CHAPTER 1:
Disappointment and Great Regret

55 years earlier - Morndas, 2nd day of Sun's Dusk, 4E 260

If the infamous Winterhold weather was bad enough throughout the rest of year, wintertime was simply unbearable. The roaring, biting winds and the constant snowfall transformed the vaulted rooms of the College into a place that was more suitable for preserving fresh meat. And, of course, did nothing to improve the spirits of the inhabitants within.
In the Hall of Elements, a group of young mage students huddled together for warmth and unfortunately, to also form some kind of invisible barrier against the currently raging temper of Arch-Mage. The Arch-Mage was a tall, thin and imposing Altmer who seemed to wear a permanent scowl on his brow– definitely not one chosen for his patience.

"By the Eight divines! We have spent the whole week trying to master this one firespell, and not even half of you have come close to perfecting it!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is exactly why I never wanted to be Arch-Mage." he whispered quietly to himself, and secretly cursed the Hero of Skyrim for refusing the position and forcing it onto him all those years ago. Then, after taking a deep breath, he looked up and scrutinized the pile students before him. It seemed that too few had even paid any attention to his lessons and even less were taking notes and…By the Eight divines! Had that one just picked his nose?

"Destruction magic," he resumed sternly, pacing along the front of the group, "Is something that must be mastered as soon as possible! Should any of you somehow find yourselves working as professional mages in the future by some sheer miracle, you absolutely cannot rely on the one flame spell. And now, let us start again for the umpteenth time." The Arch-Mage carefully scanned his eyes for a while over the back row of the group. Who on Nirn would think that this lot were Adept mage scholars? At last, he spotted a mop of brown hair bobbing behind the rows of heads. "You there, Louis!" he clapped his hands, "Out front, please. Now, show me the fireball spell again and for goodness sake, make sure it does not singe the sleeves of your robes this time."
All of a sudden, the students turned around to face a pale adolescent Breton who was now sheepishly crouching behind the people in front of him. The boy's brown eyes darted around nervously and he sank back slowly to edge closer to his friend.

"Telindil!" breathed anxiously, trying to catch his friend's attention. Telindil, a golden-skinned, bright-eyed Altmer youth, was rushing to copy down the Arch-Mage's lecture notes. Oh, not this again…
"Telindiiil…"
"Louis, what?" Telindil replied impatiently and moved quickly to brush back his light hair out of his face. "Look, just go up. I'm still trying to finish my notes…" Louis just tugged desperately on Telindil's sleeve. "The Arch-Mage just called me up! What the hell do I do?" he whispered worriedly, "I haven't managed to learn the spell properly yet!" Telindil gave an exasperated sigh and reluctantly tore his eyes away from his notes to face Louis.
"Come on, Louis, it will be fine," Telindil whispered back, trying to give his friend a reassuring smile. "We've read about this spell loads of time together, remember? Don't be nervous." He gave Louis a small nudge towards the front of the group. "Just show the Arch-Mage what you can do. I know he can be a bit tough but– "
"A bit tough?!" Louis moved back behind Telindil. "He made me stay three hours after class for a whole week the last time I messed up a spell! He's not tough, he's– draconian!"
"Gods, Louis! That's the only way you can get better at magic! Just walk up– no-no Louis! Breathe. Calm down. Just– "

"Will you two stop at once!" the Arch-Mage's voice boomed suddenly, making the almost two boys jump in fright. "Telindil! Cease diverting young Master Gabèrne's attention, and Master Gabèrne…" he drew out the syllables of Louis' name with impatience, "Get up here. I will not repeat myself. Do not make me repeat myself." Telindil scowled slightly at Louis, who smiled sheepishly and mouthed back 'sorry'. Then, he turned to the front and trudged slowly towards the Arch-Mage with his head bowed and his mop of brown hair bobbing up and down. Telindil sighed and smiling, he shook his head.

