Chapter 7
"Oh cheer up Sil" Serana told her friend who had sighed for the fourth time in an hour.
"Sorry Rana, it's just… well I miss him." The rather unhappy looking Dragonborn told her friend, looking up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table.
"I know, I miss him too, so I made a few calls." Serana bent down and heaved her friend to her feet, frogmarching her towards the armoury.
A dark figure slid out and looked her up and down. "Damn you look bad sister" the figure said pulling down her face mask and hood.
"Karliah? What are you doing here?" Silandra asked, confused.
"Serana decided it was time for us all to go on a heist, you need to get out of the house." The dark elf told her with a slight smile.
Silandra turned to look at her friend who also smiled. "Suit up nightingale. There's stuff to be taken, I heard that there is a shipment of books bound for Solitude, wanna go shopping?" Serana told her, pulling on the armour she had made for just these occasions, black and skin tight with a cloak, hood and face mask like a nightingale's armour though with different motifs adorning it; not to mention it was enchanted to oblivion and back to keep up with the two nightingales.
They ran through the wilds of Skyrim, their dark clad bodies sliding through the night like shadows. A few unfortunate travelers had crossed their paths and had ended up with little on their person's except for their small clothes. Silandra looked at her two adopted sisters and smiled, this was something she had missed.
They paused as dawn began to break, sneaking toward a Thalmor encampment, fully determined to rob them blind and make a killing from their gear, when a portal opened from Hogwarts, startling the three women deep into the underbrush.
Aralas's owl Hedwig flew out "Lady Silandra, you must come quickly! I was told to summon you by the Lioness. She says she needs you to go to the headmaster's office immediately, something has happened to Wood-Brother." She screeched, almost incoherent with fear. McGonagall had scared the poor thing nearly to death, yelling at the owl to get Aralas's mother immediately.
To a Nirnian this meant that things were life or death and so the now nearly hysterical owl was setting the Dragonborn on high alert thinking her hatchling was in danger, "Rana, Liah! Aralas is in trouble, with me, standard cover tactics." She commanded, her eyes glowing gold as her draconian and lupine maternal instincts took a hold of her.
"Yes" the two woman said, Karliah drawing her bow and knocking an arrow, Serana charging up a spell. Silandra gripped her amulet and focused on her son's position, determined to rescue her son. "Aim to stun first, if you see a man with a long white beard, hold your fire." She commanded before the portal swirled into existence and the three black armoured women lunged through weapons drawn and ready.
Aralas stared in morbid fascination at the stuffed vulture that resided on the hat perched on the rather intimidating matron's head.
This was apparently Neville's grandmother who was even now verbally laying into the trembling boy saying things like dishonoured, reckless and idiotic. Things that, to Aralas would only harm the boys growing confidence.
Aralas would have leapt to his friend's aid but he had been immobilized and silenced after he had tried that with Hermione's parents who were doing the same on his other side. His two friends were shrinking into themselves before the face of their guardian's wrath whilst they waited for Aralas's mother to appear, professor Snape was throwing fuel to those two fires and McGonagall was still furious, whilst Dumbledore tried his best to calm the nearly hysterical Lioness.
A portal opened, starling everyone except Dumbledore and the immobile Aralas. A cloud of smoke spilled out of a cylindrical devices and three armed and black armoured women leapt through, landing in a roll and coming up with their weapons trained on the rooms occupants visible through detect life.
The smoke cleared and Dumbledore found himself staring down the shaft of an arrow pointed between his eyes by a lithe figure in skin tight black armour and hooded cape with a face mask hiding identity. Two more women had massive fire balls crackling in each hand and the one on the right was making frightening growling sounds.
"Aralas" the growling woman said "are you alright." the boys neck muscles moved as he tried to speak but was prevented from doing so.
Too late Dumbledore realised that this looked rather bad. He reached for his pocket only to be halted by the arrow pointed at his face being brought a little closer and a warning sound being made. The figure who had spoken to the boy turned and looked at the Mexican standoff.
Lady Longbottom was looking rather furious, standing over her grandson like a divine judge about to render punishment. Neville was frozen in fear and white as chalk.
The two Grangers were in a similar pose but they also had the expressions of the panicked anger of parents who were fearful for their child still frozen on their faces while Hermione was in a similar state as Neville with tears continuing to trickle down her face.
