93 Chapter XXXIV: The Birds and the Bards

Once again I find myself waking up with a tired groan, though this time the tiredness came from a far more enjoyable source than getting beaten up by an angry Orc librarian.

What was I expecting trying to outlast a creature with theoretically infinite stamina?

I look at Sybille who is quietly snoring with a bit of drool at the edge of her mouth.

Cute, for a bloodsucking monstrosity that is.

Better leave her alone, I don't want to get accidentally slapped by a vampire who doesn't like getting up in the morning.

I slowly disentangle myself from her and get up from the bed.

Oof! My poor hips barely survived all that, death by snu snu is definitely not just a myth in this world if my recent experience is anything to go by.

I put on my formal clothes and move to a window and open it wide to let in some fresh air, but he moment I do so the window slams shut, pushed by a sudden and precise wave of Magicka.

I slowly turn to see a very pissed looking Sybille glaring at me "Really Reyvin?"

"What?" No seriously, what?

She blinks "What gave you the idea I would enjoy getting woken up by the morning sun?"

"Oh." I say dumbly.

She groans and covers herself again, but after a moment sighs and gets up "Ugh, now I can't even go back to sleep." She glares at me but there is no heat behind it "You have to make it up for me."

"How about some coffee?" I ask quickly, ready to spread the belief of the one true drink.

"I think you know I prefer a different kind of drink." She licks her lips.

I frown "No."

She pouts "Fiiiineee, I guess coffee will do." and flops back onto the bed.

With a quiet chuckle I leave to cook some up while she gets dressed.

We spend the early morning talking about insignificant things, pointedly avoiding the topic of Meridia, as neither wanted to ruin the other's day by mentioning the cheating bitch.

As we finish discussing the finer points of annoying the nobility I decide it is time to ask the question "So..."

She seems to pick up my intention immediately and smirks "So?"

I guess there is no need to beat between the bush "Was last night merely just the reward or did you wish for something more?"

She giggles into her hand "Oh Reyvin have you already fallen so deeply for my charms?"

I let out an amused breath "I have barely gotten to know you, did I give the impression of a young mer thinking with his loins?"

"How very mature of you." She coos, practically radiating amusement "I guess you will just have to impress me again if you want to find out."

"Right." I roll my eyes at her antics.

She gets up from her seat "Well as lovely as talking to you is dear I am afraid we both have work to do and it wouldn't do for the plebeians to start rumors."

I go to respond to her comment but she approaches me with that unnatural vampiric speed and gives me a quick peck on the cheek before disappearing in an instant, likely to her own room, leaving me to my own thoughts.

Before my hormones can make me act like a horny teenager again I focus my thoughts on more important matters.

The fight against the bonemen and vampires on Mount Kilkreath went exceptionally easily when compared to all my expectations, but I was channeling a Daedra's blessing at the time so I shouldn't expect a repeat of such an overwhelming victory anytime soon.

Advancing my solar magic was obviously a must, thankfully I was already quite far on that road seeing as I did spend the last four days writing down scrolls on the topic.

Speaking of solar things... I really should check up on Scorch now that he got the time to rest up. I quickly cast the conjuration spell and summon him.

No longer looking as drowsy as yesterday he takes a majestic pose and stares at me.

"You doing alright there boy?" I ask.

He tilts his head and much to my surprise I hear him speak in a melodic and chirpy voice "Since when do you speak bird pops?"

I blink slowly and then burst out laughing, Scorch just stares at me in confusion and I quickly calm down while wiping away a tear.

I smirk at him "I am sorry to tell you this Scorch, but we aren't speaking bird, we are speaking elf."

He seems stunned and falls over as if shot "No! I have been touched by your degenerate ways!"

*Snrk* "Don't worry my boy, you will get over it."

He stands up abruptly and points an accusatory wing at me "Get over it? My perfect image has been ruined!"

I scratch my chin "I think being able to do more than chirp would have done quite well for your image, who would you even speak bird to... other birds? Do they even have much to say?"

I see him twitch as if struck "Maybe they don't but I'll have you know bird is a much better language than the gibberish you featherless degenerates love to speak!"

"If bird is so majestic, why does no one take the time to learn it then?" I ask.

He looks at the ground for a moment and then snaps back to me "Because you are all too dumb to learn it!"

"Riiiight..." I chuckle "Quick question, how exactly are you able to speak right now?"

He stares at me as if I was an idiot "I always could speak, as I said you are just too dumb."

*Sigh*"How are you able to speak Tamrielic Scorch?"

He shrugs with his wings "When you did that weird thing with the nice fire yesterday I suddenly felt like I could understand what people were saying more clearly... I thought the world was finally enlightened, but as you love saying reality is often disappointing."

"Hmmm, so the evolution made you capable of intelligent speech... Rather odd, but not unwelcome" I mutter and then look at him again "Do you have an idea of what you can do now?"

He bobs his head like a peacock "Yes, I am much mightier now!" then twitches his head cutely "I can also heal you if you are into that sort of thing."

*Snrk* "I too can heal, but help is always welcome." I look him over "What do you think of your new look."

He shifts uncomfortably "Well, at first I thought I became one of those n'wahs you keep mentioning... but now I kind of like it?" he seems very unsure.

I burst out laughing again, I have a racist bird for a familiar!

With another chuckle, I ask "Do you even know what an n'wah is Scorch?"

