EDIT : Re-arranged into chapters for better view.
A sound of thudding voice woke the Cyrodiil mage up. The newest addition to College of Winterhold found herself lying on her back with sleeping arms and legs as her sleeping position was an absurd one with her sleeping on the width of the bed instead of the length. Arms and legs extended beyond the bed's reach, floating in mid-air. A sense of disorientation struck the girl. The unfamiliar violet hued stone ceiling loomed above her. Since when Jorrvaskr has violet fire? The blonde mage thought then shook her head wildly, undoing the twin braids decorating her hair. Oh right, this is not the whelp's barracks. She cursed as she had fallen asleep whilst reading the night before. The Nord mage had passed out cold even before she could cover herself under warm blankets nor she realized she had fallen asleep.
Feeling her legs, she shifted her position on bed and buried her face into the soft pillow. It has been too long since the last time she slept on a proper bed. Most beds in Skyrim are stacks of dried hay with animal leather acted as the sheet and fur as blanket, causing her worst woe during her stay in the northern province of the Empire. Most of the bruises on her fair skin came not from battles but rather scratching the unbearable itchiness whenever she slept on the hay. Though the last time she slept on such bed the blonde Nord get to share the fur with 'that certain person' doing the unmentionab-
Heat rushed into her cheeks remembering the unforgettable moment in her life which happened the night prior of her departure from Whiterun.
The Nord mage remembered having breakfast in the mead hall, the usual morning debate session with Vilkas, and Kodlak listening to both of them bicker in a good humor, when Farengar came in running into Jorrvaskr. The Jarl's court wizard ran into Skjor rather literally. Bounced off by the impact, Farengar hit the one of the wooden benches available in the large hall. Awkwardly he fell into sitting position. He got giggles and laughter from the whole hall occupier. Muttering curses, the court mage asked if the Cyrodiil mage re-baptized Dovahkiin was there. The girl with new namesake rose from her seat.
"You came seeking for me?" the blonde clearly had a rough night as black lines appeared under her eyes. Farengar was sympathetic, he had heard during breakfast that the whole Companion had marched into the grasslands fighting an army of vampires. There were half a dozen of them and each had a pair of skeletons at their side. Plus the thralls, but they did not bother counting the bodies. She rubbed her eyes, forcing them to open, but alas her mind was still half asleep.
"Maybe later then, you seem like you need to rest" Farengar was about to turn around and retreated from the sweat infested place. He was never fond of warriors. But the girl pulled his robe's arm, clearly indicating he should stay. One of the twin frowned, he wasn't sure which.
"If you're looking for someone to escort you harvesting herbs and such, maybe someone less…tired will do, Farengar. You don't have to especially ask the girl. Damn heartless mage"
Farengar ignored the comment. He took out a soiled parchment from his robe and gave it to the tired girl. He decided to finish his business quick so to let her take a brief respite. "I believe this is yours. One of the patrol paid a visit to Helgen and found this addressed to you….and also this". He bet a mug of mead both letters will wake the girl. True enough, he eyes opened wide after reading one, and her expression brightened after reading the second.
"My…commendation letter! By the Divines! An invitation from the Archsage as well?!" she cried in disbelief.
"Apparently your work with dragons and ancient Nord had piqued their interest. Not to mention your ability with Enchantment…I made sure I mentioned them in my letter to Archmage Aren…you should be grat..OOMPH!" Farengar never finished his sentence as the girl hugged him suddenly as tight as she could be. She repeatedly said her gratitude in glee. Skjor spat his drink, the old Kodlak laughed hard, Aela and Njada's mouth were agape, Farkas blushed at the scene, Ria was squealing, and Vilkas kept his compose though he gripped his tankard hard and cracks started to appear on the hold. "Yeah…*cough* can't breathe, girl ….do …you mind?"
The girl let Farengar go, smiling still. It was nearing winter, yet he could sense a glimpse of summer. Farengar explained that the invitation will need to be answered soon, and offered if he could write a reply for the Archsage. The girl had agreed. Farengar finally left Jorrvaskr and was quite relieved at that as he felt a pair of fiery eyes burned into his back…and he thought warriors cannot use spells.
