Cearbhail:
I know, I know. I said I wouldn't start this for a week or so, and that I was going to work on my other stories, but I wanted to start off the new arc properly. so... here's the first chapter. I bet you know what I'm planning to do with the next few chapters by the end of this one.
Oh...and enjoy. ^^
Dear diary of shadows,
Today is 4e207 9th Sun's Dusk. The past year has been something else, in retrospect. It's been like having a normal life. Gwen got her own house made just a few days after settling in. It's near the bathhouse. Things with her are…interesting. She doesn't really hate me anymore, not since I started dating Seth anyway. She still tries to keep me as far away from Talvas as possible, especially since I'm a little older now. Still, 14 doesn't seem all that impressive when Talvas and she are both 17. Still, Seth is a great person, and I'm actually happy to be with him. Dating him the past year has been impressive. We were new to the whole dating thing, so we took it slow. Now, we're kissing and stuff. I mean, we tried kissing from time to time, but it just seemed rushed. But now it's everyday stuff we do. But still, we did other things: picnics, training sessions, you know… stuff.
Well, today is another day of training. Mother is going to team up with Father about Compatibility. Compatibility is when two mages sync their souls together to synchronize their energy into one massive force. At least, that's why my book says about it. I can't wait to sync with Seth today. I'll show that the two of us are completely compatible. When I think of it, that kiss we shared that one afternoon, when both our fires turned blue and merged as one…that was a source of Compatibility. If we did it then, we should be able to do it now too.
Veselle Tenvanni.
…
I closed my diary and stretched out my legs. The past week had been pretty hectic. Father wanted us to start doing research into the Black Books again, and I don't know why. It just hit him one day. That Black Book we've been holding onto this whole time started acting weird, like it was trying to speak to us. Father locked it away, saying that we weren't allowed to go near it. So far, only Mother and he had even attempted to go near it. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I felt uneasy this morning. Something was about to happen. And I didn't like it.
I sighed as I stood up from my bed and stretched my arms. I grabbed my training robes and walked into my bathroom. Sure, we had an entire bathhouse designed for the convenience of being able to bathe in a massive house, but I still liked my privacy. The way Gwen tries to grope me from time to time really keeps me from going in there unless I'm there in a bathing suit and just taking a dip in the hot springs. Gwen keeps telling me I'll start growing as big as her eventually. Gods I hate her. Zera finds it hilarious, but she's still pretty young. 12 years-old…man. I felt so long ago when I was her age, even though it was only two. Heck, when I was 12…the earliest memory I had was being shot in the stomach by a Thalmor and then unleashing a giant Aedric dragon on the town of Riften. And then I moved to Raven Rock a couple months later. Wow… it seems so long ago, but it really wasn't.
I let myself take my shower in silence as I mentally prepared myself for today's trials. It wasn't every day that Mother and Father both train class. Though I do like the way they split us up. Mother took the newer apprentices: Zera, Seth, and myself; while Father was left training: Teldryn, Gwen, Azarien, Brelyna, and Talvas. Those of us who trained with Mother got to wear black and gray robes, which I loved, while those trained by Father had to wear the uglier combinations of red, dark red, and dark yellow. Yuck.
After my shower I put my hakama and my keikogi, which were the basic layers for my uniform. My hakama was black; my keikogi was a really dark gray with black lace borders on the sleeves with blood red Daedric runes in the black lace. I didn't like it when I first started wearing these, but I quickly learned to like it. After those were on, I got to throw on my black sleeveless tunic that flowed down past my knees. It folded in just like my keikogi, but instead of tucking it under my hakama to keep it from moving, I strapped a black belt, which was also had the same red Daedric runes as my keikogi's sleeves in the middle of the belt.
After I got my training robes on, I looked in the mirror as I started putting my hair back into my twintails. My hair had grown longer and it now my twintails reached down to my shoulder blades. Seth liked my hair long, which made me enjoy having my hair reach past my neckline. I looked myself in the mirror for a second, practicing my smile before I heard a knock on my door.
"It's open!" I said as I turned towards the door.
When the door opened, I saw Seth poke his head through. "Good morning, Vess."
I nodded to him. "Good morning, Seth."
"You ready for combat practice?" He said as he walked in.
