Cearbhail:

Finals are done, and I'm officially out for summer. Well, there is the summer class I'm spending in Japan in July at Shimane University, but that's still a ways away. I plan on doing a lot of writing this summer, so be prepared to see a lot of new chapters. For this story, the closing of Maleek's journey, and anything else I plan on fixing (Cecilie's meloncholy, Khajiit battlemage, and Genis's adventure, as well as a normal day for Presea) They are all getting fixed. I cannot wait to start in earnest.

Oh...and enjoy. ^^


Dear book of shadows, 28th Rain's Hand

It's been a while since I've written in you. I've just been busy with Master Neloth is all. As soon as we got back the night we went shopping, we started setting up my new room. Master was surprised when he found out I bought a bunch of fruit with the intention of making a garden. I think he was pleased by my initiative. Because he smiled and said that if I was going to start up a garden, I should plant some canis roots too, and if I helped raise the canis roots into a fine ingredient for his tea, that he'd help teach me how to make the crops grow faster with Alteration magic. I so took him up on the offer. It's been five days and I already have a nice little garden growing between my room and my training circle. Today I get to learn how to draw my own circles. He has several written volumes filled with different circles and which types of magic they need poured into them to make them work, as well as which crystals need to be the writing device.

So, what I've been working on the past five days. Flames. Flames, flames, and more flames. I've been sitting inside my little protection circle for five days and Master has done nothing but make me cast flames at things he conjures. Sometimes he'll conjure up some sort of impish looking Daedra and tells me to fight it. Sometimes, he'll conjure up two or more creatures and tells me to practice team fighting with Kyuu. Kyuu has not been spared any training either. Master's been making him cast flames and warding spells just as much as he's made me. Oh yeah, I had to learn how to create Wards, as well as healing spells. Soon enough, Master will teach me Regeneration spells for when my clothes get torn up. It apparently fixes the cloths by reconnecting the severed part to each other. And when something gets burned, I guess it somehow creates new atoms that connect to the clothes and it just looks brand new. I don't really know the specifics yet because Master has yet to teach me it, but he said it involves something about realizing what they looked like in the past and then realizing it in the present. It's an Alteration thing, and Alteration magic is only limited to what the imagination can conjure, Master says.

Veselle Tenvanni.

When I closed my book, I took a quick look around my room. It was just as big as when it started, but it looked so much smaller now. I had a mattress sitting on the floor, and with my roll out mat lying on top of it, it felt really comfortable. My dresser was behind me towards the end of the room. I had all six of my outfits inside it. I switched between the first set every two days. Pretty soon I'm going to have to wash them. Good thing the ocean is nearby. I've been thinking about making a small pond where I could do all my washing, but it would probably just fill up with ash or something.

On top of my dresser was my small mirror that I used to do my hair every morning. I was getting used to having twintails now, and it felt good to have the hair off my neck. I even found a comb inside the tower one day and since Master is bald, I doubt he'd miss it. Unless he uses it for his beard. It does seem really clean and upkept. Opposite of my bed was my little enchanting table. I had to set it up myself. Master told me what I needed to do, and he let me look at his arcane enchanter to do it. I had to create the star pattern and inside each portion of the star pattern inscribe the sigils for the different types of magic that were going to be used. And then I had to fill each sigil with grand soul gem strength magicka. Good thing I had a lot of reserves, because I was able to do it in two days. When each sigil glowed, I knew that part was done. When I got done with each sigil, the lines that made up the star pattern glowed as well, and I just felt this whole…shift in the air around the enchanter. I never knew just how much work went into making an arcane enchanter, but it was worth it. I knew a little more now, and I had the satisfaction of making my own enchanter. I still don't know what the candles are for, but they burn at each tip of the star, even though it's surrounded in a circle as well. They stay lit and they never seem to really burn the wick or the wax. They just…burn.

I rolled off my bed and onto my feet. I stretched my back, let out a small yawn, and started heading to the giant leather flap that consisted as my improvised door. I grabbed my little staff and opened up the flap. Sunlight was barely breaking across the coastline, which meant it was probably 5:30 in the morning. Time to go meet with Master Neloth. I opened up my link to Kyuu and created the portal spell that I was so used to performing that it was becoming second nature to me already. I released the spell and out came my little Kyuu. He leapt from the portal, landing on my shoulder. He curled up around it, and lied down across my neckline.

