I awoke to the smell of cooking bacon. For an instant, I was back home, with Brooke making breakfast before she went off to work. I held onto the felling for a minute, and then let it fade behind reality. I opened my eyes to soft light in the almost empty basement. Getting up, I saw that Brooke and Nanniton had went upstairs, leaving me and Tsajadhi to rest.

I yawned and got out of the stiff bed. I quickly made it, not wanting to be rude. I contemplated waking Tsajadhi, but after remembering last night, I decided to exercise caution around her from now on. I stepped quietly between the small gap separating the ends of the beds, and made my way up the steps.

Upstairs the tantalizing smell was more intense, and again I thought of the many days where Brooke would make me breakfast and we would eat it together and laugh about the news on our small T.V. Realizing how sad the memories of our world were making me, I decided to devote my mental energy to thinking about learning the ways of Cyrodiil.

I saw Nanniton at the fire, shaking a skillet over it.. Brooke was sitting at the table with her head in her arms. I began to panic, thinking she was crying, but then I noticed her slowly rising back. She must have woken up too early and fallen asleep at the table, like she had done so many times before. I wished good morning to Nanniton, and then jostled Brooke awake.

She slowly lifted her head, and seeing me, smiled warmly. "Did you sleep well?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Yes, I was very tired. I got up too early again, didn't I?" I laughed and said yes.

Remembering the strange way Tsajadhi had spoken to him and Cassius, I asked Nanniton how he slept last night. "Fine, fine." He mumbled. "I hope I didn't keep you awake with my snoring." I hadn't heard any snoring from him at all, and when I told him this he grunted once. Obviously he was not a morning person.

I gave him a few minutes to finish the bacon and put some on our plates, and then I asked him when he thought Cassius would be back. He thought for a moment then said, "It depends. He might decide to stay at an inn for the night, and in that case he could be as much as a few days. More likely, though, he found his messenger and headed straight back. If that's true, we can expect him as early as tonight.

I was glad; I didn't feel comfortable without Cassius here. He was the one who brought us here, and the one who we were most familiar with. I ignored my uneasiness though and kept talking with Nanniton. He gave us a quick geography lesson, showing us a map of Cyrodiil and pointing out all the major cities and landmarks, as well as mountain ranges and other areas.

I saw that we were near the edge of a large lake called Lake Rumare, in the centre of which stood the Imperial City, which Nanniton told us was the capital of all the empire. He pointed out Chorrol, the city where Amelia was supposed to be living. Other cities I saw were Bruma, to the north in the mountains, Cheydinhal, to the east, Bravil, near a large body of water called the Niben bay, Leyawiin, to the far south, Skingrad, on the edge of grassland, Kvatch, which apparently stood on a large plateau, and finally Anvil, a city on the shore of the Abecean Sea.

We also learned that Nanniton was from Kvatch, and his parents were still living there. He said that after we were ready to leave him and his friends, his parents would be happy to let Brooke and I stay in a guest room. I was relieved; I had been wondering where we could find a place to stay.

We listened while he told us about the sections of the Imperial City, including a large arena where people fought to the death, a market place, and in the center, the Emperor's palace, White Gold Tower. He told us how it was built by Ayleids, an ancient elven race that left ruins filled with magical objects all over the province.

Spellbound by his stories of Cyrodiil, none of us had noticed when Tsajadhi came up from the basement and helped herself to some of the food. She finally spoke up after Nanniton had finished. "With Cassius gone, Nanniton, do you think we should teach them about magic some more? They hardly got any experience last night." She winked at me, a gesture that seemed sinister rather than playful after hearing her put a spell on the two men.

"I completely agree. I think I should take Brooke out in the forest, where she can practice on trees and the like. You can take Zach, you know more about the magic he seems to be adept at."

No, I thought, I didn't want to be left alone with Tsajadhi, and I wasn't to comfortable with having Brooke go off into the forest with the gruff and grumpy Nanniton. I couldn't figure out how to avoid this, thought, and Brooke seemed happy enough to accept it. She was halfway through the door before I could even open my mouth to protest. I realized her eagerness to perform more feats of fire was overpowering her sense. I looked at Tsajadhi, who smiled and led me to the back door leading to the field. I wished Brooke good luck and she smiled back and said shed be fine, and not to worry.

Tsajadhi closed the door behind us and began a quick lecture.

"Zach, while it is impressive that you managed to perform magic on the jug last night, you can, as I'm sure you know, do so much more. With my teaching, you will eventually be able to move things with a thought, you will breath water, and you will even be able to alter your body to suit your needs. Let me demonstrate."

She closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and began to glow. It was the same kind of light I had gotten after eating the seeds, although it was harder to see in the daylight. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and with a little purple flash, the light disappeared. Then she raised her hand and disappeared. I gasped and jumped off the bench I had sat down on. I heard her voice from behind me. "I used my magic to become invisible, but there are ways you can still sense my presence. I want you to think about all the animals in the woods, and all the bugs in the air, and most off all, I want you to think of me, and imagine being able to see all of them, no matter where they are."

I did what she asked, and again felt the tingling come back. This time, though, I felt my eyes beginning to sharpen and feel warm. I started noticing a faint lavender mist in the air to my left. After several seconds the mist sharpened somewhat and formed into the shape of a human. "Tsajadhi, is that you I'm seeing?"

"Yes, what you are experiencing is a spell to detect living creatures around you. Look to the woods."

