True to J'zargo's words, Onmund definitely felt the aftermath of their wild evening when he woke up in the morning. His head was pounding and his stomach felt very uncomfortable. On top of that, the guilt from the way he had acted in front of everyone came back to him, including his behavior towards Danielle. She hates me, he said to himself again. She must hate me. There's no doubt about it. He wished that he could just curl up in the bed all day long and forget about everyone else but he was eventually up with the others so that they could depart for Mzulft.
Everyone was in a mess physically and mentally, but they all managed to eat a quick breakfast and before long, were on the road to the Dwemer ruin to the east. As the four mages walked along the road together, Onmund decided to speak up. "I'm sorry about the way I acted last night. That was really inappropriate of me." He wanted to apologize to everyone but he looked directly at Danielle as he said this.
"Don't worry about it," Brelyna piped up. "It was the mead doing the talking. I don't think I'll ever have that again."
"I know," he said. "But I just want to apologize for a lot of things." Again, he looked right at Danielle as he continued, "I know I haven't been a very good friend lately. I hope that'll change."
At this, Danielle looked up at him as they were walking and their eyes met for a moment before J'zargo cut in, "Will you stop with the apologies? By Alkosh, sometimes you embarrass Khajiit."
This caused Brelyna to giggle, and Onmund was too mortified to go on, so he dropped it. Within a couple of hours, they reached Mzulft and Danielle found the Dwemer Convector up on a platform near the ruin entrance.
"So this is what it looks like!" Brelyna exclaimed as they all gathered around the apparatus.
To Onmund it looked familiar. It was large, round in shape, and was made of the same gilded metal that all Dwemer machinery was made out of. It also had a button on top, reminding him of the little vaults he had seen within Dwemer ruins which usually held treasure inside. He watched as Danielle pressed the button and the convector opened up. She then placed the soul gem inside and began channeling a spell. "Arniel taught me a special spell that will heat up the convector without damaging the soul gem," she explained. "This should charge it just enough before we need to move it to another convector." She then unleashed the spell, and as the flames came out of her hands and hit the convector, the soul gem began to glow a bright blue color. She stopped heating it, and they saw that the top of the convector was burnt to a crisp, but as promised, the soul gem was still intact. She picked it up and put it back into her satchel.
"So that's it?" J'zargo asked.
"That's it for this one," she replied. "Now we need to find another convector. There's supposed to be another one around here somewhere."
"I think I know where it is," Onmund piped up. "I think I remember seeing a convector inside the ruin, not too far in. I didn't know what it was at the time Danielle and I were here."
"All right, lead the way then," Danielle said.
The Arch-Mage and the two Apprentices followed Onmund into the ruin. Once inside, Onmund noticed something. "Hey, that Gavros guy is gone. Looks like the Synod have left."
"Gavros?" Brelyna questioned.
"Synod?" J'zargo questioned simultaneously.
"It's…it's a long story," he replied, glancing at Danielle.
"We'll tell you about it later," Danielle said. "Let's find that convector. Where did you remember seeing it, Onmund?"
"Uh, this way," he said and led the mages down the corridors. It was further in than he had remembered it being, but at last they came to a platform where the convector was. Danielle put the soul gem inside of it and heated it up, yielding the same results as the one outside had.
"All right, we just need to charge this up one more time," she said after she took the soul gem out. "The nearest one from here is just to the southwest of Shor's Stone."
"We should get there by midday," Onmund said. "Let's get going."
They all went back outside and found their way back onto the main path leading south. It took about three hours to get to Shor's Stone, and Danielle consulted the map that Arniel had given her to pinpoint the exact location of the convector near there. It was several hundred paces to the southwest, tucked into some hills. They headed out that way and off the beaten path. Onmund was a little nervous wandering off the main path but he figured that they had a map and that Danielle knew what she was doing.
Soon, they came upon a small Dwemer ruin nestled within a grove of aspens. Danielle suddenly stopped them, becoming wary. At first, Onmund didn't know why, but just then he heard a voice speak, "Who's there?"
"There's someone there!" Brelyna whispered.
"Shhh," Danielle urged, putting a finger to her lips. "Spread out." She then pointed to her right. "I'll go this way." Pointing to her left, she said, "J'zargo and Onmund, you go that way."
