Ugh! Stupid work getting in the way of my writing!

Now I know that some of you are probably wondering why Kharjo isn't making more of an appearance in Neri's travels... don't worry! He will be back!

Chapter 6

Neri leaned against the door, skimming over the scroll while flipping a throwing knife in her hands. J'zargo had given her ten of his "flame-cloak" scrolls and requested that she use her own discretion when testing the effects on the undead. It seemed like a very sound idea, but this was J'zargo. He was intelligent and a very good mage, but his attitude tended to cloud his judgment. She remembered one of her first conversations with him after she had gained his trust; he practically admitted that he stole items that he thought would benefit him.

Sure, she trusted him, to a point. There was a nagging feeling that these scrolls would not perform as expected. Pushing off the door, she began to pace, continuing to read over the scroll and twirl the dagger through her fingers. J'zargo had recommended that she head down to The Midden, in the lower levels of the college. Although she had some time to spare, she didn't want to waste it travelling in case she needed to get back to Windhelm quickly.

Taking another short sigh, Neri placed the throwing knife back in her boot and pulled out a longer dagger, just in case the cloak failed. Hearing the familiar creaking of bones, she tensed, feeling quite vulnerable now that she wasn't able to hide in the shadows.

Mumbling the incantations, she scroll disintegrated in her hands and a small flicker of flame grew from her palm, quickly multiplying and blanketing her entire body. Holding her hands out before her, she couldn't help but admire the beauty of it. Rich orange, red, and yellow rippled and swirled around her, giving her a dangerous appearance.

She felt a slight tingle in her hand where the scroll had been but ignored it. The creaking had grown louder, its source just out of sight in the tunnel. The tingle under her skin began to spread through the rest of her body, and her palm almost seemed to be hurting, but again, she pushed the thought aside. Taking a confident step forward, she approached her target, debating whether to just brush against the draugr, tap it on the shoulder or give it a large hug.

Stepping into view, the reanimated bones hobbled closer. It had just begun to raise its sword when Neri reached out to it, placing her palm on its chest. Instantly, the brittle bones of the being burst into flames, and in that same moment Neri realized what the tingling had developed into. Distracted by the pain along her body, she failed to notice the effect the fire had on the draugr. Before she could react, the soulless being exploded, sending burning shrapnel of itself in every direction.

She threw her arms up in front of her face and turned, trying to avoid most of the damage. Small, burning pieces of bone embedded into the flesh of her arms and some pieces found their way into her side, but she had barely noticed. Her skin felt like it was on fire from the inside. Once the shrapnel had settled, she stared at her forearms expecting to see her skin peeling away in droves from the flame. What she saw only served to confuse.

Her skin was untouched. The fire still danced along her body but there were no signs of damage besides the persistent pain along her body. She was burning to death, she was sure of it. Another resounding creak echoed through the halls, a similar sound followed behind it, two more, but regular skeletons this time.

She didn't want to drag this out any longer and she sure as Oblivion didn't want to use another scroll. Testing the effect on three undead would have to suffice for J'zargo. Her body screamed in pain as she ran towards the sounds. Each skeleton drew their weapon preparing to lob her head off. She reached out and touched the shoulder of the first then ducked into a roll to reach the next one. Just as her hand touched the foot of the second, the first sent shrapnel her way. She had managed to get away from most of it, but some still managed to graze her tail. Attempting to escape the blast radius of the second bomb, she rolled to the side and wrapped her appendage protectively around herself.

If more of her skin had taken damage, she hadn't even noticed it because of the excruciating pain, radiating throughout her body. Despite the ice and extreme cold down in The Midden, she was burning up. Stumbling to her feet, she scrambled down the hallway to an open cavern. The pain blinded her senses and she fell to the ground, clutching at the ice, hoping to soothe the fire in her skin. She felt nothing, only pain and heat of her skin roasting.

She couldn't convince herself to open her eyes. She kept waiting for the moment that she would begin to smell cooking flesh. Just when she couldn't take it anymore, there was nothing.

