Laje-tal shook out a long pair of layered enchanted silk gloves, inspecting the corpse they had found with a calculating glance. "Looks like he's been dead for a few days now." Rolling the partly decayed body of the man, nose wrinkling from the smell, she pried his stiff hands from what had killed him – Keening. She didn't take any chances with the cursed blade, taking it only once the gloves were in place. Without wraithguard, there was always the chance it might cause some damage to its user.

"Hardly looks any worse than the day we lost it." Aryon watched from a safe distance, still paging through the large book. He was still only halfway through it. "You ready to give it a try?"

"Might as well." Holding the blade with her right hand she slipped the glove off of her left, the same that had the moon and star ring. "Ah, just don't burn me this time, Keening. I write with this hand you know." While everyone else stood back, ready to intervene if need be, she grabbed Keening without the glove, bracing for possible pain. As soon as she touched the hilt, her ring glowed a sharp gold, an odd resonating sound the only reaction she received. She let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "I never could get used to this."

"At least it remembers you."

"Maybe." Keening ended up sheathed where her other dagger had been in her belt, and already she felt better knowing they had found it again. It was only too bad they didn't have Sunder. When she mentioned this to Aryon, he only threw his hands up in dismay.

"I can't even imagine all the trouble someone went to just to retrieve Keening. Nobody would be able to accomplish anything without both anyway. Let's just make sure we don't lose it again."

"Yes, well, let's then hope that daedra don't come pouring in through the door in the black of night again and catch us asleep and steal it."

Brand-Shei and Talvas now approached, the former looking at Keening contemplatively. "Hm, I wonder why Arniel would need this and that warped soulgem. Will you be alright with lending it to him?"

"I think he's a fool to try it, but I understand why he's doing it. The disappearance of the Dwemer has puzzled more than just mages ever since it happened. There are many theories, of course, but no witnesses and no concrete evidence. He can try, but if he dies I can't say I didn't try to warn him." The others turned to leave, but she hesitated. "Wait. It seems a shame to leave him here." She turned back to the corpse, frowning at it. Too young. That Dunmer was just too young to be doing such an idiotic errand. "We should commit him to the fire."

Aryon huffed, tearing yet another page out of the book. "Go ahead. I'll toss all of these damned pages into it. Why did this thing have to be so wordy?"

"Because Neloth wrote it, of course." Once she spotted a flat enough space of rocky terrain, she grabbed the body of the young man, dragging it as best as she could. Brand-Shei looked anxious, though, and watched her nervously.

"Do we really have time for this?"

With a sigh Aryon came up to him, shaking his head. "If he doesn't go to the fires, he won't properly join his ancestors. Even a murderer or thief should join their ancestors quickly to face judgment. Souls that linger too long might get lost in the mortal plane."

"It sounds complicated."

Talvas eyed Brand-Shei oddly, frowning as he watched Laje-Tal from the corner of his eye. "Nothing complicated about it. Why is it she knows all about our rituals but you don't?"

Now Aryon swore under his breath, but Brand-Shei faced the question head-on. Talvas was as much captive as he was free, there was no need to fear his potential reaction. "I may well be Telvanni, but I was raised by Argonians."

"What?" He recoiled with understandable shock. "Why? Why didn't they kill you? They must have known what the Telvanni did to their kind."

"For a long time, I didn't know why. It was that sort of thing you would tell your children to just wait until they were older to understand. I was just a baby, they could have killed me, could have left me to get eaten by the various monsters in the wilds. Instead I grew up with their own children, knew only the customs and ways of our village, and I guess they just accepted that I was there to stay. When I was older, I finally knew the answer."

Laje-tal huffed with frustration as she dragged a large log onto the flat rock, waving them all over. "You can tell it while we get this pyre built. We'll only have time for this if I don't do it by myself!"

"Sorry." They both rushed over to find dry fallen logs to burn, Aryon putting away the book long enough to contribute a few pieces himself. The ever-present pervasive cold fought them as they arranged the logs in the best way to catch fire, their breaths coming in foggy puffs. "My father used to say that the cycle of hatred would only end if someone ended it." Brand-Shei turned to glance at Talvas, the other Dunmer still listening but clearly skeptical. Not that he expected any differently. "They stopped seeing me as a son of the Telvanni and instead as the son of my adoptive father and mother. Argonians find it hard to express themselves in a way we can understand, but they can love and hate just as easily as anyone else. Even when I decided to leave to see the world for myself, I knew I had a family I could go back to when I wanted. They are all dead now, of course, but even so the village will remember me."

Talvas stayed quiet as he watched Laje-tal strain to position a rather heavy log on the pyre, checking the formation to make sure it was correct. She observed every small detail as if this dead man hadn't been a complete stranger but perhaps one of her own house. Never in all his days had he ever expected to even consider changing his mind about so many things that had been part of his life. Gods, what would his father say if he knew? Could he really even claim now that he was being forced to cooperate against his will if brought to task in front of the council? Instead of lingering on it, he focused on their task now that the fire was ready to be lit.

"Hm, well, normally the family might say a few words, but there isn't much to be said," Laje-tal mused aloud, readying a ball of flame in her hand. Aryon came next to her, summoning his own fire.

