Chapter 3- Home and Hearth

Aralas stood at the base of the steps in Ivarstead dreading what was to come. It was late summer but the high mountain hair was still chilly, he pulled his fur lined woollen cloak around him tighter.

The path had been safe to pilgrims ever since his mother had become a thane in the Rift, patrols kept the wolves and trolls at bay, but Aralas would be safe anyway, he had his dagger and his magica.

Sighing he began to trudge up the steps, he knelt at each shrine and offered a prayer to each of the Bosmeri pantheon, he recited the ancient text his mother had made him memorize, he meditated on what he would say to master Arngeir when he reached the summit, in short he repented.

One thing Silandra had realised when he was an infant, was that her son had inherited her Dovah Sil, she had worked hard to help him master his urge to dominate, turning that drive into a thirst for knowledge and physical prowess. But the punishments had to help him master himself, so she had turned back to her Bosmeri roots, teaching Aralas to follow the green pact, reading Bosmeri texts to him, instilling the woodland discipline she had learned as a child but abandoned during her adult years.

She had also turned to the Greybeards to help him learn the discipline needed to control his Thu'um. Weeks spent in the drafty monastery meditating on the voice had helped and it was now to those masters she sent him again to punish him for his selfish use of the gift.

When a shivering Aralas knocked on the massive bronze doors, he breathed deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. The left door opened to reveal master Bori who looked at him with a kind smile, Aralas had always liked Bori. Aralas handed the greybeard his mother's letter, which Bori opened and read. Looking up afterwards at Aralas with an expression of disappointment before gesturing for him to follow.

After shutting the door behind the young Bosmer, Bori led him into the sanctuary. Master Arngeir was kneeling in the center room meditating, Bori approached him and handed him the letter, which he read then stood and turned to look at the boy with wise eyes "I have read your mother's words. Explain to me why you are here" he whispered, but the sound still made the stones tremble.

With a bowed head Aralas answered "I used my Thu'um for selfish reasons, an undefended boy's words caused me anger and I allowed that anger to control me." His voice trembled with shame for his actions.

"What was the shout you used?" Arngeir pressed implacably.

"Bovul" Aralas whispered. Arngeir stood there for a moment then rendered his judgement "you will fast for the next three days and meditate on your use of the Thu'um and your temper. On the fourth day you shall skyshout from dawn till dusk as punishment for using you Thu'um so casually. After that you will meditate for three more days on the words kah, bonaarom, and meyar-imaar [pride, humility, self-control]. Once you have done that you may return home."

Aralas bowed low from the waist "Yes master Arngeir"

A week later, Aralas met his mother at the bottom of the seven thousand steps. She smiled at him "are you alright?" she asked him, approaching him slowly with her arms outstretched, giving him the option to refuse embrace.

Aralas moved to hug her as hard as he could and said in a voice muffled by her clothes and slightly horse from the constant shouting "I'm sorry, I know what I did was wrong. Can I come home now?"

Silandra leaned down and kissed his forehead "Yes you can, Serana and Aela said that they want to show you something when we get home." Aralas nodded and together the set off to where two horses waited. When arrived home, near nightfall Silandra told him "Whilst you were with the greybeards I went back to that wizard market Diagon ally, I picked up your wand and visited the bank" Aralas nodded and followed her inside.

"Aela we're home!" called Silandra. Aela the huntress looked up from where she was sitting near the fire conversing with Serana "good to see you again Shield-sister" she replied and grunted slightly from the impact of Aralas running forward to hug her, then Serana.

The evening progressed as they usually did, quietly. After they had finished the evening meal, which consisted of a lot of meat and very little else (two werewolves, two Bosmer and a vampire make for a very carnivorous diet), Silandra brought out a long thin box and handed it to Aralas "Serana and I visited before it was done and asked to add somethings" she told him.

"It now also contains some of my hair" Serana told him as he pulled out an eleven inch long elegant bone wand covered in Bosmeri motifs of the hunt and forest.

A small tag fluttered to the ground, Aralas picked it up and read:

dragon bone, eleven and a half inches core of Dragonborn werewolf fur and daughter of Cold Harbour hair. Solid, good for conjuration and nature based charms.

He grinned as he wrapped his hand around the hilt, a warmth suffused his body and he felt the power emanating from the wand, instinctively he brought it up and slashed it diagonally like a blade. Blue green and red sparks flashed from the tip, cracking like one of J'zargo's experiments. The three women applauded and Serana smiled mysteriously at him "your letter says you can bring and Owl, Cat or Toad" she told him grinning.

