Author's note:
As usual, I thank all my readers and followers and favoriters for their support. I'm overwhelmed by your appreciation for my story and I'm glad to see that you enjoy it. Also, a special thank you goes to KSausage, Elspeth and Neshomeh for their lovely reviews. I'm very happy that you enjoyed my twist with the carriage driver and I'm glad that you liked the way I described Colette. Also, kudos to Elspeth for noticing the connection between Arniel and Ysgramor's soup spoon - that cracks me up all the time too and it inspired when I needed to describe the mages of the College. Also, I thank Neshomeh for taking a look at my story :)
This week I wanted to publish a chapter including Agda's training before Saarthal and her exploration of Saarthal itself, but the resulting instalment was way too long to be posted at once. Therefore, I cut it in two parts and decided to post the first of them. The second one will be up as soon as I'm done revising it.
Enjoy!
20th of Last Seed, E 202
Agda and Adaeze looked at the weapons displayed in front of them.
"Do you have anything else?"
Confronted with the Redguard's question, Birna mumbled something under her breath and reached the upper store of her shop. Taking advantage from her brief absence, Agda shook her head in disbelief. She knew that Birna didn't sell a lot of merchandise, but she hadn't expected her to have just two weapons on sale.
"A steel dagger and a hunter bow", Adaeze slowly said. "What are you going to pick?"
"The dagger, of course", Agda replied without enthusiasm. "I would rather buy something dwarven, though".
Adaeze rolled her eyes. Agda had reached her less than an hour early and had confusingly jabbered something about the older mages of the College plotting to kill her. When Adaeze had finally got her to calm down and explain what was going on, the young Nord had told her about Saarthal. The former thief had frowned at the unexpected news: Agda was terrible at fighting and two days of training weren't going to change anything. In the attempt to help her friend, however, Adaeze had immediately taken a day off and led her to buy a decent weapon. Yet, that task was proving to be much more difficult than predicted.
"Agda of Anvil", Adaeze said with an irritated tone. "Just because Steinarius Crespusculus fights with a dwarven sword…"
"He doesn't fight with a dwarven sword", Agda corrected her. "He did have a dwarven sword the first time I met him, but he switched to an Imperial sword after revealing me that he was an officer of the Legion. As of late, however, he mainly wields a mercury sword called Dragonbane. You know, he loves experimenting with weapons".
Adaeze rolled her eyes.
"Now that you've described every item in Steinarius Crepusculus' armory, we can move on", she sighed without hiding her discontent. Sadly enough, it looked as though Agda still hadn't got over her crush for the Dragonborn. "Unfortunately, it is too late to make a trip to Windhelm, just like it is too late for you to learn how to use a bow", the Redguard added after examining the weapons Birna had on sale. "I'm afraid you'll have to get used to that dagger, Agda".
Before the mage could reply, Birna walked back in the room.
"I had this weapon hidden in a crate upstairs", the shopkeeper said while laying a rusty mace on the counter of her shop. "You can try it, if you want".
As soon as Adaeze saw the mace, she couldn't hide her relief. That weapon was old and rusty, but it was much better than the dagger Agda had originally chosen. The mage, on the other hand, twitched her nose. She was good at conjuring daggers and axes, but she wanted to buy a weapon in case her magicka ran out during the exploration of Saarthal. Sadly enough, that rusty mace didn't convince her at all.
"This weapon is perfect for you", Adaeze said after noticing her friend's doubtful expression. "You're a Nord, so you should have a great time with a mace like this".
Agda didn't agree, but reached for the weapon anyway. When she tried to wield it, however, she had a very bad surprise.
"Adaeze, I'm afraid I can't buy this weapon", she said while blushing as red as a tomato.
"Why not?"
"It's too heavy".
The Redguard frowned.
"What do you mean it's too heavy?"
"I mean this", Agda said under Adaeze and Birna's confused gazes. The girl was using both her hands to try and move the weapon, but without any result. "I can't even lift this mace from the counter, let alone swing it in battle".
As Adaeze heard those words, she deadpanned: for Agda, surviving in Saarthal was going to be much more difficult than predicted.
An hour later, the Redguard and the mage were walking towards Skytemple Ruins, an old burial site north of the College of Winterhold.
Rather than walking normally, Agda was sneaking for most of the time, a fact that slowed down their march. Annoyed by that fact, Adaeze suddenly lost her temper.
"Agda, the area is clear, so there's no need to walk around in that way", she snorted. "Also, if you and Steinarius get together again, do the world a favor: do not procreate".
Those words caused Agda to straighten her spine and pull a very offended expression.
"Excuse me?"
Adaeze sighed.