"We'll keep it simple, then. We knew him not, but may he join his ancestors in peace and with honor." As one they shot flame to the tinder at the base of the pyre, Brand-Shei and Talvas quickly adding their own as the fire rose higher and higher. The body was quickly alight, and once they were certain the strong winds wouldn't put it out, the site was left behind. It was enough that they had done what they could to return the unknown thief to the ash. They had found out from the college the location of Labyrinthian, and in the wake of the Arch-Mage's death no less. Fortunately he had left behind the key to open the door to the deep cave. The only reason they hadn't gone straight to Labyrinthian was because Laje-tal didn't want to risk anyone else finding Keening.

"So what does Keening do?" Surprisingly, Talvas had been starting conversations with her. Usually they were small, inconsequential things but this was the first time he had brought up anything related to her Nerevarine past. She raised her spiked brow and eyed him with amusement but didn't comment on it.

"We still can't completely know its original purpose, but from what the only surviving Dwemer was able to tell me, it was used to alter tonal energies. I didn't really know what that meant until I struck the heart of Lorkhan with Sunder. That thing gave off the most dreadful noise as it struck with a great deal of power, but when I struck it as I was told with Keening five times after, it changed the sound. Something about that sound made the heart warp, and just like that it vanished into nothing. I'm not sure if I caused it to disappear or somehow killed the thing, but it went away."

"That's fascinating! It disappeared into thin air? Do you suppose it might have gone where all the Dwemer went?"

"It seems likely. We do know that Kagrenac's tools were involved in their disappearance, so it would seem logical. But then again, where did they go? Oblivion? Another plane of Mundus? Nowhere? If they went somewhere, is the heart now with them? Are they using it again? They can't without the tools, but did they make new, better ones? It's impossible to know, and in two hundred years I haven't found any clues."

"Dagoth Ur used the heart, right? So you killed him?"

"He was immortal until I destroyed the heart." Now she grinned at him, for once not terrifying him with all her sharp teeth. "What, so you believe me now? There were times I could hardly believe myself, I know, but you?"

He coughed nervously, ignoring the amused looks of the other Dunmer in their group. "You couldn't make something like this up, and there hasn't been one account written about just what had happened under that mountain. Even the most descriptive history books just say that Dagoth Ur was destroyed, and the heart of Lorkhan with him."

"It was a hard thing to do. Not killing him, though. Once the heart was gone, he was entirely vulnerable to any sort of technique I wanted to use. No, I found his opinions to be rather sympathetic, though he went about his goals in all of the wrong ways. He tempted me, and I'm ashamed to say that for a moment, I listened."

Aryon put a hand on her shoulder, eyes shadowed as he also remembered that difficult moment. "I'll admit I listened too. There was a reason he had become as powerful as he had. His ideas were just the sort that many Dunmer held, it was easy for him to get many followers."

"He said that he, too, wanted all of the foreigners to leave Vvardenfell, and return it to how it once was. I thought maybe he meant like the Ashlanders, or he might leave the Great Houses, it was hard to say. He believed in sharing the power of the heart with everyone, but I guess in the end I was too much like Nerevar for him to sway. I destroyed the heart, and then I destroyed him and cast him into the lava."

"You really are the Nerevarine," Talvas said quietly. "Only the real Nerevarine would have found it hard to kill Dagoth Ur. I read somewhere that the two had once been the closest of friends, and even though Dagoth Ur had caused so much destruction, it's still hard to kill someone who had once been your friend."

"Just so. When the tools were first found by Nerevar and his men, he had given them to Dagoth Ur to guard until it was decided what to do with them, that's how much he was trusted. By the time they could hold a council about it, the tools had already tempted and corrupted him. He was driven off, but then of course the tools came into the possession of Nerevar, Vivec, Sotha Sil and Almalexia. They too were tempted to use them, and although Nerevar tried to stop them, he died and they had nothing left to keep them from breaking their vows. I'm sure you know the rest."

"Yes, though it was never clear just how Nerevar died. Some even say the Tribunal killed him."

She frowned, still looking ahead as they moved onward. "Almalexia killed Sotha Sil, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch of the imagination to think they killed Nerevar too."

"What? Almalexia did? I never heard any sort of nonsense like that! Sotha Sil disappeared, just as she did!"

"Ah, now that is one little piece of history that I kept to myself. She had tasked me with investigating his Clockwork City, but when I reached his chambers, he was already quite dead. No, she had lured me there and presented me with an ultimatum. Either join her, or die. Obviously I picked the option to instead kill her. She was mad, and I killed her just as I had to kill Vivec. I let everyone believe that the Tribunal simply vanished. If I had told the truth back then, I really would have had every sort of person wanting me dead. Now, I suppose the truth doesn't matter one way or the other."

Talvas said nothing, silent as the trek continued. Doubt and belief warred evenly in his mind, the story having just the right amount of a ring of truth to it. It was true that nobody knew where the Tribunal had gone. Bodies were never found, nor anything else. It had happened too cleanly, too quietly to be anything but foul play and though suspicion ran rampant for weeks afterward, no one had been found to be suspect. That it had been the Nerevarine, the one who had been foretold to do that to begin with, was simply logical. "I think I believe you," he said suddenly, making the others falter in their steps. Laje-tal only shot him a grin, shaking her head before moving onward.

