The next few days saw Avsuo wandering around the College quite a bit. She tried to tell herself she wasn't avoiding Deorne, but at some point, she had to admit she was.
It wasn't doing her any favors, as the pain she couldn't quite get used to was slowly returning. It irked her that she had to rely on Deorne so much, and that became part of why she was avoiding him while she tried to organize her thoughts.
She knew she'd still travel with him. She'd taken the time she was wandering to ask the instructors if there was anything to be done about her changes, but the answer seemed a solid "no." Some of the instructors theorized and speculated, but there wasn't anything even close to concrete.
So, Avsuo was once again forced to confront the fact that this was going to be her life now. Relying on Deorne, and stuck with this body.
Part of her had an adverse reaction to this realization.
She didn't want to have to rely on Deorne to continue having a life. She also found herself conflicted about traveling with Deorne, given the recent revelations.
She had talked to Njadsel about their argument, and Njadsel was surprisingly optimistic about his behavior moving forward. Avsuo supposed her outlook matched what Tolfdir had said about his actions, but it still felt strange to consider Deorne stepping up at this point.
Ultimately, she had to reconcile with her thoughts, and Deorne.
For her thoughts, she decided she'd still try and keep an open mind. Despite her displeasure of relying on Deorne, it wasn't as though he was unpleasant to be around. He had saved her, after all. He had tended to her, shown himself to be willing to go to shocking extents to help her, and had begun to teach her how to fight.
These facts should outweigh his shown cowardice, but Avsuo still found herself hesitant.
Sighing, she had to get over her hesitation some time.
The pain in her body did make the decision easier, and she made for the Archmage's Quarter
Deorne was again making potions when Avsuo walked in. She idly wondered how many he had on him at a time, and how long it took to even brew a potion.
Questions for another time.
"You've been avoiding me," Deorne stated.
"That's a good way to start a conversation," Avsuo replied drily.
"It's true, isn't it?"
Avsuo sighed. "I tried to convince myself otherwise, but yes. After our argument, I needed some space."
Deorne paused, looking up to stare at the wall. After a moment, he sighed. "I should apologize."
"It might be warranted," Avsuo replied, sliding into the seat next to the table. This time, she didn't pay attention to the potion making. "Then again," she continued, "I can imagine it's tough to suddenly be confronted by everything you've been running from."
"I've been running since I was old enough to be given any real responsibility," Deorne said. "I never cared about the big picture. I was happy to help people, sometimes only because I'd be in their good graces. Then, that damned dragon showed up as I was passing near Helgen. What was I supposed to do, not let people know a dragon was alive? I was naive in thinking I could just let people know about it and be done. I was sent from Riverwood to Whiterun, where I was granted an audience with the Jarl. I knew I was already in over my head, but I didn't have a way to leave. I explained what happened, was roped into looking around for the dragon, found a different dragon, killed it, then discovered I was dragonborn." Deorne paused for a moment. "Ever since then, I've felt… things creeping up on me. No matter how far I ran, nor how busy I made myself, they kept getting closer." He paused again, sighing. "I knew 'destiny,' or whatever you want to call it, would find me eventually. I guess finding you was just a ruder awakening than I thought it'd be."
Avsuo could understand. As they passionately discussed last time, neither of them wanted this. "Then, how are you going to proceed?"
"As I was meant to, I suppose. I guess the Greybeards didn't need me urgently, as it's been months since they called, but we'll head there once your armor is done. I doubt they'll be able to help you with your body, but maybe they'll have something else to help you."
"And how are we going to proceed?"
Deorne turned to look at her. "As we did before. I need you to know how to fend for yourself, so I'll keep training you, and we might even be able to teach you some magic. I'll help you learn how to fly, and maybe give some ideas for how you can use your body." Deorne shrugged. "Why do we need to ask how we proceed? We proceed as two adventurers with much to learn."
Avsuo was glad to hear it. She had been worried it'd take a bit more than that to smooth things over after their argument, but it seemed Tolfdir had been right. Deorne had already been prepared, he just wasn't ready to say it.
Fortunately, as Avsuo's armor was the only thing holding them back, they didn't have to wait long.
