Thanks to Foreverfictional and Maplemare who both left really nice reviews last update! Hopefully I can keep the updates coming even with school going on.

Tolfdir:

Tolfdir left the Arcanaeum shaking his head. What had Gro-Shub been thinking, sending apprentices to Fellglow Keep? At least send a teacher with them!

Tolfdir shuddered as he remembered what the Fellglow mages had been like before the college kicked them out. Strange disappearances, screams coming from the Midden...it had taken too long to prove it was them. As if the College's reputation wasn't bad enough already...

A sob broke Tolfdir out of his thoughts. He realized that he'd walked out into the courtyard, and someone was running towards him. They were covered in blood, so it took until they were running past for him to realize it was Minerva. "What happened?" he gasped.

Minerva ignored him and ran into the Hall of Attainment, slamming the door behind her. Heart in his throat, Tolfdir followed to see the door to her room slam closed as he entered. He ran over and knocked. "Minerva? What happened? Where are the others?"

There was no answer except a choked up "Go away!"

Well, that wasn't good. "Mirabelle!"

Brelyna:

The ride back to Winterhold was long and awkward for everyone involved. After asking the guards at the Whiterun gates if they had seen Minerva (or as J'zargo had put it "have you seen a short Breton mage? Covered in blood? No?") they could only assume that she had gone back to the college.

"What is she thinking?" muttered Onmund, crossing his arms. "Running through the countryside by herself...there's bears, sabrecats, trolls..."

"J'zargo got the impression that she was too panicked to think."

Onmund sighed. "Yeah, I guess."

That was about the extent of their conversation until the carriage pulled up outside of Winterhold's capital...which wasn't really a capital so much as a couple of houses, an inn, and a store. The three apprentices hopped off the cart and ran to the college bridge as quickly as they could, avoiding the stares of the hold guards.

"Shor's beard, why did I trade that amulet?" Onmund mumbled as the apprentices got to the bridge.

"What amulet?" asked J'zargo.

"My family's amulet. I sold it to Enthir. I thought...they won't talk to me, I don't need them...but it was a good luck charm too...always made me feel better when I was nervous...and they're still my family..."

"I'll talk to Enthir later," offered Brelyna. "But right now we have bigger problems."

Onmund nodded as they ran into the courtyard, nearly bumping into Tolfdir. "There you three are!" he yelped. "I was about to send out a search party! What happened?"

Brelyna shook her head. "It's a long story, we'll tell you later. Is Minerva here?"

"She came running in about an hour ago, covered in blood and bawling her eyes out! I thought you might have been killed!"

"Well, we're not. Like I said, we'll tell you later. Where did she go?"

Tolfidr nodded towards the Hall of Attainment. "She immediately ran to her room and locked herself in. No matter how much I knocked, she just told me to go away and wouldn't come out!"

Brelyna nodded. "Thanks. We'll get her out...hopefully."

The group walked with purpose into the Hall of Attainment and stood in front of Minerva's room. "I just hope she's not still angry for some reason," muttered Onmund.

Brelyna looked at him, confused. Then she knocked on the door.

Minerva:

"Something is distressing you," said the man.

Minerva glared at the figure standing before her. "Yeah, no shit," she snapped at the brunette.

Minerva wasn't sure why this guy kept turning up. He wore priestly robes but didn't say much about religion. He had a confident bearing, but that didn't explain the robes. Minerva was sure she'd never seen him in her life. And he was annoyingly cryptic.

"Is this about what happened at the keep? You only fought the best you could. They would have killed you if you hadn't defended yourself."

Minerva crossed her arms. "You and I both know what I did went way beyond 'defending', buddy." She swallowed. "I chased them...I brutalized them...I..."

"Minerva, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. It's not your fault."

Minerva shook her head. "You can't say that! I could have stopped any time I wanted. I just...didn't want to. I don't know what kind of person you think I am, but I refuse to deflect responsibility for this!" She turned away. "This is no one's fault but my own. I'm just...screwed up. My head..my heart...is just screwed up, that's all."

"Stop saying that!" Minerva jumped. The brunette man had balled his fists. This was new. Most of the time, he seemed detached. Indifferent. But now...

