Cearbhail:

Ok, everyone. I finally did it. I wrote Veselle her own story. It is true that I was planning on including her in a future story called the 'Crimson Blades', staring the Crimson Blades guild and the stuff they have to go through as they become a stronger guild, a stronger family. Veselle was going to be that newcomer that joins the guild as the madness of the Chronicles of Ruby wind down. But here it is, Veselle's journey to become a Telvanni wizard.

Oh...and enjoy. ^^


Dear Book of Shadows,

It's hard to imagine just how different my life is now that I'm living in Solstiem. I've been here only a couple days, but it's just now dawning on me just how different life is going to be for now on. My father is gone, and I'm now living in a giant mushroom with a Telvanni master wizard, Neloth Maryon. I thought he'd be nicer, since he seemed like a good friend to my dad back home in Riften. I guess some of his warmness wore off pretty quickly. The minute I accepted to be his apprentice, it was like a candle flickered. He dropped the warm act, telling me that my magicka would not develop as quickly as it could be if he coddled me. He took me on a brief tour of Raven Rock, telling me be about the local populace that I would have to deal with every once in a while when he sent me out for supplies. After that, he led me straight to the giant mushroom that he grew himself. He said I'd have to sleep on the floor until he was able to grow me my own room. He said it would take a month. Until then, I have to share Talvas's room. I haven't met him yet; he's on some assignment involving the 'heart stones' that Master Neloth is obsessed with.

So, I was given this book of shadows so that I could write about my experiences with learning magicka from Master Neloth. It's supposed to record my soul into it so that one day when other Telvanni mage apprentices want to learn from the great masters, they can just activate some avatar that my book will create. I don't really understand it, but Master Neloth told me he'd show me one such journal later. It belonged to an old friend of his grandma's or something like that. Oh well, I haven't learned anything about magicka yet, other than some basic enchantments for swords, but that was before I ever moved to Solstiem. I should go now. Master Neloth is calling.

Veselle Tenvanni.

Master Neloth didn't really know much about privacy. When he called my name, I was still sitting on my little roll out matt, still wearing my pajamas. I had just enough time to close my book before Neloth pushed the door open, staring right at me. "Ah, good, you're awake. Come; make yourself descent and meet me in the main tower. It's time you begin learning about basic Destruction control." He closed the door just as quickly as he opened it, slamming it rather hard. I felt the mushroom room shake from the impact. This thing was alive; I tended to forget that. I was living inside a living fungus. And I wasn't even in my own room. This was Talvas's room. I haven't met him yet, but I heard he was two years older than me. He was fifteen; I was thirteen. I guess Talvas has been learning from Master Neloth for a couple years now. He started at the same age I was now. He was my upperclassman and I had to go to him for any questions I had. If he didn't know, I was allowed to ask Master Neloth. But, until Talvas got back from his assignment, I had no one to turn to except for Master.

The room was pretty simplistic. There was one bed, which I didn't feel comfortable sleeping on. It wasn't my bed, after all. What if Talvas came back in the middle of the night and wanted to collapse in his bed and I just happened to be sleeping in it? I'd imagined he'd get mad at me and that wouldn't make for a great first impression. There was one desk sitting up against the wall, covered in spell tomes and a book of shadows much like my own. I felt tempted to open it up. I mean, Talvas probably wrote in it. It'd give me a chance to know what type of person I'd be studying with. But I resisted the urge and instead grabbed my Telvanni apprentice robes. I slipped the robes on and hurried out the door.

I was hit a sudden blast of falling ash from a fresh explosion from Red Mountain. The wind was heavy and I could see the ash falling from the sky like a light snowfall during the winters of Riften. I looked over to the mountain; I could just barely see it in the distance to the east. The sky above the mountain was glowing faintly red. Seeing how the moons were still up and the stars glowing sharply in the sky, I can't imagine the light being from the sun. Red Mountain must have erupted again. The eruptions were minor and sent more ash and 'heart stones' than actual magma. Vvardenfell was just fine, I guess. We just got hit with all the side-effects of falling ash and those 'heart stones' that Master Neloth continued to talk about.

