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

[EliteCommander]

"Um...no, not really." Julan answered. Unlike the adults of their pack, he did not know who Narsi's mother was, and even if he did, the name "Harriet" did not mean much of anything to him. Her treason was not a tale that had been told in great detail to him. He was aware that Vera's husband had been the former alpha of the clan, and that he had been killed by a traitor, but that was the extent of Julan's knowledge.

Julan rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean...I did wonder about it. I do think it's strange that you would live in a city instead of a clan. But...if you're here now, then surely there's no problem with you living in a clan? Does your mother not like Lorag much anymore? There are other clans, if that's the problem."

---

Complete silence was not entirely Ahnasha's intention, but she also did not intend to bring up the issue at hand in front of Fendros' family. She was not sure if Fendros would be stubborn enough to remain supportive of his own actions, or the time they had apart to cool down would have made him acknowledge the possibility that he made some mistakes. Regardless of her outward demeanor, she did not actually want to be at odds with him, and was hoping that he would be willing to admit to some mistakes once they finally did have a chance to speak.

Ahnasha did make an effort to be friendly with Fendros' family through breakfast, and even Fendros himself as long as they were talking about anything else. Once they were finished eating, Ahnasha decided not to make any effort to avoid a private conversation, if Fendros was ready for one.

[Muttonhawk]

Narsi shook her head with a bit of frustration, but she swallowed down her temper before she responded. "No, they...Lorag don't like momma, but that's not it." She breathed in and held her breath, trying put her thoughts together. "...Momma...did something real bad, back before I was born. Real bad. Like, the kind of bad that makes other lycans from all over want to kill you. We were in Cheydinhal because we were hiding. Soon as I'm done here, I'm going back to take care of momma. I can't let her be alone. I'm all she's got."

She kicked some soil up into the fire. "And Lorag, he just cames out of nowhere after...not giving half a shit for years." She spat quietly. "I hate him."

---

Ahnasha's attempts to break the ice did liven the meal between them. Even with some residual nervousness from Llarasa and Monderyn, the entire family was eager to distract from the tension. Even Fendros relaxed a little, though he was too drained to be fully present in the conversation.

Before long, the last of the sweet and tart blueberry pancakes were finished and the teapot was empty. Calia selected her timing gracefully, speaking exactly when appropriate to do so. "Well then," she stood herself up and straightened her dress. "We shan't be wasting any more of the morning. Come, children, we have extra work to attend to with your father out on business."

Monderyn and Llarasa agreed, quickly cleared up, and followed their mother out the back door. Llarasa stopped by the door to say one last thing over her shoulder. "Oh! The kettle on the stove should still have some water. You know, if you...wanted some more tea." She waved. "See you later." She stepped out of sight.

The kitchen was quiet. Some birds sang outside and the stove still clicked with woodfire, but Fendros sat leant back on his chair, looking at his hand as he picked at a splinter of wood on the table top. The air drained from his lungs. "The first thing I owe you," he croaked, "is an apology. I lost my temper. It was not the time nor the place to stand up to you in front of your family."

He paused and looked across at Ahnasha.

[EliteCommander]

Narsi's answer was certainly a lot to unpack, but it did finally give Julan some much-needed context as to why she had been so insistent on pushing people away. He still did not have much of an idea of who her mother was, but he knew he did not have any obvious answer to just solve her problems. Still, he did feel that he could help her understand some things in a way that could shift her attitude. Slowly, he shook his head, now speaking more softly. Given the subject, he was worried that he could end up angering her again. "No, I don't think it's true that he just...didn't care. I know I can't read Uncle Lorag's mind or anything, but he's been very busy. Our parents have, our whole pack has. They always have to give their everything to fighting the war."

Julan hesitated, showing some uncertainty in his expression in the few silent moments it took for him to think about Narsi's perspective. "Has...anyone told you about the war yet? About what our pack has been fighting? What all the clans have been having to fight? It's another Daedra, and his followers. Clavicus Vile. They've been literally hunting for our souls for our whole lives. At first it was just fighting like you normally think of, but then they had this...gas. It, well, just ripped lycan souls out of their bodies. Just like that. It could just kill us as soon as we breathed it. It was terrifying to know about; to know what...could happen. There were some clans that were found and attacked with the gas, and it just...killed everyone. There was no way to fight it, we just had to hope that we would be hidden. I remember having so many nightmares..."

Julan's discomfort was showing through quite obviously, so he was quick to interrupt himself and continue. "There's an antidote now, though. Aunt Sabine and her sister were able to figure one out, and things have gotten a lot better since then. For a while there wasn't really enough for everyone, but now our parents say we have enough to keep everyone safe. Everyone isn't so afraid all the time, and apparently we're winning the war. I...well, like I said, I guess I can't really say for sure what Uncle Lorag was thinking, but...maybe he thought it would be better for you if you weren't here back then? And maybe he thinks things can be different now?"

