Chapter 3: The Mage's Inquiry

Ruby's Perspective

We walked up the paths to the Dragonsreach building. Merchants and, seemingly, every passersby told us stuff like "I heard that they're reforming the Dawnguard in the old fort near Riften." and "If you're thirsty, go have some mead at the Bannered Mare." We passed a man who stood before a statue and said "Talos the Mighty! Talos the Unerring! Talos the Unassailable! To you we give our praise! We are but MAGGOTS, writhing in the filth of our own corruption!" Weiss asked the man who he was.

"I'm not sure, all I can tell is that he's a priest of Talos." The man said, staring at the priest confusedly.

"Who are you?" I asked the priest after I broke away from the group.

"There are those who would wish to silence the dragon. But not I! Not Heimskr! His word shall be known!" He told me. "Are you here to be blessed by Talos?" He asked.

"Who is Talos?" I asked. He stared at me, uncomprehendingly and before he could give me a speech on Talos, Blake pulled me away by my hood.

"Come on, we have to go to Dragonsreach." She told me as she dragged me back to the group.

"Tell me about him later!" I called back to him.

We entered Dragonsreach and saw two large tables that held very good looking food. A fire crackled in the middle of them and lit up the room around it. The man we traveled with walked towards a man sitting in a large chair under, what I assume is, a dragon skull. A dark skinned man stood to his left and a gray skinned woman dressed in leather armor stood to his right. After a brief conversation at swordpoint, the woman let the man speak with the man in the chair. While they talked, I overheard things like "Should we still rely on the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?" and "My Lord, we should send troops to Riverwood at once." That last one sparked a whole separate side conversation about what sounded like some war, but it soon found its way back to dragons. The last thing I managed to hear was "Come, let us find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and...rumors of dragons." After that, the man in the chair got up and began to lead the man we followed here to a room on our right. The man we followed here glanced over to us, signaling us to follow, so we did. The man who was in the chair quickly grew suspicious though.

"And who would these four be? Did they follow you here?" The man who was in the chair asked.

"Yes, Jarl Balgruuf. They were also at Helgen, and they seek refuge in Whiterun, for they currently have no place to stay." The man we traveled with said.

"Is this true? You four were also at Helgen?" Jarl Balgruuf asked.

"Yes. We were denied access at the gate, though. We were looking for a place to stay before it was attacked, and now we need a different place to stay." Blake explained.

"You were denied access? I know that the Imperials can be strict at times, but I would've never thought that they would close the town off completely. I suppose that you can stay at the Bannered Mare for a few nights free of charge, but that's all I can allow." Jarl Balgruuf said.

"Thank you very much!" We all told him.

"Now" He turned his attention away from us and back to the man. "as I was saying..." The two of them continued to talk until we reached the room. It was very spacious, the only things occupying the main space being some bookshelves, a large desk, and a large map with a lot of markings on it.

"Just wait out here, I'll be done in a minute." The man said before continuing inside with Jarl Balgruuf. They began speaking with a black robed man who we assumed was this "Farengar" person Jarl Balgruuf mentioned. Jarl Balgruuf soon left the two of them to speak, which didn't last all that long. Before parting ways with Farengar, the man pointed to us and whispered something to him. The man then walked out of the room and back to us.

"I have to go retrieve something for Farengar over there, so I'll be gone for a while. Keep safe and out of trouble, okay?" The man said.

"We will." Yang responded.

"Talos guide you." Was the last thing he said before he walked out of Dragonsreach.

"Good luck!" I called after him.

It was silent for a moment after that, we were just left there waiting for him to come back. We had just began to shoot confused glances at each other when Farengar called out to us. "You four! Come here! I would like to have a word with you."

We walked in. "What do you need from us?" I asked him.

"I would like to know more about how you arrived in Skyrim, your friend told me some very interesting things that piqued my interest." He said, sitting down at his chair.

"What did he say?" Yang asked him, slowly and with concern for what could happen.

"Don't look so afraid! I just want to ask a few questions." He was chuckling for a few seconds after that, once he composed himself, he continued. "Now, your friend told me everything that you told him, and I would like to confirm what he said with what you experienced."

