That morning, Rohah woke up early to see Norvosh off. She found she had not been able to articulate exactly what she was feeling while she watched him go - perhaps it was a panic at feeling alone in this huge province again, or worry for his welfare on the open road, or maybe the simple pain of watching a friend leave. She'd settled for a simple good-bye she knew she'd regret later. They were the only words she could get out.
Rohah went down for breakfast in the College for the first time. She was relieved when both Gormir and Stilde recognized her and waved her over - she'd been worrying mealtimes would be a lonely affair.
She introduced herself properly. Several others were sitting at the table, who did the same.
"My name is Feather," an Argonian said. It was not hard to figure out why she was named this. A copious amount of brilliantly colored feathers sprouted from her head, cascading down all the way to her neck. The burst of color was like a splash of paint against their drab College robes.
A Redguard, sitting next to Gormir, introduced himself as Cinnari. He had a languid smile and a relaxed air about him that put Rohah at ease. He spoke placidly, but his expression betrayed genuine excitement for the coming journey.
Last was Odaryn, the Dunmer who had covered himself and Gormir in ash the last time Rohah had seen him. He seemed to remember this incident too, and grinned at her conspiratorially as he spoke. "You're coming to Saarthal, right?"
"Yeah, can't wait," Rohah replied. "What are we doing there?"
It was Feather who answered her. "Practicing our spellwork on the draugr. Learning the place's history. Stuff like that. Do you think they'll let us take souvenirs? I could sneak a hand out in my robe… put it under Gormir's sheets..."
"Please don't," Rohah said, wrinkling her nose. "Draugr fresh out of the coffin smell just awful."
"You've seen live draugr before?" Odaryn asked her eagerly.
"A few," she said vaguely. "They're really not all that interesting. You'll be sick of them by the time we get back - trust me. Anyway, Gormir told me there've been dead ones brought to the College before - right, Gormir? Gormir?"
"Huh?" he said distractedly. Gormir was busily stacking apples on Cinnari's head, the latter of whom was holding extremely still.
"Never mind," she sighed, while Feather, Stilde, and Odaryn sniggered.
"Twenty minutes 'till we leave," Stilde said, checking her watch. "Tolfdir said it was going to be about an hour's walk to Saarthal."
"I hope these robes keep us warm, the weather's foul," Odaryn said, looking at the frosted windows and squinting his red eyes as though the wind was already blowing into them.
"It's not that bad," Stilde said dismissively.
"'Course you'd say that, you're a Nord."
Stilde opened her mouth to fire back, but she was interrupted by a large quantity of apples crashing down on their table.
They walked along a partially paved path deeper into the more wintry parts of Skyrim. A light snow disguised the edges of jutting cliffs. The professors had warned them before leaving that straying from the path could be fatal. The icy terrain underfoot, lowered visibility, and sheer drops were a perfect combination to permanently injure anyone, mortally or otherwise.
Creatures kept their distance, intimidated by the size of their company. Dozens of students, clustered in motley groups, followed behind the four teachers leading them to Saarthal. Rohah recognized Tolfdir, their aging Alteration instructor, and Sergius, the cranky Enchanting teacher. There were two women she didn't know. Stilde informed her the Altmer woman was Faralda, their Destruction teacher, and the Breton woman was Colette, who taught Restoration. Rohah took particular interest in Colette, as she would be the professor for her best subject.
Rohah walked with the same group at breakfast, on the right of Stilde. So far the frigid weather had discouraged conversation. With every exhalation, Rohah could see her breath plume out in front of her. Her robes and gloves were doing a good job of keeping her warm, but the exposed skin of her face was burning against the open air. She expected it to go numb soon.
Tolfdir and the Nord students had the least trouble; Odaryn hadn't been joking. Rohah felt a twinge of jealousy seeing them unconcerned about the weather. Some of them didn't even have their hoods up!