The preparation of her journey being fully prepared and done carefully, the Dragon born overlooked one unexpected situation. One which had her ended up under the elder wolf on the night before her journey to Winterhold. Needless to say the two shared the fur that night and the girl stayed inside the Nord's room until dawn. Grins and giggles followed the two the next morning and the blonde mage wondered if she had been too loud. Then again the Nord mage made sure to muffle her voice…she moaned and grunted in low voice with her visage completely crimson as the blood rushed to her face. Hitting the fluffy bedding, she waved the dirty thought and rose from her bed , picking up On Oblivion book lying on the stone floor beside her bed. It was the very same book that woke her up earlier.
"I need a bath" the girl cursed in low voice as she approached a water basin inside her room in the Hall of Attainment where most of the junior member of the College resides alongside Master Alterer Tolfdir. The rest of her company was still fast asleep, enjoying whatever Daedric Prince Vaermina offered in his dream realm. Splashing the water into her face and applied some into the dry edges of her blonde hair, she then proceeded to fix her undone braids before putting on her hood and exited the Hall. A rush of cold air entered the warm Hall as she opened the large door, bashing her face with snowflakes and frozen wind.
The new member of the College quickly emerged from the hall and closed the iron door behind her as she heard her colleagues shifted in their beds in discomfort from the freezing wind. The Nord girl looked up to the sky and saw it was clear, a rare occurrence happening in Winterhold for most of the time the town is covered with clouds and suffer rains of snowstorms on a regular basis. She walked to the gates of the College and found herself in the company of her senior, an Altmer named Faralda who acted as Destruction school teacher.
"Good morning" the High elf greeted her as she unlocked the College's gate. The Altmer was responsible in keeping the outsiders out and made sure the College ground was properly sealed before curfew. Anyone still off the ground would have to wait until the gate was opened the next day. The dragon born rarely enjoyed the presence of a High elf as they were in her secret black list ever since the Great War, but Faralda's indifference made her comfortable and made her an exception. "So today's your turn as well, I see"
The Destruction teacher referred to a person in charge buying provision for the Hall they reside in. Everyone in the college would take turns in going to the town in the morning and buy whatever they needed for the rest of the day from Birna's Oddments. Though provisions are getting scarce by the day which was the result of dragon attacks and the civil war between Imperial and Stormcloaks. The Nord mage replied, "Indeed, my first day on the job…. and you're in charge for the Hall of Countenance today?"
The two talked as they followed the narrow bridge dividing the College and the rest of the town, lighting up well of magicka as they passed them.
"Much to my discomfort, yes. As you can see most of your senior mages would request absurdities. That blasted Nirya for example, she just requested Honningbrew mead! Honningbrew! She'd talk my ears off when I fail to bring her the blasted drink…and that crazed Collete asked for impossible ingredients. I'd hate to make orders and such. Complete waste of time if you ask me. At least you mostly deal for food provisions…for now"
The two Altmer women were always on edge, the dragon born could see it despite her short stay in the College. Cold wars are worse compared to open fights like Njada and Athis used to do back in Jorrvaskr. "I see…but Honningbrew mead? She loves that rat infested product? Gods…I was there exterminating rats with my brothers before. There were hundreds of them! Hundreds! Even the least sober of us shy away from it ever since"
Brothers? Faralda thought, then she remembered her newest disciple used to work for the Companions prior to her arrival in the College. The Archmage often requested their assistance for defeating wild life and bandits roaming around Winterhold as the local Jarl refused to do so. She started to suspect the Jarl did it on purpose as not to empty his own pocket. Then the High Elven teacher noticed the girl had strangest of blush.
"Did you see someone in Whiterun?" she teased.
"N-no" her company answered weakly.
"Birna also manage our town's correspondence, if you'd like her to have a courier sending letters to Whiterun.."
"NO! I'm fine!" the girl jabbed loudly. Normally Faralda did not like such reply but there were exceptions. "I mean…I apologize for speaking loudly. Well, I know item procurement sometimes takes longer than when you go buy them in person. I can go to Whiterun to procure some provisions for us. I remember Arcadia stocked some of these items" Faralda gave the apprentice mage her item procurement list moments before and let the girl see the impossible arrays of items requested.
"Miss him that much, eh? He must be a wonderful lad"
"By the Gods…There is no getting out of this, is there?"
Urag gro-Shub the librarian was already packing his procurement when the two entered Birna's Oddments. He had Hall of Elements' share of meal and few titles of recently procured books. The old orc had been the one in charge for it since the Archsage was completely engrossed in his research. The recent findings in Saarthal made his workload worse, despite everyone's assistance. The store owner had already prepared two more boxed food for the other mages to take.