He glanced at me, rubbing the back of his freshly shaven head. Well, shaven was a lack of a better term. Let's just say he got in a fight with his sister and she burned half of his hair off. Sure, we were able to heal him, but no amount of Heal Beam was going to bring his hair back. And I made fun of his haircut. And that led him to shaving his head because of it, which I made fun of him for, and that in turn made him a little…sensitive about his hair. Right now it was less than a stubble starting to grow back in.
I smiled as I stood up and ran my fingers over his head. It felt so…prickly. It felt nice, so I ran both my hands on his head, which made him cringe. "Your head feels so funny." I said as I started rubbing my face on his head.
"Vess…stop it." He tried to whine, but it didn't get me to stop. When I didn't stop, he pulled my twintails. He pulled hard enough to pull my head down, and we ended up at eye-level. When we got there, we looked at each other for a few seconds before I kissed him. And then he started kissing back. Then we spent a few minutes kissing. Normal morning stuff for us.
We stopped when we heard Zera clear her throat. We broke apart and I looked down at the girl that was just a little shorter than me. She had twintails just like me, but hers reached her knees. She was also the only one of us that had pale pink eyes instead of bright red. Her entire family had dark blue hair, almost like raven. My hair was straight black.
Zera stood there, puffing her cheeks out at me and then at her brother. "Are you two done making out yet? I want to get to practice." I smiled as I nodded to Zera. Zera was an odd thing. She loved me, and even though she loved the idea of me dating her brother, she hated to see us kissing. I don't really understand why she doesn't like it, but one of these days I'll ask her and find out. Every time I do ask her, she just looks away and says she doesn't mind.
I looked at her and then over to Seth. "Well, shall we then?" I asked him as I led him out of my room, closing the door behind me. We started walking over to the training circle that in the past two years…hadn't changed one bit. The village hadn't changed in two years. I was amazed by that. We expanded so quickly, but after all that crap with my Mother trying to kill us… we didn't get any new people to join House Telvanni. If we didn't do something soon, we would end up a small House. We had to do something to bring more people in, but maybe it was best that we were small right now. We only had two Telvanni Lords: Ildari Sarothril and Neloth Maryon. I guess I just had to accept that we needed to get more Lords of House Telvanni before we could start growing bigger. Looking at Seth and thinking about the future…perhaps the two of us could help expand House Telvanni in our own way? I know Gwen's pregnant, supposed to give birth to twins soon. That means two new people. Mother's starting to show signs of her pregnancy as well. And I know my sister Brelyna is having sex with her boyfriend Teldryn. Jeez…everyone's getting some but me. One day… one day.
"You still didn't tell me if you were ready for today." Seth said as he walked beside me.
"I'm ready whenever you want it." I said automatically. I was still thinking about having sex with him when I said it.
Seth nodded. "Great. I'm a little nervous myself."
I scoffed. "You're supposed to be a boy. Aren't you supposed to want stuff like that?"
He shrugged. "You're more into it than I am. You're better at it than me too."
I shook my head. "It will be my first time too."
He paused. "What?" He shook his head. "What are you talking about?"
I stopped and looked at him. "Huh? Um…what do you think we're talking about?" I suggested to him, smiling at the end like I had any idea what he was talking about.
"Combat practice!" He said to me. He squinted his eyes at me. He looked down at Zera, saying, "Zera, cover your ears and hum until I tap your arm." She covered her ears on command and started humming to herself. He looked back up at me, smirking. "I now that glint in your eye. You were thinking about dirty stuff, weren't you?"
I shrugged. "It's not the first time we've talked about it." I said as I continued walking. He and Zera followed behind me.
"True, but like I've been saying … we're only 14. We should take it slow and not do something we will regret." He said as he caught up to me.
"I can buy condoms, so can you." I said to him.
His face blushed over. "Yeah, we could but… you know those are designed to prevent diseases, not pregnancy."
I shrugged. "Ok, so I use Alteration to keep myself from getting pregnant. Not a big deal." I grabbed his hands. "I'm in no rush either, but you can't just use that as an excuse not to."
He sighed and nodded. "Ok, how about… I'm not ready yet."
I nodded. I could respect that. "Ok, great. Let's go back to Zera-friendly topics."