The road began to slope downward. Rohah was careful where she stepped, all too aware that a single patch of ice could send her tumbling. Saarthal soon came into view. It was much less grand than she had hoped. Crumbling stonework dotted the miniature valley the tomb occupied. Fresh timber supported some of the more precarious buildings, apparently in a recent effort to preserve what wasn't already rubble.
The students quieted when the teachers brought them to a stop just over the ruins.
Tolfdir pointed down below. "See the intact door? It's been magically reinforced to last over the years. We'll enter through there."
Everyone tromped down the stairs leading into the sunken city. They were instructed to fall into single file, as the wood was rotted and might not bear all their weight.
Once assembled by the iron door, the Altmer professor Faralda turned to address the students. "Our walk through will hardly go unnoticed by the draugr inside. They will attempt to defend the crypt from us. You have permission to use any spell you can think of to fight the draugr. To prevent accidents, we will be advancing through the crypt at a slow pace, to avoid waking too many of the undead. If you are careful, nothing will go amiss, but us teachers will be watching closely to intervene if our assistance is needed."
"We don't do this sort of thing every day," Tolfdir interjected, "so I would ask that you remain mature and respectful to ensure we can have similar trips in the future. Anyone behaving inappropriately will be asked to leave."
"Like we'd let you see if we were," Feather muttered, too quiet for the teachers to hear over the whistling wind.
Rohah felt a rush of apprehension as Faralda opened the door. She followed behind Stilde, who was craning her neck to get a better view over the heads of the other students. The inside of the crypt was in notably better condition than the ruins outside, which had spent centuries in the company of the elements. Rohah wondered when the last time the building had seen a person was. The temperature was not much different than outside, but the absence of wind helped warm the students.
Tolfdir threw up a werelight as casually as one would swing a lantern to stave off darkness. "As you all know, Saarthal was one of the earliest Nord settlements. Most of the city has been lost - we saw how small and desolate the outside looked. This burial crypt has remained mostly untouched, so it will give us the greatest understanding of the ancient Nords and their culture.
"The upper levels of the crypt are reserved for both the offerings of Nord descendants and the destruction of potential intruders. We've already broken the enchantments for the traps as a safety precaution. If you are observant, you will be able to feel the remnants of magicka they left behind."
They passed through several rooms, following a general path downward. The crypt was much nicer than Valthume, as far as burial sites went. At least it was structurally sound. It was hard to feel any sort of dread from their dismal surroundings, not when she was clomping along with a mass of students and led by capable teachers. Tolfdir continued with a rambling stream of information about the long-dead Nords and their customs. Sometimes they were allowed to touch various objects they might have used. Rohah abstained, unable to get an image of decaying draugr grasping the Nordic tools out of her mind.
"This place is weird," Odaryn said to their small group, glancing around as if he'd never get a better look.
"When you've seen one, you've seen them all," Rohah told him.
Tolfdir at last announced they were likely near the first of the draugr, and advised them to prepare for combat. He was proven to be right when, within the minute, they entered a room where several of the undead charged them, crude weapons held high.
Flashes of light flared, and the students easily repelled the draugr. One was hit straight between the eyes with a well-aimed firebolt. Another running with a halberd was forced to stand in one position when ice crept up its legs and held it in place. A third draugr dropped its weapon and cowered, as though assailed by invisible enemies. After the initial attack, a second wave of magic rolled through the students, finishing off any draugr left standing. Rohah had not succeeded in creating even a spark, though she'd reached for the Destruction energy.
"Nice shot, J'zargo!" a Nord teenager said, and high-fived the smirking Khajiit.
"These are your ancestors, Gormir?" Feather said quietly over a dead draugr, a mocking grin looking strange on her reptilian features. "I can see the family resemblance." Odaryn snickered, and Rohah suppressed a smile.
Gormir scowled at the jibe. "Watch it."
"I didn't even do anything," Rohah complained.
"Ah, you'll get your chance," Feather said unconcernedly, whose ice spike had taken a draugr through the chest.
"That was excellent work," Tolfdir cried. "Let's keep moving!"
