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

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth had never heard of the kinds of creations that Ariel described, though by the way the others acted, neither had they. For someone just to create something entirely new like that seemed almost unbelievable, but by the way the others had described Ariel, she was an intelligent and inventive person. Kaleeth wondered what it would be like to have such a mind, one that could easily go beyond what others taught her to find something entirely new. It was the same with Meesei and her magic, but it was not a skill that Kaleeth had never seemed to possess. There had been a point early in her life where she tried coming up with new ways of hunting, but after a few, admittedly severe, failures, and some scolding from her father, she decided it was best to just do whatever he told her. Honestly, she had been afraid to come up with new strategies ever since.

Kaleeth shook her head. "Oh no...well, the Treeminder tried. All of the hatchlings were tested to see if we were good with magic, but I was not. There were a lot of things I wasn't good at, but I was not bad with throwing spears, so father decided to make me a hunter. I couldn't use a bow that well, but there was something about throwing spears that just made sense to me. I couldn't throw them that hard, but I always seemed to hit the right spots. Of course, now, with all my, um, training, I could probably throw one through one of these walls." Kaleeth commented. Prior to joining the pack, the weapon she had been most experienced with was the spear. She could have picked up training with it again, but none of the others in the pack had special training with it, apart from Lorag. However, during her less emotionally stable phase after becoming a lycan, she had only been comfortable with training with Janius. Plus, her skill with spears mostly only applied to throwing them, which was fine for hunting, but for fighting other people, she did not think it was a good idea to throw her primary weapon.

It was not long before Rukeewei was finally able to let his brother take over and end his shift, after which he immediately made his way over to the others in the corner. The meat was starting to come close to cooked, and the crowd of patrons had thinned out substantially. He noticed that the others were in the middle of talking when he approached, so he simply said hello once more as he sat down beside Ariel, this time giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

[Muttonhawk]

Janius gave a small laugh at Kaleeth's boast, not out of mockery, but of wanting to witness such a thing. "I can confirm this. We can spare the walls," Janius said.

"That is most impressive, Kaleeth. It sounds as if your form-" Ariel spotted Rukeewei in the corner of her eye and interrupted herself to receive his kiss, "Hello again, Rukee." Fendros, Janius and Sabine each gave either a hello or a wave to Rukeewei as well. All of a sudden, Ariel realised that she had to be a little more discrete in talking about lycanthropy. The previous topic that she was going to delve into was not appropriate anymore. Luckily, a good escape came in the smells in the air. "I think I'll serve us our dinner," was all she said before rising from her seat and plating up the various cuts of meat that the pack had brought along.

While this was happening, Fendros decided to look up and engage Rukeewei again. "So, Rukeewei, how had business been since we last saw you?"

[EliteCommander]

"It hasn't been too different from last year." Rukeewei answered as Ariel stood up. "My second place spot in the competition did gain me a few new regulars, so I made a bit more this year than the last. I still aim to win that competition, though. That could really propel my business forward. I am looking forward to the next festival; the batch I have fermenting for this next year is going to be special. It's being made from a combination of a local berry, and a sort of root from Morrowind. It is meant to make it nice and crisp. It is also going to be a bit of an experiment. I asked Ariel to add just a bit of alchemy in the brew. From the way I understand it, it will have that same calming sensation as a healing potion, but with a much less bland taste. I have never tried adding magic to wine before, but it might be enough to impress the judges."

"Hmm, magic wine. Thinking about it, that makes sense." Ahnasha began. "Alchemy seems to be able to create just as wide of a range of effects as magic itself, so I don't see why you can't do the same thing with food? Have flavors that disappear or change as you are eating, or maybe something related to illusion that just makes you think it is the greatest taste on Nirn? If it works out, you might be able to bring an entirely new product into town." She suggested before glancing to Sabine. "Maybe it is something you could try if you ever have the spare ingredients?"

[Muttonhawk]

Looking up at Ahnasha, Sabine paused with a face that considered the possibility. "Maybe, but I don't know how to make wine," Sabine said quietly.