"Agda, try to imagine a child with your fighting skills and Steinarius' delicacy in dealing with people. The little one wouldn't last a day".
"The child may also inherit Steinarius' strength and my magical skills", Agda pointed out. "By the way, I'm not planning to get near that Imperial ever again, let alone indulge him in sinful activities that could lead to the birth of a child".
Adaeze laughed at Agda's annoyed tone. Her good mood, however, vanished less than five minutes later, when she and her friend finally reached the island where the ruins of Skytemple stood. Not only did Agda slip multiple times on the thick ice connecting the isle to the land - when she saw a skeleton patrolling the area, she also tried to avoid the upcoming fight by escaping back to Winterhold.
"No no no", Adaeze hissed while grabbing her friend by the sleeve of her mage robes. "Now you go there and face that thing, Agda. And use your dagger, while you're at it".
Encouraged by a powerful shove on Adaeze's part, Agda suddenly found herself in the middle of the road leading to the ruins. As predictable, her appearance immediately drew the attention of a nearby skeleton. Rather than facing it, however, the girl let out a high-pitched scream, turned her back to the threat and started running like an obsessed.
Adaeze sighed. She had to admit that that scene was quite funny: Agda was running with the fastest speed her legs could grant her, whereas the skeleton was doing its best to reach her and plant its sword in her back. Both figures were graceless and uncoordinated.
"Adaeze, heeeeeeelp!", Agda screamed when the skeleton got closer. Sadly enough, her lack of exercise didn't allow her to run for a very long time.
Despite her friend's terrified yells, Adaeze was determined not to help her.
"Agda, are you a Nord or what?", she shouted with a very outraged tone. "Wield your dagger and face that creature, now!"
Rather than obliging, Agda took a sudden turn and led the skeleton towards Adaeze. Guessing her plan, the Redguard started running and shouting insults at her friend.
"Oh no, Agda of Anvil, I'm not going to kill that creature on your behalf!", she screamed.
Despite the guard's words, the young mage kept on following her. Rolling her eyes, Adaeze deeply hoped no one could see her: she was running away from Agda, who was running away from a skeleton, who was running in order to reach the girls and kill them. Had someone come across that weird scene, Adaeze would have lost her reputation once and for all.
There was a sudden squeak and Adaeze turned to see that Agda had stumbled and fallen to the ground. Sighing, the Redguard made to run up to her and defend her from that damned skeleton – after all, when she'd screamed to Agda that she was ready to let her die, she was actually joking.
Luckily enough, when the skeleton closed in, Agda suddenly remembered her Nordic blood: with a shrill shout, she cast a firebolt that caused her enemy to explode. As the undead fell into pieces, Adaeze sighed in relief.
"Was it that difficult?", the Redguard said after walking up to Agda and helping her to her feet.
The mage gave her an outraged look.
"That thing wanted to kill me, Adaeze!", she said with a mixture of anger and fear and shock. "Kill me, you hear me? I'm a healer, for Talos' sake, not a warrior! I'm so done with this training, I'm so fucking done with this…"
Adaeze unexpectedly burst into laughter.
"Come on, you skeleton slayer", she chuckled after grabbing a very confused Agda by the sleeve. "You've just killed your first undead. If you kill another one, tonight you can have some hot cocoa. Also, I may decide to present you one of my colleagues. His name is Zakkar and he's terribly sexy".
Agda pondered the offer for a few seconds, then sighed.
"Fine, I'll kill another one of the foul things", she said after rolling her eyes. "I'm doing it for the cocoa, by the way: right now I hate everything that has a skeleton, and that Zakkar guy is on the list".
A few minutes later, when Agda blew up the third skeleton of the day, Adaeze smiled. She hadn't missed the satisfied grin her friend sported right after killing (or rekilling) that creature; as a consequence, she was sure that, deep down in Agda' soul, there was an angry Nord barbarian who was only waiting to be released – and Saarthal could be the perfect chance to grant the poor fellow some well-deserved freedom.
The two days before the trip to Saarthal went by fast, almost too fast for Agda to realize it: she enchanted her new steel dagger with a frost-spell, she read many books about Nordic ruins and draugrs, she gloriously murdered a training dummy Adaeze had gently provided her. Nonetheless, the girl still didn't feel ready to face that adventure on her own.
Well aware of her weakness, the evening before her trip Agda went to the tallest tower of the College and walked around in her undergaments for more than an hour. Despite the cold, when she left the tower the girl felt perfectly fine. Cursing her Nordic blood and her resistance to frost, she went to bed and had a very troubled night.
Agda had a series of scary nightmares, the scariest ones she'd ever had: she dreamed of getting killed by a skeleton while Adaeze was looking at her from afar, she dreamed of an evil tankard of hot cocoa trying to murder her, she dreamed of a cannibal draugr feasting on her entrails after gutting her with a mace. All the while, the girl didn't wake up.
