Down in the cellar rooms, Ravenlight was indeed measuring Zak with a strip of marked cloth. But they weren't talking about the armor she planned on making. "It's...a good idea," she was saying as Jorun trotted up to the half-open door. "It's truly a good idea. They're skilled enough at it to make it work."

"And it won't take as long for Nevusa to figure out her spells," Zak said with a short laugh. "Easier on the squirrel population, too."

Jorun nudged his way inside and sat down. He'd been wondering about the exploding squirrel…

They looked down at him. "I was thinking," Zak explained. "There's a spell in my homeworld called polymorph: it can turn creatures from one thing to another. Skilled wizards can cast one called true polymorph. They're permanent, and will slowly...turn the subject of them fully into whatever they've been turned into, if that makes sense."

"Initially, I'd thought of taking Nevusa to a group of them and having her learn this spell," Ravenlight said. "But Zak made a suggestion I hadn't initially considered: just taking you through to these wizards and having them cast this spell. They could turn you back into yourself with little problem."

Jorun's ears instantly perked up.

"The only issue I see," Ravenlight continued, "is that if we just take you there and ask them to turn you into a Dark Elf, they're going to turn you into a Drow, which shouldn't make any changes to your mental state, but will make you a little too exotic to not stand out here. However, the wizards we'll be going to, besides having a tendency to be a little...on the crazy side anyway, know about this world. So it won't be dangerous to either one to bring, say, Nevano along with us, so he can describe you to them and they can get the transformation right."

Jorun nodded slowly. Yes...yes this could work! Nevano or Drelasa or his son...buuuut he had the sneaking suspicion that of those three, only Nevano had any idea of this.

Ravenlight pulled her pendant out. "This can get us there and back safely, and it won't matter if it takes a week on that side; when I open it, we'll go through and be back in an hour. We could even do it now-if we could bring Nevano here without arousing interest."

Oh. That was easy. Jorun nodded and disappeared.

Zak glanced at Ravenlight while they waited for him to return. "You were serious about the armor?"

She nodded. "Absolutely. I'll be working on it most of tomorrow; it should be done before the Morrowind generals arrive."

Claws clattered on stone as Jorun ran back down the stairs and scooted into the room again, Nevano's swordbelt dangling from his mouth. Nevano appeared a few seconds later, shoving through the door in hot pursuit.

"I really hope this is you pretending a wolf is taking over, you undying bastard, because if you chew up my belt..." Nevano growled, snagging it back.

Jorun looked smug.

"It's pretending," Ravenlight said. "We...have a way to get Jorun back. As himself, and...right away."

Nevano looked over at Zak. "What we talked about earlier?"

Zak nodded. "She's willing to take us through. Just need you to come along to describe him properly to the wizards."

"Absolutely count me in." Nevano grinned. "Can't screw up that handsome face or else Drelasa will never let us hear the end of it."

Somehow, it was indeed possible for a canine to roll its eyes.

Ravenlight nodded. "All right, then. Zak, lock the door: I don't want anyone accidentally wandering through while this is open." She swirled her fingers across the blue surface of the stone, and a similar blue portal appeared in the middle of the room.

"Wait!" Nevano suddenly jerked his hand up."Hang on...I just thought of something. One moment." He slipped out quickly.

Jorun looked back at them and managed to shrug.

"We can wait," Ravenlight said. "The portal is stable."

Nevano darted back in a few moments later, throwing his pack over his shoulder. "Sorry. Had a rather valid thought, thought best to act on it, ready."

"What was that?" Ravenlight looked at him curiously.

"We are changing a wolf into a mer. I doubt that comes with clothes." Neveno jerked a shoulder. "So I stole some of Vel's. They are about the same size."

"Oh, good idea. I almost hadn't considered that." Ravenlight nodded. "All right, then. Let's go."

Nevano came strolling up the stairs, whistling happily and twirling a collar around a finger. He casually dropped it on the table where Elealda, Cattie-brie and Drelasa were sitting.

"Where did you two go, what did you two do and how much trouble is this going to bring us?" Drelasa said flatly, instantly suspicious.

"Always accusing me!" Nevano grinned broadly, unable to help it, his eyes glittering in excitement. He sat down, pulling Serana practically in his lap. "Like I'm always doing something troublesome."

