Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Arrow, Bequeath my Heart ❯ Chapter 3
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Oreana Date 
Non Anime: Sonic Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama / Hentai / Fantasy | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 06.01.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 209 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Sonic Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama / Hentai / Fantasy | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 06.01.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 209 | Status: Completed
“Sara-Li, are you alright!” Devon exclaimed as he checked over his daughter. He thought that his heart nearly stopped at the sight of the dragon’s icy breath being so close to his child.
While still in a bit of shock, Sara managed a tearful nod at her father’s question.
“Where is Lord Thunderhawk?” Cyrus asked, as he had seen the leader take a majority of the hit from the beast earlier.
“I don’t know, sweetheart,” Jade-Li answered as she looked back at the portals, which soon disappeared after the last student stepped through. “He went to take on that dragon but…he should be fine.” She sounded a bit unsure as Jade-Li had only heard stories about dragons. Actually seeing one up close nearly made her faint.
“Come,” Devon insisted, as he urged his family back towards the living quarters for those at the college. “We shouldn’t stay out here waiting. You all will just wrap yourselves up into a heap of nerves if you do.” While worried as well, Devon wanted to believe Thunderhawk would be able to handle himself. More than anything, he hoped so so that he could repay Thunderhawk for aiding his daughter during the attack.
The head of the mighty dragon collapsed to the snowy ground soon enough with a defeated roar. Standing there with his labored breath expelling in crystalline vapor, Thunderhawk fixed his torn tunic best he could. While the beast was able to land another blow across his chest, he was thankful he had that healing potion with him to conceal the wounds a bit faster. Seeing that the cobalt colored tunic was ripped beyond repair at the moment and stained with his own blood, Thunderhawk grunted and ripped the fabric clear off of his chest.
“I’ll have to get Floral-Ca to fix it later,” he mumbled to himself, looking at the tattered pieces that were in his gloved hand. Since his arrows were so limited, Thunderhawk made his way over the massive body to pluck out the ones he managed to loosen from the thick, scaly body of the dragon. After wiping them clean, he placed them back into his quiver while staring at the massive creature. I’ll have one of the local blacksmiths come out and gather up the body. They can make better use of it than I can.
Admittedly, he had already taken a few scales and claws for his alchemy, so he had what he wanted from the dragon. He hated to see the rest of it go to waste, so he had to make sure that the meat could be eaten or its scales and bones could be put to use back at the village. Looking at his white horse, he grabbed a hold of the reins and guided him back to Winterhold. “Easy does it, Silverstar,” he whispered to the Clydesdale, which had taken a bit of a frost burn upon his back left leg. “I’ll get you back to the stables and healed up in no time.”
Devon found himself a bit uneasy as the time passed. He hadn’t seen Thunderhawk do much lately in terms of fighting, so he wasn’t all too sure what the mage was capable of. With his wife occupying the children, he found himself out in the circular courtyard. His folded arms upon the snow covered cobblestone wall, which reached just above his stomach, Devon turned his focus to the sound of the iron gate moaning upon its hinges. Seeing Thunderhawk make his way into the courtyard without a shirt, Devon couldn’t help but run over to the leader in amazement that the ruler hadn’t bothered with wrapping himself up in his cape at least. “Lord Thunderhawk…! You’re—!”
“—Alive?” Thunderhawk attempted to finish as he chuckled at the awkward disbelief in the man’s eyes. “Yes, it will take a lot more than that to kill an old fossil like me.”
“No, I meant…” Devon was trying to comment about how cold he must be, and not to mention the wound now displayed across the guardian’s chest, but he merely smiled and shook his head. “Never mind, it’s just, I saw you take that big hit from the dragon, and it had me worried.”
“The frost attack?” Thunderhawk was never too sure what a ‘big hit’ was considered to look or feel like anymore, so he merely guessed until seeing Devon’s nod. “Well, my cloak is enchanted to ward off a good majority of any incoming frost fire or magic. I still took a bit of the hit, but I should be okay.” Truthfully, he was doing his best to shrug off the pain still stinging the large wound on his back as well as keeping Devon from prying at it as his cloak was still concealing it.
“Anyways,” the guardian began with a minor wave at the thought, “I best get it looked at all the same.” He was reminded for a moment of the tattered clothing in his arms. “I should also get this fixed. I was a bit careless and the dragon’s claws came a bit too close for comfort.”
“My wife can sew,” Devon offered right away, nodding back towards the living quarters. “She can help fix it. I know she won’t mind.”
“I don’t want to trouble her,” Thunderhawk insisted, as he brought the fabric closer to himself.
“You saved our daughter,” Devon pointed out with a bit of a playful scoff. “I don’t think she’ll consider the offer too much trouble, really.”
“I was doing what anybody would have done for their people. Also, I promised I would watch over Sara-Li when you were seeing how well your son reacted to the potion I gave him,” Thunderhawk said honestly. Giving it a thought, however, he eventually relented and handed over the tattered shirt. “Give Jade-Li my thanks. I’ll do my best to be available for reading and writing sessions tomorrow for your daughter.” Thunderhawk wanted to curb the pain that was biting at his body before he took on much interaction with someone else.
Devon shook his head playfully at Thunderhawk’s comment before lightly tapping his upper arm. “You really should focus on yourself for now. That was quite the battle you endured, no doubt, seeing as I only saw part of it as I ended up running away.”
Thunderhawk laughed softly at Devon’s comment with a roll of his shoulders. “Smart choice, all the same.” Gesturing back to the rooms, a small smile graced Thunderhawk’s muzzle. “Your family probably needs you right now after such a frightening event. Be well, Devon.”
“You do the same, my Lord,” Devon said in return, as he pivoted on his heels to head back to his family.
Jade-Li was reading a story to Sara-Li while Cyrus listened contently from the chair not far from the bed. With all the excitement, she was trying to calm her daughter’s mind and settle her into a nap if she could. Sara-Li had begun nodding off at the sound of her mother’s soft and loving tone. Hearing the rhythmic, gentle beating of her mother’s heart as well was enough to make her close her eyes before Jade-Li even reached the middle of the children’s fairy tale. Hearing the sound of the door opening, Jade-Li looked up from the book to see her husband returning.
Noticing that Sara-Li hadn’t stirred yet, Jade smiled down at the fact she had fallen asleep before closing the children’s book. “What do you have there, Devon?” she whispered, as she saw the tattered clothing there in his hands.
“Well, it used to be Lord Thunderhawk’s shirt, but it got kind of torn up from the fight,” Devon explained with a throaty chuckle. Making it over to his wife, he kissed her lips lovingly while stroking his daughter’s head in a cautious manner as he didn’t wish to rouse her. “I told him that you could sew it back together given what he had done for our daughter.” He watched as Jade took the fabric into her hands. “He also thanks you for your time.”
