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Chapter 15 - The Great Restoration

The meeting Arch-Mage Faralda had requested was held on the Great Porch of Dragonsreach. The attendees were an illustrious group: High King Balgruuf, Jarls Kraldar of Winterhold and Gelebor of Blackreach, the Arch-Mage, Masters Tolfdir, Colette Marence, and Calcelmo. The Dragonborn and her husband were there as well, with Odahviing perched on the balcony.

Balgruuf called the meeting to order, then turned to Faralda. "You said you have an offer for us, Arch-Mage, so if you'll take over?"

"Certainly, Your Highness." Faralda stood, looking around the conference table. "Thank all of you for coming. This concerns some discoveries made in the Sightless Pit library by Master Calcelmo and his colleagues, with contributions by Masters Tolfdir and Marence. We can go into detail later, if you wish, but in short, we believe their work will allow a large enough group of mages to reverse the Great Collapse."

That naturally caused a loud reaction. Balgruuf let it go on for a couple of minutes before saying, "Enough!" His attention went back to Faralda. "Now, in layman's terms, tell us what this is all about."

"In layman's terms?" Faralda smiled. "I'll do my best. You all know the Alteration school has a Telekinesis spell, which can move things by use of magica?"

That got nods around the conference table. "And that the Restoration school can move broken bones into the places they belong, then fuse them together?"

Nods again, and Odahviing spoke, sounding amused. "They have discovered that their skills, combined with Dwemer earth-moving spells, can mend the qethsegol ... which means all 'bones of the earth', not just those used as Word Walls, as the term is usually used. The process has been tested, though of course on a much smaller scale."

Kraldar looked at the dragon. "You're serious? You really think they could reverse the Great Collapse?"

"I would not be here if I thought otherwise," Odahviing said calmly. "It will not be easy, and the mages will at best be exhausted at the end. Some may be dead. But all who will take part accept the risk. The question is whether the rest of you will accept your small risk, or refuse to even try."

Kraldar studied Faralda. "I'm willing to let you try, even given the risk of losing the rest of Winterhold, with one condition. Since Odahviing says some of the mages might die, only volunteers may participate."

Odahviing chuckled. "All will be volunteers, who have been shown pictures of what the land was like before the Great Collapse. Even those who do not live there now are related to those who do, and offer their services freely. They will be taught and coordinated by the College mages, aided by some of us who actually remember Winterhold in its glory."

"When will you be able to do it?" Kraldar asked. "I'd really like to get Winterhold back to being a contributing part of Skyrim, rather than a poor relation."

"The spells are simple enough," Faralda said. "I'm sure we can be ready for the attempt by next Mondas."

"Then we gather at Winterhold next Morndas morning," Balgruuf said.

The weather the day of the attempt was unusually pleasant for Winterhold, sunny and barely below freezing, with only a gentle breeze. More than two hundred mages lined the shore, mostly Odmer, but there were representatives of all races in the gathering. Some had equipped helmets or jewelry with waterbreathing and newly developed water-vision enchantments, to go underwater for the initial work. Spectators were on the mountainside above the city, and thanks to dragons spreading the word, there were far more of them than had been at the meeting - and there would have been still more, except that there was no room, and a lot of people had had to be turned away.

Odahviing was with Faralda and Tolfdir on the lower end of the causeway to the College, using his greater volume to make their orders audible to everyone. The first order came as soon as the sun was high enough to light up the split between the mainland and the island that held the College. "Divers down!"

About half the mages descended the cliffs into the water, and the work began. There was nothing to be seen from the spectator area at this point, so Balgruuf turned to Calcelmo. "If I understand correctly, you're using Dwemer magic for part of this?"

"A rock-fusing technique that makes repairs stronger than the original, yes," Calcelmo said. "But the most important part is the knowledge they left us of how magic works." He shook his head, smiling ruefully. "They worked out the underlying principles of sympathy and contagion. It's the principle of contagion that makes this reconstruction possible. You see, if two items have ever been in contact, they leave ... traces on each other, depending on how close the contact was and how long it lasted. A brief contact may be difficult or impossible to trace, you understand."

"That seems clear enough," Balgruuf said. "But the rock of Winterhold was in close contact for ... millennia, before the Great Collapse, so it's easier?"

"Oh, yes indeed," Calcelmo said. "Very good, Highness. Thanks to the Law of Contagion, the qethsegol can be placed very precisely by telekinesis, then rejoined by the rock-fusing. A very elegant combination of the Alteration and Restoration schools, don't you think?"

"I do indeed, Master Calcelmo."

Sorcalin approached and chuckled. "And if I understand correctly, Master, even weak spots that allowed the Great Collapse in the first place can be found and corrected during this operation?"

Calcelmo turned. "Master Sorcalin! Yes, certainly, and it will be - or I should say, even though we can't see it - is being done."

Balgruuf turned to Sorcalin. "It's good to see you here, though I hadn't expected it."

Sorcalin smiled. "When we heard about it, we decided it might be a good thing for our young tourist to see."

"I agree. How's his tour going, by the way?"

"Quite well, thanks. I think he's fallen in love with Skyrim food and drink, by the way. Oh, have you heard he married his bodyguard?"

"I heard rumors that sounded like that ... with Ysmir presiding, though? I didn't think she was a priestess."

Sorcalin laughed. "Yes, and I think she was rather appalled by it. But Lady Mara made it pretty unmistakable when She gave Imiril and Arenim their rings."

"Oh, look!" someone yelled, and everyone's attention turned to the reconstruction site. A huge rock was rising from the water, fastening itself to the base of the College causeway. A flare of magica sealed it there, then other stones followed, left, right, and up and the spectators began cheering.

