STELM: Okay guys last chapter that will take place in Argonia, atleast for a little while. WARNING: This chapter will contain more family and less lobbing heads off with ethereal battle axes! Well maybe a little action but, not THAT much action.

The Old Province IV

-Zuvejjet-

I had stood here for over twenty minutes now and I had began to get restless. Where the fuck were they? They should know that I wouldn't be used to the natural fauna around here. Who knows what could pop out at any time?

I'm their one and only son for wellness's sakes! I mean if some wild Black Marsh animal pounced on me all I'd have to defend myself was a short sword and my magic. I mean both would surely defeat any normal predator but I was still uneasy.

Last night was a particularly unhinging experience. We set up a quick meeting with the people who Hiassin worked for and they had no clue on who were the culprits of the failed coup. They did say though that they would put their efforts into getting Bajee's revenge for him. They did their information broker thing for free to ameliorate our losses. So in the end we lost no money but it was still spooky. Who would try to double cross us? Our enemies were very few in number .

Now I was in an open clearing, a novice archer could hit me from the tops of the Argonian Hist trees that surrounded me. Then again I could probably hit them back with my sharpshooting ice spike maneuver, which would be twice as dangerous for the guy on the receiving end of my magical influence.

My parents put our family's mark our designated family Hist tree out in the few clearings Argonia had. We were a young family, our heritage was cut off during some event that I had never sought the answers to. So we began all over again and planted our own Hist tree, thus our family tree was considerably smaller than its older counterparts. I'd only been to this place once, when I was 4 years old, so it's been a while. Sunset was coming soon and the clearing gave a really good view of the Argonian sun. I heard the sunset in Argonia was something mystical but I doubted it, I mean the sun is the sun. Probably just some old mythical tale told over and over in the Argonian's spoken history, it wouldn't be the first false tale told by old Argonian sages.

"Zuvejjet!" I heard a maternal Argonian call to out me. I turned around already knowing who it was but not really realizing how much the woman had aged.

"Mama!" I said blissfully running up to woman who raised me from the womb, her womb. All thoughts of being a grown up and being able to support a somber and serious attitude disappearing. She was the antidote to my homesickness.

We stood there hugging for a few minutes, allowing me to absorb the moment that I really needed, looking back the recent close ones I've had. That's when I saw my dad come out of the thick forest and into the clearing. He looked just like the young Argonian that had raised me into the man I am now, well more or less.

"Son." the Argonian stated, his cold exterior giving way to his paternal instincts. Well the type that was loving not the instincts that made male frostbit spiders leave the cave once they had served their sexual purpose.

"Father." I said as he walked up embracing me in a half handshake half hug. Unlike me and my mother's hug this one took less than a second. But the stare down he gave me lasted a minute or two. Not the evil or mistrusting stare, more like a stare to soak up what he had missed. The extra scars I had, my head feathers growth, and my height, I was an inch or two taller than him now, last time I had seen him we were the exact same height. Now that I thought about it, it had almost been a year since I had seen my parents.

"You've grown." my father said, his words alluding dozens of topics that split off from the physical face value statement. Damn Argonians and their philosophic spoken verse. Reminded me of speaking with the Bard's college kids, they were all weird when it came to speaking to somebody off a stage.

"Well I was grown into good trousers." I said using a Nordic expression, patting my father's shoulder. My father looked a little confused about it but covered up the confusion with angry authority.

"Your school sent letters two days ago saying that you'd been advised to reside in Argonia for the duration of your suspension. Why the suspension, you bring shame to your family name causing such kerfuffle. You are a representation of not only your family but your race, our people are dying out and racism is raging, and you find time to cause brawls while in school? Why continue to attend when you do nothing but cause trouble?" my father asked, his tone of voice rising as he spoke, you could tell that he was steaming. Matter of fact he was so close to me I was bracing for him to hit me. If so I wouldn't hold my hand in retaliation.

"I go there to learn, and I'm not finished. You don't have a clue about the things I can do now." I said trying to show my father reason in him funding my stay at the college.

"Show me then! What can you do?" the older Argonian commanded, our snouts now almost touching.

So I did just that. I created a perfect fireball mixed with magelight. The end product was a colorful light that twinkled into the afternoon sky. A twinkling light that was eventually destroyed when it collided into a follow-up fireball but instead of just a fireball explosion the sky was filled with colors that the magelight reflected in its normal form, now filling the sky.

My mother clapped energetically, ogling the beautiful display of light and colors. The spectacle was truly a beautiful sight if I was asked, but my father was far from impressed.