Jade-Li eyed the fabric to notice it was indeed in tatters. “I might need more of the same cloth to get it repaired again. It looks like some of it might have gotten lost in the snow out there.” She shook her head at the mere thought of that dragon scratching at Thunderhawk to cause that kind of tear. “Goodness, how did he survive this?”
Devon shrugged as he sat on the edge of the bed. “The man’s magical,” he teased. “If you need more fabric, I can head into town to grab it for you while the shops are still open.”
“Might be wise,” Jade-Li responded, as she put the shirt off to the side for the moment. “At least then I can work on it some today and hopefully have it finished before Sara-Li goes to see him tomorrow.”
Smiling at the thought, Devon turned to his son. “I noticed you appeared alright out there—even with all the stress from the dragon appearing and the weather. Are you still feeling alright?” He couldn’t help but be concerned for Cyrus, as he at times would hide any ailments he had just to make things less worrisome for those in the family.
Cyrus shrugged with a sideways smile. “Nothing happened,” he admitted honestly. “I forgot I even had weak lungs.”
Ruffling up his periwinkle colored hair, Devon felt a sense of relief he never thought he’d feel in awhile. He used to be up all night with his wife trying to get make sure Cyrus didn’t suffocate from lack of appropriate air getting in and out of his body. “Alright, I should return shortly,” he said to his family before grabbing up the tunic just to remind himself the color of blue it was.
Upon making it outside, Devon heard two of the mages on duty shouting for people to stand aside as a rider was making their way through the gates in a hurry. “Stand aside! Stand aside!” June, the white tiger Devon remembered when he first arrived, shouted to the students nearby to get them to move. “Make way for Lady Janelle-Li!”
Devon wasn’t too certain who that was, but he watched as a female echidna rode by on her palomino mare. She was covered completely in the finest silk and cotton from the head down—the only thing visible for a brief moment was her blue eyes. Upon making it to the statue in the center of the courtyard, she dismounted quickly and hurried inside of the main building without a word to anybody.
Rushing up the spiral staircase, Janelle-Li removed the cloth, which covered a majority of her muzzle, so her words would carry better. “Father?” she called a bit eagerly, making it to his bedroom door to knock on the large, wooden doors. “Father, it’s me—Janelle-Li!”
“Come in,” Thunderhawk’s voice responded from the other side. Upon hearing the door open, the elder looked over at his daughter from the alchemy table with a chuckle at her being so prompt. “How in the world did you manage to make it so quickly here from Dawnstar? I only sent you a letter a moment ago.”
Janelle-Li frowned at seeing her father attempting to move from the table after all he had endured from that battle she heard about in town. “And my court will be happy to receive it, but I was already on my way here when I saw the beast back at Dawnstar. I saw the path it was taking, and I didn’t want to risk you or your students being caught off guard with everything that’s happened to Winterhold already, father.” Making it over to the wounded Thunderhawk, she held onto his upper arms gently. “Now, please, lie down on the bed, and I will take a look at you.”
It was hard to move at the moment as the pain felt as though it were getting worse, but Thunderhawk grit his teeth through it and did as his daughter asked. He hadn’t bothered putting another shirt on, so Janelle-Li was able to see the burn mark upon his back all the way to the bed. Thunderhawk sighed. “I am surprised I didn’t hear it coming a mile away, but this one just snuck up on me.”
Looking at the mark, Janelle-Li noticed that it covered a good bit of his back. She inwardly flinched, not wishing to be vocal about how bad the wound looked. “Well, the good news is everyone came out of that alright,” Janelle-Li admitted, as she motioned her hands about to conjure up her healing power before carefully pressing it against her father’s injury. “Now, this might sting—.”
Thunderhawk gripped the sides of his bed and threw his head back with a low growl at the sensation getting worse when it came to the burn being soothed. “Dammit, that hurts…!”
“Father, just relax best you can,” Janelle-Li begged, keeping up her healing magic. “I know it hurts, but this burn will really start to get worse if it goes untreated.” She could still see that her father was very tense from her trying to work her magic, making her attempt to put his mind elsewhere for a moment. “I know you all too well. You took this for someone else without a second thought.” She teasingly smiled even if her father couldn’t see. “Who is the lucky girl?”
Scoffing playfully at her comment through his pain, he shook his head best he could against the covers. “That ‘lucky girl’ is six-years-old,” he chuckled before hissing once more at the tenderness flaring up again. “I-I promised the parents I would watch her, and she was so terrified,” he stammered with a low growl, his lilac fur prickling at the discomfort he was in.
“She must really think you’re something special with her clinging to your leg like that then,” Janelle-Li pointed out with a smile, noticing her father was starting to relax a bit better.
Thunderhawk rolled his shoulders, but only partially so as the wound acted up again in the process of doing so. “She’s just interested in the magic I do,” he explained after expelling a low groan from causing his own injury to react from his shoulder movements. “Also, she is intent on being a healer because of the frail state her brother is—by the Goddess, will you stop doing that…!” He hated to snap at his daughter, but when she went to the center of the wound, it nearly crippled him with pain.
Janelle-Li let his gripe roll off her shoulders as her concern for his health was more important than getting offended over his tone of voice. “Her brother is in poor health?” she asked, tilting her head slightly while continuing to wait for her magic to settle the agony Thunderhawk was enduring from the frost burn. Hearing a small irritable whine erupt from his throat, she shushed him tenderly while continuing her actions.
“Weak lungs are what the boy has to my understanding,” Thunderhawk commented through his clenched teeth. “His sister is determined to help him get better by learning healing magic, so I am trying to teach her. Since we’re low on healers in Skyrim, I figured I would give it a try with her and see how long she’s willing to go with it.” Curling his toes, he gripped the bed once more. “Do we have to do this all in one sitting!” the guardian exclaimed.
Releasing the hold on her magic, Janelle-Li waited for her dad to relax. “I am sorry, father, but I just worry about letting this go on for too long. You really took a hit. I am surprised you are able to still walk around as you were.” She moved the layered fabric about her arms to try and make herself a bit more comfortable as Winterhold had worse winters than Dawnstar. “I’ll let you catch your breath.”
“How bad does it look?” Thunderhawk asked, as he refused to turn over. Since the healing process had begun, he was a bit nervous to do any quick movements in worry the pain might strike him like a cobra hidden in the grass.
Taking another look at the wound, Janelle-Li had noticed part of his fur had crystallized from the dragon’s frost breath and easily broken off to reveal the skin underneath. The skin was agitated and marked in a way to hint the coming of a nasty scar. “You may get a scar out of it,” she told him. “Judging from how bad the injury was, I have a feeling parts of your fur might not grow back at all to conceal your battle wound.”
“Great,” Thunderhawk commented sarcastically, but he merely waved the mark away as he knew the outcome of that fight could have been far worse than him leaving with only a scar. “Well, I live, and that’s all that matters. You really should head back to Dawnstar, Janelle-Li. While I enjoy your company, I am sure your village needs you.”
