Several months had passed since Cura and her friends began their studies in the College of Winterhold, and they were now in Morning Star again. Cura spent the latter half of the previous year honing her skills in the other schools of magic, and she learned many new spells from both Professors and through friends. As well, she spent some time with Lucien and Onmund both, as well as Brelyna, having study sessions in the Arcanaeum.

Serana tutored some of the other students on commission, as she was not ready for a full-time job at the college. Instead, students paid her individually for study sessions.

Cura picked up a lot of magic over the months.

In Alteration, she learned Alarm, Longstride, Drop Zone, Reynos' Fins, Candlelight, Magelight, Stoneflesh, Detect Life, Paralysis Rune, Paralyze, Waterbreathing (from Lucien during a study session, to her relief.), and Ebonyflesh.

In Conjuration, she learned Bound Sword, Flesh of my Flesh, Conjure Storm Atronach (Phinis was a little nervous in instructing her for such, but he allowed the Vigilant a peek into the void. He hoped it would not sabotage her relationship with her Divine, but it was her choice. However, he did make it up to her by showing her Banish Daedra later.)

In Destruction, she learned Creeping Cold, Rift Bolt, Elemental Bolt, Fingers of the Mountain, Shattering Crystal, Choking Grasp, Fire Rune, Frost Rune, Chain Lightning, Flame Cloak, Lightning Cloak, Frost Cloak, Incinerate, Icy Spear, and Touch of Death.

In Illusion she learned Courage, Fury, Frenzy, Calm, Fear, Rally, Fenrik's Welcome, Pacify, Rout, Pale Shadow, Mind Vision, Shared Trauma, Illusory Flames, Empathic Agony, and Harmony.

In Restoration, she had already been quite knowledgeable before entry into the College, but Colette was more than happy to teach her a few more spells: Necromantic Healing, Poison Rune, Guardian Circle, Bone Spirit, Mystic Wind, Slay Living, Horrid Wilting, Tree Rings, Sealed Resolve, Circle of Death, Dust to Dust, Breath of Arkay, and Meridia's Wrath.

The light snowfall that morning brought Cura a great deal of peace as she sat outside and basked in the sunlight.

It was already her Birthday again. The 18th of Morning star. Now she was 18 years of age. It was crazy to think that one year ago she was going undercover in the Thalmor Embassy invading Elenwen's party, and then returning to the Candlehearth Hall and celebrating with Inigo, Mjoll, and Lydia.

Wow, it's almost been a year since Lydia died.

Cura still missed her. She had largely moved on, but sometimes she wished Lydia could have seen the College, or that she could have seen the Dawnguard, and many of the other escapades Cura had gotten herself into.

What's past is past, and there was no changing fate, as Cura had come to realize.

Two years ago, on this very day, she was at the Hall of the Vigilant, celebrating her birthday with Keeper Carcette, Vigilant Tolan, and Brother Adalvald. It was a fun time, and even then they were reminiscing on the years gone by.

When Cura looked in the mirror now, her face was far stronger and her eyes more severe than they once had been. She could recall those around her remarking on her "cute, round face", but that was no longer the case. In her honest opinion, she looked nearly like a madwoman. Though, interestingly enough, with age, her Altmer featured became a little more pronounced, namely her browline. She found it to be quite interesting.

Inigo came outside and waved his arms around in panic. "Cura, Cura! We need your help! It is most awful! Help us! Please!" he was bordering on hysteria at this point, which in turn alarmed Cura. She quickly grasped him in attempt to calm him.

"I-Inigo! What's going on?" the Dragonbotn asked, fearing the worst.

Inigo began to jump up and down and he pried her arms off himself. He began to direct her towards the Hall of Elements. "My friend, it is Onmund! He accidentally summoned a Dremora Overlord and it is now trying to kill everybody in the Arcanaeum! Please help!"

Cura gasped and her face paled as she pushed open the front doors and made a right turn up the stairwell, heading up towards the Arcanaeum. Inigo followed her closely.