"Minerva Aliee Aureum, you listen to me!" The man came up and grasped her by the shoulders. "You are not broken. You are not screwed up." The man took a deep breath. "When I say it's not your fault, I mean...you come by that temper honestly. It's in your blood."

Minerva stared at him, stepping back. "What in Oblivion are you talking about? If this was 'in my blood', then someone else in my family would have said something. Mama, or Gildas, or Papi...somebody else would share it!"

"That's because it doesn't come from your mother's side. It comes from your father's."

Minerva felt bile build up in her throat. She felt like spitting. "My 'father's'? Don't tell me that thieving, snot-nosed, skeever face is the cause of-!"

"If you're referring to that Alain fellow, I can assure you that's not the case. No, I mean your real father. The one whose blood you share."

Well now Minerva was just confused. "My 'real' father? But I thought Dufont was..."

The priest laughed. "You and I both know that there's more than one way to be a father."

Minerva sighed. "Back to being cryptic as all Oblivion I see."

After another glance back at the throne, the man gave her a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Minerva. I can't say any more right now."

"Can't, or won't?"

The man thought. "Hm...both I suppose." He spread his arms and smiled. "But all in due time, I promise. In the meantime, just know that I understand what you're talking about." His robes transformed. Instead of priestly garb, he suddenly wore a set of fine robes, trimmed with fur. "After all, we're family."

Then he was gone. Minerva was alone. Then there came the sharp "rat-tat-tat" of someone knocking on wood.

And just like that Minerva found herself curled up on her bed, with a wet face and a soaked pillow.

Onmund:

As soon as Brelyna had knocked, the mumbling stopped. There was silence from the room. "Minerva?" called Brelyna.

More silence. Then a muffled "Wha d'you want?".

Omnund swallowed. "We just...we just want to talk. Can we come in?"

More silence. "...why?"

Brelyna shook her head. "Because we want to compare homework answers. Why do you think?"

"You ran off so suddenly, we got worried," Onmund explained. "Are you alright?"

"...worried? I don't understand."

J'zargo's tail flicked. "What is there to not understand? You ran away, and we gave chase. Onmund nearly forgot the books in the process too..."

Onmund sighed. "I said I was sorry!" Though in truth he was more embarrassed then sorry.

"...But...don't you hate me?"

That took Onmund aback. "Hate you? Why?" Onmund questioned. He looked at the others, who looked just as confused.

"I mean...you all saw what I did. I'd hate me too. Or at least never want to talk to me again..."

Onmund shook his head. "You just got caught up in the heat of the moment. I'm sure it happens-"

"You really don't get it, do you? This isn't the first time something like this has happened."

J'zargo scratched his head. "Not the first time? J'zargo is confused."

"Min, can you please just open the door?" Onmund pleaded. The confusion and sadness in Minerva's voice was worrying him.

There was more silence. Then, slowly, the door creaked open. And there stood Minerva. She'd washed the blood off of herself, but her eyes were still red and had bags under them. She wasn't looking any of the others in the eye. "It happened at Saarthal, too. I'm surprised none of you noticed. Then again, I guess none of the Dragur ran away, huh? This kind of thing's been happening since I was a kid. I'd get way into competition, I'd start fights over the stupidest things...I have a bit of a temper in case you hadn't noticed. And once I get going...it takes a long time to stop. One time, my brother and I were sparring, and I got so into it that I broke his leg. He was bedridden for weeks."

"Mom sent me to the healers at the temple, but they couldn't find anything wrong. Or, I guess I should say they couldn't figure out what was wrong." Minerva shook her head. "Do you know why I came to Winterhold?"

Onmund blinked. "Because you wanted to get away from the Thalmor, right?"

"J'zargo believes that question was rhetorical."

Minerva smiled slightly, but it was gone as soon as it came. "That was the excuse I used, but it's not the real reason. Back home, no one really hung out with me except my family. And let's face it, they didn't have much choice. I came here because I built up a reputation as a spitfire and kind of bully. By the time I realized that I was driving people away, it was too late. I came here to have a fresh start. I thought I could control myself. But something about that place just...ticked me off. I couldn't even tell you what it was. Maybe it was the experiments, maybe it was their smugness. Maybe I was just tired." Minerva shrugged in resignation. "But something made me lose it, and like I said, it takes a long time for me to cool down. So...now you know. I don't blame you if you don't want to talk to me anymore."