“My Captain of the Guard is watching the village in my place for now,” Janelle-Li said with a smile. “I am sure they can handle a few hours without me for the moment.”
“Janelle-Li,” Thunderhawk began in that fatherly tone, which indicated scolding. “If you’d just go to my alchemy display case, you’ll see an ointment for frost burns. If you’ll grab that and put it on bandages, I should be able to tough it out just fine,” he instructed.
Giving her father a funny look out of the corner of her eye, she sighed at his stubbornness before excusing herself to do so. “You just don’t want me to continue using my healing magic, you big baby, and here I thought you supported healers.” She was merely teasing and was aware her tone was obvious in that regard.
With her back turned, Thunderhawk made an unimpressed ‘ha, ha’ expression before burying his forehead into his folded arms before him.
Doing as her father instructed, Janelle-Li wrapped up Thunderhawk’s injury carefully to make sure the bandages sat perfectly upon the wound. “There. Better?” Janelle-Li asked, rubbing his right shoulder tenderly.
“It’ll be tender for a day or two, no doubt, but it will at least heal,” Thunderhawk responded from where he continued to rest on his front until Janelle-Li worked on helping him to at least sit upright on the bed for a moment. Upon looking at his daughter, he smiled his thanks before being verbal about it. “Thank you.”
Noticing the marks on his chest as well, Janelle-Li sighed with a shake of her head. “Was there a part of your body the dragon didn’t hit?”
“You stay away from that!” Thunderhawk insisted with a wheezy chuckle. “It is just fine. I promise! I took a healing potion, and he merely grazed the surface of the skin, so I am sure I’ll make it.”
Rolling her eyes playfully at her father, Janelle-Li smiled at him all the same. “Alright, old man, I will leave you be,” she teased, as she got to her feet.
“I thank you for helping me with the injury, ‘old woman’,” Thunderhawk commented in return as he was about to help escort her out when he found that moving was going to be a bit of a challenge that day. “Okay, never minder that idea,” he grunted, as he kept himself situated there on the bedside. “I’ll bother with moving, sleeping, and eating some other time.”
Janelle-Li chuckled at her father as she leaned over to kiss his forehead. “Just rest on your sides or your front,” she instructed. “I am sure I can inform your attendants to bring you food or help you bathe, since you never bother to talk to your servants.”
“I never liked having them,” the elder admitted, as she steadied his breathing when it came to the pain handicapping him. “Every time I think about having a dedicated servant, I can’t stop thinking about your grandfather and…his.” He turned his nose up at it, having to remember taking the long way around Sojourner’s bedroom door, as he didn’t like hearing his father sleeping with them.
“What we do with our servants is up to us,” Janelle-Li reminded him, as she reached over and placed her hand upon his shoulder reassuringly. “If you want your servants to basically become your harem, that’s up to you, but I will say that you need to get over mother’s death sometime, daddy, and attempt to move on. That’s what grandfather was trying to do regarding grandma.”
Thunderhawk looked off to the side with a shake of his head. “You shouldn’t worry about focusing on my love life, dear.”
“No, apparently it’s your health I should be worried with,” Janelle-Li joked with a teasing grin. “Anyways, I’ll tell your servants.” Walking away from her father’s bed, she could just hear him sighing irritably. “You can gripe at me in an angry letter later, I am sure. Goodbye for now, father, and be well.”
With his bed mostly out of focus of his front door, he twisted his mouth to the side before shouting back at her: “I love you!” He wasn’t sure when he’d get the chance to say that again, as he rarely got to visit his family members as often as he’d like.
“I love you too, dad,” Janelle-Li called back before the door shut behind her.
-------------
“Wake up! Wake up!” Sara-Li called to her father excitedly, shaking him awake best she could from where he was trying to rest on the floor.
Since there was just the one bed, Devon gave it to his son and daughter while Jade-Li took the chair. Devon didn’t mind taking the floor, especially once he found a decent deal on two handmade blankets and pillow for himself once he had gone into town yesterday to find the cloth Jade-Li had requested for Thunderhawk’s shirt. Trailing his hand groggily to his face, he moved his messy, black hair from his line of sight with a sigh at being woken up so early. “What is it, sweetheart?” he yawned more so than asked.
“Mommy finished Thunderhawk’s shirt! It looks pretty!” Sara-Li said, pointing to the chair that Devon couldn’t really see from where he was resting not far from the bed.
Devon couldn’t figure out what Sara-Li must have found so ‘pretty’ about the tunic he assumed was going to look the same as before. Sitting upright to curb his daughter’s excitement a bit, he noticed that Jade-Li had added a pattern down the center of the tunic, making it a light blue color and a rather intricate, swirling design. His wife had obviously either neglected sleep to get it done or gotten up early to do so. “Gracious, Jade-Li, how long did it take you to do that? You weren’t up all night with it, were you?”
Jade-Li wearily looked over at her husband with a soft smile. “It doesn’t matter,” she chuckled. “In the end, I got it done.” Stifling a yawn against her hand, she folded up the fabric there in her lap with a bit of relief washing over her that she got it complete in time. “At least Sara-Li can take it with her today.” Her tender smile turned into a bit of a worried frown, as she looked over at Cyrus, who was still sleeping. “Why don’t you take Sara-Li to Lord Thunderhawk today? I think Cyrus should continue resting.”
Devon could hear the obviousness in his wife’s tone. Looking over at the bed where Cyrus lie, he expelled a worried sigh of his own before smiling down at his daughter. “Sara, why don’t you go ahead and get ready to head to Lord Thunderhawk, okay? I need to get ready myself.” He pointed towards the washroom that was not far from the bed “I put your clothes out for you in there. Go on, now,” Devon encouraged, playfully patting her on the rump to get her going. Waiting for the door to shut behind his daughter, Devon turned his focus back to his wife. “Cyrus stopped breathing again?”
Reluctantly, Jade-Li nodded. “He started wheezing really badly, and I stayed up with him for awhile until it died back down. I gave him one of those potions Thunderhawk gave you, and it helped a bit, but it didn’t seem to work as fast as I was hoping.”
“It might be something that just needs to take some time to kick in, my love,” Devon whispered back, hoping that the potion would be their salvation in a way. Messing up his already wild black hair, he sniffled back his sinuses before moving himself from the hard floor. “It shouldn’t take me too long to take Sara to Lord Thunderhawk’s room and come back.” Kissing her cheek lovingly, he held her tightly in a protective manner. “I’ll return as quickly as I can to help keep watch on him.”
Upon Sara-Li getting ready and Devon able to do so himself, the two of them headed off to Thunderhawk’s bedroom. “Is this it?” Devon asked, as he had never been to the guardian’s bedchambers before.
Sara-Li nodded feverishly at the large, double doors her father was gesturing towards.
