A couple of days later, Muzgu and Yanakh returned to Winterhold, accompanied by a newcomer: Dushnamub, who had left the forge at Narzulbur in the capable hands of Ghorza and had come to the new forge he had been promised. While he was scoping out the building, largely built and ready for him, the others took the chance to speak with Vash, huddled out by the new unlit forge, wooden panels protecting them from the wind.

'No trouble getting to Narzulbur?' asked Vash, noticing the concern on their faces.

'No,' said Yanakh.

'That's not the problem,' said Muzgu. 'Borgakh won't stay.'

'She said something?' asked Vash.

'She didn't have to,' said Yanakh.

'I've seen some miserable marriage ceremonies,' said Muzgu, 'but the look on her face was right up there with the best. Mauhulakh was grinning from ear to ear, though.'

'She'll just have to adjust,' said Vash, waving it away with a gesture. 'I remember arriving here for the first time.' Years ago now, those early days in Winterhold came into his mind. But in truth, although he'd been uncertain about being surrounded by so many Nords, he had never had any doubts about the College itself being the place for him. He cast around for a different and more appropriate example and came up short.

Yanakh and Muzgu were silent, but he could tell they disapproved. He folded his arms and felt as if they were drawing away from him.

'What should we do while you're here?' asked Yanakh.

'Doing your wizardly things,' added Muzgu.

'I don't know,' said Vash. 'You're welcome in Winterhold, of course—'

'Balls to that,' said Muzgu. 'No offence.'

'I'd rather be doing something,' said Yanakh. She looked away. 'It bothers me that the strongholds here are all made of wood. One fire out of control and the whole place would be destroyed.'

'What, you want to use stone?' asked Muzgu. 'That'd be a huge pain in the arse.'

'Worthwhile, though,' said Vash. He pointed towards The Frozen Hearth, Winterhold's inn. 'You could talk to Astene. She took over the mine outside of town. She might be able to help.'

'For a price,' said Muzgu.

'I suspected as much,' said Yanakh. 'I only have a small amount of gold.'

'Fortunately, I'm here,' said Muzgu.

'What do you mean?' asked Vash.

'We need gold. I'm guessing you won't be on board with embezzling College funds, so I've got an alternative.' Muzgu sighed. 'I hate this sentence, but I'm going to need you to write me a letter of introduction. You said you've got friends in the Guild.'

'And you've got the talents to make gold for them,' said Vash.

'See, you're not totally dense.' She looked at Yanakh. 'I told you he wasn't totally dense.'

'I have my moments,' said Vash. He didn't think there would be any problem with the Thieves Guild taking on Muzgu, though he was well aware at this point that it was him that owed Dar'epha several favours, rather than the other way around.

And so the arrangements were made. Vash introduced Yanakh to Astene, and wrote a short letter for Muzgu. Before the following day was over, both of them had gone from Winterhold. Vash lingered by the new forge, busying himself with the numerous smaller tasks surrounding the setup that never seemed to end. After a couple of days of this, however, Dushnamub wondered aloud whether there was any pressing College business for the Archmage to attend to. Vash took the hint, and returned across the bridge to the towers he called home.

The days turned into weeks. Vash helped with the training of his students and the projects of his fellow mages. He was particularly impressed with the progress of his newest student, Emelia, who he became convinced was holding some knowledge or experience back during their lessons. There was no way to bring this up, however, as any attempt at a personal question caused her face to go blank and her tone to go cold in a way that made his heart kick with a brief burst of fear. But she gave him no real cause for alarm, and indeed the other mages seemed to welcome her presence.

Sometimes Yanakh would come by and update him on her progress securing supplies of stone for the strongholds. Proceedings were underway at Narzulbur to haul the stone up to the stronghold, and she was in negotiations for similar work for Mor Khazgur, though the remote locations of all the strongholds was driving the prices higher. Muzgu, though, did not come by. Yanakh brought word that she had been accepted into the Guild and was running jobs for them, but beyond that, there was no news of her.

Late one evening, however, Vash received two unexpected visitors. It was Emelia who came up to the Arcanaeum to bring him the announcement of the arrival, as she often kept more nocturnal hours.