It took two more waves of draugr, which were efficiently massacred by the students, for Rohah to realize she was unable to do anything remotely related to Destruction. It was immensely frustrating; she could feel the potential for her spellwork, as if she were on the edge of casting it, but actually executing it did not work. Frost, fire, lightning - nothing functioned.
She glanced around. The teachers were distracted by the draugr up ahead. Rohah raised a hand and tried to command a flame to flicker over her palm. The magicka held back, unwilling to be used. She creased her brow and pushed harder. Nothing.
Puzzled now, Rohah tried summoning her Restoration magic. Her hands glowed as usual, ready to patch up an injury. She let it fade away. Come to think of it, she'd never tried using Destruction magic - her parents had been adamant she stayed away from it. Was she just untrained?
"You good?" Stilde murmured under the cover of the students' echoing steps.
"Fine," Rohah said quietly. "I'm just not able to do any Destruction. Not sure why."
Stilde shrugged. "Try a different school, then. They said any spell."
"Good point."
The next batch of draugr they confronted, Rohah used a simple turn undead spell. She'd never been able to try it before, but she knew the theory, and she was rather skilled at Restoration, so she expected it to work. It was a shock, then, when all it succeeded in doing was making a draugr falter for a moment before it broke free of her influence. Odaryn came to her rescue with a lightning bolt that travelled in a deadly arc to fry the attacking undead.
She'd barely made it pause! That spell was supposed to have a much greater effect. Rohah was troubled, but she tried not to show it in front of her new friends, who seemed to be having a good time in the crypt. Apparently she wasn't as good as she thought. Rohah resorted to using Illusion magic on the draugr, with similar results.
Her poor performance was making her wish she was back in the warm College, reading a good book. At least the rest of them were having some success. Feather looked like she was downright enjoying herself whenever a draugr came her way. Stilde had missed with one of her spells, and - panicked with the draugr so near to her - had clocked the undead right around the head. She'd finished it off with a second spell while it laid on the floor stunned, looking sheepish while the rest of them roared with laughter.
After several more draugr attacked them, they reached a chamber with many split-off points.
"We'll divide into four groups here, each led by one of us teachers," Faralda said calmly. "The crypt is enormous, so I don't expect us to cross paths again until we exit." She divided them swiftly. The students who wound up with Colette looked the most unhappy. Rohah and the rest of her friends were with Tolfdir.
"We're going to be listening to facts about Nordic architecture all day," Feather mumbled.
"Could be worse," Cinnari said lightly, glancing furtively at Colette's group.
"What's wrong with her?" Rohah asked him as their group began to move toward one of the doors.
"She's a terrible teacher. Nosy and incompetent. Not a good combo."
Rohah frowned, hoping it wasn't true. She had been looking forward to her first Restoration class.
With fewer students to shepherd, Tolfdir made quick progress through the crypt. He was surprisingly agile for an old man. She had to agree with Feather; he had a tendency to ramble on, but to his credit, most of it was somewhat interesting. Rohah would know more about Nordic burial sites than she ever wanted after this trip.
Rohah was relieved to feel as though she were getting better at turning the undead that appeared. The practice with her Restoration helped substantially. She still couldn't produce any Destruction, which disappointed her. At least she was able to make the draugr slow their attacks. She'd heard of Restoration masters so powerful that they could turn a dozen undead to dust with one spell. Rohah wondered if that could be her someday. Maybe if she studied hard enough.
The next few rooms they entered housed no draugr whatsoever. Tolfdir began to look visibly confused by the time they passed through their fifth empty room. They reached a door that led to a long, wide hallway.
"This is strange," Tolfdir told them. "Stay close together. I'm not sure what's up ahead."
Rohah blinked, drawing closer to Feather, whose expression hinted that any draugr in their way would be unceremoniously blasted from this world.
The hallway fed into the biggest chamber Rohah had seen yet. What immediately drew her eye was the floating orb in the center. It was dark, with bright, alien designs etched on its surface, suggesting it was lit from within with blue light. It hovered above a glowing turquoise dias, bobbing gently and spinning in place.
