He had been training with another dremora when the summon spell hit him. He froze in place as the spell took over, the last thing he saw was the daedra smirking victoriously at him. He scowled as the spell took him towards his destination, depositing him in the mortal realm. He cursed the conjurer for screwing up the training session, which meant he would probably have to challenge the other daedra to a duel before too much damage had been caused to his honor. He knew who had summoned him; he didn't even have to look to realize it was the wood-elf mortal Maura. He had only been summoned twice before, which was rather low in comparison to some of his brethren. However, this time it was different. Instead of being on a blood-bathed battlefield, like usual, he was standing in front of a small group of young mortal adults in a large walled plaza. He could see a set of stairs in the distance, leading to the upper levels of the plaza, although he could not see past them. A few robed mortals were wandering in the distance, paying no heed of the sudden arrival of a daedra in their midst. He stared at them and wondered if the mortal had mistakenly summoned him. There was no blood, no spells, no battle; nothing that would make it logical for him to be summoned. He glanced at Maura and frowned in confusion. Instead of her normal armor, she was wearing a pathetic blue robe and carrying a flimsy-looking wooden staff instead of her poisoned blade.
"Welcome to Conjuration Class," she said, sparing one quick glance at him before turning back to the students. The daedra then realized what was going on. He was being used in a class for mortal mages. He glared at the students as he put his sword back into its sheath, now furious at both the conjurer and the situation he had been pulled into. He had been dragged from his training session in Oblivion and into the mortal realms in order to be in a lesson. Most of the younger students were staring at him in wide-eyed horror, their pale faces tight with terror as they cowered in their seats. The older students looked impressed about something, although they were still as white-faced and terrified as their younger friends. Several books were sitting on the students' laps, although a few had slipped off the laps and were now upside-down on the muddy ground.
"Now, who could tell me what I summoned?" Maura asked. The students remained frozen in their seats, unable to reply to her question.
"Anyone? Can no one tell me what sort of daedra I have summoned?" Maura asked, a small frown tugging at her face as she waited. The daedra glanced at the students, his fury slowly vanishing as he became annoyed that they did not respond to such a simple question, and waved an armored hand at Maura. She turned, thinking for a moment that it was a student signaling her, and frowned as she noticed the daedra's waving hand and smirk.
"Yes, I would expect that you would know what you are. I'm asking the students," Maura replied, glaring at the daedra in annoyance. The daedra's smirk widened as he crossed his arms and glared at the students again. A few of them flinched visibly, as if they were expecting the daedra to take out his sword and attack them.
"I thought you were going summon a scamp, not a dremora?" a dark elf boy near the front of the class asked timidly. Maura smiled at him, pleased that someone answered her question. The boy blushed and stared at his feet.
"Thank you for answering the question, Ulves. Sorry if all of you were expecting me to summon a scamp. If I summoned a scamp, that'll bring down your expectations and lower your guard. Beginning conjurers will only be able to summon stunted scamps, small weak clannfears, and the like. I would have summoned a more-powerful creature, which would be discouraging to you students. As you continue practicing the summon spell, you can summon larger creatures and prepare for the conjuration exams," Maura replied.
"Don't we summon the same creature with the spell, though?" a girl yelled from the back of the group.
"That only applies to the more powerful daedra. Scamps, clannfears, and spider-daedra are not bound to the same spells and conditions like dremora and daedroth are. Every time you cast a summon spell, the magic finds the most powerful one that can be kept under your control and bring it into our world. Since you will constantly improve, you will summon more powerful daedra. A spell with a dremora and daedroth will find one daedra, regardless of your control level, and bind that daedra to your spell," Maura continued. The daedra stared at Maura in amusement, a thin smile crossing its face as it listened to the explanation.
"If it is so powerful, than how come you can summon it?" another girl called from the back of the class, looking pleased at herself for the question. The daedra growled angrily at the insult. He glanced at the wood elf and noticed that she had turned white with rage, although she kept her anger in check. He quickly decided that it would suffice in the category of 'protecting the mortal master' and started towards the students. The student who had asked the question squeaked as the daedra grabbed her by the front of her robes and yanked her off of the bench. A few students stood up, whipping out their staffs as if they could stop him before he could hurt the girl.
"Daedra, let go of the girl," the daedra froze as he heard the words and felt the spell that kept him in the mortal realms try to control him. He glared at Maura.
"I am only doing what I am summoned here to do, master," the daedra replied, smirking as he responded. If any color had been in her tanned face, it vanished at the remark.
"Put down the girl, now," Maura stated again, her voice now shaking in fury. The daedra growled as the compulsion forced him to set the girl back on the ground. The girl slid to the ground, trembling in terror. The students glanced between Maura and the daedra, uncertain about what they should do.
"Return to the front, daedra. Students, you can return to your seats and put away your staffs," Maura said. The daedra scowl darkened as he walked back to the front. Maura glared at him for a second before turning back to the crowd of worried students.
"Turn around to face the class and state why you did that, daedra," Maura said, not even bothering to look at the daedra as she spoke. He cursed under his breath before turning to face them. The students that had stood up earlier had returned to their seats, although they still held their staffs in their hands. The girl had left the class, leaving her seat empty in the sea of green robed apprentices.
