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

[Muttonhawk]

While they waited, Fendros decided to try and occupy himself by trying to work some leather and hide into a vest to keep him warm for whenever the weather would turn. Time went a bit faster than he noticed, and before he could make something serviceable he was approached by Ahnasha. He pursed his lips and nodded as she spoke, Fendros was thinking the same thing for a while, which was why he was trying to distract himself, but being reminded by a clearly distressed Ahnasha brought his worries full circle. "Right, yes," Fendros got up from where he sat, leaving behind his half-finished garment, and turned to face the greater part of the camp, "uh, Janius, Lorag, Runt... Could you help us to search for Meesei? She's been gone for a while."

Janius stood up from where he was and looked over to Ahnasha and Fendros with a mix of determination and sympathy, "Quite, I know she can take care of herself, but that brandy may have caused her to do some strange things."

Runt looked up from her grinding stone and nodded silently, taking off her cloak for a moment to shoulder a bag, presumably full of alchemical details, then wrapping her cloak around her once again. Janius equipped himself with his axe and shield and stood ready, "We could start by the river, I think that's the direction she went last I saw her." he said.

Fendros took a moment to fasten his scabbard and sword around his waist and pick up his shield. "How's Lorag feeling?" Fendros asked everyone.

[EliteCommander]

"Don't worry, don't worry, I can still help. Let's just hurry and find her so I can get back to not doing anything." Lorag said, grabbing his warhammer. He was not wearing his armor, but he had a leather strap tied across his torso from which he could hang the weapon.

Ahnasha only used bound weapons, so she decided to write a quick note and leave it by the campfire, just in case Meesei returned while they were away. Once they were, the group headed out toward the nearby river and easily picked up on at least the beginning of her trail. Janius spotted her footprints leading into the water. There was no matching set on the other side, so the group split up for a moment to search up and down both banks of the river for a short distance to see if she had exited at any point nearby. Unfortunately, there was not a hint of where she had gone, either with her scent, or by physical evidence.

The group reformed by the shore to figure out what to do next. There was no evidence she had exited the water nearby, but that didn't mean she couldn't have exited farther away. "Looks like she decided to go for a swim. No surprise there. Way I see it, she could either be upstream, or downstream. Don't know why she wouldn't be back yet, though. Maybe she is still out cold or something?" Lorag observed.

"Perhaps we should split up? One group can go upstream, and the other downstream. We should be able to find where she exited the water or, if we're lucky, find her swimming around." Ahnasha suggested.

---

Meesei's nose had finally started to somewhat ignore her own scent, but the bugs flying around her were a constant reminder that it was definitely still there. She followed her own trail for a while until it did something rather strange. She had expected it to go into the river at some point, at which point she would swim until she found it again, but instead, it actually moved away from the river to the left at nearly a right angle near the base of a large tree. At first, she thought that perhaps she had wandered into the woods for a while, then came back to the river, but after following the trail for a while, she realized that it was heading straight off into the woods and would likely not intersect the river she had been following again. If she was concerned before, she was starting to become seriously worried now. There were a few rivers in the area, and from what it seemed, the river she had woken up in what not actually the river that flowed by camp. This meant she had gone quite a long way from camp, and the longer her trail, the more likely it was that it would be interrupted at some point. It was highly unlikely that she would be separated from her pack permanently, but there was a very real possibility she could be lost for a few days, as accidentally heading off in the wrong direction would serve to increase the distance between herself and her pack. Letting out a deep breath, she continued on, hoping that wouldn't be the case.

[Muttonhawk]

"Okay, I'll go upstream, who wants to go downstream?" Fendros asked. He didn't know the tracking skills of any of the pack, but he assumed that they were all adept enough to help. Before anyone gave a response, Sabine took off her cloak and her bag and quaffed down a skin that she had in her hand. She waited a moment, then shaded her eyes from the sunlight with her hands and waded into the water, diving in after a few steps. They all stood for a few moments, Fendros wondering why exactly she had picked this time of any to go for a swim, but a few moments later she surfaced and made her way back to the shore, shaking herself off and robing herself in her bag and cloak again. "Not on the riverbed here," Sabine said.

"Good, I'll head downstream," Janius said. Sabine seemed to follow him, leaving wet footsteps.

[EliteCommander]

"I'll go with you." Ahnasha responded, looking at Fendros. After Runt checked the riverbed, Lorag looked around for a moment before making a decision on which way to go.