McGonagall and the other heads of house stood there, Snape with his wand half drawn and a dagger quivering in the wall a centimeter from his face. "What did you do to my son?" the woman asked in a low and dangerous voice, a pair of glowing golden eyes gleaming from beneath her hood and piercing Dumbledore to his chair.
"Hmmm, well, he is immobilised" Dumbledore managed after clearing his throat a few times. Silandra's eyes burned golden and she turned back to her son, a globe of green light appeared in her hand and she discharged the spell at her son. The light washed over him and dispelled the Terran wizard's enchantments.
"Thanks mom" Aralas told her, getting up and hugging her. The other parents stared at the small armour clad and hooded woman who's eyes had faded from glowing gold to their normal amber. Aralas looked at the others and his brow furrowed "Mama why are Aunty Rana and Aunty Liah here?" he asked, moving to hug the two women, avoiding jostling Karliah's bow and having her accidently pin the headmaster to the back wall.
"We were going shopping" Karliah told him, lowering her bow and placing the arrow back in its quiver while Serana doused her spells, standing straight and wrapping her arms around her nephew while the others in the room stared. McGonagall cleared her throat breaking the now awkward silence following this statement.
"We called you here Mrs. Stillglade because your son was found climbing school property with Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Granger. This is against the rules and can lead to a significant loss of house points and perhaps even suspension." She informed the elf with thin lips and flaring nostrils.
Silandra pulled off her hood and lowered her mask looking Aralas dead in the eye. "Explain" she told him in a quiet but commanding voice.
Aralas immediately complied, detailing their morning routine of watching the sunrise not wanting to be the focus of his mother's ire.
The teachers, Dumbledore, the Grangers and Lady Longbottom watched in silence, instinctually knowing that a leader was present and letting her lead. Neville and Hermione were using this opportunity to carefully slink out of the immediate range of their guardians and at the end of the explanation were both almost hiding behind their friend. Silandra looked at her son and tilted her head to the side "What did you do to ensure your friends' safety?" she asked him.
"Ropes tying us together at first, afterwards nothing once they became confident" He explained, the tension bleeding from his shoulders.
"And if they had fallen?" she asked raising a delicate brow, Aralas smiled "Jump after, grab hold and Feim." He answered. A small smile appeared on her face "excellent" she told him, ruffling his hair and he grinned at the praise, his chest puffing out slightly.
"You cannot condone these actions!" Minerva said in a scandalised tone and the other adults nodded, Lady Longbottom puffing herself up in preparation to add her voice to the oncoming storm.
"Yes I can lady McGonagall" Silandra told her with icy calm. "Aralas is a Bosmer, we are both highly social and natural climbers. Our natural habitat is the forest of Valenwood were the trees are so large we build our cities among their branches. It is also a part of his nature as Dovahkiin to see his environment from the highest vantage point he can find, the fact that he helped his friends join him shows his willingness to work as a team."
Here she fixed her eyes gently on Neville. "What did you feel when you followed Aralas out there the first time" she asked him gently.
"I was t…t…terrified" the boy whimpered, but found no judgment or anger in Silandra's amber eyes.
"Yet you went anyway? Despite your fear you followed your friend?" she probed, looking at him kindly. The boy nodded, a small tinge of courage rekindling itself in his chest.
Silandra turned to Hermione "and what did you fear?" she asked soothingly, drawing the frightened girl out of her shell with deft ease.
"Being exp..pelled and falling" the girl practically sobbed, causing her parents to look at each other in shame to realise that they had reduced their daughter to tears, their fear driven anger abating in the aura of calm the small elf was radiating.
"Yet you still went, didn't you" Silandra pushed and like Neville, Hermione nodded mutely the three friends drawing together to support each other, drawing strength and courage from their unity.
Silandra stood straight and focused her eyes on the teachers, Karliah and Serana moving to the children and putting comforting arms around their shoulders. "If I remember correctly these three children were sorted into the house that values courage and nobility" She stated, looking at the adults.
"Yes, Gryffindor, my house" McGonagall replied, also calming under the Dragonborns aura.
"Then is it not laudable that these children faced something they feared and overcame those fears as well as ensuring that their fellows did not go alone?"