The sight sent chills down her back.
"What the…" Tolfdir said, trailing off.
A coffin burst open. Rohah only just realized it had been lying close to the orb. She half expected a Dragon Priest to rise out, but it was a regular draugr. It snarled at them and rushed forward.
A multitude of spells from the students pummeled the draugr. It stumbled backward, but did not fall. Even more aggravated this time, it recovered and leapt for them. Students gasped - shouldn't the draugr have been dead by now?
Tolfdir shot a glob of ice at it, which struck the draugr on the chest and stuck there, expanding until it covered its arms and threatened to tip the undead over. It stood there in silent fury. Cracks began to appear in the ice.
"It's protected by the orb," Tolfdir said, voice calm. "If you focus, you can sense the connection between the two. Those of you skilled in Destruction, please throw everything you've got at the orb. I'll take care of the draugr." He lobbed another ice spell at the draugr, who had nearly broken free of the first one.
"Um - what should I do, sir?" Rohah asked him while her friends and several other students hit the orb with all they had. The other side of the room had become a multicolored light show.
"Help me contain the draugr."
She nodded and used a turn undead spell on the growling draugr. It took only one step backward - a difficult task when half your body was encased in ice. Her spells were weak, but she hoped they were helping Tolfdir keep the draugr at bay.
The draugr groaned, and though Rohah could not see a physical change, she sensed something had broken. Its protection was gone. Tolfdir, not missing a beat, hurled a firebolt and killed the draugr for good. He stopped the students from attacking the orb.
"Well, wasn't that exciting?" he said, unruffled, as though they had not just done battle with an invincible undead. Tolfdir walked around the dias, examining the strange object.
"What is it?" Gormir asked, hushed. "It feels like it's… I dunno… radiating magicka."
"You're absolutely right," Tolfdir said pensively. Rohah could feel it too. The artifact had a strange aura about it that made her feel shaky. It was emitting a faint sort of hum that she could hear with both her ears and her mind. "This is utterly unique. We must bring it back to the College. Are any of you at all capable of Alteration? Raise your hands."
Everyone's hands but Rohah's went up. She turned pink. It wasn't her fault she'd never learned it! Her parents had just been a little overprotective.
"Good. Help me levitate the orb. Unless I am mistaken, we will have no trouble removing it from its platform. Rohah… why don't you return to the College? We're nearly wrapping up anyway, and the Arch-Mage will want to be informed of this."
Rohah bit the inside of her cheek. He was only asking her to carry the message because she was the most useless apprentice. His voice was kind as he said it, but that almost made it worse.
"Yes, sir," she said, trying not to let her embarrassment show.
"Thank you. Please be quick, and tell Savos everything that happened. And don't let news of this reach anyone else, not even Mirabelle. Only the Arch-Mage should know for now."
Avoiding eye contact with her friends, Rohah trotted out of the room and retraced their path to the surface.
Rohah had hurried all the way back. Thankfully, the trip was short and uneventful. She pushed her way into the College, happy beyond belief to be back in the warmth of the building. Without the students to fill the halls, the place was eerily quiet.
She recalled how to find the Arch-Mage, taking the same path as last time. She met no other people along the way. Rohah knocked on the oversized doors and was granted entry. She beheld the beautiful garden again.
The Arch-Mage was sitting and talking with the Thalmor advisor, Ancano. After a brief sense of deja vu, Rohah found her voice. "Sir, we, um…" she trailed off, glancing at Ancano. Tolfdir had warned her that this information was for Savos' ears alone.
"Yes?" Savos said, prodding her.
"We found something in Saarthal," she said, deciding to be honest. "Tolfdir said only you should know about it. We should talk alone."
Savos frowned and leaned forward. "Very well. Ancano, you're dismissed."
