Cearbhail:

Ok, and we're back to this story. I was working on the Maleek's Journey for a while and I will be finishing it up next week and then move onto chronicles of Ruby. I can't wait to start that. But, I was going to continue the story with this chapter and advance the story, but when I went to check on my document that has all the Elder Scroll holidays and months on it...I found something out. The previous chapter was on a holiday, and it didn't seem right that I didn't express what the holiday was. So...that's what this chapter will be about. Jester's Day! yay! It's celebrated all over Tamriel, and to be honest, I love a good chapter about pranking. Ever read my Genis' Adventure to find Presea? It all started out as a giant prank...and then got really bloody and stuff later on. but anyway, this is a good chapter. and a surprise!

Oh...and enjoy. ^^


Dear book of Shadows,

It is still the 28th of Rain's Hand. I spent all morning finishing up my circles, but I'm not done yet today. Sure, sure, all my chores with magicka are done, but I'm not done yet. It's 28th Rain's Hand! You know what that means! Everyone knows what that means! It's Jester's Day, duh! And I, for one, am not going to sit around on my butt and do nothing about it. Of course, I already had some fun with Talvas today, but that was too easy. That was business. Now…what to do, what to do? Who to pick on? Master would be a good target, but how? He's old, experienced, and I'm sure he's survived several attempts on his humility before. Talvas would be easier, but what to get him with? What pranks are new and innovative? Hmm…I just can't decide.

Veselle.

I couldn't figure out what to do today. Everyone deserved at least one prank on them today, but I didn't want to do anything bad…I didn't want everyone to hate me. Back in Riften this was a great celebratory day and everyone got their mischief on, and I'm guessing that doesn't happen much here, if not at all. It seemed like everyone had a stick up their butt and I wanted to change that a bit. So, here I was in my room trying to figure out what I could do. I should make it magicka related since I was supposed to be learning new ways to use magicka. So, I looked through several tomes of Alteration magic Master Neloth left me to study from. Alteration and Illusion were the major magics used for these days. I'm guessing Illusion would work best on Talvas; he's a bit lightheaded when it comes to Illusion. And Alteration magic for Master. Because I doubt he'd fall for Illusion spells.

So, I poured through the tomes of circles and spells for stuff I could find. And I found several Illusion spells that I thought were pretty funny if I casted them correctly. There was a light spell close to a firecracker. It was a distraction spell. If I casted that in front of Talvas it would disorient him. And to make it funnier, I could be invisible and take the pillow off his bed and bring it back to my room and hide it so he wouldn't be able to find it. I could just turn his entire room invisible to, so it would look like I stole everything. But…he'd come find me. And he'd have to leave his room. That's where a circle would come into play. There was an Illusion circle that when someone stepped on it they would be tricked into thinking they were teleported to an alternate realm of my creation. I just had to vividly picture where I wanted him to go. Riften…why not? Ohh…a beach. That's a lot better. With some Altmer women to pander him. That would be funny to watch. There, harmless and funny, and I still get to prank him. I don't know the specifics, but that Illusion spell with the Altmer servants involve the word dominatrix…whatever those were. I'm guessing it's a fancy word for maid. Oh well, I'm sure Talvas won't mind one bit.

Now that I had my prank for Talvas, I needed one for Master too. He really loved his canis root tea, so…what if I used Alteration magic to make it taste like skooma? That would be funny for me, but I'd probably be punished for it. Was it worth it? I couldn't get away with much with Master, but I'm guessing one prank on him wouldn't matter much. Oh well, I couldn't think of anything else that could even begin to work. So, I closed my book and went to the doorway to leave. I looked back at Kyuu and smiled. "Coming?"

"Where are we going?" He asked as he jumped onto my shoulders. He curled up and lied down. I was getting more used to the fact that he weighed less than a pound.

"We're pranking Talvas and Master." I said as I opened the door.

"Why?" Kyuu asked.

