"Broken in more than one place," Taalem says as he tends to Razum-dar before leaving him to check on the rest of his patients. Razum-dar looks around the infirmary and then sighs as he gingerly touches his nose. How could he be so stupid as to let his guard down? He knew Jeziasi had not responded to him for so long, there was no reason to suspect it to be any different. A troubled look crosses his eyes and Razum-dar shakes his head. How could his old friend fall so far? How could she think helping Viperish Night was the path she must take? Just for love? Razum-dar growls. "Jeziasi..." Razum-dar breaths. It was strange how she spoke of some things as well. He thought she meant someone else was Viperish Night's egg-father, but then she said it was him. It was very strange, and of course, the battle only got stranger when he was out cold! Swims-in-Silence suddenly entering the fray and somehow, if the reports were correct, turning Viperish Night into a bone colossus for a time. Time enough to turn the battle in his favor. Razum-dar gets up, still slightly dizzy. He growls again and shakes his head. The Dominion had saved the village, but the casualties in their forces were near total. Only a handful had survived, many grievously wounded, from Viperish Night's transformation, and the power it gave the undead all around him.

Queen Ayrenn enters the infirmary and Razum-dar's eyes fall on his Queen. She had wanted to join the battle, but Razum-dar had talked her out of it. If he had not, she could be lying in one of these beds, or worse. Queen Ayrenn moves to each of the injured in turn, offering kind words and comfort before she moves to Razum-dar. "You have seen better days, my friend," she says, the sorrow of the loss of her people deep within her eyes, though her voice is steady and strong, as a Queen's must be. "Raz, what happened?"
Razum-dar sits back down, paws on the bed. "Many bad things, my Queen. Swims-In-Silence has power we did not expect. He turned Viperish Night into a monster, and it was then the battle was lost to us." Razum-dar trails off.
Queen Ayrenn frowns. "Even with this, our forces should have been enough. There is something we are missing." Queen Ayrenn then regards Razum-dar. "What troubles you, Razum-dar?" she asks. "There is something else. I can see it in your eyes."
Razum-dar gazes up at Queen Ayrenn, his eyes flashing with pain before they harden. "Jeziasi has joined them," Razum-dar says with a growl.
Queen Ayrenn stills, only her eyes show the shock this has given her. "Raz, are you certain?" Queen Ayrenn asks. "What she has done before and this are two very different things," Razum-dar repeats Jeziasi's words for Queen Ayrenn and her face hardens. "The Vestige has gone mad," Queen Ayrenn says. "To participate in this horror."
Razum-dar rises. "This one will add her name to the intelligence reports sent to the other allegiances," Razum-dar says.
Queen Ayrenn place a hand on Razum-dar's shoulder. "I know you cared deeply for her. It saddens me to know this is where her path has lead."
"It will not stop this one from protecting the Dominion," Razum-dar declares. "This one was foolish enough to give her one last chance. Next time, Razum-dar will do what he must." Razum-dar walks past his Queen and out the door and the Queen's eyes follow him as he leaves. He is in pain, though he will never admit it, this she can tell.

Razum-dar finds himself outside of Elden Root near the water after filling out the reports. He stares off into the distance and with a soft sigh, he thinks he must be getting old to have the past consume his thoughts so much. Razum-dar closes his eyes as the wind ruffles his fur as his memories take him back to his first meeting with Jeziasi.


-Eagle's Stand - Khenarthi's roost-
A massive hurricane had struck the coast and the small island of Khenarthi's roost, causing damage and wrecking ships to pieces upon its shores. Survivors and bodies had been pulled from the wreckage ever since the skies cleared. Razum-dar had been helping when a glimmer in the sky catches his eyes. It is as if the heavens had opened up and a star was falling from them. As it streaks toward the water Razum-dar's eyes catch the details, it is not a star but a person. They hit the water with a splash and Razum-dar runs into the surf and pulls them from the water, dragging them onto the sand. Razum-dar's dusky green eyes blink as he beholds her, she's alive abide unconscious. "This one did not expect pretty ones to drop from the skies," he says. She's a Bosmer with magenta hair, darkened by the seawater, delicate antlers, and a strong physique. Her clothes are simple, almost something a prisoner might wear and have seen better days, and her wrists are scarred. Razum-dar's eyes show great puzzlement. "This one thinks to keep you out of the others' site for now," Razum-dar says. He bends down and gathers her gently in his arms and takes her to a ruined tower nearby until he can figure this puzzle out, and know if she's a threat, or if she just as a very interesting story.