Knocking on one of the doors with his knuckles, he called to the elder. “Lord Thunderhawk?” Devon leaned against the door a bit, wondering if the guardian would feel alright in regards to seeing his daughter for the day. The sound of someone heading towards the entrance, Devon pulled back from the door to witness as a middle-aged echidna answered his call.
Her violate eyes shifted from Sara-Li to her father with a tilt of her head. “Can I help you?” she asked, moving her wavy, brunette hair out of her way.
“Who are you?” Sara-Li asked boldly, not sure where this new female face was coming from.
“It’s alright, Lily-An,” Thunderhawk’s voice called from where he was sitting at this desk. “That’s the young lady I was telling you I was waiting for.” Removing his reading glasses from his muzzle, the guardian folded them upon the wooden surface of his desk once he found a stopping place in his papers.
Devon ushered his daughter inside of the room when the woman allowed them to enter. He, like his kids before, was surprised to see how large Thunderhawk’s room was but a part of him expected it given the man’s title. Noticing the rather stiff way the elder was sitting, Devon tilted his head a bit in concern. “My Lord? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Devon,” Thunderhawk insisted, turning around best he could in his chair with a slight grunt. “My daughter had patched me up—rather roughly—but I should be just fine. I just need to take it easy. I am sure doing a reading and writing session isn’t going to pull my back out or anything,” he teased.
“Are you sure about this?” Devon asked, as he was willing to postpone the lessons if it meant the guardian getting better. “If you need to rest—.”
“I already have Lily-An to gripe at me to do such things, Devon,” Thunderhawk was quick to say with a shake of his head. “That, and I do have my daughter as well, who has been persistent lately with letters.” With a simple gesture of his hand, he made one of them disappear in a puff of green magic, sending it to his collection of letters by her. “I’ll be fine; besides, judging by the stress in your eyes, I say you have something else to focus on for a moment. You can do that while I tend to this,” he insisted, getting his letters and legal papers in order before moving them to the nearby shelf to give Sara-Li a bit more space when she ventured over to the desk.
Expelling a sigh of relief, Devon nodded. “Alright, I appreciate it, your majesty.”
Thunderhawk watched as Devon took his leave. Waiting for him to be obviously out of earshot, he nodded at his servant. “Lily-An, you can go as well,” he said, grabbing back onto his reading glasses to look at the spines of the books he had not far from his working space.
“But, my Lord, I—!”
“Go, please,” Thunderhawk ordered a bit more sternly this time as he gestured towards the door with his back turned.
Sara-Li watched as the servant woman reluctantly left the two alone, making her bring the book, as well as Thunderhawk’s shirt, closer to her body. “You’re not mad, are you?” She could easily tell how frustrated he seemed with everyone doting on him, making her wonder if he was alright.
Thunderhawk pulled another healing book from his collection before smiling down at Sara-Li. “No, of course not,” he responded, though partially lying in the process. He was honestly getting a bit tired about everyone jumping on him about his health when he had endured worse. “Besides, at least this way, we get to be alone for a moment. With my servant here, she would have constantly been interrupting me, and that can be bothersome.” Noticing the folded up fabric upon her book, he smiled down at her. “Is that mine?”
“Hu?” Sara-Li looked down at his tunic, forgetting that it was there. “Oh yeah! My mommy finally finished it this morning!” She unfolded it and showed it off to the guardian. “My mommy put the new whirly things on it! I think you might like it!”
Looking at the new design upon his outfit, Thunderhawk smiled to himself. “Be sure to tell your mother I like it. I would change into it but, I am afraid my movements are a bit limited.” He couldn’t help but inwardly growl about it a bit.
“I’m sorry,” Sara-Li whispered with a somber look upon her violet eyes. “You got hurt because of me, didn’t you?”
Seeing the sorrow in her eyes, Thunderhawk managed a reassuring smile at her to replace his prior frown. “I promised you that I would protect you since you arrived, and I intend to keep that promise no matter what it does to me.” Fondling his brown beard, he hummed in thought. “Matter of fact, why don’t we take this lesson outside? I need to move around to get used to this wound, and it would do us both some good to get some fresh air for a moment.”
Seeing nothing wrong with it, Sara-Li nodded excitedly at his suggestion.
The snow wasn’t falling too hard that morning, and the warm, welcoming sun was cooling the constantly cold area. While it hurt to walk around, Thunderhawk knew it was better than just lying down all day and night. “So tell me, dear,” began the guardian, his arms folded behind him, “what have you learned about magic in general?”
“It’s a mind thing,” Sara-Li answered, since she couldn’t say the word ‘mental’ well at her age. “You think on what you want, and it becomes what you’re thinking.” Since she never got the chance to play in the snow much, she couldn’t help but jump about in it with a giggle, loving the crunching sound that it made underneath her feet.
“And?” Thunderhawk pried, keeping a close watch on her.
Seeing a small flower surviving the winter weather, Sara-Li inhaled excitedly as she hurried over to it before catching the guardian’s words. “Umm…it is also…for-form-la based?”
Chuckling at her attempt to say ‘formula’, Thunderhawk slowly knelt down to the iris flower she was eyeing to pluck it from the earth to give to her. “Yes, it’s ‘form-u-la’ based. What that means is you have to write down that formula to create a spell. Once you have it memorized, it will be all too easy to conjure up the spell you’re thinking of.”
Giggling at the flower being presented to her, Sara-Li took it excitedly before hearing him talk about formulas. “But…that’s a lot of things to remember, right? Formulas are made of…of…” She forgot the word already, as it wasn’t one she used often.
“Runes?” Thunderhawk asked. Seeing her nod, he continued: “It’s not as hard as it sounds, Sara-Li. Even so, that’s why some mages carry around a book of spells with them. When we don’t remember new spells right away, a tome is usually carried, so that we can recall them easily when the time comes for them.” He smiled at her curious look. “That’s where a page finding spell may be useful to ya—.” Pausing in his words, the elder’s blue eyes stared off to the right of the village to notice something in the snow.
“Thunderhawk…?” Sara-Li pried, as she could see a rather serious look on his face.
“Stay close to me,” he whispered, as he noticed that, what was in the snow was a small body of some sort. Not recognizing the figure as one of his citizens, he was nervous that some poor soul had gotten killed on the way to Winterhold and that the beast was still nearby. However, upon getting close enough, Thunderhawk saw that it was a small boy about Sara-Li’s age, if not maybe older. “Oh, by Aurora…!” he exclaimed, running over to the child to cradle him in his arms. Thunderhawk ignored the pain shooting through his body as he did, worried for the maroon furred child with hair that matched the snow.