"Because it's Jester's Day, Kyuu. It's the one day the entire year where I can prank everyone in this tower and not get in serious trouble for it." I petted Kyuu on his head as we walked outside. And as soon as I stepped outside my door, I heard the hum of a spell. I looked down to see that I had walked into a circle drawn by my doorway. I didn't have time to react before I felt water crashing down over my head, like someone had dropped a bucket on top of me. Kyuu cried out in alarm as we were pelted with water. The water spell died off pretty quickly, but that didn't change the fact that I was soaked now. And pissed… Only Talvas would do something like this. And he didn't even wait around to see it go off and laugh like I would. This calls for revenge.

"What was that?" Kyuu asked as he stretched up, shaking the water off of him.

"A prank." I replied as I looked down where the water rune was sitting not even two seconds ago. I wished I could have examined that spell and jotted it down in my journal before it activated. I would have put that under Talvas's bed and set an automatic timer to go off three seconds before midnight…for my revenge. I looked over at Kyuu. "That's the type of stuff that we do to each other on a day like this. I just…I didn't expect anyone here to participate in it." Darn it. That meant that Talvas was probably ready for me then. This made it more rewarding to have my prank to go off successfully then.

"Jump off for a second." I waited for Kyuu to jump off before I took a warming breath. I willed fire magicka to surge through me and I summoned a ring of fire around me, just warm enough and long enough to dry me and my clothes. When I finished, Kyuu jumped back onto my shoulder and set himself back down. "Ok…this means war." I said to Kyuu as I ran over to Talvas's room. I snuck up to his doorway and pressed my ear to it. I could hear him reciting spell incantations to himself by his desk. Good, he wasn't waiting for me then. I opened up my book of circles and looked for any under Illusion. I found the Illusion base circle, as well as the locational beach spell. There were some runes for the Altmer dominatrix maids, so I added that to the circle as well. Once I had that all written down, I felt the pop of confirmation and visualized exactly what I wanted from the spell.

Ok, so here was the theory. Destruction circles are pretty simple. They go boom…or splash…as you saw with me earlier getting dumped on. That actually seemed more like an Alteration circle, summoning water above my head could just as easily be Alteration, especially since it didn't hurt. I didn't get to see it well enough. But anyway, Destruction circles pretty much go boom…so there isn't much need to visualize what you need of it. It activates and anything that activates it goes boom with the circle. Illusion circles are different, though. You need intention and visualization for the illusion you want to cast. Much like the Restoration circles with the intention of what can get in and what can't get in. That sort of stuff. So, for this Illusion circle, I had to create the illusion I wanted Talvas to see when he entered. Of course the maid component was already drawn in, I didn't have to create them; they were drawn in. Once I had the place thought up, the circle spun and then I felt another pop which confirmed that the rune was now complete. And I set it to go off only for Talvas, no one else.

I opened my book for the two other spells I could be working on. The Invisibility spell and the Firecracker spell. I quickly read over them and hoped it all went according to plan. I preset the spells in my staff…something else I had been researching today for this. All I had to do was release the Firecracker spell and then release the built spell in my staff into Talvas's room. It would take care of the rest. And when Talvas chased me out of his room to find me for taking his stuff, he would step into this circle and get lost in my wonderland. And I'd draw that Alteration water circle under his bed. Perfect, just perfect.

So, I didn't waste any time as I pushed Talvas's door open. He looked surprised to see me rushing into his room. "Veselle! What are…"

"Blind!" I screamed as I stuck my hand out. The Firecracker spell popped up in front of him, popping several bright flashes in front of his eyes. He screamed out in surprise as he grabbed his eyes.

"Oh…you little brat!" He cried out as he reached around for me. "Why did you do that?"

"Like you don't know!" I said to him. And I silently released my built-up staff magic and watched as all the stuff in his room simply vanished as I turned everything invisible. "And I teleported all your stuff to Raven Rock! That's for the water rune outside my door!" I slammed his door behind me and ran back towards my room. I paused by my door waiting for him to come out. And he did. He slammed his door open and charged out.