A week had passed since they had arrived at the College when Njadsel barged into the Archmage's Quarters, lugging a large crate. Tolfir followed behind her.
Avsuo and Deorne looked up from their separate tasks, Avsuo reading and Deorne sharpening his weapons.
"Good news?" Deorne guessed.
Njadsel responded by setting the crate down with a loud bang. "I'd hope so," she added.
Deorne turned to Tolfdir. "Was something needed?"
Toldfir shook his head, sporting a wry smile. "No. Njadsel was merely blind when she entered the college, so no one could wring an answer out of her concerning her business here. As no one is dumb enough to try and stop her, I figured I'd tag along just to make sure she didn't hurt anyone."
At that, Njadsel meekly glanced back at him. "Sorry about that. I got caught up in my excitement."
Tolfdir chuckled in response. "As you meant no harm, no apology necessary. Far be it for anyone here to condemn you for being caught up in your work. As it is, I will now leave you all to your business. Good day." With his farewell, Toldfir left the room, leaving Njadsel to take charge of the conversation.
"Right! So," she began, directing her words at Avsuo, "your armor is finished. Of course, with this armor, we don't truly know until we try it, but I'm hoping that no alterations will need to be made. Any objections to a fitting right now?"
Avsuo shook her head, and Njadsel quickly unpacked the crate, talking as she did so.
"I tried a few things to keep it light. Of course, I only have so many materials. I hear dragon scales and stalhrim make excellent light armor, so if you come across any of that, feel free to send it to me and I'll make a new set of armor." She paused, taking a piece of armor and holding it out to Avsuo. Avsuo tentatively took it, and examined it to be… well, neither shirt nor breastplate seemed to fit. The armored top was made out of treated leather, with metal studs providing extra reinforcement. The back was open, designed to be tied shut, and to simplify putting it on while being mindful of her horns and wings. An extra piece of leather was included to cover the space between her wings, which would otherwise be left open. The sleeves were left short, but had a length of chainmail protecting the outer arm.
Deorne spoke as Avsuo began to put the armor on. "What led to the back and sleeve design?"
"Simply put, I had no idea how to deal with her wings." Njadsel began. Avsuo took the brief pause to wordlessly ask Deorne for help in tying the back shut, which he began to do. "So, the open back was my best option, barring a mechanized solution. Of course, it does mean you need two people to actually put it on, but since I figured you were traveling with Deorne, that'd be fine. The space between the wings I could have left bare, but it wasn't hard to add that small piece of cloth and include it in the lacing process. As for the arms," Njadsel shrugged, "Always good to have your arms protected, and chain is lighter than plate."
As Njadsel finished speaking, Deorne finished tightening the armor. Avsuo took a moment to move her upper body, testing the feel. It was snug, but not constricting or uncomfortable, for which she was grateful. Moving her wings didn't seem obstructed either, and Avsuo hoped that would remain the case once she was actually using her wings. A strange thought, actually using her wings…
"It fits well," Avsuo declared. "What would you call this piece of armor? It's not quite a breastplate."
Njadsel thought for a moment, then offered, "An armored jerkin?"
Avsuo didn't know what a jerkin was, but decided to call her new armor that anyway.
With the upper armor taken care of, Njadsel passed over the second piece of armor. While it was identifiable as leggings, the shape was certainly curious, as well as where sheets of chainmail were placed.
"Leggings were the real challenge," Njadsel explained as Avsuo began to puzzle out the armor. "Your legs are one of a kind, and difficult to conform to. Eventually, I decided to try something a little strange." Avsuo couldn't help but agree, as the leggings were far longer than she needed. "I added a few drawstrings in the legs, if you take a look. These are designed to pull the leggings snug against your legs, while, hopefully, not restricting movement and still providing protection."
Finding the drawstrings that Njadsel talked about, Avsuo experimented with pulling and adjusting the leather, then tightening the strings. Doing so radically changed the shape of the leggings, and gave more reason to the placing of the chain sheets. One set of chain sheets covered her thighs, while the other set covered the backs of her calves. Were they still calves and thighs, now that she had three segments of leg? Avsuo discarded the thought, focusing on the strange leggings.