Slowly, feeling began to come back to her hand, starting as another small tingle spreading through her body. At the same time, relief flooded through her as she began to feel the coolness of the ice beneath her body. Taking a deep breath of the freezing air, she dug her claws in the ice, pushing herself up to sit against a wall.

How long did that even last? A minute? Tops? Ugh… pitiful. Looking down at her hands, she flipped them over and over, pushing up her sleeves, even lifting armor pieces checking for burn marks. It was like nothing had ever happened. Damn, J'zargo. I am never testing something for you again.

She rubbed at the fur along her head, extremely happy that she didn't have anyone to see her in such a weak state. What the hell was wrong with her? She had been burned several times before by dragon's breath, and damn it all, that had been worse! So why was this so different? After all she had been through; she seemed to have developed a fear of dying. Now that she had defeated Alduin, she had a chance at a real life; she wasn't ready to give it up.

Setting her head against the cool wall, she stared at the ceiling. Time to go.

It was late evening by the time she had gotten a chance to see J'zargo. She practically stormed into his quarters, all the other students were giving her odd glances but she didn't quite care what they thought. He was lounging across his bed, one hand under his head, another across his stomach. He looked so at peace; not if she had anything to do about it.

Neri picked up a book from the shelf, judged the weight, and then picked a larger one. She threw it at his chest, hard.

J'zargo shot up off his bed, his hands alight with bright green and purple. His eyes darted in all directions, finally landing on the white and black Khajiit standing before him. Her familiar markings, the way she crossed her arms and cocked her hip out to one side, the impatient and aggravated flicking of her tail: it was all so recognizable. He lowered his hands, allowing the light to fade away as he stood up.

"I've tested your scrolls," she said. Her mouth twisted in an odd sort of way.

J'zargo watched her carefully as he approached, something was off he knew it. Her ears had angled back slightly, her eyes narrowed, and her tail continued to swish back and forth. He couldn't let his confidence falter, he didn't show weakness, especially not in front of her. "And?" he started with his usual grin. "Were they magnificent?" he waved his arms out in a grand flourish.

Her eye twitched. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to kill me," a slight snarl emanated from her throat.

He lost his composure. "What?" His arms fell to his side with his mouth hanging open slightly. He cleared his throat as he ran a hand across the top of his head, ruffing up his fur then smoothing it back down. "What exactly did it do?"

She enjoyed seeing this new side to him. His usual cockiness had disappeared and a look of concern stayed plastered on his features. "It was a fire cloak, as you said, but if felt like I was burning from the inside out. My skin felt like it was boiling and after a short time, I was blinded by the pain. When the cloak faded, it all stopped, feeling returned and it was like nothing had ever happened." Neri didn't even realize that she had been pacing. Stopping herself, she leaned against the wall and looked over at the striped man before her. He was slowing shaking his head, staring at the ground with his hand over his mouth. She continued to study him before continuing, he definitely seemed remorseful, and his tail had even tucked slightly. "I'll give you this though; you were right about it being extremely effective against the undead. They burst into flame at the slightest touch, and well… then they really did burst, sending flaming shrapnel everywhere."

"Oh…" he straightened his posture to face her again. He smoothed down his fur again and gracefully tucked his hands behind his back, once again exuding his usual aura of confidence. "This was not the intention, to be sure. It is true that J'zargo was slightly concerned there may have been… problems. But you were not placed in harm's way on purpose." He took a few steps towards her, slowly closing the distance between them. "Still, you are a good friend of J'zargo now, for taking this risk. J'zargo thanks you." Bringing his hand between them, he looked down at her, hoping that his mistake hadn't pushed her away.

Neri stared at his hand. Looking up into his eyes, she could still see the concern and regret in his eyes. Perhaps, with this, he has learned his lesson. Holding his gaze, she clasped her hand over his wrist as he did the same. "Don't plan on asking me to test anymore scrolls."

"Of course not," he nodded to her.

Breaking their gaze, he glanced down at her arm. He could clearly see the distinctive reddish-brown staining against the white in her fur. Taking a step back, he pulled her arm with him, lightly turning it to get a better look at the thin bones protruding from her arm.