"I guess I will go with them. Janius' tracking skills are just a few steps above a blind man, so they'll need my help." Lorag said, which was immediately followed by a disagreeing huff from Janius. The Orc left with Janius and Runt to go downstream, while Ahnasha and Fendros went upstream. Before they began, Ahnasha waded across to the other side of the river so that each of them could check one side in detail.

"Alright, just keep an eye out for any Argonian footprints or her scent. If you see something out of the ordinary and are not sure what it is, just ask me and I'll take a look." She explained as they began to walk. Fortunately, the water was a bit shallower upstream, so Ahnasha could see all the way to the bottom of the river, just in case Meesei was still in the water. She also made sure to keep looking over to Fendros' side, just in case he missed something. The pair did not talk much as they walked, since they needed to concentrate on the task at hand. It seemed like they were walking for quite a while, though Ahnasha could hardly keep track of the time when she was investigating every strange scent. She knew the odds of her encounter with Fendros actually producing anything were low, even without Meesei, so she could rationalize that fear away, but she was still concerned about Meesei. She had no doubt their Alpha could handle any creature or bandit under normal circumstances, but what about while intoxicated? She was legitimately worried that something may have happened to her.

After what felt like an hour, Ahnasha nearly cried out in joy when she caught a familiar scent. It broke away on her side of the river off into the forest, and it lead to an unmistakable set of clawed footprints. "Fendros, I think I have something!" She shouted, the excitement obvious in her voice. "It seems she went off into the forest over here; I think we might actually be able to find her."

[Muttonhawk]

As Fendros walked and kept his eyes scanning the ground and trying to detect any scent other than water or forest, he began to think what exactly would happen if the improbable happened and he would become a father. It was all completely alien to him, the circumstances especially. There were no nannies out here in the wilds like the ones that took care of him and his siblings. No cots, no source of cows milk. Would the children be born werewolves as well? Would he even know how to raise them? So much flew through his mind that he had to work hard to focus on spotting anything.

A cry from Ahnasha on the other side of the river caused Fendros to snap out of it and look over to her. She had found what appeared to be Meesei's footprints. Fendros exhaled and realised how tight his shoulders had become with the stress. He swam to the other side and joined up with Ahnasha by the footprints, careful to remove his sword and hold it above the surface as he crossed. "These smell about right," Fendros said after a moment, "Let's follow them."

As they proceeded away from the river, Fendros was mostly quiet as his thoughts became anxious again. After a moment, he addressed Ahnasha, "So... have you had this problem before? I mean, not having Meesei around after... laying with someone."

[EliteCommander]

"No, I haven't. This is actually a fairly improbable situation, especially considering Meesei cannot usually drink with us. I know the impression I have given you so far might not have suggested it, but...encounters like that are pretty rare to me." Ahnasha answered, still keeping her eyes on the ground and her nose on alert.

"I suppose it might be best to explain to you how relationships work in the pack. Essentially...they are exactly the same as you are used to. While there is a lot different in our pack from your Imperial culture, that is pretty much the same. None of us have any long term or committed relationships at the moment, to my knowledge. We all get along like family, but I don't think of any of them in any real romantic way. Casual encounters do happen occasionally, but not too often. No more than you probably are used to. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it. The odds of anything coming of this are pretty slim. I'm more concerned with finding Meesei; she could be hurt." She said, her voice showing her concern.

Ahnasha took the lead in following Meesei's trail, as she had much more tracking experience than Fendros. It was easy at first, but the evidence of her presence grew more scarce as they went along, until eventually it stopped near a tall tree. Meesei was obviously nowhere in sight, so they looked around in a decent radius around the tree to see if they could pick up the trail once more. Unfortunately, it seemed to vanish with no explanation. As they were walking back to the tree, Ahnasha looked around, frustrated. "Come on, where could she have gone now? Did she climb the tree or something." Ahnasha commented, honestly wondering if she had.

[Muttonhawk]

"Right," Fendros said, focusing back on the tracks, for as well as he could follow them. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even consider that Meesei could be in danger, she seemed powerful enough to face anything. Ahnasha was right, considering she doesn't get intoxicated so easily, anything could have happened. As they proceeded, Fendros lost the track a number of times, only for Ahnasha to find it again. He hoped that his inexperience wasn't proving to be an encumbrance.

