I did it! I updated two long stories in quick succession. YAY!

Those of you just finding this story right now, I'd highly suggest you read Book 1 of the series before setting out into this one.

And those of you already familiar with Mind's Eye will, granted, recognize much of this chapter. But it's just...better molded for continuing the story. Which is the ultimate objective, after all.

So, let's proceed. On with the show!

Deanne shivered and tucked her hands tighter under her mantle. She probably should have worn gloves. But then again, she hadn't expected to be standing out here this long when she'd first wandered out to the College's front gate. Still, she didn't want to go back in yet. Fang felt her shudder, and leaned heavily into her side. Deanne reached out to run a hand through his fur. Her lupine familiar might not be able to lend her any actual warmth, being spectral, but his companionship was welcome.

The College of Winterhold had existed in a virtual stand-still in the time she'd been back. With so many magisters and members of the student body away on the Saarthal expedition, classes had been put on hold. Those who remained were taking advantage of the time to work on their own projects. Even though the College was enormous, Deanne could feel how much quieter and emptier it now was.

She sighed, shivering again, but keeping her place near the gate. It wasn't as though she was expecting them to return while she stood here. But going back to Hall of Attainment or Countenance to sit in a space devoid of the discussions and debates, and the comings and goings she was used to… It was actually less lonely standing out here alone in the cold.

"Freezing won't bring them back any sooner."

Deanne almost jumped out of her boots at Faralda's voice, stumbling a few steps to almost topple over Fang, her face going hot with embarrassment.

"I wasn't—Or…I know. But that wasn't—I mean, I'm not…" She clapped her mouth shut to stop the floundering.

The Destruction Master didn't accuse. She walked into the gateway to stand at Deanne's side, allowing the younger woman to turn back to her vigil. A billow of warm air wound around them, filling the space and holding the Winterhold chill at bay. Deanne relaxed a bit knowing that the magister hadn't come out expressly to bring her inside.

They stood quietly together, Fang resuming his post at Deanne's right hip, Faralda's spell keeping them warm.

Once the atmosphere was comfortable, Faralda asked, "So why are you out here?" Her tone was measured carefully, effectively concealing the motives behind the question.

Deanne's chest constricted around a half-explanation while she worried at the fur of her mantle. She wasn't sure she could talk about this. Or if she should. It didn't even make full sense to her, so how was she supposed to explain it?

Fang shifted next to her and shoved his muzzle into her hand, insisting that, if she was going to fiddle nervously, she may as well do it by petting him.

After a long quiet moment, Faralda made a guess. "If you truly wish to return to Saarthal, I can tell Mirabelle that—"

"No!" Deanne blurted out, then reined in hurriedly. "No, that's not why I'm out here. Or at least…not exactly why…" She groaned, pressing her free hand to her face. Fang whined and leaned into her, almost toppling the ward over. She staggered back upright, then tried to put words to what she was feeling. "I could. Go, I mean. Out there. If I wanted."

Faralda agreed, "Of course you could."

"But I didn't used to. I've never just been able to."

The hand in Fang's scruff tightened and she tucked her hair back anxiously with the other, still struggling with this fundamental shift in her life.

"I'm used to…limits. Knowing that this is my world. I know the things that are in it, I know how to get around inside it, and I know where it ends. I'm used to walls and knowing where they are, and that that's as far as I can go. And, if I stay inside them, I'm safe."

Faralda stepped closer when Deanne petered off, letting their shoulders touch. The contact was a comfort, and some of Deanne's anxiety eased.

The magister pointed out, "Everyone has such limits. Perhaps your limits include more physical considerations than others, but you are far from alone in this. Nor does that mean your limits aren't meant to be overcome, either. Your chamber failed to keep you contained for long. As did the Hall of Attainment. You imposed both limits on yourself, and eventually stepped beyond." She spoke with such pride about that.

"But I was always inside the College," Deanne argued. "I didn't overcome my limits, I just exchanged one for another. Even when I left the Hall for the first time, everything I've done here—the classes and the spell work—has still been inside solid stone walls." She quieted. "Safe."

But that word, that concept, didn't appeal to her like it used to.

She heard the sound of the winds blowing full force beyond the gate, whipping around outside the College, held away by the high walls that enclosed her 'world'. Her senses etched the boundary of her 'world' in her mind and, consequently, where it gave way to the beyond.

