Dovahkiin, In Do Laas Ahrk Dinok, Kriid Do Keyye Ahrk Jul, Gein Rahgol Kaaz

The sun dawned upon Canterlot at precisely six am in the morning, the same way it had done so for the last thousand odd years. As the dawn cast its first rays of light upon the shining marble city, the residents of Canterlot slowly stirred awake, ready to face the day.

One of the few exceptions to this stood in the middle of Canterlot’s largest public park, which, as it happened, was right next to Celestia’s Academy for Gifted Unicorns. With black armor gleaming with the dawn’s golden rays, Jo’hira cut an impressive figure as she stood, waiting for her student. Even more impressive was the dragon that dwarfed her, even when lying down.

“Delaal, druv kent hi dreh daar wah hinmaar? Nis hi siiv vorey liin sinon do nunon viir ko hin meyar traas? Zu'u seik, fah Bormahro giif zok dovah fund lost nalkun verkiir pogaan vorey punah naal nu!” Jo’hira slapped said dragon across the snout, even as it had the good graces to not immediately try to murder her for the second time.

Naaslaarum had tried to kill her back in Tamriel, but she’d luckily been able to survive the encounter. Of course, that had involved killing both him and his mate, Voslaarum, while trying not to die from the shattering of a frozen lake’s ice cover. Jo’hira was just thankful that she could summon him and his mate, though the pair of dragons had gone through a bit of a falling out period and she was stuck playing marriage counselor to the both of them.

Perched upon a nearby bench was the form of her tiny student, who was currently bouncing up and down in excitement for this week’s ‘practical lesson’. Twilight spoke, words tumbling from her mouth in her excitement, “JojowhatarewegoingtolearntodayarewegoingtolearnanythingamazingcanIlearnsomeofyourfirespellscanIcanIcanI?”

Jo’hira chuckled and patted Naaslaarum on the snout, signalling for him to lower his head to the ground. She turned to Twilight and picked the little filly up, setting Twilight on her shoulders as she mounted Naaslaarum’s back. Jo’hira shifted around a little for comfort and tied a rope from her waist to one of the dragon’s spines and did the same for Twilight, providing the both of them with a safety harness just in case things went wrong. “Alright Twily, this week we’ll be going out into the field for a bit of a practical lesson on magic. Now, hang on tight, okay? Naaslaarum, let’s go!”

The dragon stood to his full height and gave a mighty roar of acknowledgement, wings unfurling and beating with great strength. The three rose into the air, speeding off into the distance with the force of Naaslaarum’s mighty wings. Jo’hira reveled in the feeling of wind flowing through her fur and turned to Twilight, shouting so as to be heard over the sound of rushing wind, “Alright Twilight, how are you doing so far!?”

Her student merely clung tighter to Naaslaarum, terrified yet wonder-filled eyes staring down at the clouds far below them. “I’m really scared, Jojo! But this is also really amazing!”

Jo’hira chuckled again, patting Twilight on the head and ruffling her mane. The khajiit checked over their harnesses again, tugging on them to make sure they were tight and secured well.

A few hours of flying later, Naaslaarum touched down in a small clearing with an earth-shattering impact and a tremendous wave of dust. Jo’hira had taken the liberty of holding onto Twilight just before the landing, and thus protected her from the potentially lethal impact.

The pair dismounted, Jo’hira patting Naaslaarum on the snout and allowing the Revered Dragon to ascend back to the skies to wherever he preferred to go after Jo’hira had finished with him. Twilight shifted sleepily in Jo’hira’s grip, slowly coming back to reality as the khajiit set her back on the ground. “Jojo?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and looking around in confusion, “where are we?”

Jo’hira chuckled and patted Twilight on the head, ruffling the filly’s mane while pulling out a set of light armor specifically sized for Twilight. “We’re about four hundred miles north by northeast of Canterlot, specifically, deep within the Griffon failed states. Now, take this armor and put it on, Twilight. You’ll need it for what we’ll be doing.”

