It had been two days since Danielle had been gone. He began to grow worried. He spent the morning alone practicing some Shock spells in the Hall of Elements when he heard a sweet-sounding voice behind him call out his name. He turned around and saw Danielle, and she was holding a cloth of some kind in her hands. "Danielle!" he cried and hurried to meet her. "You're back!"

She nodded solemnly. "And I brought something for you."

Before he could say anything, she pressed the cloth into his hands. He looked at her questioningly and she just looked at him quietly and expectantly. Curious, he unfolded the cloth, and lo and behold…he found himself looking right at his grandfather's amulet! His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. "Danielle!" he exclaimed. "How did you…? This is…" Try as he might, he couldn't express what he felt right then. "My amulet!" he finally blurted, and lifted it up in his fingers by its chain. He studied it for a moment in disbelief, inspecting it from every angle, and then looked back at Danielle in total astonishment. "How did you get this?"

A mischievous smile spread across her face and she shrugged. "I simply made a deal with Enthir."

"Danielle," he uttered again. "You have no idea how much this means to me…Thank you!"

"You're welcome," she replied with a smile. She then turned around to walk away from him, but there was no way he could let her go this time. "Wait!" he exclaimed.

She stopped and looked back at him.

"Have you…eaten yet?" he asked apprehensively.

She shook her head.

"Would you like to go have lunch at the Frozen Hearth? It's my treat."

"I would love to."

Onmund beamed, and then he said, "All right. Let me go put this away. Should only take a couple of minutes. Come on."

She went with him to the Hall of Attainment, and she waited for him in the foyer as he put away his amulet. I finally have my grandfather's amulet back! he thought happily. He knew that he would be sleeping much better tonight, all thanks to her. Then, he hurried back out to meet her and together they walked over to the Frozen Hearth.

The inn wasn't crowded so there wasn't a flurry of activity going on, but there were a few other people around enjoying the warmth. The two mages removed their hoods and shook the snow off of them and then took a seat at one of the corner tables. Haran came and poured them some hot tea before asking them what they wanted to eat.

"So what kind of deal did you make with Enthir that made him give up the amulet?" Onmund asked her, really wanting to know.

"Oh, well…" she hesitated. "He made me run an errand for him."

"What sort of errand?" he questioned.

She sighed, as if she were about to confess something. "He wanted some sort of magical staff," she explained. "It was located in a cave several miles to the southeast of here. He agreed to return the amulet to me if I went to go retrieve the staff, so I did."

Onmund was finally hit with the realization and his mouth opened wide before saying, "So that's where you had been for the past two days. You…you went all by yourself?"

"Yes. I didn't want to tell anyone what I was doing. I wanted to surprise you. But I actually got in trouble with Tolfdir, who told me that I'm not allowed to venture out alone."

"I imagine it's dangerous. But…you did all that for me?"

She nodded quietly.

He looked at her, feeling a strong sense of gratitude and kinship. "No one's ever done anything like that for me before. You have my eternal gratitude."

Haran brought them the food that they ordered so they stopped talking for the moment to start eating. When they had eaten most of their meals, Danielle stopped and asked, "So did anyone other than your family give you a hard time for wanting to learn magic?"

"Oh, yeah," he responded. "I was teased mercilessly by the other kids in the village growing up. You see, I wasn't…really big and strong. So that also made me a prime target for other kids- especially those who were bigger than me. So I spent a lot of time alone reading and studying the art of magic. It brought me comfort."

"Did you have any friends?"

"Maybe one or two, but they didn't necessarily share my passion for magic, though."

"Girlfriends?"

Onmund's face grew warm at the question, and he avoided Danielle's eyes as he chuckled to himself before saying, "No. Not really." He then looked up at her again and said, "There was this girl who I fancied not too long ago. Her name was Roxanne. But she was nice to me for only a short time. Other times, she would make fun of me for wanting to learn magic, even being downright mean to me sometimes. To tell you the truth, I nearly gave up my dream of being a mage to pursue her, but she ended up joining the Companions, a warrior's guild based in Whiterun, and she cooled off towards me considerably."