As soon as Cura pushed open the door, she noticed the alchemy tables in place, the enchanting table against the wall fine, the ingredients stock were in place, and the bookshelves were fully intact.

Cura furrowed her brows and walked a little further in.

Dead silence.

She turned around to face the blue Khajiit, who walked around her and stood at the center of the Arcanaeum, and clapped his hands together.

Cura began. "Inigo, I thought you said-"

"SURPRIIIIIIISEEEE!" came the loud unified voice of everybody she knew at the College.

A veil was lifted, it seemed, as Drevis clapped his hands and suddenly decorations; streamers and balloons, and confetti were unveiled.

Everybody was there: Inigo, Lucien, Serana, Urag, Brelyna, Onmund, J'zargo, Nirya, Colette, Phinis, Faralda, Sergius, Arniel, Tolfdir, Mirabelle, Savos, Aranea, and various students. As well, Mjoll had come to visit with Aerin, and Vigilant Tolan and Brother Adalvald had come with Agmaer, Erandur, and Florentius.

Cura's eyes nearly began to water, when an even bigger surprise showed itself from around the eastern corner: Kodlak, Aela, Ria, Farkas, and Vilkas had all come, as well.

"Eee!" Cura squealed with joy as she raced to embrace Kodlak immediately, warming the old warrior's heart.

The old Nord lifted her off the floor. "It's good to see you again, child." he reciprocated, and then allowed Cura to greet and embrace the other Companions.

"You've defeated the Volkihar Court - that's no small feat. I'd love to hear about that glorious hunt!" Aela requested.

"Anytime!" Cura agreed.

Vilkas took Cura's hands into her own. "You weren't kidding when you said the world needed you. I didn't realize before how... insane the life of the Dragonborn could be."

Cura nodded. "I hadn't realized it, myself, until I lived it."

"You'll tell us about Cidhna Mine though, won't you?" Farkas butted in. "I'd be really interested to know how you got out of there alive."

"Because it's Cura!" Ria snapped at him. "I remember that time when we first met her, even if you all forgot. The way she throttled that Giant! Incredible."

"You should have seen her great ferocity against the Silver Hand. Those Snowbacks didn't last ten seconds." Aela bragged on the Dragonborn's behalf.

"Or the way she led the charge into the Volkihar Court." Vigilant Tolan boasted in kind. "I knew we weren't going to lose."

Brother Adalvald raised a hand. "And I know for certain that, had she not shown up when she did, the Vampires torturing me in Dimhollow Crypt would have ended me then and there."

"Hah! You should have seen her fight inside Azura's Star! Now, that was something!" Lucien added in, to Aranea's approval.

"I knew Azura sent you all for a reason... I just hadn't seen how extensive it went." Aranea responded.

"Or the time when the Greybeards recognized her as Dragonborn." Mjoll recalled. "Inigo and I were there in the room with them."

"Indeed! It was like seeing History being made!" Inigo tapped Cura on the shoulder.

"Cura saved me when I had to read an Elder Scroll." Agmaer admitted. "I was nervous, but if it weren't for her, I don't know where I'd be right now."

"Oh, come on, now. You're more resilient than you give yourself credit for!" Cura scolded Agmaer in response.

"Well, Arkay would even tell you that if it weren't for her intervention, I would still be a prisoner to Minorne the Vampire necromancess in Ruunvald, so... thank you again, Vigilant Cura." Florentius took a polite bow.

"And I would have most likely died in Nightcaller Temple." Erandur stated.

"Cura, you've touched the lives of many since you began your quest." Brother Adalvald placed his arm around her shoulders and ushered her towards the beautiful dessert buffet on the long table at the center of the room. "Keeper Carcette couldn't make it, unfortunately, but she sends her best wishes."

Cura understood why, of course, and simply accepted the fact that Carcette wasn't present for her eighteenth birthday. "She has her own problems to deal with. I understand."

"Ah, but she did have a gift for you." Vigilant Tolan stated as he handed her a wrapped parcel. "And the next one's from Isran, Sorine, and Gunmar."