Faralda spoke softly. "And yet here you stand, captivated, where the College opens to the outside." She gave Deanne a moment to mull that over. "Have you considered that this limit, too, is self-imposed?"

Deanne stiffened. "Well…maybe." Wasn't this what plagued her? "I mean, I have gone out there a few times. But it was always with someone else. And the last time…" She hesitated, then turned her head slightly to the magister. "You heard about what happened…didn't you?"

"As I was informed, a great deal happened." The statement was kept light but the inquiry left open. Faralda's way of asking without demanding she be answered.

The fingers in Fang's fur flexed and curled. "We were attacked on the way." More twisting. "I…killed someone." Faralda's arm came up around Deanne's shoulders, even though the younger woman was absolutely determined to remain above the swell of regret that welled up. "I had to—They attacked us first. But we got there alright. And then…" She hesitated briefly. "In the ruin, we found a passage and…went ahead of the expedition. There were draugr. We fought them. And we came out of it okay. I mean, all these dangerous things happened that I've always been afraid of happening. And I'm still alright. And so are the others—Or they were…"

She fumbled again, not even sure where that all left her. She'd gone through all these things she'd been afraid of, including and exceeding those that kept her inside the safety of her 'world'…And yet she was still here. Alive, well, back home.

Did that mean the world out there wasn't as dangerous as she'd thought?

No! There had been bandits and draugr trying to kill her. And they would have if they'd been able to.

And yet she had survived and returned to the College…

Deanne groaned and covered her face with her hands, struggling. Fang chuffed anxiously and twisted to bump his massive head into her stomach. Faralda shushed him and rubbed Deanne's shoulder soothingly, giving her time to settle.

With all this new information, it felt like Deanne's entire world had shifted, and she wasn't sure where she stood in it anymore.

Faralda gave her some firm direction for her thoughts. "Do you wish to be out there again, now that you know you are capable of it?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I mean, everyone I care about is out there now, so—" She halted, horrified. "No, I didn't mean it like that. You are—I mean I do care about you—"

The magister actually chuckled warmly. "I understand what you mean, my dear. I am your guardian. They are your peers. The roles are different." She mellowed. "And then there is the warrior."

Deanne held her breath, her face flushing anew remembering the kiss. That kiss… She'd spent a great deal of time thinking about that, too.

She waited for some insistence, either away or toward him. But none came.

Instead, Faralda told her, "As your guardian, I am not here to enforce the limits you've placed on your life, but to ensure that you have the means to reach beyond them if you desire."

"But I don't know if I want to—"

"You needn't make the choice this moment," Faralda said, quick to keep her ward from leaping to unnecessary concerns. "Much like the Destruction school, either choice comes with its own consequences. But nor should you declare yourself incapable because you haven't considered this before. As I said, this may merely be the next limit for you to surmount." She made a show of shivering. "But perhaps you could think about this somewhere we will not catch frostbite?"

A laugh burst out of Deanne's chest and she reached up to swipe at her eyes before a tear could managed to escape on its own. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea."

XXX

Scarcely a day later, the Hall of Attainment door burst open. Deanne was in the middle of folding laundry when a flurry of cold air and irritable voices flooded into the Hall, and Deanne felt her heart lift on the crest of the influx. J'Zargo, Onmund, Brelyna.

Her heart swelled. They were back? They were back! But so soon? And where was everyone else? She hurried to set her robes aside and reached her doorframe as their burdens hit the floor.

"Deanne!" Brelyna rushed over and threw her arms around Deanne's neck.

Deanne wrapped her arms around Brelyna in return, so glad to have her friends back—and shrieked when the womer's ice-cold hands wormed their way under her collar. "Divines, your hands are freezing! Let go!"

Brelyna clung on, whining plaintively, "No, no, no! You're warm. I'm suffering. Help me, please."

They squirmed for control of the freezing-cold hands, Deanne yelping every time Brelyna found fresh skin. "No, not—Aah! Stop it. You're not—Come over here. Use the stove!"

By the time they reached the kitchen, J'Zargo had already claimed the spot in front of the stove. But he did move to give Brelyna room without anyone asking. Brelyna sighed with relief as the heat washed over her, but muttered softly, "You're better."