Seth tapped Zera's arm and she stopped humming and uncovered her ears. She looked from me over to Seth. "Can we get a puppy?"
I shrugged. "It would be nice to have a pet dog." Then why not just summon me? I heard Kyuu call through my mind. I looked up into the sky and said, "Because you ate all my apples three days ago." It was enough that both Zera and Seth jumped, even though they should be used to me talking to Kyuu like this by now. Kyuu was my bound ally, the first of three that I had. The other two were Anari and Volana. Volana was resting in my back pouch in a heart stone if I ever needed her, while Anari was happily reading books in her version of a world. Anari didn't like it when I bothered her, but she was always happy to help me if I needed it, while Kyuu wanted out every second of every day.
Seth was the first to realize what was going on. He nodded his head, saying, "Kyuu talking to ya again?" I nodded. "Sounds about right then."
"I wish I had a contract with a spirit." Zera whined as she grabbed my hand. "Will you teach me how to make a contract?"
I shrugged. "Um…it's not like I planned it or anything. It just happened one day."
Seth smirked. "Going at the pace we're heading in… that won't be the last time I hear that phrase." I glared at him for a second, silencing him with my eyes. Not Zera-friendly, Seth. Funny, but not Zera-friendly.
I looked back down at Zera, smiling. "I can summon Kyuu and see if we can get something started."
She smiled and nodded, clapping her hands. "Can we?"
I sighed as I warmed up a ball of Conjuration. I made a link to Kyuu and then let the ball rip open into a portal in front of me. Kyuu, a cat-sized fox spirit with nine tails, jumped out of the portal and into my chest. I quickly wrapped him up in my arms. He was as light and fluffy as the day when I first met him. I was fighting my first Ash Guardian, a monster so powerful that I would have died if Father hadn't come in and saved me, when I first met Kyuu. He begged me to make a contract with him so that he could help me. I gave in and let him bound himself to me, and then he had to teach me how to summon him. I couldn't think of a better teacher for Conjuration than him.
Kyuu looked up at me with his blue beady eyes. "Change your mind, did you?"
I shook my head. "No, but I will give you an apple if you get Zera a bound ally. And not some butterfly useless thing, an actual something useful like you."
Kyuu purred and rubbed his head in my chest. "I would be honored to help my second favorite little mage." He said as he looked at Zera. "Wow… you look more and more like Veselle every day!" He squeaked as he jumped out of my arms and over to her. He plopped his butt down on the ground and looked Zera in the eye. "You're a fire user, right?"
She shrugged. "Fire and Air mostly." She said. With a flick of her wrist, she managed to blow some Air magicka over the ash. "I'm not very strong either."
Kyuu sat there for a second. "I'm guessing a fairy. But…what kind of fairy." He muttered to himself. "Oh!" He said, jumping up to his foot. "I know, I know. A Summer Sprite. They are fire-based and use Air magicka too!" He raced around in a circle. "But which one… there are so many?" He spun himself in a circle before he came to a stop. "No…really?" He chuckled to himself. "Should I invite…her?" He looked around before nodding to himself.
"Who?" I asked Kyuu.
He looked up at me, smiling. "Oh… no one. Just… an old flame of mine." He cleared his throat. "You know…back when I worked with Nrillia." I could see his fur ruffle as he thought of it. He looked up at Zera, smiling at her. "I'll talk to her about it tonight. How's that?"
Zera nodded. "I'm ready."
Kyuu nodded back to her and then over to me. "Can I get my apple now?"
I shrugged. "Fine, even though you didn't do anything yet."
He huffed and looked away, giving me the cold shoulder. "Choosing is half the battle. The other half is getting her to make the contract. And I can't do anything until tonight, when I talk to her. I'm sure she'll agree though. Tatianna has been partner-less since Nrillia."
I watched as Kyuu bounced away. I never knew he has a little girlfriend. I wondered what she was like. Probably just like him, I'm guessing. Hard to tell though. Kyuu's weird, almost as weird as me. Looking at Seth, perhaps she was a confused happy person? I like that thought. And until I meet this spirit, that's exactly how I'm picturing her, just like Seth. Sure would be disappointing to find out she's like Gwen… or Talvas. Especially Talvas.