Cura excitedly accepted the gift and began to unwrap it. She then found inside a book. She was delighted to see that it was "De Rerum Dirennis". She had been wanting to get her hands on that for a long time. It was in decent condition, and when Cura opened the front cover, she could tell that it was the Keeper's originally based on her small signature on the bottom right. That sentiment was what touched Cura the most.

Brother Adalvald gave Cura the second parcel, which she opened to reveal a new set of oyrple-sashed Dwarven Armour, enchanted with Fire Resistance. "Wow... this looks really neat!"

"I suppose they reasoned that since you're going to be fighting Dragons, that a Fire Resistance Spell would benefit you." Florentius said as he lightly raised his hand, insinuating that he was the one who enchanted it.

"It just might. Thanks to you, and to the Dawnguard." Cura expressed her gratitude after casting a spell on the armour and reducing its size to fit it in her bag for the meantime.

Inigo, Serana, and Lucien stepped forward next with a smaller wrapped gift of their own, and Inigo added a disclaimer. "Well, my friend, it is not Spellbreaker, but we did get you something!"

Serana nodded excitedly. "I think it'll match you quite well."

"And it wasn't cheap." Lucien added in. "But Candle, you are worth every septim."

Serana presented it to her, hand to hand. "Here you go, pretty girl. Enjoy!"

Cura quickly unwrapped the gift and it was revealed to be a Silver and Emerald circlet. "Wow! This is so beautiful!" She held it up to the light and began to tilt and turn it as she examined it closely. She realized that it was also enchanted.

Sergius stepped forward. "I added a Healing enchantment upon it - it should aid you in wound recovery mid-battle."

"Absolutely!" Cura remarked as she embraced Serana, Inigo, and Lucien in a big group hug. She then tilted the circlet around, showing the gemstones forward before sliding it down her crown onto her forehead, where the green gemstones glistened under the light, matching her emerald eyes well.

Mjoll stepped forward. "Aerin and I brought something for you, as well." She handed Cura what appeared to be a glass Elven sword with a glistening malachite blade and a frost enchantment upon it.

"Wow! What..." before Cura could register the gift. she realized what it could be. "...Is this Grimsever?"

Mjoll nodded excitedly and clasped her hands together. "Ah, you remembered! Yes, the sword I lost in the Dwemer Ruins of Mzinchaleft. Aerin and I returned there and we found my sword. I realized that I had outgrown it..."

"Er - what she means to say is that she thinks you could make better use of it." Aerin cut Mjoll off before she could accidentally say the wrong thing.

"Well, I will certainly keep it as a heartfelt gift, regardless." Cura smiled as she pocketed it.

"You know, you have changed a lot from last we met." Mjoll expressed her surprise. "When I look into your eyes I can see you've matured a lot, Cura. That's good."

Vilkas approached and spoke up as well. "And I take it that scar came from fighting the Vampires, eh?" He softly touched the claw scars underneath her left eye, which made Lucien livid.

The Imperial interrupted. "You try fighting Vampires without sustaining any scar or injury!"

"I have." the Nord werewolf put it plainly, glaring at Lucien intimidatingly.

The Imperial was unmoved. He knew Vilkas wouldn't attack him during Cura's birthday party.

Colette Marence walked around the long table and approached Cura, and pulled the Half-Elf into a tight embrace. "I've only known you for a little more than half a year, but you've done so much for the acceptance of Restoration in this darned place!"

"Colette, cut it out!" Drevis Neloren admonished her from the other side of the table.

Colette immediately came to her senses and backed away from Cura slowly. "Well... you're the best student I ever had. I'm going to write that to Carcette. She raised you right!"

"Er... thank you, Colette." Cura shyly responded to the overbearing Breton who placed a heavy hand around her shoulder and pulled her towards her affectionately. There was no doubt to who her favourite student was.

Drevis stepped forward. "You have no idea - she even baked half the goods here."

"Really?" Cura responded in shock as she began to look upon the wide spread of desserts.

