The Start of Something New

The College of Winterhold was well known throughout the land, its name reaching the Imperial City and beyond, however this wasn't entirely for being a center of magical learning. Instead, the College was spoken about in hushed whispers, infamous and looked down upon by the harsh judgmental world, a stain of shame upon the people of Skyrim. When the city had collapsed into the Sea of Ghosts, and the College yet stood, the omnipresent resentment had transformed into utter animosity, leaving Winterhold a shriveled husk of its former self, and the College a place no one except mages ventured. This fact, combined with the city's already remote location, was exactly what had brought a particularly peculiar elf to it.

She was holding the fabric of her cloak close, trying to shield herself from the chilling cold rather than mask her face any. The dunmer didn't care who saw her, there was nothing she had to hide from, nor was there anyone either. The street, as there was only a singular one left in the city, was deserted, allowing the dunmer quick passage up to where the gatehouse of the College awaited. It was a little stone structure with a small overhang to keep the snow from covering the elf who stood on guard within it, a frosty altmer with her reddish brown hair pulled into two separate ponytails. The cloaked dunmer stopped when the altmer raised her hand, and simply waited for the command that was surely to come.

"Who goes there?"

"Siulon," the dunmer replied, pulling the hood down to expose herself to the harsh gaze of the altmer guard. "A fellow mage."

Faralda scoffed softly, eyes sweeping over the dunmer's horribly scarred left side of her face, taking in ghostly blind eyes and red hair nearly gone on the scarred side while wild and vibrant on the other. Dark red face paint swept away from the dunmer's eyes towards the bottom of her ears as well as bisected her lip, just how she had managed to make the pattern Faralda was unsure. "Question is are you any good?"

Siulon's expression did not change, and she simply looked at where she could tell Faralda was. "Would you care to find out?" She inquired slowly.

"Yes, I would," Faralda responded, crossing her arms and jutting a hip slightly with a twinge of annoyance. "Summon me something," she ordered.

"That all?"

"For now..."

With the faintest of smirks, the dunmer raised her hands and began to move them in slow, methodical motions, drawing lines in the air as dark light swirled around them. It did not stop there as Faralda expected, but rather there was a rush of purple and black light, spinning around the dunmer who seemed perfectly at peace, and then exploded outwards from her hands to consolidate into a massive swirling singularity of darkness, white magic flashing around it as the world reverberated with a deep sound, and the singularity imploded. Standing there in the snow was a creature garbed in terrifying black and red armor, a dunmer like face painted with red and horns growing from its forehead back. It held a massive glowing red blade in its hand, and scowled up at Faralda who had paled with freight. "Is that... A dremora?"

Sniffing, Siulon stared sightlessly up at the altmer. "Seems like it does it not? Care to make sure?"

"No I'm perfectly fine here."

The dunmer smirked. "Of course." She flicked a hand and the dremora vanished with another implosion. "Anything else you require of me before I may enter or are you done doubting?"

Faralda, despite the tremendous display of power she had just seen, gave a slight huff. "It's simply procedure, you must realize."

"Of course."

Scowling still, she gestured towards the crumpling bridge that would take Siulon across to the College. "You may enter." With her chin held ever so slightly high, the dunmer passed by Faralda, and made her way towards her destination. Her steps were mindful, ears straining to hear the sound of scuffling rocks over the howling wind and she clutched her cloak a bit closer. Eventually, after only one stumble, she was at the gates of the College, a hand reaching out to feel the black metal and the intricate eye-shaped design that bore the emblem of the College of Winterhold. Steeling herself slightly for what she expected to come, she pushed it open and entered the College.

Instantly she was hit with a sense of peace, the howling wind for the most part blocked outside now and she could feel the soft crunch of snow on stone underfoot. There was some bird singing nearby, the smell of snowberries and trees, and the twinkling sound of magic. Siulon narrowed her eyes slightly in thought, an instinctive gesture rather than one she needed to make to help focus, and her ears twitched. There were columns of stone encircling the courtyard, ancient architecture designs, and three towers in all. A group of babbling students were exiting the one to her left, and the dunmer turned towards them hoping to get their attention. She knew she had it when there was a very sharp feminine gasp, and the dunmer bit her tongue with annoyance.

"I'm looking for Savos Aren," she called out.

"Arch-mage Savos Aren?" The female of the group replied, their footsteps signaling their approach, snow crunching and stone clattering.

"What does stranger want with Arch-Mage?" To Siulon, it sounded like a male khajiit, raspy and exotic.

"Obviously she's joining the College J'zargo," another male voice said. J'zargo huffed, stomped a foot and Siulon scowled a bit deeper. "He should be in the Hall of the Elements, it's directly across the courtyard... Do you need any help getting there?" He offered nicely, Onmund looking a bit skeptical she could make it there on her own without getting lost.