By then Ariel returned with the first couple of plates in her hands, each sporting a steaming cut of meat. One appeared to be boar, while the other was some crocodile tail. She placed them on the table arbitrarily, knowing that they would be passed around as she brought more out. "To be honest, Sabine, I wasn't completely clear on wine making either, until Rukeewei explained its intricacies to me. The trouble came from trying to find a nice effect that wouldn't interfere with the flavour too much. You might find a few ingredients that you can simply add to the mix, Sabine."

Safe in the knowledge that Sabine may not have to actually make the wine herself, she gave a small smile in new confidence.

Once Ariel passed out another couple of plates, she leaned down to Rukeewei's shoulder. "Speaking of which, Rukee dear, should we open some wine to have with our meal?"

Fendros was interested to hear of alchemy being used, but a part of him remained slightly unconvinced. "Is that legal for competition wine?" Fendros asked.

[EliteCommander]

"Oh, yes, right. I nearly forgot." Rukeewei answered to Ariel. As he was standing up, he heard Fendros' question. "Sure. All the judges want is quality wine; they don't particularly care how it is made. The point of he competition is to, oh what is the line they use? 'To serve as the center of culture and quality in all of Tamriel,' or something like that. I have seen some fairly unconventional wines in the competition before. I have heard some people, particularly from parts of Cyrodiil like...Skingrad, I think, who say that it isn't 'pure,' but they seem to have a lot longer of a history with wine than we do. Wine is an...imported tradition for Argonians."

As the plates were being passed around, Rukeewei took a cut of crocodile tail and set it on the table in front of his chair. "I will go get the drinks. What is everyone's preference?" He asked.

"Mead, if you got it." Lorag answered before anyone else could even let out a breath. "That talk of Skyrim's got me thinking about it."

It had been quite a while since Ahnasha had been able to drink, and she had no actually thought about the fact that she would be able to until this point. It took her a moment to come up with an answer, but she was actually starting to get a bit excited for it. "I recall rather liking Argonian wine the last time I had it, so I think I will go with whatever Argonian wine you think is reasonable. I would not want to ask for one of your expensive drinks."

"I will take wine as well, but nothing too strong. I have...decided that becoming intoxicated is something I should avoid." Meesei answered.

As the others were giving their answers, Kaleeth just looked around confused until she finally spoke up. "What is wine?"

[Muttonhawk]

At first, it was a bit awkward to hear that the group had been talking on a subject which Kaleeth had no worldly knowledge of, but Janius was quick to fill her in. "Wine is a drink made from fermented berries, most of the time it's grapes. You should try some, it's good. It might taste a bit strong at first, so give it a sip first," Janius looked to Rukeewei, "We'll both have cups of wine, I think."

"I will as well. It has been too long," Fendros said, looking to Ahnasha with a grin, "Not as long as some of us, though."

Normally, Sabine seemed to avoid hard drinks. She had tasted very fine wine before in the coven while pilfering ingredients, but she had decided to hide it until it had virtually turned to vinegar, and was put off the taste of such drinks after she went back to it. That was when she was a child, though. She knew better now, and was honestly curious what it was like to have drinks muddle her mind like it did the others. Only slightly, mind. She didn't want feel sickened. This was as good a time as any, so following a time staring at the table and biting her lip, she looked up to Rukeewei, "Can I try some wine as well?"

After the cups and wine came forth, and dinner was served, the pack was given another thing they weren't used to: Cutlery. Fendros decided to start, rolling the handle of the fork in his hand as if it was now completely unfamiliar, before beginning to cut his meat for his first mouthful. Sabine had to dig into the deepest recesses of her memory to recall how to use such implements, but eventually got started as well.

[EliteCommander]

Rukeewei obliged with everyone's requests and produced cups of wine for everyone, along with the mead he was fortunate enough to have for Lorag. It wasn't "authentic" mead, as he had made it himself, but he tried to make it in the right style. The wine he selected was also of his own make; a slightly lighter version of Argonian Bloodwine. It was of moderate strength, and since he made it himself, not as expensive as drinks he had to purchase.

As the others began to eat, Kaleeth was of course the most confused at the tools everyone else was using for their meat. She grabbed the cutlery awkwardly and tried watching Janius to see how she was meant to use them. Luckily, it did not seem too complicated, so she was able to pick up on it reasonably well. She looked almost like a child in how she cut her meat, but she did not stand out too badly. Smelling the meat in the air, Leaps tried to jump up in her lap, so she cut of a piece from her meal and threw it down to him to keep him occupied, after which she took interest in the wine. By the way Janius spoke, there was something special about it, so she started off slowly. Given that she had drank only water, and some juices from various fruits, in her life, the experience was something entirely unexpected. She still did not even know what alcohol was; she only knew that the drink felt...warm. "I've...never had something like this before? You said it is made from berries, but it is a lot different from juices I have had before."

