Fate's Games
(A/N: Second up today.)
Hourglass
She remembered when she'd first come to the college. She remembered it very well. She was young, very young, and she had had next to no skill. But she'd wanted to learn. Oh how she'd wanted to learn. She'd wanted to cross the bridge, but the one posted there—at that time it had been Urag, she believed—had given her a task she couldn't hope to complete. She didn't have that ability yet. She showed him what she could do, her best spell, but he hadn't been impressed. The other one watching, however, had been. Savos had taken note of her, and he saw the potential. He had commanded the orc to let her come.
She had studied extensively under his personal command. He would let no other teacher near her. He had claimed her as his and he would keep it that way. And she learned… Oh how she learned. And magic wasn't the only thing. She admired him so much, and he told her such stories… Including Labyrinthian. He'd never told anyone else about it. None but her… And he'd wept as he spoke of the event, and she listened and held him close to her and she knew… He had become more than her teacher. So, so much more. He had become her lover…
He had become her lover and it was so taboo, so wrong—Arch-mage and student?—but she didn't care. Time passed and she learned his skills, learned everything, and as she went from student to teacher to his second in command—for she had wanted to remain here with him—he began grooming her for something. She wasn't sure what. She couldn't understand. What was he preparing her for? Then she knew. She knew because she once went to his room uninvited, and he was there gazing at an hourglass.
ES
She had been curious, but something told her not even she was allowed inside at that point. She tried to slip away, but he spoke and asked her, "Mirabelle, do you know what the hourglass symbolizes?"
She froze and blushed deeply. Coming out of hiding she replied, "It symbolizes time."
"And so much more," Savos added. He looked back at her and he seemed so much older, so weak, so tired… Her heart dropped and she dreaded to know where this was going.
"What's going on?" she asked fearfully, approaching him.
He looked back at the hourglass as she wrapped her arms beneath his own and placed her hands on his shoulders, leaning into him. He shivered and she smirked. He shivered every time she so much as brushed passed him. "No doubt you've wondered what I am grooming you for," he remarked.
"Yes," she admitted. He absently kissed the back of her hand, still on his shoulder, then turned and wrapped his arms softly around her, nuzzling her forehead gently. She grinned and felt so happy and so protected, like nothing bad would ever happen to her, to them.
"You were the best student in this college. You are the most skilled mage here," he said.
"Next to you, Tolfdir, and Urag," she corrected. He smirked softly and gently kissed her.
"All men die, my pet," he whispered to her, and all at once cold dread gripped her unlike any she'd ever felt before, and in horror she looked up at him. "All men die, and when I am gone you will take my place as Arch-Mage."
"Me?" she asked in shock, suddenly feeling so elated, so proud, yet at the same time so distressed, for the word 'die' was still ringing in her mind. He nodded, softly smiling. Her glow faded, however, and worriedly she said, "Savos, why are you speaking of death?"
"Look at the hourglass," he replied. She did so, moving around him to stand in front. It was almost empty, she noted. Then his arms wrapped around her wistfully. Then her eyes lit up. Then she became pale.
"No…" she breathed, catching on.
"That hourglass symbolizes my life, and what is left of it," he stated simply. She was shaking. Suddenly she was sobbing and he was holding her so, so tightly. She fell against his chest weeping and begging him to tell her this was all a lie or a dream. He could only hold her closer still and shake his head. No, this wasn't a dream, this wasn't a lie. His life would end, very soon. He gave her a medallion and told her that when the time came, she would know what to do with it, and she sensed it had to do with the Dragonborn in their halls. All through this one name burned in her mind. Ancano…
ES
He had been right… Savos had been right… She lay against the pillar, gravely injured. The Dragonborn stood there, so concerned. "I'm fine, find the Arch-Mage," she ordered, though why she bothered she didn't know. She knew what had happened to him. The hourglass was right… Her lover had thrust her behind the pillar protectively, and the blast had hit him so, so hard, and he'd… he'd just disappeared. She knew the moment he threw her into safety that he was gone. He was dead, and her reason for living was gone with him.
She rose up slowly. Ancano was unaware. She couldn't get to him, she knew, but she had to get the students and others out. And perhaps, if Julianos granted her one respite, she would die along with her friend, her teacher, her beloved… Swiftly she moved to help the others, and she stayed behind, and she was aware only of the comforting embrace of death as it reached out for her, and of his embrace as she once more joined him; and the last grain dropped from her own glass.
(A/N: Quest referenced: Unsure of name but it's the last one in the Mages College.)