“W-what are we going to be doing, Jojo?” Twilight stammered, blushing as she tried and utterly failed at wearing armor, somehow managing to fit her head through the hole meant for her left hind leg.

Jo’hira chuckled and strapped Twilight’s armor on correctly, expositing while she worked, “We’re first going to be doing a bit of a demonstration in elemental combat magic-the only kind of magic I normally use in combat, by the way-and then we’re going to be doing some research into practical usage of combat spells in non-combat settings. And also maybe melee combat later.”

Twilight nearly vibrated in excitement, star-struck eyes gleaming in the late-morning sun. “Ooh! Ooh! What are we gonna learn first?”

Jo’hira tapped her chin in thought, looking up to the sky and purring. “Hmmm…” Without warning, a lightbulb popped into existence above her head, fully lit for about half a second before it fell out of the air and smashed against the ground.

Jo’hira took no notice of this, still thinking and revising her lesson plan. “I… did not think this through… Whoops.”

“....” Twilight’s respect for Jo’hira as a teacher silently dropped a couple of values, which, for Jo’hira, actually represented itself as a translucent display above Twilight’s head. The khajiit blushed and ran a hand through her silvery, black-striped fur.

“Okay, new plan: We’re going to Sovngarde. We’ll find you a few heroes there, I’d imagine.” Jo’hira coughed a few times, rubbing her throat and stretching out her jaw muscles.

“I haven’t used this shout in a while, but, here goes: HUN!” A visible wave of light erupted from Jo’hira’s mouth, dissipating after a few feet as a swirling portal of black tinged with whitish-blue erupted into existence. Jo’hira, before her summoned hero could enter Tamriel, picked Twilight up and set the filly on her shoulders before springing forward into the portal with a cry of, “WULD NA KEST!”

And for the both of them, the world went bright gold, then completely black.

“Dovahkiin? Dovahkiin. Wake up. Please wake up. Your surprisingly heavy armor is crushing me. Dovahkiin? Dragonborn? Dragonborn!? Jo’hira! JO’HIRA WAKE UP YOU LAZY CAT!”

Consciousness returned to Jo’hira in an instant, allowing her to spring to her feet and kick the one under her, Gormlaith, Jo’hira noted, in the side, sending the nord sprawling out into and halfway through a tree with a cry of, “DON’T CALL ME A CAT DAMMIT!”

A split second later, Jo’hira was hauling Gormlaith’s battered and groaning form out from the tree she’d been embedded into. “Shit shit shit, I am so sorry, Gormlaith.”

Gormlaith chuckled and groaned again, holding her abdomen. “Well, that’s going to bruise… again. Jo’hira, Dovahkiin or not, I swear one day I will pay back every single one of the injuries you’ve given me while coming back to Sovngarde.”

Jo’hira smirked like the cat who ate the canary and blamed the dog for it. “You can try, Gormlaith. You can try. Now, where is my erstwhile student…?”

Gormlaith rolled her eyes and pointed out the armored, lavender filly stuck in the ground some few feet away, tiny swirls dancing in Twilight’s eyes. Jo’hira blushed and pulled Twilight from the ground, shaking her awake and setting her back on the ground. “Ah, sorry about that, Twily. I forgot to warn you that my trips back here are usually quite… intense…” Jo’hira murmured, stroking Twilight’s back as the filly attempted to see her breakfast for the second time that day.

Twilight tried to mutter what sounded like an, “It’s alright,” but only managed to vomit up her breakfast– pancakes and orange juice today, it seemed. The odd pair stayed like that for the next few minutes, Gormlaith standing awkwardly to the side and wondering whether or not she should fetch the tiny purple unicorn something to help with the vomiting.

Finally, after another five minutes of pathetic retching, Twilight finally gathered enough of herself to wobble to a stand, allowing Jo’hira to pick up the lavender filly and stroke her across her back. “Are you alright, Twily?” Jo’hira asked, walking toward the Hall of Valor with Twilight in her arms. Twilight looked up miserably and, after a moment’s deliberation, smiled and nodded weakly, her coat still a tad too pale to be normal.