He and Louis were almost polar opposites, both in terms of personality and skill with magic. On one hand, there was Telindil; a hard-working and bright young Altmer, descended from a long line of Summurset mages, who wanted nothing more than to just prove his worth to his superiors. And on the other hand, there was Louis; the easy-going son of two Skyrim-based Breton merchants and, Telindil guessed, was probably only at the College for no other purpose that that he just liked magic. Though the two boys knew were totally different, they soon found that their differences only meant that they balanced each other out and, in the five years they spent together at the College, they managed to develop an inseparable friendship.
Telindil craned his neck to get a view of Louis, who had now managed to make his way to the front and was, no doubt, about to feel the wrath of the Arch-Mage if he messed this up...

"All of you, stand clear!" the Arch-Mage called out and Telindil watched as he shooed away the group with a flourish of his hand. Telindil used the opportunity to ease his way to the front of the group. "While we may be learning the art of destruction magic," the Arch-Mage continued, "It will do no good for the College's reputation among the local Nords for them to see one of our students being hauled off to The Chill for accidentally burning his fellow mages alive." At last, he turned to face Louis and almost immediately, everyone in the room flinched. Telindil watched anxiously. He hoped everything would go well but if this was anything like Louis' last attempt at this spell, he would probably need bit more than new sleeves on his robe.
Louis took a deep breath, lifted his quivering hands in front of him and prepared the spell.

The raging ball of fire that everyone was expecting never came. Instead, just one pitiful fireball streamed from his hands, where it hit the ground a second later with a soft poof! Louis stood still in horror and his eyes suddenly darted upwards from his hands to the Arch-Mage then over to the crowd, where he desperately sought out his friend's reassuring smile, hoping as though it would somehow save him. To Louis' disappointment, he found nothing of the sort. Instead, he only saw Telindil in the front row, casting his eyes dejectedly downwards. All a sudden, a thin hand from the side grabbed Louis' arm forcefully and turned him abruptly to the side, where he found himself standing face to face with the Arch-Mage.

"That was pitiful, boy!" the Arch-Mage breathed menacingly, his piercing grey eyes staring directly into the Breton boy's brown ones. Louis cringed. But before he could even apologize, the Arch-Mage finally loosened his grip. "But I must say this," he spoke, much softer this time, "It was a hell of a lot better than last time." As the Arch-Mage turned to face the rest of the class, Louis finally managed to find Telindil in the crowd. He was smiling at him! And, from behind the Arch-Mage's back, Louis gave his friend a goofy shrug.

"Now listen to me, all of you! Do not think for once that I am actually pleased at any of this." The Arch-Mage resumed his sermon gravely, and the brief moment of lightheartedness suddenly withered away. With cold, stern eyes, he eyed every single one of the fearful students in the room. "I will not tolerate the sloth of the past few weeks any longer and now, all of you will stay here for as long as it takes for you to master this spell– and you will master this!" And with that, the Arch-Mage moved to the back of the room and with arms crossed, he looked intently at the group of shifting students.

"Please, do not disappoint me."

"Thank the gods! That cranky bastard's finally let us out!" Louis breathed exasperatedly as he walked briskly out of the Hall of the Elements. "I was beginning to think that we'd miss dinner!"

"Gee, Louis, don't call him that," Telinidil replied, and walked faster to catch up with his friend. "He just has high standards, that's all. I'm sure he believes that all of us have potential to be great mages on day." Louis stopped and turned to raise an eyebrow at him. Telindil's eyes widened. "Oh what, come on! Don't look like that," he said, trying to keep his friend's hopes up, "You're a Breton! You've got plenty of potential with magic and besides; I've seen you do really well before." He personally didn't dislike the Arch-Mage as Louis did. Sure, the Altmer had quite a high standard but meeting it was something that Telindil felt that he needed to strive for, not just complain about and brush off. In fact, he highly doubted that he would be anywhere as good at magic as he was now if the Arch-Mage hadn't constantly pushed him over the years. "You just need to work a little harder."
"Easy for you to say, Telindil. You're doing fine," Louis replied sadly and cast his eyes down to the floor. "I'm not. Now come on, let's get to dinner quickly before everyone takes all the good food." And with that, he pushed open the large doors to the courtyard. As a strong gust of wind and snow blew into the hall, the two boys pulled their hoods down and began to walk back to their dormitories.