"I don't know…" was all he could say before he activated my trap circle. And when he did, his eyes glazed over. "What?" He called out to nothing. "How did I get here?" I didn't bother answering him. He wouldn't be able to hear me. All his senses now belonged to this Illusion. The spell was designed to wear off in an hour, so he had an hour to be pampered by pretty Altmer girls. I didn't wait to watch him have fun. Instead I carefully walked past him into his room. He was stuck inside the circle I had drawn, and it would hold him there for an hour. He was lost in his mind. "Oh…hey girls." I heard him say as flirty as he could. I rolled my eyes as I opened my book and started looking for that circle. I found it under Alteration circles. Yeah, it's exactly what I thought it was. It was a trick circle. Designed specifically for this holiday, to play pranks on others. There was another one that summoned a pie in front of someone's face. It was actually teleported from a teleportation circle and activated right in front of someone. Hmm…that was an interesting one. I should learn those two someday. I was learning new ways to love learning magicka.

But I felt for Talvas's bed and lowered myself underneath it. I started drawing my circle for the water rune and I finished it pretty quickly. I made certain to put a delay on it so that it went off three seconds before midnight. As soon as I finished drawing it, I cast an Invisibility spell over top of it so that it vanished just like the bed did. I began to pull myself out of his bed, when I heard Talvas say, "Safe word? You never told me you needed one. Why? Why do I need one? What's the whip for?"

I looked over at him and his face started to cringe. What type of sick fantasy was he having over there? Man…he's pretty perverted, turning my innocent spell into a perverted fantasy. Fine…I'll just leave him there for a few minutes while I go find Master. I rushed past him as he started crying out in pain. Jeez…did I mess up some of the spell? There was no way he was doing this to himself. So, I decided to let him off the hook. I reached down and broke the circle. And just like that Talvas's eyes unglazed over. He stood still for a few seconds before he looked down me. "What did you do to me?"

I smiled as I shrugged. "An Illusion spell to have you pampered by Altmer servants."

"They weren't servants, Veselle. Those were dominatrices."

I nodded. "Yeah, those. That's just a fancy word for maid, right?"

He shook his head. "I'm not even going to begin to explain what they are to a child like you." He looked from me over to his room. He sighed and looked over at me. "What did you do?" He crossed his arms and walked back into his room. "Where is all my stuff?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I teleported them somewhere. Not sure where, but the intention was Raven Rock."

He growled as he looked back at me. "And to think, I thought we were getting along. Why are you doing this to me?"

"It's Jester's Day, moron!" I screamed to him. "You should know; you already dumped a water rune on me!"

"What…no I didn't!" He replied. He walked back into his room and I heard him stub his toe on his invisible desk. "Shab!" He cried out, grabbing his toe and jumping up and down. When he had that handled, he reached for his desk and rubbed his hand over it. "Wait a second…you used an Invisibility spell on my room…didn't you?"

I shrugged. "It's Jester's Day not 'be a jerk' day." I turned around and started to leave. "And I thought I'd have some fun with you and spread the love of pranking. Heck, with that water rune, I thought you'd have been ready for me." And right as I walked away from his room, I felt another spike of energy underneath me. I looked down to see that the same blue rune from before was directly underneath me. And I didn't have enough time to jump back before I felt another wave of water crash down on top of me. There was more this time, and it lasted longer. I heard Talvas laughing as I turned around, my hair plastered to my forehead. "That's just rude, Talvas. I was already soaked before I got here."

Kyuu jumped off my shoulders, shaking himself off. "Really!" He turned to face Talvas. "I hate baths!"

He shook his head. "It wasn't me, Veselle." He walked back into his room. "But, you should go see Master. I'm sure he's waiting for whatever prank you have lined up for him. He loves this holiday." He closed the door behind him. "Now, leave me alone. I have to get my defenses so whatever Master has lined up for me tonight won't go off." Tonight? Ah man…so much for my water rune.

"Apprentice Veselle, get up here!" I heard Master's voice call from the tower. Oh great…I think I know who's been pranking me. I took a second to let my fire magicka dry me off partially before I started walking over to the tower. I paused before I actually left Talvas's steps.

I looked at Kyuu. "Can you detect hidden circles of magicka?"

His ears perked up. "You mean like bumpity bumpity magic? Or like whoosh whoosh magic?"

I started moving my plastered hair away from my eyes as I looked over at him. "What? I…I don't even know what those mean."

