Wow, it's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm terribly sorry for the wait; I've been rather uninspired lately, as well as regrettably busy. My summer did not turn out at all like I'd planned for it to, and honestly, I don't think I'll get back to a regular updating schedule until school starts back up for me. I'm not certain when I'll be able to update this again, or my other stories, but I'll try to update Glitch before posting another chapter to anything else, as, now that I've updated Mage, it's gone the longest without an update. 

Anyways, just wanted to give you all a heads-up that I might be doing some minor editing of Chapter 20 in the near future. I want to make it more of a 'history reveal' for Helgír than it currently is, as well as squash some minor errors here and there. Also, the rewrite of chapters two and three is nearly finished - I say is because I've managed to combine the content of two chapters into a larger, more logical one, and I look forward to 'updating' the existing chapters soon. c:

If you were curious about my music choice for this particular chapter, trust me, it fits the ending of the content above the first divider beautifully, as well as the actual ending. I hope you enjoy the chapter! ^^

____________________________________________________________________________________

"If you're not careful, you're going to walk right off the side of the mountain, Miss Abgrall. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to read while you walk?"

"Nightbrook's right; that's not really a safe thing to be doing-"

"Oh come off it, you two. I can do two things at once, you know, and I've gotten quite good at this whole 'reading and walking' thing!" I replied indignantly, glancing up from my ancestor's journal to shoot my friends a faux-irritated look, though I couldn't suppress a slight smile as I responded to my friends' concerned remarks.

We were now making our descent from High Hrothgar, just roughly a week after the incident with my ancestor. During that time,  Helgír had spent his days meditating with the Greybeards - though I wasn't quite sure what all that entailed - while I'd been reading through Mélisande's journal in an attempt to learn more about my family's past, as well as to learn more about magic, as Mél had mentioned that she'd left some helpful pointers in there - though I also ended up having to fend off Nightbrook's many  - and very persistent - attempts to get a peek at the book himself, as, for some reason, I had a feeling she'd prefer that some parts in it go entirely unshared with a certain nosy elf. It had been a very pleasant week indeed, and leaving the monastery was bittersweet to me - it seemed that we'd all learned at least one valuable lesson during our time there, one way or another, but despite what we'd all been through together during such a short time, it seemed that our company's paths were destined to split, and that time was drawing near. Helgír had been tasked with retrieving the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller from some long abandoned barrow, Ustengrav, and said crypt was quite a ways off from Winterhold - and I couldn't keep putting off going there, considering my ancestor's warnings - as well as the dreams I'd been having since.

As much as it pained me to think that I'd be leaving the company of the first friend I'd made in this strange land, I knew that it had to be done, as unfortunate and unpleasant as it was. I had a feeling it was going to be harder to say goodbye to him than it had been to part company with Toralf - mainly because he'd only traveled with us for a few days, and also partly because I'd been with Helgír for far longer now, and it felt almost wrong to think about going somewhere in this strange, harsh land without him. However, I wasn't going to allow myself to think about that too much at the present - after all, we were still all together currently, and I was not going to allow myself to waste a bit of the precious time we had left together.

So far, the weather had been surprisingly pleasant, and, more importantly, our day's journey thus far had been completely free of dragons, wolves, bears, and other such dangers. We planned on reaching the bottom of the Seven Thousand Steps by nightfall, and from there we would go our separate paths, Nightbrook and I to Winterhold, and Helgír and Snjall to Ustengrav. And, as had been the case since the incident with Mél's journal, Nightbrook and Helgír were getting along surprisingly well - almost unbelievably so, considering Helgír's former disposition towards the thief, which was making the trip back down from High Hrothgar considerably more enjoyable than our ascent had been.

It was this particular train of thought that suddenly made me realize that my time and attention would be better spent interacting with my friends than reading at the present, especially considering I might not be seeing Helgír for quite a while after today. Just as Nightbrook looked ready to make another smart remark, I stuffed the book into my satchel, pushing it deep down amongst the numerous other books that were crammed within it in an attempt to make sure a certain nosy mer wouldn't be able to find it.

"You know, I really shouldn't be reading right now. It's dangerous, not to mention I'm missing a pretty great bird's-eye view of Skyrim's beautiful countrysides, aren't I?" I remarked to my companions, who seemed somewhat surprised by my actions.