"Don't you dare," Deanne snapped without heat, pulling her collar tight to defend against further assault as she backed out of reach.

From back in the main chamber, Onmund hollered, "Are either of you going to help with all this?"

J'Zargo yelled back, "When J'Zargo can feel his toes again, yes, he will help."

Onmund sighed, exasperated, going about what he was doing. But Deanne shared the non-Nord sentiment toward freezing temperatures. "Let me make some tea. There's stew on but it's not ready yet. And you need warming up."

"Yes, please," Brelyna declared, but stayed cleaved to the stove while Deanne fetched the kettle.

Onmund joined them about when the kettle started screaming and accepted a cup when it was offered, though he clearly didn't need it as much as the others.

They'd barely sat down before Deanne let out a shriek as she was wrapped up again.

"I'm so glad you're alright." Deanne was shoved out to arm's length, Brelyna emphatic, "You are, aren't you?" then Brelyna yanked her back in and barreled on, "Vilkas said you just collapsed. I saw you. You didn't move—I was so scared–Then you were gone! Archmage Aren said you were fine, but you know how he is, so we were worried. We didn't know if we should come back to check on you, or if you were returning eventually—"

J'Zargo scoffed, disturbing Brelyna's anxious monologue "Yes. Brelyna was so very worried. But where was this worry when J'Zargo was suffering?"

Deanne's neck cricked as Brelyna twisted them around to shoot across the table, "You're heartless, you know that?!"

Another scoff and a derisive, "J'Zargo was not worried because J'Zargo knew it would take more than a magic floating ball to knock Deanne down. Meanwhile, J'Zargo suffers, and where is his doting care?"

"He's fine," Brelyna insisted. "But are you? We really were worried. That artifact...No one's ever seen anything like it. The effects it could have-!"

Deanne reached up and patted the arm wrapped around her front. "I'm fine. Really. I was fine by the time we reached the gate. Colette couldn't find any lingering effects. I don't even know for sure if...what happened was from interacting with the orb at all. More the release of after. Or too much excitement at once. Or…" Deanne gave up grasping for explanation. She didn't have anymore idea what had happened than anyone else. "I'm perfectly fine now. I promise."

Brelyna exhaled and she let her head fall forward onto Deanne's shoulder. "Thank goodness." Then she lifted her head and whispered in Deanne's ear, "And J'Zargo was worried, no matter what he says."

"He was not!"

Looking to divert their bickering before it started, Deanne asked, "What are you all doing back so soon, though? I thought the expedition had been extended." With that new section of the tomb uncovered, there was certainly a lot more to uncover and study in Saarthal.

Brelyna answered, finally letting go of Deanne but staying seated close all the same, "It was. But they sent the three of us back with some artifacts and to do research on the orb. It's got everyone stumped. Even the Archmage."

J'Zargo sputtered over his hot drink and practically threw it down the table. "Research!" he spat. "Any could have been sent, yet it is us three they choose? It is that they do not trust us any longer in Saarthal."

Deanne could hear Onmund roll his eyes. "You do remember we got ourselves caught in a trap, wandered off alone without supervision, and were almost killed fighting draugr, right? I wouldn't trust us not to do something stupid, either."

"Was it not we who discovered the hidden passage?" J'Zargo demanded. "Did we not prove capable against the corpses? Was it not we who discovered this great treasure they are so attached to? By Deanne's vision, we prevented a great disaster. J'Zargo believes that demands recognition!"

Onmund made an aggravated sound but fell quiet, while Brelyna respond, "You're just upset about your mustache. It'll grow back."

J'Zargo burst, "—J'Zargo's mustache was a work of great pride! He is right to be upset!" He slumped over the table, rubbing his hands over his face. "J'Zargo's mustache is gone. J'Zargo's eyebrows are gone. J'Zargo's whiskers are gone. His whole face is wrong."

"One of the fireballs caught him in the face," Brelyna said in an aside to Deanne.

"J'Zargo keeps spilling things down his front! It is awful!" the Khajiit wailed plaintively. Deanne suppressed the urge to giggle at his outcry. But he still caught it.

"Oh yes. Laugh at the fur-less Khajiit. Keep laughing and J'Zargo will not give you your present."

