Blackfeather Woods Sing to the Moon

Soon his return from the northern swamp, Miraak sought after his eldest nephew @Damien. There was much to discuss. They had a contact up north now, the boy Xan. Potema was pregnant (that was still a mystery to the elder Melonii), and Nemesis' pups were growing fast. Winter was coming. And he wanted to be reinstated as a Dark Brother.

While he was a Brother back home, here he was simply a Reaper, a lower level wolf training to be an assassin once more. A funny thing, seeing as he was born and raised to be a hired killer, and was older than most of the wolves here. If the Dark Brotherhood was to continue, they needed more members, but the most likely source was the children, who were far from being trained. Kove was the only wolf who had a red-mark outside of the Dark Council; and while Emélie seemed a prospectful assassin, she needed proper training first.

He found his nephew's den, the scent of him thick in front of the entrance. It was nightfall, and he assumed that the young man was sleeping, but barked for him gently. Damien,

He had gone off to bed alone this time. Damien had gotten used to sleeping beside his brother, but the nights that weren't like that he didn't even bother asking where Cicero had gone off to. He had his own business to attend. So the Dark Master slept alone, cold and silent his night until Miraak disrupted the peace.

Pale eyes squinted at the dark male from the inside. A yawn, a stretch and Damien emerged from the shadows. "Miraak," he said, not sure whether he was upset by the sudden awakening. "What do you want?" yep, he was rather mad, but he knew that his uncle wouldn't come to him this late for no reason.

There was a brief pause, then Damien emerged from the darkness. He smirked at the angry mug of his nephew. Why, is the Dark Master grumpy that I woke him from his nap? He chuckled softly, before his face shifted back to its professional stoicism. There was no more need for jokes. Right then; I found that boy, Xan, up north. He's agreed to spy for us and send employers our way, He was still curious as to why he left in the first place, but Damien seemed angry enough as it is. Was he ever trained to be a spy? Or even an assassin?

The joke did not earn Miraak any points, only a prolongation of the previous snarky stare Damien had adopted since his awakening. But otherwise it wen't largely ignored as Damien did not feel in the mood to baste it. Instead Damien made an effort to focus on the news, which for some reason seemed to come in only very rare occasions.

North, it seemed, was where Xan had gone, and according to Miraak he still upheld his vow of loyalty to Blackfeather Woods. It pleased Damien to hear that there was still disposition in him to work for the Brotherhood, which in fact had been one of the terms they'd come to agree on upon his departure. Xan would always have a place in Blackfeather Woods if he continued to work towards earning his mark. But... "No," said Damien irritably, "He never concluded his training..." he admitted, suddenly too shy to look at Miraak. Perhaps it was Damien's own fault that none of them were truly prepared to be Dark Brothers, but he'd been left without the resources to build things back up when Mother died and Burke abandoned them.

He idly wondered if the boy had always been like this — grumpy and tired that was. It was a funny image, a small potato shaped Damien, curled defiantly by his mother. He allowed himself to smile at the thought briefly, but there were more pressing matters at hand. It seems a new pack is forming in the north, or at least trying to; in a grove near a marsh,

Miraak frowned at that; not even a mark for assassin? Damien looked ashamed at the information. Not many Dark Siblings here, are there? He had already figured that, but this settled it for him. It was a disappointing thought, but they did not seem to be getting many jobs in the first place. Close to none, actually. That brings up another thing: my reinstatement into the Brotherhood.

An informant in the north was all Damien could really ask for. With as little as he had to manage the brotherhood installment Damien couldn't be picky about who took care of the jobs. They were a pack in development despite their already long habitation of Blackfeather Woods, for they were in a process of healing from a brusque switch in leadership and operative system. Damien couldn't simply expect to be on top of an established organization, he had to ingrain what little he had to work with.

"It will be good to have him there. Perhaps he can extend his watch to neighboring packs as well, if there are any..." he flash-plotted, considering his options with the younger one as a new ace up his sleeve. They could be a small bunch, growing and incompetent, but there was only space to grow from there, and that was what Damien intended. "We're still recovering. When Meldresi was here there were more, deadlier Dark Brothers..." he explained, justifying the poor performance of the pack in the eyes of Miraak, "but they were all traitors, Miraak. I'm building this shit back up the right way..." he assured, conviction oozing from his cold eyes.

Reinstating Miraak to the Brotherhood hadn't even crossed Damien's thoughts. He already considered his uncle to be an accomplished Dark Brother, but perhaps he should have expressed it to avoid confusion. "I didn't think it would be necessary... You can ask brother Kove to refresh your mark if you wish."

Deadlier Dark Brothers? And they were traitors? He did not know what would cause such a thing, perhaps poor judgement on Meldresi's part (a strange thing to consider). But it would not happen again, not on his watch. Let me train your new assassins, then, He knew better than the rest of them how assassins, and even spies were to be trained. Potema could handle the priest's duties, and he could steer Cicero in the right direction (was his nephew even well enough to leave the Woods?), but he must be in charge of the assassin branch. Especially while Nemesis was tending to her children. I shall go talk to Brother Kove; perhaps I can talk about training his children when they are ready,

Just the thought of having Miraak help him rebuild the Dark Brotherhood gave Damien a sense of tranquility that he hadn't felt in a long time. Something about Nemesis had always given him the chills, and although she was deadly and the pact they'd made to lead the pack together still lived, Damien couldn't yet bring himself to trust her in such a high position. She'd been instated as a leader by Burke, whose judgement Damien had ceased to trust long ago, and she had always been Damien's biggest rival.

"It worries me what Nemesis would have to say about that..." admitted the dark prince thoughtfully, "but she never accomplished her training either," he added, feeling that he'd already come to a conclusion. "Go ahead, Uncle. Start with the Spiderling whenever they're ready. They need proper mentors if they are to accomplish what they were made for." he decided, and the cold of his words rolled out of his mouth artlessly.

That is not surprising, He murmured, remembering the young mother. She was full of fire, too bright to hide as an assassin should. There were times and places for such fire in a contract, but not all the time. She should not be so high up in the ranks, not someone such as her. Had she been a member of his birth sect, she would have never made it close to the Dark Council. The fact that she had here was a clear sign of his sister's sect's degration. Fear not, they will be taught as if they had been born amidst the Melonii sect, He promised, And I will be willing to hone your skills as well, His nephew deserved such an honor. It was a shame that only one of them ever received proper training.

Last post!

It was settled, Miraak would be the one to train the young Spiderlings from the moment they were ready, and thus their skills would be at the height of Damien's standards for the new Blackfeather Woods. Things have been seeming to look up from the moment Damien recruited his uncle, and so far it seemed that the old man had no plans to leave them soon. That's the power of blood, unable to surpass any other kind of relationship.

But he could not help but feel insulted by his uncle when he suggested that Damien's skills needed sharpening. He believed himself to be the best warrior and combatant in Blackfeather Woods, but the Dark Master knew deep inside that he had never reached his full potential. A nod felt like agreement enough for Damien to dismiss the conversation, after which he returned to the warmth of his den leaving Miraak to do as he pleased. For now he was but another Dark Brother, but with his skills Damien was sure that the Melonii would take a rightful place in leadership come the right time.