'The Dawnguard, they called themselves,' she said. 'Two of them. Those vampire hunters we keep hearing about.'

'I don't know what they could want here,' said Vash. 'Thank you, I'll meet them downstairs.'

When Vash reached the Hall of the Elements, the two visitors were in the cavernous space usually reserving for lessons and practice. One was tall, dressed in the heavy grey armour of the Dawnguard, with a helmet that fully covered her face. The hilt of a large ebony greatsword poked above her shoulder, and the sight of it nudged something in Vash's memory. The other visitor was a woman with dark hair and piercing yellow eyes, wearing red and black armour with a cloak, all of a design that Vash had never seen before. It looked ancient, but in good condition.

The taller figure was standing very still, their arms folded, while the shorter woman was drifting about the room, looking up at the great ceiling high above them.

'Sorry about that,' said Vash, as he approached them. 'We're not used to visitors at such an hour. I'm the Archmage.'

'An orc,' said the woman. 'Times are changing.'

'So they keep telling me,' said Vash. 'What can I do for you?'

'Oh, we need to borrow your elder scroll.'

Vash thought it was to his credit that he kept his face very still. Not even his eyebrows went up. 'And what makes you believe we even have such a thing?' he asked, his voice even. He was the Archmage, he told himself. This kind of thing was part of his duty.

'Vash,' said the taller figure, in a voice he recognised. She took off her helmet to reveal herself as Kara, who had journeyed with him, and the Dragonborn, and others, as they had sought to discover the Thalmor's sinister plot. Then they had fought alongside each other as the Thalmor opened an Oblivion gate in the ruins of Helgen. Kara had gone through the gate and returned, but not spoken of where she had been. Nobody had seen her since.

But she was not quite the same Kara he had once known. Her pale blonde hair was cut very short, and a great burn marked the left side of her scalp, splattering down that same side of her face. Her left ear was almost gone entirely. But the worst was the look in her eyes. Sunk deep with tiredness, and hard, whatever life that had been there before now turned to stone.

'Kara, gods, what happened to you?' managed Vash.

Kara ran her gauntleted hand lightly over her burn marks. 'Dragon,' she said. 'And other things. It's a long story. I joined the Dawnguard.' She frowned. 'Obviously.'

'I'm Serana, by the way,' said the other woman. 'Do you really use all this space? I mean, vertically?'

'We stopped teaching levitation before my time here,' said Vash. 'Apparently there were some accidents. But one of my colleagues is fond of hurling fireballs as high as he can.'

'Scares the locals if he does it outside, huh?' said Serana.

'I'm sorry,' said Vash, 'you said you wanted to borrow the elder scroll?'

'So you do have one,' said Serana.

'I thought you would,' said Kara. 'Gylhain said she found one. I don't know where else she would have brought it, when she was done with it.'

Vash was silent. Before Kara had taken off her helmet, he had been preparing to show them the door. Politely, but firmly. Now he wasn't sure what to do. Either way, the secret was out.

'I was just a student,' he said. 'I didn't even know she'd brought it here until I became Archmage.'

'We need it to save the world,' said Serana.

'The world would carry on if we failed,' said Kara, looking at the floor.

'It would be truly awful, though.' Serana looked at Vash. 'Also, we'll bring it back with two more.'

This time Vash could not keep the surprise off his face. 'You have two more elder scrolls?'

'Well, we have one,' said Serana. 'And we think we know where another one is.'

It was a shame it was best for the location of the scrolls to be kept secret, thought Vash; having three would be a great boon to the College's reputation. It was possible so many hadn't been in the same place for decades.

'Saving the world, you said.'

'Again,' said Kara, almost smiling.

'When you're done,' said Vash, 'I'd like to hear the tale. You're always welcome here.'

Kara wouldn't meet his eyes after that. Vash thought about how steadfastly Urag, the previous librarian, would have objected to what he was about to do. But the current librarian, Onmund, would be asleep at this hour, over in the Hall of Countenance. So there was nobody to stop Vash treading upstairs, opening the secret compartment that contained the scroll, and bringing it down. He handed it over and it was Serana who took it, like she knew how heavy it would be.

After Kara and Serana had gone, Vash heard a shuffling from behind one of the columns in the hall.