"Good morning, Veselle." He squeaked to me as a welcome. "Is the apple tree ready yet?"

"Almost." I replied to him. I walked outside with him, looking to the garden growing to the left of it. Growing outside my little round room was my little garden. Well, little is not the word. Substantial is better. I had about ten vines of grapes growing, and with the growing magic Master and Talvas taught me, they were growing quickly. Soon enough, they'd be ready to be eaten. Beside the grapes were the snowberries, as well as the juniper berries. To the very right of my garden were my Master's canis roots. They were already fully grown and had been used several times the past few days. Master grew them so quickly that I almost couldn't believe how fast they developed. It made me jealous that he only worked on his roots and then let me deal with my plants. But, practice is practice. At the back of the garden stood my little towering apple trees. They were just a little taller than me, but were already started to show the beginnings of apples growing. They really took to the Alteration magical growing process. Mostly because Talvas helped me with it. He wanted apples just as badly as Kyuu did. But, at least we got the plants to grow in the dirt underneath the ash. That was something to be proud of.

"Apprentice Veselle." Master called from behind me.

I spun to face him. "Yes, Master?"

He walked right past me and up to my garden. "Things are looking good here. More application to the apple trees and we should be having ripe apples in two or so days. Grapes should be ready by tomorrow, and your berries are already ripened." He looked over at me. "I would have started my own garden ages ago, but was merely too busy for the upkeep that the garden would require. It is lucky that you wish to have a garden with fresh fruit to eat. It really gives us more resources here. And…if you're really interested in having continuous honey, I am not above the idea of having a few beehives around. Honeycombs are valuable in alchemy, and honey is nice to have in canis root tea. To have our own honey farm…I would almost believe this place to be a Telvanni town soon enough. And it very well may become one, if I can find more Telvanni mages to move here." He shook his head at the idea. "I moved here to be away from all the commotion, but…it does feel nice to have company." He rubbed the top of my head. "Come now, Veselle. Time to protect your garden from netches and hoppers."

He lifted up one of his volumes of different types of circles. "I told you to read this book yesterday. Do you recall which type of circle you will need for your garden?"

I nodded. "I plan on doing three circle, much like my training circle."

"Oh? That's very ambitious of you, Veselle." He replied. "Which circles have you decided on? I cannot wait to hear this."

I grabbed the book from him and opened it up to chapter 6. "The Protection circle you used." I pointed to the specific circle. "It's the circle that you used to keep wild animals from coming inside and messing with me while I did my studies. Well, I found a similar circle for crops. It keeps all forms of destructive insects and animals out of the crops, but allows things like butterflies and honey bees. You know, stuff that helps plants grow. The second circle I want to use is another circle used to protect the plants from the elements, much like the other circle you used for me. Except this one will let things like the effects of sunlight inside so that the plants get their necessary sunlight to continue growing. And the third one is just an enhanced growing circle. It will help speed up the growth of the plants."

Master nodded at me, rubbing his chin. "You have seemed to have thought this through. What do you need to complete these circles of yours?"

"A Quartz wand…much like the one you use for the Circle of Protection. You see, I looked it up. All Restoration circles require to be drawn by magicka channeled through a quartz wand, and the Circle of Protection is a Restoration circle. So is the Circle of Enclosure. The Circle of Growth is an Alteration spell, so I need a wand made out of malachite to successfully write it."

Master nodded during the whole thing. "I brought both wands; I figured you'd use these three circles. I am pleased to see you choose the same three circles I would have used." He pulled out the two wands. "Now, I am interested in seeing you draw these circles. You understand what a circle is, but do you know how to create one?"

I shook my head. "The book gave me a simple explanation, but I didn't quite figure it out. Ok so…" I pulled out the volume he gave me. "I understand the whole… 'The concept of the circle is the basis that the circle encloses one implied will upon the ground, and is finished once one 'closes' the circle'." I looked up at him. "I do not know what…closing the circle means."

Master crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He groaned before lowering himself to the ground. "And I was beginning to think that these petty lessons were pretty much over." He mumbled to himself before preparing to draw in the ash. "Do you understand the process behind drawing?"