He scratches the bottom of his beak with his wing, likely imitating me, and says "I thought it meant those fools that are too degenerate to have a proper grey color, but now I am not so sure... After all, there is no way I am one!"

I face palm "Well, you see..."

After educating my familiar, who seemed to consider me his father (Not that I minded at all), in the ways of Dunmeri racism and earning myself some very judgmental bird stares I spent some time listening to him excitedly retell our adventures from his own childish perspective.

Well, I say childish but the glee with which he spoke about clawing out my enemies eyes was kind of worrisome, then again he was a combative creature in nature so it was good?

Still though listening to a creature that minutes earlier called you its father talk about how nice it is to pop someone's eyeballs would worry even the coldest of killers.

I left him summoned atop the tower and told him he can fly about, but not to bother anyone, and especially not to touch Sybille, I had no idea what kind of reaction that would cause so it was best to err on the side of caution.

The mad bird actually asked if she was an n'wah and that is why he shouldn't touch her which almost killed me right then and there.

After warning Sybille about burning racist birds in the tower I left the confused vampire behind and headed to the Bard's College, it was time to see about that bardic magic.

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I found my intrepid student leaning against the outer wall of the Bard's College with a red mark on his cheek.

I look him over and notice a couple more faded marks all over his face "Failed to seduce another maid Marco?"

He groans "I wish."

"Oh?"

"I told uncle about our great battle hoping he would praise me for my bravery..." He shakes his head in self pity "What a fool I was, the moment I explained to him the danger of our fight with the undead he proceeded to beat me and left me to sleep in the yard."

I laugh at him earning a glare "What? I told you it was a dumb idea, the fact you are alive should be considered an act of divine favor considering the number of enemies we faced."

"Yeah" He sighs "Maybe I am not cut out for this kind of life."

I visibly roll my eyes "Already giving up are we?"

"And what am I to do?!" He rages but manages to keep his voice down enough not to make a scene "How am I ever to catch up to the likes of you and Sybille gods damned Stentor?"

"You are one stupid mer I hope you know that." I say immediately.

"If you say don't compare yourself to us I wi-" He starts but I interrupt him with a huff.

"You will what? Seethe harder?" I ask sternly.

His shoulders slump "I guess."

"Now as I was saying, you are a fucking dumbass." I repeat much to his dissatisfaction.

"Then please enlighten me oh great teacher." He spreads his arms.

I raise a finger "First, don't speak to me like that if you don't want flight lessons." He flinches and I raise another finger "Second, you literally discovered a new way to empower magic and you are sitting here crying about your uncle justifiably chastising you instead of spending each and every moment of your time researching the boundaries of your discovery?"

He raises his head slowly "It can't be that powerful, can it?"

I scoff "Of course it can, maybe not in the same way my staff is, but that is why we should do our best to discover the limits of what this new branch of magic can do." I say placatingly, and quickly add "Maybe then you will stop crying like a little girl every time something doesn't go your way."

Instead of exploding this time he merely nods, exchanging his self-doubt with the confidence he had when he asked to join me "You are right, I should fight on. No great hero is born without hardship."

"Not to stop your little hype-up" I say fully intending to stop his little hype-up "But I have no intention of teaching you so you can be a hero."

"What?" He blinks.

Once again I adopt a stern expression "Heroes are those who sacrifice themselves for others and I will not have my time wasted by suicidal fools."

He rolls his eyes "You know what I meant."

"No." I lie "No I do not."

"I just want the glory." He huffs "What is the point of earning glory if I die, yes?"

I let out a satisfied chuckle "Much better, now let's get moving. I don't have all day."

We walked to the palace and I forced Marco to spend his entire pool of Magicka ten times over while almost force-feeding him potions to keep him going.

Davos joined us halfway through to continue his own training in pyromancy, but spent most of his time mocking Marco due to his situation.

Well until I started throwing undercharged lightning bolts at him every time he interrupted us that is.

We found out that bardic spells work best for illusion magic, especially with sound based illusions as expected, and much to my surprise with an odd mix of wind magic and telekinesis, creating some kind of sound blast.

Naturally, I had to guide most of the spells myself as Marco wasn't capable of anything above novice magic so we found ourselves in the awkward position of my hands always hovering above his own in an attempt to accomplish anything.

And it did, I got a nice soundblast to the face, but it was nothing compared to what I experienced with Meridia so I survived.

As I was attempting to guide Marco into casting a muffle spell I heard an amused cough behind me and stopped what I was doing. There in all her smugness stood a very bemused Sybille who wasted no time in asking "Not even a day after our rendezvous and you are already seeking greener pastures Reyvin?"

Yeah I don't have the nerves for this after dealing with Marco's constant whining, because of course his determination lasted only until we actually started working on magic, and immediately say "I will share my discoveries with you if you never again insinuate what you were about to say."

Her smile is brighter than the sun "Deal." the smile drops slightly as she says "Old Firebeard wanted us to meet with the legionaries in advance so we can 'connect' with our comrades as he said, the meeting is supposed to be starting soon."

"Lovely." I say in a dry voice "And you couldn't have informed me of this sooner?"

"Oh I would have..." She stares at me in irritation "Had your bird friend not been pestering me at why I flinch at his 'majestic' presence for an entire hour and calling me all manner of uncouth names."

I wipe a proud tear from my eye "That's my boy."

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Bippity boppity bone, you must now give me your stone.

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