"Technically, it was four of you," Serana added, "and if Nikki's stories are any indication, my love, you can get in trouble just by breathing in some places. What were you doing down in Zak's room that had no peep from any of you for an hour?"

"Told you," Ravenlight said over her shoulder as they were coming up the stairs. "Just took an hour. I don't know how or why it works, but it does."

Nevano grinned wider, about vibrating with giddiness. "Maybe we got into some trouble, maybe we didn't. But, you can't deny that the results were so worth it."

"You are making about as much sense as Nikki when she was looking at wedding cakes." Drelasa said. "What are you two talking about?"

Veleth came down at that moment to see what the noise was about. Drelasa had her back to the cellar stairs. But he was facing them as the next two figures emerged from below. His eyes widened, and paled almost to his original skin color, clutching the stair railing hard enough to leave marks in the wood.

Ravenlight grinned broadly as she came up beside Drelasa. "We...took a little side trip. Nevusa," she glanced over at the girl, "I sorry we didn't get to let you try this youself...but this was complex enough that it was best to let the experts do it."

Nevusa squealed and dancing in place, her eyes starry. "It's okay! I don't mind! It worked, that's all that matters!"

"What are you..." Drelasa looked from one to the other, almost at her wit's end.

" 'Lasa, sweetheart, turn around before the anticipation kills us all." Jorun said, an easy half grin on his face, leaning against the wall. Zak stood at the head of the stairs, slightly behind the restored Mer; for once not even trying to be stoic or uninterested.

Drelasa spun around and froze. For a moment everyone was worried if she had ceased to breathe entirely. Her mind sputtered to a complete halt as she realized that it wasn't just a wolf with her husband's voice...it was him.

A tear slid down her face as she all but forced herself to take a step forward, almost stumbling as she barely registered moving. Jorun took two swift steps forward and caught her before she fell. The instant she felt him, solid, living, breathing and whole, the dam broke and she all but screamed, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life, sobbing-but these were most definitely happy tears. Jorun held her close, finally able to hug his wife again. Ravenlight blinked back a few tears of her own, grinning broadly.

Overhead, steps raced as the others came to see what the scream was about-and froze, staring in disbelief or confusion at the scene before them.

Nevano held Serana closer. "Still think this is trouble now, sugar tooth?"

She nearly squashed him, hugging him so tight. "No," she whispered. "Not at all."

When Drelasa finally could let him go, she boxed his ear. "Don't you dare die on me again, you fetcher! Don't do that to me twice."

"Had no intentions the first time, darling." Jorun winced, rubbing his ear. "And no intention of going anywhere the second time, either."

Drelasa wheeled to Ravenlight next, hugging her so tight she nearly crushed the breath out of her. "Sweet child...thank you."

"I was just the conduit," Ravenlight laughed. "I had an idea...but the one you really have to thank here is Zak. He's the one who thought of just bringing Jorun to the Harpells, instead of having them teach the spell to Nevusa."

Drelasa crooked a finger at Zak, beckoning him over. He swallowed, but came. "I won't hug you, though...I really want to." Drelasa said. "I...cannot thank you enough."

That relaxed him a little, though it was clear he had no idea how to react. "I..." He glanced over at Neveno and shrugged a little, a sheepish half-smile on his face. "It...was right."

Drelasa swiped at the tears still running down her cheeks. "There are certain people that everyone needs in their lives. I can't tell you how happy I am to have this fetcher back in mine. The gods know why..."

"I can think of a few things, you know." Jorun said.

"Aaaaand that's why I said gods know why." Drelasa smiled though. "I promise I'll find a way to show my gratitude that won't send you up a tree."

He smiled a little and nodded.

"And you." Drelasa rounded on Nevano. "You snarky, sneaky fetcher, how long have you known about this?"

"I think it's something that's been on all our minds since you two came back with a lantern and a wolf from the woods." Nevano said. "In fact, we've all been talking about it ever since. Zak was the one who made full sense from it since Nevusa was making squirrels explode."

"Last one was a frog actually..." Nevusa sighed.

"See? Sense prevailed! And now I get that smug 'I told you so' smile because dammit." Nevano gave a fond glare at Jorun.

"We all told you not to touch." Jorun shrugged, wearing the exact smile.