---

"No, it wasn't." Ahnasha answered dryly. She stared out the window rather than at Fendros, but her tone made it seem as if all of her emotion had already been drained from her. "You could have been right, or wrong, but that was the one thing you really needed to understand. I just wish you would have realized it much sooner."

Finally, Ahnasha brought herself to make eye contact with Fendros once more. "I still don't know if my family really believed what I told them. Our goodbyes this morning...they just felt like superficial words to me. They might still doubt me, but were too nervous to say anything. There was no nice, neat resolution, if you were hoping for one. This will probably be hanging over my head for the next few weeks, maybe months, until we start exchanging letters again."

[Muttonhawk]

Narsi's lower lip pressed upward with some bottled anger. "Yeah, momma told me," she said. "He could'a..." She sniffed and breathed out sharply, before lifting her head upwards. She bit her lower lip for a moment before resuming. "He didn't want anything to do with us. That's what momma said. Momma said he was dopey, and that was the reason, but I know even a stupid asshole like him can get his friends to write a letter for him. Maybe send a little gold or meat so momma didn't have to go hungry when there wasn't work in the city for her and the lycan agents didn't have anything for her to do." Her fists balled up until they creaked. The entire length of her small arms tensed up and shook. "I'm gonna beat the shit out of him. He's gotta know how it felt."

---

Fendros blinked his eyes down.

He took a few seconds to break his silence again.

"You know," he said. "I...did spend some time last night-" likely the whole night awake by the way he looked "-trying to find some way to..." He closed his eyes and raised an open hand. "Don't mistake this for forcing anything on you. I just got thinking on how to work this all out. Something which doesn't drive a wedge between us and the family but won't...well, have them crawling all over you saving your soul or...or thinking we're running shops and being in militias and so on and so on. It's not too late to catch up with them again, if you feel up to it."

[EliteCommander]

"Well, I don't know anything about all of that. Uncle Lorag doesn't talk about those kinds of things very much." Julan answered, lightly shrugging. "I just know that none of that should make you think you can't be happy here. I mean, you're not going to be with your mother forever, right? I know when me and my brother grow up, we're not just going to be with our parents all the time. We'll be working on our own joining other packs, having families of our own; those kinds of things. We can still be around, we don't have to leave them or anything, but...I know that children do have to grow up and have lives of their own. Don't you do it the same way in the city? You'll have to have your own life too, and even if your mother got kicked out, that doesn't mean you can't live here. Or in another clan. And it probably wouldn't be hard to visit and stay close with her, with the propylon chambers. You know, teleporting."

Julan was worried that he was not wording his advice properly, or that there was more he could say, but it was also true that Narsi was acting a fair bit differently than she had been thusfar. She was, at least to some extent, opening up to him. "So...you don't have to act like an outsider. You can just let yourself enjoy being here And besides, if you really want to beat up Lorag, then you're going to be training here for a very long time."

---

"I...appreciate that." Ahnasha answered, though with the long breath she let out and her emotionless tone, it was hard to tell if she was being genuine. "But I wasn't lying about them being busy. They weren't starting their day quite as...early as I might have implied, but now that I've come all the way out here and we took our time eating our breakfast, there probably isn't enough time to catch up with them. We're just going to have to deal with this in the long term. Maybe we'll have time before the invasion to squeeze in a short visit to Leyawiin."

Ahnasha sighed, not looking particularly hopeful. "But I guess I did ask you to think on it, so...what are these ideas?"

[Muttonhawk]

Harriet's fists loosened and her shoulders slumped. "Yeah...I am, huh," she answered. "I never thought very far ahead." She blinked her eyes to one side. Her voice suddenly regained some energy. "I wanna change the subject. What the hell is that picture painted on your body about, anyway?" She pointed to the wamasu marks on Julan's body.

"I'm curious about that, too, actually," Rhazii called out from behind them. "Did you say you got a spear through your leg earlier? What happened?"

---

Fendros stood up from his chair and stepped over to a clay jar on the kitchen bench. Taking the teapot from the table and a spoon, he went about making some more tea as his sister suggested.

"I'll start with the solution you probably won't like so we can get it out of the way quickly." He spoke over his shoulder as he retrieved the kettle from the stove. "We work out what we lied about and what we told the truth about, then tell your family what was the truth and what were the lies, and then be upfront that we cannot share more than that. We stick to our boundaries and they either accept the reality of the situation or they do not. We can at least promise to keep in touch and to visit every now and then."