I rubbed my eyes as I looked around. Ash hoppers dug at the ash, trying to find their breakfast before the other insects woke up. It made me wonder what time it was. Master Neloth didn't seem to sleep very much, if not at all. And so far this is the second night in a row that he's woken me up. Of course, this time I was already awake, but just because I felt the shaking from the explosion up in the main tower. I'm guessing Master needs me to clean something up for him.

I climbed the root ramp leading to the giant flowering mushroom tower that made up Master Neloth's house. When I pushed open the door, I found myself taking one step too far. My leg caught on the levitation spell and I was suddenly pulled off my foot and being lifted upside down as I was lifted up into the interior of the tower. I struggled to keep my robes in place as I screamed in horror. I looked around to keep my bearings but just as fast as I found myself flying up in the air, I felt myself crash onto the spongy floor, landing hard enough to knock the breath out of me. I laid there for a second, trying to catch my breath.

Master Neloth walked over top of me, glancing down at me. "Come now, riding a levitation spell isn't that hard." He reached down and took my hand. "Now, up you go." He lifted me off my back and back onto my feet. He handed me a spell tome, shoving it in my hands. "This is a spell tome. Are you familiar with them? You read them, and they teach you spells. They are magically imbued to send the magic sigils within the text into your mind, allowing you to understand the basic premise of how to use a certain type of spell. Now, normally, I'd throw pieces of garbage like this out my window into the Sea of Ghosts, never to be seen from again. However, I think this might be a good start for you. Read this tome; tell me what you learn when you finish. I'll be by my staff enchanter if you need me; I'll be drinking my dreadful cup of canis root tea. By the by…can you make canis root tea?"

"Umm…" was all I could say before Master Neloth turned to walk away.

"I'll take your conflicted pause as a 'no'." He said as he walked away. "Just read your tome and then come to me when you're ready for the next phase."

I nodded to him and looked down at my spell tome. A giant picture of a flaming palm embroiled into the cover glowed with a light red sheen. The book felt heavy and it looked like it had almost a hundred or so pages inside it. I sighed as I opened it up. I'm all for reading a good book, but as homework? And Master Neloth was probably not going to let me leave this spot until I read the whole thing. I cracked open the book, taking a peak at the magic symbols. The book snapped open and the magic symbols glowed with bright red flames. The pages seemed to flip as quickly as possible. Every symbol on every page seemed to be seared into my memory as the pages flipped by. My eyes flicked over every sigil, every symbol until the book snapped shut at the end of the last page. The book, just flipping through exactly 231 pages of symbols and sigils, crumpled into dust and fell through my hands.

I don't know how long I stood there. My mind had just absorbed an entire text of magicka control and theory about not only the manifestation of fire magicka, but when it was appropriate to summon it and how to make it take a form useable for combat. There were also a few chapters on how to control fire magicka in a way that it didn't burn me or anything I was wearing. Apparently when fire magicka was first designed, no one could control it when the summoned it. It took a price to use it, rather a sacrifice. If someone summoned fire, it usually cost someone's hand or fingers. Heavy blisters, peeling skin, charcoal for limbs. It could get bad before someone actually figured out how to manipulate the fire so that it couldn't hurt someone else.

I think after several minutes my brain started working again. I could tell because Master Neloth was watching me from the other side of the tower's room, sipping his tea loudly as he glared at me. When he finished, he walked over to me, scanning me with his eyes. He stopped by my face, looking at my eyes. "Hmm, interesting. I've never seen an active spell tome before. It was interesting to see how you took to it. No experience with tomes before, only enchantments. Was the process similar to that of breaking down an item and absorbing the knowledge within?"

My head started shaking in response. "Not even close." I found myself saying. "When I used the arcane enchanter, the staff would break down into atoms and dispersed until there was only the enchantment energy left over. Then the energy would be directed into my body. It was a feeling, a knowing of how it felt, of how it was used. It was a natural calling. But…that book, that spell tome. All those pages flipped so quickly but my eyes darted over every symbol, every sigil. And it still remains in my head. And I know…I know how to create fire now. Even if I understand how to do it, I don't think my body has the ability to create it yet. I need to train first."

