstorm picked up, they would dawn their cloaks and press on, instead of waiting until it passed. Of course, it was by no means easy. They had maps of the island, but navigation proved to be difficult when they could only see a few feet in front of them.

The group passed through the heart of the island, across the northern part of the Molag Amur region, just south of the Red Mountain. They avoided lava flows and followed foyadas through the mountainous ashlands, at which point the rate of ashstorms only increased. Fortunately, there was no shortage of caves in the mountainsides for them to take cover in, though they were not always uninhabited. They never came across any people hiding within the caves, but there were a few times they had to deal with not-so-docile creatures. At one point, they ended up in a Kwama cave. The warriors and foragers gave them trouble, so they were forced to kill them, but the rest of the Kwama gave them no trouble, apart from being horrendous to look at. They restocked their food supplies with kwama eggs, then continued on to the northeast the next day.

It took just over a week for them to finally get out of the ashlands and once again into the rolling green hills and mushroom forests of Vvardenfell's northeastern section. Since the wind rarely ever carried ashstorms into this part of the island, they were able to keep up a much better pace. After another day of travel, they were finally within sight of Vos. Originally a Telvanni settlement, it had been taken over by House Redoran during the rebuilding. The mushroom tower that once stood at its center had died long ago, but many of the original Imperial-styles walls and fortifications still stood .Inside the walls were buildings of more traditional Dunmer styles.

In order to track this Orc, they would inevitably need to go into the city. This would not be as simple as following a scent; they would need to investigate without drawing attention to themselves. The clothes they had originally purchased back on the mainland were in Dunmer styles, so they would not stand out immediately, but it would still be best for Fendros to be the one to interact with most of the locals. His accent would instantly give him away as being an outlander, but he was still Dunmer, which would help.

The sun was setting over the horizon, so they made camp on a hill outside the city. They would be beginning their investigation the next day, but for now, there was little else they could do but wait. Most of their diet now consisted of Kwama eggs, as they had finished off the last of their meat the previous day. Ahnasha had been conservative with her moon sugar, so she still had plenty remaining, not that it mattered to her at the moment. Right now, she was just at the edge of camp behind a tall mushroom tree, vomiting from the nausea she felt. Her symptoms were not as bad as she had led herself to believe they would be; it was not as if she was constantly incapacitated from sickness, but there were times, such as now, where she felt particularly terrible. Sabine had given her a potion to help alleviate her symptoms, but it had not yet taken effect.

[Muttonhawk]

Despite the harsh conditions, the sights and sounds of Vvardenfell were nothing short of breathtaking. There were highs and lows in their journey. Encountering the Kwama was originally an unpleasant surprise, but quickly turned out to be fortunate for the eggs they found. The eggs proved to be a nice change in flavour to the meat they were used to, but Fendros suspected that the novelty would wear off if they ran out of meat for long enough.

It put a damper on the journey to have Ahnasha start suffering morning sickness, though. True to his word, Fendros assisted Sabine in spotting various ingredients either on the roads or for trade in settlements along the way. Sometimes Fendros would pick too much of a more abundant ingredient that Sabine had pointed out, overstocking her supplies. Other times he would find a similar looking but incorrect ingredient. What help Fendros provided to her foraging efforts were much to Sabine's frustrations most of the time, but at the end of the day, it helped to ensure that there would be some sort of remedy for Ahnasha. This proved futile during a traversal through areas where little to nothing of use grew. During these stints Fendros regretted that he could not do more to help, but soon enough they came upon areas that could produce medicines again.

As for 'serving her every whim', Ahnasha jokingly tried on some occasions to act like some kind of queen over Fendros. These abuses of power that Fendros played off when he recognised them slowly started to get replaced by infrequent episodes. Episodes where Ahnasha's condition was causing short periods of weakness from dehydration or otherwise, mostly from the vomiting. Tonight in particular was one of those episodes. Without Sabine's potions, they likely would have made far less progress today. Fendros was eternally grateful to the odd little Breton girl, but at least camping near a town provided some degree of comfort in that there was an apothecary to fall back on.

At camp, Fendros was in his civilised clothes sharpening his sword and pondering the instructions given to him by Meesei not long ago. The hunt would turn into an investigation for a short time, with Fendros being the face of the pack. It made sense; if his parents were any indication, then Dunmer this far into the mainland were not likely going to treat such a diverse group of travelers with anything less than suspicion. I don't even know how these locals would react to an imperial-accented traveler, Fendros thought, they'd probably think I were spy. Fendros pulled out what septims he had remaining from his purse. He hardly used them these days, so much so that he sometimes considered the currency dead weight. At least there was a small amount of bribery to attempt if he couldn't gain any trust from them. Well, if I'm patient, then there might be a chance. I'm still a Dark Elf, and that gives me an advantage, even if most of them turn out to be much older than I.