The look on the boy’s face was enough to make Thunderhawk worry he had died from the harsh weather. His heart squeezed for a moment as he worked on trying to rouse the child if he were just sleeping. “Come on, now…wake up!” he pleaded, getting no response at first until finally the boy stirred with a low moan. Feeling his heart do flips, Thunderhawk quickly unhooked his cape and wrapped the child within it. “Stay with me, son! You’re safe! I’ll take you back to Winterhold College!”
While still in a bit of shock, Sara managed a tearful nod at her father’s question.
“Where is Lord Thunderhawk?” Cyrus asked, as he had seen the leader take a majority of the hit from the beast earlier.
“I don’t know, sweetheart,” Jade-Li answered as she looked back at the portals, which soon disappeared after the last student stepped through. “He went to take on that dragon but…he should be fine.” She sounded a bit unsure as Jade-Li had only heard stories about dragons. Actually seeing one up close nearly made her faint.
“Come,” Devon insisted, as he urged his family back towards the living quarters for those at the college. “We shouldn’t stay out here waiting. You all will just wrap yourselves up into a heap of nerves if you do.” While worried as well, Devon wanted to believe Thunderhawk would be able to handle himself. More than anything, he hoped so so that he could repay Thunderhawk for aiding his daughter during the attack.
The head of the mighty dragon collapsed to the snowy ground soon enough with a defeated roar. Standing there with his labored breath expelling in crystalline vapor, Thunderhawk fixed his torn tunic best he could. While the beast was able to land another blow across his chest, he was thankful he had that healing potion with him to conceal the wounds a bit faster. Seeing that the cobalt colored tunic was ripped beyond repair at the moment and stained with his own blood, Thunderhawk grunted and ripped the fabric clear off of his chest.
“I’ll have to get Floral-Ca to fix it later,” he mumbled to himself, looking at the tattered pieces that were in his gloved hand. Since his arrows were so limited, Thunderhawk made his way over the massive body to pluck out the ones he managed to loosen from the thick, scaly body of the dragon. After wiping them clean, he placed them back into his quiver while staring at the massive creature. I’ll have one of the local blacksmiths come out and gather up the body. They can make better use of it than I can.
Admittedly, he had already taken a few scales and claws for his alchemy, so he had what he wanted from the dragon. He hated to see the rest of it go to waste, so he had to make sure that the meat could be eaten or its scales and bones could be put to use back at the village. Looking at his white horse, he grabbed a hold of the reins and guided him back to Winterhold. “Easy does it, Silverstar,” he whispered to the Clydesdale, which had taken a bit of a frost burn upon his back left leg. “I’ll get you back to the stables and healed up in no time.”
Devon found himself a bit uneasy as the time passed. He hadn’t seen Thunderhawk do much lately in terms of fighting, so he wasn’t all too sure what the mage was capable of. With his wife occupying the children, he found himself out in the circular courtyard. His folded arms upon the snow covered cobblestone wall, which reached just above his stomach, Devon turned his focus to the sound of the iron gate moaning upon its hinges. Seeing Thunderhawk make his way into the courtyard without a shirt, Devon couldn’t help but run over to the leader in amazement that the ruler hadn’t bothered with wrapping himself up in his cape at least. “Lord Thunderhawk…! You’re—!”
“—Alive?” Thunderhawk attempted to finish as he chuckled at the awkward disbelief in the man’s eyes. “Yes, it will take a lot more than that to kill an old fossil like me.”
“No, I meant…” Devon was trying to comment about how cold he must be, and not to mention the wound now displayed across the guardian’s chest, but he merely smiled and shook his head. “Never mind, it’s just, I saw you take that big hit from the dragon, and it had me worried.”
“The frost attack?” Thunderhawk was never too sure what a ‘big hit’ was considered to look or feel like anymore, so he merely guessed until seeing Devon’s nod. “Well, my cloak is enchanted to ward off a good majority of any incoming frost fire or magic. I still took a bit of the hit, but I should be okay.” Truthfully, he was doing his best to shrug off the pain still stinging the large wound on his back as well as keeping Devon from prying at it as his cloak was still concealing it.
“Anyways,” the guardian began with a minor wave at the thought, “I best get it looked at all the same.” He was reminded for a moment of the tattered clothing in his arms. “I should also get this fixed. I was a bit careless and the dragon’s claws came a bit too close for comfort.”
“My wife can sew,” Devon offered right away, nodding back towards the living quarters. “She can help fix it. I know she won’t mind.”
“I don’t want to trouble her,” Thunderhawk insisted, as he brought the fabric closer to himself.
“You saved our daughter,” Devon pointed out with a bit of a playful scoff. “I don’t think she’ll consider the offer too much trouble, really.”
“I was doing what anybody would have done for their people. Also, I promised I would watch over Sara-Li when you were seeing how well your son reacted to the potion I gave him,” Thunderhawk said honestly. Giving it a thought, however, he eventually relented and handed over the tattered shirt. “Give Jade-Li my thanks. I’ll do my best to be available for reading and writing sessions tomorrow for your daughter.” Thunderhawk wanted to curb the pain that was biting at his body before he took on much interaction with someone else.
Devon shook his head playfully at Thunderhawk’s comment before lightly tapping his upper arm. “You really should focus on yourself for now. That was quite the battle you endured, no doubt, seeing as I only saw part of it as I ended up running away.”
Thunderhawk laughed softly at Devon’s comment with a roll of his shoulders. “Smart choice, all the same.” Gesturing back to the rooms, a small smile graced Thunderhawk’s muzzle. “Your family probably needs you right now after such a frightening event. Be well, Devon.”
“You do the same, my Lord,” Devon said in return, as he pivoted on his heels to head back to his family.
Jade-Li was reading a story to Sara-Li while Cyrus listened contently from the chair not far from the bed. With all the excitement, she was trying to calm her daughter’s mind and settle her into a nap if she could. Sara-Li had begun nodding off at the sound of her mother’s soft and loving tone. Hearing the rhythmic, gentle beating of her mother’s heart as well was enough to make her close her eyes before Jade-Li even reached the middle of the children’s fairy tale. Hearing the sound of the door opening, Jade-Li looked up from the book to see her husband returning.
Noticing that Sara-Li hadn’t stirred yet, Jade smiled down at the fact she had fallen asleep before closing the children’s book. “What do you have there, Devon?” she whispered, as she saw the tattered clothing there in his hands.
“Well, it used to be Lord Thunderhawk’s shirt, but it got kind of torn up from the fight,” Devon explained with a throaty chuckle. Making it over to his wife, he kissed her lips lovingly while stroking his daughter’s head in a cautious manner as he didn’t wish to rouse her. “I told him that you could sew it back together given what he had done for our daughter.” He watched as Jade took the fabric into her hands. “He also thanks you for your time.”
Jade-Li eyed the fabric to notice it was indeed in tatters. “I might need more of the same cloth to get it repaired again. It looks like some of it might have gotten lost in the snow out there.” She shook her head at the mere thought of that dragon scratching at Thunderhawk to cause that kind of tear. “Goodness, how did he survive this?”