"Well... no! Not half!" Colette corrected with enthusiasm. "I did bake a few things, but not half of the spread! Who has time for that?" She pointed towards the plate of Boiled Creme Treats with Sweetrolls beside and Strawberry Crostatas.

Nirya raised her hand. "I guarantee you'll prefer my Snowberry Tarts over Faralda's. It's just the natural order of things."

Faralda shook her head in protest. "No, I hardly think so. Not many can claim that theirs were baked with the fire of a Master Destruction Wizard." She shot Nirya a smug grin, to which the other Altmer responded with an audible scoff.

"Now, now, you two. Why not let Cura decide which one she prefers?" the Arch-Mage stepped in to settle the dispute with civility.

Cura jumped immediately as all eyes settled upon her. "Don't drag me into this!"

"But they did bake them for you." Serana chuckled. "It would be rude to refuse."

"Who's side are you on, Serana?" Cura immediately snapped at her vampire friend as Inigo and Lucien brought both dessert trays in front of her.

"Come on, Candle. Take a bite from each." Lucien held one up to her.

Nirya and Faralda both stared at her as she began to look around at the crowd before her for help. The Companions watched with amusement, the Dawnguard and Vigil leaned on the sides, the College merely observed, and her friends cracked a few chuckles at her expense.

Cura took a treat from the tray to her left, held by Inigo, and took a bite of it. It was a tad bitter, but once the sour aftertaste subsided, it was quite enjoyable. She chewed and emitted a pleased grunt in response.

The two Altmer stared each other down as they awaited the next sample and final verdict.

Cura took next the second from the tray held by Lucien to her right, and allowed the sweetness to chill her tongue as it made its way down. Pure snowberry at its finest, with just the right amount of bitterness. The half-Elf closed her eyes and leaned back as the experience took her on a gentle ride.

"So? Who's is better?" Faralda asked.

"Yes, who indeed is the greater chef?" Nirya prodded for an answer.

Cura was in a bind. She liked both, but she feared her response's reaction from either one. "Well..."

Everybody had their eyes set upon her.

Cura had to think quickly.

After a moment's thought, she had her ready answer. "It's hard to say, because the tastes mixed."

Both elves furrowed their brows at the cop-out response.

"Are... you... serious?" Nirya dropped each word as it came.

"I'm sorry," Cura shrugged her shoulders. "but it's hard to make a fair judgment when the tastes are both so great."

"Well, I'm sure you preferred the one to your right." Faralda stated. "That one was mine."

"Oh, please!" Nirya sneered. "Obviously the first one, mine, tantalized her tastebuds so greatly that yours tasting good was merely an illusion brought upon by it."

Mirabelle and the Arch-Mage collectively developed a headache while everybody else laughed at the sheer display of foolishness.

The day passed joyfully and the College was loud with amusement and festivity in celebration of the Dragonborn's eighteenth birthday.

Ancano's watchful eye glared hatefully at the beneficiar and her friends before skulking back into the shadows and heading down the stairs.

Lucien managed a drinking contest between Farkas, Kodlak, Onmund, Savos, and Inigo.

Inigo was fierce, but collapsed after eight bottles of Mead.

Omund after twelve,

Savos after twelve and a half,

then Kodlak after thirteen,

and Farkas fell unconscious after his sixteenth bottle of mead.

Vigilant Tolan crossed his arms and shook his head. "Molk-Drinkers. I could drink them all under the table if it wasn't prohibited."

"For a god who is often depicted as spilling a wine glass, Stendarr sure is a stickler when it comes to alcohol, isn't he?" Ria laughed.

Erandur spoke up on their behalf. "It's more for clarity of mind. A priest cannot act like a fool."

Florentius nodded. "Indeed! Arkay agrees with you wholeheartedly. He often expects better of us, as well!"

Ria was weirded out by his enthusiasm. "Uh... huh." She slowly walked away, leaving him confused.

Urag Gro-Shub was furious when he began to see messes forming all over the floor of his beloved plane of Oblivion. "Allowing this party in the Arcanaeum was a mistake! You're all a bunch of animals, and if even one crumb gets on one of the bookshelves I'm gonna have you lick the counters down with your tongues!"

