Broken Toys (Fyr)

 A/N: Working on the storytelling collectives 2024 April writing challenge very very slowly and queuing them for later as I go as I'm about to be buried in finals work. Feral child Ayron is my second favorite Ayron only slightly behind chaotic adult Ayron so have little Ayron fighting some spoiled rich kid.

Prompt: My boy only breaks his favorite toys

Since taking on Ayron as an apprentice I have found myself in a number of scenarios I never would have expected to be in, even considering all the places I have traveled over the years and the many people I have met, some more curious than others. Ayron and I had taken a rare trip to the mainland as I had some business to take care of and he is still too young to be left at the tower without direct supervision. While I am sure Uupse and Delte would let no harm come to him I am less certain about Alfe, who at times does not realize that some people have a much more functional sensitivity to pain than she does, and Beyte who has begun to exhibit strange and rather concerning almost jealous behavior. It was in the best interest of everyone that I simply bring the boy with me, he seems to learn best by watching and copying anyways. Since the Telvanni are not on the best of terms with the Mages Guild, their founder was a bit of an idiot anyways, and the local inns were all full Ayron and I find ourselves staying with a wealthy nobleman who is more or less related to the reason we are here in the first place. There is a bit of a language barrier for Ayron who is used to speaking a very different dialect that has little to no mutual intelligibility but he manages and thankfully has been able to pick up the common tongue very quickly which serves as a good alternative. The nobleman is courteous enough, not particularly interesting, and rather pompous, but I suppose I’ve met worse nobles. His wife and son greet us as well upon our arrival and seem to be similar, boring and full of themselves. The boy is a few years older than Ayron and stands easily a head taller if not more and there is something slightly off about him, though I cannot place what it is. Something in his eyes warns me to keep a close eye on Ayron while we are here. After tea the noble's son asks Ayron if he would like to go play with him, Ayron initially politely declines but the brat does not take no for an answer and complains to his father, who then strongly urges me to have Ayron go. After whispering to Ayron to place a mark and recall spell should something go wrong I send him off. With the children gone the conversation quickly turns to business and more serious topics beyond the weather and the state of the current harvest. Around an hour later the conversation is suddenly interrupted by a rather frazzled Ayron who had in fact utilized the mark and recall spell and landed in the dining room, luckily he managed to avoid hitting the table on impact. The nobleman and I quickly get up and rush over to him, it looks almost as if he had been running through some hedges the way he’s bruised and scraped up. Reminds me of the time Naomi did such a thing, those scratches didn’t heal for weeks. Moments later the older boy comes running in the door and into the dining room shouting in between breathless pants. He doesn’t look in great shape either, in fact he looks worse. The nobleman and I both demand to know what happened and get differing accounts. The older boy tells of how he just wanted to play with Ayron and Ayron kept refusing to play. Ayron however interrupts his retelling, which I can sense is not telling the whole truth, and says the boy tried to break his arm and repeatedly kept trying to poke him with a stick. That was not a good idea, and explains the poor state of both boys. While not all that tall and not even the strongest or most athletically inclined Ayron still spent much of his earlier childhood on a rural farm. He is not particularly tall but he can handle himself. Years of helping with manual labor in a sometimes hostile environment will do that to you, the boy knows how to defend himself. The nobleman seems unphased even at Ayrons accusations. I turn to the father now given his unsettlingly casual demeanor and ask how he can remain that way in the face of such a situation. He replies just as casually that his boy only breaks his favorite toys, those words alone make me all the more outraged. At the explanation Ayron curses the man, though he does so with words the noble cannot understand and the confused man looks to me for clarification. I translate without a second thought, before helping Ayron off the ground, dusting him off quickly and announcing that it seems we have overstayed our welcome and will be going now. The moronic nobleman and his son stand dumbfounded in their dining room, and the wife is thoroughly confused as we make our quick exit. I tell her to keep a better eye on her son, and to perhaps teach him some social skills before we leave. There are other places we can stay in Mournhold, and if needed it will be quite easy to arrange the disposal of a certain nobleman thanks to the Morag Tong and their very useful services. Ayron tells me as we walk through the city how the boy tried to break his arm, though he wasn’t doing it right, and if anything it’s the other kid who now has a broken arm, as Ayron has been learning his anatomy…and seemingly putting it to use.   

Pine Trees (Sarah)