Fendros finished pouring boiling water into the teapot and set it upon the table again. The spout steamed gently in front of them both. He sat down on the table, this time leaning on his forearms and weaving his fingers together. "Another idea I had was something just as an aside. It's possible that if they won't listen to you about your soul not needing to be saved or some such, they might listen to a priest from the clergy of the Eight Divines in Leyawiin. There's a chance whoever is in charge there is...more open minded." He pressed his middle and index finger onto his temple. "The Reclamations priest here in Cheydinhal was very helpful to us. It would be a similar situation. I know it's no guarantee, but it's an option."

As he took in another deep breath, Fendros seemed to brace himself before continuing. "The only other idea in my head that felt like it would hold water was..." He hesitated and then looked directly at Ahnasha. "Your family is no expert on lycans, right? If the problem is saving your soul, then perhaps it would be a much more plausible lie to say that I'm a werewolf and you are not. It's been no secret to them already that my family worships the Reclamations, not the Eight. Perhaps they would be willing to cross that bridge, so to speak." he swallowed nervously. "What do you think?"

[EliteCommander]

Julan was not given much time to think about his apparent success with Narsi before he himself started to get questioned. He turned his head back towards Rhazii briefly, then glanced down at the scar on his leg. Thanks to his body's capacity for healing, it was rather thin, but still visible if he looked closely enough. "Yeah, that was a part of my trial. Or...um, well, getting stabbed wasn't a part of the trial, I mean. But, um, it did happen because of it."

Julan turned to the side so that both Rhazii and Narsi could see his tattoos. "I met my grandfather for the first time when we went to the village. He wanted me to do the trial. See, the trials are like a, uh, test to see if an apprentice can become a full hunter in the village. I know I'm not from the village, but as long as I passed one of the trials, then I'd still be one of the hunters. Officially, I guess. I think my grandfather really wanted me to be a part of the village; I know he wanted me and my parents all to stay, but...I just ended up doing the trial. They have four of them that you get to choose from, and I chose the trial of might. It's pretty much just a duel, but with real weapons. Not to the death or anything, but it has to be against a full hunter. Someone who is supposed to be bigger, older, stronger, more experienced, and all that. It's apparently a rare trial to pass. I know I probably had an advantage as a lycan, but it was still hard." Julan explained, running one of his claws over his scar. "These tattoos are the marks for the trial of might. They show a swamp leviathan, which is apparently one of the most dangerous monsters in all of Black Marsh. They represent, uh, well...strength."

---

Given that Fendros had given several suggestions at once, Ahnasha went about thinking on them one at a time, and some for longer than others. She hesitated for a few seconds, leaning back in thought in her chair. Rather than keeping her hands idle, she reached out and grabbed the pot of tea that Fendros had prepared, though stopped short of actually pouring any more into her cup. "Well, I can still say with confidence that you do know me very well...because I hate the first idea. Probably at least the second worst choice we could make. As for the second...I can at least see where you got the idea from, but I'm really doubting that would work. There's a pretty huge difference between a priest of the Eight and a priest of the Reclamations. Very, fundamentally different. You must really not have much experience with priests of the Eight if you think they have any sort of tendency for open-mindedness towards the Daedra, of all things. Besides...whose sermons do you think gave my mother her beliefs?"

Rather quickly, Ahnasha's trend of dismissiveness came to a rather sudden halt as she worked through in her mind on Fendros' final proposal. Initially, it did sound like a horrible idea, but it did not take too much thought for her to realize what it might accomplish. There was some actual potential for it to turn out well, as long as she took care in ironing out the details of how exactly to present it to her family. It was, of course, much less ideal than if they simply accepted the story she had told them, but there was some possibility to salvage an actual, positive relationship with her family if they did not. "But that third one..." Ahnasha began, setting down both the pot of tea and her empty cup. "...I can't believe I'm saying this, but there might actually be something there. Maybe. If I could put the story together right. Then it becomes almost like a...noble sacrifice on my part. Trying to save the soul of a wild beast. Still, not something I would want to tell them unless I'm sure they didn't buy the first story, but...I can't say it's a bad idea."

[Muttonhawk]

Leaps settled himself down onto his belly a short distance from the fire. No doubt the warmth felt comforting against his scales in the damp cavern.

"They're tough out in those villages, aren't they?" Rhazii asked rhetorically with a small grin. "I should say congratulations, brother. Those tattoos aren't going to be so weird now, I think. They do make you look pretty tough, come to think of it."

Narsi crossed her arms. "So you had to fight someone to prove you were one of them? Sounds like a Orc stronghold. Momma told me about them. They didn't have...tattoos like this, though. What was it like in the village? Where is it?"

---

Fendros gave an accepting nod to Ahnasha's response to the less likely ideas. There was no trace of stubbornness he felt he needed to show.