Master Neloth nodded. "That is good. Can't have you becoming a master just by reading a book. If it were that simple, everyone would be a Telvanni master wizard. It takes years to master your spells. By the way, the spell that just threw you into a mini coma for six hours was Flames, one of the easiest Destruction spells ever known."

"Six hours?" I asked as I looked up at him. "It's only been a minute!"

His eyebrows arched. "Oh? You didn't know? The sun has already risen and set. It's time for bed now. I knew it would be a day long process, reading a tome. Your brain needed time to sort the information. This is why I hate tomes. Sure, it's instant knowledge, but it's empty knowledge. You understand theory, perhaps even technique, but even you admitted that you lacked experience and training to use what you learned from the tome." He waved me off. "Now, go get something to eat and then call it an early night. I will give you the rest of the night off seeing that you've been through a lot today."

Master Neloth turned away, walking back to his table filled with research material. He didn't say anything else to me, just running through various papers. So…I guess I'm free for the rest of the night. What should I do? As I started looking around, my body felt suddenly exhausted. My legs were screaming at me to sit down. I guess standing still for six hours isn't exactly the best thing to do. I'm surprised that I didn't fall off my feet while I stood still for that long. I looked over at Master Neloth. I hadn't really talked to him since I got here. And since I didn't really have anyone else to talk to except for Varona Nelas, she's the steward; Ulves Romoran, the cook; and Elynea Mothren, the mycologist. Varona is nice but she's usually pretty busy so I don't like bothering her. Same with Elynea. She's always looking for signs of rot in the tower. So, since I didn't really feel like talking to them, I wonder if Master Neloth would talk to me. He is my new Master and I wanted to know as much about him as possible, if not only for the reason of having some sort of familiarity with him.

"Master, I have a question." I started.

"Yes, yes. I am sure that you are adjusting to life here and it's hard on you, and you are still grieving for the loss of your father. I will admit that I do miss him as well, even though I barely knew him. That however does not make me want to discuss random subjects with you, nor comfort you. I would if I was not your master, but it is necessary to remember that there are…certain limits between the relationship between a master and his apprentice. Comforting is one of those conditions unfortunately; it can produce weakness in the apprentice if the apprentice is coddled too much. It can also send a bit of rebellious streak later in development in the mid-teens, about two years from now. Seeing how that's when your true talents will start to blossom, I'd rather not repeat the mistake I made with my ex-wife ten years ago." He turned away from his research to look at me. "Do not worry, Talvas should return shortly. I sent him off to a heart stone deposit to collect some heart stones for me to use on my studies."

"Is there any research I can help you with?" I walked over to the table to see what he was researching.

Master Neloth only sighed and stuck out his hand to keep me from getting too close to the table. "Not to be rude, Apprentice Veselle, but this material is too difficult for a mere apprentice to comprehend. But if it will satisfy your curiosity, I will tell you it has something to do with heart stones and their ability to bring inanimate objects to life; much like the ash spawn that have been popping up recently and attacking my tower. They are born from the ash. I believe it has something to do with the heart stones, since these ash spawn did not exist before the heart stones landed on this island. I am looking into how to control the effects of heart stones so that I can use them to control the ash spawn that attack my tower. If I can command my own army of ash spawn, imagine how powerful the Telvanni name will become again. The army of House Redoran will pale in comparison to what I will be able to create."

He pushed me away from his table and I sighed. "Why did you invite me here to study from you if you aren't going to teach me?"

He looked over at me, glaring at me. "You've been here for a grand total of two days, Veselle. I do believe yesterday was your orientation and adjustment to your new environment. And today you spent the whole day learning how conjure up your first Destruction spell. You may not realize this, but that sort of knowledge drains a lot out of your mental power. You need to rest, so this will become an order, whereas last time it was a mere suggestion. Return to bed, get some sleep, and I will wake you for when it's time to continue." He turned to glare at me. "Do not forget I know what's best for you to know, what's best for you to ignore, and what's best to learn on your own. And my research is something you should ignore for now. It would only hurt your tiny head trying to contemplate the meaning behind it."