"It is quite a nice view," Helgír remarked with a small smile, "And thank the gods we've got such pleasant weather to make it so enjoyable."

"I second that," the mer agreed, "I'd rather not run into any white-outs anytime soon, especially not after what happened during that last one."

After a slight pause, Nightbrook decided to initiate a new venue of conversation, asking rather predictably, "So, Miss Abgrall, what is it in Mél's journal that is so fascinating that you've scarcely pulled yourself away from it during the week it's been open?"

I couldn't help but let out a slightly exasperated sigh at his question; this wasn't the first time he'd tried to get me to spill everything about the book, and I had a feeling it was not going to be the last, either. And, by the Nine, I wasn't going to betray my ancestor by sharing personal details about her and, more specifically, her love life, to someone who knew her well - not to mention it would likely cause more harm than good to share. Nevertheless, I responded with more or less the same thing I'd told him before, "In case you've forgotten, I've been reading this to advance my knowledge on Destruction magic, and Mélisande left quite a few helpful tactics and strategies behind in this book as well. And no, I'm not going to let you read it."

"Have you learned anything particularly interesting or useful?" Helgír asked, seeming genuinely interested. He'd been as busy as I was back at High Hrothgar, I assumed the Greybeards had been teaching him new Shouts or whatever else there is that Dragonborns do, so he hadn't really been able to learn much about my strange new ancestry and its 'benefits', though he seemed almost as curious as Nightbrook about Mél's journal, though for completely different reasons.

"Yes, actually. Though it's odd... The kind of magic that my ancestor learned is quite different than what I'm used to. These particular spells seem less instinctual and more "logical", as odd as it is to say that. Learning them is more like understanding a concept rather than an innate, more primal feeling. Not to mention there are spells I've never seen the likes of before recorded here - they're probably just an Imperial thing, or something; I wouldn't know. But I've learned quite a bit from it, despite the unusual style concerning how the fundamentals of magic are written about. But I won't bore you with the technical stuff," I said quickly, noticing that Helgír seemed to be losing his interest a bit, despite his best efforts, "One particularly interesting thing I've picked up is the useful ability to cause the disintegration of weaponry - currently I've only been successful in fully rendering an iron dagger useless, but hey, I had to start somewhere."

The Nord looked surprised, his interest rekindled as he asked, "You can disintegrate weapons? If I had any aptitude for magic, I'd have half a mind to ask you to teach me how to do something like that."

"It will definitely be a useful trick in the future, more likely than not," I replied, suddenly realizing that Nightbrook had been oddly quiet during the conversation.

I turned away from Helgír at this realization, and it was then I realized why Nightbrook had been so silent. He was avidly reading through a weathered, old journal - one I had expressly told him to keep his grubby thief hands off of. I was just a few seconds away from ripping the book out of his grasp before he let out a rather undignified noise and shut the book with much more force than was necessary. Then, wordlessly, he held the journal out to me with one hand, and it didn't take being able to see his face to know that he was incredibly embarrassed by whatever he'd read. Sighing, I took it from him, deadpanning, "I take it you'll leave this alone now?"

"I - yes," Nightbrook responded, and, for once, the thief seemed to be so incredibly flustered he couldn't even think of a comeback to save face with. 

"I thought you said that your ancestor's journal was a spellbook?" Nightbrook and I turned around as Helgír spoke, rightfully bewildered by our little exchange.

"It is. There are just... other things in it too," I responded vaguely, hoping he'd leave it at that.

But of course, he didn't. "... What kind of 'other things' are in there, exactly?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Nightbrook said vehemently, shuddering violently at the memory of whatever it was he'd read.