Following his gaze, she saw him staring down at her wounds. "Huh, guess I forgot those were still there. I'll be fine though." She tried to pull her arm from his grasp but as her hand released his wrist, he grabbed her fingers.

"Allow me." Looking back up at her face, he saw her eyes narrow at him. "Please, it is the least I can do."

He spoke in first person again, she noted. She nodded to him and sat down in the chair across the room. Stretching her arm out to him once he sat, he began meticulously picking the shards out of her arm. She watched in silence as he worked. He was surprisingly gentle, she noticed. Most healers she dealt with would just do a quick healing, and if there was anything left in the wound, you had to hope that it would work itself out during the healing process or it would just be sealed up in the skin.

J'zargo didn't want that for her.

After retrieving all of the pieces from her arm he waved his hand up and down her arm slowly. A light orange glow lit up under his hand, casting dancing shadows across the room. Rolling her head back, she could feel her skin knitting back together; it wasn't unpleasant, just different.

"Were you hurt anywhere else?" he asked, and reluctantly removed his hand from her arm; she hadn't even noticed that he had been holding her wrist to keep her steady.

"I don't remember."

"Stand up, let J'zargo check."

Rolling her eyes at him, she stood, resting her arms on her head and slowly turning, allowing him to inspect her. She wasn't used to someone taking the time to examine her for injuries, not even when she was a cub. Most times she would just let her wounds heal over time or she would down a bitter potion and let that speed up her healing time.

"Hmm. Looks like some penetrated your armor and more got under it. You should remove it."

"What?" she demanded. "I am not removing my armor."

"Well it is probably only superficial. Let your body heal itself then. But J'zargo could fix it much faster." He stared up at her, laying his hands in his lap and giving her his most serious look.

"Um, I think I will just let it heal. I don't even notice the pain, which side is it, by the way."

A mischievous grin crossed his face as she turned from side to side looking for her wounds. "This side," he said as he tapped the side of her armor, just above a wound.

She hissed at the pain and narrowed her eyes at him. "Ow!"

"Just take the damn leather off, you stubborn dragonborn!" He stood up, eyeing her sternly.

She stared up at him, flattening her ears and narrowing her eyes.

"You don't intimidate me," he whispered to her. He moved his hand to poke her in the side again but this time she caught his wrist.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally looked away. "Fine, if it will get you off my back."

He sat back down in his chair as she unclasped the buckles on her damaged side. Holding the front piece to herself, she took a shaky breath. She hated showing weakness and definitely didn't enjoy being out of her armor, no matter who the audience or reasoning was. She flinched when she felt his hand grip her waist; she had to fight back the urge to punch him across his jaw.

J'zargo tilted his head down, making sure his face was hidden from her; he was no longer able to hide the smile spreading across his face. J'zargo knew that his charm would win out in the end, he thought to himself. He wanted to take his time in healing her but was worried about testing his luck. Although he would never admit it to her, he knew that she could end him a lot faster than he could even begin to raise a shield to defend himself, especially at this close range; not that he would ever dream of fighting her, but perhaps fighting for her was a different matter.

As his hand hovered a mere inch from her skin, he bit the inside of his cheek trying to keep control of himself. He was so close to running his hand down her exposed side but he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. J'zargo exuded confidence nearly every second of the day, but this Khajiit before him demanded more respect than he would normally give any woman.

Distancing himself from her, he watched as she buckled the sides of her armor. "You know, if you ever need an expert mage, J'zargo is here to help."

She looked down at him, snapping the last buckle into place. "I wouldn't be tearing you away from your studies or experiments?"

"J'zargo can do both," he grinned at her. "How you have survived without J'zargo is a miracle. J'zargo's healing and destruction spells are legendary, and you can always use one that is charming as well," he smirked at her, rising from his seat.

"Thanks, J'zargo. I think I'll be fine though. I prefer to fight alone."

He gave her a slight nod, "Very well. You know where to find J'zargo, if needed."