I had no idea if that was some sort of insult or his way of keeping me out of his business. But, I guess I should just take it for what it was. He didn't want me delving into his personal research. He was a master wizard. Whatever he was looking into was in the realm of master wizardry. I was just beginning to comprehend what a Flame spell was. Whatever he was working on had to be experimental, not figured out like what I had ingrained into my head. I nodded and started turning around. "Ok, Master. I guess I'll just go to bed then."

"Wait." He called as I started to leave. When I turned around, he grabbed onto my arm, spinning me to face him. "I just realized something. You told me that you had made a contract with a Vermeister, and it showed up in Tamriel to protect you when you were dying. I have been doing research into that as well, and I have concluded one fact."

I waited for him to continue but he was suddenly silent. "Umm…Master? What is it?"

"The only way a being like a Daedra or an Aedra can materialize in the mortal realm is if the caster offers up energy to supplement for the being's composed body, usually transformed within the temporal rift opened between dimensions, also known as portals. The Vermeister that appeared in Riften and assisted you could only take physical form if you had the magicka reserves powerful enough to assist the creature in forming. And Akatosh's Vermeister is one of the most powerful Aedra around. Do you know how much magicka it would take to summon such a creature?" When I shook my head, he only sighed in contempt. "It would take normally three fully-versed Telvanni mages to push out that much energy to allow that thing to come through the portal, and even then it wouldn't be bound or complete, but a mere shadow of the real thing. That being said, while you have no experience with magicka, no natural ability other than your Telvanni blood, it would seem that your magicka capability is well above that of a normal apprentice. As I mentioned in Raven Rock when I first met you. The gods seem to think you are powerful; and for that reason I should fear you. Not for what you might do to me, but for what you might do to yourself and others. For this reason, before you go to bed, I want you to shoot as much fire magicka as you can into the sky until you can't summon it anymore. I dare not say how long it will take. That would be like asking how long it would take for the ocean to drain through a small hole in the bottom of the planet. No one could possibly predict such an event." He nodded to me. "Good luck. Hope you finish before the sun rises, for that is when we continue."

I couldn't believe he was telling me to stand outside and shoot fire into the sky. "What if I catch your giant mushroom on fire?"

He gave me a leveled look; bending down to see me eye-to-eye. "You mess up my house, and I will show you what a real Telvanni mage can really do when he feels threatened." He regained his posture, my head coming only up to his chest. He snapped around, the backs of his robe flapping with the effort. He strolled back up to his table. "Well, you better get going. The sooner you extinguish your magic, the sooner you sleep. I suggest you hurry. Sun sets in one hour."

I hurried as I turned to the giant hole. From what I remember yesterday, Master Neloth designed a levitation spell that operated in both fashions. I just had to want to go down. So, I approached the giant hole, putting my feet within the blue glowing circle. I focused my intention on going down and I was suddenly pulled off my feet into a silent gravity-less field. I swayed and struggled to stay right-side up as I was lifted off my feet and drifting over to the giant hole without any ability to control it. My hands and feet started stinging, my stomach turning, my heart racing, and my head spinning with adrenaline as I found myself hovering over a giant 30 foot drop straight down. I still remember landing on my back from a one foot drop coming up. I didn't want to fall 30 feet next.

My little field of no gravity started pulling me down and I slowly, but still pretty quickly, descended to the floor. It was a lot calmer than I thought it would be, and it did wonders for my heart to know that it wasn't a really fast descent. As I got towards the floor, I was forced to hover for a few seconds before gravity returned and I fell the rest of maybe 6 inches before I landed. I wasn't really ready for it so I stumbled and fell to my knees, throwing my hands out to catch me as I did so.