“Just relax for now, kiddo,” Jo’hira pulled out a bottle of red liquid and holding it up to Twilight’s face, “Drink this, too. It should work pretty well, I think.” Twilight took the bottle in her telekinesis and downed it with a grimace, not used to the sickly sweet taste of health potions. Within a few seconds, her coat returned to its normal shade of vibrant lavender and she had clambered back up onto Jo’hira’s shoulders with great enthusiasm.

“Thanks Jojo! This really helped!” Twilight chirped, just as the odd trio of heroes reached the whalebone bridge and its guardian, Tsun. The nordic giant of a man stood straight as he noticed Gormlaith approaching, offering a respectful nod of acknowledgement. Then, when he heard Jo’hira’s approaching footsteps, he perked up and gave a hearty shout of, “Dovahkiin! You’ve returned to Sovngarde! Tell me, are you actually dead this time or are you going to keep making a mockery of the boundaries between life and death?” Though his words seemed admonishing, his face held a warm smile, his arms wide open in preparation for a massive bear hug. Jo’hira smiled as well, rushing forward and lifting the mountainous main up by the waist.

“Good to see you, Tsun! Sorry, though, Shor’s not taking my soul yet. I need to talk to Felldir and a couple other mages about teaching my little student some combat magic.” Jo’hira indicated the lavender filly sitting on her head. Twilight smiled and waved at Tsun.

“Hi there! I’m Twilight Sparkle!”

Tsun looked down at Twilight and chuckled, “Well met, young Twilight.” With the greetings done, Tsun stepped back and allowed Jo’hira to cross the whalebone bridge, Twilight ooh-ing and aah-ing at the sheer size of the bones.

“It sure is something, isn’t it? Not even the dovah in Tamriel are as big as some of these beasties.” Jo’hira patted an upraised section of spine with a dull thunk of metal on bone, prompting even more surprised gasps from Twilight.

“Even bigger than mister Naaslaarum?” Twilight asked, inspecting the full length of the bridge.

“Yup. Now, let’s go inside, I gotta talk to an old wizard about teachin’ you some practical combat magic.” Jo’hira strode up to the massive doors leading to the Hall of Valor and pushed, the doors coming open easily.

Inside was a massive feast, hundreds of heroes milling about as they enjoyed the food and drink that was so ever-present in their nordic slice of heaven. The succulent smell of meat and wine filtered through the air as a heady aroma, almost intoxicating in its density. Twilight marveled at the golden decorations and the strange beings all around her. Jo’hira’s entrance went mostly unnoticed, however, until one of the many dead heroes around spotted her distinctive fur and shouted, raising his mug of mead into the air, “Hark! The heroic Dovahkiin returns once more! Praise be to the Vanquisher of Alduin! The High Queen of Skyrim! The Leader of the Riften Thieves’ Guild! The Leader of the Dark Brotherhood! The Harbinger of the Companions! The Queen of Castle Volkihar! The Champion of the Daedra! The favored daughter of Akatosh! The destroyer of Miraak! The ender of the Aldmeri Dominion! The Truce Bringer! Master of a thousand spells! Destroyer of Draugr! Killer of Dragon Priests! Summoner of Dragons! The one titled Stormblade by Ulfric Stormcloak himself! Archmage of the College of Winterhold! Thane of Whiterun! Thane of Solitude! Thane of Riften! Thane of Markarth! Thane of Falkreath! Thane of Winterhold! Thane of Windhelm! Thane of Dawnstar! Thane of Morthal! The Dawnbreaker! The Eternal Hero! Wielder of a Thousand Weapons! Carrier of a Thousand Burdens! The-”

“SHUT UP AND START DRINKING ALREADY!” Jo’hira screamed, throwing a bottle full of mead at the long winded hero- Adelan the Speechmaker, as she recalled. Twilight’s eyes went wide as the speech progressed, amazed at the sheer amount of titles that her teacher had accrued over the course of her incredibly long life.