'If you combine your invisibility with a good muffle spell,' he said, 'I won't be able to hear you, either.'

There was the swish of a spell being dismissed, and Emelia stepped out from behind a column. She frowned at him. 'You're not angry with me,' she observed.

Vash shrugged. 'It wasn't a secret conference,' he said. 'And I'm fairly sure by now that you're not a Thalmor spy.'

'Thanks,' said Emelia. She pointed after the departing Dawnguard. 'Did you happen to notice that pretty little thing is a vampire?'

'I did.'

'And? You let them run out of here with one of the most valuable things in Mundus!'

'I trust Kara,' said Vash.

'There's something wrong with her too,' said Emelia. 'I can't tell what. But I hope you're right, for all our sakes.'

'The College lasted a long time without any elder scrolls, I'm sure we could do so again.' Still, Vash found himself sighing. 'But so do I.'

Only time would tell, he knew. He had thought there would be more of it, somehow, before his responsibilities as agent of Malacath rose in front of him again. He had hoped, very quietly, that since he'd done the initial work, the rest would more or less take care of itself. In his defence, months had slid past with no great upheavals or disasters. The year of 4E 209 was drawing towards its end. But Malacath, it seemed, didn't want him to end the year quietly.

The first sign was Dar'epha storming into Winterhold, right into Vash's quarters. He didn't bother asking how she'd gotten past the outer gate. She strode into the middle of his room and shook the snow from her fur all over his floor. He was still frowning in surprise at her sudden appearance when she started talking.

'Fucking Muzgu,' she said. 'Gods, Vash, you owe me big-time for this one.'

'Ah,' said Vash. 'She said she had prior experience.'

'Oh she's a real natural, no doubt about that,' said Dar'epha. 'She can make a lot of us professional-type thieves sit up straight. But what she can't seem to get into her head is rule number fucking one.'

Vash frowned again, trying to remember how the Guild governed itself.

'Is that the one about not—'

'About not killing people on jobs, yeah.' Dar'epha sighed and sat down, turning the chair around to sit in it with her legs astride, her arms leaning on the back. 'The running around I've had to do. Murders are so messy. The bribes, Vash, you wouldn't believe the bribes I've had to pay.'

'I haven't seen her in a while,' said Vash.

'Thought that might be the case. If you see her, tell her we need to have some words, preferably accompanied by handing over large amounts of gold.'

'I'll tell her. And I'm sorry.'

Dar'epha shrugged. 'S'not your fault,' she said. She seemed more tired than Vash had ever seen her. She heaved herself upright. 'Course, I am keepin track of just how many favours you owe me.'

'I suspected as much,' said Vash.

It was then that Yanakh charged into the room, almost bowling over Dar'epha, who was on her way out. Seeing the clear urgency in Yanakh's arrival, Dar'epha gave a quick wave and was gone. Yanakh was bent double, breathing heavily.

'What's going on?' asked Vash. 'Are you okay?'

'Bandits,' said Yanakh. 'Bandits laying siege to Dushnikh Yal.'

'What?' said Vash. 'How?'

'Shel. She tried to come back, repentant. Chief Burguk refused. So she went to her bandit boyfriend and told him all the weak spots. Now the orcs are pinned down in the longhouse.'

Vash thought for a moment, pushing past the initial shame that came into his cheeks.

'Was the carriage here when you came up?' he asked. Yanakh nodded. 'Let's go then.'

Together they took the stairs down two at a time, racing out to meet Markus, who ran the carriage for Winterhold. More and more questions filled Vash's head as they went, mostly about his own decisions, whether there was something else he could have done, if there was a way this all could have been avoided. When they were in the back of the carriage, heading south, he asked something more practical.

'Why haven't they burned the orcs out?'

'The bandit chief wants the place for himself. I got close enough to eavesdrop, but there were too many for me to handle on my own.'

'You did the right thing,' said Vash. 'Do you know where Muzgu is?'

'No,' said Yanakh. 'What are we going to do?'

Vash looked at her with surprise. 'You haven't seen me fight,' he realised. 'How many bandits are there?'

'A dozen, maybe more. Those aren't good odds, even for a mage.'

'Fortunately,' said Vash, 'I'm not just any old mage.'