It took the whole day, but by the time dusk began falling, the Great Collapse had been reversed. All of the mages involved were collapsed from exhaustion, but only two had died, and the rest were being treated. By morning, they should be fine. The College's former island was part of the mainland again, the causeway - now more like a pathway - between city and college completely supported again, and another couple of islands also reattached.

"It is accomplished," Odahviing said, somehow both calm and triumphant.

"Indeed it is," Jarl Kraldar said, beaming. "Once everyone's recovered and I can make preparations, we'll have a celebration. Call it a week from today, and you're all invited."

Imiril waited until the mages had been taken to places they could recover, and most of the observers had left, before he turned to Andreius. "That was ... I've never seen anything like it. So many mages working on a single project - and a project so huge, based on Dwemer knowledge. Something this tremendous ... the Dragonborn must have been involved!"

Yssha had delayed her departure, wanting to talk to her uncles, so she heard that and chuckle-purred. "Not this time, my young friend. All the credit here goes to Calcelmo for the magic research, Faralda and Tolfdir for the coordination, and the mages who did the actual work." She smiled. "Shall we walk down and get a closer look?"

"Yes, please." Imiril ran on ahead, Arenim close behind.

Yssha smiled at her uncles as their group descended more slowly. "How is the trip going?"

Andreius laughed. "Not quite as planned, that's for sure. That wedding, for example ... but I think it's working out to be a good thing, for both of them. I wonder, have you heard anything from Imperial City or Alinor about it?"

"The Emperor is delighted," Yssha said, purring softly. "His subjects in Alinor are of two minds. The older people are dubious, thinking it makes him look headstrong and overly impulsive, while the younger ones think Mara herself, by giving them their rings, is encouraging younger marriage. Unlike their elders, they are in favor of that."

"Pretty much what we expected," Sorcalin said. "And what of your own difficulty in Markarth?"

Yssha sighed. "Mother Hamal cleansed the orphanage and abandoned house. The house has been sealed, and Honmund's mace placed in Calcelmo's museum under guard, for whatever good that will do. The orphanage is still being cleaned and refurnished. I can only hope children will not be too frightened to live there again. If they are, I will have to find someplace else. Which I will."

Andreius frowned. "So you can't keep them from recreating their artifacts, right?"

"So it would seem." Yssha scowled. "That does not seem right ... but Grams always told me life was not fair. Still, mortals should have some protection from the evil Daedra, other than Divines weakened by creating the mortals themselves."

Sorcalin snorted. "There used to be a Prince who served that purpose. Not deliberately, of course, just by keeping the rest so busy defending against him that they didn't have the time or attention to mess with mortals very much. But the rest got tired of that and cursed him to become the embodiment of what he hated most. Have you heard of Jyggalag?"

"Yes, but very little. The Lord of Order, as I recall, turned into Sheogorath except for a brief time every eon, during the ... I believe it is called the Greymarch."

"Correct," Andreius said. "Once an era, Jyggalag returns and subdues the Shivering Isles briefly, before Sheogorath re-manifests. Ysshaya had the opportunity to kill Jyggalath and end the Greymarch, but that would have meant her becoming the new Sheogorath while Jyggalath went to the Waters of Oblivion."

"That doesn't make any sense," Nevan said. "Why not kill Sheogorath instead, or just find some way to lift the curse?"

"If you figure some way to accomplish either, we can give it a try." Andreius shrugged. "I don't know of any, but since you come from a different plane, you might be able to come up with something."

"I'll definitely do my best," Nevan promised. "Maybe see if there are any clues in the Sightless Pit library - you and Sorcalin probably know whatever's in the College library."

"That sounds like a good start," Andreius agreed. "Now let's look at this restored land."

"It stinks," Yssha said, her nose wrinkling.

"It sure does," Serana said. "Well, now we know what a sea bottom smells like. At least bringing the rock fragments up through the water washed them off, or it'd be even worse, and we might be wading mud, as well."

Imiril was kneeling, studying one of the joints, when the group approached him and Arenim. "This is incredible ... you can barely see the seam. I never would have thought of using Restoration magic on stone, of all things."

"I wonder ... " Arenim said slowly.

"Wonder what, love?" Imiril asked. "Maybe the same thing I'm thinking, that these spells would greatly speed up rebuilding Alinor City?"

"Exactly." She smiled. "Maybe we should hire some of the Odmer mages to travel to Alinor and teach the spells, perhaps even help in the reconstruction."

"Only if they're willing to work for almost nothing," Imiril said, and sighed. "The surrender included paying reparations to Dovahkiin for her suffering at the hands of the Thalmor, and to the Empire for the costs of the invasion. So until those are paid, we're on a very tight budget."

Yssha frowned. "Ko vahzen? I was not aware that personal reparations were included."

"Truly," Imiril said. "And you deserve them, but with the Thalmor out of the picture and unable to pay, the burden falls on our people."

"But that's not fair!" Arenim exclaimed.

"Life isn't fair," Imiril and Yssha said, at the same time. They exchanged grins, then Yssha continued. "Life is not, but individuals may make the effort. I do not wish to punish those who had nothing to do with my captivity, particularly since that was the best way for Bormah to isolate me for lessons I needed to learn away from everyday life. So Your Highnesses may consider the personal reparations forgiven."

"Highnesses?" Arenim looked blank. Then she flushed. "Great Auri-El! I am now, aren't I?"

Yssha chuckle-purred, others with her simply chuckled. "You are indeed, Queen Arenim. You are only now realizing that?"

"Um." Arenim hesitated. "Well, yes. You understand I've been ... ah, preoccupied with things other than concern with my social status."

Marcurio laughed. "I should hope so! Newlyweds should have other things on their minds." He made shooing motions. "Now go to wherever you plan to spend the night, and hire your mages when they've recovered enough."