They ran into a serious problem at the base of a tree where the trail stopped, nowhere were they to be found. Ahnasha's frustrated suggestion that she might have climbed the tree honestly seemed like the only remaining plausible option. "Short of disappearing from Mundus altogether," Fendros added, "there's only one way to find out." Fendros jumped up and grabbed onto a thick branch above him, pulling himself up and reaching for the next branch above the tracks. He had a feeling Ahnasha would be more suited to the task, but he wanted to feel like he was helping.

The scents on the branches were faint, sometimes supplemented by small scratches on the bark. There was apparent evidence that Meesei had indeed climbed up the tree. He carefully followed the branches until there was no trail, except down a particular branch that led to a good holding on another tree. Oh for... really? Fendros edged out on said branch as far as there were handholds, then cursed as he realised he would have to balance and run to retrace Meesei's steps. He looked down, then immediately leveled his head. He was at least six metres off the ground, but it looked like more. Looking at his target once more, he heavily breathed in, then made a break for the next tree along his branch. Every running step, the branch thinned and drooped until Fendros jumped with his hands outstretched. The branch that Meesei would probably have landed upon gracefully was a branch that Fendros slipped his feet on, causing him to scramble for handholds. His arms stopped his fall as they landed on the target branch, causing Fendros become winded and scramble his arms until he had a good hold. He found his hold and winced at the scratches that the bark put on his chest and arms. He was able to pull himself up after a moment and catch his breath. Looking around, there were no immediate signs that the trail continued.

Fendros hung his head in disappointment, but his eyes grew wide as he noticed something on the ground below that he didn't initially notice while he was down there. Large footprints. Two toed. "Ahnasha... I think I found the trail," Fendros said in a very unsure tone. The footprints started out narrowly spaced, but immediately ran off in a straight line from right below where Fendros was sitting on his branch. Fendros had heard of riding horses to break them, but trolls? Surely not, no one in their right mind would try to ride a troll. However, they weren't exactly tracking someone in their right mind.

[EliteCommander]

"I...guess it's better than nothing." Ahnasha said, examining the tracks. She had a hard time believing that Meesei, even while drunk, would have done what Fendros was suggesting, but they were out of options at this point. Once Fendros climbed down, they followed the troll's path through the forest, which was thankfully rather easy to keep up with. The rather heavy creature made deep, distinct tracks and an easy to recognize scent. The trail went on for quite a while, and Ahnasha was worried that they were following a path Meesei had never been on. The strength of the troll's scent would obscure Meesei's, so they would have to follow it to its end to even know if she had been there.

Eventually, they came across the corpse of the troll they had been following. Ahnasha could immediately tell that its hide had been charred by fire, which certainly gave her hope that it had been Meesei who killed it. Sure enough, after searching the area for a few moments, she spotted a single Argonian footprint and once again picked up on Meesei's scent. They were growing closer to finding her, but it had been a few hours already, and it was not going to become any easier. Meesei's path quickly became more erratic as they followed it. She went off in seemingly random directions, only to turn around, then head off in a different one. Ahnasha and Fendros were constantly having to double back on themselves to reacquire her trail, then follow it in a different direction. While they never lost the trail completely, they ended up wasting a lot of time on dead ends. Ahnasha was growing more worried about how much time was passing; it seemed like half the day had already gone by.

After a while, Ahnasha caught a strange scent in the air. It was not Meesei's, but rather something different...and terrible. It only grew stronger as they followed Meesei's trail until they came to its source: an unassuming patch of ground near a fallen log. Nothing seemed special about it other than the fact that it smelled like a rotting corpse mixed with honey. Ahnasha held her nose as she drew closer, not particularly wanting to take in any more of the offensive scent. When she knelt down beside the log, she noticed a thin, clear film of some sort of sticky looking substance coating the ground. There was absolutely no indication of what it was or how it got there, but one of Meesei's footprints was located directly in the middle of it.

"Well, this is...wonderful.." Ahnasha commented, coughing as she spoke.

[Muttonhawk]

Finding footprints near the dead troll was reassuring for them both, and and interesting sight for Fendros, who had not seen a troll that close up before. Continuing on with the meandering tracks was difficult, but there next clue might be a help, if a rancid one.

"Well, on the bright side," Fendros said, standing behind Ahnasha trying not to breath in too heavily through his nose, "if it's Meesei who stepped in this, her trail is going to be easier to find for a while... whatever this stuff is." Detecting a sickly sweet taste in the air, Fendros paused for a moment and knelt down closer to the film on the log, "is that... honey? The last time I smelled a blend like that was when my brother disgraced himself by the town wall one night. It was a mead night." Fendros looked to Ahnasha, "I hope this isn't Meesei's bile, she might have been driven to sickness with all that walking... and troll riding."