"I will admit to being the one who first thought of turning Nevusa's sudden enthusiasm for alteration magic to good use," Ravenlight said. "But once it became clear it would take a few months of training before she was quite at that level...well..."

"This was something we didn't really want to risk something going...wrong." Nevusa said. "I mean, leaving Vel with a tail for a few hours is hilarious but this..."

"I greatly appreciate not going the way of those squirrels." Jorun said.

"And," Ravenlight added with a grin, "we haven't lost his ability to snoop around as a wolf, either. You probably didn't notice the bracelet he's wearing." She caught his wrist and held it up to display it: a simple silver bracelet, set with a single large, oval, pale-golden stone. "The stone is reversible. Sunstone side out, like it is, he's human. Flip it around so that the moonstone is out, and he's a wolf. We practiced that before we came back. It's the reason he was a fretting mess on the way up the stairs: getting that evened out took the longest. We were across the portal for two weeks."

"I do think I prefer this form much better." Drelasa said.

"Of course," Ravenlight said with a grin. "Why do you think we were so determined to get it back?"

"I..." Drelasa truly was at a loss for words.

Jorun pulled her to his side again. "Not often you can shock her into not knowing what to say, really."

Ravenlight pulled Drelasa into a quick hug. "You're welcome, ammi," she whispered. Then she glanced over at Nevano and grinned wickedly. "Shall I tell you how helpful Nevano was in giving the Harpells practice on returning Dunmer to their proper forms?"

"I was very helpful, thank you very much!" Nevano protested. "...Once I figured out exactly what they were looking for."

Jorun sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"And quit sampling the 'drinks bar'," Zak added sarcastically. "Though that probably helped more than anything else. I told you not to touch anything they hadn't given you for a reason."

"Personally, the best part was watching when Nevano frustrated Zak beyond all reason." Jorun said with a slow smile. "We all got a little show with that."

"Oh, yes." Ravenlight laughed. "I'm truly surprised he's able to sit down now."

"You could hear Nerevar laughing, especially when he withdrew completely to let Nevano deal with the discomfort by himself." Jorun smirked. "Haven't seen that since-"

"Gonna stop you on that particular story." Nevano interrupted when Nikki instantly perked up.

"What about when you drank the transfigure potion that turned you into a rat?" Ravenlight asked with a grin. "She almost couldn't turn you back, she was laughing so hard." She glanced at the others. "That one didn't affect his ability to speak. Or scream, as the case was when he saw what had happened."

That set the others to giggling, Nikki's eyes as big as saucers and obviously itching to know more.

"This family of wizards is the one I mentioned to you a while back," Ravenlight said to Drelasa. "Julianus by way of Sheogorath? They...have a bad habit of putting drinks and potions on the same shelves. Nevano thought he was sneaking a bottle of a potent southern wine; they have a fair variety." She laughed. "It, ah, wasn't wine. Best part? That wasn't the first time he'd grabbed the wrong thing off that shelf."

"He doesn't learn. And, now that the rat part is over, probably thinks it's hilarious." Drelasa sighed. "At least...at least he gives us something to laugh about later."

"I liked the part where his hair grew three feet a minute for four hours," Zak muttered with a grin. "And not just on his head."

Ravenlight snorted with laughter. "Gods, yes. He looked like a miniature red yeti."

"I'd say he'll learn one of these days but I think I was the only one there that not only was not surprised, but expecting all of it." Jorun laughed.

"Well, he straightened up a little after I threatened to drag him with me on a spider-hunting expedition through a cave known to be also infested with large rats," Ravenlight said. "And then did."

"And vanished on him in the central room," Zak added with a grin. "Where did you go? I couldn't see you."

"Oh, I was there," Ravenlight giggled. "I just happen to be...very, very sneaky."

"A little, meaning for about five minutes and then Zak had to drag him out back for another round of getting slapped around." Jorun snorted. "I think after the first week, Nevano started getting more energized after those sparring sessions because they started lasting longer and Zak started muttering that next time, Nevano wasn't going anywhere without Serana."

"That I agree with." Zak snorted. "Either that or tying him up in the spider cave for a week."

"I wouldn't." Veleth grunted. "If it's anything like what happened when I did something similar with the twins, they'll all go feral within two days, develop their own language and a small mob will come back home."

She considered. "Possibly."