The moment Jeziasi awakes and descends the tower, Razum-dar knew this was not just a pretty one. Her crystal gaze holds such fierceness and something else. Those eyes of hers had seen horrors. Razum-dar knew Jeziasi was no ordinary Bosmer. She was special. She took Razum-dar's guidance to pretend she had been cast adrift by the hurricane and eventually left the island. Jeziasi and Razum-dar had met more than once after that, however, and finally started to work together for the Dominion against the Veiled Heritance who sought to use the confusion of the plane-meld to usurp Queen Ayrenn. The Veiled Heritance had involved the aid of Mehrunes Dagon, and later Molag Bal. In the end, they stopped the Veiled Heritance together, but bigger things awaited Jeziasi. Razum-dar had been ordered to stay by his Queen's side on Nirn during the assault on Coldharbour in the event the war was lost. Razum-dar had watched Jeziasi leave with the others, knowing she was the Vestige, the one chosen by fate to face Molag Bal's evil and save Nirn, and she set upon the task with all her being.
When Jeziasi returned triumphant with those who had survived from Coldharbour, she had changed more drastically than Razum-dar could have ever imagined. The cold of that place had clung to her, the horrors she had seen and experienced visible in her eyes. She no longer believed in the ways of Y'ffre as she once did, and she no longer wished to stay with the Dominion. Razum-dar had always respected Jeziasi, never tried to do more the tease with her. But he found himself tempted, so perhaps she would remain. But while Razum-dar was many many things, he was not cruel. He saw her need to escape the memories, and Valenwood and the Dominion held so very many for her. So the final night she was in Elden Root he came to talk to her, one last time.
Jeziasi had surprised him that night. One moment he had been speaking to her, the next she had suddenly launched into a fierce attack against him and they tumbled around for a few moments before breaking off. Razum-dar had remembered the look on his old friend's face. Shock that she had attacked her friend and her scramble to find the words why. Razum-dar could not to anything but laugh, reassure her. War unsettles. Of course, her emotions were in turmoil. He could not blame her for that. And then Jeziasi had moved closer to him, and started to run her hands through his soft warm fur. Razum-dar had quickly grown flustered, and he was tempted to just let her...but Jeziasi was his friend and he tried to dissuade her but she would have none of it, and the look in her eyes... she wanted warmth, fire, for just a little bit and so he gave in, knowing it would be even harder to let her go.
Razum-dar had awoken the next morning to find her long gone. She had slipped out so quietly he had not even woken. And that was the last he saw of Jeziasi until Summerset. He had of course kept track of her when he could...and the path she took disturbed him. But Jeziasi was still a hero at heart, despite becoming one of Hircine's wolfs, despite a short foray into the Dark Brotherhood. She went on to battle with the Court of Bedlam, to defy three Daedric Princes. Her bravery seemed to know no bounds.


But of course, Razum-dar knew now that bravery had let do such overconfidence, enough for her to make a mistake that for some reason she deemed unforgivable, unredeemable. Razum-dar growls softly. She did not know Swims-In-Silence's plans, Razum-dar had seen the confused look in her eyes, along with a glimmer of hurt. Since that moment, Razum-dar wanted to shred Swims-In-Silence's face off! To hurt someone in such an intimate way was beyond reproach, beyond honor. Razum-dar would see a knife in Swims-In-Silence's back for that alone. Still...there was something Razum-dar was not seeing about all this. He did not like that, Razum-dar had a very bad feeling it had to do with Swims-In-Silence. Razum-dar's paw moves to his sword, his claws clicking against the hilt. Swims-In-Silence was not the only one who must have a sword in them. Razum-dar would never hesitate. The Dominion, Nirn. But...he had hesitated, had he not? Could he kill his old friend? Kill Jeziasi? The woman who was utterly wild, utterly untamable? Who's eyes had gazed into Razum-dar's one night so very long ago with more than friendship for the briefest of moments? He would have to. But killing his old friend whom he foolishly loved... would stain his fur, his heart forever. Razum-dar would do what he must. But it would destroy part of him to kill her, to see her fall, that fiery light fade from her eyes forever.
Razum-dar, at last, started to understand why Jeziasi was walking the path she was. Love was a fickle mistress at best and at worse it could destroy not only you but everything around you. She loved her son. Blinding by it? Perhaps... or perhaps she saw a glimmer of something in Viperish Night and dived recklessly in after it. "Jeziasi... it is too late," Razum-dar says to himself. This...can not end well. Razum-dar sighs again and Jeziasi's words from that night long ago echo in his head. She had told Razum-dar that she will never break. But as Razum-dar had looked in her eyes in Greenshade, he saw the awful truth of it. She had broken. All the things she had done, all the horrors she had seen, this had broken her. And she now followed the only thing that made sense to her, her love for her son, even if it leads to Oblivion itself.