Nadene Othren entered the Mage's Guild hall cautiously, ready at any moment for an angry atronach to throw her out for being so obviously inept in every area of magic. Instead, she found a tall Dunmer woman in opulent robes blocking the hallway.
"Have you come to join the Mage's Guild?" The woman asked, eyeing Nadene suspiciously. Though they were both Dark Elves, Nadene knew that all the Dunmer of Vvardenfell considered her an outlander. She had been hoping the Guild to be different.
"Yes," Nadene stammered. "I know a couple spells already, but I'm not very good." Good thinking, s'wit. Let her know how terrible you are, that'll improve your chances.
"Hmm." The woman's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps. My name is Ranis Athrys, and I'm the Guild Steward of this branch. I must know: have you ever had any association with House Telvanni, or any member of said House?"
"No. I just arrived in Vvardenfell three days ago. Why, do you have a problem with them?"
"Problem?" Ranis' hands tightened into fists at her sides. "Telvanni is nothing more than a pack of deceitful and murderous nix hounds. You would do well to kill any of their scum you come across."
Nadene nodded. "Right." So, not xenophobic, just crazy. "I can join the Mage's Guild, then?"
"I can admit you as an associate. That is the lowest rank. You will have to show an improved aptitude with magic if you hope to advance in the Guild."
"That sounds great, thank you." Nadene smiled. Maybe things are looking up. "I'm sure I'll get better with practice. So when's my first lesson?"
"I do not provide training to ranks lower than Conjurer." Ranis gestured down the hallway to a large room where other mages were at work. "Ajira can provide duties to you, picking flowers to begin with. I hope you brought gold, if you hope to learn any spells."
"What?" Nadene asked, mouth agape. "I have to pay to learn magic here? What about the spirit of scholarly cooperation?"
For the first time since Nadene had met her, Ranis smiled. "The Mage's Guild is a carefully run organization, not a charity for street mages. It's possible that if you pick enough flowers, Ajira might take pity on you. I certainly will never."
Terrific. And I thought magic was supposed to be fun.