Devon shrugged as he sat on the edge of the bed. “The man’s magical,” he teased. “If you need more fabric, I can head into town to grab it for you while the shops are still open.”
“Might be wise,” Jade-Li responded, as she put the shirt off to the side for the moment. “At least then I can work on it some today and hopefully have it finished before Sara-Li goes to see him tomorrow.”
Smiling at the thought, Devon turned to his son. “I noticed you appeared alright out there—even with all the stress from the dragon appearing and the weather. Are you still feeling alright?” He couldn’t help but be concerned for Cyrus, as he at times would hide any ailments he had just to make things less worrisome for those in the family.
Cyrus shrugged with a sideways smile. “Nothing happened,” he admitted honestly. “I forgot I even had weak lungs.”
Ruffling up his periwinkle colored hair, Devon felt a sense of relief he never thought he’d feel in awhile. He used to be up all night with his wife trying to get make sure Cyrus didn’t suffocate from lack of appropriate air getting in and out of his body. “Alright, I should return shortly,” he said to his family before grabbing up the tunic just to remind himself the color of blue it was.
Upon making it outside, Devon heard two of the mages on duty shouting for people to stand aside as a rider was making their way through the gates in a hurry. “Stand aside! Stand aside!” June, the white tiger Devon remembered when he first arrived, shouted to the students nearby to get them to move. “Make way for Lady Janelle-Li!”
Devon wasn’t too certain who that was, but he watched as a female echidna rode by on her palomino mare. She was covered completely in the finest silk and cotton from the head down—the only thing visible for a brief moment was her blue eyes. Upon making it to the statue in the center of the courtyard, she dismounted quickly and hurried inside of the main building without a word to anybody.
Rushing up the spiral staircase, Janelle-Li removed the cloth, which covered a majority of her muzzle, so her words would carry better. “Father?” she called a bit eagerly, making it to his bedroom door to knock on the large, wooden doors. “Father, it’s me—Janelle-Li!”
“Come in,” Thunderhawk’s voice responded from the other side. Upon hearing the door open, the elder looked over at his daughter from the alchemy table with a chuckle at her being so prompt. “How in the world did you manage to make it so quickly here from Dawnstar? I only sent you a letter a moment ago.”
Janelle-Li frowned at seeing her father attempting to move from the table after all he had endured from that battle she heard about in town. “And my court will be happy to receive it, but I was already on my way here when I saw the beast back at Dawnstar. I saw the path it was taking, and I didn’t want to risk you or your students being caught off guard with everything that’s happened to Winterhold already, father.” Making it over to the wounded Thunderhawk, she held onto his upper arms gently. “Now, please, lie down on the bed, and I will take a look at you.”
It was hard to move at the moment as the pain felt as though it were getting worse, but Thunderhawk grit his teeth through it and did as his daughter asked. He hadn’t bothered putting another shirt on, so Janelle-Li was able to see the burn mark upon his back all the way to the bed. Thunderhawk sighed. “I am surprised I didn’t hear it coming a mile away, but this one just snuck up on me.”
Looking at the mark, Janelle-Li noticed that it covered a good bit of his back. She inwardly flinched, not wishing to be vocal about how bad the wound looked. “Well, the good news is everyone came out of that alright,” Janelle-Li admitted, as she motioned her hands about to conjure up her healing power before carefully pressing it against her father’s injury. “Now, this might sting—.”
Thunderhawk gripped the sides of his bed and threw his head back with a low growl at the sensation getting worse when it came to the burn being soothed. “Dammit, that hurts…!”
“Father, just relax best you can,” Janelle-Li begged, keeping up her healing magic. “I know it hurts, but this burn will really start to get worse if it goes untreated.” She could still see that her father was very tense from her trying to work her magic, making her attempt to put his mind elsewhere for a moment. “I know you all too well. You took this for someone else without a second thought.” She teasingly smiled even if her father couldn’t see. “Who is the lucky girl?”
Scoffing playfully at her comment through his pain, he shook his head best he could against the covers. “That ‘lucky girl’ is six-years-old,” he chuckled before hissing once more at the tenderness flaring up again. “I-I promised the parents I would watch her, and she was so terrified,” he stammered with a low growl, his lilac fur prickling at the discomfort he was in.
“She must really think you’re something special with her clinging to your leg like that then,” Janelle-Li pointed out with a smile, noticing her father was starting to relax a bit better.
Thunderhawk rolled his shoulders, but only partially so as the wound acted up again in the process of doing so. “She’s just interested in the magic I do,” he explained after expelling a low groan from causing his own injury to react from his shoulder movements. “Also, she is intent on being a healer because of the frail state her brother is—by the Goddess, will you stop doing that…!” He hated to snap at his daughter, but when she went to the center of the wound, it nearly crippled him with pain.
Janelle-Li let his gripe roll off her shoulders as her concern for his health was more important than getting offended over his tone of voice. “Her brother is in poor health?” she asked, tilting her head slightly while continuing to wait for her magic to settle the agony Thunderhawk was enduring from the frost burn. Hearing a small irritable whine erupt from his throat, she shushed him tenderly while continuing her actions.
“Weak lungs are what the boy has to my understanding,” Thunderhawk commented through his clenched teeth. “His sister is determined to help him get better by learning healing magic, so I am trying to teach her. Since we’re low on healers in Skyrim, I figured I would give it a try with her and see how long she’s willing to go with it.” Curling his toes, he gripped the bed once more. “Do we have to do this all in one sitting!” the guardian exclaimed.
Releasing the hold on her magic, Janelle-Li waited for her dad to relax. “I am sorry, father, but I just worry about letting this go on for too long. You really took a hit. I am surprised you are able to still walk around as you were.” She moved the layered fabric about her arms to try and make herself a bit more comfortable as Winterhold had worse winters than Dawnstar. “I’ll let you catch your breath.”
“How bad does it look?” Thunderhawk asked, as he refused to turn over. Since the healing process had begun, he was a bit nervous to do any quick movements in worry the pain might strike him like a cobra hidden in the grass.
Taking another look at the wound, Janelle-Li had noticed part of his fur had crystallized from the dragon’s frost breath and easily broken off to reveal the skin underneath. The skin was agitated and marked in a way to hint the coming of a nasty scar. “You may get a scar out of it,” she told him. “Judging from how bad the injury was, I have a feeling parts of your fur might not grow back at all to conceal your battle wound.”
“Great,” Thunderhawk commented sarcastically, but he merely waved the mark away as he knew the outcome of that fight could have been far worse than him leaving with only a scar. “Well, I live, and that’s all that matters. You really should head back to Dawnstar, Janelle-Li. While I enjoy your company, I am sure your village needs you.”
“My Captain of the Guard is watching the village in my place for now,” Janelle-Li said with a smile. “I am sure they can handle a few hours without me for the moment.”