I crossed my arms and arched one of my eyebrows at that. Was that a serious question, or did he think that I was so stupid that I really didn't know how to draw? "Of course I know how to draw. Any two year-old knows how to draw."

"I'll take that as a 'no' then." Master replied. I was about to yell at him before he continued. "Drawing in this sense is not the typical drawing in the sand. You must draw using your magicka. The magicka you use for your circle has to be in the same principle that your circle is in. If you're using a Restoration circle; not only must you use a quartz wand, but you must will you Restoration magicka to flow through the crystal and into the circle and the sigils that you draw. You will tell that it is working because the line you draw will cast a light hue of magicka and will remain for a few minutes. This is why we must close the circle. You must draw the whole thing before the magicka fades away. It takes about ten minutes for magicka to fade away from an unclosed circle. And to close a circle, all that means is that the outside circle is completely drawn and the magic stable. From there, you have an additional 20 minutes or so to draw your sigils. For a beginner like you, it may take almost all the time you have to draw it, also depending on size or contents of the circle too of course. Once you have all the sigils, all that remains is binding the circle, and I will go into that once you have finished your first completed drawing."

Ok…so…I had no idea what drawing really was. Huh…I didn't think it took this much effort just to draw a circle. I felt some anxiety forming inside of me. So, I closed my eyes and willed the anxiety to just fade away. After a few relaxing breathing exercises Talvas showed me, I stuck out my hand for the crystal wands. Master gladly handed the quartz wand to me and then I think I saw him smile. "Talvas does the same thing before he begins a real project. Am I to guess he's really taken to being your mentor then?"

I nodded. "He's helped me a lot these past few days." I said as I opened up the book and turned to chapter six. I got a good look at the sigils and brought the book inside the garden with me. The sigils had to be on the inside of the circle or else they could easily be destroyed outside it by anyone who knew how. That's the thing with circles. They protect what is inside based on what they need. So, the sigils always go inside the circle right underneath the line. I took a good look around my garden. I had a good idea about how big the circle would have to be. I had to be just big enough to protect all my plants, and big enough for me to fit all my sigils inside it. So I made the circle a foot away from where the plants would have finished growing out of. I sat down and focused on the crystal wand. Ok, this should be just like flowing my magicka through my hands into the heart stones to enchant my robes.

I focused on my magicka taking the form of healing, of Restoration. I felt the subtle churchy feeling magic in my body and I willed it to flow through the crystal wand and into the ash. And then I started drawing my circle. I felt my magicka flow through the circle and into the ash, where I could see a faint outline of where the magicka continued to lie in the ash. I was doing it! I was actually doing it! And so, I continued carefully drawing a circle in the ash. It took me a few minutes, but I had it done with plenty time to come to the end. And when I finished the circle and my magicka fused, I felt a solidifying pop. I knew that my circle had just closed. I can't believe it. I was actually doing this right!

I looked outside of my circle to see Master nodding to me. He tapped the watch on his wrist and I think it was a subtle clue that I was wasting time. So, I stood up and ran over to the book. I looked at the specific sigils and runes that I would have to write. They looked Aedric in design. Of course, all Restoration sigils and runes were Aedric in design, just like how all Destruction spells were Daedric in design. I started from the top of the page and started drawing the accompanying sigils; careful to make sure I drew the symbols correctly. It took me another six or so minutes, and afterwards, I was sweating pretty hard from exerting so much of my magicka to make it work. And when I was done with the sigils, I didn't feel anything really happen. I wondered if I did it right. I reread the page, but didn't see anything out of place. I guess there was no pop from this set.

Master looked into the circle and then looked at me. "Tick, tock, Apprentice. Time is running out. I count six minutes left. Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to bind your circle?" I was about to say something, but he only held up his hand to silence me. "You're wasting breath. I know you don't know a thing about binding; I was simply making a point. Now, go to the center of your circle and prepare to connect with your circle." So, I stood up and stepped into the center of the circle. It was a crude circle and I'm positive it wasn't perfect. "Ok, now I want you to close your eyes and see the circle you have drawn. Feel the magicka flowing inside it." And I did so. I could 'see' the circle around me, and I could feel the magicka flowing inside it. "Now, visualize your intentions. You drew this circle to protect your plants, so confirm the circle's use and then will the sigils and the circle to be complete. You'll know it has worked when you feel the circle spin and the magicka connect to the actual spirit of Mundus. Just trust me on this."