"Let's make haste, I'm sure Neloth has already made it to the college, though he is going to be just as stymied as anyone else until we can get the staff. Hopefully nobody at the college will be fool enough to tell him about it."

"Doubt it," Brand-Shei added, shoving past a snowberry bush. "I warned them about the possibility of House Telvanni getting a bit too curious. Brelyna Maryon, one of the students, even agreed with me. I imagine the Maryons are getting quite interested too."

"Oh, they would." She hid the tremor that shook her muscles suddenly, pushing on resolutely. It was only one more hill, she kept telling herself, moving forward and ignoring every little involuntary twitch in her body. It had to go away. It just had to. The repercussions of the magic sickness would have to fade in time to have to endure it again.


Slitted eyes stared from the corners of the dream, narrowed and filled with disgust. A chilly hiss was heard, a voice coming from one of them. "A hated one..."

Laje-tal spun to face the voice but nothing was there, fading into the ether as quickly as mist before the sunlight. Another voice, different, grumbled low. "Unwelcome, it is." She knew them, as many years as it had been. Members of the Twin Lamps. Other Argonians, ones who knew quite well who she was, fighting to end slavery while she delved deeper and deeper into Telvanni politics. They couldn't know that she was fighting just as hard as they were. They couldn't know how she planned to take everything down by the nails that held it in place.

"Go away, pest." Running was no use here, it never was. They would only catch up to her and tear her apart piece by piece. Instead she shrank inside herself, smaller and smaller, too small for them to see. If only she could push it just a little further, they wouldn't notice. They wouldn't see what she was doing when she pushed into the upper ranks. They couldn't see how she slandered the other Telvanni nobles until they rid themselves of their slaves out of embarrassment. None would see as she became the war hero, the hortator, of the three great houses. No, they wouldn't even watch as she impaled Dagoth Ur with Nerevar's sword. It would be done, and not one would know who had done it.

"We're watching you, scum." The golden mask of an Ordinator loomed in front of her, emotionless black eyes judging her behind the empty face. She was surrounded again, dodging maces and spells as she tried to flee, though she knew it was impossible. Once Ordinators had a scent, they took quite a bit of effort to elude. Suddenly she was in the air, levitating up and away from them, then in the water, breathing in the liquid where they could not. It was dark, so very dark...

"Wake up! Laje-tal, wake up!" Brand-Shei was shaking her, pouring some very cold water in her face. She shook, her eyes slowly opening to look around. What had happened? Aryon came rushing into the camp just then, another bottle full of mountain water ready to try again, but he left it as soon as he saw her awake. Still a bit dazed, she rose slowly, noticing both of them looking at her with a worried frown.

"You were running quite a fever," Aryon said with the slightest hint of panic, all but shoving a restorative potion into her hands. "We were starting to wonder if it would ever break after a few hours."

Instinctively her hand went to her brow, and indeed she was almost as hot as their campfire. Aside from that, though, only a slight touch of weakness was all that was left of her ordeal with that damned eye. Letting him pull her to her feet, she took a look around to get her bearings. The ruins of Labyrinthian were in sight now, reached the night before just a bit too late into the night to continue. Brand-Shei still looked a little worn, but he had volunteered to be the one to go into the college and get more information on this place. That it had come with being in the middle of a magical explosion and a host of abnormal entities had just been poor luck. At least he seemed better now. "Thank you for your help as well. Where is Talvas?"

Brand-Shei gestured to the ruins, a shadowy smudge in the blowing snow. "Taking notes," he said with a touch of amusement. "He said that he might be on our side now, but his curiosity can't wait all day. I told him to get his fill with the outside, because he won't be getting in until I open it with the Arch-Mage's key."

"Hah, and not much longer before he will come marching up here demanding that key. Well, never mind. Go ahead and let him in, but don't go too far. We'll take down the camp." When he hesitated, she came closer to him, frowning as she looked at him harder. "Are you alright?"

He shook his head, breaking out of whatever had frozen him in place. "I think I'm... still a little bothered about the Arch-Mage. He knew I was pretending every time I tried to escape that Thalmor or lied to the other students and teachers. I don't know how he knew it. I told him the real reason I was there. I know I probably shouldn't have, but he didn't seem to think any worse of me for it. He knew about the Telvanni too and agreed I was probably better off for now letting everyone else keep thinking what I was trying to have them think. It's alright. We'll finish whatever is here and retrieve that staff."

With a nod she gave him a reassuring grin, unconsciously quoting an old saying. "What is left undone, that shall be done." Whatever it was that made her say that simply drifted away, a light snort following her slight confusion. "Go on then. You can honor the Arch-Mage by getting the staff, and when we get back to the college, we will see to it that he is buried with his ancestors if it is possible."

Once he was well out of hearing distance and the camp was halfway torn down, though, Aryon gave her an odd look. "What made you think of The Seven Visions? That dream of yours? I know you must have been dreaming with that fever raging on like it did."