The Dragonborn raised an eyebrow at this, but the look on my face combined with Nightbrook's warning seemed to convince him not to push for more information, and that venue of conversation  - thankfully - died off.

~~~~~

After the incredibly awkward exchange concerning Mélisande's journal, there was somewhat of a lull in conversation until we made a stop to eat. Coincidentally, the place where we decided to stop happened to be the same area we'd spent the night in on our journey up, and I couldn't help but smile as I recalled the memory of that night rather fondly. It felt like it'd been years since that happened, although in actuality, it had just been a little over a week. Then again, a lot had happened during that week, and I had a feeling my companions all felt the same way, seeing as Helgír had a slightly distant look on his face and Nightbrook was uncommonly quiet - though that perhaps might've been due to a long-lasting effect left on him from reading a certain part of Mélisande's journal, too.

I then decided to try and strike up a conversation, walking over to Snjall with the intent of getting food from my satchel as I started somewhat wistfully, "You know, I'm really going to miss this."

There was a slight silence as I withdrew half a loaf of bread and some jazbay grapes from my satchel, and, for a second, I thought that I'd perhaps killed the mood even further, but Helgír finally responded, "So will I. But it does nobody any good to fixate on the past - I've learned that lesson the hard way. And there's no saying what the future holds for any of us, but, gods willing, we'll all get through this more or less unscathed - though, in my case, that may be too much to ask for," the Nord finished with a slightly humorless laugh as he started going through his own belongings, presumably getting food himself.

"Why do you say that?" Nightbrook posed that question before I could, echoing my confusion.

"Well, I'm pitted against a near-immortal dragon hellbent on eradicating mankind, as well as caught between two sides of a war, and neither side seems particularly 'righteous' to me, for several reasons. And I'm not yet sure what I'm going to be able to do about either," the Dragonborn replied seriously, withdrawing an apple from his pack and holding it out for his horse to eat, "I'm certainly going to try to put an end to both Alduin and the war, but I'm nowhere near prepared enough to face either issue at present."

"You're beginning to sound like me, worrying like that," I pointed out in an attempt to lighten up the conversation, and I succeeded in getting a smile from Helgír, albeit a small one.

"I suppose I am. Nevertheless, it's hard not to worry about such things. And it's not like you've got it easy, either, with all of that Daedric Prince business."

"I'm hoping to avoid as much of that as I can, for now at least," I remarked, feeling slightly worried myself. Sensing that this conversation might take an disagreeable turn, I quickly added, "But for now, let's focus on a more pleasant topic."

"I agree," Nightbrook added swiftly, seeming uncomfortable with where our discussion had been headed as well.

"...So, anyone read any good books lately?" I asked in an innocent tone, though I was just barely keeping a devilish grin off of my face.

"Gods, no. Why would you even bring that up?" Nightbrook looked at me accusingly - despite not being able to see his expression I could practically feel him glaring at me.

At that point, however, I was laughing too hard to even attempt to respond to him, and he let out a vexed-sounding sigh at my amusement, whereas Helgír looked hopelessly lost. Turning to the thief, I replied, "That was for blackmailing me into letting you come along."

"I did not blackmail you, Miss Abgrall."

"Well, close enough," I shrugged, turning my attention to Helgír, "Anyways, back to my original question-"

"Sweet Nocturnal, Helvia-"

"- Have you read anything interesting lately?"

As I finished asking Helgír that question, Nightbrook let out an exasperated groan and turned his back towards us, deciding to ignore us - or at least try to.

"I haven't really had the time to read at all lately. So that's a no," the Dragonborn responded somewhat warily, still not entirely certain about the purpose of the question.

"Oh. That's a pity. Well, I've-"

"Miss Abgrall, Dragonborn, I think you both might want to see this," the thief interrupted me suddenly, his tone dead serious - too serious for his disruption to simply be an attempt at ending our conversation.

Walking over to where the thief was standing, it didn't take me very long to locate the source of his discomfort. A decent sized group of people were headed up the Seven Thousand Steps, and they definitely weren't on a pilgrimage of any sort - I could tell that by the kind of armor they wore.

The Forsworn were after me, all right. And this time, they clearly weren't taking any chances.

Despite the fact that I should've expected something like this would happen sooner or later - especially considering the high-profile company I'd been keeping -, I found myself unable to look away from the steadily approaching Forsworn agents, and to say that this new discovery made me feel anxious would be an enormous understatement. What finally snapped me out of my daze was Helgír's surprised comment, "Damn. They really didn't get the message the first time, did they?"

"I guess not," I replied, still not willing to look away from the rapidly approaching Reachmen, "But they're going to get the exact same answer as the Forsworn who attacked us in Markarth did. I'm not about to go anywhere or do anything for them."

