286 Talkative

Once Charlotte exits the Hall of the Vigilant, the buzzing in her ears suddenly intensifies, almost causing her to stumble at the sheer volume of it. Fortunately, she manages to retain her composure enough to set her mother in the cart. Allowing herself to drop into a meditative position to try and figure out what was happening.

"Oh, that's a laugh isn't it? Two out of three down and still no results, makes you wonder if the 'benevolent' are truly so... After all, if Gods were anything like the men who worship them, wouldn't they be just as willing to bend the rules in their favour? Pick and choose who they help and don't?" the familiar voice she'd heard while travelling from Helgen makes itself known, instantly criticising the gods who'd denied her mother help...

Michael had told her to avoid and ignore such things, as nothing good could come from it, she couldn't help but nod in agreement to the voice's remarks. Her mother was akin to a saint compared to most people, at least in her opinion, so if they refused to help her, perhaps she was making requests to the wrong people. She shakes her head, deciding to not go against Michael's warnings and risk it. "What do you want?" she whispers under her breath.

The voice chuckles, "Nothing at the moment, I can see you're still unconvinced. But don't worry, I can wait. I'll be around to pick up the pieces when you finally break. But know this one thing, if you wished for it, I could heal your mother with a snap of my fingers."

...

"Who are you?"

"Haha! Now that'd just ruin the fun, miss 'No one'. But don't worry your pretty head, I'll be keeping an eye on you, for... Let's just call it insurance. Wouldn't want my new friend to do something foolish!... Anyway, this was a good chat, I got to be mysterious and you got to hear my voice. A win-win in my books! Now, I'll leave you alone to brood, I know people your age love to do that." the voice says, quickly departing as the buzzing stops.

...

Charlotte just sits there staring at the cart's wooden floor for a few moments after the voice leaves. She felt like she was being played. but that there was nothing she could do about it. If she didn't know better, she'd say that the voice knew the future... That's what his words implied anyway...

She tucks her knees into her chest and rolls onto her side, pulling her furs tighter against herself. She just wanted this long nightmare to be over.

Two minutes later, Michael and Tiffania step out from the building and are greeted with an unusual sight. Illococoo had her finger to her lips as she pointed towards Maria, who had Charlottes head in her lap as she seemingly unconsciously stroked her hair.

"Huh, maybe we don't need help to heal her after all?" he questions, wondering if all this travelling and introducing her to new sights and experiences was helping her mind recover... He wasn't a therapist or a doctor though, so that was just his 'hopes'. It was that or her missing doll had forced her to use Charlotte as a substitute... How would that even work though, she originally mistook the doll as Charlotte in her fractured mind so, her reasoning got so backwards that it'd done a full three-sixty flip.

With the Hall of the Vigilant being a bust, the group backtracked back towards Whiterun and turn at the next crossroads to head to Winterhold. They could immediately go to Markarth but Michael wanted to at least get started on their magical education before going to the other side of Skyrim.

They could've continued heading North to Dawnstar, but from what Michael could tell from the map he'd bought, the road from Dawnstar to Winterhold literally ended halfway through. They'd have to take the cart off-road, which wasn't something Michael wanted to risk... He was not going to start walking from place to place again! And no, Illococoo was still not an option, not until the real dragons returned and drew the attention.

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Four days of rough travel pass, the group carefully making their way through the frozen wasteland that is the North region of Skyrim. There's a reason they call this area Winterhold, and it isn't because of all the visiting couples wishing to hold hands on winter's day.

The group was fortunate that they'd prepared two sets of clothes and furs, as only by wearing both sets was the temperature anywhere nearing comfortable.

Charlotte and Tiffania used this to practise this magic however, attempting to conjure controlled balls of fire to warm them and everyone else in the cart up... Magic would have had a go too, if he wasn't so sure about his chances of burning the cart to ash.

The Book of Heroes only granted him spells and abilities, things that couldn't really be altered, not within the help and tutelage of the Spirit who initially owned them. Still, everyone was looking forward to finally having a break, and with the giant statue of Azura already in sight, they weren't far off from the college now.

Throughout this all, the group did discover something good... Maria, Charlotte's mother would attempt to draw things if given the right tools... The group only noticed this because the woman had gotten ahold of a sheet of parchment and attempted to draw the back of Michael's head with icing she'd gotten from a Sweetroll...

The drawing was trash, but when they gave her a quill and ink, she was actually pretty good. By the time the group finally saw the small, ruined town of Winterhold and the large college behind it, Maria had drawn an incredible depiction of the Statue of Azura. It was honestly a bit embarrassing, that a madwoman was better at drawing than anyone else present...