Chapter Summary: Miranja explores the northeast coastline with Erik, and when they reach Winterhold, she can no longer resist the call of the college. But things get heavy quickly, and then a courier shows up with a less intimidating proposition from Windhelm.
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The next day they explored the northeastern coastline: cold, majestic, and deadly. The icy waters nearly killed Miranja as they swam out to explore the Winter War, in spite of her half-Nord blood and a cold-resistance potion. It was Erik who had to open her pack, retrieve the cold resistance and health restoration potions, and carefully pour them into Miranja's mouth. Even he, a full-blooded Nord, had trouble with his stiff fingers.
"Tell me again why I keep doing these things to myself," Miranja whispered as she waited for the potions to take effect.
"I would have to guess that either you subconsciously feel you need to be punished for something, or you enjoy the rush of adventure and discovery," Erik smiled, holding her head in his lap.
"Maybe a little of both," Miranja smiled wryly, looking up at his upside-down face. She lay still for another moment, reveling in the sensation of warmth and vitality filling her body. When she was ready, she sat up, kissed Erik with a stroke of his cheek and a tousle of his hair, and redonned her pack. Erik helped her pull her cloak back down over it, and then they were off to take out more bandits, snow bears, ice wolves, and snow sabre cats. Fortunately, after Miranja nearly died again fighting the Winter War bandits, they found an abandoned fishermen's camp with a serviceable rowboat, and did the rest of their exploring much more safely.
They spent the rest of the day exploring, hoping to make it to Winterhold before it got too late, but ended up spending the night in an abandoned horker hunters' camp. They checked out a few more places the next day, since the weather was clear enough to see distant landmarks, and found their way up to Winterhold in the afternoon.
Miranja attended what was supposed to be her first class, which really only consisted of practicing wards, then Tolfdir, the instructor, decided they should take a little field trip to the Saarthal excavation site to check out the sorts of magical wards the ancients used on their crypts. It was getting rather late in the day, though, so they planned to go in the morning. Miranja spent the evening getting to know her classmates.
Although Winterhold had once been heavily populated with Dunmer mages, there were very few here now, and Brelyna Maryon was the only Dunmer in the apprentice-level classes. She was remarkably sweet, once she got past her defensiveness about being a Dunmer and family expectations and such, and very keen on alteration. J'zargo, the only Khajiit in the apprentice level, was extremely ambitious and competitive, and focused on the school of destruction magic. The one Nord apprentice, who seemed almost as innocent as Erik, hadn't completely decided which school he wanted to focus on, but he was leaning toward illusion. He confided to her that he had traded his family amulet to Enthir, the resident "black market" guy, and he was now having second thoughts, but Enthir refused to give it back. He entreated her to help him, and she promised she would see what she could do, but advised him not to expect any miracles.
There was something indefinably sexy about the prickly Bosmer, and when he refused more than once to go back on the trade, Miranja turned on the charm and offered to suck him in return for the amulet. Enthir was quite willing to accept her offer, but he also demanded that part of the deal would be that she retrieve some staff he'd traded to someone else, that was supposed to be hidden in some creepy place in Falkreath hold.
"Oh, so you can go back on your trades, but Onmund can't? Hypocrite."
"This is a completely different situation," Enthir insisted, explaining it to her again condescendingly. Irritated with his stubbornness, and being pretty stubborn herself at times like this, she told him she'd get the staff, and he'd get his damned blowjob – and the staff – when he gave the amulet back. The deal was struck.
The next morning, after breakfast, the little group of apprentices – and Erik – headed to Saarthal. Saarthal started out rather boring, until Miranja found one of the wards Tolfdir had been talking about, and in the process she opened up an untouched area of the crypt. They made their way down a short passageway to a small chamber with three coffins around the perimeter. As they stood marveling and wondering how much more was beyond that hadn't yet been unearthed, time suddenly seemed to stand still, and the room around Miranja faded away. She found herself speaking to – an apparition? He called himself Nerien, said he was a Psijic monk, and told her she'd set something big in motion. There would be danger ahead and Miranja would have to see it through. He said the Psijics believed in her and would be monitoring but couldn't interfere. Miranja had to wonder if this sort of thing ever happened to anyone else besides her – everything she touched turned into something bigger than she assumed it would be. Sometimes it was good, like meeting Fjori and Holgeir, and sometimes it was bad, like the Windhelm murders or almost losing Faendal at Cragslane Cavern.
As soon as the room returned to normal, Miranja told Tolfdir what she'd seen and heard. Tolfdir was mildly surprised and wondered why the Psijics would be contacting her, an apprentice mage. He told her a bit about how they'd all disappeared long ago and how the island of Artaeum had disappeared with them, then went right back to the business at hand, suggesting they investigate the coffins. Of course, that was when draugr burst out of two of the coffins, startling everyone and spurring them to action.