"Wait!" a voice from behind them cried suddenly. Telindil and Louis turned around to see a grandfatherly Nord with rosy cheeks hobbling down the stairs to meet them. "Wait!" the elder cried again, "Young ones… just, close the door…for a second." He then leaned on a nearby wall to catch his breath. Telindil and Louis quickly closed the door, and rushed over to him.

"Master Onmund! Is something the matter, sir?" Telindil asked, and offered out his hand to help the old mage. Master Onmund gave a wrinkly smile to the two boys. "Oh…nothing is the matter, young one. I just wanted to give this back to you." He reached into his robe and pulled out a bundle of fabric fastened with some string then handed it to Telindil. Telindil slowly untied the string to reveal a steel dagger with a slight green glow around the blade. Louis craned his neck to have a peek and then seeing it, his expression turned to one of amazement. "It's the dagger you enchanted during your private lesson with me a few weeks ago and I must say, Telindil, it is certainly a fine piece of enchanting," Master Onmund continued, "In fact, I think you should even show it to the Arch-Mage. I'm sure he'll be very pleased with your work." Telindil looked up bright-eyed at Master Onmund. Master Onmund was always supportive of everyone's work but to say that it was even worth showing the Arch-Mage? Gods!

"Why… why thank you, sir!" Telindil replied quickly, and refolded the fabric over the dagger. "I'll show it to him as soon as I can!" Master Onmund chuckled and then noticing Louis, who was looking at the package with just a hint of jealousy, the old mage suddenly remembered something. "By the way, young ones, I received some letters from a courier earlier this afternoon but I couldn't hand them to you while you were still with the Arch-Mage," he continued. He reached back into his robe, pulled out a short pile of neatly folded letters and handed one to Louis. "Judging from the handwriting and the seal on the envelope, this was sent by your parents from Solitude." Louis quickly opened the letter and read it.
"Thanks sir! Oh, it is from my parents!" he said excitedly after short while, "They're saying they want me back in Solitude for the Yuletide break! Ha! No more cold weather for a while. Oh, I'll miss you though, Telindil." Louis looked up at him with beaming smile but Telindil only managed a small smile back. He sometimes wished that he was back in Alinor with his parents, Thalmor be damned.

"Ah! And this– " Master Onmund piped up again, and Telindil turned to face him as he took out a second letter. Could this be from my parents too? He'd been waiting for a message from them for years now. "This letter… is from Cyrodiil, for the Arch-Mage. I figured if that you were going up to show him your work, you could just hand this in to him. Heh, you're much stronger than an old man like me! I can't climb those stairs as well as I used to..." Telindil stared blankly at Master Onmund then slowly took the letter from his hands. It was a fool's hope anyway, after so many years…
"Well, I'm afraid I've been keeping you two from your dinner for far too long now," Master Onmund said, "I hope you two enjoy the rest of your evening. Goodbye now!" Telindil watched him hobble away.

"Glad that's done," Louis suddenly piped up from behind him, "Well come on, Telindil! We've missed so much of dinner already and I'm starving!" Telindil didn't flinch. "I'll come along later," he said, "I don't feel hungry right now, Louis." He turned around slowly to face his friend, who was staring at him with a look of confusion. "Save me some food, will you?" Louis smirked. "Course. I'll save it in my stomach." He grinned and ran out through the doors of the hall laughing. Telindil felt a gust of cold wind and snow on his face before the doors shut with a thud. Then, slipping the letter into his robes and clutching the bundle close to his chest, he ran up the stairs leading to the Arch-Mage's Quarters.

Telindil eyed the huge copper door to the Arch-Mage's Quarters from top to bottom. It was a beautiful piece of metalwork with elaborate casting, further accentuated by the beautiful shade of teal the copper had turned during the centuries. Telindil breathed out and lifted a tentative hand to knock on the door. He waited. Nothing. He knocked again, this time, louder. Finally, he heard the Arch-Mage's rushed voice:

"Yes-yes please! Just wait just for a moment! Just wait– fine! Enter!"