If forced to admit it, Fendros was fully prepared for Ahnasha to reject all his ideas. Or, at the least, to require further convincing. In her apparent acceptance of the last option, Fendros peered up at her in surprise. "Oh...well, good, we have something then." He sat up straighter and tried to think of what to say next in his foggy mind. "We would still have to decide what extra details to mention; whether Rhazii is a werewolf, whether to introduce the pack as...a pack, how lycanthropy works..." He stopped himself. "You're right, though. Let's...As much as I would like to speak to them about it as soon as possible, it may be best to wait and gauge how much they believe so far. For all we know, they might decide not to ask any more questions at all."

He sighed and ran his hands up his face. "Pour me some tea, please, Ahna? I need it."

[EliteCommander]

"Oh, it's all the way on the other side of Tamriel, In Black Marsh; the north part of it. They're, um, nomads, so the village moves around a lot." Julan answered. "And yeah, I thought they were pretty tough, too. They act more like our clans than I thought they would, but I guess it makes sense. Black Marsh is a dangerous place to live, so they have to work hard to survive."

The topic finally steered Julan towards talking about his trip. So far, he had not had much of a chance to talk about the last few weeks beyond the obvious regarding his tattoos. He had wanted to talk about the trip with Rhazii for a few days now, even before he had returned. He supposed it did not bother him to talk to Narsi about it as well. "It was just weird being around so many more Argonians. They had all sorts of weird customs, and games, and just...ways of doing things. I didn't think that I would think they were weird before I got there, since I'm Argonian too, but...I don't know. I probably shouldn't have thought it would feel normal being there, since I'm not from there. There were, uh...some people who didn't like me, since I was an outsider. But there was one girl who was really curious about me, and she introduced me to her friends. She was nice to me. Kind of...too nice."

---

Ahnasha sighed along with Fendros, finally going through the effort to pour tea first for herself, then Fendros. Although, she just ended up holding the cup up in front of herself for a while, resting her elbows on the table. "Probably best to avoid too complicated of a story. If it comes to it, I will say that you, and only you, were infected some time after we were married. That would make you into more of a victim, and would probably be better received than if you were already a lycan when we met. As long as that the souls of me and Rhazii are safe, then they will probably be fine. Perhaps not at first, but eventually."

Ahnasha placed down her cup after only one sip. She finally made firm eye contact with Fendros, but at least not in a way that suggested anger. "It will still probably be weeks or more before we will know anything, so we best just get back home and try to focus on our preparations. Regardless of anything else, the invasion is still our priority."

[Muttonhawk]

Rhazii brought his knees up, wrapping his elbows around them and clasping his hands while he listened. The last detail made his ear turn and his grin widen. "Have you got a girlfriend now, Julan?" He asked. "What's her name? What did she do?"

Even Narsi let the corner of her mouth lift up a bit at the tease.

---

Giving a quiet thanks, Fendros took his mug and took a slow draught of the tea. The warmth made him visibly relax.

"Of course," he responded with a nod. "We can smooth out all the details in time." He looked into the brown-red water of his tea. "I still think, at some point, they'll be ready to know the whole truth. But that can wait as well." He peered back up at Ahnasha's eyes. "How are you feeling?"

[EliteCommander]

Julan huffed, quickly grabbing a pebble beside him and tossing it at Rhazii. "Hey, stop that! Her name was Hal-Leeus, but she just ended up being...irritating after a while. She was fine at first, but all she ever wanted to do was ask me questions. I enjoyed asking her about the village at first too, but she had a lot more she wanted to ask me. Just...questions, questions, and more boring questions. Her friends were better, though, so it wasn't all bad."

After his attempt at deflection, Julan gave a look around away from the fire and back towards the city. He started to stand up, then glanced back at Narsi. "Are you dry yet? Maybe we should get back, find something new to do. If you've just been alone so far, then I'm sure there's plenty you haven't done yet back in the city."

---

Ahnasha's answer did not come quickly. For a few moments, she just breathed before setting down her mostly-full cup and standing to her feet. "I feel like getting back home. Work on the portal is starting this week, and I am going to have a lot to do helping to get it ready. They are going to need conjurers and enchanters alike working on it. Meesei said I didn't have to see to it personally, but...I would rather make sure it is done right."

Meesei would not be arriving to collect the pair any sooner regardless of what Ahnasha wanted, but that did not stop her from leaving the table regardless. Even if she was no longer angry, it was clear that she was not in the mood for much conversation.

---

The next several weeks saw an almost unprecedented amount of activity in the Blackreach clan. Just as Ahnasha had commented to Fendros, work on their portal began in earnest, which called upon the expertise of the best conjurers and enchanters available from any of Tamriel's lycan clans. Not to mention, both the Empire and Dominion had their hands in assisting with the project. Though it was perhaps pessimistic, Meesei doubted they actually wanted to devote their resources to assist, but it was likely that they would want to have their own experts verify the safety of the portal before they would send any of their own soldiers through it.

