//------------------------------//
// 2: Touring the College 
// Story: A Spellsword's Journey 
// by Adagio Shimmer 
//------------------------------//

	After a few minutes of staring up at the ceiling of the room she was in, and growing more bored by the moment, Adagio raised herself into a sitting position with her back against the back of the bed. There wasn't much for her to do, not until Colette returned with Tolfdir and the Arch-Mage, whoever they were, and tried to 'fix' whatever was wrong with her. Colette had mentioned that they had found her in the middle of a storm, likely a snowstorm based on what little she was told about the area she was in. The name Winterhold told her that the area around the college was likely filled with snow, so it wasn't too far fetched to assume that she had landed in this world in the middle of a snowstorm.

Adagio glanced over at the nearest nightstand and found a large book resting on it, though with nothing else to do she simply let out a small sigh and gently moved her right arm until she was able to touch the book. From there it was a simple matter to pick up the book and pull it over to her, to which she discovered that the title was Azura and the Box. She had absolutely no idea who this Azura lady was, but she guessed that she was important at one point in time to earn having a book made about her and something she did.

Back when she and her sisters had been living in Equestria, before they were banished from Equus entirely, Adagio had spent some time in a pony disguise, either an earth pony or a unicorn, and had used her time to read books from the libraries in whatever region they were in. Aria, in her own disguise, had caught her one and asked what she was doing, though Adagio had played it off as wanting to make sure that they were on the right track when they were traveling or searching for something specific. She was a mage at heart, as she enjoyed reading spellbooks and actually attempted to cast several of the spells she had found, but was never actually able to do so. She had assumed that being a Siren made things different for her, which was why she focused on just reading them and storing the information away until it was needed.

She opened the book and immediately found that it was part eleven in a series known as the Ancient Tales of the Dwemer, though it failed to mention how many volumes there actually were. She then spent a few minutes reading the first few pages of the book, trying to wrap her head about the strange concepts of the Aedra and the Daedra, as the book failed to mention what those were. It only told her that Azura was some sort of goddess, one whose 'sphere' happened to be dusk and dawn, though at the moment the explanation only confused her.

After a few more minutes of reading she set the book back on the nightstand she had taken it from and started to let out a sigh, but then caught herself as she noticed that Colette had returned... and she was followed by two elderly looking men. One of the men was wearing some sort of black robes, which no doubt indicated his level of mastery over a specific school of magic, if what Colette had said earlier was correct. The other man had dark color to his skin, reminding Adagio of the book she had been reading, though the robes he was wearing were much fancier than anything that Colette or the elderly man were wearing at the moment.

Something about the man screamed that he was the Arch-Mage, the most powerful mage in the entirety of the College of Winterhold, which only made Adagio excited to meet him.

"See Tolfdir? She's awake, just like I said she was," Colette said, beckoning to Adagio for a moment, to which the elderly mage nodded his head, "I hope this validates the Restoration School."

"Colette, no one has ever said that Restoration wasn't a valid school of magic," the more imposing mage said, though his words caused Colette to step back a bit, to which the man turned towards Adagio for a moment, " I am Savos Aren, Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, and this is Tolfdir, our resident master of the Alteration School of magic. You have already met our resident master of the Restoration School, though it will be some time before we can introduce you to the other masters... they are currently looking for potential locations where we can teach our apprentices about the usage of magic. Colette said that your name was Adagio Dazzle... is there anything else you can tell us about yourself?"

Adagio thought about that for a moment, because it would be difficult to explain the exact nature of what she was, and what she had been, to a group of people that would need the entirety of Equus explained to them. She guessed that she could lie and say something about being a daedra, but from what little she had read she knew that many of them weren't held in the highest of regards and would made the situation worse. About the only thing she could do was continue with Colette's assumption that she was suffering from amnesia and that she remembered nothing, which annoyed her to even think about playing along with that, but it was better than nothing.

"That's all I remember about myself, save for entering a portal and waking up here," Adagio lied, noticing that Savos raised one of his eyebrows for a moment, making her wonder if he knew that she was lying.

"That's a shame," Savos replied, shaking his head for a moment, "I was hoping that you would at least remember which school of magic you excelled in, as you mentioned a portal of some sorts, but it cannot be helped. We shall simply have to retrain you until your memories come back... which means that you will be starting at the basics as an apprentice. Tolfdir, do you think you can handle having a fourth addition to your study group?"

"Yes, I can manage," the elderly man said, though it appeared that he had an idea come to mind, "I've been meaning to make sure the other apprentices know the basics of magic, so having a new apprentice might actually make them more open to the idea of helping someone else out. If nothing else Adagio will be able to learn a few spells, make some new friends, and hopefully regain a memory or two along the way."

"I'm glad to hear that," Savos said, turning to Adagio for a moment, to which he looked at her as if he was searching for any wounds that hadn't healed yet, "Do you think your able to walk?"

"I... I can try," Adagio replied, not expecting the question at all, but she swallowed for a second before carefully removing the covers that were over her and swung her feet over the edge of the bed until they hung over the stone floor.

Adagio had no idea what the Arch-Mage was trying to prove or disprove with having her attempt to walk, but she carefully placed her feet against the floor and pulled herself to a standing position. It was actually hard on her to do so, considering her body had been out of action for a whole week, but as she started to tip Tolfdir ran to her side and stopped her from hitting something and damaging herself further. Colette mumbled something about undoing all her hard work, but moved out of the way as Tolfdir helped Adagio walk out into the middle of the building they were in before heading towards the door that she suspected lead outside.