Fendros stood up, relieving his nose of the brunt of the terrible scent, and started moving on. The search was taking a long time. Fendros wasn't quite sure what they should expect to find, but Ahnasha's anxiety was rubbing off on him.

[EliteCommander]

"No, I have no idea what this is, but I don't think that's it. Honestly, this smells much worse." Ahnasha said, standing up and taking a few steps back. "At any rate, you're right. This should make it easier, if a bit less pleasant, to track her. They found some indication of which direction she had gone, then followed along. The scent of the strange substance was overpowering at first, but as they distanced themselves from its source, it became easier to track by smell. The leftover residue on her trail did not have an overwhelmingly strong scent anymore, but it was certainly distinct. Unfortunately, her trail was just as convoluted as before, so it took quite a while for them to find the right paths.

After about another half hour, Ahnasha picked up on the foul scent a bit stronger, and this time it wasn't coming from residue on the ground, it seemed to be on the wind. The implications of what that meant immediately excited her. She glanced over to Fendros, a grin forming on her face. "Hold on, smell that? I think that might just be her."

[Muttonhawk]

At first, Fendros didn't pick up on what Ahnasha had detected, but it hit his senses fairly quickly after she mentioned it. When he did, he returned her grin, the were very close to finding her now. "On the wind?" Fendros asked rhetorically. He wet his index finger with his saliva and tried to discern the general direction that the smell was coming from, as he would normally do to check wind direction while hunting deer.

Once he had a rough idea, Fendros did what he would normally do when trying to find someone nearby. He cupped his hands together and shouted through them, "MEEESEEEEI!" His voice went a tone down on the second syllable, as was stereotypical of calling after someone, "WHERE ARE YOU?!" Fendros raised his eyebrows and nodded to Ahnasha, encouraging her to shout as well. The more voices Meesei heard, the more likely she would be to recognise one of them.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei had been following her trail for a while, and she had no idea what she had been doing the previous night. She seemed to have ran all over the forest in random directions. At the very least her memory from the celebration the previous day was starting to come back. She did remember having a good time drinking with the others...not that she would want to repeat it. After this experience, she wouldn't want to drink again for quite a long time.

Eventually, Meesei heard a voice shout out her name surprisingly close to her, something that surprised and excited her all at the same time. She ran in the direction of the voice, taking only a few minutes to reach the source. The moment she saw Fendros and Ahnasha wandering through the forest searching for her, she breathed a sigh of relief. "By the Bloodmoon, it is good to see you two." She said as she approached the pair.

"Meesei! I couldn't agree more, oh...ah." Ahnasha began, nearly running up to hug the Argonian before smelling the intense, foul scent that was emanating from her. It was even stronger on her than back at the fallen log. "You, uh, you have a rather...terrible scent about you, and..." Ahnasha walked around so she could see behind Meesei. "...you have feathers stuck to your back."

"I...didn't know about that, but I am acutely aware of the smell. And no, I have no idea what this stuff is. It won't wash off in water, so I think I will need Sabine's help with it. You do know the way back to camp, correct?" Meesei asked, slightly worried that they might be lost as well. After all, they had all been drinking last night.

"Yes, but...there is something I need you to do before we go back." Ahnasha responded, rubbing her hands together awkwardly. "You remember how myself and Fendros were getting...close last night?"

Meesei scratched her head as she tried to recall the specifics of the previous night. "Yeah, you were all over him." She said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Well, that ended up going to its inevitable conclusion. I would like you to make sure nothing comes of it, if you could?" She asked.

"Of course." Meesei said, sitting down and motioning for Ahnasha to lay down beside her. The Khajiit complied, lying down next to Meesei despite the putrid smell coming from her. Meesei placed her hands on Ahnasha's stomach and began to charge restoration energy through her, closing her eyes and tuning herself to the energy of her body. Before she could do anything, Meesei had to examine her to see what state she was in, or if anything had already happened. She was silent for a few minutes, focusing completely on Ahnasha's life force. It was rather subtle variations in her energy she was looking for, so it took a good deal of concentration for her to properly examine her. Ahnasha found herself nearly sweating from the anticipation, but she said nothing so as not to interrupt Meesei's concentration. Eventually, she removed her hands from the Khajiit's stomach and looked down at her.