He sighed as he jumped up onto my shoulders. "You know…remember vroom vroom magic?" He shrugged as he lied down. "Well, whoosh whoosh magic is really quick and nearly invisible. And bumpity bumpity magic is really rough and explosive. Or…is that boom boom magic?" His ears drooped. "Now I got myself confused. Thanks a lot, Veselle!" He whined at me as he lied his head down. "But…if we're talking about just feeling the pulse of magicka…or the scent…I think I can detect any invisible circles."

I nodded to him. "Good, because I think I found my rival for Jester's Day. And I think it's Master Neloth."

Kyuu looked up at me, his blue eyes filled with so much wonder that I thought he was going to squeal. "What exactly is this holiday? You mentioned it before, but why?"

"It's Jester's Day." I said as I carefully started walking up to Master's tower. "It's the one day out of the year where we prank each other."

"But why?"

"Because it's fun." I looked over at Kyuu. "You saw how much fun I had setting up those circles to capture Talvas."

"But he looked like he wasn't having much fun." Kyuu replied.

I shrugged. "True, but then again, I wasn't having much fun when a giant wave of water crashed down on top of me. And I'm certain the walk up Master's tower won't be any more fun than that. But…it's a world-wide event. Everyone everywhere is doing something for this day of prankery, and we're no different, I guess. It's really just a day to relax and have fun, while harmlessly pranking people you love and hate either for fun, or legitimate revenge. Much like with Talvas. I got both in."

I walked up to the ramp and took a quick look at the door. I took one step and hear, "Stop!" Kyuu screamed, and I did so. "I can feel a circle set up." He jumped off my shoulder, landing on the hand railing. "In fact, I can smell more than just one set up. They're all different too." He looked at me. "I don't know what they do, though."

"Can we get past them?" I asked Kyuu.

He shrugged. "I have no clue." That made me tap my chin for a few seconds before a candle lit over my head. "Oh? What was that Master?" I screamed as loudly as I could. "You wish for me to bring Talvas with me? Ok! I'll go get him!" I said as cheerfully as I could as I ran away from the ramp over to Talvas's room. When I knocked, he answered the door, already sighing as he walked out.

"I heard you from my door. Master wishes to see me?" Talvas asked as he stepped outside. When I nodded, he groaned but started walking over to the tower. I followed right behind him. And just like I planned he started walking up the tower, and one by one, all the runes appeared and went off. All at once…it was really remarkable. There were some Firecrackers going off, pies materializing from summoning circles, and a horde of Daedric fairies that did some sort of tickling magic on Talvas for a few minutes. And I watched from the sidelines as Talvas took all of it. By the time the runes wore off, he was lying next to me, breathless and covered in various assortments of pies made from whatever vegetables we had. He looked up at me, eyes wide. "You…you planned that, didn't you?"

I nodded. "Thanks!" I said as I walked past him. I stopped by the door and looked back at him. "You really are a great friend!"

Talvas just sat up, smiling at me as he chuckled. "You're so evil…wrapped in a cute package. I have to be more careful."

When I pulled on the door a strong buzz of magicka surged through me. It was enough to make me jump and squeal in surprise. Talvas chuckled harder from below the stairs. I turned to look at him. "That was pretty good; I'll give him that one." I said as I grabbed the door. The shock spell had worn off and I pulled the door open, stepping to the side as another pie materialized. It flew past me, landing somewhere on the ramp. I waited for a few seconds before I looked into the doorway. I looked back at Kyuu, who waited behind me on the hand rail. "See the appeal yet?"

He tilted his head to the side before saying, "Not sure I understand. This is fun?"

"Kind of." I replied. "Being on edge, sure that something is waiting to get you, to embarrass you somehow…yes. All year long it would get annoying, but for one day of the year, it's a great time."

"Ah…so a break from reality." Kyuu announced as he jumped onto my shoulder. "Ok, partner. I'm with you the rest of the way. Let's face whatever happens together."

I nodded to Kyuu and looked up the levitator. "Sense anything in the tunnel?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. No circles at all."

