Arch-Mage Brelyna Maryon believed she was a patient person. You sort of had to be, if you were a dunmer of House Telvanni.
Formerly of House Telvanni, she reminded herself, even all these years later.
You especially had to be, if you were going to be the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, where anything could and everything did happen.
Yet today that patience was being tested. Here in her office she was confronted with two third-year students who once again had created a mess she now had to clean up.
"Alright," she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Let's take this one step at a time. Why by the grace of Azura did you think it was a good idea to smuggle a cursed Ayleid artifact into the College?"
The two troublesome male students looked at each other. Glurnt, a dark green-skinned orc, and Alain, a light-skinned breton human with brown hair. If Brelyna weren't Arch-Mage, she might have actually found their constant antics hilarious or nostalgic after all the nonsense she and her classmates had gotten up to back in the day.
Unfortunately for all involved, she was the Arch-Mage.
"…We just wanted to study it," Alain said sheepishly.
She didn't buy it for a second. "And the reason you couldn't have just brought it through the proper channels?" Brelyna asked dryly, her eyebrow arched. The two students began to sweat. She continued, "You two do know there are reasons we have rules, right? We grant you considerable freedom here, but we also have protections in place to prevent unfortunate circumstances. Such as, oh I don't know, vengeful Ayleid ghosts which have currently taken up residence on the second floor of the student dorms? I'm going to have to send J'zargo up there later to drive them out before anyone can sleep tonight."
"… Sorry, Arch-Mage." they both muttered in unison, acting far more like chastised children than the young adult men they were. Yeah, that wasn't suspicious.
She sighed, "Fine, whatever. I don't want to know if this was supposed to be another prank or whatever. Do something like this again and I'll have no choice but to put you both on probation. Are we clear?"
Murmurs of affirmation gave Brelyna the approval she desired, "Good. Dismissed."
The two students got up and headed for the door. As they did, it opened and an old nordic man with snow white hair and robes stepped through. He stepped aside for the two students as they left, and then turned his attention to Brelyna.
"Ah, Onmund, now's not the best time—"
The old man gave a sheepish smile, "You know I wouldn't interrupt unless it was important," when the dunmer gave her Master-Wizard an expecting look he continued, "There's… someone here to see you, claiming to be from the Psijic Order."
She blinked. Oh.
… Oh.
Brelyna sighed. It was definitely one of those days.
Goddamn, this place was like a castle. It WAS a castle. Kyoko and Nagisa both found themselves in the College's main courtyard, and it was quite a shock to be someplace that looked somewhat almost normal. You know, in the sense that the castle was made of bricks, the sky was blue, the snow was white, and there were people here who weren't dark elves. Sure, there were weird magical glowing things everywhere, but after the past few weeks that was minor shit.
(Kyoko had spent the whole first day on the ship after they'd left Red Mountain's ash cloud behind laying on the deck bathing in the sun, freezing temperatures be damned).
It was sunset; the sun had hidden itself away behind the distant mountains, and the sky's blue was quickly turning a deep purple as the last rays of light shone above the snowy range. As the daylight began to fade blue flickering magical energy emanating from small braziers that lined the circular walls of the courtyard began to take over the job of lighting up the area, as well as of course the central circular pit that threw a pillar of blue energy into the sky. The place was certainly ornate; blue stained glass windows, etchings on the groundwork half-covered by the snow—the central grey-stone building in front of them going up like five stories…
It was even located in a nearly impossible-to-reach place that was still visible for miles, atop a pillar jutting high above the icy sea, its only point of contact with the mainland being a narrow stone bridge that hovered helplessly over the abyss and looked like it was about to collapse at any second. It had been a bitch and a half getting up here; the pathway from the docks at the shore below to the city (really, a small town) on the cliff's ledge was a torturous climb and both girls had complained relentlessly.
"So this is basically Hogwarts or whatever, right?" Kyoko mused idly, "I think I just need vampires and werewolves and I'll have a bingo on my scorecard."
Valtir didn't turn to face them, instead remaining impassive as he stared at the door to the main building, waiting, "Oh, they exist. Dangerous; hope you never have to deal with them."
"Ah, of course," Kyoko replied blandly, "Magical talking lions?"
"Senches, from Elsweyr. Though they're more tiger-like."
"Genies that grant wishes?"
"Usually daedra."
"Princes turned into frogs?"
"… Known to occasionally happen in High Rock."
"Yeah okay. Sure, why not."
After a short bit of waiting, a very tired-looking dark elf woman came out of the main hall out towards the courtyard. A somewhat exhausted but polite smile crept over her face when she saw her company.
"Valtir, what are the odds," she said pleasantly.
"Brelyna," Valtir replied, giving a slight bow, "I'm afraid I'm here on business rather than pleasure."
