Pidge

Pidge yawned and stretched; she hadn't slept that well in a long time. She reached instinctively for her glasses, but her hand met something solid and... Leathery?

"Good morning to you too," Ailith greeted dryly, Pidge yelped and almost banged her head on the wall as she struggled to sit up.

"Where are my glasses?" Ailith produced the spectacles promptly, watched Pidge snatch them and put them on., "...So it wasn't all a really weirdly detailed nightmare…." she muttered to herself.

"A travesty, really," Pidge groaned at Ailith's sarcasm and flopped back on the bed miserably.

"So what now?" she grumbled, glancing up at the vampire. Ailith didn't seem bothered by her moodiness, if she didn't know better, she'd think the assassin thought it was funny.

"I've business in the College of Winterhold, we'll leave for Windhelm shortly after," Ailith replied coolly, sheathing her golden sword and shaking her hair back. It caught the light like a sheet of white gold.

"There's a College in this dump?" Pidge blurted out incredulously, this rundown town didn't look like it had anything to offer, much less a College.

"A school of magic," Ailith corrected as they head for the door, "similar to the Mages Guild."

"What's the Mages Guild?" Pidge asked eagerly, Ailith sighed heavily.

"Sithis grant me patience...We'll visit the Arcaneum," she muttered, Ailith provided a quick breakfast before they walked outside and were greeted by a massive black horse with burning red eyes.

"Shadowmere," Ailith breathed, resting her head against his. He made that little growl horses make and Ailith scratched his skin. Pidge blinked a few times, she had to crane her neck to look up at his head. He was by far, the most unnaturally large horse she'd ever seen.

"Are... all horses this big here?" she asked timidly, Ailith laughed.

"Shadowmere is... unique" the stallion head-butted her as she stroked his mane and Ailith couldn't have looked happier. Pidge eagerly, but cautiously, tiptoed and strained to reach his mane, running her fingers through his hair. She thought it would be coarse, but it was soft.

"Wait, don't vampires have, like, superspeed?" Pidge asked, suddenly wondering why a horse was even necessary.

"I have no idea what that means," Ailith replied simply, arching an eyebrow at Shadowmere as if to say 'She's been asking me this kinda crap for almost two days now, mate.'

Ailith led Pidge towards the eastern side of the small town, as they rounded the bend near the only general goods store, she gasped. There was a massive arch over a crumbling bridge that lead out across what was easily a several-hundred-foot drop to a large castle-like structure. There were no protective sidings or rails on the stone bridge, logically it shouldn't have even been standing still, Pidge looked down and hastily grabbed Ailith's hand. The stones were slick with ice, but the vampire was treading over it easily while Pidge felt as if her feet were going to shoot out from under her any second.

"Don't slip. It's a long way down," Ailith commented as she returned Pidge's grip and held her close. They reached a massive iron gate that swung open as they approached. Ailith pulled her along across the courtyard and inside. She wasn't even given much time to admire the structure as she was pulled down a spiral staircase and through a set of doors.

"Holy quiznack," Pidge breathed in awe, shelves filled with tomes reached for miles upward. Some of the books were casually floating around or rearranging themselves, shuffling and whispering parchment were the only sounds.

"Urag!" Ailith called as she crossed the chamber, Pidge scrambled after her, still gapping at the sheer size of the library. Behind a desk was a grumpy looking man dull green skin, hair shaved except for a ponytail sprouting white hair, tusks, and adorned in gold robes. His scowl seemed to be permanently etched into his stony face.

"You again," his voice was rough and deep, "What do you want?" Pidge was surprised to see how unfazed Ailith was, she actually smiled a little at his gruffness.

"I need the best tome you have on the Oblivion Crisis. And if you have it, one on Tamriel's basic history," she replied, already pulling out a large coin purse. Urag grumbled and glared at Pidge accusingly before he vanished behind a pillar.

"What? No! You're supposed to be in alphabetical order!... I don't CARE who you like being by better!" followed by the sounds of Urag wrestling several books back into their proper place "This is MY arcaneum, and YOU don't get to rearrange yourselves just because you want to!" Ailith was snickering as the old orc continued arguing with his books, a few of which followed him back to the counter rustling their pages angrily at him while he snapped back at them. He barely noticed Ailith drop the gold on the table before handing Pidge two massive tomes, they felt like they were at least 8 pounds each. Ailith hurriedly shooed her forward, and they left the library while Urag scolded his books for their choice in argumentative language.

'I'm gonna need a backpack…' Pidge thought as she struggled not to drop the massive tomes. She spotted a concise human (Human!) woman talking to two very tall golden elves. They wore black robes with golden designs. One male, the other female.