Deanne's curiosity perked up. "Present?"

"What present?" Brelyna asked suspiciously.

"A souvenir from Saarthal! Like Onmund said, it was a grand adventure. And adventures need trophies!"

"Trophies?!" Onmund balked.

"Don't worry," J'Zargo assured him. "J'Zargo did not rob your ancestors' graves."

"What did you do?" Brelyna demanded.

The Khajiit was positively bouncing as he delved into his robes and bid excitedly, "Hands! Hands! Hands!"

Deanne offered hers hesitantly to have J'Zargo, after a bit more rustling, plunk a stone weight triumphantly into them.

Brelyna gasped. "You stole from the expedition? That's low. Even for you!"

"You do not know the things J'Zargo has done," J'Zargo pointed out, rakishly. "But no, this did not come from the expedition. The expedition never saw this. J'Zargo took it from the angry draugr in the last chamber before anyone came investigating. It doesn't count."

The other two gasped and laid into him immediately.

"I can't believe you!"

"You stole it!"

"Did not!"

"You took it off his body?!"

"If the magisters find out-"

"So we don't tell them."

Deanne sat and listened passively as the other three fired words back and forth. Any concern over them being truly angry at him was eased as there no more animosity in the back and forth than there was when they debated casting techniques or whether a spell was Altmeric or Dunmeric in origin. Deanne let her head fall forward, hood mostly hiding the smile their familiar chatter brought to her face.

"Can't turn my back on you for a second-"

"J'Zargo watched Onmund's back fine in the tomb-"

"-not even a proper amulet. It's all broken-"

"Then why is Brelyna making such a fuss?"

The...souvenir was a kind gesture, if ill-advised, given the trouble he could get into. But, really, all they needed to bring back was themselves. The College had been so empty over the last week, and Deanne hadn't realized until their absence just how much she'd come to value and depend on her friends' companionship.

"If Brelyna wanted one, she should have-"

"That is not remotely what I meant-"

The opening of the Hall door silenced all of them, the four clamming up and peeling their ears for who had entered.

There were a few soft footsteps, a measure of silence…

Then a stern, "Apprentices."

The whole table felt a spike of panic.

"The Master Wizard!"

"Pocket-pocket-pocket!" J'Zargo hissed frantically. But it was Brelyna who seized Deanne's hands and shoved them under the table with their burden. And not a moment too soon, as the magister's footsteps soon made their way to the dining room's door frame and stopped.

The whole table held their breath, until Brelyna said, too brightly, "Hello, Master Mirabelle." Much too brightly.

After a tense silence, the magister's response was terse.

"Is there a reason why the expedition equipment and artifacts are strewn around the entryway?" The anxiety shifted and the apprentices started fidgeting.

"Well...Master Mirabelle," Brelyna offered, "It was a long walk from Saarthal to here-"

"-And with all the snow-" J'Zargo put in.

"Right! The snow. We thought we'd warm up first. Before we put everything away…"

Another weighty stretch of quiet. The apprentices held their breath, and Deanne clutched the amulet fragment tightly out of sight.

"Hm." Deanne felt the flinch at her shoulder. That sound was as good as a reprimand from the Master Wizard.

"While I recognize that you three are not used to traveling in Winterhold weather, that is not an excuse for being careless with your equipment or the items the expedition has gathered. One of the stipulations of your participation was that you conduct yourselves like responsible mages. That holds true at the site and the College."

"Yes, Master," came the collective response, all of them properly chagrined.

"And Deanne, I expect you not to indulge in such bad habits, regardless of the actions of your peers."

"Yes, Master," she replied dutifully.

Apparently satisfied, Master Mirabelle continued with the matter she had come regarding, "Now then, Alteration workroom two has been converted into a catalogue area for the Saarthal expedition's findings. Once you are warm, I expect you to relocate everything you have brought back into that space. Each item should be clearly logged and labeled before you retire for the night." Her tone brokered no argument. "Did Master Tolfdir send any additional documentation with you?"

"Yes," Brelyna volunteered, scrambling free of the bench and hustled around the table, brandishing a scroll, as eager to provide Master Mirabelle with what she requested as to keep the magister from approaching the table, Deanne, and her 'souvenir'.