Fendros' thoughts were interrupted by a cough and a retch nearby. He turned his head to the side to see Ahnasha mostly concealed behind a giant mushroom, hunched over and purging her stomach once again. Fendros squinted his eyes in worry, her nausea was only getting worse. Fendros slid his sword back into its scabbard and put it and the pack's whetstone that he was using down where he was seated, before getting up and walking towards Ahnasha. By the time he reached her, she appeared to be past most of the retching, but was still leaning over the remains of the last Kwama egg she had eaten, with some of its juices still dripping from her lips while she caught her breath.

"Hey," Fendros said, putting a hand on her back and leaning down to see her, "you were looking flat all afternoon, I was wondering if you would hold out this long." Fendros took his waterskin off his belt and offered it forward, "water?"

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha gladly took the water, then moved around to the other side of the mushroom tree and sat down, leaning on it. "Thanks. Runt already gave me a potion, it just hasn't kicked in yet. I should be fine, I just...need to relax a moment. Come on, sit down." She said, patting the ground next to her.

Ahnasha wiped her mouth, then took a drink. "I'm glad its not like this all the time. I don't know how she knows so much about it, but Meesei told me that these symptoms should decrease over time, maybe in a month or two. They will be replaced by an entirely different set of problems, but at least these will be lessened. Overall, I think I'm starting to get used to the idea, maybe. Of having a child I mean. Speaking of which, have you been thinking about anything for our cub? Like...maybe what its name will be? I don't think it would be fair to leave you out of that."

[Muttonhawk]

It was good to hear that Ahnasha's symptoms would stop getting worse as they had been. Fendros didn't know exactly what was in store for the future, but he took the good news as it came up.

He followed her around and sat down as directed, looking straight ahead and thinking on her question. "I hadn't really thought about names," Fendros said, scratching himself behind one ear, "... lately, things have been distracting." Even though Ahnasha said that she was getting used to the idea, Fendros still didn't much know what to expect. He certainly felt that his thoughts had indeed changed into a more cautious and responsible process now that he had something big to lose, but it still didn't seem so real. Perhaps it would take holding the child -his 'cub', as was the hardest thing to fathom- in his hands to really turn his mind.

He took a few moments, looking up at the underside of the mushroom tree, then leaning his chin on his knuckles. Why didn't he think of names before? Fendros chuckled with futility, "I'm grateful that you considered my opinion on it, but I think its going to take a while to think of something appropriate." Fendros leaned forward with his chin on one palm, "Actually, there is one thing. I know it might sound silly, but... even though I tended to just look up to all the great warriors and generals of my birth family, I always admired my great aunt. I never knew her, but I was told about her. She was a sorceress. She managed to travel all over Tamriel in her lifetime, never was she tied to the family firmly like I or any other Avarul. She was hardy, and lived for herself. Didn't suffer insult, but at the same time wasn't the type to let shame stop her. The rest of my family saw her as a black sheep, but she lived more than most Dark Elves, and it took the red year to kill her, after many other tribulations that she survived." Fendros looked to Ahnasha, "Her name was Mirasi. I don't know, just something to consider. If it's a girl, that is." Fendros leaned back and smiled, turning the conversation, "how about you? Did you have anything in mind?"

[EliteCommander]

"Hmm, I don't think I've ever met a Khajiit whose name wasn't in Ta'agra before. Other Khajiit could find that strange. Eh, I don't think I'm in a place to criticize, though, since I haven't thought of anything myself. She does sound like someone I would want my cub to be, though. Strong, independent. Of course, a child raised in this pack would probably end up being tougher than either of us. Living off the land, being trained to hunt from an early age. I mean, it's going to have Lorag for an uncle. If that doesn't build strength, I don't know what will." Ahnasha said, letting out a light chuckle. She leaned back further against the tree and closed her eyes for a moment, letting her head rest lightly on Fendros' shoulder.

A few moments passed as a thought that concerned Ahnasha crept into her mind. She hadn't wanted to bring it up before, but it had been nagging at her mind. "There is...one thing I was thinking about. I've just been...afraid about something. I mean, I know you are a caring person. You've stuck by me through all of this, you've lent all of your support to me. It's just...or cub, our child, will be Khajiit. He or she could look like me, or it could look much different from either of us. It could grow to be no bigger than a housecat, or half the size of a giant. For a Khajiit, that is normal. It's nothing that I would not expect. But that isn't true for Dunmer, or any other race really. I doubt you ever planned on anything like that. Do you believe you will be able to love our child just the same, even if that happens?" She asked, her eyes fixated on his with a soft and worried expression.

[Muttonhawk]

"Maybe as a middle name then." Fendros added to the name conversation, oblivious of the Khajiit naming system.

