"You know, its sad that you have amnesia," Brelyna commented, shortly after Tolfdir helped Adagio back onto her bed before departing to get her some decent clothing and some additional books to read, "According to what I've heard from all of the Professors, from all of the schools of magic, they're all sure that your appearance marked great things for the College of Winterhold. No one is quite sure where you came from, or what type of spell you used to travel from one location to another, so you'll have to forgive some of the Professors if they look at you with an annoyed look on their face. They were just hoping that you would be able to teach them more about the magic that they spent their entire lives trying to obtain."
Despite the time that Adagio had spent reading about spells, much to Aria's annoyance the few times she was found out, she was sure that any of those spells weren't what these people were looking for. She guessed that one good thing that was coming from her landing in this part of Skyrim, which she still knew next to nothing about, was that the mages and wizards pretty much saved her life and welcomed her into the College without having her test her skills. She knew that she couldn't use her magic, not when her necklace and its gemstone had been shattered, so she dreaded when one of them decided to ask her for a demonstrate of her abilities in the near future.
"We're not going to get anywhere fast," Onmund stated, causing Brelyna and J'zargo to turn towards him for a few seconds, while at the same time he pulled out a map and showed it to Adagio, "Adagio pretty much has no memory of anything that's happened in her life, save for her name and what she used to get here, which means that we have to start at the basics and work our way up. On the map in the continent of Tamriel, of which Skyrim is a part of, with the the provinces of Cyrodiil, Black Marsh, Elsweyr, Hammerfell, High Rock, Morrowind, the Summerset Isles, and Valenwood.
Skyrim, being the northernmost province of Tamriel, is often considered to be a a cold and mountainous region to its visitors, while the nords that are keen on sticking to tradition sometimes call it the Old Kingdom or the Fatherland. Skyrim is broken up into nine Holds; Eastmarch, the Pale, Hjaalmarch, Haafingar, the Reach, Whiterun, Falkreath, the Rift, and of course Winterhold. The small village I assume you saw from the bridge is what amounts to being our capitol, as the hold m=never really recovered from the Great Collapse that swallowed the entire city. I'll be sure to find you a book or two on the other provinces, as I don't know enough about them to accurately tell you about them... and I'm sure Urag would like having a new face once you get your energy back."
It was at that time that Tolfdir came walking back into the small room that apparently belonged to Adagio, to which he set at least five books down on a nearby chair before placing what appeared to be a set of robes, one that looked like the robes that the apprentices in front of her were wearing, on a nearby chair. Tolfdir also came with a pair of shoes, which looked more like several pieces of cloth woven around each other to form the shape of some footwear, though he set them to the side before excusing himself. That was roughly followed by the apprentices departing as well, telling Adagio that she was to rest from her ordeal before she was going to be included in any of the teachings that were going on.
Instead of going back to sleep, and wasting time on nothing, Adagio carefully moved towards where the books were located and pulled them over to where her bed was, to which she discovered that most of them were spell tomes, in order to teach her how to use a spell, as well as some history associated with magic itself. With little choices available to her at the moment Adagio sighed and opened one of the books, to which she got started on learning about the magic of this strange world... silently hoping that, against all odds, that she might gain the ability to use magic again, even with her shattered necklace.
During the time she spent reading Adagio admitted that the mages that had penned the books she was going through had done a good job at instructing someone how to use one of the spells, even if she spent five minutes understanding each instruction and reread every book at least three times. The only way she knew the passing of time was when one of the other apprentices, or Tolfdir, came to visit her to see how she was doing, though Tolfdir was kind enough to offer her more of the novice level spells to further her knowledge. Despite how she had acted back on Earth, she was secretly grateful that the old man was more than willing to help her learn, even if he was trying to restore her memory.
The last time the apprentices visited her for the day was right after dinner, as Adagio had chosen to stay and read instead of joining them, but Onmund insisted on leaving her some slices of bread, a mug full of water, and some strips of meat, though while she couldn't determine which animal it was she knew that Colette wanted her to take it slow so she could fully heal. After her dinner, which was better than what she had thought for what little she had actually eaten, Onmund mentioned that it was getting late, to which Adagio watched all three apprentices climb into their various beds and go to sleep... while still wearing their robes.
Adagio let out a light chuckle, because seeing that reminded her of how Sonata would go to sleep in her own clothing most of the time, before she closed the spell tome she had been reading, placed it back on the pile, and allowed sleep to claim her the moment her head touched the pillow.
Adagio only knew when morning arrived when she heard the sound of the other apprentices moving about and getting ready for the new day, to which she let out a yawn and pulled herself out of her new bed. She carefully walked over to the chair that her robes were resting on and gently picked them up, to which she carefully pulled them over her body and made sure that everything was in what she assumed was the proper place. Once that was done she sat in the chair and pulled on the oddly shaped shoes that had been given to her as well, mentally wishing that she had a set of gloves and a hood to complete the mage look she had going on.