"I ran into some of those Companions," she said. "They seem like a wild bunch."

"I'm sure that every Nord dreams of joining up with them," he said.

"So you almost gave up your dream to be with this girl?" she asked curiously.

Onmund shook his head pitifully. "I was incredibly foolish. I guess I thought that she'd like me better if I became a warrior. But now I look back and am so relieved that I stuck with my resolve."

"Mmm," she acknowledged, and he saw her eyes glaze over, as if she were remembering something.

Now, his curiosity was piqued. "Have you…ever experienced something like that?"

She seemed to snap back to the present and focused her eyes on him. "Like what?"

"Something that almost made you change your mind about following your dream. Your current dream is to master Fire spells, right?"

"Yes," she replied. She then sighed, which he found interesting. "And yes…I almost didn't come here."

"Oh? What happened?"

"This was actually not too long ago. Just before I came to Winterhold, I was working at the Temple of Mara."

"In Riften? Wow, that's a rough town."

"I had been working closely with a man by the name of Marcurio, who was an Expert in Restoration magic, like I was. He was also an Adept in Destruction, which he had studied here, so he mentored me quite a bit." She paused for a second, and then continued. "He eventually asked me to marry him."

"Oh, wow. And what did you say to him?"

"I said no. He wanted me to forsake my dreams of joining the College and live with him as his personal protégé. We were at odds with each other on a lot of other things, as well, so I knew that it was never going to work out."

"I see. So you turned him down and came here, anyway."

She nodded. "And it was the best decision I have ever made."

He smiled, gazing deeply into her eyes. "Well, I'm glad you joined the College. And glad that we've met."

She smiled. "I'm glad that we met, too."

They said a few more things before getting up to leave. Onmund went up to the innkeeper to pay for their lunch and rejoined Danielle, who thanked him, and together they walked back to the College.

The next day was like any other day spent at the College, with training, lectures, and studying. By now, the four young apprentices were getting better at their spells of choice and practicing on a daily basis together in the Hall of Elements. It was no question, though, that Onmund's affinity for Danielle had grown immensely ever since she had found his amulet and after their long chats during studying and lunch at the Frozen Hearth. She knew more about him than any other person there, and it made him feel good knowing that he had a friend and confidante there at the College.

However, he got along with Brelyna and J'zargo, as well. The two women had forged somewhat of a close friendship with each other and he, on occasion, hung out with J'zargo outside of training. The Khajiit was very competitive and sure of himself, and it didn't help that he seemed to be studying the same tracks that Onmund was studying- trying to master shock spells. Once, when he was sitting in J'zargo's room with him, drinking tea, J'zargo said to him, "You've been copying Khajiit ever since he came here."

"I haven't been copying you!" Onmund protested. "I just like shock spells, too."

J'zargo chuckled. "It is just joke. But J'zargo will become Expert in shock spells first."

Onmund smiled, laughing inwardly at the Khajiit's over-confidence. "We'll see about that."

"It is good to finally be around mages who may be able to keep up with J'zargo," he said good-naturedly.

After this conversation, Onmund felt inspired to go learn some new spells. He paid a visit to Phinis in his room to purchase a couple of spellbooks from him. He bought the Chain Lightning and Fast Healing spell tomes.

"I've also got some other things I want to sell," Phinis told him. "Are you interested?"

"What are they?" Onmund asked.

He got up and went over to a chest up against the wall, opening it. "I've got some candles, silverware…just things I've picked up during my travels," he replied.

"Hmm…" As Onmund watched him take some things out of the chest, he was about to tell him "no thanks" but then something caught his eye. It was an off-white piece of folded-up cloth similar to one he remembered seeing once many years ago from a roadside merchant. "What is that?" Onmund asked him.

Phinis looked at it and laughed. "Oh, that? Just some rags that I picked up in Solitude many months ago. A beggar girl wanted me to buy it and I couldn't refuse. She desperately needed the money. Mirabelle said it was a shawl from Daggerfall. I guess she'd know."