Telindil walked into the room tentatively. The Arch-Mage's Quarters was brightly lit with candles and a few hovering balls of Magelight. Gods, it's beautiful… Telindil thought and continued to look around the room. In the centre, there was a small private garden where the Arch-Mage grew exotic plants of all difference colours and textures to use in his potions, which lined the shelves almost from floor to ceiling. At last, he spotted the Arch-Mage at the back of the room rushing to carefully place a stack of old parchment back into a small cabinet. Telindil saw him take out a key that hung on a chain around his neck, and quickly lock the drawer.

"Ah sir, is this a bad time to see you?" Telindil asked, looking at the drawer and then back up to the Arch-Mage. He seems to be in a much nicer mood now. However, even the Arch-Mage was relatively even-tempered with who he felt were the few decent and hardworking students at the College. He sighed and walked towards Telindil, shaking his head. "No, no. It is not a bad time but…" he paused, "Why are you not at dinner with the other students, Telindil? Why, what is that bundle you have there?" Telindil gulped and slowly handed the Arch-Mage the bundle. The Arch-Mage took it and eyed it curiously before unwrapping the bundle and revealing the enchanted dagger. This is it, Telindil thought nervously as he watched the Arch-Mage pick the dagger up and slowly examine it. After a while, he turned to Telindil and still holding the dagger, he asked "Yours?"

"Uh well…yes, sir," Telindil stammered out, "I enchanted that a few weeks ago during one of Master Onmund's private lessons. He recommended that I show it to you." The Arch-Mage raised an eyebrow. "Indeed… Sit," he spoke suddenly, gesturing in the direction of two chairs sitting side by side. Telindil was taken completely off guard. Does this mean…? He moved to the chairs and sat down. The Arch-Mage joined him and placed the dagger on a low table to his side.

"It is no doubt a good piece of enchanting, Telindil. Nothing to be ashamed of," he said calmly. Telindil bit his lip to suppress a smile that was forming at the corners of his mouth. By the Gods! He was praising him! The Arch-Mage was praising him! "It was good of you to go to Master Onmund for a private lessons when you found that I was not available," he continued, "You have initiative which, sadly, is very rare to come by nowadays." He Arch-Mage paused. "You have…" Telindil leaned forward, eagerly waiting for what the Arch-Mage would say next.

"Potential. You have a lot of potential. You are a fine student, Telindil. Keep on working and eventually, you may become a great mage." What? Telindil frowned slightly. He had expected something a bit better than that. The Arch-Mage moved his hand over to the enchanted dagger on the side. Well, potential wasn't entirely a bad thing and it left room for improvement…

"Here, I expect you would be wanting this back now so you can head to dinner." The Arch-Mage had re-bundled the dagger and was now handing it back to him. "No please, you can keep it, Arch-Mage," Telindil spoke, "I want you to have something to compare my future work with." The Arch-Mage chuckled and thanked him quietly. "Well, Telindil, I don't want to keep you here any longer unless, of course, there is anything else you would like to show me?" Telindil cocked his head. Oh, right! Telindil reached into his robe and pulled the letter out.

"Master Onmund also told me to bring you this. He says it's from Cyrodiil." All of a sudden, the Arch-Mage's eyes lit up. "Cyrodiil, you say?" he said and got out of his chair quickly, "Please give it here." Telindil handed the letter tentatively to the Arch-Mage, who eagerly snatched it and started to break the wax seal. Telindil just noticed the beginnings of a smile on the Arch-Mage's lips. "Thank you. You may leave for your dinner now." Telindil nodded and left the room quietly, carefully closing the heavy door. Well then… Just as he was about to make his way back down the stairs, he heard a sorrowful cry of from the Arch-Mage's room.

"Oh no… oh please, not this… NO! GODS WHY?!"

When Telindil finally threw open the great wooden doors of the hall and stumbled into the freezing courtyard, he heard no more of the anguished sobs of the Arch-Mage echoing around the hall as they were overcome by the howling winter winds.