With a slight wave of her hand, she twitched an ear and turned back out towards the courtyard. "Are there any obstacles in the way?" She inquired, listening intently to the area she was within.

"There's a statue of our founder in the center, along with a mana pool. There's some trees and the sort with it too. You'd be best to just go around the circle to it, and the Hall of the Elements has the big double doors." Siulon nodded in response, and held a hand out until she found the stone wall that encircled the courtyard, finding the grooves of age on the structure and the cold smoothness to it soothing. Moving quite swiftly, she worked clockwise and soon enough found her fingertips trailing the splintering fanciful door of the Hall of the Elements. She could still hear the students whispering, most likely about her scars, and Siulon grumbled softly as she entered the warmth of the tower.

The sound of mages conversing about magic, one or another lecturing and spewing out eccentric words in tandem, echoed off the walls, bouncing off the circular still design. It sounded as if the whole room was enclosed and vast, a stairway to both sides as Siulon heard footsteps going up and down to her flanks. It didn't take a moment for her presence to be noticed, and someone scurried right over to her. "Excuse me, but are you joining us here at the College?"

"Perhaps... I'm not certain yet."

"Ah, well that is perfectly fine. My name is Mirabelle Ervine, Master Wizard here at the College," the breton woman replied, and to Siulon is sounded like she was expecting the dunmer to do something.

"Are you holding out your hand?" Siulon drawled, blinking slowly.

"Oh... I'm sorry..." Mirabelle replied with embarrassment. "Habits, I suppose."

The dunmer shrugged, "I suppose. Fret not, I'm not offended. I would like to see Savos Aren however."

Mirabelle gave a hearty nod, "Of course of course... He should be in his quarters right about now, I think you just missed him in fact. Allow me to escort you there." Siulon did not reply, but instead followed Mirabelle as she began to ascend the stairs Siulon had heard earlier. They spiraled upwards for two flights, their steps echoing heavily on the stone material, and then stopped at a landing. Mirabelle knocked on a door, the sound echoing just like their steps with a heavy note, and then entered. "Excuse me... You have a visitor," Siulon heard her say.

"Now who might that be?" He replied, "I wasn't expecting anyone for some time."

"A blind dunmer mage that-"

"Siulon?" He cut her short, shock so thick in his voice the dunmer awaiting outside chuckled softly. "Please, do bring her in." Siulon did not wait for Mirabelle to do so, and instead entered herself, lifting her chin with a curling grin upon her face. Savos had turned towards her, taking in the dunmer with a slightly pained expression, and gestured for Mirabelle to leave them. "Make sure we are not disturbed," he ordered as the breton departed. Neither of them spoke until the door resounded with a heavy thud, footfalls down the stairs letting them know they were alone.

Savos spoke first, his words angry as he spat them out. "I thought you were dead."

A shrug rolled off Siulon's shoulders. "Everybody did. That was the point." She crossed her arms and stared blankly up at him. "Most people don't fake their death's unless they want to hide."

"Why would you just vanish like that? Why didn't you tell me where you were going?" He clenched a hand, and Siulon could easily see his jaw rigid and eyes narrowed even without her sight.

The dunmer gave a soft sigh, lowering her head shamefully. "Savos... I had to... I was in danger, I could not stay in the Imperial City any longer you must understand."

"What danger?" The skepticism was like a slap to the face, and she ducked her head. The female dunmer fished in her satchel for something, and pulled out a small book that she offered to Savos. He took it with a soft scowl, until he actually looked down and saw the pattern upon it. "Is this who's I think it is?"

"Yes... It's hers..."

Savos looked up at her, and shook his head. "What happened to her? Your sister... Did you find her?"

Siulon nodded her head slowly, the mage's blind gaze lowering back to the ground below in memory. Even without vision she could see those past events playing before her eyes, colors and blurry shapes rather than defined images. When she spoke, her voice cracked. "I was too late... When she was infected, I spent months trying to find a cure, and eventually those months turned into years. You remember how I'd vanish for weeks on trips based on little more than rumors do you not?" He nodded. "Well eventually I did find something, a chance at a cure for my sister! I was overjoyed, so filled with relief, I thought surely she would accept it! But when I went to where I found out she was hiding... she was so different... My sister was gone Savos, and in her stead was a monster that wanted to turn me into a vampire just like it and the dozen thralls she had already done so to. She... It tried to kill me." With a grimace, Siulon rolled up her left sleeve, revealing a deep bite like scar just above her wrist. "It nearly did." She pulled her robe back down, feeling his eyes burning into it.

Savos shook his head, confusion rippling off his body in waves. "But how did you survive?"

"I was prepared, I had known it was a possibility after all I had been studying vampires for two decades at that point. I just... Never thought it would actually happen."

