Spellsword

A Woodland Beam

"What's the matter Vee, not used to taking the ladder?" 

Teldryn laughed as he watched me heave myself up onto the deck, finding my sea legs to be much the same as they were before. I knew that the vision of me hurtling toward the ship clinging to a cloak was not something he was letting me forget before long. And all for him, as if my dear friend was not smug enough. 

And now, here he stood before me, the new owner of this very same ship, his hand extended as if to display his finest achievement. His expression waiting on something from me. I glanced around.

"It is.... the ship" I called out against the coming winds.

"Yes!" Teldryn yelled back,  his hands finding his waist as he gazed outward, before tilting his head back at me. "Mephala's Mercy" he emphasised with enthusiasm. 

The wind felt sharp, and just as I managed to call back to him, a tangle of my hair whipped into my eyes; "Well I can see that... I was on it not but two days since.... and seeing as it's your ship now, the least you could do is have it... have it a bit more steady"

The sea beyond the small cove rocked and roared relentlessly. I had never seen it motionless if I really thought about it. The northern air was crisp, strong, and whipped between our words as we tried to speak to one another.

"How many times sera... it is our ship, not only mine," he turned back to face me, a light behind those fire-red eyes, "Can't say as I could sail this thing on my own now, eh. And it's as we said. What we find on our travels... we split."

Attempting to fiddle the hair that dashed about my eyes, I stepped to his side, rocking slightly with the ships sway. As I did, my eye caught what was the burned side of the deck, still crisp and black yet now etched in a layer of frost from the snow storms of the coast. "I'd say I already had a good go at splitting it... And besides, I don't think I'd make much of a ships hand."

"Neither did I when first I started, but I should think there's a sea elf in there somewhere... amongst all the leaf and bramble of that savage mind of yours!" with this, there was a mischief about the way he smiled at me.

"You know, having a ship has really changed you," The ship lurched again, me tilting with it, and to my surprise Teldryn reached out, making a light grip upon my arm and pulling me closer to him. 

"Now!" he said with more energy than I was used to from him, "Lets us see the real reason I dragged you back aboard...."I softened, softened as much as someone holding their weight against the sea of ghosts could safely do so. His gesture meant more to me than I was willing to say, yet, from the side glance he now issued to me, I think he read it clearly enough, but perhaps was too proud to voice it. Lest those thoughts be taken on the wind. 

A hand came up to the red cloth about his cheek and pulled it down, where the corner of his lip was curled into an almost unreadable smile.

As his gentle grip guided me, I felt a slower lurch beneath my feet, followed by the sound of an uncomfortable sounding scrape against a nearby rock of the shore. We had docked it as best we could, in what had to be the deepest most sheltered cove that Winterhold had to offer - and still it was thrashed about like a leaf on a stream. There was a reason not many travellers sailed so close, not least of all for the superstitious sailors tales of the strange College that sat eerily still atop a singular piece of cliff, now standing alone in the sea.

Somehow, in all this noise, I still heard the exaggerated creak of a door, for Teldryn had led me to the upper cabins toward the rear. Where once there was a window was now boarded up, having been broken in the battle. When we stepped inside, that same creak safely welcomed us out of the wind, and apart from a directionless whistle through the hall - the somewhat partial cover did it's job well enough.