Following her orders, Onmund followed J'zargo off to the left until J'zargo stopped, so Onmund kept going, sneaking among the trees, keeping his eyes trained on the ruins in the center. He still couldn't see who had spoken out among them so he just kept on going. Suddenly, a purplish mist appeared right in front of him, causing him to cry out, "Aahhh!" He immediately stopped in his tracks as a Frost Atronach materialized out of the mist. It started attacking him, and he backed up as far as he could to throw out some Lightning Bolts at it.
Just then, he heard shouts from afar. It sounded like Danielle but he couldn't make out what she was saying.
As he continued hurling Lightning Bolts at the atronach and dodging its sprays of frost, he saw Danielle run up from behind it and send forth a steady stream of Flames from her hands, causing it to disintegrate. He watched her in disbelief as she approached him and was about to say something to her when he felt a sharp, stabbing pain on the side of his leg. "Agh!" he cried out and looked down. An ice spike had been driven into the side of his thigh. He faltered as the pain started to immobilize him.
"Onmund!" Danielle cried and searched the trees frantically for the source of the debilitating spell.
Suddenly, a Warlock appeared out of the trees and came towards them. Danielle charged towards him and Onmund looked on as she and the Warlock engaged in a frightening battle of fire and ice. He was on the ground now, the pain in his leg absolutely unbearable. His satchel was under him, and he couldn't find the strength to shift his weight over to get to it. He tried to channel some magicka into his hands for a Healing spell, but with the spell still relatively new to him and being in his incapacitated state, he couldn't concentrate on the incantation. He placed his hand on the ice spike in his leg and was surprised to discover that touching it alone made the pain immensely worse. A substantial amount of blood was pouring out of his leg around the sides of it, and just seeing all of it made him feel faint. Thus, he sat there helplessly and watched as the battle with the Warlock unfolded before him. Brelyna and J'zargo had joined the assault, as well, and after an intense fight, the Warlock finally went down.
The three mages immediately ran over to Onmund. "By the light of Azura, Onmund!" Brelyna cried, alarmed.
"That's the worst injury I've ever seen!" J'zargo cried.
Danielle was already crouching down on the ground next to him and frantically removing her gloves. She placed her hand on his forehead and said to him, "This may hurt, but trust me."
Onmund nodded weakly and watched as she put her other trembling hand right onto his wound. This caused him to cry out as the pain shot through his leg like a thousand arrows. But she kept her hands steady on him and quickly recited the incantation. Just as he had before when she healed him, he felt an intense wave of mysterious power overtake him. He closed his eyes, feeling an acute sense of euphoria as the spell worked on him, and then after a few moments, opened them.
"Hold on, I'm not done yet," Danielle urged.
He looked down at his leg and saw that the ice spike was gone, and her hand completely covered the spot where it had been, so he looked back up at her curiously, wondering what she meant.
"There's still a gaping hole in your leg," she explained. "I now need to cast Close Wounds on you."
He nodded and let her proceed. She closed her eyes again and whispered a different incantation, and her hands began to glow white. He flinched as a very strange sensation hit his leg where the spell flowed into him and Danielle urged, "Don't move." He tried to keep still but it felt very uncomfortable. After a few seconds, though, his leg returned to normal.
She removed her hands from him, and everyone gasped as they saw that the wound on his leg had completely healed. There was still a hole in his robes where the ice spike had gone through but his skin was as good as new. "Amazing," he breathed, in just as much astonishment as the other Apprentices were. "Um, thank you."
"You're welcome," she said to him and stood up. But as she stood up, her step faltered and Brelyna and J'zargo had to reach out and catch her before she fell.
"Are you okay?!" Onmund asked her, worriedly.
She nodded quickly, trying to regain her balance. "I'll be fine," she assured, but Brelyna looked at her with concern. "You didn't use up all your magicka on those spells, did you?" she asked her.
"It doesn't matter," Danielle replied weakly. "He needed help."
Becoming worried, Onmund immediately reached into his satchel and found a magicka-replenishing potion. He stood up and gave it to her.
"Thanks," she said and drank it up. "Ah, much better."
J'zargo and Brelyna let go of her as she seemed to regain her strength. "Thank you, Onmund."
"You're welcome, but…Danielle, you shouldn't use all of your magicka to heal me!" he cried. He gave her a tender look and she caught his gaze for a moment before shyly turning away.
"Onmund's right," Brelyna agreed, looking at her friend with concern. "What you did for him was very sweet but you've got to look out for your own well-being, as well."