"Dare I ask what became of Gadyali?" Blank eyes met him, and he sighed softly with understanding. "I see... I'm sorry Siulon, for everything you endured but why did you have to leave afterwards? You should have been free at last from your plight and been able to come back to the Guild without worry."

She gave a fierce shake of her head. "No, I could not. Gadyali was not alone anymore, not like when she was turned. She had a whole clan built around her while it took me so long to find a way to cure her. They were all so furious I had killed their master they began to hunt me. If I had not already learned the proximity spell I surely would have perished a hundred years ago." She flicked a hand, a small flash of light around it as she strengthened the spell, a subtle invisible wave spreading out through the room to paint a picture in the woman's mind like broken shards of glass. She could tell there was a desk and bed and many other pieces of furniture and magical equipment in the room, decorations and... a tree? Siulon frowned as she focused on the spell, and surely enough that was a tree. Savos had always been a curious man but she couldn't fully believe he had a whole tree in his quarters. Something about it she found endearing, and she smiled softly, not realizing just how that would be perceived.

There was a sharp snarl in the room, and Siulon snapped her attention back to the mage before her, her scope of the world dwindling down to Savos and Savos alone. "You could have told me! You could have trusted me! I was investigated you know? The Mages Guild thought I had done something to you! That after everything we'd been together, that I would harm you!"

Siulon snapped her head up, squaring up to the taller dunmer and scowling. "But you did hurt me Savos. You're the one who did this," she pointed to her eyes, milky white orbs staring at the mage who cringed guiltily, "remember?"

"How could I forget?" His shoulders slumped, a terribly sorrowful sigh escaping him. "I was just a little too confident... Just a little too sure of myself. I thought that I had control of that spell, I really did, but then you..." Savos reached out, one hand gently caressing the scarred side of Siulon's face. She did not retreat like he had expected, but instead leaned into his touch slightly. The male bit his cheek and shook his head. "You were always so beautiful my dear... I couldn't keep my gaze off of your for a moment. Then in the one time I needed to... I failed you, and I will forever be filled with sorrow over what I have done to you. In all my life I never would have wanted to harm you."

Blind eyes lidded half-closed, the female dunmer reached up and caressed Savos' cheek, before pulling him in for a long kiss. When she pulled back, she cracked a sad smile. "I know my Love... It's why I have returned..." Savos wrapped her in a hug, pulling her against his body, refusing to release her so long as she would allow it. They remained like that for some time before Siulon pulled back, and kissed him once more. "I know I have done wrong by you for vanishing, but I promise if I had thought I could risk telling you... I would have. Azura I would have. One hundred years I have lived with that guilt, knowing that I had hurt you, knowing that you would probably never forgive me." She ran her hand down his face, the beard he had grown since she'd last been with him taking her by surprise. "I just could not bare to stay away any longer."

Taking her by the hands, Savos whirled the pair around and stole a kiss himself, slowly guiding Siulon towards his bed. "Then don't," he huskily whispered, "Stay here at the College with me, teach and do what you were meant to do!"

She chuckled softly, lightning shooting up her body with building excitement. One of her hands brushed between his legs, feeling a certain hardness and she gave him a devilish grin. "You don't even want to wait a bit now do you?" Though she could not see it, she knew exactly the kind of smirk he was giving her. "Always so eager..." She purred as she allowed herself to be lowered onto the bed. "But what would your professors think? The Arch-Mage sleeping with one of his new teachers, so scandalous!" The mock horror in her voice earned a laugh from the dunmer as he began to strip himself of his robes.

"Well who's to say they need to find out?" He replied smoothly.

Siulon bit her lip slightly, pushing her hips up towards him as she worked at her own clothing. "Scandalous!" She repeated, getting her top robe off. "But I can't deny I like the idea of being your dirty little secret," she purred in his ear before kissing his neck. Savos chuckled, wrapped an arm around her, and removed her chest band. Siulon gave a needy whisper, trying to focus solely on what was happening and not the rather awkward and emotional talks they'd be having after. For now at least, she could just... melt away and pretend that time hadn't passed, that things hadn't changed... But she knew better than anyone else that everybody changed given enough time.

As he bit her ear, hitching her breath before his hands explored beneath her hips, Siulon gave off a throaty moan. At that moment, she didn't care, just so long as he hadn't changed in one thing in particular, and so far it seemed he hadn't. When he paused, asking silently for permission the dunmer scowled and simply said it. "Oh for Azura's sake! Just sod me already!" Savos gave a laugh, and happily obliged. If this was how things were going to be around the College, Siulon believed she might actually stick around. Savos' reaction had been a delightful surprise, and for once she wasn't going to question it more than she needed to. She'd just enjoy it while it lasted.