"What?" the Thalmor said sharply. "I am your advisor. This sounds like a matter we will be better at resolving together. I see no reason to separate us." He enunciated every word clearly.
"Yes, you are my advisor," Savos said wearily, "and I value your opinion. But I am still the Arch-Mage, and I only hear your opinion at my discretion. Rest assured if I need to be advised on this issue, I will come to you."
"I insist on remaining here. If nothing else, the Thalmor should be aware of whatever this young woman has to tell us."
"It's not that big a deal - just go," Rohah said, frowning. Savos gave her a warning look.
"You're dismissed, Ancano," Savos said, a little more firmly this time.
The Altmer gave Savos a searching look, which the Arch-Mage returned with a stony expression of his own. After a pregnant pause, he stood and swept out of the room without further argument. He sneered at Rohah as he passed.
Once Ancano was gone, Savos sagged in his chair, apparently releasing a tension. "Sorry about that. I hope Tolfdir has good news?"
"Of a sort. I was sent to deliver the message. We found some kind of floating orb in Saarthal." Rohah recounted everything that happened from when they entered the orb-room, and ended with how Tolfdir and his students should be on their way with the object in tow.
"Strange tidings," Savos murmured, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache coming on. "Thank you for telling me. You may go."
She was at the door when Savos called after her. "Rohah, was it?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful around Ancano. You know he reports to the Thalmor. He could make life unpleasant for us. Watch what you say around him."
"I'll remember that, sir."
Rohah descended the steps back into the Hall of the Elements. She jumped and let out an involuntary yelp when Ancano seemed to materialize out of thin air, scaring the living daylights out of her.
"You there," he said, taking advantage of her surprise. "What exactly did your group find at Saarthal?" He was over a foot taller than Rohah, making the question more of a threat than perhaps it really was. His black, ornate Thalmor uniform lent him an authoritative air.
She swallowed. "Like I said, I can't really… you know…"
"The Thalmor are very interested in what goes on in this College. We will be most displeased if we are left uninformed."
This Altmer didn't miss a trick. It was a casual statement, but the way he said it sounded like a threat. Rohah wavered for a moment, then said, "Look, I honestly can't tell you - it's just not my place. I'm only doing what Tolfdir told me to. I suggest you ask him."
"Oh I shall," Ancano said softly, turning and leaving the hall. She watched him go. He didn't look back once.
Rohah felt weak, as though she'd run all the way to Saarthal and back. She felt a rush of sympathy for Savos. Now she knew firsthand what he had to deal with. How did he manage it?
She bought some mead from the local inn to take the edge off and returned to the College grounds to wait. If only she could have stayed with the rest of her group. What might she be doing now if she had? Offering moral support while her classmates struggled to levitate a giant orb?
Her wait was punctuated with memories of the embarrassments of the day. First she'd failed to give Norvosh a proper goodbye. She hadn't even casted a single Destruction spell. She was sent back alone to the College because she was the only one in the class who didn't know how to work with Alteration magic. Then of course she had to have been accosted by that stupid Thalmor, who terrified her.
And the day wasn't even over yet. She vaguely recalled two other classes on her schedule - Destruction and Enchanting. How was she meant to do well in those classes? Rohah couldn't wait to go to bed and start over tomorrow.
At least stewing in her own pessimistic thoughts helped pass the time. Before she knew it, she saw a large, floating orb in the distance, the students circled around it like wolves around prey. Tolfdir led them. They passed through the town, inviting exclamations and stares from the residents of Winterhold. The group marched up along the bridge, and once they got close, Rohah could see strain showing on their faces. They must have only gotten this far because there were so many of them supporting the object.
Rohah did not try to engage them in conversation, but trailed after them as they entered the Hall of the Elements. Tolfdir directed the orb onto the center focal point of the College, the same kind of blue beacon that lit Rohah's quarters.
The focal point accepted the orb as if it had been waiting for it. Tolfdir and his students immediately staggered. The trip had taken a major toll on them.