"What, there isn't a spell you could use to clean the room?" Vilkas responded snidely. "Relax. We can mediate our destruction."

Cura was having a blast talking with Ria, Mjoll, Aerin, Brelyna, J'zargo, Serana, Lucien and Aela, and she detailed all that she had gone through from her first exit of the Vigil, to her time in Whiterun, learning how she was the Dragonborn, the Companions, Krev the Skinner, Skjor, then Riften, High Hrothgar, the Greybeards, then Markarth and Cidhna Mine, then the Dawnguard and then her time in the College of Winterhold. She'd left some personal details and shameful things out, but she basically recounted all she'd accomplished and gone through thus far, catching up old friends and introducing new ones.

"It seems I missed out on a lot of interesting things by leaving." Mjoll mused disappointedly. "I am sorry about Lydia, though. She was pretty cool. I suppose she can tell me the rest of her tale when I get to Sovngarde."

Agmaer overheard this and walked into the conversation, as well. "Sovngarde... I hope to see you all there someday." He looked to Cura directly. "You'd definitely get there. I have no doubt about that."

Aela crossed her arms. "Sovngarde is too pompous for me, personally. I much prefer the glory of the hunt."

J'zargo laughed. "J'zargo is too great for any of these afterlives, so he must live to be great on Mundus!"

Eventually the party came to a close, and everybody bid Cura farewell and good tidings to her journey. The unconscious were forcefully removed by the conscious, and some faculty entered to clean the floors of the library.

Cura embraced her friends and family and bid them farewell as the sun descended to the west. It was bittersweet; on the one hand, she got to see most of the people she cared for again, but she also bade farewell to them again, as well. The time was unfair. It felt like it went too quickly; she never wanted that day to end, but like all good things, it had to.

Later that night, Cura lay down in her bed to read the book Carcette had gifted to her, 'De Rerum Dirennis".

"DE RERUM DIRENNIS

By

Vorian Direnni

I am six-hundred-and-eleven years old. I have never had children of my own, but I have many nieces and nephews and cousins who have been raised with the tales and traditions of our ancient, illustrious, and occasionally notorious clan, the Direnni. Few families in Tamriel can boast so many famous figures, wielding so much power over the fate of so many. Our warriors and kings are stuff of legend, and it is not to dismiss their honor and their achievements to say you have heard quite enough about them.

I myself have never picked up a sword or written an important law, but I am part of a lesser known but still important Direnni tradition: the way of the wizard. My own autobiography would be of little interest to posterity — though my nephew, nieces, and cousins indulge me to tell wild tales of life in the chaotic Second Era of Tamriel — but I have a few ancestors whose stories should be told. They may have changed history as we know it as dramatically as my better known relatives, but their names are in danger of being forgotten.

Most recently, Lysandus, the King of Daggerfall, was able to conquer his ancient enemies of Sentinel in part thanks to his court sorceress, Medora Direnni. Her grandfather Jovron Direnni wasImperial Battlemage to the court of the Dunmer Empress of Tamriel, Katariah, assisting her in creating peace in a time of turmoil. His great great grandfather Pelladil Direnni had a similar role with the first Potentate, and encouraged the Guild Act without which we would not have all the professional organizations we have today. His ancestor, many times back, was the witch Raven Direnni, who with her better known cousins Aiden and Ryain, brought an end to the tyranny of the latter Alessian Empire. Before the Psijics of Artaeum, it is said, she created the art of enchantment, learning how to bind a soul into a gem and use that to ensorcel all manners of weaponry.

But it is the story of an ancestor even more ancient, more distant than Raven I wish to tell.

Asliel Direnni harkens back to the humble beginnings of our clan, in the tiny farming village of Tyrigel on the banks of the river Caomus which was then called the Diren, hence the family name. Like all on Summurset Isle in those days, he was a simple planter of the fields. But while others only grew enough to sustain their immediate kin, even distant cousins of the Dirennis worked together. They would decide as a group which fields were best for wheat, orchard, vine, livestock, or apiary, and thereby always have the best yields of any farm which worked alone, doing the best as it could with what it had.