I looked over at Zera and Seth. "We should probably head to the training circle. Mom and Dad might be getting impatient."
"I know I am." Father said from inside the three training circles. He stared at us with heavy eyes. He had his arms crossed, and he stood there, tapping his right foot in the ash as he stared at us. His students were right behind him, all dressed in their red training uniforms. I locked eyes with Talvas for a second before standing up. He smiled at me, waving for a second before Gwen glared at him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her. She kissed him on the spot. She looked at me, glaring as she pressed herself up against Talvas.
I rolled my eyes and looked at Seth. He put an arm on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring squeeze. "Don't let it bother you." I grunted. He knew I used to have a crush on Talvas. After a month of dating him, I felt it was only right he knew that. He offered me a lot of support on the whole… Gwen using Talvas as a weapon against me. It still hurt, seeing him with her, but being with Seth made the whole thing feel a lot better. It's not like I wanted to date Talvas or anything, but it was more the fact that Gwen was purposefully using my old feelings as a way of hurting me. It was the act of hurting me that was causing me to hurt. Just knowing that Gwen hated me so much. I wish I could get her to be nicer to me, but in one year, our relationship hadn't improved much.
I looked up at Mom. She nodded to me. Over the course of the year, it was amazing how much she recovered from her near experience with Ash poisoning. Just last year, her heart stone almost killed her and made her into an Ash construct, like an Ash Spawn. When Father found out where I was being hidden, he came by to free me. During my time at Mother's hidden base, I was able to learn how to reverse the Ash poisoning, and I was able to share the information with Dad. He used the information to free Mom from her heart stone's Ash poisoning. Before she was freed, most of her body was cracked up and useless, kind of like a mummy's body. Ever since we've stopped her poisoning, she's been able to focus her energy on healing her body. So far, she's able to use her arms again, but her legs were still pretty stiff. She tried to walk around, but more than often she's levitating.
"Good morning, Veselle." Mother nodded to me. "Are you ready for today's lesson?"
I looked at Zera and Seth. "I think I am, but…" I waved to them. "Do you think they are able to do this?"
Mother smiled gently as she nodded. "It cannot hurt to try."
Seth nudged me, so I looked back at him. "What as that about?"
I shrugged. "This Compatibility sounds like advanced magicka. I might not be ready for it." I pointed to myself. "Not that I'm saying you're bad at magicka or anything, but it took you a month to figure out how to conjure your first Firebolt spell."
He scoffed at the idea. "Oh, because it's so easy for you.." He muttered, crossing his arms.
Zera walked up and pushed both of us together. "You two shouldn't fight!"
I looked down at her as she looked up at me, frowning. I sighed as I looked back up at Seth. I shrugged. "Sorry."
He looked away. "It's fine. I get whatcha saying."
Mother clapped her hands to draw our attention. "Please pay attention." She joined Father in the training circle, which the rest of us vacated from. There were three circles: one that created a safe training circle for us to use magicka inside; one that kept the weather from bothering us while we trained; and a third one that kept dangerous things like Daedra from coming in. We were shoved into the second circle so that we could watch Mom and Dad safely perform their magicka without risk of killing us all.
Mother and Father both stood near each other. "Today you will learn about Compatibility. Compatibility is a form of magicka that occurs when two souls are in complete sync. Sometimes this manifests as a slow motion combat scene, but that's usually with fighters." I looked at Talvas; he looked back at me. We shared a slow motion scene a year ago when we fought some draugr underneath Raven Rock. I had no idea that was a form of Compatibility. "Of course, these are extreme circumstances and are rare in form. What we are referring to when we bring up the subject of Compatibility is different than becoming in sync with your traveling companion. This is more intimate." She looked at me and then at Seth. "A lot of you have been becoming pretty intimate lately, so Neloth and I decided to hold this class about Compatibility. It's about turning that unified energy into a single stronger energy. Pay attention."
Mother took a deep breath as Ash within the training circle started to spin around her body. Father did the same as lightning started coursing from his arms and fingertips. Mother reached her and out to Dad, and he took her hand. As their hands came closer, I could see an outline growing on their bodies: Mom's was black, Father's was Amber. Their auras seemed to grow stronger as their hands drifted closer. I could feel the buildup as their hands clasped. There was an explosion of energy as the Ash was suddenly electrified. I watched as sparks of electrified Ash circled around the training circle.
