Relthreyn XVI
"...I'm sorry, friends. I'm so sorry! I had no choice! It was the only way to make sure that monster never escaped! I promise you, I'll never let this happen again! I'll seal this whole place away..."
The apparition vanished, never to be seen again.
"I had no choice, don't you see? I had to leave them behind, had to sacrifice them so I could make it out alive. If we'd all died there, if we'd loosed the thing on the world, who knows what might have happened? That's how I consoled myself for years, after I'd sealed this place shut and vowed never to let anyone open it. Now we've put it all to rest, but it can't undo my mistakes. They can never be undone..."
The elf was crumbling under the weights of his past sins. Seeing the Arch-Mage's anguished demeanor, Relthreyn came to a decision.
"Savos…Uncle. It wasn't your fault. Not completely. Yes, you urged the group onwards, and yes you sacrificed your friends to bind Morokei, but you fail to consider the good you've done. You couldn't turn back, the enemies you made it past would have slaughtered you if you had returned. You sacrificed your friends, that much is true, but you bound Morokei, keeping him from wreaking havoc on the world. You've kept the Labyrinthian sealed all these years to keep others from same fate. You've done horrible things, I won't deny that, but you need to consider the other side of it too."
The other elf let in a shaky inhale before he continued out of the room, Relthreyn trailing behind him.
There were two ghosts standing in front of the door leading out of the ruins.
Savos spoke in an astonished whisper,
"Atmah! Hafnar!"
"Savos…"
Relthreyn quietly exited the ruins to give the trio some privacy, waiting by the door for his grand uncle.
Eventually, Savos emerged looking worn, but lighter.
"It went well?"
"Yes. Very well."
As they trekked through the now knee-high snow, back to their hopefully still alive horses a thought struck Relthreyn.
"… Does this make Mirabelle my great Aunt? I've never had an great aunt younger than me before. Actually, I've never had an aunt period."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, whatever was in that wooden box you mentioned was your Offering to her, you're both going through your Trials, and" He gestured at the mask of Morokei attached to Savos's belt, the Staff being on Relthreyn's (now mostly healed) back " you're bringing back a Token of victory. If that's not a proposal, then I don't know what is."
"…You should respect your elders."
He mounted his (thankfully alive) horse before heading off at a canter.
His cheeks were stained a faint reddish purple. Noticeably, he didn't deny it.
That was a definite yes in Relthreyn's book.
Naya XIII
The ward was expanding further.
It was pressed up against the counter ward the Colllege had created, white sparks leaping out where they came into contact, intermingling wit the falling snow. They had finally managed to convince the Jarl to prepare for a possible evacuation, though knwing the stubborn Nord he wouldn't issue the order until the last possible moment.
It had been ten days since Relthreyn and Arch-Mage Aren had left for the Labyrinthian, and they had to be returning soon. They had to be, the other option… was to horrible to even contemplate.
It had been a trying ten days.
More magical anomalies had propagated in the town, attacking citizen and mage alike. These past ten-days had been a constant blur of defending, healing, and rebuilding as each new wave of anomalies appeared.
The only good thing to come out of this mess was the lessening hostilities of the towns people to the mages. The College were the best source of defense Winterhold had, regardless if the problem had began there, and the citizens of the town couldn't afford to alienate them, and they knew that. At first it was a begrudging truce between the two groups, the mages healing and defending, the city providing food and shelter. But the bonds built upon necessity would not be denied, and after ten days of living, fighting, a healing alongside one another, a tentative sort of camaraderie had formed.
Well, at least that camaraderie had formed after Mirabelle's sacrifice.
The anomalies had originally attacked the College's ward from their side, due to the fact that they appeared outside of Ancano's ward. They had flooded the town, distracting the benevolent mages from strengthening their ward, and had almost succeeded in breaking it. Mirabelle had forgone personal defense, and ran through the line, up the bridge and had made direct contact with the union point between the two wards, and pushed all of her formidable power into it, in a bid to keep the ward from falling. It had worked, but Mirabelle had been unconscious ever since, glowing with the same turquoise light that The Eye generated. Naya and Colette had spent most of their time at Mirabelle's side, keeping her alive.
The only thing that could bring her out of the coma was the Staff.
After that very public display of selflessness, the people of Winterhold's attitude had been a lot less begrudging and a little more welcoming.
As she had heard one of the (substantially) more tolerant townsfolk say, 'The College may be a group of deranged mages, but they were Winterhold's deranged mages.'
Newfound harmony aside, Naya knew they couldn't keep this up for much longer.
It was the next day when Arch-Mage Aren and Relthreyn had arrived back. They rode into Winterhold just as the College started fighting yet another wave of anomalies.
Announcing themselves with a bolt of lightning and a beam of white-turquoise light respectively, the battle quickly shifted in Winterhold's favor. The Arch-Mage immediately took charge,
"What's happend?"
"The ward is expanding, Mirabelle is in a coma, and the anomalies are spawning faster every day."
Wow. Arch-Mage Aren and Relthreyn looked pissed.
The Arch-Mage gestured over Tolfdir and Faralda, Relthreyn hefting a beautiful stave both ends having the same material the Eye was made out of. The lower point of the staff was capped with a pointed material, while the upper a sphere, with carved crescents of wood encircling it.
Together, the group of mages made their way to the clashing barriers.