Valentinus
I couldn't understand it, what was happening to me? My thoughts, they're clouded one minute but crystal clear the next. It's like I was two different people in one. My mother always told me that some people can sense the Daedra, feel their pull, while others simply never do. I know people think I'm stupid and I'm fine with them doing so, but I'm not. I'd rather observe them than talk to them. I'm frankly better off.
I watched Charlotte Armene as she came back to the camp's communal area. Her perfectly straight silver-blonde hair fell down to her waist, the top half pulled neatly away from her face and secured behind her head with a pretty silver pearl hair comb. Her hair shimmered as she walked, not a strand out of place. I used to be jealous of her growing up. Her noble status always preceded her. Her elegant posture, refined mannerisms, and eloquence denote fine breeding. My mother was intent on me courting her, but I couldn't do it because Xandier liked her, and he was the closest thing I'd ever had to a friend. I'm not sure if he'd ever act on said feelings though, he seemed preoccupied with bullying her. Dunno how that will work out for him in the end… and they call me dumb.
Charlotte sat down next to Giselle Allegra, her best friend. How they became best friends remained a mystery, they hated each other so much at first that it was a problem. Giselle's parents were dirt-poor peasants from Karth, they died of some kind of affliction. This resulted in Giselle becoming an orphan. The Reach was no place for an orphan child, as you'd imagine, but she soon found herself adopted by an altruistic older Breton couple from Daggerfall. They were well-off, mind you, but Giselle acted up majorly. Even I can remember it. She was funny and quick-witted, but she was hiding darkness inside of her, darkness you can only get from losing your parents at a young age. Giselle and Charlotte couldn't be from more different walks of life, but they were as close as can be.
I watched Charlotte and Giselle interact, noting that something was off. Charlotte seemed stiff, on edge, and Giselle was more boisterous than usual. I felt weird too, different. What was going on?
"Did you say something, Val?"
I looked at Xandier, who was across the table from me. "What? No."
"You murmured something just now." Xandier leaned on the table and nodded at Charlotte. "Do you know what's up with her? She's been acting, I don't know, weird. You went with her and Queen Za-Rifah earlier. Where did you go?"
I moaned and rubbed my eyes. I never understood Xandier's sense of humor on the best of days, but my head felt foggier than it's ever been. "I dunno, we just went for a walk somewhere."
Xandier frowned at me. "Uh-huh, where?"
"Gods, I don't know."
"You gotta give me more than that, man. You can be honest with me. Having a threesome out in the middle of the desert would be difficult, but I guess not totally impossible…"
I rolled my eyes and rested my head on the table. "Whatever. I'm tired, so can you shut up for five minutes?"
"Sure, just as soon as you tell me where Charlotte went."
"Fuck," I said, lifting my head up to face him, strands of my curly hair clinging to my cheeks. "Why don't you just ask her yourself?"
"Because she would never tell me."
I waved my hand in front of him. "And why do you think that is? Maybe if you stop being such an ass to her, she wouldn't hate your guts and might actually want to talk to you."
Xandier narrowed his eyes and smiled at me, making me snort. "You clearly don't understand women, my friend. You can never be nice to them… not if you want to get with them. You see, this is why you've never had a girlfriend."
"Oh, shut up Xandier, you've never had one either."
The overseer, Mrs Morham I think her name was, milled about the camp and talked to some of the mages. She was completely different from Margerie, who was pure warmth. This lady was cold.
"I wonder if she's strict," I said. "She looks strict."
"Who, the overseer?"
"Yeah."
Xandier tsked. "Who cares. Anyway, you haven't answered my question. I won't let you sleep tonight unless you tell me."
I sighed and massaged my forehead. The fogginess that plagued my mind before lunchtime was coming back. "I can't remember," I answered, somewhat truthfully, but not entirely.
Xandier put his elbow on the table, leaning forward and resting his head on his fist. "Try."
I knew he wasn't going to stop hounding me. "Fine. I think we were in some kind of room… maybe a cave."
"A cave?" Xandier's piercing blue eyes widened. "Where?"
"I don't know. Ask Charlotte."
Xandier frowned at me, ruffling his short blonde hair in frustration and looking away, finally giving it up.
I looked over my shoulder at Charlotte, who seemed worried. She raised her eyes from the table and looked at me. I averted my gaze, acting like I was just daydreaming, before looking back at her. Her lilac eyes still rested on me. She looked troubled. Something was amiss here. As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, I knew Charlotte and the Daedra were involved in whatever was going on.
Charlotte
I walked back to the dining area on unsteady feet, worrying about the possible consequences of discarding the talisman. I was sure that Mephala would begin to meddle with everybody here immediately, but as to the extent of it, and how far-reaching those consequences may be, I was unsure. I arrived at the dining area and sat down next to Giselle, who was talking to two other student mages called Tilly and Luke. Giselle turned to me as I sat down, giving me a strange smile. I was worried that Mephala's interference would warp my best friend's mind and change her somehow… that alone made me rethink my decision. Would getting Enmon to like me really be worth all this?
"Where did you go?" asked Giselle.
"Oh, um," I said, swallowing and looking into my lap as I frowned. "I was just speaking to Margerie."
"About what?" Giselle looked at me wide-eyed and bit her lip.
"Just… saying goodbye before she leaves with the Baandari."
"Really? That's all?"
I looked at her. "Yeah," I said slowly.
Giselle looked around behind me before her eyes flicked back to my face. "Then why did I see you go back to our tent?"
"What's with you?" I asked, shaking my head. "Why the interrogation all of a sudden?"
Tilly and Luke got up to move away.