I was glad to feel the soft spongy mushroom floor under my feet and hands. I released a breath I didn't know I was building up, and all my tension faded away with it. When I did that, I was surprised that the floor underneath me erupted into open flames. Seeing the floor erupt into flames like that made me scream in surprise. Thinking fast, I wanted nothing more than to escape the flames before they burnt me. The levitation circle read my intention and flung me up the hole as quickly as it could. It ignored the gentle ascent but instead shot me straight up as quickly as it could. Next thing I knew I was forced into a sudden halt as I reached the end of the spell's reach. It threw me to the side and I flew through the air before crashing into the wall where Master Neloth had stacked some old books. The books collapsed on top of me, and I covered my head to protect myself as I was buried underneath the books. Some of the books were old historical texts and had thousands of pages inside them. They weighted close to 10 pounds. That's pretty heavy when there are about 30 of them falling on top of you all at once.

"What did you do?" Master Neloth practically screamed as he charged over to me. Then he started sniffing the air and walked over to his tunnel. He looked straight down, nodding. "Ok, now I understand." He warmed up a spell and launched it straight down. I watched as a cold bitter wind blasted from his hand and disappeared down the tunnel. I waited under the stack of books as Master Neloth dealt with the currently burning tower. It only lasted a few seconds, and then he turned to face me. "Do you now see just how dangerous you can be? This is not a game you're playing, Apprentice Veselle. You're working with volatile magic and it will destroy you and all that you love if you do not first master it. And the only way to master your magic is to master yourself first. And we cannot begin that process until you have no magicka in your system to conflict with." He reached down, took my arm, and hauled me out of the caved in pile of books. "This time I will supervise you. If this happens again, you will be punished."

He began pulling me by my arm. He forced me close to him so that we both fit inside the circle and then we were both pulled off our feet by the spell. We drifted down the tunnel and I could see just how fast the fire magicka had spread up the tower's interior. I had to be more careful. Just imagine what would happen if I accidentally exploded with fire magicka when I slept. I might end up killing myself in my sleep just because the entire room would burn to the ground, with me inside it no less. When we reached the bottom of the tunnel, Master Neloth quickly pulled me outside, gently tossing me to the middle of the field just far away from his house that I think it was safe to practice magic. He brought out a small wand embedded with a small pointy clear crystal. He started by drawing a circle in the ash. Then he drew another circle on the outside of that circle, and then another one. In the first circle he started drawing some sigils and runes that I didn't understand. He repeated the process for all three circles, all sigils ending inside the circle that it was written for.

Master Neloth walked into the center of the circles. "I call upon the powers of the suns, moons, and stars." He said as he stretched out his hands. The sigils and lines drew into the ash on the ground started glowing with red, yellow, and blue lights of power. "Create a training space for my apprentice so that even if she wields forces strong enough to crumble mountains to dust, evaporate oceans into boiling steam, or even split nirn in halves, that she will not affect anything outside the first circle: the Circle of Confinement. Keep all effects of weather out of the second circle, so that my apprentice can train in typhoons, ash storms, and all forms of ill weather without dampening her spirits or ruin her concentration with the Circle of Enclosure. And finally, ward away all forms of malicious intent, from wild animals, to conniving Daedra. Keep them out of the circles with the final circle, the Circle of Protection. Oh mighty Lords: Azurah, Meridia, please offer your protection of my student while she learns her craft."

And just like that, the circles of light enclosed around the rings and sigils, burning into the ground, the vey ash turning into what looked like a flat surface. When the light faded away, I could still see the circles and sigils like they were ink carefully drawn into the ash where it sat. Master Neloth walked outside the circles, waving me to join him. "Now, come. It's time for you to train." I walked into the circle. As I passed the first one, I felt a push on me, but as I stepped past it all resistance vanished. It felt like some of my energy left me as I crossed the line. As I passed the second line, the wind and the heat of the setting sun, as well as the cold coming in for the night, vanished as well. And then, when I crossed into the third circle, I felt a welcoming feeling of freedom to explode if I wanted to. I just knew that I could unleash everything I had and this circle could handle it.

Neloth nodded to me. "You can feel the effects already, can you not? Do I even have to tell you which circles are which?"

I shook my head. "No, Master. I understand just fine." And I did. I could feel each circle as I stepped over it. "So, is this where you step out of the first circle and watch me from the second one?"

