POV: Briljof

When Brealla told me that they had found something in Saarthal I was truly both pissed and stressed at what they had found. My thoughts being that whatever the object was would be at the college within the next couple days. However, the object wasn't so I was again left alone to do my studies and read in the library. Along with spending time with Brealla and learning more about Alchemy.

Between those three though I spent the most time in the Library. Not for the warm atmosphere Shruub provided but because there was something I found. Unfortunately the book didn't have anything to do with the Dragons but with me. The crest on the front of the book was one that I had recognized.

The crest was the same one that had been from my mothers side of the family and identical to the one she had back home. A simple red dragon's head with black wings stretching out behind the dragon with a white background. Seeing the book and never having opened the one back home I decided to open this one and read.

It chronicalized generations of my family and even had the names of my mother and father in the pages. Telling me what they had done in their youth before settling down. My dad apparently being a frighteningly good hunter who had made excursions into Thalmor territory before the war. My mother was a renowned potion master who provided potions across the Empire. Something that was obvious to me now as I remembered her spending long hours in her study making potions when she wasnt with me or father.

Hells, even my name was in there but as of the current moment the book labeled me as dead. Smiling at that I brought the book to Shruub and pointed that out to him and to update the book. I wasn't about to try and do that myself, his magic was a complete mystery to me but if he was put in charge of all these books he had to be at least a passable master in probably several concepts. Taking him on was not to be done lightly but I was confident that if left no other choice I could win… if my armor was in my possession.

That knife eared fuck still had mine and had warded his room as if he was preparing for a full blown assault from the college masters themselves. Killing him wasn't exactly off the table yet as zero people liked him in the college. Even the few other High Elves despised the man but he was the Thalmor ambassador so I couldn't make the death too obvious. As for that there weren't many places in the college for an accident. Well, one not involving magic at least.

Pushing past that and back to my earlier thoughts Shruub did end up correcting and updating the book. When he was done he told me that I should read through the rest of said book. Doing just that I made it all the way to the end. There were plenty of stories of my ancestors who had been warriors, hunters, a couple mages here and there and just in general people who knew how to fight. Wasn't all that surprising to me to be honest, almost all of them were Nords or Imperials in the army.

What did get me interested even further though was the fact at the third line of my Mothers line. In it said that my great however many times mother was childhood friends with Martin Septim. The man who sacrificed himself to stop the oblivion crisis and the end of the Septim line.

Though from the book it said that my ancestor got married a bare month after his death and my next ancestor was born within the year. Was an interesting read but that was about all that the book was. Would've been nice if there was more information to be told but with that being all there was it was still nice to know more about my ancestors.

Putting the book back on the shelf I left after thanking Shruub for the recommendation and found my way back out of the library and to my room. The night was already late and when I got to my room Brealla was already curled up in the bed. Wrapped up in the covers like a swaddled babe. Smiling at the sight I undressed to my undergarments and got in the bed. Having to fight Brealla was the covers for several minutes before her sleeping body relented and gave me the covers.

Waking up several hours to find myself cold and without covers I sighed before fighting Brealla again and getting the covers back. Making sure to take most of them this time so she couldn't take them all when I woke back up. The plan worked to a degree but still found me waking up with barely enough covers to cover me.

Giving her the stinkeye even though she wouldn't waking up anytime soon she must've been really tired. She only ever hogged the covers this much if she was especially tired. When she wasn't especially tired she was usually using my body as a pillow. Not the worst thing but brealla ran HOT. When she cuddled me the end result was me waking up with a slight sheen of sweat, every time without fail.

Getting out of bed and opening my door I was met face to face with Ancano, the knife eared fuck who had my armor. The familiar look of absolute superiority evident in his body language and face. The elf standing a good few inches over me as he looked down as if I was insignificant. Bastard had no idea the total number of Thalmor bodies I had stacked during the war and afterwards. The Thalmor of course had an idea but they couldn't know the exact number. If they did he might've been a bit more respectful to me, that or he would've outright tried to kill me already.

"What do you want?" I spoke in the calmest way possible I could to him which really wasn't all that calm. The way his eyes narrowed and his face tightened along with his fast clenching at his side told me he didn't like the disrespect but he'd have to live with it until I killed him.