"Thank you for helping me," Tolfdir told them, recovering first. "I'm unsure if I could have moved that on my own. It was a group effort, and you all contributed. I can't say how proud I am. Please get some rest before your next classes. I'll inform your teachers of how well you did." The group scattered, looking tired but happy.
Rohah noticed how she hadn't been included in his praise.
The door from outside opened, and Rohah swiveled to see Ancano enter. He surveyed the orb, a hard expression on his face. She took the cue to leave, unwilling to be near an irritated Thalmor.
She opened the door.
"I assume this is the discovery in Saarthal your apprentice was unable to tell me about," Ancano said coldly.
Rohah paused. She was hidden by a stretch of wall next to the door. If they were talking about her, she may as well eavesdrop.
"My instructions, Ancano," Tolfdir said. "I'm sorry if it offended you in any way. This orb is a magnificent discovery, and I couldn't risk anyone's ears but Savos' catching wind of it before it got here."
"Be as that may, the need for discretion ends when I am involved. I am both advisor and - "
"You're with the Thalmor, I know," Tolfdir said, cutting him off with an edge to his voice. "You don't need to pull rank on me. I know of your position. You'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit apprehensive of working with you."
It was silent for a moment, save the hum of the orb. Rohah could almost imagine a staredown. Then Ancano said delicately, "We are working to observe and improve this College where we can. I cannot do my part unless you acquiesce to keep me informed. I have this institution's best interests at heart."
"You know full well I don't believe that."
"Then you are sadly misinformed."
Rohah heard footsteps. She exited quickly before either of them could see her, shutting the door quietly to disguise her presence.
Her next two classes were terrible, as expected. During Destruction, Faralda had them practice their aim with fire magic against far-away targets. Everyone's firebolts were going awry and dissipating in the distance - except for Rohah's, but this was only because they were nonexistent. Just as in Saarthal, she was unable to produce anything, not even smoke.
Feather and Odaryn were lobbing bolt after bolt at their targets, hitting them occasionally only through their sheer quantity of projectiles. Stilde grew frustrated when her fire did a kind of wiggle in midair and zoomed off into the sky. Gormir was desperately stamping out a fire by his foot. Cinnari had spent a long time squinting at the target and making strange hand gestures, but when he finally sent out a bolt, it struck the target square in the center.
"Now that's how it's done!" Faralda crowed.
And of course, Rohah could not even attempt to hit the target.
"I just can't do it," Rohah told her helplessly when Faralda passed by. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Why can't I even make a little bit of fire?"
"Keep trying, and it'll click eventually," Faralda said. "Don't obsess over it. It'll happen when it's ready."
But Rohah doubted her.
At the end of class, they were given an assignment pertaining to the classwork; a short answer on what factors contributed to keeping a magical projectile on its flight path, due next class. Rohah wrote it down in her notebook glumly, figuring she could maybe ask Cinnari for help later. He was pretty approachable.
Contrary to Destruction, Enchanting was almost entirely theory-based. It was a welcome reprieve, despite the boredom that long lecturing commonly entailed. Sergius had a fairly interesting lesson concerning the actual makeup of a soul gem, and why exactly that material was capable of holding a soul. Gormir seemed unusually bright-eyed, asking plenty of questions, which without fail resulted in wandering digressions from Sergius. It was a note-heavy class, so she tried to keep her writing organized while their teacher spoke. Mercifully, he did not assign them work.
Rohah ate dinner at the College. She was relieved she could finally sleep and get this day over with. Tomorrow she'd have Restoration and Illusion, her best subjects. Rohah didn't join the rest of the students in examining the orb from Saarthal, instead electing to return to her bed for an early sleep. Stilde was of a similar mind.
"I got enough of the Eye while we were carting it here," Stilde said grumpily as they ascended the steps to their quarters. It turned out Rohah and Stilde's rooms were both on the fourth floor.
"The Eye?"
"Yeah, the Eye of Magnus. Like the god of magic. That's what Mirabelle called the orb. Well, good night."
"'Night."