And I did so. I visualized the circle around me and willed my intention into the very circle. I repeated in my mind that I wanted the circle to protect my plants from anything that would harm them, to keep enemies out of my garden, while allowing bees and other helpful insects into the circle. And after a minute or two of focusing on this, I felt the energy inside the circle spin around and then…I felt a pop and a small explosion from where I stood. It flowed across the whole circle in a flowing cyclone before slamming into the existing wall. The cyclone solidified there, still flowing around in a circle, but not leaving the circle. And that's when I opened my eyes and saw the outlines fade away. They glowed extra bright before they did so, and when they faded away, I could see the perfect ink that replaced my drawing. My imperfect circle was gone and replaced a perfect drawing of one, and my sigils looked like they came straight from the book too. I was so proud of my circle. And now, I knew nothing would come in and kill my plants. This was a victory all on its own.

I turned to look at Master, to see if he would give me any praise. He only nodded in acceptance. "For your first attempt, I congratulate you." He started to turn away. "Now, do the same for your other circles. I will not supervise this time. I think you understand it. Once you are done, you are free for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we'll work on more flames. Oh…there is one more thing I want to teach you tonight. And it very well may save your life."

I looked back at him. His eyes glowed for a second and I saw Destruction magic form in his hand. He launched it at the ground and I saw the Destruction magic solidify into a round circle with a rune inside it. "It's called the Fire Rune. It's the combination of Destruction magic circle and the flames spell. The concept is simple. There are two circles within the flames rune. The first circle is a Containment Circle. You know this circle well enough. It's the one that keeps your magicka from destroying my tower every night. And directly underneath that circle is the Activation Circle. When something crosses this circle, whatever it activates well…activate. Directly underneath that is a set of Explosion runes, which surround the flames sigil. When someone you perceive as an enemy crosses your Fire Rune, it explodes with Fire magicka, killing or at least maiming anything inside it. And you only have to draw it once. Once you draw it, it is burned into your mind like any other spell. Much like your Protection circle. If you think about it, you still know how to draw it. It's forever burned into your mind. I drew the circle that night to show you how it was done. I don't need to, and now you don't need to either. This Fire Rune is created the same way all circles are drawn. So, before the night is done, I want you to know how to draw this circle and then show it to me."

With that, Master turned around and headed for his tower. I watched him as he walked into his tower and then closed his door. I let out a held breath and then fell to my knees. I had no idea just how exhausting creating that one circle had been. I looked at Kyuu, who only watched me with wide cute eyes. "How are you doing?" I asked him.

He only smiled and wagged his nine tails. "I'm fine. You seem tired. Do you want to rest?"

I looked up at the just rising sun. I had all day to do this. But…I had a new book that I wanted to read. I started reading the shadow journals of the past. The one I was currently reading was about the Shadowwraith Nakuma. But there was a new series that had come out about a month ago. They were called the Chronicles Series. There were eight volumes to the series, and they pretty all told the same story, just a different point of view on it. They usually began with a journal entry and then explaining what had happened after that journal entry had written. In a way, the Chronicles series was a series of unenchanted shadow journals. I was currently reading volume one, the one written by the High King himself, Asger Stonearm. I hadn't gotten too far into the story yet, and he hasn't even gotten in Skyrim yet, so I don't know what's going to happen, but I wanted to find out. The sooner I was done here, the better off I was.

So, I walked up to the waiting Fire Rune. I looked it over, and I could actually see the Containment circle and the sigils underneath it. I mean, I've seen the circle that I trained in all week and I had gotten a good look at the sigils inside it. It was exactly the same. The circle underneath it looked different and then there were the six runes that surrounded the symbol for fire. So…if I stepped inside this…would it blow up? I don't know exactly if Master's rune would blow me up or not, so I decided to not go poking it with my staff. I pulled out my book of shadows and started copying the image of the Fire Rune inside it with my magical quill that never ran out of ink. After that was done, I walked over to my training circle and started inscribing the same image into the ground with my staff tip while focusing on my Destruction Flames magic.

It took a few minutes, but from what I remembered the spell was a lot smaller than my first circle. I finished by drawing the flames rune and I felt it pop into place instantly. Ok…I got it down, but how did I test it? I found myself smiling as I thought of the perfect test subject. I didn't waste any time as I ran up to Talvas's door and banged heavily on it. I promised him I wouldn't just barge into his room before sunrise, well…the sun technically was rising and I wasn't barging in.