"How are a few lights going to save a family? Or are you more interested in your boyfriends?" My father jeered and I wasn't going to take it. Last night I was scalping assailants and now I was killing time with my father, who knew nothing of what he spoke of.

"Then fight me, what are you? Scared?" I jeered and backed away from the tree taunting my father. My father, ignoring my mother's pleas for this all to stop, pursued me. Taking off his expensive robe, now he only had on a cold colored tunic and loose-fitting trousers made by fine fabric. While I had on some modest form-fitting cotton trousers and a light blue cloak with a cowl, the material my father wore wouldn't at all limit his movement but his old bones would. This would be easy.

"Come at me then!" I taunted willing the old man to throw the first punch. He threw more than few however.

He hit fast for an old man but I was young and somewhat agile so dodging his blows were nothing. Eventually I decided playing with my old man would just make him think that he had won in spirit later on, I had to crush these things, spirits and high hopes.

So after disengaging myself for a second I readied for my old man to charge at me again except this time I shouted, readying myself this time for the second word. "TIID KLO!"

Through the blue haze I could see that the Argonian thought that I had failed, essentially the shout did nothing in other people's eyes. It just effected how I perceived time, so I focused in on what I had to do, joyful in the success of the second word without the added drama that the cafeteria brawl added.

With a swift motion I had grabbed the Argonian's in motion punching arm and pulled it towards me so I could get to his other side. In my slowed view of reality he was falling towards where I was when I shouted. While I was on his other side I pushed him forward even more striking him in the side as I did so, and while in real time he would have already have tumbled to the ground in my time he was still on his way to the ground, even if only a bit faster than he was before. Figuring I had about eight more seconds left I kneed the man in the gut, threw a few quick jabs to the older Argonian's torso, and lifted him by his center of gravity, his hips, and threw him in the air.

Time regained its normal speed and I had enjoyed the sight of a distraught father sprawled out on the ground. My mother couldn't help but laugh, my father joined in as I helped him up. No worries now, we were a happy family enjoying seeing each other again, just a normal father vs. son brawl.

Area Unknown…

-Jacob-

"Ahhhh! I yield! Help somebody!" I screamed out but nobody showed pity on me. I was in the darkness, unseen by anybody but my torturers, no doubt. I could feel the ground, a natural cave I was sure. They had probably put me in the deep recesses and blew out the torches.

WHAP WHAP WHAP

The lashes were tear jerking. I felt the access of water nearly blinding me in the darkness. The only thing I could really feel was the pain of the whip and the coldness of the stone ground. I was sure I was in some cold mountain cave, the focus of some sick Nord's experiment. The raping should have begun hours ago.

WHAP WHAP WHAP

There it went it again. The pain made me dizzy and I feared that I would black out. Then again if I did pass out that would mean I'd wake up either frozen to death or with an abused asshole. Neither of those options sounded pleasant so I fought through it, crawling on my knees trying to sense where to evade the next whip. That's when it hit me, I could use magic.

WHAP WHAP WHAP

Through the pain I tried to summon magelight. It was hard to remember the technique for a second but it came easy after a second or so, I had it almost embedded in my head, almost. When I summoned the light the cave around me's pitch black darness was cleansed and was bathed with the magelight's brilliant light. I saw that my tormentors. Three Dunmer wearing fitted clothes all carrying whips all with knives on their side.

One of them said something in a quick coded language and I just looked at them waiting for one to say something to me but nothing was directed my way, in seconds the one that had spoken first pounced, his knife in hand before I could take a seconds breath. I quickly rolled to my right, the Dunmer savagely chasing me as the other Dark Elves disengaged.

I tried my best to swat the nuisance away but he showed perseverance in trying to slit my throat. I soon found myself trying to disarm the man but he was way too fast. All my training hadn't put me up to this fight for my life, well under the conditions that I had been lashed for what seemed like an eternity and that I was dressed in rags in an ice cold cave. I could only hope that the other Dark Elves would respect the already unfair duel to the death. My magicka was low so I stalled until I got enough power to summon an ethereal dagger.

Even though we were now similarly armed the Dunmer showed no mercy or signs of stopping. I sliced away trying at the man's throat myself. I couldn't risk landing a torso stab and the Dunmer taking me down with him. One of us was going to die, and it wasn't going to be me.

The battle had gone on for what seemed like ages longer before I realized I had one more advantages; I had the ability of a dragonborn. I could shout. That was one thing I didn't need to think about. The shouts were trained into our head during the first month of our schooling. There was an eternal force in our head's that made us know what our shouts were suppose to sound like and how they were written, we were born with one base shout. Some students branched out into others, some learned all three words in there respected shout, dragonborns could learn all shouts.