One title in particular stuck out to her, though. “Jojo? Were you really the High Queen?” she asked, clambering down from Jo’hira’s head to stand by the khajiit’s side.

Jo’hira chuckled, “Indeed I was. I was the best High Queen of Skyrim there ever was, if I do say so myself. After all, how many rulers solve a crime problem in their country by directly owning the two factions responsible for the most crime, and by personally wiping out a big chunk of most of the others?”

“.... I… don’t know?” Twilight’s nose scrunched in confusion as she tried to recall any queen that had ever gone that far for her country. Jo’hira patted her on the head and ruffled her mane, chuckling all the while.

“Rhetorical question, kiddo,” she said, before turning around and pointing out an old man in robes sitting at a lone table, a large tome spread in front of him, “That’s Felldir the Old. One of the best wizards here. We’re gonna show you how to properly use magic in combat, and not just the regular battle magic either.”

Slowly, the khajiit and pony duo made their way to Felldir, exchanging greetings with the many heroes milling about. As they got close, Jo’hira shouted a greeting at Felldir, utilizing the Dovahzul to send a ripple of warm energy at the studying man, “Felldir! Drem Yol Lok!”

Felldir looked up and smiled, closing his tome and storing it away in a satchel as he stood. “Ah, Jo’hira, it is good to see you once again. Though, considering your… companion, I assume you still haven’t shuffled off the mortal coil, eh?”

“Heh, not yet, old man. This cat’s still kicking and kicking hard. I’ve only been getting stronger, after all.” Jo’hira puffed her chest out in pride, hands on her hips and standing proud.

Felldir chuckled and turned, leading Jo’hira and Twilight to a door out the back of the Hall, “Indeed you have, my dear. Indeed you have.”

Exiting into a large, open field with targets and training dummies scattered around, Felldir led the group over to a slightly secluded area, eventually stopping and turning around with a grand gesture. “Welcome, Jo’hira and young guest, to my favorite training spot!”

Jo’hira looked around, noting the various landmarks capable of giving her some sort of edge. “Alright Twilight, you might want to stand back for this. Felldir packs a mean fireball, and I don’t want you to get in the crossfire without even a shield spell.”

“Yes ma’am!” Twilight scampered off, seeking refuge in the shade of a large tree. Felldir chuckled and tossed away his satchel and stretched, calling forth two orbs of light in his hands, Incinerate in his right hand, Greater Ward in the left. Jo’hira mirrored him, unequipping her normal Ebony Armor and changing it into her Ancient Shrouded Armor for mobility, then calling up two unidentifiable spells in her hands.

An eerie wind blew through the clearing, adding an air of tension to the scene as Felldir and Jo’hira squared off, spells at the ready. Then, at some unseen signal, both combatants sprang into motion, Felldir immediately falling into the defensive as Jo’hira lashed out with both hands, a bolt of lightning lashing out and striking Felldir’s shield with a crackling impact.

Felldir turned, allowing the shield to angle and let the lightning slide off while he countered with a fireball to Jo’hira’s face. The khajiit ducked and spun, leaping into the air with an impressive display of acrobatics to launch a pair of whirling blades of air through Felldir’s storm of ice spikes.

Felldir backpedaled as Jo’hira landed and slammed a fist into the ground, causing the ground to erupt under her and launch her back into the air in an uncontrolled tumble. Jo’hira smirked, however, and immediately her hands lit up in a brilliant white glow. One hand lashed out, sending an orb of light whistling at Felldir, while the other glowed brighter. The orb of light impacted the ground as Felldir dodged to the side and the old mage pulled out a sword and threw it in retaliation, the blade itself sheathed in arcane purple light to keep its aim true.