"Good." I replied and stepped into the tunnel. The levitator picked me up and started taking me up the tunnel. About halfway there it stopped. And I thought to myself…crap, I'm stuck here, and I know something was going to happen. Kyuu looked around frantically as well. "Kyuu…a ward please?" And just like that, he threw his ears up and his eyes glowed as a giant round ward encased us. And just like before, a horde of fairies appeared out of the walls, sprinkling some type of dust around the ward. The dust failed to reach us and the fairies vanished into the round tunnel wall. And then the tunnel started pulling us up the rest of the way, finishing with landing on a white rune. It exploded into a white powder underneath us. The ward continued to protect us as it exploded, though. Ha! We're just too good today. Good luck with whatever you have planned, Master. During this day of the year, I'm unbeatable.

Master waited for me by his table. When he saw that I was unaffected by his barrage of pies and fairies, he only smirked. "Well, well, Apprentice Veselle. Escape my justice?"

I smirked and crossed my arms. "Talvas took it for me."

Master almost smiled and I thought I heard the beginning of a laugh. "Well done, Apprentice. It's nice to see someone so reliable and cunning for once. Talvas really is a joke when it comes to the finer points of Jester's Day. House Telvanni worships the day as the one time a year we really get to work on our creativity with Alteration and Illusion magic, as I'm sure you are aware by now." He looked at me. "Did you get hit with anything at all?"

I gestured to my puffy, frizzy hair. "Your water runes got me."

"That wasn't me." Master replied. "I specialize in using my bound fairies to sprinkle itching dust on my victims, as well as teleporting pies."

"Talvas lied to me then." I said as I looked at Kyuu. "He really did throw water runes at me."

"It could be my daughter, Brelyna." Master replied. "She is back in her room. And she always loved water runes."

"What? When did she get here?" I asked him.

"Late last night." Master replied. "It's true. She came to visit the night I wiped my memory due to the embarrassing nature of that particular evening involving whatever it was that you did. She visited and wrote me a note telling me she'd come back home after her current mission of taking the Princess of Skyrim back home was completed. And she just got back from her mission. She'll be staying for a while. You might even learn something from her. She lives right next door to you, in the taller mushroom."

"So, you were the one that sprung all my traps." I heard a light voice call from behind me. It sounded like the voice belonged to a librarian, so quiet and precise. Standing behind me was a beautiful Dunmer woman, who was dressed like one of the College mages, wearing the grayish blue robes that most mages wore. She walked up to me and stuck out her hand. "I didn't get to introduce myself last time I was here. I'm Brelyna Maryon. Nice to meet you." I shook her hand and she looked over at Master. She bowed, saying, "Afternoon, father."

He bowed in return. "Welcome home, daughter." He walked back to his table and just like that, I heard an activation. The blue rune appeared below Master and I heard him sigh as a giant river of water appeared over his head, crashing down on top of him. He sighed as he turned around. "Very well…" And with a snap of his fingers a pie flew towards Brelyna. Brelyna dodged the pie by deflecting it. And…it flew right into my face. I didn't even see it coming, really. Kyuu cried out in alarm as he fell from my shoulders.

I pulled the pie from my face, wiping the cream out of my eyes before opening them. "Ok…I've been pied. That's enough for one day." I said to them.

"I can wash that off if you like." Brelyna chuckled to me and I shook my head to that. "Ok, fine. That was my last trick then." She tossed me a towel to clean the pie off with.

I wiped the pie off me while Brelyna and her father started chatting about the stuff that she did while she was in Skyrim. I heard about the Dragon Crisis through the Chronicles of the Dragonborn series, and I knew Brelyna was deeply involved in what happened. But…to see her in person was even better. And as an added bonus, those two I ran into in Riften: Ruby and Maleek…I found out they were major players in the crisis as well. And I almost got to meet them before they were famous. Too bad I had to run away and nearly get killed by Thalmor while they fought Mehrunes Maven.

I looked back at Kyuu, who was busy cleaning all the cream from the pie off him. "Are you ok?" I asked him as I helped brush whatever cream remained off him with the towel.

"I'm glad it's over." Kyuu replied between licks of his fur. "You try cleaning nine tails. It's not easy!"

"Aww." I heard Brelyna say from behind me. She was looking right down at Kyuu. "He's so…cuute!"

