Go To College, They Said

After so many failures and near-fatal poisonings (and a bad case of skin discoloration), Master Tolfdir and I finally were successful in coming up with a potion to suppress my wings. The downside (or upside, as I've come to see) is that the effects aren't permanent, and I'd have to take it every few hours lest they reappear. I'll admit I've grown fond of my wings. Although I haven't taken to flying, the child in me reveled in being able to glide across rough terrain. It was one of my few sources of happiness these difficult times.

I knew your name before I searched your corpse.

Serana and I approached the College of Winterhold from the Dawnstar side. At least we'd get to bypass most of Winterhold by that route. On our way, we encountered a fiery site by the beach side. We approached warily; some of the flames were still strong enough to cause serious burns. In the conflagration, I saw a burnt female corpse. Searching her remains revealed a necklace that has a name inscribed, Yisra. Serana pointed out a Spell Book for Flame Cloak nearby. I didn't know who Yisra was then, but I assumed that she was a mage given the book we found with her.

That eye reminds me of someone who needed a ring to achieve full power.

When we were in the shadow of the College, Serana and I decided to set up a discreet camp near the narrow sea inlet flowing underneath. As I was scouring the sand for edible shellfish, I was brought on the alert when I heard footsteps and a male voice call my name. I drew my bow and prepared to shoot an arrow, only to meet the form of Master Tolfdir. He was as startled as I, but he held up his arms while telling me that he meant no harm. He didn't know why he thought of taking a stroll by the icy sea that day, and it was by chance that he came upon me. Keeping my bowstring drawn taut, I asked coldly what he'd do now that he's found a woman with a record bounty on her head. Master Tolfdir, however, explained gently that if it's a safe haven I wanted, he could sneak me inside the College. It's strange, but I actually believed him. Something in me sensed that he was offering me asylum not because of the threat of an arrow through the head.

What happened afterwards was probably the greatest risk the College of Winterhold ever took for one of their students. Tolfdir realistically warned me that we couldn't keep my existence hidden forever from the other teachers, or Master Wizard Mirabelle Ervine and Arch-Mage Savos Aren. Master Tolfdir took a gamble and explained my situation to the heads of the College. I don't know how he did it, or if any of his Alteration prowess had any say on the matter, but Mirabelle and Savos visited my hideaway in the Midden that night. I was afraid they were there to throw me out, but to my surprise, they simply inquired if I would be willing to take on the role and name of a student. A student whose death I verified myself. Yisra.

It's the probability game again.

It was a good thing, then, that I had retrieved Yisra's necklace and showed it to Tolfdir beforehand. Tolfdir, Savos Aren, and Mirabelle Ervine all helped me perfect my disguise. Yisra was a Redguard, they informed me. No problem; I had been around a Redguard long enough to be able to adopt their manner of speech if needed. Given the nature of her experiments, I could simply don a mask or some other covering to hide a supposedly scarred face. My pale hands, I could attribute to burns discoloring my skin. The biggest challenge was of course, the wings. Master Tolfdir and I fiddled away with the Alchemy Lab for days before we stumbled upon the right combination of ingredients. But in the end, we succeeded. About a week after Master Tolfdir found Kiya near the College of Winterhold, Yisra returned to her place among the apprentices. None of them found her taciturn disposition or her manner of dress odd. The crowd of the College had their way of ignoring absurdities.

The average Nord would have disagreed.

I had exchanged a few whispered words with the Arch-Mage about their intentions for helping me, and he simply replied that magic is not bound by political factions. Furthermore, he let slip a few words remarking that I was a student too precious for the College to lose. I had gone a long way since the day I knocked on their doors requesting to be taken in as an apprentice, he said. I had to smile at the memory. I recall I joined the College around the time when the vampires of Lord Harkon's brood were still a menace, but I had been very covert about my involvement with them. While Master Tolfdir and I were concocting the wing-suppressing potion, the other teachers had lent me a magical training or two in the Midden. I must say, they did me some good, especially where Destruction was concerned.

One, two, three...

...and BOOM!

Under the watchful eyes of Faralda, I learned how to blanket the ground in fire, summon a hailstorm to surround me, and turn targets to ash with lightning. Colette Marence, bless her, made sure that I could heal myself (and others) should I need to. Although I didn't utilize their schools of magic as often as I did Destruction and Restoration, Drevis Neloren, Phinis Gestor, and of course, Tolfdir assured me that I had enough knowledge of their specializations to save my own skin. For the first time in a long while, my thoughts are channeled into more productive energies. I am finally achieving my childhood dream to become adept in magic -- the very reason why I went to Skyrim (and nearly got executed in the process). But a part of me is restless. I think I'll have to explore the area around the College a little, to keep my mind off things. It's only a matter of time before my thoughts go back to the life I left behind -- to my child, to him -- again.

- Kiya