"Ash hoppers aren't nearly as bad as spiders!" The twins protested.

"Dozens of ash hoppers in a small confined space aren't much of an improvement." Veleth said.

"And these were the big spiders," Ravenlight agreed. "Which was...kind of why they asked us to go in and thin them out a little. Fortunately, the Harpells use that cave to get rid of their rats: the barns and farmhouses in the area are all set up with spells that teleport trespassing rats into the cave. Most of the spiders were so sated on rats that they really weren't much more than curious about strangers." She laughed. "Even when Nevano scaled that stalactite to get away from the rats and came face-to-face with one of the really big ones."

"I got them down!"

"Nevano...the whole thing reminded me of one place." Jorun said, a smirk crawling across his face. "Endusal."

Nevano nearly leaped out of his seat. "You had to bring that place up!"

"Before he set out for Mournhold, Nevano tagged along with one of our sojourns to clear out some ash vampire nests. One of which was a ruin called Endusal. This lovely little hole was right by a daedric shrine to Mehrunes Dagon, of course, so the nasty was all but oozing from this place." Jorun explained. "It probably would have been the usual mix of heightened anxiety and deadly danger...had we not been told to bring the Ordinator along."

Serana wrapped her arm around Nevano's shoulder, settling herself more comfortably on his lap...and pinning him in place in the process.

"I'll be the first to admit Ordinators are...a special breed." Jorun smirked as Nevano was pinned to continue the torment. "In other words, no one ever told them to pull the stick out of their arse. Still haven't, actually, but they are a bit better. Nevano despises them. Can't exactly blame him, since they did chase him through Vivec City. I told Galdal it was a bad idea to allow the Ordinator to come with us but...I was still new and Nevano was still considered a heretic. No one listened to us. Too bad for them."

Zak leaned against the wall, obviously interested.

"This Ordinator was particularly annoying and had a thing for quoting the sermons and did not notice Nevano getting angrier and angrier until suddenly he just relaxed. At that point, there was nothing I could do to stop whatever Nevano was going to do to teach the Ordinator a lesson of a lifetime. If the other two Armigers noticed, they didn't do or say anything. I think they were annoyed as well." Jorun said. "We go in, place is collapsed enough fortunately that it wasn't very big. Still full of some very, very nasty ash beasts. The sort that give you nightmares. This one in particular was one of Dagoth Ur's generals, of sorts. I heard someone mentioned the Dagoth Brandy? That's where that came from. This one had a taste for it. Offered us all some. Nevano was the only one who took him up on it. On the way home, the Ordinator started up and Nevano had absolutely had it by then. I don't know how he got that brandy into that Ordinator's water skin but he did." Jorun shook his head. "Amazing how a rabid temple follower went from quoting sermons to singing tavern songs in a span of about ten minutes. Then he damn near panicked at the cliff racers. Fortunately he couldn't run a straight line, or run much at all, so, while we sat there and watched, he ran a perfect circle, crashed into a rock and fell flat on his back in the ash, snoring."

"I can believe that," Gyrmallion said.

"Pink striped horses." Veleth smirked.

"Yes, why do you think I said that?"

"Hmm, this one didn't see pink striped horses." Jorun said. "Here's the thing though. Ordinators aren't allowed to drink. Nevano strangely disappeared when we dragged that kid in and the Ordinator in charge saw him."

"So what happened?" Serana asked.

"Once the Ordinator sobered up, about a day later, he got the tongue lashing of his life. That was the boring part though." Jorun said. "Nevano decided that the Ordinator got off light with a tongue lashing and he didn't like that one little bit."

Serana glanced at her husband with a raised eyebrow.

"Nevano...would you like to tell them how you set an entire garrison into utter chaos or shall I?" Jorun asked.

Nevano groaned.

"Right. Guess that's me." Jorun said. "That Dagoth Brandy found its way to every Ordinator's drink and then Nevano found a shalk nest and turned the whole damn thing loose in Ghostgate. A shalk, if you are not familiar, is an enormous beetle that has pincers longer than my arm, knows how to use it and spits this venom that won't kill you but burns like fire, making people believe they spit fire. Even the small ones can do this. So now we have giant beetles crawling everywhere, spitting burning venom all over the place and drunk Ordinators screaming in a blind panic. The Buoyant Armigers thought it was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing long enough to help usher the damned beetles out, the priests were hopping mad and it took the Ordinators three days to sober up so we had to clean up. Though...we didn't touch the Ordinators quarters. They got to clean that themselves." Jorun said."