"Good morning, I see the junior member rose up early today. They'd usually come later in the day. I prepared some ointments for the old man inside, tell him not to travel too much." said the woman in charge of the Oddments.
"I had bad dream that's all…" the newest member of College replied. Everyone in the hold knew of her immediately as it was indeed a small town compared to Whiterun and Solitude. Being in the middle of nowhere did not help. Though she was grateful no one in the hold knew of her true identity, a dragon born. She intended to keep it that way. Unless a dragon attacked the hold's capital.
"Sure…bad dream" Faralda commented as she gave Birna a list of items. The store owner frowned upon seeing the requests. Clearly some of it were outside her capability. The Dragonborn was more focused on the new books the librarian brought with him. The orc happily lend her one of it, but clearly said should keep the pages as neat as possible with a snarl. "Our newest said you can get some of these in Arcadia's store somewhere in Whiterun. I don't really care about the mead, Nirya can protest until her mouth foamed….and you , apprentice, are you sure you're not sending any messages to your betrothed down there?"
Dragonborn gave up, there would be no avoiding the tease. Birna smiled as she handed over a parchment and a quill, not forgetting the inkwell. The Nord mage wrote a quick message to the elder wolf. I'm just writing this to get rid of my master's endless teasing , not for you! Scratching the last exclamation mark as hard as possible, adding her signature and putting on her personal seal on the letter before handing the parchment back to Birna. The girl turned to find both her companies paled.
"That…seal…you're HER descendant?!" the orc blurted. Damnit all to Oblivion, the girl cursed. She had forgotten she was in the company of mages who had better knowledge of the Archsage that aided the last Septim defeating Mehrunes Dagon during Oblivion Crisis centuries ago. The girl had used her family's seal in Jorrvaskr without inciting awe and wonder from the dweller but the historians.
She shook her head, "I am. But please do not treat me any different than you did before. I am indeed her descendant, but that doesn't make me a great spell caster as she was nor having such accomplishment in my curriculum vitae. After all, it's not me closing the gates of oblivion"
Faralda smiled, "Of course"
"So, to whom should I send this letter?" Birna asked from behind her counter.
"Oh, r-right. Please send it to…to the Companions. Anyway, he's the one handling correspondence for the rest of the host. He'll get the letter. I don't really care…" The librarian and the Destruction school teacher grinned. Silently cursing, the girl continued, "…anyway, do you happen to have some more parchment? I remember I should send letter to Farengar"
"That Court Wizard?" Faralda asked, remembering the name on the Dragonborn's commendation letter.
"Well, I found some more information about dragons in the library, thought I'll send him what I know" the girl said as she vigorously wrote her notes on the parchment. No dragon had attacked Winterhold….yet, but the townspeople said that they had been hearing roars at night. The residents knew better to stay indoor. "…our theory might be plausible. Will send you more as soon as I find new reliable sources…done"
"Alright" said the female store owner as she received the second letter and tucked them inside a wooden box where the other letter and item procurement list were. "So, one for the Companions and one for Farengar the Court Wizard. That will be… 50 septims"
"That's a bit steep don't you think?" the Cyrodiil mage questioned the required fee.
"I have upkeep to hold, dear. Being in an isolated town in the middle of nowhere does not help either. 'sides, husband does nothing but waste my money on his drinks" Birna put in the coins she received inside a metal box and locked it inside a chest with intricate lock.
Faralda looked over the counter curiously, "…and that's an excessive security you used"
"I had break in last night. Damned thief almost took everything. Thank the Divines the guards were outside. Poor sod thrown into the cliffs" the oddments' owner explained, "This is a dark time, dragon returns, civil war, and the only good news I've heard all the time was the Thieves Guild back in order"
The three went out of the Oddments after all the arrangements were properly taken care of. The store owner would be busy preparing the order sheet before the store open at eight. Not that she had a lot of customers to begin with. The hold capital was barely alive as most visitors only came for the College which did not bode well with the hold's coffer. The sky was still clear and the town could finally see sun. The townspeople got out of their houses to enjoy the rare sunlight. Though the happy faces cringed as they saw the three College mages.
"Looks like they don't like seeing us" the newest addition to the College whispered to her seniors. The orc librarian snorted and Faralda was indifferent. The two clearly were used to such treatment.