"Ah, I see that you are already awake," Tolfdir said, casing Adagio to look at him for a moment, while nodding his head as he looked over her robes for a moment, "and I see that you managed to put the robes on right the first time. Will you be needing help in walking to the Hall of the Elements, or do you think you can manage it on your own?"
"I think I can manage," Adagio replied, smiling at the man as she picked herself up, finding that she must have overcome the state that Colette had found her in, which was odd because she had figured that it would have taken a few more days to reach this point in her recovery, "besides, I'm sure that the others are eager to see me in action today."
Tolfdir smiled and beckoned for Adagio to join him, where they and the other mages left the building they were in and made their way towards the Hall of the Elements. As they entered the large building Adagio immediately noticed the font of magic sitting in the middle of the large chamber, though as they all walked towards it she could tell that someone else was in the chamber with them. It didn't take her long to find Savos Aren standing beside one of the pillars in the room, on the opposite side near the main door, which only told her that he was interested in seeing how skilled she really was.
Personally Adagio believed that this was too soon for someone to be asking her to fire spells, but apparently the mages all expected a miracle and she silently hoped that she could produce one.
"Magic is, by its very nature, volatile and dangerous." Tolfdir explained, moving away from Adagio as the apprentices did the same, indicating that this was likely going to be her first test, "Unless you can control it, it can and will destroy you."
Adagio recalled the first book on magic she had ever opened, the one book that got her interested in learning in the first place, and recalled that the author had said those exact same lines. It seemed like all of the mages, regardless of which planet they were from or what their race happened to be, agreed that magic was extremely dangerous and that having no control meant it could destroy the wielder. Adagio remembered the magic that had torn apart her necklace, and its destructive nature, so she knew that there was some truth to what she had read in the past.
"We know that you possess some inherent magical ability," Tolfdir continued, snapping Adagio back to reality for a moment as she focused on the man, "so the question isn't if you can use magic, but rather what will it take to awaken your former abilities? We shall start by having you call upon the novice spells you just relearned and use them against my ward, which will protect me while giving you the opportunity to practice your control."
Adagio, having read the books and had some sort of understanding on the magic of this world, let out a small sigh as she held her right hand out a tiny bit and focused her mind. She wondered which of the three novice destruction spells she should choose from, Flames, Frostbite, or Sparks, but after a few seconds she quickly decided on fire. She focused on casting the spell, as described in the tome she had been reading, before aiming her hands at Tolfdir... though after a few seconds she realized that nothing had happened. It was as she suspected, the shattering of her necklace had made it impossible for her to do anything related to magic, which meant that she had no access to her abilities.
At the moment she honestly didn't care about the hypnotic powers she and her sisters had used while they were Sirens, but any form of magic was better than nothing... and she had nothing going for her at the moment.
"Clear your mind of all your doubts and fears," Tolfdir commented, noticing how troubled Adagio was at the moment, while at the same time taking a guess as to what happened, "Focus on positive thoughts and ignore the negative... that is all the help I can give you."
Adagio nodded to Tolfdir and tried again, this time closing her eyes so she could calm herself down and see if she even had a drop of power left inside her body. She knew that magic could be influenced by one's emotions or their thoughts, as rage and anger tended to make something more powerful while being calm made it easier to do what someone was focused on. With her necklace gone it was definitely going to be more difficult learning to control whatever magic she possessed, if any at all, but she had to try and see if she had the potential to do anything.
After another minute she extended her hands again and called upon whatever powers she had... only to discover that nothing had happened, just like the last time.
"Think of your magic as an extension of yourself," Savos commented, drawing Adagio's attention to him for a moment, as she was surprised to hear the Arch-Mage speak all of a sudden.
Adagio had heard of unicorns who had difficulty learning to use their magic, where they told themselves the same thing and had decent results thanks to their innate power. She still had no idea if something like that would even work for her, but with nothing else to try she decided that she might as well roll the dice and see what fate had in store for her. She imagined that her magic, whatever was left of it, was an extension of her body, where if she raised her right hand she would be able to summon her spell forward and test it out... to which a small gout of flames surged out of her hand for a few seconds before cutting itself off.
Adagio stared at her hand for a moment, wondering if she had imagined the magic or not, before deciding to which to frost magic, which was followed by some ice coming out of her hand and striking Tolfdir's ward.
"Very good," Tolfdir said, giving Adagio a moment to drop her magic before continuing, "Now that you can actually cast a few spells we shall begin reinforcing what you know and teach you some additional spells from the other schools. Who know, maybe this is the first step to remembering who you are and what spells you had access to."
Adagio still didn't like the fact that they thought she had amnesia, but she knew that one day she'd be able to tell them the truth about herself... after she had relearned the basics of magic anyway.