Chapter 2 Play, Work and Embarrassment
After spending many weeks of traveling from Helgen to The Embassy, wearing his favorite hooded Thalmor robe as Faun found it relaxing to feel the warm breeze brush against his face as his long white hair gently danced in the breeze. He wondered if remaining in Skyrim would be a good change in his troubled life but he knew full well that would only remain a faraway dream when his traveling companion jumped on his back, almost made him fall over.
"CICERO! I TOLD YOU A HUNDRED TIMES, THAT I WON'T CARRY YOU ON MY BACK!" He yelled, trying to break free from the jester's hold on him. He stopped as he shook his upper body in hope of shaking the man off his back, "Awe, but Cicero is tired of walking and you owe poor Cicero for not killing me." The jester said while holding faun tightly and making it hard for the high elf to shake him off, with the jester's legs swinging around. Cicero quickly lifts himself up higher and wrapped his legs around faun's sides to have a good hold on him. "Fine, but get off my back when we see a traveller coming our way…okay, Cicero" the elf was not very happy with the extra weight on his back but the jester was right, he did owe him though now he wondered if he should regret it now.
While walking to Winterhold with Cicero on his back, he held onto the man's legs so the jester won't fall off and take Faun down with him. The high elf wondered if this was a bad idea when he felt like someone was watching them when he noticed Cicero's hold slowly weaken and just hung low, "He's…A SLEEP!" Faun thought to himself as he turned his head to look back only to see the jester sleeping with his head against the elf's head. The Thalmor spy was now having trouble trying to keep Cicero on his back from falling so he had no choice but to slouch over a bit to maintain balance of himself and his companion from rolling down the steep mountain.
"When I get to the Collage, I am going to dump this jester on his arse and leave him there for Ancano to look after. I am no care taker and I will not tolerate this behavior any longer then necessary" Faun muttered to himself, baring his teeth in annoyance when he paused for a moment to rest his tired legs.
Faun was tired of carrying the man but he found it a good way to exercise and strengthen his legs in case of having to fight more bandits. That reminded him of the rumors he heard back in Riverwood of bandits near Winterhold, the high elf had a good idea of waking Cicero up and making him cranky enough to help him take on bandits.
So what the elf did next was a surprising and bad way of waking a crazy jester, Tossing Cicero off his back and into the deep snow. Faun turned to look at the man so he could see if that worked which it did, but he did not think Cicero would attack him when the little man woke up freezing cold and deep in snow, Cicero quickly opened his eyes and gave Faun a dark glare. Giving Faun a sign that he did not find it funny at all, the jester quickly grabbed his Ebony dagger and got up fast to swing his dagger at the high elf in rage.
Faun quickly gasped when he dodged each attack, trying his best to avoid any wounds and when he had the chance, the elf quickly jumped to his left and turned to run up the path fast to make Cicero chase him. At first, Faun found it scary to be stabbed multiple times by the jester but he realized he was laughing while running.
After a while of running and laughing, a Winterhold Guard saw two figures running around in the snow up ahead of him so he walked a bit closer to see what was going on when he saw a Thalmor and a jester, having a snow ball fight and chasing each other around. "Hmph, over grown children, Here I thought the Thalmor did not know the meaning of fun" the guard thought to himself when he turned back to go report what he saw.
Faun was did not even notice the guard watching them play around in the snow, he did not even remember having this much fun in his youth. It felt like being free just for that moment in his life when Cicero thrown a snowball at faun's chest, causing the high elf to take two steps back before Faun realized he was falling behind on his job which was disappointing to him.
"Let us end this game now, Cicero. If you behave, maybe I will buy you a few sweet rolls before we head out again" he spoke calmly as he dust the show off his robes. "Don't you worry, Cicero will behave himself and try his best not to embarrass his dear friend in front the others." Cicero gave faun a smile to insure that he would obey, though the jester had a few tricks up his sleeves for his dear elf friend.
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Previously on Play, Work and Embarrassment
Faun walked down the road with his companion by his side, humming a tune as usual when the high elf notice some of the nord men were looking at him with a smirk and whispering to each other. The women giggled to themselves as Faun and Cicero walked by which felt a bit strange to the high elf since in his travels, people feared or hated his presents.
Cicero of course did not mind it at all since he was in his own little world; Faun sometimes envied his companion to have the ability to block out the world at most times, when they made it to the bridge leading to the collage.
The GateKeeper Faralda stood guard of the bridge and when she spotted two figures walking up to her, she walked to him and stopped them. "What is your business here at the college, Thalmor." she asks the High elf with her arms crossed her chest; Faun looked at the Altmer woman to answer her question. Cicero quickly answered her, "Cicero and his elf friend here, have business with the mage collage" he pat Faun on the back with a smile.
The high elf turned his head to look at the jester with disapproving eyes, he was annoyed but yet his companion was right. Thankfully the jester did not say more than that as he turned his head to look back at the woman, "My companion is indeed right, I have come to… check up on an old 'Friend' of mine. That is all" Faun spoke with a calm voice, yet he was a bit uneasy to see Ancano again and hoped not to be set on fire or frozen in ice again.
"Before you can enter the collage, I got a test for you, Try to demonstration of your magic by conjuring up a flame atronach." She told the high elf as she waited for an answer from him.
Faun looked at her, "Just one moment please while I speak with my friend here." He quickly turns and grabs Cicero's arm, leading him back down the path near old abandon house. Once he stopped to let go of the jester's arm, Cicero turned to face his friend and gave him a suspicious look. "Cicero, we have a problem" Faun whispered as he looked a bit worried with his gloved hands rubbing together like he was cold, Cicero spoke with his usual loud voice, "Why is faun scared of…" his mouth was covered when the high elf quickly moved his hands forward and hushed the jester. "Quiet! I do not want anyone to hear us if you're loud…" Faun whispered as he sighs, lowering his head a bit in shame when he continued to talk.
"I… I cannot conjure up a Flame Atronach nor can I use magic of any kind in that matter" he pulled his hands away from covering Cicero's mouth. The high elf looked up at the jester to see if he understood and what he heard next was not pleasant at all. Cicero took a few steps back, looking at Faun for a moment before he burst out laughing and holding his sides. "I'm not jesting with you, Cicero. I really can't cast magic at all" the elves straighten his back and crossed his arms. Not liking it when he was laughed at and since Cicero was having a jolly good time laughing, faun uncrossed his arms and reached down to pick up some snow.
Not far from them, Faralda watched in curiosity when she saw the Thalmor Throw the snowball at his Companion, she slightly giggled at the sight. "So the Guard was right, he did saw a Thalmor throw a snowball." She quietly muttered to herself and waited for the two to return with their answer, though she thought of just letting them by or tell the High elf about the rumor that went by.
After the snowball fight and getting embarrassed of hearing about him 'playing in the snow', Faun and Cicero made their way to the collage courtyard when they were greeted by Ancano himself. "Hopefully the rumor did not reach him or I will never hear the end of it"