Asliel had a particularly poor farm for most kind of agriculture, but small herbs found its stony, loamless, acidic soil very comfortable. Out of necessity more than anything else he became an expert on all manners of herbs. For the most part, of course, they were used in flavoring cooking, but as you know, hardly any plant grows on the surface of our world without a magickal potential.

Even so long ago, witches already were in existence. It would be ridiculous for me to suggest that Asliel Direnni invented alchemy. What he did, what we can all be grateful for, is that he formulated it into an art and science.

There were no witches' covens in Tyrigel, and, of course, there would be no Mages Guild yet for thousands of years, so people would come to him for cures. He learned for himself the exact formula for combining black lichen and roobrush to create a cure for all manners of poison, and the amount of willow anther to crush and mix with chokeweed to cure diseases.

There were few much greater threats in Tyrigel in those peaceful days than disease or accidental poisonings. Yes, there were some dark forces in the wilderness, trolls, chimera, the occasional malevolent fairy folk and Will-O-The-Wisp, but even the youngest, most foolish Altmer knew how to avoid them. There were, however, a few unusual threats which Asliel had a hand in defeating.

One of the tales told of him that I believe to be true is how he was brought a young niece who had been suffering from an unknown disease. Despite his ministrations, she grew weaker and weaker every morning. Finally, he gave her a bitter tasting drink, and the next morning, ashes were found all around her bed. A vampire had been feeding on the poor girl, but Asliel's potion had turned her very blood into poison, without harming her in the least.

If only this formula had not been lost in the mists of history!

This would have been enough to make him a minor but significant figure in the annals of early Summerset, but at that point in history, a barbarian tribe called the Locvar had found their way down the Diren River, and recognized Tyrigel as a rich target for raids. The Direnni, not being warriors yet but simple farmers, were helpless and could only flee and watch the Locvar take the best of their crops, raid after raid.

Asliel, however, had been experimenting with the vampire dust, and brought his cousins to him with a plan. The next time the Locvar were sighted on the Diren, the word went out and all the most able-bodied came to Asliel's laboratory. When the barbarians arrived in Tyrigel, they found the farms deserted, and assumed that all had fled as usual. As they set about stealing the bounty, they suddenly found themselves under attack by invisible forces. Believing the Direnni farms to be haunted, they ran away very quickly.

They attempted a few more raids, for their greed would always eventually overpower their fear, and each time, they were set upon by attackers who they could not see. As barbaric as they were, they were not stupid, and they changed their mind about the source of their defeat. It could not be that the farms were haunted, because the crops were still being tended and harvested, and the animals seemed to show no fear. The Locvar decided to send a scout to the farm to see if he could spy their secrets.

The scout sent word back to the Locvar that the Direnni farms were populated with flesh and blood, entirely visible Altmer. He continued to watch as his barbarian cohorts moved down the river, and he saw the elderly and children flee for the hills, while the able-bodied farmers and their wives went to Asliel's laboratory. He saw them go in; he saw no one come out.

As usual, the Locvar were repelled by invisible forces, but their scout soon told them what he saw happening in the laboratory.

The next night, two of the Locvar approached Asliel's farm very stealthily, and managed to kidnap him without alerting the rest of the Direnni. The Locvar chieftain, knowing that the farmers could no longer count on the alchemist to make them invisible, considered an immediate attack on the farms. But he was a vengeful sort, and felt he had been humiliated by these simple farmers. A crafty plan emerged in his mind. What if the Direnni, who always saw his barbarian tribe coming, for once did not? Imagine the slaughter if no one even had a chance to flee.

The scout had told the chieftain that Asliel had used the dust of a vampire to make the farmers invisible, but he was not sure what the other ingredient had been. He described an incandescent powder that Asliel had mixed into the dust. Asliel, of course, refused to help the Locvar, but they were experts in torture as well as pillage, and he knew he would have to talk or die.