McGonagall felt trapped. "Yes, but the broke school rule that are in place for their safety." she persisted.
Silandra raised a delicate eyebrow "but they were never in danger, Aralas knows a shout that will cause him and whomever he is in physical contact with to become invulnerable for a period of time. He had proper safety measures in place and a plan for the worst case scenario. Is that also not laudable? He thought ahead, aided his friends in facing their fears, all traits you would wish to encourage in this school if I am not mistaken" she posed this as a question but everyone could see that it was a challenge.
McGonagall met the Dragonborns eyes without flinching. "Yes" she replied succinctly, her Gryffindor courage asserting itself. "But they are my responsibility as I am their head of house. Their safety is in my hands."
Serana made a sound of agreement "she has a point Sil, and she is the equivalent of a thane. There are people under her protection. She didn't know about Aralas's abilities so from her point of view she acted as was correct."
McGonagall nodded and Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Perhaps an arrangement could be made. You three watched the sunrise from that ledge every morning?" he asked, turning his attention back to the three children.
Stillglade nodded "Yes sir."
Dumbledore smiled "Then why not make the path to and from that ledge safe so that they may continue to do it but in a manner that meets Minerva's safety standards.
"I must protest" Augusta Longbottom began and Neville wilted "This boy is obviously a bad influence on my grandson. They should be separated." She stated, turning her eyes on her grandson and his friends.
Surprisingly it was not Aralas who leapt to her friend's defence, but Hermione "You can't do that!" she cried, fixing her brown eyes on Lady Longbottom "Neville and Aralas are my friends. I don't care what you say, but I am not going to lose my very first friends just because you think one of them in a bad example." She told the adults in the room, her eyes blazing.
"Here, here" Aralas cheered at Neville who began to re-inflate at his friends defence.
"Perhaps we should allow the children to make their own decisions regarding their friendships?" Mr. Granger said tentatively.
"If you can promise that Hermione will not fall to her death then I guess there is little we can do short of withdrawing her from Hogwarts." Mrs. Granger added with a sigh.
"I believe an accurate punishment is a deduction of house points for Mr. Stillglade falling to inform a teacher about his ability to keep him and his friends safe, and perhaps some form of detention with Mr. Filch to drive home the point" Dumbledore supplied looking around at the various people now crowding his office.
Silandra and her friends nodded, the grangers looked a little accepting and Lady Longbottom looked ready to spit tacks. "And before you begin shouting Augusta, may I remind you that frank was in similar scrapes with his friends" McGonagall said, heading off the coming explosion.
Now that McGonagall was calmer she realised that it was not unlike some of the many escapades of the Marauders in their hay day, and looking at it from the point of view of facing fears her inner Gryffindor could find little fault with Silandra's reasoning.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor each and detention with Mr. Filch for a week" she told the three children who all looked extremely down cast.
"Aralas has a lesson with Companion Farkas and has invited Hermione and Neville to join him. This is a huge opportunity as he is one of the finest in our company" Silandra said smiling at the three and her left eyelid twitching in the slightest wink to her son. "I believe the meetings will be taking place near you forest" she added, looking at her friends.
"Seeing as we're here we may as well help." Serana said with a smile and Karliah nodded, catching on Silandra's subtle hint.
"Very well off you go" Dumbledore told the three children who all gave tentative smiles and lead Aralas's aunts through the hallways.
Silandra turned her amber eyes on the teachers "on Nirn a message such as the one you sent me would indicate my son was in a life or death situation. I expect you to be fair and demand explanations before you go about punishing your students, she then turned on the parents "Your children need to learn how to be independent, you're shouting and criticism will only damage their self-esteem." Her eyes lingered on Lady Longbottom who met her gaze for a minute before lowering her eyes in submission to the power Silandra was exuding.
"Farewell." Silandra told the assemblage before opening a portal and vanishing into it.
"Are you guys still going to be my friends?" Aralas asked a little anxiously as they moved through the halls toward the Gryffindor tower to pick up Aralas's equipment and then towards the entrance hall, the two adults pretending not to hear the children's whisperings.
"Of course!" Hermione told him, slightly affronted "Your both my first friends, I won't give you up now."
She smiled and Neville nodded "You guys don't call me useless or a disgrace..." he mumbled "I don't want to lose that."