Kyuu smiled. "That's my name, don't wear it out!" He replied happily as he craned his head out to be petted.

"What is he?" Brelyna asked as she folded her legs down into a seiza position, sitting next to me. She started rubbing his chin, which made Kyuu purr out in bliss.

"He's an Aedric fox spirit. He is called a kyuubi, and he has nine tails. But that's all I really know about him. He's my bound spiritual ally but I don't know much about what he is." I looked at Brelyna to see if she had any ideas as to what he was.

She looked from me over to Master Neloth. "Dad? Do you have any clue?"

He shrugged. "I've dealt with Daedra, but on the principle that I don't recognize the Aedric gods as my masters…I haven't the slightest of clue about their pets."

Kyuu looked from me over to Brelyna. "I'm a servant of Kynareth. I live in the Garden of Kyn with all the other elemental animal spirits, as well as fairies and angels." He smiled. "I'm one of the special spirits that can use all forms of magic…when my caster grows stronger at least. I'm able to unlock newer abilities as I grow stronger off of my contract holder. Of course…the stronger I get, the stronger someone has to be to summon me in the future. It makes me sad that someday my caster will become so strong that I will never be able to hold a contract with someone weaker like Veselle is now." He looked from Brelyna over to me. "And my form may start to change as I develop too. Soon enough, with Veselle's development I will grow big enough to ride on." He smiled. "I was hoping I'd get to stay small and cute, but I'm little help to Veselle as I am now."

I reached down and petted Kyuu's ears. "You'll always be cute…no matter how much you change." Was he really going to change that much? I never thought of it before. What happened if I grew so powerful that no one could ever summon him again? Oh no…I didn't want that to happen. Kyuu deserved the right to be contracted to whoever he wanted to be contracted to. "Is that really true?" I looked up at Master Neloth. "If he grows stronger…will no one be able to summon him?"

Master nodded. "Remember what I said about the Vermeister you summoned? It would take three full-fledged summoners to bring such a thing into our realm, and it needs our magicka reserves to comprise its material body. The more magicka it requires to build the body…the harder it is for apprentices to summon new allies. That's why it takes a while before you're able to summon stronger atronachs, such as frost or shock. It takes more magicka to build their bodies than the lesser one…the flame atronach. However…" He looked down at Kyuu. "As he grows stronger, he'll be able to summon himself if he is bound to someone. And if he's willing to become weaker again, to lose what powers he has in Aetherius, he may come back as what he is now. That would be temporary, though. Until whoever summons him grows stronger and more capable. Isn't that right…demon fox?"

Kyuu waged his tails. "I haven't the slightest of clues as to what you're talking about." He squeaked happily. "But I'm glad you told me I can continue to come back as this cute form even after I've already obtained near limitless potential due to my previous master becoming near god-like." He looked over at me. "I look forward to growing off of you, Lady Veselle."

Master Neloth continued to glare down at Kyuu before standing up. "Do not think I don't know what you are, demon."

Kyuu blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He replied, and I was starting to get worried. Was there something about Kyuu that I needed to know about? I looked at Master for a clue, but he only smirked and walked away. And the way he did so…it scared me. What was going on?

Master looked back at me. "That is all for today, Apprentice. You may go about your business." Ok…this was getting weirder and weirder.

I looked down at Kyuu, who just sat there, staring up at me with his wide blue eyes. "I love you, Lady Veselle." Ok…I don't know why, but that scared me. Was this all a prank that the two of them set up? Kyuu curled up in my lap. "I'm taking a nap now. Wake me up if you need me."


Cearbhail:

Did anyone get the surprise? It wasn't that Brelyna is in the story... it's that Kyuu may be an evil spirit fox feeding off of Veselle's energy so that he can obtain his original destructive form and rampage all over Tamriel and kill everyone. Now.. I said 'may be' It's not a definite yet, but it is a possibility. I don't know where i sit on that right now. I like the idea of a cute little fox becoming stronger, but the whole evil giant fox with nine tails seems pretty cool too. And it would only add to that Madoka Magica think I had going on with that chapter when I created Kyuu. Well anyway, maybe someone will help me decide on that later on. See you next time!