"Let's not keep them waiting, then," the Nord replied grimly, a determined, stony look on his face as one of his hands almost unconsciously came to rest on the hilt of his sword.

"I concur; the sooner they're dealt with, the better," the mer agreed, but after a short pause, he added in a low voice, "But, at this point, we've lost the option to try and ambush them, as they've clearly already spotted us. I think we ought to hear them out before we decide to attack them, though, as they might be able to give us some useful information if they think Miss Abgrall is willing to hear their cause out."

"Do you really think that'll work?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow, "Last time I interacted with anyone involved with the Forsworn, all they did was threaten me, which wasn't particularly helpful or informative... But I could give that a try. At the very least, what they have to say might at least either confirm or contradict whatever my ancestor told us about them, which would be useful enough in its own way."

Helgír didn't voice his opinion on that matter, but he didn't seem overly fond of Nightbrook's idea, considering the slightly uneasy look on his face. However, he didn't offer any verbal opposition to our new 'plan', which made me assume that he didn't have a better plan than the thief's. I wasn't overly fond of the idea myself, as I had a nagging feeling that this was not going to go over well no matter how we approached the issue, but I pushed that feeling away, forcing a more confident, unconcerned expression onto my face - one that I could already tell was going to be difficult to maintain. Nightbrook was the only one who seemed completely unconcerned, and I was glad that at least he seemed to know what he was doing. 

In the time that we'd been discussing a strategy, the group of Forsworn had finally reached us, though they were moving at a relatively leisurely pace - whether it was from knowing that we had nowhere to go but towards them or because they didn't expect a fight from us, I wasn't sure. I marveled at the fact that none of them seemed to be particularly cold, despite the fact they were traveling up a mountain and were rather scantily clad in what they classified as 'armor'. However, my amusement quickly faded as the graveness of my current situation set in again, and I shifted in place somewhat nervously, noticing for the first time that the group of Reachmen far outnumbered our company of three. 

That uneasiness quickly changed into paralyzing disgust and terror upon noticing the individual who seemed to be the 'leader figure' of our opposition. He was - or, used to be, a Nord, with long, flaming red hair and steel blue eyes, but there was no life left whatsoever in them, only a neutral yet calculating type of indifference unnatural to any creature with even a scrap of free will left in it. But what horrified me was not his oddly vacant yet alert expression, but the gaping hole in the left side of his chest, where the same spiked plant I'd seen in my dream rested in its sloppily sewn-up cavity. I found myself unable to tear my eyes away from it, and I involuntarily began trembling, though from rage, fear, or revulsion, I wasn't quite certain.

The Briarheart regarded me blankly, seeming unbothered by whatever look I was giving him - if he could even be classified as human at this point -, and announced in an even-toned, lifeless manner, "Helvia Abgrall, we were dispatched to see you safely back to Markarth. Our leader has need of your services."

It took me a couple of tries to get the words out of my mouth, but I managed, although my voice cracked more than I'd have liked it to as I asked, "What business does he want with me, exactly? And, if I remember correctly, your 'esteemed' leader sent some of you lot after me before, and they ended up trying to kill me. So you must understand that I'm not particularly inclined to go anywhere with you."

The Briarheart looked completely unfazed, though a few of the others with him seemed almost offended, particularly by the sarcasm I'd directed at their 'sovereign'. In the same unconcerned tone, the Briarheart answered me, "Lord Ealdwine sends his regrets that anyone under his command ever thought to do harm to you or your companions. He wishes to meet you in person, and we were sent with no other task than to retrieve you."

So, Mélisande was right about at least one thing, I thought to myself upon hearing "Lord" and "Ealdwine" put together, But this Briarheart's spiel sounds rehearsed. I don't think I'm going to be getting any kind of truthful answers out of him. Even though the majority of the hurt I'd felt about learning that Ealdwine had been led astray had passed, having his new position validated caused feelings of betrayal and ire to resurface within me, and I found myself much less afraid of the Briarheart than I had been, and considerably more antagonistic.

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline that invitation. You see, I have other things I'd much rather-"

"It was not an invitation. Our orders are to bring you to Markarth. You're going to Markarth."

I'm not sure whether my response was fueled by my disappointment and anger towards my sibling or by the lingering fear left behind by the nightmares I'd had, but I found myself snarling in response, "You have no authority over me! If you want me to go anywhere with you, you're going to have to kill me first!"

"That can be arranged."