"This is Magicka Compatibility." Father stated. "When we combine our magicka with each other, when we become in sync, this is what we can create." He looked around at the glowing particles of Ash. "It can be a beautiful art form, but it can also be deadly." He released Mother's hand and the Ash floated back down into the training circle. "Now, we'd like for you all to try on your free time. We were going to have you practice in front of your peers, but I feel that…" He glanced at me, glaring through my soul. "some of you are more prone to killing your partners due to embarrassment." He glared from me over to Seth and then over to Talvas and Gwen. Jeez… is there a person in this town that doesn't seem to know my issues?
I looked over at Seth. "So… do you feel like trying?"
He nodded. "I don't see why not."
"Veselle, may I speak to you?" Father said as walked over to me. He glanced at Seth for a second. "Alone?"
Seth took the hint and nodded his head. He looked back at me, smiling. "I guess we'll try the Compatibility later then?" I nodded as he walked away.
I looked up at Dad. He didn't look mad or anything, so I wondered what this was about. "What's up?"
"I'm debating something." He rubbed his chin as he looked down at me. "The past two weeks have been troubling. I'm sure you can feel the tension in the island rising." Yeah, I could feel it alright. Gwen was getting more aggressive with pushing me away, and Seth was letting me get closer to him. "As Telvanni mages, it's our responsibility to trust our instincts when it comes to knowing when danger is coming."
I thought about how I was afraid to get too close to Gwen. She might try to publicly humiliate me. "Yeah, I think I get what you're talking about." He was telling me to prepare to fight Gwen.
Father nodded. "That is great to hear, Veselle, because I've struggled with this idea. You might find yourself in danger soon, and I want you to be protected. But… what I'm offering to teach you is above your mental ability. You have no control over your emotions yet; I've seen you switch from orange flames to black flames… then it switches to blue flames and then it turns to frost a second later. And to make it more confusing, it switches to black flames that turn back to blue and then back to orange. It's like you don't have full emotional control over your thoughts."
Emotional control? I was all over that. I go into the training circle and I focus really hard on perfecting my Fire Storm technique. Of course, I start thinking of Gwen and how she is always one step ahead of me, of how she always tells me of all the stuff she does with Talvas. But then I think of Seth and the stuff we did the previous day, and then I start thinking of Talvas and all the stuff we would never do because of all the stuff Gwen does to him, and all the stuff I do with Seth, and that makes me want to train harder. It's not my fault I can't focus these days. Inner circle politics was starting to get to me.
I shrugged as I looked up at Dad. "I'm sorry, but Gwen is doing everything she can to make my life hell."
He rolled his eyes. "She only has power over you if you let her." He said down to me. "Veselle, this island is getting darker, and I want you to be safe. I know something is about to happen, I just know it. And I have a feeling that you will need to know how to use Shock. So…I'm going to teach you."
"Shock?" I asked him. "But Talvas isn't able to use Shock yet."
Father smirked at that. "Like I said to him when I introduced you. You are his underclassman…but I doubted it would take you too long to surpass him. He isn't ready for Shock yet…and to be honest, neither are you. But he's been practicing for a year now… and you're just about to get started. So, here's what I want you to do." He guided me over to the training circle. He placed me in the center and pushed me down into seiza. "Meditate."
"Meditate?" I echoed him.
He nodded. "Meditate."
I waited for him to elaborate but he didn't. He just looked down at me as if waiting to see if I'd get it. "I don't get it. Meditate on what?"
He sat down in seiza in front of me. "Just close your eyes, and breathe."
I shrugged by closed my eyes. Boy…sure was dark under these eyelids. Oh…I could see color. A yellow splotch floating in my eyelid…some green. Oh…waves of colors now! Wow, how come I never did this before? This was a trip. As I continued to sit there, I started seeing faces appearing in the back. They were stretching out through the dark, trying to say something to me. I tried to forget about the faces, so I tried to think of something. I remember waking up under a waterfall after being forced to get drunk. I climbed out of the waterfall and climbed onto Talvas's chest. I snuggled up to him as he wrapped his arm around me and he kept me warm while I drifted off to sleep. My thoughts drifted over to Seth. We were sitting next to each other looking up at the clouds. The clouds were shaped like dragons, which we enjoyed making fun of.