Mini Fic Prompt: Pine Trees

Bosmer are known for having a strong and in some ways spiritual connection to the trees. Coming from my native Valanwood to Summerset I was surprised at the amount of open space that exists, even within the cities. A majority of Valanwood is dense forest such as the part I come from, or sprawling jungle so vast entire armies have gotten lost within it. The trees are in a way one of our best natural defenses, as they make creating roads a challenge, and provide easy hiding places for archers. Many of the trees in Alinor are much younger, and significantly smaller, than the ones I grew up around. On a walk one afternoon with nothing better to do I find a small park with a number of pine trees scattered throughout. I may as well spend some time here. It is so rare I get time to relax these days that a day off is a welcome change. With my satchel slung over one shoulder and my bow across my back I find one of the pine trees that seems sturdy enough to hold my weight and begin to climb. One far enough up that my presence will go unnoticed by those wandering the paths and having found a comfortable branch to sit on I pull out my book. When stressed I find myself seeking out two things primarily, the first being nature, and the second being literature. Both are calming and provide easy ways to escape from the stress of everyday life. Getting lost in my book I find myself staying there for hours until I’m drawn back to reality as the fading sun causes the street lamps to flicker on, and I notice Phillip slowly walking along the path coming my way. Thinking of some way to get his attention I carefully pull out an arrow and a piece of paper, scrawling a note that says “look up.” and tie it to the arrow before carefully shooting it into the ground by Phillips feet. Shocked at nearly being hit by the flying arrow he unties the paper from it and reads it before looking around up at the trees. I wave to him until he notices me and begins to walk over. With his attention grabbed I begin to climb down and meet him at the bottom, taking back my arrow from the still slightly disgruntled and tired professor before joining him for the rest of his walk home. Once that’s done I head home myself, taking an alternative route to my usual one. I think I need just a bit more time alone among the trees before I return to the chaos of daily city life.

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.

Getting Old Isn't For The Weak (Valan)

 A/N: Valans birthday is today he gets to spend it with his two favorite rather grumpy tea enjoying wizards

“It’s not easy being four thousand years old, you know.” Fyr tells me as he gets up from his reading chair and tries to stretch, with there being an audible crack at one point. “You okay?” I ask as he continues to try and shake out the stiffness. “Just old bones, my joints aren’t what they once were. At some point your body decides to turn itself into a musical instrument at random when trying to move.” he responds casually with a few more popping and cracking noises before having decided he’s stretched sufficiently. The book he had been reading is discarded into a pile with the others on the floor next to the chair and he motions for me to follow him. Getting up from my spot on the carpet of the study I place a marker in my own braille book and follow him. “Where are we going?” I ask running a few steps to catch up as he continues down the hallway. “To have tea.” is the only thing the old wizard responds with as we get to the landing and head down to the first floor. “Don’t we usually have tea earlier in the day?” I begin to form another sentence remarking how at least Neloth and I usually have tea in the early afternoon but after getting a look that could probably kill the average person I hold my tongue.

Once in the little kitchen Fyr puts the kettle on and goes to rummage through one of the cabinets looking for something to eat with the tea as well as checking the selection of tea available. Coming back with the large wooden box full of various kinds of tea leaves and other make-ups of imported teas the two of us look through it, deciding on one that allows for multiple steeps using only a very small amount of the tea itself. “Are you sure you don’t want me or one of the girls to put that back?” I ask and try to help Fyr as he goes to put the heavy box back in the cabinet though he just laughs “I’m old, not useless!” and puts the box back himself. “I wasn’t implying that” I tell him and he just waves a hand at me with a slight smile. “I know, I know, I know. Still, I’m not wrong. I may be old, but I’ve still got a lot more left in me than the average young person nowadays. Who else do you know that could figure out how to clone cells into not one but four fully functional people?” He does have a point, I would trust him in a fight far more than I would trust the average person my age, regardless of military or other training. Four thousand years gives you lots of time to pick up lots of skills. The kettle then makes its shrieking sound now that the water has boiled “Ah! Waters ready.” Fyr gets the water while I finish setting up the tea table. The first steep is discarded and given to the small ceramic animals, in this case a rabbit and a dragon. With the second steep done we can now drink the tea, and have a small snack along with it.

 Upon the first sip Fyr sighs, the warm drink probably helps any achiness that resulted from sitting looking through old spell tomes for hours. “I remember when I got this tea actually.” Fyr tells me in between sips “It was back when I was still at the Arcane University, there was a little market nearby that sold tea and other goods hard to find in The Imperial City.” That would have been hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, as Fyr got kicked out of the University a very, very, very, long time ago. It’s good tea though, I can understand why he bought it.

With tea and a light snack eventually finished, Fyr and I head back up to the second floor, and do a bit more work in the lab along with some help from Alfe. It's amazing that Fyr can get around as well as he does and is still seemingly completely sane…okay maybe not completely sane but I don’t think any member of house Telvanni is entirely sane, myself included. It comes with being a member of the house, you’re either an insane wizard, a mad scientist, or in the case of Fyr and Neloth, both. With the lab cleaned up after inventory is taken and experiments created and left to sit Fyr takes his leave, telling me he’s going to take a nap and I’m free to continue working, hang around the tower, or head back to Sadrith Mora. With the sun beginning to set I decide it’s probably best I head back to Sadrith Mora so I get there before night has completely fallen. Saying goodbye I take my leave and manage to get back to the town without much difficulty. I might as well go check in with Neloth since I have some time before dinner.