He smirked and started backing over the line. "Oh, firecracker, huh? Good, Talvas didn't have your…I'll call it spirit for a lack of a better term, or maybe is it a backbone? Oh well, he has one now, because I didn't coddle him every step of the way." He crossed his arms as he crossed into the second circle. "Now, girl. I will instruct you on how to do this quickly and effectively. Ever hear of a temper tantrum? Where you unleash all your emotional baggage all at once? That's what I want you to do. You've had a hard month, Veselle. Now…just let it out. Cry, scream; throw all you have at the world. You'll be amazed at how well this method works. And when you're exhausted, all your magicka will be spent and you'll sleep for hours. You wanted me to listen to your little whines and connect to you on some sort of emotional level. This is the closest as you're ever going to get. Just let it all out."

I stood there for a couple seconds, looking from him to the ash where I stood. He wanted me to cry and complain? That wasn't me! I didn't do stuff like that. It would be embarrassing to do that in front of Master Neloth. So, I kicked my foot in the ash, looking for any way to get myself started without drawing too much embarrassment on myself. Master Neloth started groaning and moaning as he stood there waiting for me. His quiet complaints and groans only grew louder until he was pacing around his circle, glaring daggers at me. He crossed his arms and glared at me, smirking at me with his judging face, practically telling me that I was wasting his time, and the sad part was that I was wasting his time. It was not just my own resting time I was using up, I was using the time he had to research what he really wanted to do. When he invited me down here to train, he had to give up his personal time to teach me, and here I was, standing in a circle of ash as the sun began setting, my precious master standing there, watching me as I wasted all the time he had put in for me to get me as far as I have gone already.

Just standing there, watching him watch me made me angry. "Just say it!" I screamed to him. "I'm just a waste of your time!" As I said it, a bright fire roared all around me, encircling me with a small two foot wall of flames all around me.

He smirked. "Can't say I don't agree with you. You are pretty adept at wasting valuable time I have. I could be learning how to get rid of the ash spawn problem affecting not only my home, but Raven Rock as well. Pandering to your schedule and petty girlish needs are not on my top priority list, but you force your needs onto me like I'm your father. Well, I'm not your father, little girl. I'm your master, and I will not belittle myself to such an insolent whelp like you."

Just hearing him mention my father made my heart cry out in pain. The fire exploded all around me. I watched as it roared like a wave, crashing onto the invisible wall, which was suddenly encased by a white glowing shield spell. "Is it so bad to want to be loved? Is it so bad that I want you to take care of me like a parent would?" I screamed to him. "I just lost my dad; I just lost everything I knew, everyone I loved! I left the only home I knew and moved here to this new land with new experiences to be had. I'm a little shaken up from having to transition to this new life! I could use some sort of support, someone to hold me, someone to tell me that it will be ok! And all you've done is glare at me and shove me in the corner of your tower while you read your books! It pisses me off, having you, my new father-figure, push me to the side like an annoying pet!"

"Yes!" Master Neloth hissed from the other side of the growing flames. "I can see the anger pouring from you. Your feelings are true. Tell me more; tell me how much you hate me. Make me regret having you as my student."

"I don't regret coming here, but hate your lack of privacy. I could have been naked this morning when you barged into the room." I didn't really expect it, but the flames poured even higher, roaring over 20 feet above me, all crashing against the invisible wall of magicka. Tears started flowing from my eyes and I fell to my knees as I started shaking. "I miss my father! I hate that Mehrunes Maven took him away from me! I don't hate coming here, but I hate that I lost him forever! And I thought you'd make me feel better; make me feel welcome to be here. And you haven't done anything of the sort. You shoved me in a small hut where your other apprentice sleeps. What if he just runs into the room while I changing? That would be so embarrassing! I'm sick of drinking canis root tea, I'm sick of eating ash yams, I miss my honey, I miss my bread I made into sandwiches, and I miss my old room!"