The blade neared Jo’hira as Twilight watched, worried that Jo’hira would be seriously hurt. Then, a brilliant white flash lit up Jo’hira’s position and she disappeared! Felldir jumped back again, using a small thrust of wind to propel him far away from the glowing orb on the ground. Not even a half second after she disappeared, Jo’hira reappeared where the orb had been, already using telekinesis to pelt Felldir’s retreating form with small rocks and pebbles. Felldir took cover behind a tree, catching his breath and preparing another spell.

Jo’hira, meanwhile, strode over to a nearby tree and snapped off a rather large branch, running a purple lit hand over it to straighten it out and then running her hand over it again with an orange glow to sharpen it into an edge and a point. Smiling, she hefted it in her hand and transmuted it from wood to stone, stone to iron ore, and finally iron ore to sharp, singing steel. As she took a few practice swings, Felldir sprung from the tree he had clambered into with a burst of wind, an ethereal battle axe held in each hand. He smashed into the ground as Jo’hira cartwheeled away, throwing up a cloud of dust even as he turned and began slashing at Jo’hira.

Jo’hira, not to be outdone, waved her hand, a soft, gray glow encasing it, and wiped the dust from the air, then vanished with the standard crackle of an invisibility spell. Felldir dispelled one axe and held up his hand, wreathed in an orange glow with an ethereal orb of white clutched in his palm. After a few seconds of looking around, he turned and slashed at thin air, which suddenly shattered and revealed Jo’hira, her impromptu sword smashed into the blade of Felldir’s Bound Battleaxe.

Jo’hira smirked once more and lifted a hand swirling with water, compensating for the lack of force in her sword by ducking under the axe and spinning around Felldir’s back, slamming her hand into his back and launching him forward with a massively overpowered dishwashing spell. The old mage groaned and chuckled, wiping the suds from his robe and taking up a ready stance once again.

“You certainly know how to use those spells of yours to great effect, Jo’hira. It warms an old man’s heart to know that such a talented mage is in charge of the College of Winterhold.”

Jo’hira nodded and sent forth a pair of lightning runes, the violet circles blossoming into existence under Felldir’s feet and making him jump to avoid the electrical onslaught that followed. “I learned from the best, didn’t I?”

“That you did.” Felldir punctuated this by holding up his arms and summoning a massive cyclone, sending the construct of wind at Jo’hira and tearing up the earth in its path. Jo’hira jumped to the side and struck at the howling wind with a hand sheathed in ice, the spell cooling the air inside the cyclone and dispelling the temperature differential with naught but a modified freezer spell. Jo’hira landed and pointed dramatically at Felldir, half turned away from him.

“Nice cyclone spell, old timer, but you’re gonna need more than that to beat me!”

“Hmph, hasn’t anyone ever told you that youth and enthusiasm will never beat old age and cunning?”

“What?”

Jo’hira heard a whining noise and looked down, immediately spotting thing charged fire rune about to explode. “Awww shit.”

Jo’hira launched into the air, trailing curses and fire as she flew in a parabolic arc. As a last ditch effort, with no time to prepare any other spells, she reoriented herself in midair and breathed deeply, her Thu’um surging outwards with a mighty flash of blue.

“WULD NA KEST!”

Jo’hira jetted forwards, the might of her Thu’um carrying her from midair to right in front of Felldir’s face as she held her makeshift sword to his throat. A second passed, and Jo’hira smiled, “Gotcha, old man.”

Felldir chuckled again, falling back and taking a seat in the grass, pulling a bottle of mead from a his pocket and taking a hearty swig. “So you have, my dear. It seems like every time you come here you become more and more difficult to even touch, let alone defeat. Ah, such is the gift of life, the ability to improve eternally so long as your body is still sound…”

Jo’hira smiled and took out a bottle of apple juice, walking over to the starstruck Twilight and handing her the still cold bottle of juice. Taking out a bottle of mead for herself, Jo’hira plopped into the grass and asked Twilight, “So, kiddo, what did ya think of that?”

Twilight stopped and stared at Jo’hira, setting aside her apple juice and placing her front hooves very seriously upon Jo’hira’s chest. “That,” she began, “was TOTALLY AWESOME!”