Of course, only a small portion of the clan would even notice the portal's construction, since the building site was in a clearing a fair distance away from the city. However, what would be obvious were the other preparations they were making. Namely, they had already begun to bring in people and supplies from all of the clans in Tamriel to take part in the invasion. The bulk of the warriors would not be arriving for some time, as Meesei did not want to weaken the other clans' defenses until the last possible moment, but they were already preparing for them. The Silent City would be housing some of them, but they were building camps to accommodate the bulk of their forces outside the walls. They were only simple wooden barracks, but as some portion of them would need to stay there for weeks, they would be better than tents.

For the moment, the majority of those arriving from other clans were either leaders, or support staff handling the logistics of moving in their army. In addition to the camps themselves, they had to bring in more food stores from other clans, plan for the transport of clean water to each of the camps, and set up infirmaries with skilled healers and sufficient stocks of potions. It was a great deal more work than even Meesei had expected, but fortunately, there were those among the clans who had the sort of experience needed to make it go reasonably smoothly.

Thusfar, the preparations had not required too much additional work from most of Meesei's pack, apart from those, like Ahnasha, who volunteered herself to help. As such, the Silent City's forgemaster was able to find an opportunity to call in all seven of them at once for some matter about which he had been noticeably non-specific. Although, Meesei had been assured that he had only good news for her.

Meesei moved together with her pack, through the tunnels into the depths of the Silent City. Lorag was intending to bring the children out for more training afterwards, so the three of them were tagging along as well. Their forges had been built close to the machines that powered the whole of the city, and were heated by a seemingly limitless supply of steam. From what Meesei had been told by their blacksmiths, adapting the steam to their forges allowed them to operate them more easily, and get their fires even hotter. They had expanded their forges and had built several of them in multiple rooms in the lower floors of the city. Their productivity in forging weapons and armor for their warriors had exceeded expectations...at least until those expectations had been raised up to match.

Despite having been working late the previous night, Ahnasha appeared to be in a strangely good mood. Or at least, she was not showing signs of any fatigue she might have. She was even the first to speak up, smiling lightly. "Okay, so I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering what this all is about. Personally, I'm willing to bet they have something for us. If this was something like new techniques, or...some discovery to make new kinds of weapons for our warriors, then he would just be talking to Meesei. I'm willing to bet he has something for us, specifically. Really, I'm just wondering what."

[Muttonhawk]

Narsi and Rhazii both laughed at Julan's discomfort. Narsi's laugh -- the first they had heard from her -- might have been quiet enough to remain unnoticed had she not snorted noticeably on the inhale.

"Sounds like she liked you, brother," Rhazii said. However, he didn't press the issue before Julan suggested they move on.

Narsi lifted her arms up a bit and felt moisture still in the crevices of her clothes, but she shrugged. "Didn't have anything else planned. But can we ride Leaps back again?"

One way or another, the three youths found their way back to the Silent City. Rhazii was keen to talk more about Julan's journey to Black Marsh, which allowed Narsi to listen along quietly. She remained mean-spirited and foul-mouthed but was much less reactive than before. Rhazii and Julan counted their blessings as they came.

When the conversation turned to Rhazii's stay in Cheydinhal, he took a long while of making faces before he simply said he did not enjoy it. All the details he gave appeared like a reasonably good time for a meeting with relatives, but he did not detail his hunt with Ahnasha and the subsequent events. Rhazii's clear discomfort kept the topic brief.

---

"We're of the same mind. Saving the world sounds far more appealing right now."

Fendros glanced up but did not stop Ahnasha from leaving. He drank down the last of his tea before standing up. Between now and saying farewell to his family, he figured he could find her a gift in the city as a kind gesture. He was going to be in the doghouse for a while but Ahnasha was in need of as much help as she could get, and a chance at putting her in a better mood before she got back to work was worth it.

---

While tasks varied amongst the clan, none were spared from the hubbub of the invasion's lead up. For instance, Fendros took on a broad administrative burden as Meesei's second. Every day had him travelling to five different corners of the cavern to act on reports and help direct decisions to plan out the camp supply and infrastructure. It was not a lonely job with the quartermasters and the rest of the council alongside him, but coordinating even between that many leaders was a mentally taxing proposition.

Elsewhere, Sabine was caught between three tugging responsibilities; directing alchemical production with Marcaille, working with Dwemer scholars to ensure the cavern would have enough ventilation for the sheer number of creatures it would soon house, and keeping Hal-Neesa happy during her project. She learnt overwhelming details of how Dwemer technology worked by the day. Too often she would be forced to switch between each task at a moment's notice, driving her to stress by the end of the day. The support of Karl, her pack, and her friends was invaluable, especially when memories of her capture left her momentarily incapable. She was present for consulting the enchantment of the portal at times but could not commit herself to it fully.

