Hello people! Thank you for entertaining the idea of picking up this fic, it really does help me continue (also fresh ideas in my head). Let me know what you think, leave a review and give me your opinions.

A meeting was held three days ago. Questions were raised, objections were given and fucks from me were refused to be handed out. Ultimately, with a four votes out of seven, the inquisition will be given a temporary residence among the college.

I voted against it, Drevis voted against it, Phinis voted against it. Everyone else invited them in. While Drevis did so because he feared the college would loose is stance as being politically neutral, Phinis did so because he didn't trust them. I refused because I'm still fucking pissed about the statue.

We're meeting with their ambassador in five hours. Josephine Montilyet, of Antiva.

Don't know what the fuck Antiva is, never heard of the Montilyet family but if I had to take a gander if you asked I'd assume they're Breton. Maybe Nedic. Elvish?

Aside from her, this inquisition of hers better not prove to be disastrous towards the college. Our policies have kept us alive for decades, and I'd rather not feel the need to add more. Should these inquisition people cause trouble, I will teach them why the college dislikes interlopers.

I'll see when I meet them. Meanwhile, I have a lecture to attend.

Mirabelle Irvine was a stern woman. Not unkind, but also not easily forgiving. She was understanding of her colleagues and students, but also strict in her punishments. Not only was it her nature as a person, as the Master Wizard of the college it was also her job. To understand and sympathize the mistakes of students, and reprimand them when those mistakes were too great.

When the Inquisition's carrier raven relieved itself on the statue of Shalidor she understood why Duneyrr was angry. That statue the bird had shit on wasn't any statue, it was the statue of the college's founder, Shalidor. She couldn't place how old the thing was, but she'd reckon it was at least as old as Archmage Gaulder.

What she couldn't understand is why he wouldn't let it go. The bird didn't know what it was doing, it was just a dumb animal. Of course she was mad as well, but she ended up letting it go. Duneyrr held onto his anger for almost a full month now.

"Nords," she sighed.

Mirabelle stood at the front of the bridge with Faralda, both keeping guard while also waiting for their guests to arrive.

Faralda snickered at Irvine's mood. "Even among Nords his temper is legendary. Have you heard the rumors of Jarl Balgruuf?"

"The Nord king with a legendary temper?" Mirabelle asked, darting her eyes to the Altmer and back out at the hills.

"Duneyrr described him as being a 'calm man' with a 'reasonable head'."

Mirabelle gave the elf a strange look. "When I sent a courier there to deliver a parcel to Farengar, he described that Balgruuf had picked a fist fight with his brother."

Faralda hummed, half-listening as she looked into the distance. Mirabelle joined her in watching the horizon. A shadow made its way into their vision.

The shadow was of a medium sized crowd with only one banner of heraldry in the crowd. The banner bore a flaming eye with a sword stuck through the top of it.

"They're here," Faralda said.

Mirabelle looked at the small presentation of soldiers approaching the college. As they came closer their appearance became more apparent. The forefront of the cavalry consisted of three halberdiers forming the front guard of an unarmed woman in golden-blue noble's robes. At the two flanks were swordsmen, one at each side. Towards the back flank was another row of militia with pole-arms.

The armor they wore was uniform among all of them. Their helmets looked thick like steel but had a color to that of tin. Under the metal chest plate was primarily cloth and leather, all tucked neatly beneath the breastplate.

"The one in the middle must be Josephine," Mirabelle assumed, arms crossed with her weight on her back foot.

"I'll go alert the Archmage," Faralda told Mirabelle, immediately leaving the Master Wizard behind.

Faralda made her way to the college proper, passing each well on her way there. By the time she had reached the courtyard gate, the cavalry had arrived.

The soldiers had begun to dismount their horses and fell a parade rest when their boots it the ground. It sounded like pots hitting soft ground, their once gleaming boots now covered in dirt.

In a manner that showed haste, the woman in the middle dismounted her mare quickly, and approached the front of the crowd.

She was a deeply tan skinned woman with black hair and a single mole on the right side of her face near her chin. When she approached the Master Wizard, Irvine could see that they matched in height. Her golden dress had a blue accent color and frills at the bottom.

In traditional fashion of Breton and Altmerish courts, she lifted the edges of her dress's skirt and gave a curtsy bow. "Greetings from the inquisition," the woman had begun, now lifting herself from her bowed position. "My name is Josephine Montilyet, of house Montilyet of Antiva."

"Mirabelle Irvine," the woman had greeted backwards, arms still crossed and not returning the curtsy gesture. "I am the Master Wizard of the college you see before you. I mean no offense, but it would be appreciated if we could move this along."

"Of course miss, Irvine," Josephine returned.