"I think so. Last night, I had been thinking of someone I hadn't thought of in a long time. I should know better by now than to do that before I sleep."

"Nibani Maesa?"

Shaking her head, she started rolling up the cloak she had been sleeping on. "Eno Romari."

Now he abandoned his half-filled pack, brows furrowed as he recalled the name. "That Temple heretic from the end of times cult?"

She shrugged, not quite sure why she had been thinking of him either. "I had been thinking of the lost prophecies we had found, and how part of it mentioned the Nerevarine was to be Dragon-born. I'm sure that meant to be a foreigner, but what if there was more to it? That got me thinking that Eno had known that the deaths of the Tribunal would lead to the events of the Oblivion crisis, he was right about everything. I wondered just how far back this legend goes, and how many other cultures it might have gone into. I wondered if there might be more to come that I don't yet know about, but someone else does."

"It does sound pretty probable by that logic." Her expression only grew slightly more strained, something that someone unfamiliar with her wouldn't notice at all. "What was it you would say about the future? Don't worry too long about it, you will be there before you know it? It's good advice, but only if you follow it."

"Ah, I know that, but I can't help it. We all want to know what the future holds, even if it isn't a good future. Maybe we think we can then better prepare for it, maybe try to prevent it, or at the least know what will be hitting us as we fall. No, you're right. There's enough to worry about right now as it is. I'm sure if there is more to be heard of my fate, Azura will see to it that I am led on the right path. Let's get down there before those two manage to get tangled in a trap."

Talvas and Brand-Shei hadn't gotten far, though, still in one of the first entry rooms, looking a little bewildered. When they all regrouped, Brand-Shei pointed off into the distance. "You wouldn't believe what we saw when we came in here. Souls of the dead, and it seems like they were acting out the moments before their deaths. This place is cursed."

"I can't say I'm surprised," she said, illuminating the dark chamber with an orb of light. "It did sound just a bit too convenient that the Arch-mage knew all about this place, had that amulet, and that same amulet is the only thing that could unlock the outer door. Something happened here, something he was likely ashamed of, and he locked this place away because of it."

As they delved deeper and deeper into the twists and turns of Labyrinthian, the story of what had once happened here slowly unfolded before their eyes. Undead, including a skeletal dragon, came at them at every turn, reanimated by a force unknown, a mysterious voice speaking to them at times in the dragon tongue. Although Laje-tal had learned a few of the old words of the dov, she only caught scraps until finally the voice spoke in their own tongue. Finally Aryon paused, looking back at the group, his troubled glance looking eerie in the pale glowing light. "A dragon priest, I think. That would explain all of this, including the skeletal dragon back there. Who else could have had such power?"

Talvas held his torch further out into the long chasm, humming agreement. "We started to have trouble with dragon priests on Solstheim after the temple of Miraak was unearthed. Necromancers, all of them. Not to say anything about necromancers, being a conjurer myself. This is just like a few of the things I've seen in their lairs before."

Their notions quickly proved to be very true as they came into a large inner chamber, a bright blue light bursting through two specters and encasing the dragon priest imprisoned there. Laje-tal pointed to the two spirits maintaining the spell, keeping her voice low. "Up there. Brand-Shei, Talvas, you two get up there and banish those spirits. When they are gone, that should release the priest. Get yourselves out of sight and we will take care of that priest."

"What, you just want us to back off?" Talvas frowned, still conjuring a bound dagger. "Can you really say that you can control your magic as you are? You've gotten better, but I wouldn't ask you to handle that thing."

"Am I the Dragonborn or am I not? I'm sure I could handle a dragon priest. Besides, Aryon would help me."

Now Aryon came to her side, firmly moving her to the back of the group. "I'm sorry but Talvas is right. If you want even the slightest hope of going through another ordeal with the eye of Magus, you need to save your strength. We can manage."

She just huffed, taking out a bow to fight from a distance. "Gods Aryon, I swear if I didn't love you so much I'd stab you in your sleep." Ignoring his barely contained laughter she joined Brand-Shei as they crept through the shadows, making their way to the spirits maintaining the barrier as Aryon and Talvas took to the front to face the dragon priest. It was simple enough to get to the top in the confusion, and while Brand-Shei slashed down a spirit with a loaned sword, she took to higher ground and shot the other with a single arrow. Brand-Shei summoned a quick ward to defend against a burst of fire that came her way, following after her as they escaped further up toward the exit of the chamber. Below, Aryon and Talvas were throwing spells every which way as a roar of the dragon priest bellowed around the echoing walls. "I almost forgot those things could shout too."

"I don't think Aryon forgot," Brand-Shei reassured, dousing his torch to avoid drawing attention to them. It was a long wait, lurking there in the dark while sounds of battle raged just outside their small hiding space. Suddenly both Talvas and Aryon came into the tunnel, the former beating a bit of fire from his clothing as he handed over the Staff of Magus.

"Here, Brand-Shei. You're the one the Psijics wanted, right? You better have this."

"Me? I'm not so sure about this..."