It took some adjusting, but Avsuo found the leggings to fit well. They conformed to her strange leg shape, were comfortable, and didn't seem to restrict movement. Of course, adjustments had been made to allow her tail room, but Avsuo had expected that at that point.
The leggings did leave her feet bare, and while Avsuo didn't need to wear shoes anymore, she wondered if Njadsel had something for that.
Top and bottom now situated, Njadsel presented some fingerless gauntlets, designed as much the way the other armor was.
"Not much to say about these," Njadsel said, handing them over. "Standard protection for this set of armor, and leaving them fingerless so you can still use your claws, if you so desire. Even if you don't, based on what Deorne theorizes, you'd probably end up ruining the fingers anyway."
Avsuo found the gauntlets remarkably satisfying, and turned to Deorne.
"What theories?" she asked.
Njadsel glanced at Deorne as well. "You haven't told her?"
Deorne sighed. "It wasn't important at the time." He turned to Avsuo. "Lots of things were included in your creation. Some things were alluded to, and I had to make some guesses." He paused to collect his thoughts. "There are two big ones. One: You can make your claws grow. Two: You can breathe fire."
These were rather large revelations for Avsuo. And uncomfortable. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Deorne shrugged. "There wasn't a reason to. There was no fighting on the way here, and both of those abilities are very combat-oriented."
While it made sense to Avsuo, she still wished she had learned sooner. She regarded the gauntlets in a new light. They'd allow her to maul creatures. People, even. Quite literally tear them apart if Deorne was correct. She suppressed a shudder. Would control, or avoidance be better? "Then, can you teach me how to use these abilities?"
"Hold on," Njadsel interjected. "Before you all go off on a tangent, there's two more pieces of armor." She began to rummage around in the crate. "I saved these for last not because they're the most important, but because they're completely optional." The final pieces from the crate were a series of metal plates, and a mask.
The mask was fairly simple, albeit it left her mouth and chin unguarded. Given how Avsuo just learned she should be able to breathe fire, she guessed why the mask was made like that. Was she expected to claw and maim, then burn her foes? She supposed fire had more uses outside of combat than claws did, but her discomfort grew nonetheless.
The plates, however…
Njadsel gestured over the set. "I must emphasize the optional aspect of these plates, because they'll be a hassle to use otherwise. They're meant to go on your tail, giving it more armor, and allowing you to use it as a weapon."
As Avsuo examined the plates warily, she noticed a few stood out from the rest. They seemed designed to cover the tip of her tail, and had a variety of dangerous bits of metal on them.
"Of course, to help with weaponizing your tail, I designed these tips," Njadsel continued, gesturing over them. "As you can see, you have blunt options, sharp options, and spiky options. I had some ideas for more exotic designs, but I figured I'd wait to test them until you actually wanted to try them."
Avsuo picked some of them up, feeling the weight and sharpness of the strange weapons. Avsuo knew what Njadsel meant about them being optional. The plates and the tips were heavy, and would undoubtedly slow her down. She wished they hadn't been made.
The gauntlets were easy to understand. If she grew her claws by accident, she'd ruin conventional gloves. The mask was also pardonable. A last ditch effort, she'd prefer, while still protecting her face. The tail plating, however, she did not like. They made her feel like she was going to war, and not necessarily as a soldier. While she sincerely doubted that was Njadsel's intention, her discomfort still grew.
"Of course, you also have just a plain tip. Lighter than the rest, and less likely to be identified as a weapon, worst comes to worst." Njadsel finished.
Avsuo didn't like the implications of that even more than weaponizing her tail, but was somehow grateful Njadsel had thought of it anyway. She had to admit it was better safe than sorry.
Her presentation done, Njadsel folded her arms, seemingly waiting for something.
"Your work is masterful as ever, Njadsel." Deorne said. "While I'm afraid we don't have time to test it, I'm sure it will serve us well."
Avsuo turned to Deorne. "Are we leaving so soon?"
Deorne nodded. "I've kept the Greybeards waiting long enough. It's past time we go and see them."
Author's Note: I am very bad at maintaining a schedule.