They continued down the halls with smiles on their faces, their friendship stronger than ever in the face of a threat that could have torn it apart.
The first thing Hermione saw of their instructor was an impossibly tall figure dressed in what looked like steel and fur armour with a massive broad sword slung across his back with a large chest at his feet. "Hmmm, your late" he grumbled, his voice deep and his brown eyes roaming over them to stop on the two women behind them "You here to help?" he asked.
The tall pale one nodded with the blue skinned elf lady smiled "Can't let you have all the fun Farkas" she told him, her eye glittering with mischief.
"Hmmmf" the man snorted before turning his eyes on the children. "Good to see you pup" he said looking at Aralas who grinned and hugged the big man.
"Hey uncle Farkas" he said before backing up and gesturing to his friends. "This is Neville and Hermione, they want to learn too" he said and the armoured man looked them up and down.
"Hmmmf, fine then, Pup get into your training gear, you two come with me" he commanded turning away.
Aralas nodded and went a little way into the forest, slipping into his leather breeches, boot and leather vest.
Hermione and Neville followed the man to the chest and he opened it, hold ing various sized outfits against them before finally thrusting boots, pants and vest at them and gesturing to the woods from which Aralas had just emerged holding his robes and a belt with a curved golden dagger on it. "Go get changed and hurry back whelps" he told them.
Blushing furiously the two children went a little ways into the underbrush and separated, coming out a few minutes later dressed similarly to their friend.
"You are here because you asked to be" Farkas told them as they stood in front of him and the two women. "As such you will remember to do as I say and not complain. If this is too much or you to handle you can leave but don't come crawling back to me later. This is an opportunity to learn something. Don't waste it" he grunted at them.
Hermione and Neville found themselves resolving to succeed no matter what. This resolve was tested thoroughly in the next half hour. Farkas lead them through stretches and warm ups that had Hermione and Neville gasping with sweat dripping down their faces as the struggled to keep up.
He and the women made them run, stretch, jump, tumble and fall, at one point tossing them through the air so they could learn how to properly land and dissipate energy as well as hurling various things at them as they learned to dodge. Aralas thrived under this, dodging the fireballs his aunt was throwing at them with a grin on his face as he rolled around like a ball, often helping his friends understand moves and landings.
After an hour they moved to weapons, Neville and Hermione working their way through the myriad of training weapons as they were instructed on the basics by Farkas while Aralas sparred with Karliah using daggers.
They paused briefly for a lunch of cold water and a piece of bread for everyone except Aralas, with a large slab of meat and some kind of soft yellow cheese before they continued. It was around three when their lesson was concluded. They trudged up to the castle on legs that felt like they were made of jelly.
"You did this every day?" Neville gasped as they settled gingerly into the soft chairs of the Gryffindor common room, their strange attaire drawing looks from the other students.
"Nothing that intense" Aralas sighed as he dug a knuckle into the side of his neck, relieving a tight muscle with a groan.
"Some of those things he was talking about, have you really been kidnapped?" Hermione asked him, sipping from a glass of water that had appeared near her.
"Yeah, a bunch of Thalmor thought they could get to mum through me. They stormed the house when she was away and kidnapped me. I managed to kill one but they over powered me, I was six at the time. When mum found out she burned their hideout to the ground and hung them by their ankles over the blaze… she can be kind of ruthless" he told them.
The other two looked at him but were too tired to be shocked or revolted.
"I'm going to bed early" Hermione told them, standing and hobbling toward the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, all it will end in is you not being able to sleep the night." Aralas called after her.
"I'll live" she told him with an errant wave. It was five in the evening and dinner would be in another hour.
The two boys looked at each other and with a shrug followed her lead, though Aralas sat and read a book in his bed while Snowpaw sat in his lap and purred.
A/N- *Sigh* I'm truly sorry for this abysmal chapter. I wrote myself into a corner and then wrote the escape when I was high on morphine….. I was in an accident recently that left me with some cracked ribs, whiplash and a broken leg…. So sorry for being slow on the update. The good news is I'm alive and home safe, though mobility is a bloody pain and the drugs are a little interesting…. Hope you enjoy the insane ramblings every one…
Safe travels, Trojan seeress.