Master Mirabelle took the parchment, unfurled it and spent a moment reading through its contents.

"Ah yes, this...orb, you found in Saarthal." Another moment of reading. "While I cannot claim any familiarity with this particular find, perhaps Urag can direct you to the appropriate resources. Once you have dealt with the artifacts, you may report to the Arcanaeum."

There were several weary exhalations from the apprentices - which were swiftly cut off. Deanne was glad she couldn't see the glare Mirabelle must have set on them.

"As I was saying," Mirabelle said, sternly, once they'd quieted, "You may report to the Arcanaeum tomorrow afternoon, once you've rested. Any relevant findings should be reported to me. And Master Tolfdir when he returns."

Her business done, Mirabelle bid them well and left the Hall of Attainment.

Only when the door closed shut behind her did the apprentices at last breath easy.

"That was too close," Brelyna sighed, collapsing back down on the bench.

J'Zargo, recovering faster than the others, just snorted. "It was nowhere near."

She regained her disapproval swiftly. "You made us accessories to theft. You don't get to talk."

"Brelyna is just sore that, while she was worried for Deanne, J'Zargo was worried and got her a 'get-well' present."

"Aha!" the Dunmeri exclaimed, diverted. "You were worried!"

This time J'Zargo sounded genuinely offended, "Of course he was worried. What kind of awful person does Brelyna think he is that he wouldn't worry. He just didn't wander around constantly talking about it."

"I didn't constantly talk about it!"

"Brelyna certainly did!"

Onmund, at least, had had enough. "Can you two bicker while we put the artifacts away?"

J'Zargo made a mocking sound, probably coupled with a face. "Alright, no need to be bossy," and heaved himself off the bench, soon followed by the others, and they left the dining room to see to their task.

The apprentices' burdens were still sitting against the wall in the foyer – no wonder Master Mirabelle had been cross. They set about separating equipment from personal possessions from artifacts, putting off the next trip outside as long as possible.

"Where is the warrior?" J'Zargo asked, thumping what Deanne hoped were his own things none too gently to one side. "J'Zargo has had enough of hauling these things around. What is even the reason for this one? It is garbage." Deanne didn't ask which artifact he was directing that last bit to.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Onmund said sorely, "Help would be nice."

Deanne hesitated, shifting what she held so she could fiddle with her fur mantle, answering, 'He's not here…He went back to Whiterun. After Colette said I was alright."

"And you didn't go with him?" Brelyna practically demanded.

"What? No! Of course not!"

"But you wanted to," the womer pressed, mischievously. Deanne sputtered, which only served to egg Brelyna on. "Ha! I knew it. Don't even bother denying it. We all saw you together. Honestly, I'm surprised we found you here at all."

"Leave her alone, Brelyna" Onmund growled, shouldering past the womer to pick up what she'd abandoned in the 'storage' pile, probably hoping to get Brelyna back on task. It didn't work.

"What? You know I'm right."

J'Zargo grumbled, "Of course. We all saw them. But we also know, if she had gone, Brelyna would be whining about her leaving without goodbye, or something. There is no satisfying the Dunmer."

Brelyna groused, but didn't retaliate. Instead, she stepped closer to Deanne and asked, "So when is he coming back?" Why in Mundus, was she so fixated on this?

"I don't know. But it's fine. We knew he wouldn't be able to stay long. Can…can we focus, please?" Deanne did not want to spend time on this subject. Especially since…she had asked to go with Vilkas. It was a spur of the moment request, sure. And she'd taken it back, but…would Deanne have gone with him then and there if he'd agreed to take her?

She didn't have an answer. So there was no purpose in dwelling on it. On anyone dwelling on it.

Brelyna huffed, "Fine. But we're going to have a serious conversation later about you letting him get away at all." Deanne groaned softly and gladly let J'Zargo foist several items into her arms before they all made their way out of the Hall, to the College proper and about Mirabelle's assigned task.

J'Zargo, whether intentionally or out of habit, kept Brelyna distracted with their usual stream of bickering. Onmund and Deanne only providing input to ease the more biting comments or redirect them to the job at hand. Deanne was rather surprised they had the energy to spare to keep it up for so long since, as soon as the four returned to the Hall of Attainment, both mages all but collapsed into bed. Maybe Brelyna would forget the whole topic by the morning.