The flames all around me started dying down and I found myself breathless. I was already down on my knees, but now it felt different. I felt relieved, empty inside but relieved. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks. I could still see my father's smile as he lied in his coffin, his body horribly mangled from the falling ceiling. He barely looked like the man he was when he went to prison. But the smile on his face looked the same. Of everything wrong with his body, his smile remained the same. And I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down as the fires died down all around me. The fires got low enough to where I could see Master Neloth's glare. His stance and his glare didn't change as the fires all died away. When they finally got low enough, he waded into the circle, blowing the remaining fire away with some frost spell he had barely warmed up.

He stopped a couple inches away from me and bent down to look me eye-to-eye. He nodded once. "Good job. I'm impressed with how easily you took to expressing your true emotions. It took Talvas three nights to release himself like that. You've earned a good night's sleep. I'm sorry to say that you burnt your robes while you exploded. I'll begin enchanting your next set of training robes to withstand the intense fire that your body produces. Once we get into frost and lightning, I will add additional enchantments to protect your clothes from melting or freezing." He patted me on the shoulder and turned to leave. "Do no worry; I will block the memory of your naked body so that you will be spared embarrassment tomorrow morning when you see me."

I looked down to see that my robes were completely gone. He was right. I must have burned them off while I lost control of my fire magicka. I felt so embarrassed that a sudden explosion of fire magicka roared out of me, almost consuming the entire circle for 30 feet or higher. It was a sudden explosion and ended just as quickly. As it finished, I could hear Master Neloth snicker as he walked away. "I will also create an amulet that will prohibit your emotions from causing sudden bursts of magicka. I almost forgot about that."

When Master Neloth was back inside his tower, I looked around for a second for anyone nearby watching me. I didn't see anyone, so I ran out of the circle and to Talvas's room as quickly as I could. I pulled the door open and threw myself inside, closing the door as quickly as I could. I buried my face in my hands and resisted as much as I could from exploding with more fire magicka. I walked over to my little roll out mat and grabbed my blanket. I wrapped it around me like a toga, securing it with a rope I found on Talvas's desk. It may not be the best outfit I've ever worn, but it would do for now. I silently sobbed in my hands while trying to control my emotions as much as I could. I laid my head down on my mat and closed my eyes.

"Umm…" I heard someone call from the doorway. I could barely open my eyes, but I could see a tall-ish Dunmer teenager standing in the doorway. He had long hair for a guy, brushed back in a regal style I had heard about in Raven Rock. "Hi." He said, looking down at me. He pointed down at me, and then gestured to his room. "This is…well…how can I say this without coming out as rude?" He mumbled to himself. "Why is there a naked girl sleeping on the floor of my room?"

I looked down, hoping that I was still wearing my blanket. I was. It was still perfectly wrapped around my body. I sighed my relief as I sat up. "First off; I'm dressed." I said to him as I stood up. I stuck out my hand for a handshake. "Second off; I'm Master Neloth's new apprentice. And until he gets my room built off the ground, I'm…well…I'm stuck as your roommate." I tried to smile as nicely as I could. All it got me was Talvas grabbing my arm and throwing me out of his room. When I turned to object, he threw my mat and pillow in my face hard enough to knock me off my feet. I fell down the staircase, landing in the soft ash right as Talvas slammed his door shut. He opened his door to look at me. "I'm sure you'll understand if I don't want to wake up at 0400 when Master Neloth comes to collect you in two hours. Go sleep in your little circle of protection." He slammed his door behind him, leaving me out in the cold dark night. I kicked the dirt as I looked around. What was I going to do now? I couldn't sleep outside!

I trudged myself into the main tower, carrying my rolled up sleeping mat with me, my pillow in my other arm. I nudged the main door open with my shoulders, ramming myself inside the tower. I levitated myself up the tunnel, landing awkwardly on the landing circle. I looked over at Master Neloth, who was too busy reading his books to even notice me. I found myself a small corner, unrolled my mat, and fluffed up my pillow. I lied my head down and closed my eyes. Oh well, ground is ground. Might as well sleep here.


Cearbhail:

And imagine, this is only chapter one, and I already have such a strong start. I realize this is really the second chapter, since her introduction was back in Maleek's Journey to find Ruby. But the remainder of her story will play out here as she grows into a capable mage. hope you enjoy the story.