"Ahnasha...you're pregnant." Meesei said, her tone displaying none of her emotions.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros would have openly admitted that he was nervous while Ahnasha was being examined. The episode seemed to take ages. It ended with what he had desperately did not want to hear.

"Ahnasha...you're pregnant."

Meesei's words caused an what felt like an apple to well up in his chest. He just stood for a moment in silence, staring at Ahnasha's stomach. He tried to breathe, but no matter how deeply he inhaled he could not calm his heart. This wasn't supposed to happen. This kind of thing doesn't happen. He had no idea what to do and it made him feel helpless. All he could think to do was slowly sit down by Ahnasha and Meesei and squeeze his fist with his other hand. His mind raced like a panicked mess in lieu of thinking. This was not something he had planned on, it was something he could have avoided.

Facing them both, he opened his mouth to speak, "I..." He took in another shaky breath, his shoulders hunched, "I suppose that's that then..." Fendros turned his face to one side, avoiding looking at them directly, "I'm... I'm sorry." He didn't really have anything else that he could think to say. For Dunmer, having children was meant to be a joyous affair, it being so rare, but this only overwhelmed Fendros. He was too young for this, for an elf. He felt as though he had completely lost control and now his fate was sealed. His expression showed a mix of sadness and overwhelmed surprise.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha was just as speechless as Fendros, and in an equal state of shock. She could hardly fathom what this would mean for her and the rest of the pack; it wasn't something that was supposed to happen. This wasn't something she had feared before because she knew they had ways to prevent it, both before and after the event. She could never had anticipated that events would spiral out of control like this; it was all so improbable. And yet...it happened. Soon enough, everything was going to change.

"I...I don't...I don't know what to say. This is just so...how did this happen?" Ahnasha said, not expecting an answer.

Meesei sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I am never going to drink again." She mumbled. Although this development most directly affected Ahnasha and Fendros, it would greatly impact the rest of the pack as well. Not only would Ahnasha become unavailable for more strenuous activity in a few months, but it would give additional responsibilities to the rest of the pack as well. As they all lived for one another, they would all help to raise the child. None of them would even think of avoiding that responsibility.

"I...still could do something about it. I have the capability to end it, but at that point, I would not be stopping a pregnancy from happening, I would be ending one in progress." Meesei said, her tone low and solemn. If she knew Ahnasha as well as she thought she did, she doubted the Khajiit would take that option, but she had to at least mention it.

Ahnasha was silent for to her what seemed like hours, though it was in reality only a minute or so. She muddled over her options in her mind, though none of them seemed appealing. "I don't think I could do that." She finally said.

[Muttonhawk]

While Meesei described the option of cutting the pregnancy short, Fendros pinched the bridge of his nose. It was an escape, but not something he could bring himself to allow to happen. He had nothing to add to Ahnasha's decision.

They sat in silence for another long while.

In trying to find comfort for himself, as well as Ahnasha, Fendros reached out and took her hand, lifting it up and bringing his other hand to hold it as well. "Ahna," Fendros looked to her, "this wasn't a... planned thing." Fendros tried to find the right words, "but, know that... know that you won't be alone." Fendros looked down at her stomach, "it's as much mine as yours, now." Fendros tried to hold back tears, "I'm not the type to run away." Fendros looked at her again, with another pause, "from what I've learned about you, you don't run either."

[EliteCommander]

"Thank you." Ahnasha said, her tone quiet, but sincere. It was still all a lot to take in at once, and any comfort she could get was not something she would pass up.

"Neither of you will be alone." Meesei said in a firm, supportive voice. "As I said before, we are family. Your challenges are our challenges, your issues our issues. We will all help to bear the burden...and reap the rewards." She said, trying to remind them that the situation wasn't completely negative. Ahnasha already knew this, but it wouldn't hurt for her to hear it again.

Ahnasha let out a deep breath and nodded. "You're right, and I guess it will be a while before we really start seeing the effects of this. We should probably head back, tell the others we found you, and get you cleaned up....especially the last one." She said with somewhat of a forced chuckle at the end. Before standing up, she looked over to Fendros, giving him a smile and gripping his hand tighter for a moment before letting go. She was grateful to have his support in all of this.

[Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha's smile was somewhat of a comfort, as was Meesei's assurance that the entire pack would help. Bringing about the decision to get moving again also released some tension. It was something else to think about for a while.

They all proceeded back towards the camp, thankfully their sense of direction was not completely gone. They were all still in a mostly solemn mood for the most part, but with some time, the effects dwindled to the point where Fendros satisfied his mind to take the new situation as it came. With that, other things came back to Fendros' mind, namely what they witnessed on the way out here.