She went to his mother's armoury with Aela and they both came back with something hidden behind their backs.

Serana stepped forward "I found her hanging around the castle and had a Bosmer friend of mine ask her if she wanted to be your post owl" she brought her hands out from behind her back and showed him the young snowy owl, recently fledged from the nest blinking solemnly at him.

"Greetings wing Sister" Aralas greeted her in beast speech "will you do me the honour of accompanying me to a school and act as a liaison between my family and me during the school year"

The owl blinked at him "I would be happy too, wood brother" she hooted and jumped to his shoulder, running her sharp beak through his hair and churring softly.

Aela smiled "you shouldn't go alone, and he is technically a cat" she said bringing a large snow saber cat kit out from behind her back.

Aralas grinned and reached out to stroke the large cat "Snow brother I greet you" he said.

The cat purred "I was told you were going on an adventure, can I join you wood brother?" the kit asked hopefully.

Aralas smiled "yes, let's see what the future holds snow brother." Aela put the Kit into Aralas's arms and smiled as the kit butted its head against Aralas's chest purring. He would be a big one when he got older, even now he was the size of a large housecat.

Silandra smiled at her son and held up a two talismans "I've been working on these, they are portal keys, one goes on you and the other can go on your wing-sister so she can carry messages between us, its word activated so all I need to do is key in a password for the two of you and you can come home if you need too."

That brought a big smile to Aralas's face and they spent the rest of the evening poring over his mother's library to find names for his new friends.

The remaining month before Hearthfire was filled with training, J'zargo drilled him relentlessly in his magic at the collage, working through every school at the novice level and forbidding him from using his wand, calling it a crutch.

His mother, with the help of her legion friends and the Companions, drove him at a ruthless pace for his training, working him through the sword, bow, shield and bare hands, ensuring he was in the best possible condition.

Then just when he thought he couldn't do anymore, Karliah would take him sneaking, taking him on jobs and sending him on his own, she believed in learning on the job. In any free time he had, he was studying his school texts and training in alchemy with Serana.

The end result was that his mind and body were exhausted and he need the three days of rest before the term stared on the first of Hearthfire. The snowy owl had ended up picking the name Hedwig from his school text about history, while the cat had chosen the name Snowpaw.

The three of them were inseparable, training and learning together as they prepared to enter Hogwarts. Hedwig carried letters between Silandra, Dumbledore and the ministry of Magic as she established her credibility and influence as the ambassador between the two worlds. Aralas was now protected from the racism that he had encountered on his day in Diagon ally, with Lucius Malfoy instructing Draco to befriend Aralas at the first opportunity.

General Rikke was insisting that several legionnaires be at the platform to act as an honour guard for when Aralas boarded the Hogwarts express for the first time. Silandra had protested but in the end acquiesced, she had been busy now with her negotiations with the Wizarding government and was acting as a liaison between the mages Collage and wizarding Britain.

All this happened subtlety as the existence of a world were everyone had magic was kept very quiet for fear of emigration.

Finally the big day had arrived and they were prepared to depart for the platform nine and three quarters, Silandra looked at the six legionnaires, two collage mages, Serana and Aralas who all stood around her, waiting for her to open the portal.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, channeling her power into her fist until she felt the spell reach critical, she discharged it into empty space, thinking firmly of her destination. The portal opened and she gestured to the Legionnaires to go through first. Serana cast a levitation spell on Aralas's trunk and walked through with his and Silandra with the mages following closely behind.

A/N- this is a short chapter, sort of a filler. so to the people who guessed rightly, yes they didn't get Hedwig from eylops. she was found flying around castle Volkihar. I added the saber cat for a laugh. I don't think McGonagall had a three hundred pound Saber cat in mind. true Snowpaw is a kitten now but he is pretty big. I decided to make it so that Nirn is going to enter into negotiations with the MoM and Aralas is going to be famous for being the first Nirnian student. Voldy is going to come after him because Aralas is always in the right spot to stop him and as such sets himself up as Voldy's biggest threat. Next chapter: the train ride. I'm at a bit of a loss at how to treat Draco, should he be redeemable? or should his natural superiority complex get in the way... thoughts?

Hope you like!

Safe Travels, Trojan Seeress