She took a step forward towards the college and the entourage of soldiers followed. Mirabelle had placed a hand forward, halting the group's movement. "You may take one guest. The college tends not to allow non-mages on campus for safety reasons. Since you're already an exception I'll bend the rules slightly just this once."

"Of course," the ambassador said, slightly embarrassed. "I should not have assumed."

"You're fine. Now pick your lackey and let's get along with this."

...

Josephine had chosen a single swordsman to accompany her on the College. A darker skinned man who appeared to be more in line with a Redguard, but a Bretonic accent in his voice.

At this point they were already in the college. They had already finished their outside tour and Mirabelle had begun to explain the roles of the staff.

"As Master Wizard of the college, it is my duty to run the day-to-day affairs of everything that happens internally. The Archmage is more of a figurehead for the college, but is known to sometimes deal with external politics."

"And what of the teachers?" Josephine asked.

"There are five teachers, all expert level or higher in their craft. As evidenced in their name, they are responsible for the education of students in the college. There is Faralda who teaches Destruction, Tolfdir who teaches Alteration, Phinis Gestor who teaches Conjuration, Drevis Neloren who teaches Illusion, and Colette Marence who teaches restoration." Mirabelle cleared her throat with a small cough. "We also have teachers for enchanting, Sergius Turrianus for standard enchanting, and Neloth of House Telvanni for staff enchanting."

"This may sound like a stupid question, but..." Mirabelle looked at the girl. She nodded in a way that let Josephine know she could continue. "Do you teach anything?"

"I may give a lecture every now and then, but I do not teach any classes."

Josephine hummed as the information settled in her mind. They had an interesting structure, one that further decreased the belief that this was a Circle of Magi and more of an actual school. She referred to the other adults as teachers and not any of the ranks of enchanters.

The hierarchy seemed to be based on the experience of the mages and power. The way the ranks were set made it impossible to cheat one's way up the system unless they actually put forward the effort.

Accordingly, the ranks were Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Master and Archmage, with the latter most of the list being the College's head. The only way to ascend to the next rank, was if one of the teachers of their field had acknowledged the student of enough talent to do so.

"... hence, one could be an Adept in Conjuration, but only Novice in Illusion," Mirabelle finished.

"What if one declared themselves to be a master in that art?" Josephine asked, head tilted to the side towards Mirabelle to better hear her.

"You certainly could if you wished, but what good is it if no one acknowledges it. You could think you're the best swordsman in the country, but when the very first person you challenge wipes the floor with you how could you still call yourself a master?"

Josephine hummed, acknowledging the mage's point. "So I must ask," Josephine began again, changing topics as they approached the main chambers of the building, "how does the Archmage get appointed? Was he the Master Wizard before you?"

"Good question," Mirabelle replied. She stepped forward and the doors flung themselves open, not needing the mage to do it for herself. Josephine followed. Irvine cleared her throat before continuing. "That is typically how the Archmage is appointed, yes. Though our current Archmage, Duneyrr, was put in place by a group of monks called the Psijic order."

"Who are the Psijic order?" Josephine asked.

"I'm not so sure myself. Faralda may be able to give you more information, as she's from Summerset, the home of the Psijics. Though to be specific, the Psijic order is from Atraeum."

The pair walked further forward into the Hall of the Elements. The passed a small series of thick spruce wood doors that Josephine could only assume lead to the stairs that go up. She also couldn't help but admire the stonework and how ancient it appeared, while remaining in peak condition.

Just further forward, was a smaller interior chamber that had a massive well in the middle. Just above the the magical well was a massive floating orb with several interlocking plates, each plate having a series of letters along the rims.

"We're approaching Duneyrr's lecture. Don't interrupt him or things could get... not good."

"- as such, Conjuration is a school of magic that you should all be careful with. No doubt you've heard of the familiar spell, yes? Today, we're taking that spell a step further."

As I finished my sentence I saw Irvine approach me from the corner of my eye. Her timing had become better and better each time.

Just behind her was a deeply tanned woman. Her her was a light matte black, and had a braid-loop coming around the sides of her head to tie each other around the back. Her eyes were an almost silvery-grey color and her brows wide but thin. The dress she wore was entirely golden with a blue vest to cover its torso, white cuffs at her wrists and also flowed almost to a scarf-like neck covering for her.

"One moment class- Irvine!" He shouted across the room, not so angrily but not exactly calm. "Who is this you have brought into our college. And someone else apparently." I had just seen the armed soldier enter the scene behind them, hand on his sword ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.

"This would be Josephine Montilyet, of house Montilyet of Orlais," She introduced, not so casually yet neither very formally.

"Long ass title. Can I call you something shorter?"