"Alright." Yang said for us.

"So, you four were exploring some Dwarven ruins in a place you call Vale, correct?" Farengar asked.

"That's true." Yang confirmed.

"And in these ruins, you four came across an Elder Scroll, which upon opening, sent you here?" Farengar asked.

"We were with a second group of four, but they didn't arrive with us." Blake told him.

"Hmm, that could be an issue. If they haven't emerged from the time stream yet, who knows how long they'll be in there." Farengar mumbled to himself before focusing on us again. "We can worry about that later, so could you please answer my original question?"

"There was an old, ornate scroll on a pedestal. If it's called an Elder Scroll, then yes." I told him.

"Do you by chance have the scroll with you?" He asked.

"No. One person from the second group was the one who opened the scroll." I informed him.

"Damn, that's a shame. It would've made for a great resource, not to mention an amazing addition to my collection." Farengar mumbled to himself before continuing. "Anyway, while I would love to keep helping you with this, I'm afraid I lack the resources to do so."

"Is it possible for us to go back?" I asked him, feeling concern for Zwei.

"I'm not sure, though I think I know of a place that can help you more." Farengar said, going into thought.

"Where is that?" Weiss asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"The College of Winterhold, located in, well, Winterhold." Farengar said.

"What kind of college is the College of Winterhold?" Weiss asked him. She probably wants to get a degree at an expensive college just to show that she could.

"It's a mage's college, and one of the most well known in Tamriel I might add." Farengar said.

"Are they accepting students?" Weiss asked. Here we go...

"I'm not sure, but if you want to know more about the Elder Scroll, they're the ones that'll have what you need." He said.

"I think that's where we need to go then." Yang commented.

"Indeed, just talk to Bjorlam at the stables and he'll take you there. For a small fee, of course." Farengar said.

We looked at each other. "I don't think we have the kind of money that is used here." I informed Farengar.

"You mean to tell me that you don't have a single Septim on you?" Farengar asked.

"What's a Septim?" Yang asked.

His face grimaced slightly, but he calmed down fairly quick. "Fine, wait here a moment." He then quickly got up and went back into what looked like his quarters. Not a moment later, he came back out with a small orange bag. "This should cover the fee, just give this to Bjorlam and tell him you want to go to Winterhold."

Weiss greedily grabbed the bag before any of us could react. "Thank you very much!" We told Farengar. "I will pay you back when I make some money." I told him.

"Only if you insist, now run along now, I have important research to conduct." Farengar said, quickly going back to his notes.

We ran down to the stables to get on the carriage to Winterhold. A guard stopped us and told us to stop running. As soon as he turned around and walked past us, we ran again. We reached the stables after only a half a minute run. I spotted Bjorlam and ran up to him.

"Need a ride?" Bjorlam asked.

"We want to go to Winterhold, please." Yang told him where we wanted to go.

"That'll be 50 Septim's." Bjorlam said.

Weiss handed him the orange bag reluctantly.

"Climb in back and we'll be off." Bjorlam said, motioning to the back of the carriage.

We climbed into the back of the carriage, me and Yang on the right side, and Weiss and Blake on the left side. After Bjorlam got the horse moving, we began our journey to Winterhold, wherever that is. We had just gotten past the meadery when Bjorlam spoke up again.

"Anything you'd like to know about Winterhold? Or Skyrim in general?" He asked.

"Yes, everything!" Yang exclaimed causing Bjorlam to visibly cringe.

"Well, let's see. Where to start…" Bjorlam said, going deep into thought.

Bjorlam summarized the history of Tamriel, to the best of his ability, from the Third Era to the Fourth Era. He asked us if we knew the year, we said we didn't. He informed us that it was 201 in the Fourth Era.

"And in the most recent history, Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm started an uprising against the Empire. He claims to be High King after fairly defeating Torygg, the now dead king. However, the Empire and its supporters claim that Ulfric murdered the man, and that he has no claim to the throne. Not only that, but Ulfric supports free Talos worship, which was banned by the Empire after the Great War." Bjorlam said, taking a quick second to catch his breath.

"Why is Talos worship banned?" I asked.