Laje-tal took the staff and closed his hands around it, nodding sharply. "If the Psijics said you're to have it, then you should have it. They can see into a future that no other mortals can, and though their visions are limited, they are real. You are the one that needs to use this on the eye and fight Ancano. Why else do you think I've been stuffing you with potions to fortify your skills so you might learn faster? You've learned so much since you left Riften. Ancano is a fool who doesn't know what he is tampering with. Cut him off from the eye and he is left just a fool. I believe you can do it."

"You do?" He looked around at the rest of them, seeing only a strong if grim confidence in each of their gazes. His grip tightened on the staff as he grew more sure of himself. It had been too long since he had known anyone to have such faith in him, and far longer since he had had faith in anyone else. "Thank you. I know we can do this."


Laje-tal ignored the way her muscles rippled under her skin as a jolt from the eye of Magnus pulsed through the air, focused only on the very angry Dunmer in front of her. Neloth, like everyone else, had been blocked from entry to the college by the swirling maelstrom of winds surrounding the building. All of them had been pushed to the outer bridge, fending off questions and accusations from the local villagers. The combination of the now-destroyed book that was once his and the accompaniment of the apprentice that had also once been his only made what was left of his composure disappear. Brand-Shei kept the Staff of Magus out of sight, sticking to the plan they had come up with on the way as Talvas came forward, steeling himself against Neloth's icy glare.

As expected Neloth tossed the empty shell of his old book at Talvas, ignoring all else in his anger. "What is the meaning of this, Talvas? You dare betray your master to that filthy lizard? Have you forgotten your honor?"

He only crossed his arms, not bothered by his former master's words. "There is no honor in enslaving an entire population to do your bidding. We know about your plan to summon Hermaeus Mora and use the eye of Magnus to bend the wills of all of Skyrim. We won't let you do that."

"How did you... no. No it was you!" He pointed at Laje-tal, charging at her until his finger was pointed directly to her nose. "You were always snooping about! You stole my book and turned my apprentice against me! You destroyed my book, all of my plans!"

Now Talvas blocked the wizard from touching her again, noticing how her hands had started to spark at the merest brush on her person. From the look of things she was about ready to explode with all of the energy flowing around them, enchanted necklace or not. He had to cause a distraction quickly. "I'm the one who took your book. I'm the one who left all on my own to go and find someone who could help me stop you! I didn't know she was the Arch-Magister of the house, I just knew you didn't like her and she was powerful, but I figured out your insane scheme and I don't care what you say about betrayal and honor, it's nothing compared to what you wanted to do!"

The distraction he attempted had little effect on Neloth, since the man only glared at the Argonian harder, his eyes mere slits. "I should have known better than to leave you alive. I wanted to kill you from the very beginning but none of us could even touch you! Bah, Helseth hired the whole damned Dark Brotherhood and even he couldn't kill you! You couldn't even die of age, not even after more than two hundred years because you are the damned Nerevarine!"

Laje-tal knew there was no avoiding this. Not now. She turned to Brand-Shei, her words coming out in Jel. Neloth would never have stooped to actually learning her language. "Take the staff and go underground through the midden. Get to the eye and stop Ancano while we take care of this."

He was already on the edge of the group but he hesitated, knowing that once the magic started to fly, she would be at the mercy of fate. Aryon made up his mind for him, giving a determined nod. "Theilul!" Go! While the others guarded his escape, escape he did, down the steep set of ledges and bare handholds, down the icy scraps of stone and toward the outer entrance to the midden.

Neloth looked Aryon over with open disgust. "By the gods, you even learned some of that marsh tongue... and what in Oblivion did you tell that young man? I've certainly never seen him before, and I would swear I know everyone in the house. Where did he-"

"Never mind that," Aryon said sharply, tearing the focus away from Brand-Shei. "You have been a thorn in my side for far too long. Your fight is with me."

"I'm not here for you, you s'wit. I'm here for the lizard and the eye, preferably in that order. I knew that if I waited long enough you two would get curious about the eye and see for yourself what it was like. Oh yes, I had hoped you would come here, and so you did. If you interfere I will not hesitate to kill you, Aryon, or you either, Talvas! When you die even your ancestors won't have you, they would cast you into the void for such a disgrace! "

Talvas bristled at the insult, starting toward the man, almost forgetting the plan. "How dare you!"

Luckily Laje-tal had kept her head, though she too was clearly taken back by his words. "Don't. We need to remember what we are here for."

With a huff Neloth crossed his arms, goading them further. "Taking orders, are you? From her? Oh that is just rich. Taking orders from a former slave! Yes, I found about that one, I found out quite a bit you wouldn't like me to know, oh mighty Arch-Magister. I know about you and the Twin Lamps, I know now that you really were trying to destroy House Telvanni from the inside by taking our slaves!" All around their group, the handful of villagers left in Winterhold had been gathering, and finally he found it impossible to avoid their uneasy looks. "What are you all staring at?"

It was all the distraction that was needed. "Wuld!" Her shouts were unaffected by the magic-restraining necklace she wore, and in a flash she was well behind Neloth on the bridge, luring him away with a taunting gesture of her sword. "This slave became your master, Neloth! I did what no other Argonian dared to do, and I succeeded! Don't be mad that I succeeded where you failed!" As hoped, the storm raging around the college had started to subside just in time for Neloth to chase after her in his focused anger, not at all noticing Talvas and Aryon clearing all of the villagers from the immediate area. Talvas even summoned a powerful storm atronach to guard the foot of the bridge, discouraging all but the most inquisitive. At that moment she also gained just enough energy to shout again, bursting into the courtyard of the college, poised almost directly in the center.