I did, and saw two or three beings of mist crawling along the ground. Looking closer, I recognized the creatures as rabbits. I noticed that even if the animals went behind a tree, I could see the mist remain in my vision. I turned back to Tsajadhi, but she had disappeared again. I looked towards the house and saw her mist-form behind the cottage. It was a strange sensation, to be able to see her shape as if the house wasn't there. I called to her, and she came back around, just as the mist faded away.

By this time, I had forgotten about the happenings last night in the joy of my newfound powers. "That was amazing, how are there dangers in this world with such abilities?"

She frowned, "Yes, Zach, this magic is powerful, and you are very unusual to be getting the grasp of it so early, but don't think that you are invincible. Many have died thinking that, and often violently. We should practice other things."

I had been sobered up by her statement, but felt a twinge of anticipation at the thought of learning more magic.

The rest of the day was spent learning to become partially invisible, only leaving a wavering outline in the air, something I was very fond of, learning how to breathe underwater and to walk on its surface, something that amused me to no end, and finally perfecting the ability to move things using my mind. This last lesson was the one I was most exited to learn, and I was full of joy when Tsajadhi informed me that I had found my signature magic, judging on how quickly I was learning. She said that if I practiced enough, I would easily overtake her in skill soon. I was stunned; I couldn't believe how quickly I was learning something so new.

Thing is, Tsajadhi noticed too, and I think she was jealous. She had gone through years of practice and learning, while I was getting the knack for magic within a few days. Suddenly I felt guilty for being so good. I told myself to tone it down next time. However, if I found any hint of trouble from her, I would be sure to call her on it right away.

After a few more practices with small things like making myself glow and getting rid of minor spells cast on me by Tsajadhi, she told me we were moving on to something different.

"I think you've got the hand of the most basic magic that you are comfortable with, but if you need to use your magic offensively, you need to learn some destruction spells."

"But I thought that that was Brooke's specialty?"

"It is, but you need to know at least a small bit, as I can't teach you how to wield a sword or anything like that. Don't worry its not going to be too hard. Just remember how Brooke described the feeling when she burned that butterfly, and try to imitate it."

She directed me t try it on a tree at the edge of the field. I got myself ready, then raised my hand and pointed it at the tree. I tried to imagine energy building up in my hand. I felt something, but instead of a burning sensation, I just felt a tense feeling, like my muscles had seized up. I tried more to get the feeling of power flowing out of me, and eventually I got a sense of wind rushing out of my hand, and I heard a thudding noise. I opened my eyes; I hadn't noticed I closed them. The tree I had been aiming at had small patches of ice on it, and around them lingered a soft blue glow.

I looked at Tsajadhi questioningly. She was looking at the tree with her head tilted to one side. "Well," she said, "that was a nice frost spell at least. I had thought you would procure fire, but I suppose you are more of a cold person."

"Is that normal?" I asked, thinking by her expression that something was wrong.

"Yes, some people have specialties regarding what their destruction magic comes out as. I expect Brooke will be able to do all equally, wither expertise in that area. You, with your focus in other areas, will most likely have problems with the other types of spells, like fire or lightning. It doesn't matter in the end, I suppose, whatever will hurt your opponent.

"Are you tired? We should go inside, Brooke and Nanniton are sure to be back soon. He wouldn't keep her in the forest after dark."

"Yes, let's go."

We headed inside, leaving behind the slowly darkening sky. Once we got inside, Tsajadhi went to the fireplace and lit a fire. By that point I wasn't surprised at all when she lit it by snapping her fingers. She sat down at the table and we talked about how we were going to get to Chorrol. She said we would make a stop in the Imperial City to get food and other necessities, and then hire a caravan or some other sort of transport to take us to the city.

It was almost completely dark when Brooke and Nanniton returned with a surprise. Brooke came in first, beaming. Nanniton followed, carrying a large boar over his back. He looked happy, for once.

Tsajadhi looked stunned. "You…where did you…" She stopped, and suddenly took on a furious expression. I was mystified until I looked at the boar. It had large burn marks on its side. "Nanniton! Did you…did she…?"

Brooke smiled even harder. "It came at us in the woods, and I just let everything out on it! It was amazing, wasn't it Nan?"

Nan? I wondered. Since when could we call him Nan? He didn't seem the type for nicknames. Before I could ask Tsajadhi started yelling.

"Nanniton! How could you let a teenage girl take out a boar by herself? She could have been hurt!"

"Hey, don't yell at me," he said, growing angry, "I didn't have a chance to react. She just screamed and when I turned around there was a flaming pig flying away."

"It…what do you mean flying?"

"Ask her."

We all turned to Brooke. She said, "I think I might have put a little too much power into it. Whoops." She kept smiling her small timid grin. Tsajadhi just looked at her with her mouth half-open.

She finally was able to speak, "I don't understand. It must have been one of your first times performing any magic, how could you possibly produce such a powerful flame?"

Nanniton said, "I think these kids are different, they seem to be quicker to adapt here. In addition to the basic destruction spells, I've also been able to teach Brooke some rudimentary summoning and even some healing magic." Before Tsajadhi had a chance to comment on this, he asked her how my lesson went.

"Oh, it went perfectly. He seems to have a solid intuition of illusion and alteration, as well as a talent for telekinesis."

Nanniton smiled at me. "Well, that's great. Did you try anything else?"

Before I could answer, there was a knock on the door. Cassius was back.