"You have been summoned by the Arch Mage. He wishes to speak with you, without his apprentice," he added the last bit at the end which was surprising. I didn't know why Savos would want to talk to me.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Ancano gave the barest of nods before turning around and walking away. Closing the door as he walked around the corner I looked back to the still sleeping Brealla. Making my decision I walked over to her and shook her awake. Dodging a small bit of lightning in response as the bolt flew over my head. Brealla was awake a few moments later with her eyes landing on mine accusingly. She never liked being woken up.

"I got a meeting with Savos and Ancano was the one to deliver the summons. Just wanted you awake in case it was a ploy," she seemed to think about it for a moment before giving me a nod.

Turning away from her I made to leave but felt her hand grab mine in a troll's grip before pulling me back to the bed. Looking at her curiously she had a mischievous smile on her face before her other hand snaked out of the covers and statched the back of my head digging into my back length hair, I really needed to cut it. Before I could register anything else though she pulled me down to her and gave me a kiss. A quick one that had me wanting more but she pushed me away before I could do anything.

The same mischievous smile on her face as she looked at my admittedly shocked expression. Calming myself I gave her a smile before leaving the room ruminating that the kiss was the first actual one we had shared. Wishing the moment had lasted longer but by no means was I going to complain. Again though the thoughts of the Dragon controlling her ebbed into my mind.

Those thoughts were muddled though as over the past month she's gotten a lot better. Either at controlling her inner dragon or the fact that we hadn't seen one in the month long stay. The effect of her inner dragon might have something to do with the frequency she got a soul or the frequency we got in fights to get the beast to come out. Both next to nonexistent over the last month with the occasional spar she had with Savos.

I hadn't gotten any fighting in but my sneaking around had definitely improved. Being able to sneak up on Tolfdir during lessons without the students noticing either was tantamount to that. Plus I had even been able to get into Savos' room without any the wiser. The man had quite the collection of artifacts which took me two whole days of dedication in the Library to even find out what all of them were.

Regardless I made my way to Savos' room. Walking passed Everdine on the way who gave me a nod of greeting. Woman basically ran the Collge instead of Savos with him only really ever around for big moments. Everything else was her. Good hard woman who was far smarter than anyone gave her credit for.

Knocking on his door I heard him say come in through the door and walked in. He was seated in his chair reading something on a scroll of parchment. Seeing me he put the parchment down before standing up dressed in his usual Arch Mage robes and motioned for me to follow him. Doing so without complaint we walked over to a far corner of the room where he kept a variety of staffs, all old and expensive from what I had found.

"You are a surprising young man," he spoke the moment we reached the corner.

"Uh… Thank you sir," I spoke respectfully to the man. I didn't have much interaction with him and he was an incredibly hard man to read but I could tell that he was at least honest.

"Few have been able to sneak around the College as you have. Even getting to my room was quite the accomplishment," he gave me a nod of respect and smile at seeing my eyes widen in surprise at being found out. "Do not doubt your ability young man. Few in all of Tamriel would know but I happen to be one."

"How?" I couldn't help myself and asked.

"An Alteration spell of the highest order that recounts past events. Very few know of it and fewer still can cast the spell," he grinned at me. "You took nothing so there is no harm done. Regardless that is not why I called you here today."

"Then why did you call me sir?"

"Because there is something coming. What they found at Saarthaal was not normal by any sense of the imagination. That artifact has untapped potential and destruction waiting inside of it," he paused taking a breath before looking down at his hands and then back up to me. "I need you to make sure that when either happens you will be the one to kill those who would use the artifact to harm others," now that was surprising.

"Do you think someone at the College will?" he looked at me with a raised eyebrow and yeah I got that. Ancano.

"I cannot allow you to kill him outright as that would give the Thalmer more than enough reason to attack the school. We do not have Legion or Stormcloak support so a fight would be hard. I am convinced we would be able to hold out any attack but Winterhold is another matter. Too many civilians to house for a extended period of time and too many would die."

"So I have to be reactive?"