"You think to lure me in here, do you?" His hands glowed bright with surges of sharp lightning, the jolts flickering as even he struggled against the uneven energies in the air. "Fewer distractions, I would say! You've given me quite an advantage!"

A last moment of hesitation lingered in her stance, hoping to simply keep him occupied long enough for Brand-Shei to do whatever it was he needed to do with the eye. Even after all of this time, all of the things that had happened between them, she had still respected Neloth for being a highly accomplished enchanter and researcher. "I'll allow you one last chance to go back and we'll forget we said anything here. Go back to Solstheim."

He just laughed, the magic in his hands growing dangerously large. "Not a chance. I've known about the eye of Magus for longer than you've even been alive and I've been searching all of Tamriel for it! Go back to Solstheim? Hah! I will send you back in pieces, and mount your head on a plaque!"

Bracing her back talons against the smoothed cracks between the stone floor squares, preparing for the possibility of a sudden strike, she met his glare with her own. "I'd rather you didn't force me to kill you." Aryon and Talvas now blocked the exit to the bridge, lingering at the edge to see what would happen next. This was the part they planned little for, knowing how unpredictable it would be.

"Kill me? Who said anything about killing me? You were lucky with Gothren, the only reason that old fool hadn't died before then was because none of us wanted to waste the effort. He was old and weak, that was no large triumph for you! Hah, maybe Aryon helped you! Maybe you caught him in his sleep for all we know! Look at you, you can hardly bring any light to your magic right now! No, I'm ready for you and I formally challenge you for your title!"

With a sigh she clenched her hand around the magic-suppressing amulet at her neck, sparing a glance at her comrades, knowing they had to stay out of the way. Her glance lingered for a moment on Talvas, but he only nodded in confirmation. There was no sense in drawing this out any longer. "Yet again you've forced my hand then, Neloth. I suppose now is as good a time as any to let you in on a little secret I've kept from you all these years." Magic had welled so tensely within her that she hesitated in removing the amulet, not knowing how her body might handle channeling so much magic after the last time. Finally the amulet came off, the mana surge suddenly flowing over her like a torrential waterfall. She only took a second to register the slight panic on his face, the blue surge of magic radiating from her skin. "After all you've done to try to collect the magic around you, I've been doing it since the day I hatched."

"You... you're a channel!" His expression warred between absolutely irate and reluctantly impressed. Suddenly every question he had been asking himself about her from the very beginning was more or less answered. Not once had anyone ever seen her use any staff but the Staff of Magus, and never a scroll nor any minor enchantments. Every spell she cast had been large and loud to the point where most called her a show-off, but now it was clear that she did it because she couldn't help it. She was just too powerful to control herself back then.

She spared a nod, keeping an eye just beyond where he stood. Aryon and Talvas couldn't interfere now that Neloth issued a challenge against her title, but that might not stop him from trying to harm them. Reflexively backing up in preparation, she bumped the rim of the great stone circle that held a large amount of focusing plasma, bright blue and surging a little itself. All she wanted to do was steady herself a little as she reached behind, but the moment her left hand met the rim, the focusing plasma burst a streaming jet high into the sky, reacting to her energy violently. Her hand felt like it was burning as she jerked it away, her ring glowing hotly as it resonated with an odd sound.

Instead of subsiding, the glow in her ring only grew, and she looked at it with a touch of worry. "What? Oh no, Nerevar, this isn't a good time for that!" There was no use in fighting it, though, and she knew it. Slowly her hand grew red, and she met Aryon's gaze across the courtyard, jaw clenching as she braced against the inevitable. They had planned for this possibility, but this would throw everything out of balance.

"Damn!" Aryon roughly grabbed Talvas by the arm, rushing them both into the hall of attainment and up the stairs. As they rushed up toward the top of the tower and onto the roof, he pointed in the direction of the main hall. "We have to get out of range. I had hoped this wouldn't happen, but all we can do now is stay out of this."

Talvas did follow after him, but he was left confused while below, a red gold fire swirled around Laje-tal, her eyes seeming to glow. "What's going on?"

"Once in a while in battle, she becomes more like Nerevar than herself. His soul is still trapped in her, and sometimes he has a bit of mind of his own. To make it short, there is no plan now. There is no telling what might happen from here. You'd better stay out here and make sure none of the locals get too close. That atronach of yours might not last long enough. If you see any people get near, throw a fireball near them, they will stay out of it if they are wise."

"What about you?"

"I'll try to help with Ancano if I can, though I don't know how much help I might be. If Brand-Shei has been foreseen to do this anyway, I might not be needed at all. Either way, we can't interfere in a formal challenge and I don't know about you, but I'm not content to just stand about and watch. Think you can keep the noses of those guards out of this?"

Talvas grinned, his hands glowing brightly with fire. "If I can't, I'm a sorry apprentice! Go on, I'll make sure your wife doesn't have anyone outside the college to worry about!"

