Paul Fournier Mo - Thank you so much!

Onmund

"I'm really sorry about causing so much trouble-"

"Onmund, for the love of all Aedra and Daedra, stop apologizing!"

It was three days after the dragon attack, and the group had finally left Whiterun in order to do what they needed for Enthir. It was a day longer and much more stressful than it should have been, and Onmund couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm just saying, I dragged you guys down here-"

"If you hadn't, Minerva might not have found her brother, and he might've gotten executed." Brelyna pointed out.

"We also obtained the map from the Dragonstone," J'zargo noted. "A fascinating find."

Onmund sighed."I suppose."

The group had been hiking south for about an hour before they spotted the mountain range that Enthir had marked on their map. "Gildas probably came through here," Minerva noted thoughtfully. "The border's probably only a few miles from here."

"Would you like to visit home, while we're here?" J'zargo asked cheekily.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Just how small do you think Cyrodiil is?"

The group found the cave about a quarter of the way up the mountain. The two spellswords guarding the entrance went down without much of a fight, even after they summoned skeletons to help them. "How are they moving without muscles and skin?" questioned J'zargo. "That doesn't make any sense!"

Onmund laughed. "Neither does shooting fire and lighting out of your hands. Where does that come from?"

"I thought Enthir said he sold the staff to some vampires?" questioned Minerva.

J'zargo hummed thoughtfully as they entered the cave to find... "Ugh, by Azura not this again," groaned Brelyna as she looked up at all the cobwebs.

"Incoming!" yelled Minerva, shielding her eyes and dodging as several spiders came out of the webs.

Both Onmund and Brelyna shot fire at the spiders, while J'zargo and Minerva shot lightning. If any of them got too close, Minerva smacked them with her axe. With that strategy, it didn't take long for the room to be littered with spider corpses. "Hey, look at that!" cheered Minerva. "No eye-stinging for me this time!"

"Is someone there? Please, cut me down!"

J'zargo looked up. "Is this what they call deja-vu?" Hanging above them in the webs was a Dunmer, like in Bleak Falls Barrow. This one appeared to be a mage, however.

"You know," said Minerva. "We just cut a Dunmer out of some webs not two days ago. He tried to leave us for dead and got himself killed."

"So you're leaving me up here?" asked the mage nervously.

Minerva rolled her eyes and pulled out her axe. "Of course not. What do you think I am, anti-mer?"

"We just thought it was weird," laughed Brelyna, pulling out a dagger to help Minerva. At the sight of another Dunmer, the mage seemed to relax and let them cut her down. "So, what happened to you?" Brelyna wondered.

The mage sighed, rubbing her wrists. "My name's Selveni Nethri. Bashnag's coven chased me out and left me for dead down here. And nobody lasts too long with the spiders."

"Chased you out?" questioned J'zargo. "Were you part of the group? And why couldn't you get yourself down?"

Selveni put a hand on her hip. "Yes, I'm a necromancer. And I don't want to hear any morality speeches. I never would have had to practice in secret in the old days."

"In the old days, you also would have been married to another house for political gain by now," noted Brelyna.

Selveni ignored that. "As for your second question, Bashnag cursed me. Sealed my magic. I can't cast a spell to save my life right now."

"Wait, sealed your magic? That's a thing?" questioned Minerva.

Onmund's stomach knotted up.

He was kneeling under the table. Two voices were talking. They didn't seem to have noticed him.

"So, fight magic with magic?"

"That seems to be it. I don't like it, but it seems like it might be the only way to keep that boy under control..."

"...but he wouldn't listen and accused me of trying to sell him out to the Thalmor. So he cursed me and threw me in here."

Onmund snapped back to reality as Selvini finished her story. "So, what are you going to do now?" asked J'zargo. "If your magic's been sealed..."

Selvini shrugged. "It'll take a few weeks to wear off. I just want to get out of here and recover."

Onmund swallowed. "Well, uh...the way to the entrance should be clear. We just came from there."

Selvini nodded. "Thanks. I owe you." She ran back the way the group had come.

Minerva rubbed the back of her head. "Are you guys sure it was alright to just let her go? She is practicing illegal magic..."

Brelyna shrugged. "I mean, so does Gestor, technically. Anyways, it's not like she could hurt us if she wanted to." She looked after Selvini. "And who knows? Maybe she'll decide her daughter is more important than her necromancy."

Minerva made a noncommittal humming noise. "Maybe."

Brelyna looked over at Onmund. "Are you okay? You look kind of pale."

Onmund gulped.

"It might be the only way to keep that boy under control."

"I'm fine. Let's keep going."

An Orc. Bashnag was an Orc. Onmund probably should have guessed from the name, but still. He was standing over an enchanting table when they entered, deep in concentration. "He'd better not have already disenchanted that staff," muttered Minerva as the group walked towards him.

As the group got closer, the Orc suddenly looked up. "Eh? Who're you?" He looked them up and down, then laughed. "Well, well, well! A group of hoity-toity dainty college mages! To what do I owe the honor?"

"Hoity-toity?" yelped Minerva.

Brelyna put a hand on her shoulder. "Down, girl." Minerva puffed out her cheeks and glared at her. "We're just here for a Staff of Charming. If you give it back, we'll leave."