"Get used to it" suggested the Librarian. The old orc had gruffy voice that whenever he talked sounded like he was gargling.
"Anyone up for early morning ale? Heard the inn stocked up few barrels of 'em" Faralda changed the subject and she turned towards the Frozen Hearth inn.
"Huh? Are you sure? What about everyone's breakfast?" the Nord mage blurted out. The orc had already followed the Altmer in tow, expecting good ale from the inn's reserve.
"They won't be up so soon, we'll just have a tankard or two and we go back. You're free to return to your dull hall alone though. Just don't expect good credits on your report" Faralda snickered as she handed her Hall's day worth of food to Urag gro-Shub and opened the inn's door. "You coming or not?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming. That's just not fair" the blonde mage came running towards her seniors and the three entered the inn's longhouse. There were no guests but the locals. There was a man passed out cold on one of the wooden tables available in the inn. Another was a man clad in violet mage robe. He looked at the newcomers for a while before returning to his meager breakfast. A few slices of bread and cheese.
The man behind the counter approached the three quickly. In contrast to the rest of Winterhold's residents, the man treated the three well. "Welcome , welcome. Would you have the usual? Or would you try this month's … " the man lowered his voice "…special reserve, I managed to get some wine from Imperial City. I'm planning to open it tonight, but you may have a sample"
"My…is it Skingrad's?" the Nord girl could not stand her excitement. "They have the best wine. Too bad the Great War burned half of the town…"
"Shhh…" the innkeeper hinted for the mage to lower her voice. "Not so loud. I'm going to make this a surprise. They are Skingrad's indeed, quite rare after the Great War. But we're proud to say that those farmers are coming around. They started replanting the fruits as we speak. Have a seat by the fire, friends. I'll go fetch you some"
The three sat on a bench beside the mysterious mage, waiting for the innkeeper going in his reserve fetching them Skingrad's wine. A certain sweet smell permeated the air from the violet clad mage's tankard.
"He gave you some as well, huh, Nelacar" Faralda casually talked to the mage. The man called Nelacar nodded. The man sliced his cheese and put them between the bread before devouring them. The feature under the hood was coppery golden, revealing his high elven lineage.
"Yeah, I'm a regular after all" the male Altmer raised his tankard.
"You're literally living here" commented Faralda.
"Are you sure you can keep me as a company?"
"You're better on the eyes compared to our Ancano"
The innkeeper returned with three tankards filled with Skingrad wine. He handed one to each of the morning visitors. Of the three, the girl was the one with widest smile as she longed for Cyrodiil wine. She found the northern tastes were too strong for her for she preferred her drinks mild. Seeing the girl drunk the wine gleefully, the innkeeper offered to give her seconds but the girl said she'd pay another visit later that night.
"Glad you didn't taste ash in it"
"Of course not, the bloody Altmer get them. You should've seen them raiding the warehouse…oh, no offense intended" the mage girl quickly rephrased her sentence as she remembered who her companies were.
"None taken, don't worry about that. I have no use of petty politics" said the Destruction master. She asked for another tankard of ale, as it was her purpose of visiting the Frozen Hearth inn.
"The same could be said here" replied Nelacar. He studied the newest student of the art for a second before the high elf continued, "So you're the newest addition. Welcome to Winterhold, though it's a bit late by now. So what are you focusing to?"
"Well…I prefer Conjuration and Destruction, although I do study Illusion for…safety purposes. On your note, I'm against Necromancy" the Nord mage quickly added after telling her spell preferences. "I studied Restoration for a while during my stay in Skyrim. The ones in my previous company kept coming home with a wound or two"
"Conjuration eh? Then we walk the same path. I take it you also study enchantments?" Nelacar questioned the girl and she nodded. "Good, if you need some help on those I will be able to help. I'm better than any of your seniors" Faralda and Urag disapproves but made no voiced objections. "I take it that Restoration researcher was happy with this new addition?"
"Believe me, Collete was excited knowing this" the orc snorted. "So how's your research coming up? I did not hear any explosions tonight"
"But there was a strange smell in the underground now. I hope it's not some unknown side effect" the innkeeper butted in the conversation bringing two tankards of local ale. "Please remember to avoid adding more animosity towards your kind, good sir"
"Don't worry, it will not last long" Nelacar grabbed one of the tankard and gulped down the content, leaving Faralda grumbling as it was hers.