I felt a smack on my head and I snapped my eyes open. Father was resting his hand on my head. "Don't smile like that when you're meditating."
"You're the one that didn't tell me to do anything special." I said back to him. I started to push myself up. "My legs are starting to hurt. I'm done."
Father reached out and pushed me back down. "No! We're not done yet. Your legs will be just fine. I want you to learn Shock, and you won't learn it without relaxing your mind."
"My mind was plenty relaxed!" I replied. "I was thinking about the day I watched clouds with Seth."
"I just want you to focus on breathing." Father closed his eyes. "Focus on breathing. Focus on the magicka flowing in your veins. Focus on keeping your mind still. Focusing on all three will put all three bodies within you in sync. The physical body, the spiritual body, and the mental body. All must be in sync for you to create Shock."
I closed my eyes and tried again. I took a deep breath and focused on how the magicka within me moved around. That in turn helped keep my mind clear of any distractions. I took a few deep breaths and focused on my magicka moving around. I started feeling peaceful. I think I could actually do this!
"Lord Neloth!" I heard Captain Veleth scream as he ran over to us from the road. I exhaled and opened my eyes. Veleth was running towards us, and he looked like he was in a hurry.
Father opened his eyes and then looked at me. "Do not leave, we'll resume this once Captain leaves." He stood up and walked over to him. "What may I help you with, Captain?"
He paused outside the training circle, taking a second to catch his breath. "This is very important, Lord Neloth. I've been told to direct you over to Second Councilor Adril Arano as soon as possible."
Father crossed his arms. "Did he happen to mention what he needs me for?"
Captain Veleth shook his head. "No, sir. He only mentioned that it's urgent." Veleth looked down at me. "He requests that you bring Veselle too."
Father looked down at me, glaring at me. He looked up at Captain Veleth, nodding. "Very well, I will be there at his convenience."
Captain Veleth bowed to us before saying, "I was informed to bring you directly to him."
Father sighed, looking at me. "My apprentice is not appropriately dressed for a meeting with the Second Chancellor… I mean Councilor. Besides, this does not sit right with me." He looked at me. "Veselle, go get a traveling buddy. Grab Zera and Seth. I think this could prove to be a wondrous learning opportunity. And tell Ildari to come out here. I think I will want her by my side."
A travelling buddy? We were going on a quest? I nodded to Dad and ran back to my room. I threw the door open and grabbed my personal staff, the one I always took with me whenever I might end up fighting someone. I checked to make sure I still had my Ash Guardian with me and I turned around. I closed the door behind me and sprinted over to the main tower. Mom was always upstairs tending to her disease. If she wasn't training, she was trying to heal herself.
I opened up the door and screamed as loud as I could. "Mom! Dad wants to see you out by the training circle!"
"What does he want?" She screamed back.
"I don't know, but Captain Veleth says we need to meet with the Second Councilor!"
"Oh, Ok. I'll be done in a few minutes. I just need to put my makeup on." She yelled back down at me.
I ran from the doorway down the staircase leading back to the ground. I dashed as fast as I could over to the Vedes farm. I saw Zera wrestling a pig and called out to her. "Zera! Grab your staff and Seth. We're going on a quest."
"Sweet!" She pumped her fist and charged straight for the house. "Bro! Veselle wants you to grab your staff and meet her outside."
"What? I'm not ready!" He pouted.
"Your training staff, idiot!" Zera pointed out. "We're going on a quest."
"Oh…that's easy." He said as he charged out of the house with his own version of the staff I had. Zera followed right behind him. When he spotted me, he ran over with Zera behind him. "So, what are we doing?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, but Master Neloth thinks we might be expecting trouble. Let's go join him and Captain Veleth. We're going to meet the Second Councilor so… it can't be good." The Second Councilor's job was all about security. If he wanted to speak to us, it was because he was afraid of something harming the security of Raven Rock. I just hoped he didn't think it was us.
Cearbhail:
Ok, so if you've played the side quests, you should know what's going to happen. And imagine who's going to be beside Veselle for it.
