A Question Of Ethics (Farkas)

Mini Fic  Prompt: Ethics class

Mages can be a strange group of people. I don’t necessarily dislike them, and I’m not overly wary of them like Vilkas is thanks to childhood trauma, but still I find they can be odd. Anna has her own peculiarities, some magic related, others not, and while I love her dearly sometimes her behavior can be baffling. Sitting in the large lecture hall within the college of Winterhold observing from the background drives the point home, and reminds me how I feel rather out of place. “Alright class, let’s begin, today will not involve any actual spell casting, but will, I hope, be educational nonetheless.” Tolfdir, the old professor, begins explaining to Anna and her three classmates as they sit on the floor in the center of the room.

Not wanting to be a distraction I sit off to the side on one of the benches lining the edges of the hall, and spot Ancano lurking from across the room before he disappears out of sight. I’m not sure why the college tolerates his presence, Neloth wouldn’t that’s for sure. Neloth hardly tolerates his own staff and would probably throw the sneaking Thalmor agent out the door the second he stepped into his tower.

“Ethics are an important part of any magic use, magical research, and everyday life.” Tolfdir begins to explain. Of course ethics are important, everybody knows that. This thing is right, this thing is wrong, this thing is in a grey area and can be right or wrong depending on your point of view. One of the students raises their hand and asks a question regarding the use of ethics with magical experimentation, a clear example of why I sometimes find mages confusing. “If you’re going to do an experiment on a living person, you explain what you’re doing and you get their consent, it’s not that difficult to comprehend.” Anna responds to her classmate bluntly before the professor gets a chance. I agree with her, even I can comprehend it, and I never plan to be a part of any magical research study, willing or otherwise. Having seen what happens to Talvas when it comes to being a participant in experiments as a result of being apprenticed to Neloth I can’t see why anyone would want to participate in such things.

The class continues with Tolfdir going over a number of hypothetical situations in which ethics are involved, gets more questions from the students who from observation I’ve found might not have the most ethical research practices, and lays out guidelines that are to be followed in regards to ethics at the college. After a little more than an hour the class is dismissed, Tolfdir heads to meet with the archmage, the other three students run off to the library, and Anna wanders over to where I sit and takes a seat next to me. “Learn anything?” She asks half-joking and rests her head against my shoulder. “Only that I’m never letting any of you experiment on me.” Anna may have a certain code of ethics and a general moral compass, but I think the others could use an entire semester of ethics class.