The Funeral

Rhavaniel sent Ianith off to fetch the horses as she and Kato started heading down the mountain towards Winterhold. They needed to get back as soon as possible. Apparently, no one else was capable of handling the situation even though they called themselves Masters.

They had left Blackreach through Alftand since that was the exit closest to the College. The horses would probably not reach them before they reached the College. It was getting late, but they had woken only a few hours ago so they would push through the night. They had let the chickens out. They wouldn't be able to carry them. Either the chickens would make it or some other animal would eat them. That wasn't their problem anymore.

The moons rose high in the sky as Rhavaniel and Kato finally saw the spire of the College. When the rest of the College finally came into view, they couldn't see anything wrong. "This doesn't feel right," Kato said.

Rhavaniel nodded. She could feel it too. Magic pulsed through the air. It was faint, but she assumed it would get worse the closer to the College they got. She started running. Kato was following closely behind her. She'd been right. The closer they got the more powerful each wave of magic was. They ran across the bridge out to the College. They continued straight up to the Hall of the Elements and threw the doors open.

"I don't know. It is like a ward but who is casting it? Ancano? How?" Mirabelle cried.

"I don't care what it is, I want it down now. I want to know what he is doing in there," Aren answered. He raised his hands and cast lightning upon the strange swirling magic covering the gateway into the lecture hall where they had placed the Eye of Magnus. Next to the Arch-Mage, Mirabelle, the Master Wizard, had raised her own hands and was casting ice.

Rhavaniel didn't even think; she just acted. Fire spread across her palm. It impacted with the magic ward and the ward disappeared. She summoned a dagger in one hand while keeping her fire spell ready in the other. She could hear Kato's sword leaving its scabbard. She moved in right after Mirabelle. "What's going on?!" the Master Wizard asked as they reached Ancano. He was casting some kind of lightning at the Eye but it didn't look like any spell Rhavaniel had ever seen.

"Ancano stop this at once. I command you!"

Kato shifted the grip on his sword. He wanted to cut the Thalmor down, but he didn't know what the magic at work might do.

Aren moved closer to the Thalmor, and then…

Everything went white.

Kato raised a shield around himself. He closed his eyes against the blinding light. He was pushed back. His feet lifted from the ground. His back hit something hard. He coughed as he sat up. "By Kyne what happened," he mumbled. His fingers closed around the hilt of his sword next to him before he stood up. He clutched his head as it started spinning. In the distance, he could hear two women talking. One of them sounded like Mirabelle. He hoped that the other was Rhavaniel. As his head stopped spinning, he looked up towards the Eye. There was a field of magic circling it. It was strong. He doubted they would be able to break through it even if they worked together. He reached out towards the magic. Maybe they could contain it though.

"Kato! Have you seen the Arch-Mage?" Rhavaniel asked.

Kato turned around. "What? No, I haven't," he said.

"Come on we need to find him," Rhavaniel said.

Kato nodded. He followed her out through the wide-open front doors. The Arch-Mage lay limply against the foot of the statue of Shalidor.

"He isn't… is he," Tolfdir walked up next to them.

Rhavaniel had knelled down and turned Aren around. She checked his pulse. Nothing. "He's gone," she said.

"What happened in there?" Tolfdir asked.

"It's Ancano. He's done something to the Eye," Kato said.

"By the nine… Is he responsible for this? The Arch-Mage, dead?" Tolfdir said. "There's more something has happened to Winterhold. It must be part of what Ancano did. You must get out there. Make sure it is safe. Quickly now, quickly. I'll find Mirabelle and see if we can't put a stop to this."

Kato looked up at Rhavaniel. She nodded. They would go. They pushed through the sleepiness they felt as they hurried down towards the city.

"What's going on? What happened in there?" Faralda asked as they made it outside the College grounds. She had taken the night shift and was wondering if that had been a bad idea. She should have put one of the novices on it if something dangerous happened at the College.

"We don't have time for this Tolfdir said something is going on down in Winterhold," Rhavaniel said.