~~~~~

When the Briarheart had finished speaking, time seemed to slow down as I heard the sound of a bowstring thrumming and an arrow being released. I turned, my anger turning into surprise as I saw that the feathered projectile was flying straight towards me. I was frozen in place, unable to move so much as a muscle as I saw it get closer, and closer -

"Helvia!"

Time started up again when I was suddenly knocked to the ground, hard. It took me a moment to get my bearings, and to realize the arrow hadn't hit me. Bewildered, I pushed myself up from the ground, my eyes at once locating the arrow that had been meant for me - which was now embedded in the center of  Nightbrook's chest, shimmering oddly in the light. I could do nothing, but stare, horrified, as the momentum he'd clearly used to push me out of the way carried him over the side of the path, the arrow abruptly catching fire and spreading across the thief's armor hungrily at the same time. Suddenly, I found myself able to move again, and I scrambled clumsily towards the side of the mountain, but by the time I made it to the edge, it was far too late for me to do anything as one of my closest friends plummeted to his death, like a blazing star cast out from the heavens.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are,

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky...

(AKA AudaciousAuthoress is an insensitive sadist. I'm sorry. Kind of. :D)

~~~~~

QUESTIONS:

Question: (From sweetrollstealer to Mélisande) What are your thoughts on Helvia's brother? Does it surprise you that your descendant would become a Forsworn leader?

Answer: (By Mélisande) Well, I can't exactly say that I expected Ealdwine to turn out the way he did, but once he got caught up in the plans of specific Princes... Anything he does or becomes at this point won't surprise me. I have to say I feel sorry for him, really. Being manipulated by someone, and he doesn't even realize.

Question: (From -Thunderheart- to Helgír) Helgír, do you plan on defeating Alduin now, or will you take part in the Civil War? Which group would you support if so, Imperial or Stormcloak?

Answer: (By Helgír) I feel that the threat the dragons pose at present is far more important to deal with than the Civil War is, but if - when I defeat Alduin, I don't have much of a choice but to support the Imperials, though I disagree with some of their policies and am not over-fond of one 'ally' of theirs in particular.

Question: (From jordanmccombso3 to Helvia) Soooo, when are you and Helgir gonna kiss?

Answer: (By Helvia) Wait, what? You think - you think he likes me that way? *awkward laughter* It's a flattering thought, but unlikely. And I'm not sure that I'd feel that way towards him, exactly.

Question: (From skyrimIsFun to Helvia) if you left for winterhold, and could only take 1 other person ( nightbrook or helgir) who would you take? *wink wink*

Answer: (By Helvia) As it stands now, neither Helgír nor... Nightbrook... will be able to go anyplace with me. Both for obvious reasons.

Question: (From GhostWriter99 to Helgír) if you had the chance to be with Helvia (romantically of course) Would you take it?

Answer: (By Helgír) I would, but at present, I don't think trying to start a relationship would be fair to either of us. Perhaps once this is all over we might have a chance, but that's assuming she'd have any interest in me.

Question: (From firebug_96 to Nightbrook) Have you ever been the Grey Fox? And also are you a Nightingale? (Yes I am aware that that is two questions.)

Answer: (By Nightbrook) For a decent amount of time I did play the role of the Grey Fox, but I'm afraid I unknowingly passed on my role when I was... somewhat indisposed. I have never been a Nightingale, however.

Question: (From firebug_96 to Helgír) Do you hate Ulfiric Stormcloak? Or do you believe that he won the fight against you father fair and square? How do you feel about the outlawing of Talos worship?

Answer: (By Helgír) I don't exactly hate the man, but I harbor no love for him either. I had no particularly fond feelings for my father, and was not around to witness the duel, therefore I will not attempt to justify either side of the argument about the duel's 'fairness'. However, what I most hold against Stormcloak is the assassination of my brother and the attempt on my own life. 

As for the outlawing of Talos worship, I find the act abhorrent and oppressive, though I recognize that, with the Thalmor breathing down the Empire's figurative neck, it is only logical that the Imperials would bend to their demands concerning religion. Personally, the only faction involved in politics I hold true hatred towards would be the Thalmor, as they're the ones who are doing the oppressing and attempting to turn other political powers against one another in order to take them over while they're divided.

~~~~~

If anyone has any more questions for anyone in Mage, feel free to ask them! If they've appeared in Mage at all, regardless of how long they were a part of the story, they're open to ask questions!

Well, as always, please do leave a vote and/or comment if you enjoyed the chapter, and see you next time! Good adventuring, dear readers!

-AA