"As if I wasn't worried enough," she half-joked, then sighed, "How urgent is this? This isn't exactly the best time."
"Apologies for arriving without calling ahead, but the situation hasn't been ideal. I am afraid the situation is quite grave, though we can afford to wait a few days. In fact, I kind of require it."
Brelyna gave the older elf a hard look, "… An urgent situation… that's not time critical" she said with bemusement, folding her arms.
Valtir chuckled at that a bit. "I have a bit of an odd request to ask of you."
"I'm listening."
"I would request that you allow us to use your College as a staging point of sorts. In three days time, three girls will arrive here looking for their friends." he motioned to Kyoko and Nagisa.
Brelyna gave the two akaviri girls a curious look, "… What's so important about them?"
Valtir gave a short haggard laugh, "Everything. I'm afraid it's a bit of a long story, but when the others arrive I will gladly tell it."
The dunmer nodded. She knew trying to force an issue with a Psijic Monk was futile. He'd reveal his reasons when the time was right, as infuriating as it was, "So you're requesting lodgings, then. A bit unorthodox, but simple enough that I can grant it. You'll have to wait a bit though, unless you'd like to try and sleep with Odilion the Fleshcarver howling up a storm."
Valtir blinked, "… The Ayleid king?"
Brelyna gave a tired laugh, "An experiment gone wrong. It's… also a long story. Come," she motioned to the group towards the main hall, "It's too cold out here."
The group moved inside, granting Kyoko and Nagisa their first view of the main hall. It was large and expansive, ringed by pillars and stretching two stories up, with the center being open so they could see the floors above them like balconies.
"Welcome to the College of Winterhold, the premier research and learning institution for magic in all of Skyrim." Brelyna said, with no small amount of pride.
"So there are other magic institutions in Skyrim now?" Valtir asked with a wry grin.
"And there's the wit," Brelyna snorted, "Fine, you caught me. Though we do still try to remain comparable with our peers in the other regions." she motioned to an old nord who was walking over to them. He seemed a bit brittle, yet still moved fairly well for someone who had to be pushing eighty or more. "Allow me to introduce Onmund, my second. He'll handle any requests. I'd stay, but I need to help J'zargo root out an angry Ayleid ghost king. Please excuse me."
The dunmer quickly exited the hall, while Onmund gave the trio an awkward smile before clapping his hands together, "So uh… who's hungry?"
The teachers' dorm tower (the "Hall of Countenance", as it had been called) was much like a smaller version of the main hall, except with bedrooms and small studies ringing the central room. The girls and Valtir had been led to the second floor, where a table full of food lay before them meant for the college staff on-the-go. Fruit, pastries, meat, cheese…anything and everything that could be considered finger food. Both girls' stomachs growled as they salivated.
Normal food. Normal goddamn food. Happier than she'd ever been in her life, Kyoko reached for an apple and in an almost cartoonish fashion devoured all but the core in but a few bites. Nagisa similarly started with the cheese and quickly began to make her way over to the desserts.
"Wow they um… they really eat, don't they?" Onmund asked Valtir as the chaos began, "I'll uh… have to get the cooks to bring up more."
The elf chuckled, "They didn't much care for the dunmer food on the way here."
The two girls froze mid-chew and glanced at Kyoko's food bag. It had been largely emptied on the way here, but there were still a few items they'd mostly gone out of their way to avoid the entire trip and wanted to touch even less now, mostly stuff like scrib jelley, raw trama root, and whatever nyx-hound legs were. They were awful. She wanted it gone.
But that would mean de-facto wasting food.
But there was better food here.
But the food in the bag was her responsibility.
But it was awful.
But it was the principle of the thing!
But trama root.
Her eyes shifted between the bag and the table in rapid succession as her expression became more and more despondent.
"Are… are you okay?" Onmund asked the redhead with concern, who had just gone from being on top of the world to what could only be described as being on the verge of a nervous breakdown in a matter of seconds. Her breathing had become uneven, her pupils dilated, her palms sweaty. Onmund turned to Valtir, "… She's not having a stroke, is she?"
Kyoko let out a sad, angsty moan.
Nagisa laughed with a hint of mischievousness, "I think she's having a crisis of faith." When the old nord gave her an odd look, Nagisa took the bag from Kyoko and handed it to him, "I don't suppose you guys would have any room for dark elf stuff, huh?"
Onmund looked in the bag, "Er… sure. Brelyna might. Maybe. If you're sure, that is." he said, uncertain.
"NO PLEASE BY ALL MEANS I INSIST THANK YOU." Kyoko near-shouted in hopeful desperation as a weight lifted off her shoulders. Onmund shrugged and left the bag for the cooks when they came by again, while the girls resumed their impromptu feast in a way only hungry kids could.