I waited outside his door for a few seconds before I heard him groan. I knocked on his door again and waited for another few minutes. He finally fell out of his bed and groaned in pain. A minute later, I saw his door opening up. He stood droopy-eyed at the door, barely focusing on me. "What do you want, squirt?"

"Can I test something on you?" I asked him as sweetly as I could. "If you say no, I won't stop pestering you until you say yes."

He sighed as he walked outside. "And I don't doubt that you wouldn't. What is it you need testing?" I pointed to my training circle, which only made him sigh more. He groggily walked over to my training circle, and I followed behind him the entire way. I sure hoped it worked. Talvas stopped right before he broke the threshold of my confinement circle. He looked down at the single Fire Rune before looking over at me. "You've got to be kidding."

I smiled as big as I could and put on my cutest face. "I need to see if it works."

He rolled his eyes before pushing me outside my confinement circle. "Knowing you…I'll probably die when I do this. So…in case I don't make it through this, I think you're pretty cute. But I know you'll be the death of me someday." He patted me on the head and walked over to the Fire Rune. He took a few seconds to wrap himself up in as many armoring spells and placing healing circles and wards all around himself before stepping into the rune. As soon as his foot broke over the circle all I saw were a giant orange flash, a delayed response, and then nothing but blaring white that covered my entire circle of protection. It raced up fifty or so feet, the highest I've ever seen from my fire spells. Half a second after the blinding light almost cooked my eyes, I heard the large blast that could have deafened me. If it wasn't for the circle's protection, I was certain that there would have at least been a sonic boom that would have thrown me back, but even that was blocked by the circle.

The light and fire started dying down. As soon as all the smoke dissipated, I didn't even see Talvas inside the circle anymore. I looked around the circle for him, even up in the sky to see if some of his body parts were raining down. I didn't even see one trace of him. I was starting to get worried. Did I incinerate him? Oh no…Master would kill me if he knew I killed Talvas. And then Master would be all alone! And he would love that! I couldn't let Master have something nice, especially if it meant me dying. I crossed my arms and looked around for any sign of Talvas. I didn't see any. I was about to give up when I felt a hand clamp around my back shoulder. It was enough to make me jump and snap myself around. Talvas stood there, half of his robes burnt off his body from his waist up, and his hair party charred. His body seemed just fine…but then I started to feel my face flush as I noticed that he had perfect abs.

Talvas shook his head as he stared around dazed at the area. "Is…is this Aetherius? Are we dead?" He looked down at me and shook his head. "No…we're surrounded by ash…and you're here. This has to be Oblivion."

I scoffed and crossed my arms at that comment. And to think I was worried for him. He just called me worthy of going to Oblivion. "Hey!" I yelled to him. "I didn't try to kill you."

He didn't even acknowledge me. He looked down at me and screamed, "What? I can't hear you. My gods…what is that loud ringing?" Oh no… was he deaf? This was all my fault. But…as least he was alive. That was good.

"We should take you to Master. He'll know what to do." I started pulling on Talvas's arm.

He rushed past me, pulling me instead. "I think I lost my hearing! We should talk to Master. I'm sure he can fix my ears!" He screamed to me as loudly as he could. I struggled to keep up with him and he continued to pull me as he sprinted for the tower. I thought he was going to rip my arm off. He rushed us into the tower, wrapped me up in my arms, and then we started floating quickly up the levitator. When we landed, Master was waiting for us. He had a few staffs in his hand and he had the look of war on his face.

He stopped when he saw us. He scanned Talvas's body and then looked at me. "What is going on out there? I heard something explode. Are we at war with someone?"

I shook my head, and was about to answer him, but Talvas screamed, "Master, I can't hear anything."

Then Master looked at me. Instead of scowling, he only nodded. "Ok, I think I understand now. You tested your fire rune on Talvas. And here you were just a few days ago, complaining to me about using you as a test subject for my enchanted heart stones, and here you are…almost killing your mentor." He pushed me away from Talvas and then examined his ears. "You blew out both of his eardrums. I should check your hearing as well."

"I can hear just fine." I said to him. "The circle absorbed the shockwave as well as the explosion."