When they walked outside Adagio was surprised to find that the college was larger than she was expecting, as there was a moderate sized building on the other side of the college grounds, opposite of where they were standing, as well as an even larger building that was to their right. In front of them stood what Adagio assumed was the courtyard, as there was another font of magic sitting in the middle of the area with a statue of an opposing mage right behind it, though the mage's hands out stretched outwards for some reason. Adagio found her eyes wandering around the place as they followed the walkway towards the main gate, allowing her to discover that the college was connected to a small town, which had what she assumed were five or six houses, by a stone bridge that looked like it was getting ready to collapse in the near future.

As Tolfdir helped her onto the bridge, with a warning to watch herself, Adagio discovered that there was literally nothing around the college, as the buildings sat on what appeared to be one massive piece of rock that looked like pieces were missing from it... almost as if something had been attached to it at some point in time.

"W... what happened here?" Adagio asked, staring down at the pieces of the ruined bridge and the jagged rocks everywhere, though she was somewhat terrified of what the answer could be.

"The Great Collapse," Savos replied, letting out a sigh as they headed back into the college, "it was a terrifying event that caused most of the city of Winterhold to collapse into the Sea of Ghosts. Most of the nords of Skyrim assume that the College of Winterhold was responsible for the Great Collapse, because the grounds remained untouched by the event. As far as we have been able to tell there were wards in place that prevented the college grounds from collapsing at the same time as the rest of the city, but that's a conversation for another day.

Now then, the building that we came out of is called the Hall of Attainment, where the sleeping quarters for the apprentices are located, while the one that was across from it is called the Hall of Countenance, where the higher ranking mages, such as Colette, reside. The building directly in front of us actually contains three separate rooms; the first being the Hall of the Elements, where lectures are held, while above that rests the Arcanaeum, where we keep all of our books and tomes in a well organized library, and even further above that rests the Arch-Mage's Quarters, which is my personal chambers for the time being."

"So whose the mage in the middle of the courtyard?" Adagio asked, knowing that whoever the mage was had to be pretty important to have such a statue created in his honor.

"Arch-Mage Shalidor, one of the most brilliant minds to ever grace the world of mortals," Savos answered, though there was a little bit of awe in his voice, "He was an immensely powerful wizard during the time of the First Era, and he had an understanding of magic that few have ever been able to match. People, be they mages, treasure hunters, or thieves, are always interested in getting their hands on his writings, which could unlock many of the secrets he left behind... or sell for a hefty price if the owner happened to be a thief. We'll tell you about the legends and myths surrounding Shalidor later... after you get better acquainted with the other apprentices and settle into some sort of routine."

With that said Savos and Tolfdir helped Adagio walk towards the building that she had found herself in when she had awoken from her week of slumber. She was still somewhat confused as to why they thought that she was a mage, especially considering that her magic had been broken with the shattering of her necklace, though she wasn't about to mention any of that at the moment. When they entered the building Adagio quickly discovered that the other three apprentices that had been mentioned earlier were all standing together and talking about something... though their attention quickly shifted once they spotted the Arch-Mage approaching them.

"And here are your fellow apprentices," Savos said, to which he beckoned to each one of them as he spoke a name, "Brelyna Maryon, J'zargo, and Onmund. Apprentices, meet your newest addition, Adagio Dazzle. I'll leave you in the hands of Tolfdir and his class... there are other matters that require my immediate attention."

Adagio barely had time to say anything before Savos and Colette left her and Tolfdir alone with the apprentices, though it gave her time to study them before they started asking questions. Brelyna looked like the Arch-Mage, which told Adagio that they had to be members of the same race, while Onmund appeared to be a younger version of Tolfdir, only he seemed a little surprised to see Adagio. The only real shocker was J'zargo, as he appeared to be some sort of cat creature that was walking on two legs, though when she noticed the look on his face Adagio knew that he was sizing her up... as if he thought that she was a threat to him learning about magic.

"Great, I'm not the only nord apprentice here anymore," Onmund stated, a smile appearing on his face as he and the others walked over to Adagio and Tolfdir, which meant that they were eager to meet her.

"You are new, yes?" J'zargo asked, though Adagio noticed that he was still sizing her up, and she mentally wished that he would stop doing so, "Have you mastered the Expert level destruction spells yet?"

"Um... no?" Adagio replied, as she had no idea that there were even levels to the magical schools she was discovering today, to which she assumed that the expert level spells were tough to learn and incredibly powerful.

"I see that the rumors about you have amnesia are true," J'zargo stated, as if he had actually heard a rumor, "J'zargo will know them first. It is good to finally be around mages who may be able to keep up with J'zargo."

Adagio mentally moaned the moment J'zargo finished speaking, because she disliked boasters that couldn't back up their claims, but she also kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to make a bad first impression on the other apprentices, who she was likely going to be spending quite some time with before she figured out how she was going to leave this planet. The other problem she faced was the fact that she actually couldn't use magic anymore, which none of these mages or wizards seemed to understand in the short time she had been around them. In that moment she wondered how long she was going to last before they decided to expel her and send her somewhere else in this strange land she had found herself in.

For a few seconds Adagio wished that she hadn't gone through that portal, but for the moment she was going to have to suffer through the consequences of her actions and life in this strange land until she figured out how to go home.