Rukeewei looked curiously at Leaps when he tried to jump up on Kaleeth. The creature had not disturbed any of his other customers so far, or destroyed any furniture, so he supposed it was fine to stay, at least for now. "So, Leaps-On-Elves, what kind of creature is he, anyway?"

[Muttonhawk]

Janius nodded while he chewed on his mouthful, refamiliarising himself with eating his meat without tearing it off with his teeth first, but also paying attention to Kaleeth's question. "Mmm, that's..." Janius held the back of his wrist up to his mouth to swallow, "...that's not surprising. When making wine, the juices are stored in barrels for a long time. They lose their sweetness and get...well the way it's described is 'dry', because it can sometimes make your mouth feel that way when drinking it. Enjoy it, as an Argonian, it won't make you drunk so easily."

As Janius seemed to be occupied, Fendros answered Rukeewei's question over their conversation. "He's a hatchling wamasu," Fendros said, before sipping the wine himself, "I'll let Janius and Kaleeth tell the whole story if they want, but in short, they found a nest of them, and as I understand it, Kaleeth-Rei took one to eat, and it hatched. We didn't see fit to leave it to die, so we've trained him and kept him with us." Fendros took another sip, hoping that the full story would not need to be told.

Being not so ravenously hungry to eat quickly, Sabine quietly called Leaps from around the table with a small, "Come, Leaps" and held out a morsel of her meal out for him. As soon as he spotted the offered food, he turned his full attention to it and took it roughly from Sabine's hand. He seemed to gulp it down whole as not a second later, his throat was vacated enough to chirp for more.

At this point, Janius noticed that there was another topic moving along and added his own words. "He's friendly enough, and surprisingly receptive to training. Seems fitting to have him here as the namesake of this inn, hm?" Janius chuckled, "If he is a bother, we can lock him in a spare room with something to eat, but he's been well behaved so far, it seems."

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth did not know what "drunk" was, but she decided to keep trying the wine. It had more character than other kinds of drinks, to the point that she wished they could have something like it all the time.

Rukeewei became particularly curious about Leaps as soon as he learned what it actually was. Given his small size, he wasn't any more afraid of it, but his mind started to wonder at how one could possibly raise a wamasu. They grew to be massive in size, incredibly dangerous, and they were reputed to be territorial. Their eggs were very valuable, but as this one was male, he could not provide even that for them. "A wamasu? How will you ever raise one of those? I mean...it will probably take many years for it to grow to a decent size, but still. I cannot imagine you will be able to take it anywhere near a city when it gets to that point, and the males are known to be territorial."

Lorag began to respond while still in the process of chewing up a part of his meal. "Well, al...Meesei is goin' to figure out how to get into him and neuter him. Doubt Leaps'll like it, but that's pretty much a sure way to make something docile." Lorag glanced down at leaps, who was staring up straight at him. It was likely only because he said his name, but it seemed only appropriate that Lorag's answer would get the creature's attention. "What?" Lorag said, looking at the wamasu.

"I see." Rukeewei answered, giving a pause to take a drink of his wine. "That does make sense, but still, how are you going to deal with his eventual size? They are about the largest predators in the marsh, and, well, they are the kinds of creatures that can accidentally kill you."

[Muttonhawk]

Janius paused in his eating and leaned his chin on the knuckles of one hand. "Well, we haven't really planned that far ahead," Janius conceded, "It's rather a difficult thing, you see. Without a mother to protect him while he's vulnerable like this, to release him into the swamp now may only result in his death. I think we would eventually have to either take him back to Black Marsh when he is big enough to take care himself, or find some other home for him." The thought actually made Janius a little sad, now that he came to it. He had become rather attached to the little creature. "Rukeewei," Janius' expression became more curious than sad, "you wouldn't happen to know anyone in the city who has expertise with wamasus, would you?"