Bashnag snorted. "Ha! So the Bosmer had second thoughts, huh? What a joke. Might as well have sent a group of bunnies..."

"Hey!" Minerva yelled.

"Let's just get this over with." The orc snapped his fingers. Two swirls of frost materialized behind him, spinning in vortices until they solidified into what looked like two giant icebergs with arms and legs.

Onmund backed up. "Aw, man..."

"Atronachs!" yelled Brelyna, shooting flames at one. "We'll take them! J'zargo, Min, get Bashnag!"

"Wait, did I just get volunteered?" yelped Onmund, dodging out the way of an atronach stomps.

"Never seen an orc spellsword before,right?" laughed Bashang, shooting ice and lightning out of his hands. "I bet if I walked through those fancy college doors you'd tell me to scamper off back to the stronghold!"

Minerva scowled and swung her axe at an atronach leg. "For the record, we do know an Orc mage, he's our librarian! You're just a jerk!"

What do you think they'll say when they see a Nord wanting to learn magic? No true Nord trusts the college. They know that! They'll laugh, you know. Leave you in the cold. You'll see.

Ooh, what if they cut him open? I heard there's mages that do that. Cut you open, put stuff in your body then sew you back up. And they keep you awake the whole time too...

Well, I suppose that's all a Nord is good for in their eyes...you'll see!

"Onmund, watch out!" Onmund snapped back to just in time to see an arm of ice as thick as a tree trunk swinging towards his face. His hair rustled as he barely dodged out of the way of the falling atronach, which shattered as it hit the ground. The other atronach was currently melting under Brelyna's flames and had stopped moving.

Bashnag looked at the remains of his atronachs, then drew his mace. "This fight isn't over yet!"

"Yes it is." Minerva's axe met his chest as J'zargo's ice spike met his face. Bashnag fell.

Onmund looked at the fallen orc, then noticed the chest on the other side of the room. He crossed over and cracked open the chest. Inside were coins, spell tomes, and a fancy-looking staff. Onmund pulled the staff out. "I guess this is what Enthir wanted."

J'zargo scooped up the spell tomes and smiled. "Want to test it and make sure?"

Brelyna shook her head. "Let's not."

Onmund looked down at the staff. "...guys?"

"What's up?"

"...do you...seriously think I'm good for anything?"

Minerva blinked. "Wh...where's this coming from?"

"I mean...I did drag you guys all the way down here...and...I dunno, I was remembering some stuff my parents and siblings said..."

Minerva's eyes narrowed. J'zargo's ears flattened against his head. "What kind of 'stuff'?" he questioned.

Onmund hesitated.

...that's all a Nord is good for in their eyes...you'll see!

"...it doesn't matter." he turned around and tried to walk away. "Let's just-"

Brelyna and Minerva stepped in front of him, arms crossed. "Nuh-uh, no way!" snapped Minerva. "You don't get to shit-talk yourself like that and then just back down like nothing happened!"

Onmund flinched back. "I'm...I'm sorry..." he avoided their eyes.

He heard Minerva take a deep breath. "Divines, Onmund, I didn't mean..."

"We're just worried," said Brelyna. "You're our friend."

J'zargo chuckled humorlessly. "For what it is worth, Khajit are not supposed to be good at magic either. But that won't stop J'zargo! And it shouldn't stop you, either." J'zargo took the staff from Onmund's hands and examined it. "J'zargo needs some competition, after all."

Minerva rolled her eyes. "What J'zargo said. Except for the competition stuff."

Onmund looked down, but let himself smile a little bit. They were so angry when they saw what happened in Fellglow. Especially Minerva. There's no way...no way they'd do that to me. So why am I...?

Brelyna

"I'm worried about Onmund," Minerva confessed as they exited the cave. Brelyna was carrying the staff, not really trusting J'zargo with it. "You saw that, right? His expression..."

Brelyna nodded. "I know. I know." She looked down. "But what can we do besides listen?"

"Well, we could run up to Windhelm and-"

Brelyna glared at Minerva. "You know Onmund would never want that." She looked back over her shoulder. J'zargo was trying to chat with Onmund, but it didn't look like Onmund was reciprocating.

Minerva sighed through her nose. "Yeah...I know. He's too nice for that." There was silence for a bit. "What did they say to him? What did they do?"

Brelyna shook her head. Thinking back, Onmund seemed like he zoned out when that captured mage, Selveni, was talking about her sealed magic. But from what she knew about those curses, they could be incredibly painful.

"Surely, Onmund's family couldn't have...?"

"There you are!" came a voice. Jogging up to the group was what looked to be a courier. He was young, and quite skinny. He bent over, panting as he reached the group. "You're..." he panted, "...you're the group of mages from...Helgen...right?"

Brelyna blinked. "We were at Helgen, yes? Who are you?"

The courier sat up a bit straighter, still panting. "From...from Whiterun. The jarl...says you need to come...there's been a sighting!"

"A sighting of what?" questioned J'zargo as the boys caught up.

"A dragon!"

Brelyna nearly dropped the staff. "What?"

"The jarl says since you guys were at Helgen, you've had the most experience with dragons. He says you need to come back immediately!"

Next Chapter: Dragon Rising

Also more angst.