"Ancano is messing with the Eye. He did something and killed the Arch-Mage," Kato said. "Rhavaniel is right though. We need to deal with whatever is going on down in the city."

Faralda and Phinis followed them down.

A beast that looked to be some kind of cross between an Ice Wraith and a wisp was roaming the streets. Their fronts were covered by some kind of stone. It looked like nothing any of them had ever seen before. Thankfully, the towns folk had taken to hiding in their houses so no one was outside.

"Move Rhavaniel," Harry said. He breathed in. "Strun Bah," he shouted. The skies above clouded over. A thunderclap sounded as a bolt of lightning struck down on the magic wisps. "It won't hit you," he said. He held a hand out and created a spear in his palm. He threw it at one of the wisps.

Rhavaniel moved past him. She was wielding fire in one hand and lightning in the other. She danced through the pack of wisps. Together it didn't take the four mages long to clear the strange magical anomalies out of the city.

"That looks like it is the last of them. We'll stay here. Get back to the College and let them know what's going on," Faralda said. She looked at Harry. "With the Arch-Mage gone, we have to do our best to keep things together."

Kato nodded. "We'll let the others know what happened down here," he said. He turned to Rhavaniel who nodded.

They headed back towards the College. They split up to make sure that there were no other magical anomalies around.

Kato walked into the Hall of the Elements.

"Is everything out there alright?" Mirabelle asked him as he approached her.

Kato nodded. "Winterhold is safe for now," he said.

"I wish I could say the same for us," Mirabelle said. "This is one horrid mess."

"We need to figure something out that will contain this," Kato said. "Do we have any old staves lying around?" he asked. "We need to create an enchanted ward around that globe. The only way I can think of making something that easily is to use either older staffs that have lost their enchantments, or weapons that we can enchant to hold a ward."

Mirabelle's eyebrows furrowed. "I guess that could work," she said.

"We need that done so we can give the Arch-Mage a proper funeral," Kato said. "If we have to look over our shoulders all the time, we'll never manage with that."

Mirabelle looked down at her hands. She sighed. "You are right," she said. "You should find Sergius so he can help as well."

It wasn't easy to find the enchanter with all the commotion going on. It was even harder to convince him that using the staves to create a ward would work. Kato was persistent though. He was sure it would work and it wasn't like the man was that far ahead of him in the subject. He settled down by the enchanting table in the Hall of Countenance. He wasn't just using his enchanter's skills though. He was carving dragon letters into the staves as well. Strin ko, dein hond. He went on until he couldn't see straight anymore. "Come here, Kato," Rhavaniel said. She pulled him away from the table and walked him over to his bedroom before pushing him down in bed. They had to sleep. They had been up all night.

8th of Second Seed, 4E 206.

Rhavaniel walked into the Hall of the Elements. She was carrying a bunch of enchanted staves with her. It was the same ones that Kato had worked on the day before. She placed them out at regular intervals throughout the room. She placed them flat on the ground pointing towards the Eye. There was another set of staves that Sergius was preparing.

The man had been muttering to himself. He was doing the enchanting even if he didn't believe it was going to work.

The door opened. Footsteps could be heard echoing through the big hall.

Rhavaniel looked up. "Hi Sergius are you done?" she asked.

"Yes," the bald man said. "Do you know what to do with these?" he asked. He held the staves out.

Rhavaniel took the staves and placed them out on the ground between the earlier staves.

"And now what," Sergius said. "The boy has some strange ideas of what can actually work." He shook his head. "I don't understand how this is supposed to help at all."

Kato walked into the hall. He was carrying a long strand of ribbon with him. Strange symbols looped over the ribbon. He knelt and tied it to the closest staff. From one to the next, he went tying them all together. "We need to gather everyone else together," he said once he was done. He stood up.

"I'll see what I can do to get a hold of everyone," Rhavaniel said. She disappeared out of the hall.

"If this works I'll have to give you credit kid," Sergius said. "This looks crazy. I have no clue how you think this will work. Staves aren't supposed to be used for something like this."