…Hopefully.

There was just one more thing bothering her. "Onmund?" He paused in his doorway. "Are you…alright?" she ventured. "You've been awfully quiet since you got back." He'd said next to nothing until J'Zargo had pulled out the amulet, and not much after.

"Fine. I'm fine." He shifted where he stood. Which indicated otherwise.

Deanne reached into her pocket, pulling the fragmented amulet J'Zargo had given to her from where it had been tucked for the last hour or so. "Is it this? I can give it to one of the magisters, if you'd like. Or you can take it back to Saarthal –"

"No, no," Onmund cut her off. "It's…fine. Maybe a souvenir isn't such a bad thing. Considering everything we…" He cast off whatever thoughts were bothering him. "Keep it. Maybe it will bring you luck. And…I'm glad you're still here. That we're all still here. Even J'Zargo, if you'd believe it." He laughed, though it sounded only a bit forced.

Deanne felt something between them settle. A tension that had been stirred up when Vilkas had arrived. Although its fading wasn't entirely to do with his absence. Maybe, if she were braver or more curious, she'd try to understand it. But, as things stood, she was more than willing to let it lie and accept that their friendship remained.

They bid each other good night and retired to their rooms.

As Deanne lay in bed, she could sense nothing particularly different from any other night. Her room was unchanged. The Hall's magical focus point roared dully beyond her door, providing ambient noise that filled the space. Nothing heard or felt out of place.

With time to relax, she rolled onto her back and opened her 'mind's eye'. The magic all around her etched itself in her mind, the flow of energy moving through the walls and the very air around her, the world shaped to a sense that went beyond the physical. And, within the College's form, she saw the brilliant forms of her friends and their magic. Even at rest, each of their unique auras glowed in her mind.

Deanne sighed and settled in. It was so good to have them back.

XXX

All three slept in for hours the next morning. Deanne didn't even consider rousing them. Instead, she put a pot of porridge on to simmer and made certain all the additives were within easy reach.

Them sleeping longer did mean she had time to investigate the amulet J'Zargo had given her undisturbed. Behind closed doors, of course.

It wasn't a whole piece. A few ragged edges implied it had been broken off from something. But, oddly enough, that 'ragged' quality applied to the enchantment within the amulet as well. Deanne had never come across something like this before. Normally, when an item was broken, the enchantment dissipated entirely. An enchantment just couldn't hold once it lost a piece of itself.

Which meant this amulet must have been enchanted using some long forgotten method. Some way that soaked the enchantment into the object rather than lay over or through it.

Divines, she wished she could take this to Sergius and ask him. But that would raise questions of how she got it and might get J'Zargo in all that trouble they'd talked about yesterday.

So Deanne resigned herself to questions only and hung the fragment around her neck. By the Eight, even broken, the enchantment was still quite powerful. Deanne moaned in frustration, but dutifully tucked the piece under her robes and wrapped her fur-mantle around it. The things she did for friendship.

But they were all up, fed, rested and ready by the afternoon, at which point they found themselves entering the Arcanaeum to go about researching Saarthal's orb.

Or they might have, if Urag gro-Shub hadn't immediately come raging at them. And fast enough that Brelyna actually yelped and ducked back behind Onmund, dragging Deanne with her.

"Stop right there!" the Orsimer bellowed. "Not one more step, any of you."

"What! We haven't done anything," J'Zargo snapped back, stepping up to meet the librarian.

Deanne felt Urag's glare sweep over them. "Maybe you haven't. But the Arcanaeum is off limits until I've cataloged every tome in here. All of you. Out!"

Brelyna piped up around Onmund's shoulder, "The Master Wizard asked us to do research for the Saarthal expedition."

"I know what you're here for." Brelyna ducked back at his tone. Urag could be terrifying when he wanted to. His primary task might be maintaining the tomes of the Arcanaeum, but the Orsimer was a powerful mage in his own right. Only the most foolish of apprentices – or magisters – made the mistake of crossing him. "Word travels fast around here. And it doesn't change a thing. Every tome on these shelves is going to be accounted for before anyone takes another book off of them."

The sheer weight of his magicka, roiling around him, had the whole group backing out of the door. But it didn't keep Onmund from demanding, "Well what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" This was an assignment from the Master Wizard. She wouldn't be pleased to see them anywhere but in the Arcanaeum.