After eating some of her meal, Sabine decided to finally try her wine as well. She took her cup in both hands and lightly sniffed at its contents. It was strong and fruity, just like she remembered. Slowly, she lifted it to her lips and cautiously took a sip. As soon as the wine ran into her mouth, her brow tensed up. On top of the taste from the smell, the liquid was sour in her mouth and as she swiftly tried to swallow it, it very slightly felt like it was burning her throat. At first, she put the cup down and resumed eating, intending to leave the rest of the drink where it was, but she found that the flavour of the wine actually made the meat taste much better, and the meat seemed to cleanse the sourness and the burning in turn. Throughout the rest of dinner, she took a sip of wine before her mouthfuls, experimenting. She got used to the burning eventually, and concluded that the drink was nice to eat with. She didn't quite go as far as to understand why the others liked to drink it on its own.

[EliteCommander]

Rukeewei rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head lightly. "Um, well, no. Unless you count knowing the perfect way to cook one of their eggs? I suppose you have quite a bit of time to figure it all out, though.

Ahnasha had to pause her meal when she noticed Rhazii beginning to fall asleep in her arms. Even with the noise around him, it appeared he could find his way to drift to sleep. Unfortunately, she needed somewhere to put him, or he would likely awaken if she had to move around too much. They did not have their own room, but she did notice that a few of the inn's rooms looked empty.

"Rukeewei, would you mind if I laid Rhazii down in one of the empty rooms? Just for the length of our dinner?" She requested.

"Oh, of course." Rukeewei answered after swallowing a bite of crocodile tail. "I believe the room behind you is vacant."

Ahnasha smiled and thanked Rukeewei as she carefully stood up to bring Rhazii into the room. As long as she moved the blankets so that he could not roll off the side, he would be fine on his own. After all, she could not watch him every minute of every day. Meanwhile, Meesei thought about the issue with Leaps. It was something that crossed her mind before, but her worries had been elsewhere. "I agree, we do have time to decide. It could be well over ten years before Leaps is at a size that we cannot manage, and there is no way to know where we will be in that time. We should simply keep our options open." She suggested, pausing to take a drink of her wine. "Anyway, I am grateful for this evening. Your time and generosity mean quite a lot to me." She commented, looking towards Ariel and Rukeewei. "And I must say, I rather like your wine."

"I agree...completely." Kaleeth suddenly added in. Like Sabine, she found it more strange at first than anything, but the flavor grew on her...quickly. In fact, she had already finished her entire cup. "You...don't happen to have any more, do you?"

"Well, I cannot really afford to open up any more, but the last one I opened does have more in it. I suppose it wouldn't do any harm to give that to you. I'll go get it." Rukeewei answered. Kaleeth smiled and thanked him as he stood up, though she was not quite aware of the effects the alcohol would have. It was true that the wine would not have quite the effect on her as it would on most of the others, but as it was an Argonian wine, it was designed to bypass much of her resistances. Since she had never had alcohol before that day, her tolerance was comparatively low. Rukeewei returned at the same time as Ahnasha and handed off the bottle to Kaleeth. He assumed she would pour it into her cup, but given her lack of knowledge on proper manners, she had no issue drinking straight from the bottle.

[Muttonhawk]

Everyone gave some motion to agree with Meesei when she thanked Rukeewei and Ariel for their hospitality. Sabine gave a subdued smile, while Fendros and Janius gave their vocal thanks.

Far from knowing that the Argonian wine would eventually intoxicate Kaleeth with far more effect than regular wine, Janius didn't think to tell Kaleeth to slow down. He simply laughed at her antics, before giving her a friendly pointer about manners. He hoped that she wouldn't be too embarrassed. "Kaleeth, it's traditional in cities to not drink straight from the bottle itself with something like wine."

Ariel leaned towards Rukeewei to explain quickly. "Kaleeth is from a marsh tribe, if you hadn't picked that up already."

While Kaleeth and the others were drinking more quickly, Fendros was taking his time with his wine. "It seems sad that we can only be here for a short time," Fendros looked at Rukeewei with an approving smile, "I could live here forever if it meant wine this good."

Whether it was the drink clouding Sabine's judgement, her own personal naivety shining through, or both, she took the slight pause in conversation to interject with a question. "Rukeewei, are you going to marry Ariel?" Sabine's tone was entirely innocent, as was her face.