"Sorry, I don't like arguments," said Tilly, grabbing Luke's arm and walking over to a nearby table.
"Guys, come on. It's not an argument," I began, my arm falling as I gave up trying to convince them.
Resting her head on her hand, Giselle stared at me with the faintest of smiles, her expression unreadable and unnerving.
"Can you stop?" I asked. "Please."
She shrugged slightly. "That depends."
"On what?"
"On how you answer my question." Giselle's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as they bored into mine.
"Giselle, you're scaring me."
"What would you say to a little competition? We used to have them all the time when we were kids. Gods, you were such a sore loser," she said, laughing.
I felt sick as I watched her, searched her eyes, this girl who was Giselle but wasn't. "Giselle, please, stop."
"But you haven't even heard the rules yet."
I looked at her grimly. "True. Fine, what is this game you want to play?"
"How about," she began, biting her lower lip again. "Whoever sleeps with Enmon first wins?"
"Giselle!" I snapped. "That's enough."
"Oh, you're no fun, Lottie. Come now, I'm joking."
I sat in silence, staring at the table.
"Hey. You still owe me half of your dessert, remember?"
"Not you," I said. "Whoever you are."
Giselle cocked her head at me. "What did you say?"
I signed without looking up. "Nothing, don't worry."
I eventually looked up from the table and caught Valentinus looking at me from where he sat with Xandier. He quickly looked away and pretended to daydream as he twirled a finger around a lock of his curly brown hair. I wondered how many people Mephala would interfere with. Everyone here? I sure hoped not. I considered the magnitude of my decision to discard the talisman. Who knows what kind of chaos a Daedric Prince could bring? I wanted Enmon to like me, but I didn't want to cause any trouble for anyone else. As Valentinus looked back at me, I decided I needed to know. I had to find a way to talk to Mephala.
Clinging to my notebook, I started to make my way over to the ruins. I had managed to slip away from the group after dinner and avoid Giselle at the same time. I ran into Giran and Tanyin on the way to the tunnels.
"Oh, hey lassie. What are you up to?"
I looked at Tanyin, who gave me a shy smile, and at Giran, who appeared concerned. "I'm just heading to the ruin. I wanted… to check something…" I trailed off, not really having a concrete answer for him.
"Well, I'm not sure the overseer would be too pleased about you going in there alone. With Margerie, things were a bit different, but this Morham… well, she seems much more by the books. She's pretty adamant about everyone starting together tomorrow."
I sighed, feeling drained and low on patience for this kind of guild political nonsense. "I see. I just, you know, I… there's something I need to do."
"This doesn't have anything to do with young Enmon, does it?"
I was taken aback. "Why do you ask?"
"Is there… ah, he's just been acting bizarre, is all. Abal's noticed it, and he let us all know about it too. Everything seems to be centered around you."
I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I… I-I'm not, I—"
"Hello, Giran!" said Xandier's voice from behind me. "Tanyin, pleasure."
I turned around to see him and Valentinus approaching. I pulled a face and shook my head. "Oh, no, what are you d—"
Xandier grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into him, turning me around to face Giran. "Old Morham sent us down here! We're to help Ollie-boy with his digging while the night is young, since we're in the best shape out of all of the students, who are still rolling around the camp after dessert. We thought, eh, might as well." He narrowed his eyes and shrugged, patting my shoulder as he tilted his head charmingly. "It's either this or stuffy conversation with the higher-ups. At least Ollie is miles more attractive than the rest of the unfortunates from Daggerfall."
Giran looked bewildered, Tanyin amused. "Uh, well," began Giran. "If Morham says it's—"
"Great, thanks, bye!" said Xandier as he began to walk off with his arm still around my shoulder, pulling me along with him.
"Thank you, sorry," said Valentinus to Tanyin and Giran, doing a weird bow before following us.
As we walked around a corner, I pushed Xandier off me. "Gods, what's gotten into you two?" I asked angrily, grabbing my robes and pulling them down to dust myself off.
"Well firstly, you're welcome," said Xandier, crossing his arms and leaning back against the ruined stone wall. "Secondly, we could ask you the same thing."
"What do you mean?" I asked nervously, glancing at Valentinus, who looked away shyly.
Xandier sighed and rolled his eyes as he looked to his left. "We saw that little lover's quarrel you had with Giselle before. Gods know she's always been weird, but still, she's definitely not been herself today. As for you..." His eyes dropped from my face down my body to my feet. "Well, who can say?"
I turned my head to Valentinus, who still wouldn't look at me, then back to Xandier before my eyes flicked between both of them. "How is this any of your business? Do tell me," I demanded.
"Well, you keeping secrets has never gone well for us before now, has it? You might want to tell us, lest we make Morham privy to whatever is going on with you. Something tells me she would be none too happy."
"Secrets? What do you mean?" I felt the blood drain from my face.
Xandier smiled at me. "Since Valentinus wasn't exactly with it, I'll ask you. Where did you go this morning with Margerie?"
"That's… none of your concern," I said, turning away.
"Wait," Xandier said, taking my hand. "You owe me one for saving you back there. Tell me."
I tried to pull my hand away. "Let go," I complained, feeling my face go red as our eyes met. "Xandier."
He shrugged. "Fine. But you still owe me, right?"
"Right," I said, finally pulling my hand free as I walked away.
What was this?
"We're coming with you though," called Xandier. "Come on, Val. We need to keep up this charade in case Giran swings by."
I strode ahead of them, confused. Was this Mephala's doing? This was the first time Xandier had done anything that was even remotely helpful to me. Then again, he did ask for something in return. How this will play out remains to be seen.