"Light weights." Nevano muttered.

"Nevano...anyone would be a lightweight on Dagoth brandy," Gyrmallion said. "Sanguine would quickly become insensate on that stuff."

"There's an idea." Nevano said.

"You had to mention Sanguine." Jorun chuckled.

Ravenlight's eyes narrowed. "Sooo...how did he become involved?"

Jorun carefully didn't look at her. "He's been interested in what we've been doing, let's just put it that way."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course he is. Probably annoyed that I locked that blasted staff away and haven't been making use of it."

"Mostly annoyed you haven't gone out to...'loosen up', I believe were the words." Jorun said. "I think he's honestly forgotten about the staff. Much like Sheogorath regularly forgets his artifacts...or hers."

Nikki blinked. "What whaaaaat?"

"Let me put it this way," Ravenlight growled. "Running across a country to pick up the pieces after a drunken binge did not encourage me to loosen up more often. Especially the last bit, and Drizzt, quit laughing, she nearly killed you, too."

"I...heard about that." Jorun did a marvelous job of keeping a straight face...though his eyes sparkled a bit. "Especially about the goat. When things aren't completely at war, the more talkative Daedra Lords like to gossip. A. Lot." Jorun said.

"The goat was...embarrassing. But it wasn't the thing that made me want to strangle him." Ravenlight gave Drizzt a draconic glower. "Uhiel, I will introduce every bard in the city to Talsgar's favorite..."

He shut up instantly.

"Nevano I will not hesitate to embarrass utterly and completely. My son is a close second." Jorun said kindly, ignoring dual yelps of protest. "We can let it rest there."

"Thank you."

"Here. This will shut him up." Veleth put Dusty in his arms. "Hold your grandson for the first time."

Instantly Jorun's face lit up and he was fully and utterly distracted with Dusty. Dusty, as per usual, was perfectly thrilled with meeting someone new, even if he didn't realize this was his favorite wolf buddy. Zak watched carefully. Ravenlight wasn't sure if he was taking notes, or simply aware that there was now someone to get to take the baby whenever he started chasing him again. Jorun was more than perfectly at ease with a baby in his arms, openly delighted in it and Dusty was enthralled with this new person who was giving him so much attention.

Brie-Zara kicked and squealed, wanting to go over and meet this new person, too. Cattie-Brie laughed and carried her over.

Jorun was absolutely over the moon that there was more than one small child to give attention to. Drelasa was absolutely beaming. Her fondest memories were of Jorun with her son while he was growing up. He had been the most attentive father and it had hurt her heart so badly when he hadn't been able to experience being a grandfather. Now he was able to; and there were plenty of kids for him to be a complete puffball with.

Cattie-Brie sat beside him, watching with a smile. From the way she kept glancing over at her husband, she was reminded of when he met his baby for the first time. From the way Drelasa was smiling, she was strongly reminded of a very similar event. Nevusa was trying not to cry in her corner, suddenly wishing the months would go by much faster.

Nevano glanced at Serana, giving her a smile. Though this was definitely enough to give him a hefty dose of baby fever, he had long since learned how to squish it down. She leaned in and gave him a long, almost sad kiss, and it suddenly occurred to him that perhaps a five-thousand-year-old vampire might not be any more fertile than he was.

"There are definitely other ways." He murmured to her. "We aren't completely without hope."

"No." She nuzzled against his neck. "There's truth to that." She looked over at Ravenlight with a smile. "There's her way, for example."

Blaise, Lucia and Connlach had all come to see what all the fuss was about; and the two older children certainly understood how exciting it was that Jorun was back in his proper form, though Connlach clearly didn't understand quite so well.

"I can attest to the fact that there will always be one out there who needs someone." Nevano nodded, tightening his hold on her.

"I know. So can I." She kissed him again.

He kissed her back. "Love you, sugar tooth. I know it's only been an hour for you; but it's been a while for me and I missed you."

"Mmmm..." She smiled. "It's late. Shall we leave the others to their reunion?"

"Yup!" he said eagerly. No one noticed them slip off.