Janius and Fendros responded with a chuckle, but Ariel's reaction was more conspicuous. She burst into a laughter that sounded natural at first, but in conjunction with her reddening face, revealed a burning humiliation. She tried to speak through her laughter to extinguish the situation, even though she was clearly flustered, "Oh, Sabine, no, it's..." - Ariel put a hand on Rukeewei's arm - "Rukee, you don't have to ans-...that kind of thing is...no, Sabine," a few more laughs came forth from her, "You really do ask strange questions sometimes, Sabine."

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth nodded along with Janius' suggestion and poured her cup full after her first drink. All of the little customs she had to follow seemed strange to her, but approaching them one at at time, she could keep up, at least for the moment. The more intoxicated she became, the less certain any of her actions would be.

Upon Sabine's sudden question, Rukeewei's reaction was almost identical to Ariel's. He tried laughing it off, or speaking up almost in sequence with her. Eventually, after Ariel finished her nervous response, Rukeewei stopped stammering long enough to say something intelligible. "Oh, well, um, I...I agree. You do ask some strange questions. Why, uh, why do you ask?"

Meesei was tempted to speak up, but she found the current course of the conversation quite entertaining. Sabine's blunt curiosity was something that she probably did need to speak to her about in regards to interacting with people outside the pack, but among friends, she saw no harm in it. Observing Ariel and Rukeewei's reactions, she could see why they were together, as they shared more than a few qualities, it seemed.

[Muttonhawk]

"Because you are mates, and I asked Ariel, and she told me that it would depend on if you asked her to marry you." Sabine's answer was as blunt as her question. She looked at Rukeewei with eyes that demanded an answer, even if it wasn't polite to ask such things in front of everyone.

Ariel exhaled, and then bowed and shook her head. She knew that Sabine would reply in such a way. If only Rukeewei knew the depth of her curiosity beforehand. "Sabine, please," Ariel said, having recovered enough from her hysteria, but still giving off a little annoyance, "Marriage is an important decision, one that takes time and consideration. I trust Rukeewei, and he needn't say anything yet." The end of Ariel's sentence was punctuated by a friendly pat on Rukeewei's forearm and a smile in his direction.

Now slightly abashed that she might have gone a little too far with her questioning, Sabine looked back down at her meal. "Okay," she said quietly, before continuing to eat.

"Out of curiosity," Janius began, leaning back in his chair and holding his wine in one hand, "Are Argonian marriage ceremonies the same as Imperial ones? Amulets of Mara and all that? With the Temple of the Eight having a lesser presence here, I imagine it would have more to do with the Hist, correct?"

Ariel remained slightly mortified that the subject of marriage was being prolonged. However, for all the defence that she put forward to stop Sabine's question, there was still a part of Ariel that shared her sister's curiosity. All her looks with Rukeewei were slightly nervous from then on.

[EliteCommander]

"She did?" Rukeewei questioned with a bit of surprise, though any answer Sabine might have given was interrupted. He stopped listening quite as closely as he seemed to turn to his own thoughts. What exactly he was thinking was not clear, though it was obvious he was thinking quite hard. After a short time, Janius snapped him back into reality with his own questions.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, I don't really know what you are talking about. Mara, that is...an Imperial god, right? I do not know what these amulets are for in your ceremonies, so I can't say how they compare. In Black Marsh, it is customary to give a gold ring, set with three amethysts, to a potential mate. Then, there is a ceremony to bind the couple by the root. The Hist, that is." Rukeewei explained surprisingly clearly, even if his heart was inwardly racing.

Kaleeth was just over half of the way finished with her dinner, but for the entire time the others were talking, she listened while drinking at a steady pace. That pace, however, ended with her emptying her cup once more without even realizing it. After trying to take a drink of an empty cup, she gave it a confused look for a moment before pouring the remainder of the bottle's contents into it. Although it did not concern her too greatly for whatever reason, Kaleeth noticed she was starting to feel quite strange.

[Muttonhawk]

"Hmm," Fendros hummed in fascination, "That would explain why there are so many of them on people's fingers in Argonian cities."