"FUS!" I shouted and it came out without any pain on my part, couldn't say the same about my opponent. The unrelenting force of my shout threw the dunmer to the ground, giving me all the opening I needed. I rushed to the man and savagely stabbed at his chest. Not wanting his suffering to be quick, he made my last few hours hell and I would make the last few seconds of his life the same hell his spirit would soon see once he past from this world.

After I had found it fit to dismount the man I sent one finishing stab to the Dark Elve's throat. I looked around; the Dark Elves just stared out me with blank expressions. I waited for them to make some sort of move to strike or double team attack but there was none. Just a quite standstill, I eventually had to cast another magelight just to see in the darkness.

I had thought the situation would ease, that was before a cold shiver went up my spine. I felt two cold fingers strike my back. To be more specific a few centimeters right of my lower spine. Something magical was behind the finger thrust because I soon found myself falling to the ground, no energy to resist falling into a deep sleep.

-Shade-

"Sorry Shade, but I don't know who to trust right now. I just need to figure things out for myself." Kobin said leaving me alone, the only mage in the courtyard right now. It was early morning and most people hadn't woken up yet. It was also the end of the week so a slight majority of the campus had traveled elsewhere.

And here I was. Not a soul to believe me. The standoff between me and Canila just proved to be a bad thing for me. I should have kept my mouth closed. It only took seconds after the verbal battle for the rumor to be spread all across the school that I was the cause of the Cafeteria brawl that cost the lives of even more students. We had already had the death toll raise this year by 48%. Who knew a college of magicka could become so treacherous? This was more of a death trap than a learning institute now and I part of the blame was on me.

I had contacts you see. My clan was a powerful one. Since I was in the school they thought me the best choice to start their little race war. After I protested they still went along with the plan I heavily advised against, the public plan. The plan that could endanger the lives of all the college students that lived here.

"Shade! Don't leave yet." Serah, the schools biggest vampy, called out to me. She was the most open about it really, every other vampy was either really secretive about it or really quiet overall. Not Serah though. She was the best.

"Don't worry I won't be going anywhere anytime soon." I said fighting back tears. I was planning on crying the rest of the morning out wallowing in my own tear-made pool of shame.

"I tailed Kobin here. I heard you needed help, but there's a more serious problem." Serah asserted. She sat down beside me and the morning air still seemed still and empty. It hurt me a little, what was more important than the cafeteria brawl that killed a number of students.

"Jacob, he's gone. Not just went on vacation gone, like he's nowhere to be found type gone." Shade said giving herself space, letting the seriousness of the moment set in, "I was working in the healing building when he was reported missing. A security mage found a young mage matching Jacob's appearance. According to him the mage was trying to get to the stockpile, a very important recourse center at the College. A few of the college's scientists were found at the scene, dead on the spot. A very quick and coordinated attack and Jacob is wanted for the murders."

"He didn't do it! I know he didn't do it!" I said, more aggressive than assertive.

"I know that just as well as you do but things have been coming along really by really sketchy since the cafeteria incident. We need to let things cool down before we make any moves. I doubt that Jet even knows what's going on with Jacob. I'd wait for him to contact us before we make another move." Serah explained in a soft and understanding voice.

"I understand. Wait until Z gets back." I didn't need to repeat it the order though, I already knew what I was going to do. I had to contact my superiors.

-Zuvejjet-

"They say this is one of the moments that bonded the tribes together in perfect unison at one point in time. The whole Argonian population staring into the sun." my father said philosophically as he lay back in the grass watching the incoming sunset.

When the sun got to the tops of the Hist trees is when things got interesting. It seemed that the whole jungle world of Argonia had erupted in celebration. Local animals howled and screamed, bird chirped in the air flying out of their nest, the consistent color of the sun bounced off the moist air giving the ecosystem around me a warm contrast. The towering hist trees changed hues several times during the sunset, each at a different pace, creating a rainbow like picture. The scene was beautiful.

I could still see one of the many rivers that passed through the jungle land. The rapids were at a distance lordly, moving on its silent but majestic course, turning the color of the quickly changing skies. The color storm interrupted periodically by a sailing brook or jumping river fish, some might say that the interruptions just augmented the image.

The Hist trees as they changed color only made me feel more powerful and in control. Was this the raw force of it? The feeling of power over everything I saw, the effects made me think of throwing fireballs up in the air and seeing them tear down the jungle until some Argonian natives came and ran me through.