"When the Aldmeri Dominion defeated the Empire in the Great War, one of the points that was put into the White Gold Concordat was a ban on Talos worship, because the Thalmor don't see him as a divine." Bjorlam said.

"Who even is Talos?" Yang asked.

"To summarize, he was a mortal man who conquered all of Tamriel, and began the Third Era, along with the Septim Dynasty. He is considered the Hero-God of Mankind, and to top it all of, he was Dragonborn. Trained by the Greybeards in High Hrothgar atop the Throat of the World. From birth to death, Talos was a truly incredible man." Bjorlam said.

"And why don't the Aldmeri Dominion think he is a god?" I asked.

"In truth, most of the Aldmeri Dominion doesn't care, but it's the Thalmor that are against it. They're a radical sect of the Aldmeri Dominion that believe in full elven supremacy, so the thought of a man ascending to divinity is an insult to them. And so, when the emperor at the time refused peaceful recognition of the Thalmor's demands, the Great War broke out." Bjorlam said.

"The Thalmor don't seem like nice people." I commented.

Bjorlam continued to explain Skyrim's and Tamriel's history as the carriage ride dragged on forever. The grassy plains of Whiterun had long since vanished and were replaced with a snow covered forest. We passed what seemed like a ruin of sorts a while ago, I think, it was hard to tell. We had just exited the forest and began to go along a bumpy road, still covered in snow. I looked up the hill and noticed a tower that looked very similar to the ruined one we saw before this whole thing started. Apparently my staring had caught everyone else's attention, and they all looked at the tower as well.

"What's that tower up there?" Blake asked.

"I don't know the name, but if I recall, it connects to a larger ruin further north." Bjorlam said, going back to his previous explanation not a second after.

The ride then continued on its incredibly boring pace, the only thing of interest that we passed was a cave that had some white haired creature guarding the entrance. That is, until we saw some type of fort in the distance.

"What's that up ahead?" Yang asked.

"That's Fort Kastav, an old fort abandoned long ago. Well, I say abandoned, but it's currently home to a group of Necromancers." Bjorlam said.

"That's pleasant." Yang said sarcastically.

"I've heard rumors about the Stormcloaks wanting to capture the fort, but as far as I can tell, it hasn't happened just yet." Bjorlam said as we approached the fort.

"Who are the Stormcloaks?" I asked.

"Were you not paying attention earlier? They're Ulfric Stormcloak's soldiers, and the driving force behind the Stormcloak rebellion." Bjorlam said, putting emphasis on every mention of the Stormcloaks.

"Oh, I get it. His last name is Stormcloak and his rebellion is called the Stormcloak Rebellion. I got it." I reply.

Bjorlam gave a small sigh of relief before focusing back on the road. Neither the Necromancers or the creepy skeletons paid attention to us as we went by. Though we all got the chills as we went by that fort. After that, the ride was back to its very boring pace. The snow had kicked up, making all of us cold, yet Bjorlam seemed to be unaffected. Once we turned the corner and got back onto some even road, a very large structure appeared in the distance.

"What's that up there?" I asked.

"That would be the College of Winterhold." Bjorlam said. Weiss sat so far forward in her seat that she almost fell out of it. After hitting a bump in the road, she finally fell.

"Keep yourself seated back there, this terrain isn't as even as the plains of Whiterun, watch yourself." Bjorlam said, paying little mind to Weiss. Weiss picked herself back up, blushing furiously the whole time. She held her chin high in defiance of the teasing that was not there.

"Glad to see that you are okay." Blake said.

The ride was short from that point, and it was almost a literal straight shot to the city. After only a few minutes, the gates were in view, and Weiss grew more excited the closer we got. When we reached the gates, Bjorlam stopped and let us out, wishing us luck on our future travels before he left for Whiterun.

As soon as she got off the cart, Weiss bolted off to the College of Winterhold, leaving us behind her.

"I expected as much." Blake said, staring at the snow Weiss kicked up.

"I am not surprised either." Yang and I agreed.