Getting to the top of Tel Naga I find Neloth pouring over his current experiment plans and knock on the door lightly to announce my presence. “Oh it’s you. I assume you have the groceries I told you to get?” Groceries? Ah yes, the groceries. Neloth had asked me to get some sload soap along with a few other things and some kind of ointment for his joints. Reaching into my satchel I find what he had asked for. “Here you go.” I hand him the bundle and the vial of ointment both of which he takes and sets aside before going to retrieve some gold to give me. “What’s the ointment for if I might ask? The alchemist looked at me funny until I told it was for you.” Neloth looks up from counting the money “Huh? Oh. It’s for arthritis, my knees aren't what they once were.” Given the fact that Neloth can run almost as fast as me now I wonder what he was like when he was young, he was probably also much less grumpy. Neloth drops a small pouch of gold into my hand “Don’t get old, it’s an awful time, really.” He tells me and unlike Fyr there doesn’t seem to be any sarcasm in it. Noted, I guess I’ll just find a way to stop aging, Fyr discovered cloning, Neloth has made more than one important discovery when it comes to magic staffs, I guess that will be my contribution to House Telvanni, the house full of grumpy old wizards.

Flash Fiction February 2024 Day 28: To Carry On The Story (Lucien)

 A/N: Flash Fic Feb 2024 is officially complete! I will possibly have an extra piece for Rare Disease Day up tomorrow, but this prompt is the final one from The Storytelling Collective list of prompts for the year. I really enjoyed this Tolkien inspired prompt list and I hope you enjoyed reading the results :)

Prompt: Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story.

Over the years I have often wondered if there will really truly be an end to things. While I have crossed from life into death a part of me still remains attached to the realm of the living, and as a result the adventures continue. In many ways it is a strange existence; stuck in the grey area between the eternal darkness of cold and enduring death, and the warmth and light of life. I have, as a result, begun to view the day to day like a continuous story or adventure of sorts. The characters may change, some may appear only for a short time, others may remain consistent for weeks, months, years, or even centuries whether by magic or simple genetics. Still I wonder if there will be a finite end one day, the turn of the last page. Don’t adventures ever have an end? I ponder the question late one night as I sit alone in the silent sanctuary. “I suppose not.” I find myself talking to myself aloud to cope with the silence while the rest of the sanctuary sleeps, as the dead like myself have no need for sleep. “Someone else always has to carry on the story.” That is something I know to be true, as I have seen it happen on more than one occasion. Where I failed Issy has managed to carry on, the Septim Empire has since fallen away and given way to a new dynasty, and most recently Anna has taken the mantle to be the hero of the times. The Third Era was a turbulent time, with the story being handed from hero to hero in relatively quick succession, and with seemingly never ending adventures. As we move further into the Fourth Era it makes me curious what adventures there are to be had in this current age, and who it will be that will next carry on the story. The world may come crashing down one day, but for now there are still pages left unwritten, the continuous tapestry of time must continue, and the story thus remains unfinished. That fact is oddly comforting, even for those who dwell among the dead.

Flash Fiction February 2024 Day 27: Tomorrow Is Unknown (Fyr)

 A/N: Getting this one done bright and early for the day as I have yet to go to sleep in order to knock it out. These next couple of days as we finish up the month will be very busy especially tomorrow as I've got some doctors appointments to go to but still I am hoping to find the time to finish up this years prompt list. I have really enjoyed the prompts this year even if the works are significantly shorter and very much flash to micro fic length, and I hope you have enjoyed them too!

Prompt: Yet do not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unknown

In dark times such as these I find there is still hope even if it is elusive. Valan had come to me at the urging of his mentor and friend of mine, the Imperial Spymaster for Morrowind, a man named Caius Cosades. It was a good thing the old man did too given Valan had managed to get infected with The Divine Disease and by the time of his arrival had already begun to deteriorate health-wise, and quickly too. Luckily for him I have spent centuries researching Corprus and while I have yet to find a particular cure for the disease I am able to at least for now provide some sort of comfort and treatment of symptoms, though perhaps he is the perfect candidate to test my potential cure of sorts. Late one night I decide to broach the idea and in a moment of clarity in-between fits of delirium he agrees to test the potion. After all, the options he has before him are the unknown effects of the potion, or a lifetime of misery before an unfortunate and painful end. Things look grim, I tell him at one point while preparing the last ingredients, and it is true that things in fact are quite such a way. Yet do not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unknown, and that in and of itself is one of the many gifts of life.

Flash Fiction February 2024 Day 26: News From Afar (Juliette)

 A/N: There are only 3 more prompts left for the month which is astonishing, though I may have two for rare disease day energy dependent, we shall see.

Prompt: News from afar is seldom sooth

Letters written in cryptic code coming from the other side of the continent are very rarely pleasant. The letter that had arrived late one night by way of a rather concerned courier proved to be no different. War rages among feudal lords in the west, and the empire seems perhaps moments from crumbling, while mysterious happenings occur in the east though they remain more cloaked compared to the political intrigue of the other provinces. The letter contains instructions for my next assignment along with news coming directly from the emperor himself. News from afar is seldom soothing, and this particular news proves to be both concerning as well as disturbing. Having read the coded letter in its entirety twice over and with a clear understanding of my assignment I toss it into the fire. Quickly it is consumed by the flames and is reduced to ash among the still burning wood. Now to sit and plan, as news from afar such as this cannot be acted on in haste. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night, and an even longer series of days, until at last the news from afar communicated in unknown texts and cryptic runes will be good for once.