Janius began to cut another piece of meat for himself when he spoke. "It sounds a little more convenient than with amulets, at least in asking people. In Cyrodiil and other places, potential spouses have to wear this special amulet around their neck with the symbol of Mara, the goddess of love, upon it. That is the indicator that they are looking to marry. In that way, showing your eligibility is a little passive. The ceremony is done by a priest in a temple, with two rings blessed by Mara, although, they aren't as specific as gold and amethyst."

"Er, how about we talk about something else?" Ariel didn't realise that the volume of her voice had increased. She wasn't sure that she could handle such a topic any longer. She looked at Ahnasha, "How about Rhazii? Ahnasha, I remember you mentioning that he would grow up to be a rather large variety of Khajiit. When do you think he will start to assume that form from his infant form?"

[EliteCommander]

"Yes, Rhazii is a Cathay." Ahnasha answered, deciding to do Ariel the favor of staying off of the prior topic. "It is not the largest form of Khajiit, but they are a fair amount larger than Suthay-raht like myself. He has already sort of started taking that form, actually. You might have noticed that he is a bit larger than many infants his age. He is going to grow faster than most children, and not stop until he can barely fit through doorways anymore. His size might come with its problems, but I am sure you can imagine it will have its advantages too. Who knows, maybe he will be able to take Leaps as his own personal mount?" She suggested with a chuckle.

Kaleeth was not sure of what was causing Ariel to act so strangely, though in all honesty, she was not sure of much of anything at the moment. Her cup was empty once again, and this time, she had nothing to replace it. She swayed back and forth lightly in her chair, looking across at the others who had been far more involved in the conversation. Janius was only about halfway through his cup, so she placed her hand on his and stared at him with a glazed look over her eyes. "Are you...going to drink all of that?" She asked, pointing vaguely at his cup.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros couldn't help but chuckle along with Ahnasha. It was a majestic thought, at least. "Well, I'm not sure if a wamasu would enjoy being rode like a horse." Fendros took the last sip of wine he had, "In any case, they're going to be growing up alongside one another. I should think that they would be good friends at the very least."

As soon as Kaleeth drew Janius' full attention, he noticed something was wrong. "You're really enjoying that wine, aren't you?" Janius said, wondering for a few moments whether she was in fact becoming drunk. No, Argonians needed strong drink to be affected in such a way. Janius picked up his cup and was in the process of handing it over when he noticed Kaleeth swaying unusually. Perhaps there was something that Janius was missing about this wine. He looked at her with his head facing slightly away, "Are you alright, Kaleeth?" He asked her quietly.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth did not say anything at first and instead placed her hands on both of his cheeks before leaning in and giving him a kiss. "I...feel great." She said, letting go of him just as quickly as she grabbed him. As if nothing had happened, she then immediately went back to frowning at her empty cup and occasionally glancing at Janius'.

"So...roughly how strong is this wine?" Meesei asked in a casual tone. Kaleeth's intoxication was apparent, but at least this time, both she and Janius were in an adequate state of mind to look after her. She did not expect to see any surprise Argonian eggs in their future. Since there was no more wine for her to have, her state could not worsen, which was comforting.

"It's moderately strong, at most. I promise. But...I take it she hasn't had alcohol before?" Rukeewei asked.

"No, no she hasn't." Meesei chuckled. Presently, Kaleeth was making an attempt at slowly reaching over towards Janius' cup, not knowing that everyone was watching her.

[Muttonhawk]

"Funny, I didn't think Argonians...ah, so this wine is different." Janius realised properly, picking up his cup right before Kaleeth could pilfer it. He looked upon her with more understanding while he drank, but was still amused. With his free hand, he reached out and lightly pushed at Kaleeth's chin with a joint of his forefinger such that she was facing him, then spoke as clearly as he could, "Kaleeth, my love, that is enough wine for tonight."

Barely a minute passed before everyone had finished their dinners, except Sabine, who was eating slowly. Conversation appeared to be slowing down as everyone was becoming tired. Between a day out hunting and a satisfying warm meal complete with a fine wine, the end of the outing was near.

Fendros was still energetic enough, despite having less consistent sleep than anyone in the pack save for Ahnasha. He looked at Rukeewei and Ariel with a smile. "I think we've forgotten to ask up until now because we haven't seen her, but your sister-in-law, the tailor, what was...?" Fendros trailed off, but opened his eyes wider once he remembered, "Neer! how has she and your brother been?"