Finally after hours of torture, he agreed to tell them what the incandescent powder was. He did not know the name, but he called it "Glow Dust," the only remains of a slain Will-O-The-Wisp. He told them they would need a lot of it if they wanted to turn the whole tribe invisible for the raid.

The Locvar grumbled that not only did they have to find and kill a vampire to attain his dust, but find and kill several Will-O-The-Wisps to get theirs. In a few days time, they came back with the ingredients the alchemist asked for. The chieftain, not being a complete idiot, made Asliel taste the potion first. He did as he was told and turned invisible, demonstrating that it did truly work. The chieftain put him to work creating more. No one apparently noticed that while he did, he was nibbling on black lichen and roobrush.

The Locvar took the potion as he doled it out, and soon, but not too soon that they didn't suffer, they were all dead.

The scout who had seen Asliel mixing the invisibility potion had apparently mistook the glow of the candlelight in the laboratory for an incandescence which the second ingredient of the invisibility potion did not possess. The second ingredient was actually dull, simple redwort, one of the most common herbs in Tamriel. When they had insisted during torture that Asliel tell them what the incandescent powder was, Asliel remembered that he had once experimentally mixed glow dust and vampire dust together once and created a powerful poison. It was simple enough to steal a little redwort from the barbarian's camp, mix that with the vampire and glow dust mixture, and create a potion that was in fact an invisibility poison. After curing himself, he gave the poison to the barbarians.

The Locvar, being dead, never again raided the Direnni farms, and having no other enemies, they were able to grow more and more prosperous and powerful. Generations later, they left Summerset and began their historic adventures on the Tamriel mainland. Asliel Direnni, because of his excellence as an alchemist, was invited to Artaeum and became a Psijic. It is not known how many more of the common formulas we know today were invented by him there, but I have no doubt, the science and art of alchemy as we know it today would not exist without him.

But that is all in the distant past. Asliel's innovations, like my modest ones, like the achievements of the Dirennis throughout history, are but a stepping stone to the wonders which will come in the future. I wish I could be there to witness them, but if I can only share some of the past with the children of Direnni and the children of Tamriel, then I will consider my life well spent."

It was an interesting read, to say the least, and it gave Cura a little inspiration for her next Alchemy Experiment. What would happen if she mixed Glow Dust with Wheat? She pondered the effects they may have in common. Both could damage magicka. Perhaps it could be used to craft a potion that would prove useful against a magical foe.

She closed the book and lay down in her bed, crushed under the stupour from the grand feast held earlier.

It was a great time, and she was delighted to be with so many people who she had touched in some way. It was a memory she would cherish forever.


"STUDENT FIELD TRIP

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE HISTORICAL EXCAVATION BENEATH SAARTHAL

19th OF MORNING STAR, 4E 203

SEE TOLFDIR IN THE HALL OF ELEMENTS, 9:00 AM FOR DETAILS."

The sign close to the entrance read this in bold letters. Lucien, Serana, Cura, and a majorly hungover Inigo stood before the sign, surrounded by other students - among them Brelyna, a hungover Onmund, and J'zargo.

"Saarthal..." Onmund said deeply. "we're digging in Saarthal?"

"I... guess so." Brelyna sounded her discomfort. "It could be interesting, but I could understand your reservations, Onmund."

Onmund shook his head. "Well, it's not exactly going to stop me from going. If Tolfdir is spearheading it, I'm sure there's a good purpose behind it."

Cura looked to Serana, Inigo, and Lucien for advice. "What do you think, guys? Should we?"

Serana nodded enthusiastically in response. "I think it could be a neat idea - but I'm sure we'll have to watch ourselves down there. I was always warned about those sort of ruins."

"I think it would be an incredible experience!" Lucien expressed. "I've read loads about Saarthal, and the Night of Tears. Seeing it in person could be both frightening, and interesting."

"I smell adventure!" Inigo expressed with excitement.

Cura made up her mind. "All right. What's the harm in it?" She walked past the noticeboard and led the small entourage of students through the courtyard towards the Hall of Elements.