Narsi's attitude swiftly grew milder since her befriending Julan and Rhazii. For once, Julan did not have the hottest temper in the pack. Although, now Narsi appeared enthusiastic to turn up to training, and in it she proved to be an intuitive and unpredictable fighter, making up for her relative lack of strength and size with novel ways to misdirect and sneak in rapid strikes. She was still young and easy to rile up, of course. Her attitude towards Lorag remained resentful, if compliant.

Rossarm, Fendros' father, was something of an enigma to everyone save for Meesei. He was finally convinced to size up a formation of Dunmer mages, and by the end of the day had deemed almost half of them 'unfit' for battle with Daedra. Strangely enough, his tough love only attracted passing resentment by the Dunmer he criticised, such was the impression he made when putting Hal-Neesa on the back foot. This was tested when he started trialling other mer for his formation, and then humans, and then even one Khajiit mage. His standards were brutal, but some non-Dunmer made the cut. The Khajiit did not. Whether his bar for entry or his prejudice were stronger factors, it was hard to tell. What was certain was his formation was now one of the most strongly drilled, and most dangerous, magical unit in the lycan army. Rossarm ran a tight ship and commanded with a powerful presence, but his interactions with other officers did not go beyond official meetings. He remained antisocial, even coming off as emotionless. Fendros and Rossarm avoided each other deliberately and easily.

---

On the walk to the forge, Fendros was somewhat less chipper than Ahnasha. "Well, whatever it is, it must be important," he said. "I'm told there's a labour foreman waiting on confirmation for the area he's supposed to clear for the Legion's south-western tent ranks and knowing him he won't take initiative. I feel like every day half my job is preventing set-backs."

"I am glad for the brief distraction," Sabine added. "I do not get to see the forges very often. Karl says they are a marvellous apparatus."

Janius shrugged. "Maybe they've made a set of weapons for us? Or they want to take our measurements for new armour. That would be a nice surprise."

Narsi nudged Rhazii's arm. "Do your pack just get gifts like this often?"

"Not really," Rhazii said with a shake of his head. "They get good equipment to begin with but its usually them asking for it or trading for it. I hope they get something made of ebony metal. Those are really pretty and stronger than just about anything short of...legendary stuff, I don't know."

"Did we at least get any hints, Meesei?" Janius asked. "The suspense is killing me."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei grinned back at Janius. "Oh, no, I got the feeling that he was being quite intentionally vague. He wants this to be a surprise. But, I agree with Ahnasha's assessment. He would not have requested all of us if it did not pertain to all of us. He did only take the title of forgemaster a few months ago, so perhaps he is wanting to impress? To forge us his mastercraft works."

Even out in the hallways, it was quite obvious they were nearing the smithy. They had gone through great effort to make sure the place was well-ventilated, but that did not stop the heat from the many forges from filling the relatively tight space. Anyone who could sweat was probably doing so by the time they were in the smithy. At this point, the forges were in use almost constantly through the day and night, thanks to the blacksmiths that had been brought in from other clans to assist with invasion preparations. Dwemer metal from all around the cavern was constantly being salvaged, melted down, and forged into new weapons and armor for their warriors. Their armories were practically overflowing, with still more equipment on the way.

The largest smithy was a long room with a tall ceiling, yet still managed to feel as crowded as it was hot. Forges and smelters lined the walls all the way to the end of the chamber. They were built in the Nordic style, but their design had been modified to connect to the Dwemer steam pipes that ran along the walls. The rest of the room felt like a sort of ordered chaos, at least to an outsider. Meesei could not spot any obvious order to the carts of Dwemer scraps moving to and from the smelters, tables of scattered tools, and piles of coal, but clearly, the blacksmiths themselves had their own systems they were familiar with.

It did not take long after Meesei's pack stepped into the smithy for the forgemaster himself to greet them. He had more than likely been waiting on them. Interestingly, the blacksmiths of the clan were almost more competitive than the warriors. The title of forgemaster had changed hands several times through the years, and it seemed like every few months there was another challenge among them to test their craftsmanship. Such competition was certainly suitable for servants of Hircine, but Meesei had a feeling that the situation would not likely be too different even if they were not lycans. The current forgemaster was a Nord man named Valgar Blue-Shield, who, on first glance, seemed to fit every description of a "typical Nord blacksmith" that one could make. He was a tall, rough-looking man who seemed to live with a permanent coat of soot on his hands. He was bald, but with a beard thick enough to be mistaken for a bird's nest.

"Champion, it's an honor to have you in my forge." Valgar greeted, respectfully bowing his head towards Meesei. Though, he had to practically shout thanks to the clanging of metal from the forges nearby.

"Indeed, and it is an honor to have such dedicated people here working to equip our warriors." Meesei replied. "I would ask for a more in-depth tour of your forge since the most recent renovations, but I am afraid my pack does not have a great deal of time to spare in times like this."