"Unfortunately you must be. He must give us reason to kill him and even then it must be one we can prove," he looked just as bit disappointed as I was. Killing Ancano outright would've been so much easier but I do understand his concerns.

"If this artifact is as powerful as you say he could get a lot of people killed before I'm able to do anything," he gave a sad nod at that.

"I know but that is the sacrifice we must make. Neither are good options for any involved but if he is able to get that power to the Thalmor I suspect they will conquer the world with ease," alarming.

"Then why not bury the discovery?"

"Because according to Brealla the Psijic Order is involved."

"Who the hells are they?"

"Fanatics. Who's only goal is to gain every bit of lost and powerful artifact. They are normally nothing to worry about and I would have no problem handing the artifact over to them. However, the Thalmor know where they are located and something like this artifact is something they will throw everything at to get and they will make up a story to attack the Order."

"Then why not do that with Winterhold?"

"Because they are not ready," I gave him a curious look at his words and he continued. "The order is near their borderand could be attacked with relative safety. To attack Winterhold would break the White-Gold Concordant and spark a new war. One that they are not ready for," that makes sense.

"Then why the worry that they will attack Winterhold at all?"

"Because I do not know the true power or destructive capabilities of the artifact. It's just as bit likely that it could restore Winterhold to its former glory as is possible that nothing will be left behind. We are dealing with an artifact that has capabilities we know nothing about."

"Fuck… And outright killing Ancano is out of the question because…"

"Winterhold is, by technicality, its own place. We can be attacked by the Thalmor for that very reason. It might spark a new war regardless but the Jarl of Winterhold is not our friend and is just as bit likely to let the Thalmor through even if he does hate them. He knows his people would have no chance in a fight against them."

He's thinking about this way too hard. Savos has just stated like five different scenarios in which the Thalmor either don't or do attack at the result of Ancano's death. That's with the artifact factored in. Guess even with all the power in the world granted by being an Archmage you can never get over worrying. No matter what.

"Savos… Respectfully. You need to calm down. Unknowns will not help us here in any way, we need a legitimate plan in case of anything," Savos took a breath and looked to me.

"Thank you young man. Excuse this old man's worrying. What would you suggest?"

"If you didn't wish me to be reactive I would just kill Ancano outright and be done with it. Say that he was fucking with something he shouldn't have been and paid the price for it. Happens often enough in magic right?"

"It does but we can't. I assume we must wait and watch and make our plan along the way."

"So we just improvise and hope for the best?"

"Seems that way. Just promise me that no matter what, if things go south you kill you needs to be killed and spare no one," he looked me dead in the eyes at that and all I could do was nod my head.

"You have my word sir."

"Good. You are dismissed."

Nodding at the clear dismissal I left the room without looking back. Making my way back to our room but before I could a courior ran up to me out of nowhere. He just stood there and looked at me for a second before speaking.

"Flash," widening my eyes at the statement I held out my hand to the man and he put the letter in my hand.

Taking the letter the courier disappeared to parts unknown like so many of them are able to without me even seeing them do it. That was something I really wanted to learn from them. Regardless I brought the letter back to our room where Brealla was still curled in her ball of covers. Laughing at the scene seemed to wake her up as she poked her head up and looked at me.

"Delphine," I stated holding up the letter. She nodded before getting up and holding out her hand. Handing it to her I sat down on the bed and waited for her to finish reading. Once she was done she handed the letter to me.

Reading the letter over there was quite an interesting development. Being that the Thalmor were holding a party and that she had been able to acquire an invite for Brealla. My face was just too well known at this point as apparently the Thalmor had been circulating my face around to their people. The only problem was that the party was in Solitude. A good few days journey and that's if we pushed our horses. On the far side of the continent. Only thing was though was that the party was in four days. This would be our only chance.

"We have to go," I nodded my head. "Or I at least have to."

"The location to meet isn't far from the temple of Meridia. I have business there," I told her and she looked at me curiously. "I made a deal with her and I intend to honor it."

"We need to leave today then."

"I'll pack the horses. You wanna tell everyone?" she nodded her head and even though I agreed that we needed to go the timing really couldn't have been worse. Especially after Savos just gave his order to me. We still need to go. Why can't shit ever be simple."