Master nodded and then went back to examining Talvas. He looked from the ears over to Kyuu. "You, summon spirit. Come here at once."

Kyuu jumped off my shoulder and onto Master's outstretched arm. "My name is Kyuute!"

Master rolled his eyes. "And a fine name it is." He placed Kyuu on Talvas's shoulder. "Do you heal beam I saw you use on Veselle."

Kyuu nodded. His body started glowing with white magicka, his ears perked up, and his eyes glowed bright blue. A white light formed around Kyuu and Talvas. Now, I never got to see this from the outside, but what I saw was amazing. The burns and the blood on his body just…vanished slowly. And then, I could see the pieces of fabrics that were his robes regenerated on his body as well. The beam of healing continued slowly before there was nothing left to be replaced. The light faded away and Kyuu lied down on Talvas's shoulder. "Can I have an apple now?" He said when he looked over at me.

I nodded. "Sure, you can have an apple."

Talvas looked from Kyuu to me, then to Master. "Master, I can hear now."

Master Neloth nodded. "So it would seem." He looked over at me. "Apprentice Veselle. Next time you wish to test a spell, you test it on me. Understood?"

I nodded. "Yes, Master. I just didn't feel it was proper to test something like that on my instructor."

"Nonsense." He waved it off. "I'd rather you test your spells on me than Talvas. I'm old, experienced, and I can tell when a spell goes right or wrong. Talvas will do what he can, but remember he's an apprentice like yourself. He could have died; and then I would be left with just you. I'm trying to rebuild an entire lost lineage. If you kill us off…that will never happen." He grabbed me by the arm and then said, "Now…you're going to show me that spell, and I will judge for myself its accuracy."

I sighed as I looked over at Talvas. "Sorry."

He shrugged. "It's ok. I'm going back to bed."

Master dragged me outside, right back to my training circle. He tossed me into the circle and said, "You wrote it once, now summon your circle without physically drawing it. I want to see this."

I still didn't know what to do, but I visualized the rune in my head. I started building up the fire magicka in my hand. I aimed it for the ground and then let the magicka go. A small burst of fire blasted from my hand, and for a second, I thought I did it incorrectly. But then the flames spilt onto the ground, spinning around until the flames solidified into what looked like the fire rune spell that I wrote earlier. When the flames settled, I could see the red outlines of the actual spell. It worked? I actually did it? Holy crap, I never knew it was this easy. And it was a new spell I could use whenever I needed it. Just hopefully it wasn't needed any time soon. I've seen just how much it explodes.

Master grabbed me from behind and threw me out of the circle, with almost enough force to send me out of all three circles. He walked up to the fire rune, examining it. "Well, well. This is quite a special little rune you drew. So much power inside it." He didn't coat himself in any spells before he stepped over it. And just like before, the fire rune exploded into a ball of light. I closed my eyes and looked away before Master was consumed in fire. I waited there for a few seconds before looking back into the training circle. There was nothing but burning orange light with smoke flying further into the circle. When it faded away, all I could see was Master standing there, not even a thread of his robe out of place. He had his arms crossed, looking at me. "Not bad, Apprentice. Every powerful, sloppy though. And don't worry; I was able to protect myself. Any Telvanni master would be able to. With time you will be able to be a little more precise with this type of casting and then no one will be able to stop you."

He strolled out of the circle, looking at me. "So, Master. Was that ok, then?"

"As good as it could have been. Try not to make them explode quite so much next time. If you're too close, it will tear you apart too and everyone else on this island too." He stopped and pointed to my garden. "Now go finish your circles for your garden. And we'll continue your lessons tomorrow morning."

I looked up at the sky. The sun had finally finished rising into the sky. Jeez, not even 6:30 and I've already done a lot this morning.


Cearbhail:

And now more time will start to fly by in the chapters. I might even do just random around the tower types of chapters where all she does is find ways to entertain herself. i mean, she is getting pretty capable of using magicka now and she'll cease to be the know-nothing apprentice soon enough. Well, at least until I have to start writing about alchemy, which isn't too far away, and then the whole ...you know actual storyline kicks in in the second arc. The first arc is about her learning how to control and develop her magic abilities. The second arc is about...well...the normal stuff you'd expect from my stories. it will be a fun time, I hope so.