“Janelle-Li,” Thunderhawk began in that fatherly tone, which indicated scolding. “If you’d just go to my alchemy display case, you’ll see an ointment for frost burns. If you’ll grab that and put it on bandages, I should be able to tough it out just fine,” he instructed.
Giving her father a funny look out of the corner of her eye, she sighed at his stubbornness before excusing herself to do so. “You just don’t want me to continue using my healing magic, you big baby, and here I thought you supported healers.” She was merely teasing and was aware her tone was obvious in that regard.
With her back turned, Thunderhawk made an unimpressed ‘ha, ha’ expression before burying his forehead into his folded arms before him.
Doing as her father instructed, Janelle-Li wrapped up Thunderhawk’s injury carefully to make sure the bandages sat perfectly upon the wound. “There. Better?” Janelle-Li asked, rubbing his right shoulder tenderly.
“It’ll be tender for a day or two, no doubt, but it will at least heal,” Thunderhawk responded from where he continued to rest on his front until Janelle-Li worked on helping him to at least sit upright on the bed for a moment. Upon looking at his daughter, he smiled his thanks before being verbal about it. “Thank you.”
Noticing the marks on his chest as well, Janelle-Li sighed with a shake of her head. “Was there a part of your body the dragon didn’t hit?”
“You stay away from that!” Thunderhawk insisted with a wheezy chuckle. “It is just fine. I promise! I took a healing potion, and he merely grazed the surface of the skin, so I am sure I’ll make it.”
Rolling her eyes playfully at her father, Janelle-Li smiled at him all the same. “Alright, old man, I will leave you be,” she teased, as she got to her feet.
“I thank you for helping me with the injury, ‘old woman’,” Thunderhawk commented in return as he was about to help escort her out when he found that moving was going to be a bit of a challenge that day. “Okay, never minder that idea,” he grunted, as he kept himself situated there on the bedside. “I’ll bother with moving, sleeping, and eating some other time.”
Janelle-Li chuckled at her father as she leaned over to kiss his forehead. “Just rest on your sides or your front,” she instructed. “I am sure I can inform your attendants to bring you food or help you bathe, since you never bother to talk to your servants.”
“I never liked having them,” the elder admitted, as she steadied his breathing when it came to the pain handicapping him. “Every time I think about having a dedicated servant, I can’t stop thinking about your grandfather and…his.” He turned his nose up at it, having to remember taking the long way around Sojourner’s bedroom door, as he didn’t like hearing his father sleeping with them.
“What we do with our servants is up to us,” Janelle-Li reminded him, as she reached over and placed her hand upon his shoulder reassuringly. “If you want your servants to basically become your harem, that’s up to you, but I will say that you need to get over mother’s death sometime, daddy, and attempt to move on. That’s what grandfather was trying to do regarding grandma.”
Thunderhawk looked off to the side with a shake of his head. “You shouldn’t worry about focusing on my love life, dear.”
“No, apparently it’s your health I should be worried with,” Janelle-Li joked with a teasing grin. “Anyways, I’ll tell your servants.” Walking away from her father’s bed, she could just hear him sighing irritably. “You can gripe at me in an angry letter later, I am sure. Goodbye for now, father, and be well.”
With his bed mostly out of focus of his front door, he twisted his mouth to the side before shouting back at her: “I love you!” He wasn’t sure when he’d get the chance to say that again, as he rarely got to visit his family members as often as he’d like.
“I love you too, dad,” Janelle-Li called back before the door shut behind her.
-------------
“Wake up! Wake up!” Sara-Li called to her father excitedly, shaking him awake best she could from where he was trying to rest on the floor.
Since there was just the one bed, Devon gave it to his son and daughter while Jade-Li took the chair. Devon didn’t mind taking the floor, especially once he found a decent deal on two handmade blankets and pillow for himself once he had gone into town yesterday to find the cloth Jade-Li had requested for Thunderhawk’s shirt. Trailing his hand groggily to his face, he moved his messy, black hair from his line of sight with a sigh at being woken up so early. “What is it, sweetheart?” he yawned more so than asked.
“Mommy finished Thunderhawk’s shirt! It looks pretty!” Sara-Li said, pointing to the chair that Devon couldn’t really see from where he was resting not far from the bed.
Devon couldn’t figure out what Sara-Li must have found so ‘pretty’ about the tunic he assumed was going to look the same as before. Sitting upright to curb his daughter’s excitement a bit, he noticed that Jade-Li had added a pattern down the center of the tunic, making it a light blue color and a rather intricate, swirling design. His wife had obviously either neglected sleep to get it done or gotten up early to do so. “Gracious, Jade-Li, how long did it take you to do that? You weren’t up all night with it, were you?”
Jade-Li wearily looked over at her husband with a soft smile. “It doesn’t matter,” she chuckled. “In the end, I got it done.” Stifling a yawn against her hand, she folded up the fabric there in her lap with a bit of relief washing over her that she got it complete in time. “At least Sara-Li can take it with her today.” Her tender smile turned into a bit of a worried frown, as she looked over at Cyrus, who was still sleeping. “Why don’t you take Sara-Li to Lord Thunderhawk today? I think Cyrus should continue resting.”
Devon could hear the obviousness in his wife’s tone. Looking over at the bed where Cyrus lie, he expelled a worried sigh of his own before smiling down at his daughter. “Sara, why don’t you go ahead and get ready to head to Lord Thunderhawk, okay? I need to get ready myself.” He pointed towards the washroom that was not far from the bed “I put your clothes out for you in there. Go on, now,” Devon encouraged, playfully patting her on the rump to get her going. Waiting for the door to shut behind his daughter, Devon turned his focus back to his wife. “Cyrus stopped breathing again?”
Reluctantly, Jade-Li nodded. “He started wheezing really badly, and I stayed up with him for awhile until it died back down. I gave him one of those potions Thunderhawk gave you, and it helped a bit, but it didn’t seem to work as fast as I was hoping.”
“It might be something that just needs to take some time to kick in, my love,” Devon whispered back, hoping that the potion would be their salvation in a way. Messing up his already wild black hair, he sniffled back his sinuses before moving himself from the hard floor. “It shouldn’t take me too long to take Sara to Lord Thunderhawk’s room and come back.” Kissing her cheek lovingly, he held her tightly in a protective manner. “I’ll return as quickly as I can to help keep watch on him.”
Upon Sara-Li getting ready and Devon able to do so himself, the two of them headed off to Thunderhawk’s bedroom. “Is this it?” Devon asked, as he had never been to the guardian’s bedchambers before.
Sara-Li nodded feverishly at the large, double doors her father was gesturing towards.
Knocking on one of the doors with his knuckles, he called to the elder. “Lord Thunderhawk?” Devon leaned against the door a bit, wondering if the guardian would feel alright in regards to seeing his daughter for the day. The sound of someone heading towards the entrance, Devon pulled back from the door to witness as a middle-aged echidna answered his call.
