AN: I did it! I actually kept a deadline! (For once, don't expect this to be a regular thing...) But, enjoy!
Formatting guide:
"Normal speech"
"Dovahzul Speech" (Marked this way instead of spelled out for reader convenience, since there is a lot of it.)
"Powerful Entities"
Chapter One: Silence Shattered
22 First Seed, 5e 017
Present Day
Arenna braced for impact as Paarthurnax dove towards the ground, wincing at how far behind schedule she was. The lesson was supposed to have started a full hour ago, but couldn't commence without her presence ensuring the students' safety - the Greybeards were capable of defending themselves, but their method of battle, using frequent and repeated Thu'um magics, was far too destructive to be performed on the Dragonsreach balcony, unlike Arenna's more controlled, precise magic, honed since she was 8 with her presence at the college of Winterhold. And oh, how far she had come. Arenna was, at age 16, the single youngest Arch-Mage of Winterhold in recorded history, promoted after a massive disaster involving the previous Arch-Mage and an artifact known as the Eye of Magnus. Arenna didn't have any time to reminisce, though, as she slid off of Paarthurnax's back, receiving a caring nuzzle from Paarthurnax. Curse her, but she was unable to stop herself from letting out a delighted giggle.
"I wish you luck and a safe return, o wind under my wings. And remember my name, should you have need," Paarthurnax rumbled sweetly.
"This should not take long. I will see you soon, fire of my heart," Arenna replied, stroking Paarthurnax's chin. She smiled as he jumped into the sky, flying back upwards to the top of Monahven. Arenna grinned as she watched her... she was embarrased to admit this, but Paarthurnax was in fact her lover - fly gracefully upwards into the sky. Realizing that she was only getting later, Arenna broke into a sprint on the road leading up to Whiterun, sprinting past guards and others who commented on several bits about her - the robes she was wearing, the fact that she was moving at a dead run - and she ignored everything. She slipped through the city gates on the coattails of a high elf, and sprinted past him, not acknowlidging the altmer any further. Finally, she reached the Dragonsreach doors, and slipped through, slowing to a walk and greeting Jarl Balgruf the Elder as she passed. She reached the doors to the balcony where the lesson was taking place, and walked through them at a brisk pace.
"Ah, Arenna!" Arngeir announced as she stepped onto the balcony, "We're glad you could join us. We were just about to get started." Arenna looked around sheepishly as a murmur ran through the crowd. She caught the word "Arch-mage" a few times, but the phrase "Dragonborn's daughter" was far more prevalent among the group. Arenna sighed inwardly - no matter how much she managed to accomplish in her life, she would never have a hope of being known for her own deeds; she would always be overshadowed by her father's legacy, despite having never actually met him. Her mother, Lydia, had been assassinated by the Thalmor less than a year later, after she had been left with the Greybeards in an attempt to control the power inside of her. The Greybeards' efforts to keep her from using the Thu'um had worked all too well, however, and Arenna now found herself unable to produce any effect at all from a shout, save for in emergencies when it came out involuntarily.
Arenna realized with a start that her train of thought had completely overshadowed Arngeir's instructions to the group - not that it mattered; she had listened intently to an identical set of directions more times than she could count. She waited until Arngeir gestured for the group to attempt the technique, and immediately took action.
"Fus!" she shouted, channeling energy through her voice into the word. Like usual, she felt the energy leave her, and her voice echoed like a thunderclap across the balcony, but no visible effects were accomplished. The only thing she could accomplish with the Thu'um was getting someone's attention - arguably quite useful while trying to summon a dragon from across Skyrim, but in this situation utterly purposeless. Even still, she accomplished far more than anyone else on the balcony - none of them managed to do anything but look and sound like idiots. Arenna grinned, seeing that she had at least made some slight progress from when she had started.
The attempts, both by Arenna and the remainder of the students, continued for a few minutes, with Arngeir giving a few tips on occasion to a student here or there. No one, Arenna included, made any further progress towards their goal of flinging a pile of hay off of the balcony. However, just as Arngeir was about to introduce another method of approach to the problem of shouting, Arenna sensed something tripping her wardnet, set up a few days prior. It was set only to detect men or mer who had a specific intent, being to harm the group practicing on the balcony. That one twinge was immediately followed by a massive rush of sensation, indicating dozens of people tripping the net. Arenna dropped to one knee under the sudden, massive extrasensory input, gasping for breath. After a moment, and several curious stares, she managed to form her words into a warning.
"The Thalmor are coming. Clear the balcony. Now," Arenna said, looking directly at Arngeir as she stood up, casting Ebonyflesh on herself. The students and Greybeards alike jumped into action immediately, crowding up the stairs on either side of the balcony and sneaking through the side doors which had been installed there - all but one young, Nord boy, who stayed just outside the door to watch in fascination. Arenna didn't notice, instead focusing her attention on the door to the balcony. She focused on her anger, channeling the emotion into a flame that appeared in each hand. Then, the door burst open. Arenna immediately began to charge a master level flame spell, Fire Storm, but before she could unleash it was blasted by several lightning bolts. Her ebonyflesh spell and warded robes absorbed a majority of the physical damage, but the lightning was still significant enough to cut her magicka down to nearly nothing and interrupt her spell, causing her to lose focus. Arenna had just enough magicka stored to channel a single bolt of chain lightning, which flashed through the Thalmor ranks, cutting down 9 battlemages. However, it was nowhere near enough. Almost a hundred Thalmor poured onto the balcony, surrounding Arenna and watching her warily. And she was completely and total helpless.
Remember my name, Paarthurnax's voice rang through her head. It was a reminder that may well have just saved her life. Arenna took a deep breath, and called,
"Paarthurnax!" The Thalmor troops, the entire mass of them, leaped backwards in shock as her voice rang like thunder, easily ten times louder than her most powerful attempt at Unrelenting Force. Even the young Nord boy, who remained still on the balcony, yelped in shock at the sudden noise, but his cry was lost in the resounding echo of Arenna's call. Then, the Thalmor began to laugh. One battlemage, seemingly in charge of the group but by no means marked in any way, stepped towards Arenna.
"Well, well. It looks like your voice has failed you, Arch-mage. Here I expected better - our advisor at your college, Ancano, said you were quite a thing to behold. It seems he was wrong," the battlemage taunted. Arenna looked up at him and smiled.
"Even the most powerful of mortals can be defeated by an entire cohort of mages," Arenna conceded, "But true power lies in the friends one has. I happen to have one that is significantly less mortal than we are. How about you?" The battlemage looked confused at her announcement, questioning the relevance of the fact. Then, the thing she'd been waiting for happened. A massive, earth shaking roar resounded from the sky as Paarthurnax swooped onto the balcony. Arenna picked her moment, and jumped. Arenna had been practicing this particular maneuver for a long while, and was quite confident in it now. As Paarthurnax crash landed on the balcony, crushing almost half of the Thalmor ranks, Arenna was in the air above him. As soon as he stood up, ready for combat, Arenna landed squarely on his back, just where she loved to sit. Paarthurnax growled menacingly at the lead battlemage, and the remaining group of mages that hadn't been squished. The mage stuttered and squirmed uncomfortably.
"This is why you always want to make good friends," Arenna announced as Paarthurnax took a deep breath. The last thing that the group of Thalmor saw was a flash of orange, accompanied by a low growl of three syllables:
"Yol toor shul!"