The forgemaster gave a quick nod. "Of course. Though I promise, you will not regret taking the time to see me. Still, I will try not to take up any more of your time than necessary. Champion, if you could please follow me, I have something that you will be quite interested to see. If your pack could please wait here, I promise it will not take long to...show you. Then, you will see why I have called you all here."

Meesei agreed and followed the forgemaster into one of the adjacent rooms, leaving the rest of the pack with just a short time to speculate.

[Muttonhawk]

The pack was left in a state of uncertainty.

Janius crossed his arms. "That's odd. He calls us all out here and then only shows Meesei?"

"He said it would not take long," Fendros reminded. "Maybe it's just something different."

Rhazii was looking around to Julan and Narsi with a wry smile. "Whatever's behind that door, I bet Meesei's going to be coming out carrying it, and it's going to be something amazing." He lowered one eyebrow. "Narsi, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Narsi shook her eyes away from the equipment under construction in the forges. "What'd you say?"

"Nevermind," Rhazii sighed.

Meanwhile, Janius pointed forward at the door. "You know what I think? I think he's finally made a full suit of armour Meesei's going to wear. I have no idea what it will look like, but that would be surprising enough for me to see."

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha nodded along with Janius. "You might be right. Actually...you know what, that had better be it, or something like it. Because if the forgemaster dragged us all down here for nothing, I might just have some anger to take out on him. I have, uh...something I need to be doing." She remarked, her voice rather suddenly becoming softer and more calm.

"Relax, the man ain't that stupid." Lorag remarked. He was not outwardly showing the kind of curiosity or anticipation as most of the others, though he did seem to have a keen interest in watching the nearest forge. "He wouldn't risk wasting the Champion's time, or ours. In case you've forgotten, we're in charge of this whole place, and he's...what? The third forgemaster we've had in the past two years? He'll make it worth our time."

It might not have been fair to say that the forgemaster had understated how long the pack would be waiting, with how vague he had been, but they did end up waiting more than just a minute or two. Still, it was not more than ten minutes later that the door finally opened, and what it revealed would likely overshadow any agitation that the wait may have caused.

Meesei led the way through the door, no longer in her Argonian form. Janius had been correct in his guess, though it was no normal suit of armor that the forgemaster had crafted. Meesei's werewolf form was now armored in a suit primarily crafted from what could only be the bones of a dragon. The bone plates covered the majority of her imposing form, though at the joints and at any gap in the armor, one could see chainmail that appeared to be made from pure ebony. It was hard to identify many of the bones on sight, as they had likely been grinded into more ergonomic shapes, but they fit together well-enough for her to retain most of her range of motion. This was not likely the first time that an armored suit had been made for a werewolf with particularly good control, but it would perhaps be a safe wager to say that none had ever been crafted of such fine materials. Even her claws were now tipped with the claws of a dragon. Of any type of armor that werewolf could wear, bone did seem like a fitting material, and the fact that said bone was stronger than any metal seemed fitting for the Champion of a Daedric Prince.

The helm of Meesei's armor looked to be made from at least a portion of one of the dragons' skulls and covered the majority of her head, which obscured Meesei's own reaction to the armor. However, the forgemaster himself wore his pride openly in his expression as he walked out alongside Meesei.

[Muttonhawk]

"Yeah, yeah," Janius admitted. "There air's just thick in here."

It was all they needed to stop complaining and wait patiently. Apart from Rhazii, who tapped his foot and sighed over and again.

Narsi spoke up to no one in particular after a while. "Momma told me orc girls have to learn how to smith." She had a neutral face. "Never could. Not enough gold. Do you think they would teach me here?" She turned to Julan and Rhazii.

"Sure," Rhazii responded immediately. "You'd just have to ask. And put the time and effort in. Training to fight's hard, but smithing always looks exhausting-"

The door they waited by creaked open. Everyone turned to look at it. The dull clink of mail was just loud enough over the sound of the forges.

Everyone took their time getting over the initial silent awe and pieced together what they were looking at.

As per usual, Janius had the first thing to say. "What manner of Daedra is this?" He laughed. "Surely you just stepped out of another world!"

"That's the bones," Rhazii realised. "It's dragon bones!"

"You look invincible, Meesei," Sabine remarked.

"Is this truly dragon bone, Blue-Shield?" Fendros asked with astonishment. "How long were you working on this? Is this from the bones we found here or the one Sabine slew?"

[EliteCommander]

The amazement among Meesei's pack served to quite substantially fuel the forgemaster's confidence. He practically radiated pride as he answered. "You'll be hard-pressed to find anything in Tamriel or beyond that could break through my masterwork. Dragon bone and ebony, all of it. The kind of materials that most smiths will never see in a lifetime, and what kind of forgemaster would I be if I didn't jump on the chance to work it. But, um, well..."