It made me feel so small, just me and my family in the clearing. Looking at the treacherous world in the jungle that we weren't protected from, we were just blind to it. Blind to the beauty of the wild nature of the Argonian jungle land. I can't remember the last time my mother gave me pure hist to drink; even then I believe she mixed it with something else.

None of us said words in the minutes that followed. We just let the sun lower itself into the oblivion. That's when it got dark and we worked on our limited instincts. The jungle land wasn't the ideal place at night and we decided to lodge at a nearby visitor's hotel. I readied myself to return to the college.

-Kobin-

I let out a low guttural growl and soon my skin started to itch. My teeth elongated and saliva dripped all over my naked torso and the special underwear I knitted just for the occasion. As I transformed I focused hard, letting my bones stretch and my muscle bolster. My skin hardened and began to cover itself with black fur. The last thing I felt was my eyes, they hurt the most. They watered and reddened and if I closed them for a second I feared I would lose control. So I stared out into the snowy wilderness, seeing nothing but armies of strong white trees.

It felt like hours, days maybe, until I felt like the beast inside me was now in its total form. I knew in reality it had been less than a minute. I roared loudly, hearing the natural animals of Skyrim flee in terror. This was power, this was great!

Seeing as though I hadn't been in this form since the Dinner Hall assault it felt really relieving to finally get it out in the open. My senses improved all across the border and the cold snow felt good on my paws. It felt even better when I started running, my nails digging into the hard dirt.

That's when I smelt a gaggle of people, more importantly Forsworn, less than three hundred meters always. I could tell by the smell of the clothes that they had to be either Forsworn or adventurers who had a really bad day. I was gambling on the first one. Before I could even get within fifty meters I knew where I was going.

"I know I wasn't the only one that heard the roar a few seconds ago." One of the female foresworn announced as she started cooking up the spare meat they had, she was planning on making a stew.

"Probably just wolves, we are Forsworn for crying out loud. We could nail one of them from at least three hundred meters!" a male Forsworn swore as he sharpened the bones of his sword with a knife.

"Quiet, I hear something." The briar heart said as he withdrew his dual makeshift foresworn war axes.

I roared as soon as the briar hart came close. The man was stunned and I took the time to tackle him and fling him into a tree rendering him unconscious until after the battle was over. The rest of the Forsworn scattered, trying to get into strategic archery positions. A few arrows had buried themselves into my hide but my skin was thick and hardy. They barely penetrated as far as I was concerned.

The ones that were around the fire were shocked by my entrance and were slashed down immediately, their blood staining my claws. The shocked Forsworn didn't even getting the chance to escape my menacing claws before they were struck down.

The archers were up next and soon abandoned their long ranged weapons for more personal arms. Their lives ended the same as those before them, by my hands. After I had taken care of all the Forsworn I started nibbling off a few of them, just to get my strength up. I even went through their food supply to increase my bestial pallet.

I could imagine what atrocities these savages went through to get this food, raid a few villages. Rob and rape some merchants. These were the types of things that led them to my father probably, if my beast form could show much emotion it would probably be sad, however the adrenaline just rushed through me and the memory of my dead father went by in less than ten seconds.

"Cruel monster! What is it that you want from us?" the briar heart said recently rousing from unconsciousness. state Any sensible man would sneak attack a raging beast like me but obviously the briar heart lost more brain than he did heart.

"Food!" I tried to say but it came out nothing more than a growl. I snapped my teeth together a few times and charged at the warrior. The man was fast but my beast form was faster. He could dodge and roll all he wanted to it didn't stop me from tearing off his wrist with my teeth.

Once he was down he didn't plead for forgiveness he just slit his own throat. Didn't bother me though, the exposed neck made for choice cut of human flesh, and I solved my life problems with gluttony. The crunchy briar heart just made the meal even more delictable.

STELM: Jeez not the most exciting chapter ever but I did add that Kobin rampage for a little light ending. Rest of the chapter really detailed Jet's relationship with his parents. If you haven't figured it out yet Shade is the informer of this situation, she informs the "association which won't be named" of where certain people are at certain times in the college. If I didn't make it clear in the narrative I'm sorry.

Need some more support though guys. Don't know what to improve on with the next chapter, I mean I know what it's going to be about but I need ways to improve or else writing stories like these will become uninteresting. I mean I'm never going to grow as a writer without support from my Elder Scrolls fan base (as minute as it is) so how bout it? Even a short three line rant will do.