Urag growled just as they cleared the doorframe. "You want to do something productive? Track down Orthorn and get back what he stole." And with that he slammed the doors in their face.

The intensity of the ejection took a few minutes to set in. And, predictably, J'Zargo broke the silence. "Ooooo! Orthorn is in trouble."

Brelyna elbowed him. "This is serious."

"So, what do we do now?" Deanne asked. There was no way they were going back through those doors until Urag himself opened them. Her heart was still beating fast from the confrontation. "Should we tell Mirabelle?" That didn't sound like a pleasant option either, though. Even if it wasn't their fault they couldn't follow her instructions.

"We could," J'Zargo said, blithely. "Oooooor…" And He went bolting down the hallway without explaining, leaving the rest of them standing there stunned.

"What – J'Zargo!" Brelyna shrieked after him.

"Come!" he shouted back, already yards away and still going. "If we hurry we can catch him!"

The other three didn't grasp his intent until he was already gone.

"…He's not really going to…" Brelyna said, hesitantly.

"It's J'Zargo," Onmund pointed out. "What do you think?"

It only took a moment's thought. Then they all ran after him, pelting down stairways and through various corridors to catch him.

By the time they reached the Hall of the Elements, they'd lost track of J'Zargo entirely.

"Deanne, do you think you can – "

Deanne was already opening her Eye and searching for J'Zargo's magicka signature amidst the College's magic. "He's on the bridge."

"Stupid cat," Brelyna stated, but still pushed open the doors outside, pulling Deanne with her and Onmund followed behind. "J'Zargo's the last one I'd expect to chase a thief."

"You're assuming he's doing it because Orthorn stole from the College," Onmund pointed out.

"Why else would he – Where's he even going?!" Brelyna asked, skidding to a halt at the front gate. She released Deanne's arm and cupped her hands to shout into the icy winds, "J'Zargo!"

From somewhere down the long bridge to the mainland, just loud enough to make out, came a response. "Come! Come! Let's go! He can't have gotten far!"

"You don't even know which way!" she retorted. Then groaned, and said plainly, "And he's gone."

The three stood poised at the gate, the flurries spiraling around them, even with the gateway providing shelter.

"Should we go after him?" Onmund finally asked aloud.

Brelyna replied, "Did you see him in the tomb? I'm surprised he lasted long enough to make it to the College in the first place. He's gonna get himself killed. Maybe this time we outta let him." Onmund shifted and there was a pause. "What?! We just got back. I'm not going out there again. Look at the sky!"

There was an ominous roar in the distance. The sort that promised new drifts of snow and truly frigid temperatures while they were placed.

The three stood at the gate, silently debating their next move. And the thoughts of Deanne's last vigil returned to her mind. Maybe…maybe she could go out there. Maybe she could follow J'Zargo and…

"I'll go get him," Onmund said, sounding resigned.

The gate squealed softly as he opened it.

Maybe…she could go with him – with both of them…

"You tell him if he wants to freeze in a snowstorm, he can do it by himself!" Brelyna snapped quickly. Onmund made a noncommittal sound and his footsteps carried him down the path, away from them.

Maybe…

Deanne took a breath…and hesitated.

Long enough for his footsteps to disappear in the wind; leaving her and Brelyna standing in the entranceway. And the gate clanged shut in front of them.

*gasp!* There they go! And Deanne is left behind...OR IS SHE?! *dun-dun-DAAAAAAH!*

*raises glass* I need to give a thank you to Pixiedurango on Tumblr for the short she wrote for Mind's Eye which gave a serious heave-ho to the creative roadblock. Not canon for the story, but definitely an inspiration.

And many, many, many thanks to my beta, Breather, who after months and months of hearing NOTHING from me, picked up reviewing my stuff as soon as I broke the long radio silence. You are a treasure and I can't thank you enough for providing the input and guidance you do.

And this last one's to my readers for sticking with me. And especially to those who leave the comments and reach out on PM, who encourage me to keep writing and remind me I'm not forgotten as soon as I leave a room. I really appreciate those of you who sent inquiries and encouragement during the long silence. It was much needed to get me back on this horse.

*final toast* To regular updates!