Her violate eyes shifted from Sara-Li to her father with a tilt of her head. “Can I help you?” she asked, moving her wavy, brunette hair out of her way.
“Who are you?” Sara-Li asked boldly, not sure where this new female face was coming from.
“It’s alright, Lily-An,” Thunderhawk’s voice called from where he was sitting at this desk. “That’s the young lady I was telling you I was waiting for.” Removing his reading glasses from his muzzle, the guardian folded them upon the wooden surface of his desk once he found a stopping place in his papers.
Devon ushered his daughter inside of the room when the woman allowed them to enter. He, like his kids before, was surprised to see how large Thunderhawk’s room was but a part of him expected it given the man’s title. Noticing the rather stiff way the elder was sitting, Devon tilted his head a bit in concern. “My Lord? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Devon,” Thunderhawk insisted, turning around best he could in his chair with a slight grunt. “My daughter had patched me up—rather roughly—but I should be just fine. I just need to take it easy. I am sure doing a reading and writing session isn’t going to pull my back out or anything,” he teased.
“Are you sure about this?” Devon asked, as he was willing to postpone the lessons if it meant the guardian getting better. “If you need to rest—.”
“I already have Lily-An to gripe at me to do such things, Devon,” Thunderhawk was quick to say with a shake of his head. “That, and I do have my daughter as well, who has been persistent lately with letters.” With a simple gesture of his hand, he made one of them disappear in a puff of green magic, sending it to his collection of letters by her. “I’ll be fine; besides, judging by the stress in your eyes, I say you have something else to focus on for a moment. You can do that while I tend to this,” he insisted, getting his letters and legal papers in order before moving them to the nearby shelf to give Sara-Li a bit more space when she ventured over to the desk.
Expelling a sigh of relief, Devon nodded. “Alright, I appreciate it, your majesty.”
Thunderhawk watched as Devon took his leave. Waiting for him to be obviously out of earshot, he nodded at his servant. “Lily-An, you can go as well,” he said, grabbing back onto his reading glasses to look at the spines of the books he had not far from his working space.
“But, my Lord, I—!”
“Go, please,” Thunderhawk ordered a bit more sternly this time as he gestured towards the door with his back turned.
Sara-Li watched as the servant woman reluctantly left the two alone, making her bring the book, as well as Thunderhawk’s shirt, closer to her body. “You’re not mad, are you?” She could easily tell how frustrated he seemed with everyone doting on him, making her wonder if he was alright.
Thunderhawk pulled another healing book from his collection before smiling down at Sara-Li. “No, of course not,” he responded, though partially lying in the process. He was honestly getting a bit tired about everyone jumping on him about his health when he had endured worse. “Besides, at least this way, we get to be alone for a moment. With my servant here, she would have constantly been interrupting me, and that can be bothersome.” Noticing the folded up fabric upon her book, he smiled down at her. “Is that mine?”
“Hu?” Sara-Li looked down at his tunic, forgetting that it was there. “Oh yeah! My mommy finally finished it this morning!” She unfolded it and showed it off to the guardian. “My mommy put the new whirly things on it! I think you might like it!”
Looking at the new design upon his outfit, Thunderhawk smiled to himself. “Be sure to tell your mother I like it. I would change into it but, I am afraid my movements are a bit limited.” He couldn’t help but inwardly growl about it a bit.
“I’m sorry,” Sara-Li whispered with a somber look upon her violet eyes. “You got hurt because of me, didn’t you?”
Seeing the sorrow in her eyes, Thunderhawk managed a reassuring smile at her to replace his prior frown. “I promised you that I would protect you since you arrived, and I intend to keep that promise no matter what it does to me.” Fondling his brown beard, he hummed in thought. “Matter of fact, why don’t we take this lesson outside? I need to move around to get used to this wound, and it would do us both some good to get some fresh air for a moment.”
Seeing nothing wrong with it, Sara-Li nodded excitedly at his suggestion.
The snow wasn’t falling too hard that morning, and the warm, welcoming sun was cooling the constantly cold area. While it hurt to walk around, Thunderhawk knew it was better than just lying down all day and night. “So tell me, dear,” began the guardian, his arms folded behind him, “what have you learned about magic in general?”
“It’s a mind thing,” Sara-Li answered, since she couldn’t say the word ‘mental’ well at her age. “You think on what you want, and it becomes what you’re thinking.” Since she never got the chance to play in the snow much, she couldn’t help but jump about in it with a giggle, loving the crunching sound that it made underneath her feet.
“And?” Thunderhawk pried, keeping a close watch on her.
Seeing a small flower surviving the winter weather, Sara-Li inhaled excitedly as she hurried over to it before catching the guardian’s words. “Umm…it is also…for-form-la based?”
Chuckling at her attempt to say ‘formula’, Thunderhawk slowly knelt down to the iris flower she was eyeing to pluck it from the earth to give to her. “Yes, it’s ‘form-u-la’ based. What that means is you have to write down that formula to create a spell. Once you have it memorized, it will be all too easy to conjure up the spell you’re thinking of.”
Giggling at the flower being presented to her, Sara-Li took it excitedly before hearing him talk about formulas. “But…that’s a lot of things to remember, right? Formulas are made of…of…” She forgot the word already, as it wasn’t one she used often.
“Runes?” Thunderhawk asked. Seeing her nod, he continued: “It’s not as hard as it sounds, Sara-Li. Even so, that’s why some mages carry around a book of spells with them. When we don’t remember new spells right away, a tome is usually carried, so that we can recall them easily when the time comes for them.” He smiled at her curious look. “That’s where a page finding spell may be useful to ya—.” Pausing in his words, the elder’s blue eyes stared off to the right of the village to notice something in the snow.
“Thunderhawk…?” Sara-Li pried, as she could see a rather serious look on his face.
“Stay close to me,” he whispered, as he noticed that, what was in the snow was a small body of some sort. Not recognizing the figure as one of his citizens, he was nervous that some poor soul had gotten killed on the way to Winterhold and that the beast was still nearby. However, upon getting close enough, Thunderhawk saw that it was a small boy about Sara-Li’s age, if not maybe older. “Oh, by Aurora…!” he exclaimed, running over to the child to cradle him in his arms. Thunderhawk ignored the pain shooting through his body as he did, worried for the maroon furred child with hair that matched the snow.
The look on the boy’s face was enough to make Thunderhawk worry he had died from the harsh weather. His heart squeezed for a moment as he worked on trying to rouse the child if he were just sleeping. “Come on, now…wake up!” he pleaded, getting no response at first until finally the boy stirred with a low moan. Feeling his heart do flips, Thunderhawk quickly unhooked his cape and wrapped the child within it. “Stay with me, son! You’re safe! I’ll take you back to Winterhold College!”