"Good!" Aryon didn't miss the fact that the other didn't even hesitate when he called Laje-tal his wife. He had no doubt the young man could now be trusted with guarding her, with keeping the villagers and guards safely away, and be trusted to do it on his own. "I will leave you to it."

Once Aryon scaled the side of the building to get into the hall of the elements, Talvas launched a warning shot of fire near the bridge as someone approached the outer edge. Oh but those Nords were a curious sort! Below in the courtyard, the magic had finally started to fly, and with only a flick of her hand, the possessed Argonian summoned an entire rain of fireballs to fall upon the ice and snow, melting both in an instant. Hot and cold met in a flurry of steam, obscuring her for a moment as she prepared another large spell. Her eyes seemed to glow, and a shimmer of spectral armor outlined her frame. Was that really the reincarnated soul of Nerevar? It may well have been, since out of nowhere her battle style altered. Instead of relying mainly on spells, she drew her long daedric sword, the thing glowing with a phantom arc of golden light.

In theory, he knew that the Argonian did just as well with sword as spell, being a battlemage, but to see it like this was another thing entirely. Of course, Neloth was hardly one to neglect his own sword skills and he did actually have far more overall experience than any of them. He was quite possibly the oldest person in all of Tamriel right now, and it showed as he met blow for blow in a flurry of strikes. Avoiding a sharp jab, Laje-tal shouted at the ground, gaining enough force to jump back toward the central statue, using the momentum to leap away from it to counter the strike. Her agility was enough to miss the blows that followed, but her own slashes met little but fabric.

Taking a long look at the blatant shift in her style, Neloth changed his own ever so slightly. "Hmph. Shade of Nerevar, indeed. Always playing around with those Dwemer and making foolish alliances. Look where that got you! The only useful thing you ever did was get rid of those Nords." A long moment passed, the fight only intensifying. "Nothing to say for yourself?"

A strong wind cast around her in a sudden burst, whipping the flames she spun in a wild torrent as he grew just a bit too close to her. It threw him back toward one of the thick stone walls, stunning him briefly. She followed with another burst of speed from her overpowered shout, the overwhelming pulsations of energy shoving out of her, making her overshoot her actual target. A slight confusion drifted through her link with what little she could sense of Nerevar, and it seemed even he wasn't quite ready for such a thing. No, they needed to bring this fight closer, needed to change the field.

Neloth summoned a frost atronach, glaring at her glowing form with frustration. "To see the mighty war hero Nerevar reduced to this! When are you going to fight seriously?"

She didn't answer, only drew a small seed from a side pocket, holding it before her almost carelessly. It was as if she didn't quite see him, didn't know exactly what was happening, and yet she was certainly countering whatever he threw at her. Roots suddenly exploded from the seed, massive and thick as they twisted and arched around her. One morphed into a crooked arch, the rest changing the battlefield entirely. The speed at which the plant grew was too fast to follow, growing and growing as she fed more and more energy into it, using the mess to narrow Neloth's field of movement. He was forced to fight in narrow slashes, his magic not quite enough to burn away the errant roots and still have enough energy to actually fight. As much as he hated to admit it, this was a war of attrition, and his magic was limited.

An explosion rocked the inside of the college, coming from the hall of the elements. Before any of them knew what exactly had happened, Laje-tal suddenly fell to the ground, overcome by the power forcing itself into her. What was left of Nerevar's influence broke, leaving her dazed and momentarily lost. Neloth seized the opportunity, catching her as she tried to dodge, slicing a deep gash into her right arm. The heavy sword in her hand dropped, the pain too great to keep it up any longer. He moved to take advantage of this as well but she spun, her tail tripping him just long enough to grab Keening with her left hand, stabbing wherever she might hit. She didn't mean for it to go straight into his heart.

A whole new surge of chaotic waves of magic pulsed through the college grounds, and surely even those without any magic at all could feel it. Talvas didn't hesitate, making his way to the courtyard and dragging Laje-tal to her feet. He didn't pause to look at his dying former master, all he could think of now was what in Oblivion was happening inside that college. Laje-tal was barely conscious, but they both saw Brand-Shei wielding the Staff of Magus against the open spinning eye, draining its power. It wasn't long before Ancano too met the ground in death, but now the eye was very unstable. She slowly staggered to her feet, voice barely loud enough to be heard. "Wait for the Psijics. They'll know what to do."

Brand-Shei ran to her, Aryon quickly following after. The latter caught her as she fell, easing her to the floor. Her hands were raw and bleeding with all of the magic she had unleashed, chest heaving with the effort it took just to keep breathing. Luckily four Psijics soon appeared in the room, speaking to Brand-Shei briefly. They would take the eye with them, keeping it safe or perhaps sealing it once more. One of the Psijics, Quaranir, paused as the others turned away, looking at Laje-tal with great concern. "She has been more than a little tainted by the power from the eye. Let me take a look at her." None of the others disagreed, letting him do what he would. He inspected her hands, her face, her skin. A small glow of restoration magic flowed through his hands and though he did look worried, he also seemed a bit amused. "Hello again, Nerevarine. I'm not much of a healer, and this is a serious matter. I don't know enough about Argonians to do a proper assessment of this, but if you know a healer... no, two. A master healer would be best. Right now the absence of the eye will have to do." He looked back where the others were ready to send the eye away, and he moved to rejoin them. "We will remove it at once. Farewell."