The scenery of her dreams eventually changed. Agda was now in a warm place where everything was covered by ash and the sky had an unusual reddish color. She was standing in front of a tall column made of stone and all around her there were people – Nords and Dark Elves, traders and bandits – who were working hard and chanting something under their breath. Then, a man arrived.
The stranger had a sunburnt face that made his white teeth and his grey eyes look even lighter than they were. His tan ended abruptly around the neck of his cuirass, showing that he wasn't used to the warm weather of that land. He strode towards the column with a lot of confidence, then he said something in a language Agda didn't know. All of a sudden, a terrifying creature emerged from the stone and faced the stranger.
Agda watched in awe as the man dodged the attacks of that monster, advanced and retreated, waltzed in a deadly dance that managed to bring him closer and closer to the creature and its nasty claws. The girl had never seen anything like that.
As swiftly as it had begun, everything ended: the stranger buried the hilt of his sword in the side of the creature and allowed a tiny smirk to light his face – or, at least, the part of it that wasn't shadowed by his helmet.
Before the man could rejoice in victory, however, a globe of ink-black tentacles emerged from behind him and trapped him in a vicious grip. The stranger tried to fight it, but the creature was way too strong: Agda saw the man's helmet fall off his face, then she saw one of the tentacles leave a red welt on one of his cheeks. As the stranger screamed in pain, he crossed eyes with her – and as she recognized Steinarius, Agda shouted with him. Nonetheless, their yells weren't enough to cover the slow, hideous voice that laughed at their agony.
Very soon, Agda heard the voice say. Very soon you will be my slaves.
"Good morning honey, it's time to shine!"
As an effect of Colette's voice and her terrifying nightmare, Agda jolted upright with a squeak. On the other side of the hall, Onmund snorted and turned in his bed. By now he had got used to being awoken by Agda' screams.
"What... what time is it?", Agda asked while trying to calm her frantic heartbeat. She could still feel the taste of ash in her mouth and Steinarius' terrifying screams in her ears.
"It's five minutes past dawn, sweetheart", Colette Marette answered with a smile. "You're late for our lesson".
Realizing that she'd just had a very vivid nightmare, Agda sighed in relief. A second later, she finally managed to focus on Colette's words.
"Tolfdir will be waiting for me in Saarthal at 8.30", she frowned. "Are we going to train anyway?"
"I know about Tolfdir, dear", Colette replied with a smile. "Yet, I want you to master a new healing spell before sunset".
Agda's eyes lit up in hope.
"So I'm not going to Saarthal?"
"Honey, of course you're going to Saarthal!", the Restoration teacher chuckled. "First, however, I want you to train with me for a couple of hours".
"Are you coming to the ruins too?"
As she asked that question, Agda tried to make her eyes look as big and sweet as a puppy's. Colette was weird, but her presence always managed to reassure her; therefore, the young Nord deeply wished she would join her in her adventure. Sadly enough, Agda's hopes were crushed by a little laughter.
"Are you kidding me, Agda? I'm a healer, not a warrior!"
As she begrudgingly left her bed, Agda snorted. She couldn't understand why those words could allow Colette to avoid Saarthal, but had no importance when they were uttered by a simple student like her.
When Colette finally allowed her to reach the other students, Agda sighed. She was still recovering from her nightmare and her stomach was behaving weirdly as a consequence of the time she'd spent walking around naked on the previous evening. Also, her lesson in Restoration had drained her magicka, whereas the training with Adaeze had left her tired and sore. The girl didn't feel ready to face a normal day at the College, let alone a morning of explorations in Saarthal.
The young mage's mood worsened after meeting her friends. Onmund was clearly upset about visiting a Nordic burial site, whereas Brelyna was visibly content. As for J'zargo, he was gleaming with happiness. Agda almost expected him to start purring.
While facing the road towards Saarthal, the Khajit insisted on taking a shortcut. Said shortcut actually led the group of mages to the shores of the Sea of Ghosts, where an angry pack of Horker suddenly attacked them. Agda cursed: being murdered by a draugr had a certain fascination to it, but being killed by an overgrown walrus was utterly ridicolous.
After escaping the pack of angry Horker, Agda and the other students finally reached Saarthal, where Tolfdir was waiting for them with a huge smile on his face.
The young healer's nervousness didn't go unnoticed: the older wizard grabbed her by the arm, then gently pinched her cheek.
"Come on little one, there's nothing to fear!"
And with that encouragement, Agda finally entered the first settlement her ancestors had ever built in Skyrim.
She was finally ready to venture in Saarthal.