By now, Miranja had seen enough of them to not be surprised, but she still felt dread and had to wrestle with panic when she saw those horned deathlord helmets. She prayed they wouldn't encounter any deathlords here. It didn't help that Tolfdir had sent her and Erik on ahead to explore further while he investigated what they'd already found. Miranja kept glancing over her shoulder to see if Tolfdir was catching up with them yet, and kept being disappointed when there was no movement besides the swirling of dust and flickering of firelight in the silent, musty crypt.
Tolfdir caught up with them, fortunately, just before they reached the largest room. Miranja nearly panicked when she saw the deathlord, but Tolfdir had the presence of mind to see that the huge rotating orb was somehow protecting the draugr from her and Erik's attacks, and he disrupted the magic so that they could defeat it.
After finding the Eye of Magnus and battling the living corpse of Jyrik Gauldurson, Miranja was done with Saarthal. Although by now it was the middle of the night, she obeyed Tolfdir with great relief and found the way out of the place to go inform Arch-Mage Aren. But there was one more surprise in store for her before she left, a good one this time: a dragon wall with the word "ice."
Back at the college, she stowed the staff, the amulet fragment, and the writ she'd taken off of Jyrik's finally-really-dead corpse in a wardrobe in her room with the intent of investigating further when she had time, then went straight to the Arch-Mage's quarters. Aren thanked her for the information she brought. He rewarded her with a staff of magelight and tasked her with reading up on the subject of Saarthal and finding more information about their discovery.
Faralda caught her on the way to the Arcanaeum and warned her that Ancano was looking for her. Oh, gods, this Saarthal thing was turning out to be bigger all the time. She wondered if Master Aren or Professor Tolfdir had suspected as much before the excavation even began, and if so, what they hoped to accomplish by digging up ancient magics. It certainly seemed the Thalmor were expecting something, considering Ancano's barely-tolerated presence. This was not what she'd hoped for when she'd enrolled, and she prayed she could avoid getting deep into the middle of it.
Bone-tired, Miranja and Erik went back to the Hall of Attainment to try to sleep the rest of the night, and in the morning they joined the other students in the dining room for a hearty breakfast before visiting the Arcanaeum.
Urag had a couple of books for her but said the others had been stolen by a former student who ran off to join some rogue mages in an abandoned keep near Whiterun. One of the books he did have was nearly unintelligible; Urag said the man who wrote it was up north somewhere, and for a moment Miranja remembered that iceberg with the strange doorway and torches that she and Erik had found but didn't explore. There had been a rowboat there… whose boat was it?
Miranja fancied neither the idea of exploring in the Sea of Ghosts again nor the idea of taking on a keep full of mages who were probably more advanced than she was. She returned to the Hall of Attainment and spent an hour or two helping Brelyna with her alteration spell. She got to be green and see everything around her in green for longer than she really wanted, and then learned what it felt like to be a cow, a horse, and a dog. By the time Brelyna turned her back to normal, Brelyna was horribly embarrassed, and she and Miranja agreed to never speak of it again. Given that she'd turned out okay in the end, Miranja harbored no ill feelings toward Brelyna; in fact, they'd developed a friendly bond.
Stepping outside for some fresh air, Miranja and Erik almost walked right into a fast-walking courier.
"I'm looking for Miranja Laurentius," the breathless young man told her.
"You've found her," she replied with a smile.
"I have a message for you from Quintus Navale."
Miranja fished a couple of coins from her coinpurse and thanked him, then opened the letter as the courier went on his way.
"Quintus says he thinks he knows how to fix the Phial," Miranja told Erik. "If he's right, maybe Nurelion will get to see it work before he passes on. Going to see Quintus sounds more fun than finding those books or that crazy Imperial guy. How about we go to Windhelm and see how we can help Quintus?"
"I was looking forward to taking on those mages," Erik complained, but not too forcefully, still trying to be respectful toward Miranja.
"We might yet," she told him, "but I need to build up the fortitude to take on those errands for Arch-Mage Aren."
It was a rare clear day in Winterhold, and they could see the statue of Azura from the college. They made good time back to Windhelm and went straight to the White Phial.
"I didn't expect you so soon!" Quintus exclaimed when they entered, coming around the counter to stand near the little table with them.
"Let's just say you caught me at a good time," Miranja smiled, subtly inhaling and enjoying the scent of the place. "How's Master Nurelion?"
"Not good, but hanging on," Quintus replied in a low murmur. "I haven't told him about my research; I didn't want to get his hopes up in case my plan doesn't work."
"So, what is the plan?"