As for the next question, Fendros' eyes looked down and he leaned his head back against the mushroom tree, thinking of the right words. It was something that had been at the back of his mind, but something he was actively avoiding as well. Would he be able to love a Khajiit child in their many forms? He took a moment, considering. He had mostly been avoiding the issue because he genuinely had no idea, and if he didn't know, there was a chance that he wouldn't be able to love it. He didn't want to hurt Ahnasha. He had to make a decision.

Fendros opened his mouth to speak, then paused and closed it. He took a while to figure it out, but something came to his mind that put things in perspective. "Ahna," He didn't look at her directly, "I don't know what is going to happen. Whatever does, I will do my utmost to try and love this child. In whatever form it takes." He shifted to lean his shoulder against the tree and placed his hand on Ahnasha's stomach, looking to it as if he had his hand on the head of his future child. "I think it's going to work out, though, because, before we traveled this far... I didn't know that I could control my beast spirit, I didn't know that I could hunt as part of the pack, I didn't know that I would ever see this much of Morrowind in my entire life... and most of all..." Fendros' eyes met Ahnasha's, inches apart, "I didn't know that I could fall in love with Khajiit named Ahnasha."

While Ahnasha and Fendros had become close, this was the first time he had openly admitted the feelings that he had developed over the journey. He had struggled to make sense of it until recently, and he was wondering whether to say anything at all. His heart raced and he hoped he didn't say the wrong thing.

[EliteCommander]

To Ahnasha, it seemed like Fendros was saying everything she was thinking. This had been something she had been thinking about on many occasions over the past month, but even she had not been sure about it. At first, she thought that perhaps she was just gaining feelings for them purely because of the fact that he was the father of her future cub. Perhaps it just seemed natural that she would be in a mated pair with him, given the circumstances. As they spent more time together, however, that idea started to fade. She found herself genuinely wanting to spend time with him over the others at many times, though she did not quite know why. She could not tell what it was that was so spectacular about him, but there was...something. That, she could not deny.

Ahnasha almost decided to give him a kiss, but given the...nausea she had experienced only a few moments ago, she settled for an enthusiastic hug instead. "Who would have thought?" She commented, still keeping him in her embrace. "For my entire life, I never intended to become the mate of anyone, not in any kind of more permanent bonded pair...but I guess we're all wrong about some things. I may not know what's going to happen with all of this, but I'll be glad to have you at my side."

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros returned Ahnasha's embrace wanting never to let go. He closed his eyes and ran his hand across the back of her head as an overwhelming wave of happiness washed over his mind. "Those were my thoughts as well," Fendros said quietly into her shoulder.

They remained in each others arms for some time, Fendros wanted the moment to last forever. After a while, he slowly pulled back to look into her eyes again. Fendros kept her close, resting his hands on her sides. He smiled, almost beginning to laugh, and rested his forehead on hers. It was the best dream he had experienced since he had been infected a month ago. "Is this real?" Fendros thought out loud.

---

Elsewhere in the camp, there was a nudge on Meesei's shoulder. Sabine stood behind her with her town clothes on, a plain brown dress with a flaxen apron, worn underneath the fur cloak that she was so fond of, but was so contrasted in comparison. It was the same fur cloak that she usually seemed to wear, but now with the addition of a substantial cowl to shelter from the ash storms that the pack traversed. Her expression was a blank frown with her same beady eyes.

"The apothecary in this town is a Breton," Sabine stated in her usual blunt manner, "I know her. I don't want her to see me." Behind Sabine's expression, her body started to shiver nervously, betraying an unorthodox quantity of emotion from her. Sabine looked expectantly at her alpha. Not much ever seemed to provoke this kind of reaction in little Sabine, let alone cause her to say this many words at once.

[EliteCommander]

"If it isn't, I don't want to bother with reality." Ahnasha responded with a vibrant smile. After a few moments, she pulled herself away from him for a moment, but only so she could rest herself against him more easily. She laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her tail around his waist. They could potentially be stepping into considerable danger tomorrow, but for the moment, Ahnasha wasn't particularly worried about that.

---

Meesei was near her bedroll, slightly apart from the camp with a few filled soul gems in front of her. She was ruminating on whether or not she should create a few enchantments when Sabine approached her. She stood up, then silently listened as Sabine explained what was troubling her. Meesei thought for a few moments before responding, her expression not betraying her emotions in the slightest. She was slightly upset at the news, not because of the news itself, but because Sabine had not mentioned it before now.

"Sabine, I would expect you to inform me of such things sooner. All of the information we have needs to be available to me if I am to make the right decisions." Meesei said, her voice not angry, but firm. " We need some one to stay and guard our camp; that person can be you. Now, tell me about this woman, this apothecary. Who is she, and is she someone we need to worry about? Or can we use her to our advantage?"