Kato nodded. "I know this might all go to Oblivion," he said. "But I had to figure something out to at least try to keep people safe." He looked towards the entrance as the teachers started streaming in. "Please stand by one staff each," he said. He waited until they had spread out. "Pick the staff up. We need to activate the staves all at once." He lifted his own staff. "Three, two, one." A light blue sheen spread out from the staves. It spread out to the ribbon and connected between the staves. Kato held the staff out from his body and let it go. It floated in the air in front of him. He looked over to Rhavaniel and she let go of her staff. After she had done so, the others let go of their staves as well. The ribbon glowed and a ring of magic surrounded the Eye.

"It is working," Sergius said. "I can't believe it. It is working."

"It is quite well made. The Restoration level of this is very good," Colette said.

Kato bowed. "Thank you Master Marence," he said. He looked back up at the ward he had created. Hopefully, it would hold. "All you have to do now is make sure that the staves stay charged," he said.

Sergius nodded. "We'll make sure they do," he said.

Kato walked back to his room. He sat down on his bed and yawned. He was still tired. He fell back and closed his eyes. He fell asleep immediately.

Rhavaniel walked into Kato's room later in the day. She smiled as she saw him sleeping. She would wake him up soon. He needed to eat.

That evening they gathered. Many preparations had been made. The death of an Arch-Mage was no small event. They had lost their leader. They now looked to the Master Wizard for guidance.

Or most of them did. Kato and Rhavaniel didn't really care who was in charge, they had their own quest to fulfil. Aren's body was placed in the light of the beacon glowing in the middle of the courtyard. Kato's amber-coloured eyes focused on the light. He barely heard the sermon. Truth be told he hadn't known the Arch-Mage.

Rhavaniel reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder as her other hand was held out palm up. A flame danced in her hand.

Kato held his own hand out. He noticed how everyone seemed to hold fire in their palms. He lit his own flame.

"We here now send you upon your last journey, Aren," Mirabelle said. "You did well in life. Now rest in peace." The flames leapt from their hands and swirled around the body.

Rhavaniel started singing softly. Others joined her though most did not understand her. Her words were in an ancient elven tongue.

They stood together in a half-moon around the pyre until it had burned down. The atmosphere was sombre throughout the rest of that day. People went about their business, but there was no real gusto in it. Kato handed Arniel the Dwemer cogs he had gathered. He had learned that Enthir was late with a shipment. He wasn't sure that messing with the man was a good idea. He didn't want to argue with people that day.

9th of Second Seed, 4E 206.

Mirabelle walked up to Kato and Rhavaniel. They were sitting by the dining table on the top floor in the Hall of Countenance. "The two of you really should get going," she said. "The rest of us can handle Ancano. You need to get your hands on the Staff of Magnus now."

Kato nodded. "We'll be heading to Labyrinthian, next then," he said.

Mirabelle took on a surprised expression. "What? Are you… are you sure? The staff is there? That can't be a coincidence," she said.

"What do you mean?" Rhavaniel asked.

"The Arch-Mage. He…" Mirabelle took a deep breath and pulled herself together. "He gave me something a while ago. He told me it was from Labyrinthian, and that I would know what to do with it when the time came," she said. "I think… I think he meant this for you then. I'm not sure what it was about. But I believe it was something very personal for him. Bring back that Staff before Ancano brings the whole College down around us." She handed Kato the Torc of Labyrinthian.

"Thank you, Mirabelle," Kato said. "We'll stock up and be on our way."

"Good luck," Mirabelle said before she walked off. She had a lot of things to do with Aren gone.

Kato turned to Rhavaniel. "We should repack everything. There are a lot of things we don't need to bring with us to Labyrinthian," he said.

"Can you give me long enough to prepare some healing potions?" she asked. "I don't want to go down there without some way of healing myself… or you if you can't do it yourself."

"Sure, I'll make certain that everything else is taken care of," Kato said. He stood up from the table. He needed to make sure his armour was in good shape too.