24 Chapter XIII: Visiting the town
I was woken up by someone lightly slapping me.
Opening my eyes I saw Morrigan looking at me with a mix of worry and annoyance.
"Did you finally get a visit from Sheogorath that made you decide it was a good idea to take a nap on the college wall?"
I took a second to fully wake up and grunted "I may or may not have exhausted myself to the point of not being able to move while practicing my Thu'um"
She looks at me incredulous "Your what now?"
"The Thu'um, you know Dovahzul" At her still confused look I say "The language of dragons?" still nothing, I sigh "Nordic shouting magic" This time she gets it and nods.
"And how by all the gods did you manage to almost knock yourself out by 'practicing'?"
"Awww you worried about me?" She scoffs but doesn't deny it, I smirk "It is a very demanding magical, or some might say divine power, the reason I took a premature nap is that using one word, not even fully, exhausted me more than Faralda's lesson did"
She raises her eyebrow "Did you at least manage to get something useful out of it?"
I scratch my head "I made a bit of fire?"
And now she is looking at me like I am an idiot.
"Do you not make more than a 'bit' of fire every day?"
"Why yes I do indeed, thank you for noticing" I say drily "But this wasn't me using Magicka to cast a spell, this was me using the strength of my soul to command the world to create fire"
I get a confused look "Isn't that just adding a lot of extra steps to something that you can do anyways?"
"To be fair I was at first trying to learn the first word of the slow time shout, but obviously manipulating time in any way is far more demanding than making fire, so I thought I might as well start with baby steps, spew fire today stop time tomorrow, or something like that"
She shrugs her shoulders "Whatever, that is not why I found you anyways, Edrasa and I were going to visit the town for a bit, she wanted to show me around and I thought you might want to come with"
"Sure, let me just take a quick bath, didn't really have the time for it yesterday"
She doesn't say anything, but if the wrinkling of her nose is anything to go by she most definitely agrees.
I get up feeling oddly energized with Scorch jumping on my shoulder while giving me an annoyed glare because I woke him up, and I start walking away while checking if I got anything for my stunt yesterday.
[Trait gained]
[Aspiring tongue: You have taken the first step on the road of a tongue, an ancient art lost to most. Kyne blesses all who follow her teachings, even if they aren't her creation]
[Vit: 9 => 10]
Hell yes!
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After freshening up I left my usual clothes for washing and for the first time actually wore my college robes.
They were very basic, being a simple light blue robe with the college emblem on the back, no weird poncho thing on it either. There was a weak heat regulating enchantment on them alongside a basic Magicka conductivity one, nothing too wild, just there as a teaser to make us work for more I guess.
Finishing that, I called Morrigan and Edrasa and we left for the college gates.
Today's 'gate guard', I still don't know why they do that if they have wards, was Tolfdir who greeted us with his kindly smile and asked us to deliver an enchanted sword to the captain of the guard, as he was too busy doing whatever it is he had to do while guarding the gates. Finding no reason not to, we accepted and went ahead.
Seeing as it was the weekend most of the townspeople were taking some time off, making the town look a lot more lively than when we first arrived.
We spent our time visiting the different shops, and I got to experience once more the grueling torture that is waiting for women doing clothes shopping, dear Robert take me back I desire this new life no more!
After what felt like hours, but was really just twenty-ish minutes they finally decided to get one thing each, out of the fifteen they tried... My left eye was twitching violently, and by the look on Morrigan's face she knew very well what she was doing, so I chose to have a bit of revenge.
Casting a quick enrage spell on her I made her immediately shout angrily at me, making everyone look at her like she was a wild-woman, and immediately after that I cast a calm spell, making her look even more unhinged, everyone started slowly stepping away from her, with Edrasa looking incredibly embarrassed.
Morrigan shook the spell of after some effort and started looking at me like she was about to teach me all about what they do to their Briarhearts in the Reach, but I simply rose my hand with a new enrage spell and she chose peace.
We spent some more time walking around, waiting for Morrigan to cool off until we sat down at the inn to have lunch and some drinks.
The locals for the most part didn't seem too put off by our presence, but there were still some drunks spitting or just talking shit in general, however one reminder that they were in pyromancing distance made them bugger off while whining about unnatural mages.
After our meal the two started discussing clothes again so I decided to complete the little errand Tolfdir gave us and headed for the Jarl's keep.
The inside of the stone structure was very cozy, the main hall had one big fireplace surrounded by tables, with the far end being occupied by the Jarl's throne, upon which the previous lord's widow was currently presiding over some minor dispute.
I approached one of the guards and he pointed me to a side room, inside I was greeted by the sight of a tall Nord wearing a more decorated guard uniform, the normal uniform being a steel lamellar armor covered in a Winterhold tabard while this one had some glowing runes on it.
After noticing me he waved me forward and introduced himself "I am Hjolmir Ebon-frost, the captain of the Winterhold guard, how can I help you mage?"
"I am Reyvin, a new apprentice at the college. Master Tolfdir told me to deliver this sword to you." I introduce myself as I hand him the weapon.
He nods in satisfaction while checking out the blade "Ah good! I have been waiting for my blade for an entire week, how is the old man these days?"
I shrug "I only really met him during our lesson, but he seemed lively." He smiles and I continue "I hope I am not being too nosy, but seeing as you two have the same clan-name are you perhaps related?"
He waves his hand as if to tell me not to worry "It's no real secret, the old man is my great-grandfather, the Ebon-frost clan has been one of Winterhold's staunchest protectors since before even the Septims took the Ruby Throne"
"Interesting, and are you a clan of mages or is it mere coincidence?" I ask, noticing his rather strong magical aura with my perception.
He raises a surprised eyebrow "Oh, and what makes you think that I am a mage?"
I smile and say nothing.
He snorts "Again, it's no real secret, yes the Ebon-frosts have been mages for a very long time, Tolfdir is the current patriarch but he really doesn't spend much time outside of the college. In any case, since you did us a bit of a favor is there anything you might need?"
I scratch my chin for a bit "I did start neglecting my melee skills since coming to the college, you think I could join some training?"
He nods "Sure, you wouldn't be the first mage to ask for training with us, we hold training sessions most days at dawn, if you want to join us simply show up, I will give you a pass for it. Anyway what do you want to train in?"
"I am competent with a sword, but I also want to learn the spear"
He nods and writes it down "Sure, ill be seeing you on Morndas, tomorrow is a free day."
I nod and give him a wave as I leave.
Rejoining my two colleagues I am pleasantly surprised that they have moved on to more interesting topics, like ending lives through magical means, after enjoying that particular topic for a bit Morrigan speaks up "Edrasa has been talking about her father's tower, and she asked if we'd like to visit one of these days"
I turn to Edrasa "The master won't be bothered by us visiting?" I know how Telvanni mages can be so better not step on any toes.
She waves off my concerns "He can be a bit grouchy, but I don't think he will mind"
With a shrug I say "Sure, it will be interesting at least"
Better get my levitation up to snuff.
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A/n: Toss a stone to your author?