"Uh, Meesei." Fendros started, rubbing the back of his neck, "how much do you remember about last night? We ran into tracks which looked like you... tried to ride a troll for a while." Fendros' voice harboured as much concern as it did curiosity. He had a feeling that it would be something to laugh about later, but he wasn't in the mood right then and there.

[EliteCommander]

"I have absolutely no idea." Meesei answered honestly. "I awoke at the bottom of a river. At first I thought it was the river that ran by camp, but that was clearly wrong. I have no idea why I came out this far, or what this stuff is I am covered in. Whatever it is, it makes animals act very strangely, and it will not wash off in water. I may end up having to replace these clothes; the scent attracts a lot of attention from anything with a decent sense of smell. As for the troll, well, I don't think I should be surprised by anything at this point."

It was not taking nearly as long for them to get back as it did for them to follow her trail, so they reached the river which passed by camp after a short time. As they did, the trio spotted a small group approaching along the river in the distance. As they neared the group, they saw that it was Lorag, Runt, and Jannius, who had evidently decided to turn around at some point.

"Hah! Look what the cat dragged in...literally." Lorag shouted once he was close enough, simultaneously greeting Meesei and poking fun at Ahnasha. "Did you have fun...out...by the...what on Nirn is that smell? It's like a bear died raiding a bee's nest."

"Good to see you too, Lorag. I know about the smell, but I couldn't wash it off in water. Sabine, if you could mix up some troll fat for me to use once we get back, that would be helpful." Meesei said, to which Sabine nodded in response. Ahnasha kept up a grin as she listened to the exchange, but she did not say anything for the moment. She knew she would have to tell the others, but really did not know how to go about bringing it up.

[Muttonhawk]

"So what exactly transpired in tracking down our tipsy alpha?" Janius inquired.

Fendros hesitated, his mind immediately going back to Ahnasha. After an awkward pause, he laughed uneasily, "well, let's see... we eventually found her tracks. She had obviously been meandering around a lot, it was difficult. At one point we had to follow troll tracks for a bit." Fendros shot a glance over to Ahnasha, unsure.

Janius looked at Fendros sideways skeptically, "wait, troll tracks?"

"Yeah, from what we found, we think she jumped on top of one from a tree and held onto it for a ways while it ran. We found its charred body further down." Fendros curled his lips, "come on, let's get some food. None of us have had any lunch yet." Fendros said, postponing the situation.

"Alright," Janius agreed with a laugh, "Meesei, how on Nirn did you get that smell on you? Did you share the rest of your drink with a bear family or something?"

Fendros sighed through his nose as he turned to get himself some meat to cook. He doubted he was guileful about the situation, not that he would be able to keep that up for long. He considered pulling Ahnasha to one side to consult her about what to say, but he decided to wait until after a meal. He could hardly think.

[EliteCommander]

"Like I said, I have no idea. I just want to get it off." Meesei responded. It did not take long for the group to finally make it back to camp, as their pace was not restricted as it was before. Meesei stood by and waited for Sabine to prepare the troll fat, while the rest of the group sat down for some much-needed dinner. They had already spent most of the day searching for Meesei, and most of them had not eaten since breakfast. Meesei had not eaten at all, but she was more concerned with cleaning herself off than anything else.

As usual, Janius started a fire to cook up his meal, as well as one for Fendros, while Ahnasha and Lorag ate theirs raw. Janius and Lorag talked back and forth for a while, but Ahnasha and Fendros were, quite understandably, rather silent. Eventually, Lorag took notice of their odd behavior, or at least it was odd for Ahnasha. She could rarely bring herself to stay out of group conversations, so it was easy for Lorag to tell something was off. "Hey, what's wrong with you two? Haven't heard a word from you since we got back."

Meesei has just got a bowl of troll fat from Sabine when she heard Lorag's question. She stopped near the fire and looked over the group. Both Ahnasha and Fendros were obviously uncomfortable, and with good reason. It was an uncomfortable situation, and she understood if they did not know how to go about breaking the news. After a few moments of silent deliberation, Meesei decided to make it easy on them, and hoped they would see it as a favor. "Ahnasha is pregnant." Meesei explained simply, hoping that Ahnasha and Fendros wouldn't be offended.

Lorag shifted awkwardly. "Oh...huh." He said with some hesitation. It was truly rare to see Lorag in such a speechless state, but it seemed this was one of those moments.