"You may address me as Josephine if that's convenient-"

"It is and thank you. Archmage Duneyrr of the College of Winterhold. You can address me as my title or my name, I don't care."

"So... Duneiir-"

"Pronounce my name like that again and your out of this building."

"Archmage," Josephine fixed herself. "I apologize if I was interrupting something important, you can continue if you wish."

"No, no. It's fine. I should've postponed any lessons today." I turned to the crowd and alerted them to the change of plans. Some were disappointed, others looked uncaring.

When the crowd left I returned my attention to Josephine. Mirabelle had just exited the hall for the Arcanium, and I was surprised to see she trusts me that much.

"So what has Irvine told you so far?"

"Miss Irvine has told me of your college's structure and hierarchy, as well as how you operate. I have already been given a tour of your grounds and... it is smaller than I expected."

It was still small, I'd admit that much. "Ever since the great collapse the college had been reduced in size. We lost whole wings of the college and have only been able to add one new feature since then."

"The great collapse?" She parroted, sounding curious into the matter.

"There isn't a way to make this brief, so consider this the only lesson from me today. You see that orb over there in the well?" I pointed over to the eye and Josephine looked at it too. "We call it the Eye of Magnus. We don't know what it does and we're trying to figure it out. There is no method of observation we can use that won't involve possibly leveling a whole countryside on accident. However, something happened to it that dislodged the College from its previous location and we wound up here."

"Is that the Great Collapse you mentioned?"

"No," I answered. "I can see why you'd think that after the explanation. The great collapse happened 400 years before I was born. The College of Winterhold used to be in a country called Skyrim, in the Winterhold region. Next us was the country called Morrowind – but some Dunmer nationalist call it Resdain. 400 years ago a large volcano named Vaardenfel erupted. It's effects were far reaching but slow, as only 100 years after its eruption shockwaves were felt across the country.

Winterhold, being a city built on the icy cliffs near an ocean, experienced the worst of it. Whole parts of the town fell into the see and entire wings of the college also fell off. Still today we are a shell of what we once were. That was the Great Collapse."

"I haven't heard of Skyrim, or Morrowind-"

"I thought so." I took a deep breath in and rubbed the sides of my head. "What is the name of the continent we are on?"

"You aren't saying you're-"

"Answer. The question. Please."

"It is named Thedas." I was making progress, which was good. It's more progress in fifteen minutes than I have in the first month on this continent. I at least had a

"Next question: what do you know of Daedra?"

Mirabelle felt bad for leaving Josephine to her master's mercy, but she had other things to attend to. She had to review a few papers from students, meet with Collette to figure out who's still harassing her about restoration (it's been almost six years and they still haven't a clue who it is), monitor the status of the midden and deal with the new guests having no space.

Josephine seemed like a lovely girl, she was, but her ties to what sounded like a noble family were concerning should anything happen to her on college grounds. Mirabelle thought she should try to confirm her assumptions with the girl if ever given the chance. The best thing to come out of this would be a high influence family uncaring towards their existence, or even supporting it. But that's Duneyrr's job, Mirabelle just runs the college.

On the table was a small stack of papers from various different people, primarily students. The first one she picked from the pile was from J'zargo, one of the Adepts. Attached to the paper was a drawing of a series of magical circles interlocking with one another and various Ayleid characters wrapped around them.

She had heard the Khajiit was working on a new Destruction spell, so she assumed this was it. It looked half-finished given the many missing pieces. In fact, it looked more like a ritual than a single spell. Mirbelle couldn't actually know what to make of it.

She read through the paragraphs outside of the drawing, trying to figure out what the Khajiit was aiming for. "Oh," she sounded after reading through it.

Apparently he was attempting to combine both Ayleid and Old Nordic methods of magic into a single spell. His only issue was that since they are no longer in Skyrim, he needed examples of what to look at for the Nordic part of the spell. Unfortunately these examples were under lock and key out of fear of some rowdy student going nuts with them. She'd pass it onto Duneyrr, or discuss it with him at length.

The next paper she picked up was a letter that had reached the college before they were displaced, given by the date and calendar used. It was useless to her now, but maybe when they get back she could answer it.

The letter was still in front of her when a small explosion shook the college. Her heart had skipped a beat thinking that their Archmage had done something that would even be too far for him. But she calmed down when she realized that the tremors from the explosion didn't come from below her, but far away.

The alchemy lab.

I paid good money for that equipment. Not even a year into owning it and this shit happens. I had to put the representative on pause so I could rush to the lab. Of course she followed me, curiosity does that.

We were here and I was unsurprised to see it a Novice at the center of it. A young Khajiit girl who had burnt her whiskers and some of her fur. Aside from loss of hair she looked (mostly) fine.