We walked after Weiss at a much slower pace. After a minute's walk, we walked past a broken house. Everyone in town seemed to ignore it, so that's what we did. We reached the town's center and decided to rest for a moment. We had the college in sight and we were tired from our long journey from Whiterun. However, at that moment, the ground shook, we heard thunder and then came the weirdest thing I have ever heard in my life. "DOVAH-KIIN!" echoed throughout the land, seemingly across the entire country if it was that loud. The once empty streets of Winterhold soon filled with it's citizens and guards, all of them mumbling to themselves. The two words that kept appearing in these mumbles were "Greybeards" and "Dragonborn". We were as confused as they were.

"What do you think that wa-" Yang was cut of by Weiss running up and shouting at us.

"I-was-about-to-get-into-the-college-when-I-heard-that-loud-thing-and-got-scared!" She shouted, in a severe state of panic.

"It's okay, Weiss. Just don't run off without us next time." Yang says to her, laughing at Weiss panicking.

"Shall we continue on to the college?" Blake asked.

"What about the voice-thing that just happened?" I asked, pointing to the sky.

"Let's ask the person who runs the college about it." Yang told me.

We set off again to the college and walked past the citizens who clogged the streets, panicking like Weiss was. We arrived at a bridge with a woman standing at the entrance.

"Oh you're back." She looked at us, "And you brought friends."

"Hi." Yang waved. I waved. Blake's bow twitched.

"I told you once before and I'll tell you again. Unless you can cast the Magelight spell, I can't allow you to enter." The woman said, staring at Weiss.

"We aren't here to try and enter your college." Blake told her.

"Everyone but her." Yang said, pointing at Weiss.

"Even if you aren't trying to enroll, you still need to prove you have some arcane knowledge to enter. So unless any of you can cast Magelight, I can't allow you to enter. Or, if you have the coin, I can sell you the spell tome for it." The woman said.

"How's this?" Yang asked her, shooting a ball of fire out of her gauntlets towards the woman, missing her head by a few inches.

"Well, at least one of you has some arcane knowledge. Follow me, I'll open the gates." The woman said, starting her walk across the bridge.

"I'll go tell the headmaster-dude-chick about what happened to us." Yang told us from over her shoulder.

"Try not to fall behind." The woman called back, and with that, Yang shot right next to her as they continued across the bridge.

"Do you want to go ask someone if they want a job done, so we can make some money?" Blake asked us, while watching Yang and the woman enter the college.

"Can't hurt." I reply. Weiss was not covered in snow, unlike the rest of us, mainly because she was so angry that she must've melted it all off. Ironic that the Ice Queen would melt snow! I left Blake and Weiss behind and went to talk to a guard.

"Let me guess, someone took your sweetroll?" The guard mockingly asked me when I walked up to him.

"What's a sweetroll?" I asked him.

The guard sighed. "Enough of your childish games, what do you want?"

"Is there any jobs my friends and I can do?" I asked him.

He gave it a moment of thought before responding. "Go talk to Jarl Korir up in the longhouse, he'll have something for you to do."

"Thank you." I said as I ran back to Weiss and Blake, who were looking for me.

"Oh, there you are." Blake said when I reached them.

"I asked that guard over there if we could get a job. He told me to ask the Jarl." I told them.

I looked at Weiss and Blake before knocking on the door of the longhouse, as specified by the guard. The door was thrown open and we walked in hesitantly. I saw the Jarl lounging on a chair, his shoulder adorned with furs and his forehead covered with a tiara. Is that customary for guys here?

"Hello, sir, we were wondering if you had any jobs that needed to be done?" I asked him.

"Hmm? And what could you three young girls hope to get done around here?" Jarl Korir said and asked, clearly not in a good mood.

I opened up Crescent Rose and smashed it on the ground. "We just need some money." I said to him, politely.

The guards in the longhouse immediately unsheathed their weapons, now very much on edge. Jarl Korir nearly jumped out of his throne when I slammed Crescent Rose into the floor.

"M-My apologies, I'm not exactly in the best mood right now." Jarl Korir said, whilst making a hand motion that caused the guards to lower their weapons. "Winterhold has lost much of its history, and with that much of its power. I aim to change that."

"What is it that you are offering for us to do?" I asked him, putting away Crescent Rose.