"I'll buy it from you," Onmund said, suddenly very much interested. "How much is it?"

"What? You really want it? Uhh, I'll give it to you for five Gold. I think that's fair."

"I'll take it." Onmund gave Phinis five septims and was given the shawl. This'll be a perfect present for Danielle. After all she's done for me, I want to do something nice for her. He took the shawl back to his room and put it away in his chest. The next time he saw her, he would surprise her with it, and he couldn't wait.

Unfortunately, the time to surprise her had to wait because she couldn't study with him that evening. Urag wanted to have a talk with her about the orb, probably to ask her some questions about it that had to do with his search for relevant books, so Onmund just studied alone in his room.

After a couple of hours of studying and drinking a warm cup of tea, he saw someone approaching him from the hall. It was Danielle. He smiled and said, "Hello, Danielle!"

"Hello, Onmund," she said, and stopped apprehensively just before the threshold into his room, going no further.

He thought her modesty was so funny and cute. "Come on in!" he encouraged. "Have a seat."

She cautiously stepped over the threshold and shrugged. "I wasn't sure if it was against the rules or not to go into a man's private living quarters. I still haven't read through all of them yet." She sat down in the chair opposite the other side of the small table from him.

"Me neither," he said. "But don't worry, I'll take the blame if someone sees us. Then again, I see Tolfdir sitting in Brelyna's room talking to her all the time so it mustn't be against the rules."

"I hope you're right," she said. "Onmund, I wanted to ask you something. A favor."

"Absolutely. What is it?"

"Urag has given me an errand to run. There were some books that were stolen from the Arcaneum a long time ago- some books that are supposed to contain more information about that orb. And Tolfdir said I can't go alone. Will you accompany me on this errand?"

Would I? "Sure! Where to?"

"Fellglow Keep, a fort about a day's trek from here to the south. There is a mage who used to be a student here, Orthorn, who left the College and is hiding out with some other mages there. We have to somehow get the books back from him."

"Sounds dangerous. Of course I'll go with you. Fellglow Keep, huh? I think I remember where that is. And yes, that is about a day's trek from here. I'll get my things ready. When do you want to head out?"

"First thing tomorrow morning, if possible."

"I'll be ready then."

As Danielle got up from her seat, Onmund remembered something. "Oh, wait a minute! Don't go just yet. I have something for you." He stood up, too.

She cocked her head to one side as she looked at him curiously. "Oh? What's that?"

He then went over to his chest and opened it, pulling out the shawl he had bought earlier. "I got this for you," he said, presenting it to her.

She looked at it in surprise and reluctantly took it from him. Silently, she unfolded it, and then her face lit up and she gasped. "Onmund! This is a Daggerfall shawl! Where did you get this?"

"I bought it from Phinis," he replied. "After what you did for me in getting my family amulet back, I wanted to do something for you. I know it's not much but-"

"Oh, Onmund…" she uttered. "You've already done a lot for me."

He assumed that she was referring to the scene down in the Arcaneum that one time, but he shrugged it off. "Think of it as a token of our friendship," he said with a smile.

She smiled her beautiful little smile and then said, "I'm glad we're friends. And thank you. This is beautiful."

"You're welcome."

"Sleep tight."

"You too!"

Danielle then left him, and he got ready for bed.

The next day, Onmund got dressed and packed his satchel with some food. He then met Danielle near her room and asked her, "Ready to go?"

"Ready," she replied, and they both headed out of the College, out through the town, and out into the open road towards Fellglow Keep.

I just wanted to say, I really appreciate all of the reviews and follows I have been getting for this story so far! To all of the guest reviewers that I can't reply directly to, THANK YOU! It makes me very happy to see that this story can entertain.

In this chapter, Roxanne, my OC from Lover's Comfort makes a tiny cameo. However, she's in here by name only as that story exists in a completely different universe. Also, the whole Daggerfall shawl thing was inspired by an actual event in the game when Onmund randomly gave me a gift thanking me for my friendship- except it wasn't a shawl or anything like that; it was Ragged Robes -_-