Danielle shrugged. "I'm sorry. I won't do that again. Well…we should get moving. Let's find that convector."
"I'll bet it's around here somewhere," Brelyna said after giving her and Onmund "the look" again. "That Warlock was probably guarding it."
The four mages went into the grove of trees and came upon the rubble of a small Dwemer ruin. In the center of the pile, they found the convector.
"There it is," Onmund proclaimed, pointing to it.
Danielle walked over to it and opened it up. "Thank goodness it's not damaged!" She then placed the soul gem inside and heated it up one last time, destroying the convector in the process. After taking the gem back out, she put it back into her satchel and declared, "Well, that's it. Let's head back to the College now. We'll have to spend the night in Kynesgrove again, of course."
J'zargo let out a sigh. "Must we? Those beds were itchy."
"Not unless you wanna sleep out on the cold hard ground again and hunt rabbits for dinner!" Onmund jabbed.
J'zargo grumbled as the rest of them laughed. "I'm sorry, J'zargo," Danielle said. "Kynesgrove is the nearest place to stay. Shor's Stone didn't have an inn."
"Isn't Riften close to here?" he asked.
"Yeah, but we're not going there!" Onmund insisted. "Not only is it in the wrong direction but I'm not going anywhere near that crime-ridden town." Looking at Danielle, he added, "I don't know how you survived out there for that amount of time you stayed."
"Hmm, what about Ivarstead?" Brelyna asked. "Isn't that also near here?"
"Yes, but that's over these hills and across the lake," he replied. "It'll take us the same amount of time to get there as it will to get back to Kynesgrove but then we're going to have an even longer journey back to the College tomorrow."
Brelyna sighed and shrugged. "I guess Kynesgrove it is, then."
"Fine," J'zargo relented. "Perhaps this one will order some more mead to get through the night."
"You go right on ahead," Brelyna retorted. "I'm not touching that stuff again."
Onmund chuckled. "More Honningbrew Mead sounds good." At this, the other mages gave him malevolent looks. "But I promise not to drink as much this time!"
Finally, the mages went on their way back north and spent the night in Kynesgrove. Unlike their previous drunken night there, they all cut back on the alcohol and their second night was much more peaceful. The next day, they took the long trek back up to the College, thus ending another adventure with the four Apprentice Destruction students. Onmund remembered Danielle parting ways with them with hardly more than her usual farewell. It wasn't irregular or unfriendly, but nonetheless it was a depressing way to see her go as she didn't invite him to go with her up on the roof or anything this time, but he had no reason to expect her to, anyway.
Reality set in once again as Onmund retreated to his room after having dinner with Brelyna and J'zargo and he sat on his bed to read his books. He paused momentarily to look up and gaze across the hall to the empty bedroom that had once belonged to Danielle. As he thought about her and remembered all of their fun moments together, he lamented, Those moments sure were the best moments of my life. But never again will I experience them. He thought back to his recent apology to her about not being a good friend and wanting that to change but try as he might, he couldn't associate anything with that declaration besides pure folly. How can I be a good friend to the Arch-Mage? he wondered. I've already shamed myself in front of her with that kiss. There's really nothing I can do at this point except just…let her do her job and support her the best way that I can. And that means giving her space…what a cold and empty concept- giving her space. It just means that I need to step aside and let her live her life without me as a significant part of it and vice versa. He tried to fathom the implications of such an arrangement, but no matter how he looked at it, it threatened to eat away at his heart as he pictured their precious friendship slowly crumble away and her slowly drift away from him until they were merely no closer than strangers. He put his book away, unable to focus at the moment, and instead just changed into his nightshift. It was earlier than his usual bedtime but he didn't really feel like doing anything else. He was also very tired from their long outing, so he blew out his candle and climbed under the covers. He had more thoughts that he couldn't recall, but sleep finally overcame him before too long.
Thank you for the support and love; I ALWAYS appreciate it! It makes me very happy! Onmund is finally getting his act together and doing the right thing, but it seems like the end of the road as far as his prospects with Danielle go. ...Or is it? And OMG, lol, to that comment about rape! I definitely don't condone it, but I wonder if Onmund would even have the balls to do that! He just seems too nice...but I COULD see him GETTING raped...oh man, I had better shut up before I say anymore, lest I embarrass myself...