Onmund stared at her. "What?"

Minerva laughed humorlessly. "Who'd want a friend that might shoot off at them at the slightest provocation? It'd be like trying to walk around in a room full of fire runes!"

J'zargo shrugged. "But we are talking right now, are we not? So we have already proven you wrong."

Onmund looked at Minerva. She looked ashamed, and embarrassed. Not angry. Just...sad. This was different from what he'd expected. He'd expected Minerva to say that Onmund had been annoying, or that they had hiked too long and nobody had let her rest, or that Brelyna's familiar had bit her or...

But instead, she only blamed herself. And as far as Onmund could tell, she was telling the truth.

So maybe that's why Onmund stepped forward and embraced her. Minerva stiffened. "What are you doing?"

Uh oh. Had Onmund just screwed up? "I...I'm hugging you. Do they not hug down in Cyrodil? It's something that people do to-"

"Onmund, I know what a hug is. I just don't know why..."

Brelyna interrupted her, putting a hand on Minerva's shoulder. "If you think you're getting rid of us that easily, you're dead wrong. Okay? We're all still here."

J'zargo chuckled. "Yes. And we're all still talking."

Slowly, Minerva relaxed. "All of you are clinically insane, you know that?"

J'zargo shrugged. "Does genius not often have a touch of madness? You shouldn't be so surprised."

"You just couldn't resist, could you?" snarked Brelyna.

Minerva laughed, and finally let her tears flow freely.

Brelyna

"So let me get this straight. Enthir has this 'no backsies' deal on trades, but now he wants out of a trade he made?"

It was a few hours later, and the group was gathered in the library again. Minerva rubbed her temples and sighed. Brelyna shrugged. "That seems to be it."

Onmund groaned. "A staff of Calm? I can't even imagine all the ways that might be misused..."

J'zargo nodded. "It sounds powerful indeed. A shame we'll have to trade it back to Enthir." He looked at Onmund. "Perhaps J'zargo could simply...take your amulet off him? Discreetly?"

Onmund sighed. "No, J'zargo. We're not stealing it back."

"You must not want it very much then."

Onmund's face reddened. Minerva put a hand on his shoulder and glared at J'zargo. "Hey. Back off." To his credit, J'zargo did shut up.

Brelyna sighed. "Look, even if you could just take it, Enthir's not an idiot. There's not a lot of people here, so even just a basic process of elimination would work. He'd figure out in 24 hours, maybe less."

J'zargo nodded in understanding. "So where is this 'Southfringe Sanctum' anyhow?"

Brelyna pulled out a map and showed where Enthir had marked it. "It's pretty far south, near the border. Luckily, it looks like there's this small town we can rest at on the way."

J'zargo's tail twitched and he looked at Onmund again. "Why did you trade this amulet away, J'zargo wonders?"

Onmund sighed. "...I dunno. I wasn't thinking. I figured it didn't matter. They said they never wanted to see my face again after all...but...even though they hate me...no matter how poorly they treated me, they're still my family, right?" Onmund smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

J'zargo gulped. Minerva balled her fist. "No matter how poorly...what did they do to you?"

Onmund's eyes widened. He waved his hands. "It...it wasn't as bad as you're thinking! They just..disagreed with what I wanted to do, is all!" He looked away. "They just disagreed...really, really strongly..."

Minerva side eyed Brelyna and whispered in her ear. "Does our path happen to take us anywhere near Windhelm?"

Brelyna shook her head. "Don't. I know what you're thinking. But don't. It's not our place."

"He's our friend!"

"And he's not with them. He's here. There's no need to go out of our way. It would just worsen things."

Minerva sighed deeply. Brelyna could tell she hadn't totally convinced her. I should probably keep an eye out to make sure she doesn't break off from the group... Brelyna looked back over at Onmund. Maybe he's right...maybe I am lucky.

Next chapter: We meet a new character and finally start the main quest. Also another display of Minerva's temper.