"I did that because the insult was an attack to both my pride and yours," he replied.
"Thank you. Class, this is the main reason why apprentices are not allowed to summon high-level daedra until they have passed the conjuration exam. Daedra are very touchy in regards to their honor and pride. If they so desire, they will twist anything that is said or done into something they can use against either their summoners or the people around them. This is why students start with scamps and clannfears first. Any more questions before we stop the lesson?" Maura asked.
"Won't you get in trouble for summoning a dremora instead of a scamp, teacher?" the dark elf boy asked timidly.
"I have permission from the arch-mage to summon the daedra. If you think I did this without his consent, then go ahead and ask him. Were you expecting me to simply lecture you on how to perform a spell?" Maura said. The students shifted nervously in their seats, a few of them muttering their responses under their breath.
"Then that is the end of the lesson. Conjuration class has ended for the day. Tomorrow, you will all start practicing summoning scamps," Maura said as she took the book that was sitting on the pedestal before her and shut it with a snap. This noise startled the students out of their thoughts.
"I know you can summon some of my other brethren, mortal. Why choose me?" the daedra growled as the students got up and walked quickly away.
"Because it would scare them into practicing the less-powerful daedra, that's why. Most of the students think they can summon and control everything. Showing them a daedra in the university will keep them from freezing when they eventually summon a daedra," Maura replied as she finished cleaning up her supplies and slung the bag back over her back. The daedra frowned, but realized what she was talking about. His second conjurer had done the same thing, which gave the conjurer's opponent enough time to deal the lethal blow. It was an amusing memory for the daedra, which annoyed him that the mortal mages had figured out why their conjurers were dying so quickly. He knew several daedra that kept a record of the shortest summons, they would be displeased to learn that the mages are being trained against being frightened by the conjured daedra.
"Maura, I was looking for you…" A woman's voice called out. He turned and noticed a breton woman came running up, stopping short as she saw the daedra.
"Hello, Brianna. Did you give Vale the supplies?" Maura asked.
"I got it to her once she arrived, she's very happy that you managed to find them. I did not realize you were going to summon the daedra for the lesson. You were not kidding when you said he was…" Brianna started.
"Brianna, what did you come here for?" Maura quickly interrupted, her cheeks flushing as she glared at the Breton woman. The daedra glanced at her curiously, now curious as to why the mortal turned red and what the breton woman was going to say.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble like that. Your brothers have been waiting for you at the gates," Brianna continued.
"Oh, thank you for telling me," Maura replied, her blush vanishing. Brianna nodded before turning to hurry off to her next destination.
"I'm late, aren't I. Damn, why did it have to be today for the lessons? I'll get Ran for this, I swear…" Maura muttered under her breath as she ran for the stairs, completely forgetting about the summoned daedra.
"Why did I get saddled with this wood-elf for a master? Even Lord Sheogorath would be better than her. Well, maybe she's slightly better than Lord Sheogorath, but..." he muttered under her breath as he followed the girl up the stairs. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed that she was running towards two khajiits standing outside the gates. The older khajiit was glancing between Maura and the younger khajiit, who was jumping anxiously from foot to foot.
"Maura, we've been waiting for you! You told us it wouldn't take so long," the younger khajiit boy yelled as he backed away from the gates to let her unlock and open them. Once she was outside of the gates, he immediately wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly.
"Sorry, Ran surprised me when I came to give Vale more alchemy supplies and I ended up having to teach a class today," Maura said as she hugged the khajiit back and smiled at the older khajiit.
"Teaching again? Is that why that creature followed you here?" the older khajiit asked, glancing over Maura's shoulder and glaring at the daedra. The daedra smiled back at the khajiit, hoping to anger the khajiit into attacking. However, all the khajiit did was reach out and shut the gate behind the wood elf.
"Yes, it ended up being a conjuration class. Don't worry about the daedra, the spell will wear off soon enough. So, Hakrir, how are we celebrating your birthday? Do you want to eat somewhere nice or see what the theater is perfoming tonight?" Maura asked, turning her attention back to Hakrir.
"No, of course not! That sounds so boring! T'khal said that we could go see the gladiators at the arena today!" Hakrir replied happily.
"The arena, huh? That sounds good to me. Daedra, stay here until the spell wears off. In addition, do not attack anyone or challenge anyone to a duel, even if they insulted or attacked you first," Maura said before the three starting walking off.
"You're leaving me here, surrounded by the mortal children and ignorant adults?" the daedra called out angrily. The wood elf stopped in her tracks, which annoyed her younger brother. She turned and smirked at the daedra, a playful I-don't-care-about-you smirk.
"Can't be worse than Oblivion, right?" Maura replied, winking at the daedra before following Hakrir and T'khal to the gates. The daedra frowned as he watched the wood elf walk off with her brothers, vowing to find a way to get her the next time she summoned him to help her out.
A/N: You have to wonder what they teach at those lectures in the Arcane University. It can't only be lectures about the fundamentals of magic and doomstones with the practice time being only destruction spells. The theories of conjuration are entirely my thoughts and ideas on the subject. They are not canon to the Elder Scrolls series.