Quintus told her what he'd discovered and what he needed to test his hypothesis. She already had the briar heart, but according to Quintus, the other two ingredients he needed were at the Throat of the World and a specific giant camp on the border of Whiterun and Hjaalmarch. Erik forgot his disappointment about the mages and wanted to go to the giant camp first.
"One of our dairy farmers takes a cow to Talking Stone Camp every spring to keep the giants from taking more. My friend Joryk and I followed him once when we were kids to see the giants. We were scared half to death when they waved their clubs and stomped their feet at him, and the ground shook. But they stopped when they saw the painted cow, and they let him walk right on through and leave the cow in their camp. The mammoths were even scarier. All those tusks…" He shuddered.
"I've seen the giants at Steamcrag Camp fight a dragon near Bonestrewn Crest," Miranja shared. "Some of those cultists from Solstheim had shown up to attack me around the same time, and one of them got in the way of a giant's club. I've never seen anyone fly so high into the air like that. It was sickening seeing him hit the ground. He didn't even bounce; he just… broke."
"I'm sorry to put you in harm's way," Quintus apologized. "I'll happily reward you for your trouble. I've heard stories of some of the things you've done since coming to Skyrim, and I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you were up to the task. I have great faith in you."
"Well, I may not be the strongest, physically or magically, but I have Shouts, and I can be quick and stealthy when necessary. I think we can probably even do this without any bloodshed. I'll be glad to help fulfill Master Nurelion's life mission."
"Thank you, Miranja. This means a lot to me. I want to do this one last thing for him so he can die satisfied." He hugged Miranja and she nuzzled the side of his face and stroked his hair as she hugged him back.
"I understand."
They spent some time in the market doing some trading, talking to Aval and the other merchants, then Miranja sought out Silda for a quick pickpocketing lesson. From there they went to the Grey Quarter to spend their coin on a late lunch and drinks. Miranja couldn't help but get turned on when she and Ambarys started their flirting and subtle hand touching, but being in her traveling armor, she couldn't really ask him for another quick, hot makeout session. Ambarys, however, wasn't concerned about the armor.
"Hey, I've got something upstairs I want to show you, but it's too much to carry down here. Wanna come see?" He kept his expression and tone light, but gave her a quick wink after ascertaining that Malthyr wasn't looking.
"Well, if you're going to pique my curiosity like that, sure," Miranja agreed. Seeing Erik's lifted brow and knowing look, she stroked his cheek with a smile that said, I know you know, but keep quiet.
Upstairs, Ambarys really did show her the Imperial armor he had stowed on his shelves in anticipation of the inevitable – he believed – storming of Windhelm. But once the obligatory showing was done, he moved on to what they both knew was his true reason for bringing her up here.
"I couldn't resist pulling you away from the taproom," he said in a quiet voice. "Getting a taste of your lips last time just made me hungry for more."
"Same here," Miranja replied breathlessly, and they crashed together in a passionate kiss, hands stroking each other's faces and hair. Between ravenous kisses and bites, Ambarys begged her to come alone next time.
"I'll see what I can do," she panted. "I want more of you, too."
Before their absence grew too long, they tore themselves away from each other, smoothed their hair, wiped and fanned their flushed and sweaty faces, and collected themselves. Chatting casually about what Ambarys planned to do when the Imperials took the city, they descended the stairs.
Back at the bar, Miranja downed the last of her mead and placed a few coins on the counter. "Thanks for everything, Ambarys. Next stop, Revyn's shop for another lesson. See you next time."
Revyn was solicitous, as usual, and once again commented about her amulet. Miranja gently responded that she still wasn't ready to make a decision, and they proceeded with her lesson. Afterwards, Revyn informed her that he'd taught her all he knew, but that he hoped she'd continue to visit, since he enjoyed her company and conversation.
"Of course, I'll keep visiting," she smiled. "You're not just a merchant and a tutor, but my friend, and I enjoy your company, too, Revyn." She hugged him warmly, one arm around his waist and the other around his shoulders, lightly stroking the back of his neck with her fingertips. She pulled away with a quick kiss to his cheek, and he was noticeably darker. A single bead of sweat trickled down his temple.
"Thank you for all the lessons. Let's have dinner or something next time I come to town."
"W-will you be staying in town tonight?" he asked.
"Actually, I will, if you'd like me and Erik to join you. But I was talking about just the two of us sometime. If you want to, of course."
"I would enjoy that very much," Revyn replied seriously.
"Let's call it a date, then. In the meantime, the three of us can have dinner together tonight."
Miranja knew from talking to both Revyn and Ambarys that they were good friends. She did have a bit of a crush on Revyn's quick mind and she enjoyed his sweet deference to her when she visited, his subtle compliments, his interest in her amulet. But she just had to satisfy her curiosity about Ambarys before she started letting Revyn get any closer. One time was all she wanted.