Valgar's demeanor rather suddenly lost its boastful pride and became far more reserved. He shifted in place and cleared his throat. "As much as I'd love to take credit for it all, though, I'm not the kind of scum to go back on his promises. Dragon bone is the hardest damned material I've ever had to figure out how to work with, and considering I can work with Daedric metal, that's saying something. No chance I would have figured it out in time without help. Since we've got those teleporters, though, I can work with experts from all over. Darka gra-Lumbash up in High Rock was the one to figure out the basics of how to reshape the bone without damaging it. I refined her process, made it practical. Taranor, down near Silvenar, figured out how to put the right size of holes in the bones reasonably quickly, so we could get the plates attached properly to the rest of the suit. His method is much faster than grinding would've been, else the suit would've taken most of a year to make. Don't get me wrong, I did forge this suit, but I want to give credit where credit is due."

Meesei lifted up her hand, staring down at the dragon claws. It felt strange to wear anything in this form, much less armor, but even as a mage, she could recognize the power of this armor. Not to mention the fact that she could not imagine any more intimidating beast than a dragon-plated werewolf. It could provide a boost to their warriors' morale to see her projecting such power. "The bones are heavy, but I hardly feel it in this form. This armor is magnificent. It would take some of my stronger spells to even damage these plates."

"Indeed. And with two dragon skeletons and a whole dragon's worth of scales to work with..." Valgar began, his gaze shifting over to the rest of the pack. "I'd say we could make a few more sets. And there is no one who deserves this more than our Champion's pack."

[Muttonhawk]

The pack exchanged glances. Whether overwhelmed with humility, excitement, or a mix of the two, they could not easily form a response.

Janius rubbed the back of his neck and defaulted to sarcasm. "I don't know. Making more of these masterpieces seems like it would reduce the legend somewhat."

"Forgemaster." Fendros virtually interrupted Janius. He was much more serious. "If you would make his armour for any reason, so be it. But, know that it is not politeness or the privilege that we would wear it, but the honour." He gestured to the others. "Foremost, we are a family, and we are honoured that you would help to protect our loved ones for the coming invasion."

In her usual way, Sabine expressed her gratitude more directly. She approached Valgar and held him in a tight hug. The act likely dirtied her dress but she paid no attention to it.

"..." Rhazii was still as his eyes glanced curiously between Fendros and Valgar. He brought a finger up to point at himself and Julan. "Can we have sets, too?" He asked half-seriously.

Fendros let out soft laugh, but the thought brought an abashed dark purple to his face. "Rhazii, I think it is best we talk about that later."

[EliteCommander]

Even with his prideful demeanor, one could perhaps see that Valgar was holding back a bit of laughter. "Eh, sorry kid. Materials this valuable have to be reserved for the best of our warriors."

Lorag huffed. "'Valuable' is right. I wonder how many houses you could buy with one of these suits?" He remarked, walking in a circle around Meesei as he admired the crafstmanship in the armor. Being that he had some experience in smithing himself, it gave him an even greater appreciation for the accomplishment. He personally had no idea how to even start working with something like dragon bone, but he had never been a "master" blacksmith. "So we can all get suits just like this one, then?"

"Yes. Or to whatever specifications you want." Valgar answered. "I was confident that you would benefit from armor in your beast form, Champion, due to your abilities. But for each of you, I can, of course, craft the armor to suit each of your specific needs. This is heavy, dragon bone armor that can stand against anything short of siege weaponry, but dragon scales, on the other hand, are lighter and tougher than any other light armor you could find. Even for those of you not used to wearing armor, I would say that dragonscale armor would be worth wearing for you. I can make the armor for your normal or lycan forms, though...not both. It's hard to say exactly how much armor we can make with what we have, but you'll definitely need to pick one or the other."

"And since this armor will probably take time to make, that means you all will need to decide soon what form you intend to take for the invasion." Meesei added.

[Muttonhawk]

Rhazii's shoulders dropped and he poked out his lower lip. He had expected an answer like that.

"As useful as the flexibility of fighting in the line and having magic at my disposal is," Janius said. "I think raw physical power will be most helpful against the likes of a Daedric horde. I'll learn to wear dragon bones in beast form."

Fendros and Sabine turned their eyes to Janius with some surprise at his quick decision.

He eyed them back for a moment, and then shrugged. "Okay, I will admit, I am slightly biased by the prospect of looking as formidable as Meesei here."

"Are you sure you want to treat the decision so lightly?" Fendros asked.

"I will wear the scales," Sabine spoke over them both, addressing Valgar confidently. "Just for my Breton form. If it is as light as you say. And if we have time to enchant it to help us."

Fendros looked to Sabine now. He felt like the only one who was conflicted.