As soon as the Psijics encircled the eye, Brand-Shei scrambled to his feet, muttering something about the master healer of the college, and was out the door before they knew it. In a surge of light the four mystics spirited the eye of Magus away, gone in a flash just as quickly as they had entered. Soon a few of the other college masters ran into the room, all talking about the sudden disappearance of the eye. After a moment Brand-Shei returned, a somewhat bedraggled woman following after him. She quickly saw what the problem was, shooing the others away from Laje-tal. "Hah, I knew this day would come! See? I told you restoration was a valid school of magic! I told all of you but no! Everyone go laugh at Colette, she doesn't know anything about anything!"

With an insistent clearing of his throat, Brand-Shei got her attention. "You know I've never doubted your abilities, Colette, but I think now might be more the time to show than tell. After all, seeing it happen is the best way to believe it."

She indulgently patted his arm, humoring him with a smile. "That's right, that's right!" After she actually looked at her patient, though, she frowned. "Oh, dear. You know, I've worked on many sorts of folk, including J'zargo over there, but I've hardly even seen an Argonian, let alone heal one. The ones in Windhelm don't get to leave much, and I don't get down there either. Well, I am a healer still! I'll try, I surely will! Then you will all see I know what's what!" To her credit she summoned a great deal of restorative power, enough to impress even Faralda, but after only moments she stopped, her face grim. "This is more than magic sickness, it's magic poisoning. The raw magic in her blood right now is... how do I explain it? It's like it suffocates her very blood itself! Something is cutting off a magical connection inside her."

Brand-Shei swore, having an idea what might be happening. "It's cutting off her connection to the Hist. Without it, she will die for sure. An Argonian might live a day or two without the Hist, but not like this. If we had some Hist sap, that might just be enough to reconnect her to it. I don't know what else we could try, but I don't think we have any of that even here in the college."

"I'd bet Enthir would know all about it, now wouldn't you, Enthir?"

The Bosmer in question jumped at the mention of his name, looking around the group of people with a touch of panic. "What? I don't know what you mean to imply by that, Colette."

"Oh please! Everyone knows what you do around here! Now do you have any or don't you?"

"Of course not!" Seeing her frown darken at that, he backed away slightly. "Well why would I? Nobody needs that stuff around here! You know, though, I think I did get a request from Windhelm to send some down to the Argonians there at the docks. Yeah, it was a couple months ago, one of them also requested some skoo- I mean uh some scrib jerky. Apparently a whole bottle can last for years, I'll bet they would still have some left if they're willing to share it."

Aryon nodded, already preparing to leave. "We know the Argonians down there, so it's worth a try."

Below Laje-tal stirred slightly, no longer in sheer agony just breathing, revived a little by what healing could be done. "Have to give... burial."

"Ah, that's right." He looked around at all of the mages gathered there, spotting just the Dunmer he had hoped to see. Pointing at her, he motioned her over. "Brelyna Maryon, right? Your colleague here told me a bit about you. A relative of Felen Maryon?"

The woman looked understandably hesitant, knowing the amount of pressure she was already under with her house, but she came forward anyway, nodding. "That's right. I'm actually his niece. Did you know him? Please don't tell them anything about this."

"Nothing personal, but I know better than to tell the Maryons anything of actual interest. Ah, forgive me, I'm Master Aryon, also of the Telvanni. I'm afraid Master Neloth has been killed as a result of the battle out in the courtyard. I'd see to it myself that he was burned properly if I could, but if we don't get the Dragonborn here some treatment soon, she might die."

"M-Master Aryon? That's impossible!" She shot a glance at Brand-Shei with a great amount of uncertainty, but he only nodded a confirmation. "That can't be true! Everyone said you died in the Oblivion crisis!"

He just sighed, picking up Laje-tal carefully, her waning condition and rising temperature making him a bit short with Brelyna. "Can you see to it that he's buried? We have to leave here right now."

"I... well, yes I suppose, but... wait, you killed Master Neloth? How could you do such a thing? He-"

"He issued a formal challenge. You know as well as I do that there was no other option."

"Please, Brelyna." Now Brand-Shei blocked her from stopping the others, shaking his head. "There isn't much time to explain, and I know this is going to be hard to explain to the other Telvanni, but just tell them the truth, that he died honorably in battle. Can you do it?"

She bit her lip absently, arms crossed over her small frame. "I'll see to it, but tell me what happened when you come back. I'll see if anyone knows if there is a family tomb he belongs to."

"Thank you." He would have said more but Laje-tal suddenly started gasping, her throat closing as her body fought the magic in her blood. Taking a look at her eyes and brow, he frowned as both were starting to look dangerously pale. "Let's get her to Windhelm right away. I just hope the Argonians will be able to do something more for her than I can."

At the head of their party now, Aryon wrapped a spare cloak around his shuddering wife, a sharply determined look on his face. "Right, and if that fool Ulfric tries to stop us, I'll kill him myself."