"Ja'rasha apologizes for her disturbance-"

"What in Talos' name happened!"

She hesitated to speak, but quickly did eventually. "The burner would not turn on, so this one used a fire spell to ignite the process..."

"It blew up, didn't it?"

"Y-yes."

"Go to Collette. If she's smart she'll already be on her way here, you should meet with her."

The young cat quickly left the room, allowing me to inspect the equipment without being disturbed. I immediately rushed over to the table to assess the damage. Everything appeared to be fine. The explosion just seemed to be made of fire and force, but not enough to deal damage, despite shaking half the college.

Josephine was the first to enter the room with an almost comical look on her face. Mirabelle was only twenty seconds behind her.

"Was that a cat?"

"Khajiit," Mirabelle answered.

"Never seen one before?" I joked, caressing the phylactery to check for any damages. "If myth and history serves me right, then they're actually related to elves."

"So the... cat-person is an elf?"

I laughed at that. "No, they're related to elves. If you want to hear a history on Khajiit culture I'll recommend you to my friend. He knows more about it than me."

"There are also a few books in the library." Just as she said that a wicked smile appeared on her face. I immediately knew then and there she didn't tell her about Urag. "You should also meet the librarian. I'm sure he'd love to meet you."

"While you're there," I added, "you should ask him about Shalidor."

I could see Irvine repress a groan. There was also a hidden look in her eyes that showed the fun she was having, and the fun she could have at watching their meeting unfold. No Khajiit probably also meant no Orcs. Maybe, I'm not sure.

"Everything is in order," I said, standing up from the table. The damages are all but nonexistent, and there wasn't anything in need of replacement or repair

"Sorry, Josephine. Where did we leave off?"

"You want to just continue the conversation? After all this?"

"Try carrying a conversation in the middle of a fight. It's not at all like the books portray."

"So, you were saying?" Josephine asked, reigniting the conversation as best she could.

We talked a lot. I had my questions answered and she had hers answered. When she gave me the information sought out by me and the teachers I wrote it down in an empty book I had pulled from my quarters.

The continent which we were on was named Thedas, and as far as they knew Thedas was the whole world. They knew of no other continents on their planet. Our college had found itself in the Kingdom of Fereldan, just east of the Orlesian Empire.

As for what a Templar is, they were explained to be knights to counteract mages and nullify their powers. When I asked if they were magical knights, she didn't deny it, but insisted that it wasn't magic they used. Josephine at least admitted it was a decent enough comparison despite being incorrect.

"... then a large explosion happened, which killed Divine Justinia, and that leads to where we are now."

"Your bird shat in my college's statue, I think that is why you're here. Not the murder of your priesthood."

"A-ahh, that. I have been meaning to ask you, why were you so offended by that? Does the statue hold any meaning to your college?"

"The statue is of Shalidor, the first Archmage and founder of this campus. I am also a historian, and someone who cares deeply of my people's past even though they would wish to throw certain parts of it away."

"Oh. I'm sorry it happened, but I can't control where birds defecate."

"Before we get off topic, what can you tell me about your people's magic?"

"I am not a mage," she admitted. "I cannot give you any information on how magic works as I can't use magic-"

"Can't use it or do not know how?" I asked.

"Can't," she stated. "I wasn't born with-"

"Born with magic?" I asked. "Everyone is born with magic. It's what makes up the world around us."

"While that may be true to your people-"

"It's the basic law of the universe- let me show you."

A held my hand out to my side. I curled my fingers inward that forcefully shot them outward, summoning an oblivion portal in my hand. The purple mist swirled and expanded, taking shape into a grimoire that bore the destruction symbol on its face.

"Read this," I ordered, handing her the book.

"I already-"

"Read."

AN: Again, shorter chapter. Sorry, it's just harder for me to think of extra content for chapters in this without detracting form the enjoyment of it. I always thought it was better to stop while I'm ahead than add unnecessary words.

I hope you enjoyed.

REPLIES

Forgot to do them last chapter, so here they are.

Monshroud: I mainly want to touch on your third and fourth points because those are the most interesting to me. You are very correct in calling what Templars do an "anti-alteration" kind of magic. That's actually what I have planned for them.

As for the Et'Ada, Daedra and Aedra, they will be involved at some point and the identity of the Maker will be explored by the college extensively. The first one to be introduced to this missing world will be *hint* *hint* a garden of insight to the people of Thedas of the true reality of the world.

As for the second one, I want to touch on this briefly. Cole will spend a lot of time at the college and Solas will be smug as fuck.

Brainstorm813: I'm not necessarily trying to portray him as "single-digit IQ" and more as a short tempered wizard who (you are correct in this one) has a small moral compass when it comes to ethics.