"Woah... they're tall," she commented offhandedly. Ailith must have heard her over the wind because her grip on Pidge's shoulder was getting painfully tight.

"Keep walking. Don't make eye contact," she hissed urgently, although she could have sworn she saw Ailith's scarlet eyes linger on the female elf who returned the gaze a bit longer than necessary. Pidge kept her head down and focused on not slipping, snowflakes falling and kissing the stones.

Another set of heavy doors brought them into a circular room with many decorative arches leading to smalling rooms each adorned with a bed, desks, and wardrobes. Several people of various forms, one was a cat, one had blue skin... All gave a combination of curious and frightened looks.

'Maybe this is the dormitories…' Pidge thought, averting her eyes. It was hard not to look at the interesting people, but harder not to look at the pretty crystals glittering on almost every surface. Ailith lead her to the only room with any sort of door, a thick tapestry was hanging over the entrance with runes glowing softly on it. Ailith pushed it aside and ushered her in.

This room had the most crystals by far, and sitting at the desk was an elf with dark blue skin. Her red hair was in a cute pixie cut, and her large eyes were a beautiful mix of pink and red. The woman was wearing silver and blue robes and momentarily seemed to panic, quill hovering over a tome more massive than any of Pidge's until her eyes settled on Ailith.

"Barenziah, what do you have for me?" Ailith asked warmly, smiling at the elven lady. Barenziah smiled back but glanced at Pidge questioningly. "This is my current charge, nothing to worry about, I swear"

"I'll be occupied" Pidge added hastily, plopping down in an extra chair with her books, setting one down and opening the one about the Oblivion Crisis. She figured Barenziah would be more comfortable if Pidge didn't pay attention to whatever they needed to discuss. She needn't have worried, they spoke a language she couldn't understand anyway. She flipped it open and stared in horror at the pages. She couldn't read whatever these symbols were.

"Ailith...?" Pidge cringed and gave the two an apologetic look and felt like an idiot for not even thinking about this. Allura and Coran always translated Altean literature if she couldn't, but she hadn't even thought about it. "I... can't... read any of this,"

Ailith blinked before slowly burying her face in her hand and sighing heavily.

"I can fix that," Barenziah giggled, giving Ailith an amused look before almost skipping over to her and booping her forehead. Pidge felt a warmth spread from Barenziah's finger that slowly enveloped her head, the most heat was around her eyes. Barenziah returned to her seat, and Pidge looked down, gaping as she could read the pages now.

"Thanks!" Pidge breathed excitedly, she wasn't entirely sure what Barenziah did, but it seemed the better option because Ailith just looked like she wanted to throw her out the window. She began eagerly reading about the Staff of Chaos. She was only able to pay half attention to what she was reading as her gaze kept drifting to the crystals.

"Hey... Sorry for interrupting again but... What are these?" Pidge asked, pointing to the crystals.

"Those are soul gems," Ailith replied bluntly, but she didn't seem bothered by the interruption.

"Are they decoration or…"

"No, they hold souls," Barenziah answered, "the energy can be used for enchantments, spells, and a few other... less legal... experiments I may or may not be working on."

"Would it be too far off to call the 'souls' quintessence?" PIdge asked curiously, carefully picking one up.

"I supposed you'd be on the right track with that term," Ailith responded carefully, glancing at Barenziah.

"Oh, cool, so they're like Balmeran crystals. Interesting," PIdge hummed, she placed the gem down and noticed Barenziah scowl at Ailith.

"What in Oblivion do you know about souls, madame undead? No. When we say souls, we mean the soul literally was torn out of a host and forced into the gem. The action is irreversible and VERY illegal if done on man or mer," she said point blank. Pidge's eyes widened, and she hastily went back to reading, feeling sickened.

Not to much time passed before Ailith tapped her shoulder to signal it was time to leave. Pidge gathered up her books, but before she could take a step, Barenziah yanked a long blue robe over her head that hid her armor and winked. Pidge grinned and followed Ailith.

When they reached the bottom of the bridge, Shadowmere was waiting. Pidge was surprised at how intelligent this horse was but delighted to see him all the same. Ailith took her books and packed them in the saddle bag before swinging Pidge up into Shadowmere's saddle and taking her place behind Pidge.

"Ever ridden a horse?" Ailith asked her with a mischievous giggle.

"Um... No, I-" Pidge shrieked and whooped as Shadowmere took off like a bullet at the barest shift of Ailith's hand. His hooves pounded on the cobblestones and Pidge couldn't help but laugh madly with glee as they tore through Winterhold like madmen.

AN: A double update! WHAT? So this chapter was a little bit longer, so hope that satisfies everyone. The next chapter should be up by the end of the week too.

Hope you enjoyed. R&R!