"I've heard rumors of the final resting place of the Helm of Winterhold, the very same helm that Jarl Hanse wore in the First Era. Hanse was in line to be High King of Skyrim, you know. Having that might get the ear of the other Holds and give me some authority." Jarl Korir said.

"How much are you going to give us for its return?" Blake asked before I could.

"Depending on how well you do the job, it'll vary. But I assure you, it'll be worth your while." Jarl Korir said.

"All right. We will be back with the Helm of Winterhold before you even realize we left." I said to him as we walked out of the door.

"Hold on! I didn't even tell you where to look yet!" Jarl Korir called after us.

"Right…" I said, stopping with my hand on the door handle.

"Rumor has it that the helm is located at Yngvild, a nordic barrow just west of here. It's located on a large island, it's quite hard to miss." Jarl Korir said.

"Okay. Anything else I should know before I walk out?" I ask nervously, not wanting to repeat what happened earlier.

"Try to keep warm out there, based off what you're wearing I'm surprised you haven't freezed to death yet." Jarl Korir said.

"It is quite cold out." I say, shivering in spite of me.

We walked out of town and down the road that ran behind the Jarl's longhouse. The snow and wind buffeted me to the point where I was almost thrown off the road numerous times. We marched down the road to the coast. We found refuge behind a stone that the wind blowed over. I looked at the map the the Jarl gave me, while Weiss complained about the cold.

"This light jacket is not enough to keep out this cold. I demand that I get a heavier jacket." She complained.

"Well, aren't you the Ice Queen? Shouldn't you control the cold to make other people want heavier jackets?" Blake joked, while shivering.

"J-Just because I am called the Ice Q-Queen doesn't mean that I am used to the cold! It just m-means that I can control ice!" Weiss snapped back, her body shivering so hard it made her stutter.

"We're cold too, Weiss." I told her, not even looking up from my map.

"Well, I'm more important than you two!" She shouted.

"In what way?" I asked her, once again not even looking up from the map.

Weiss was shivering too heavily to respond.

"Let's get moving again. I know which way we are going now." I told them, putting away my map.

They groaned when we got up, but got moving willingly. We set off again, this time along the coast. The wind wasn't as bad on the coast, so we weren't as potentially hypothermic. Weiss continually whined about the cold, but after Blake tripped her, causing her to fall face first in the snow, she stopped. The walk seemed like an eternity, so when I saw the island the barrow was housed in, I was grateful. I stopped walking to look for a way across. Weiss and Blake walked past.

"Hey, wait! This is the place!" I shouted after them while pointing at the island. They turned around slowly and walked back.

"Is it seriously on an island? Why can't it be on land?" Weiss shouted at the ground.

"More important question: how are we going to get across?" Blake asked.

"Swim?" I asked meekly.

"Oh, no. No no." Weiss said defiantly. She proceeded to set up a glyph beneath myself and Blake. We were thrown across the water and into a snowdrift on the island.

"That is how we will get across!" Weiss shouted as she flew at us. She, however, landed on her feet. Sadly, more snow fell on Blake and I when she landed.

"Let's go." She told us. I barely heard Blake's muffled response from under the snow. We shoved our way out, now colder than we were before.

"Let's go." Weiss says, more forcefully.

"We're coming. We're coming." I say to her.

After getting up and readjusting ourselves, we headed for a set of stone arches that lead uphill. Considering how long ago these were built, I'm surprised that they're still standing, especially in these horrible conditions. We eventually reached a cave that had two large pillars, carved into the shape of a bird, on either side.

"You sure this is the place?" Weiss asked, unenthusiastically.

"According to the map it is, now come on, let's go get that helmet." I said, stepping into the cave entrance.

Meanwhile Blake was dragging Weiss behind her, with Weiss shooting complaints left and right about going into a cave and being dragged into said cave. Normally I wouldn't be so adamant about going into a cave/barrow/thing either, but if it gets us a step closer to going home, I'm all for it.

/AN: Sup guys? Probably weren't expecting another chapter this early, were you? Well, the day I posted chapters 1 and 2, my friends and I finished the chapter we had been working on. So I decided to upload this chapter today, instead of making you guys wait. Anyway, not sure how long it's going to be until we complete the chapter we're currently working on, so hang tight!