Communication is important

The meeting was productive. They stayed up late working out some more plans now that the dragons were back. Others would normally be more skeptical about such a claim, but none of the Restored questioned Rictus due to his word's certainty. The report of Helgen refugees claiming there was a dragon attack definitely solidified their trust in their leader's claims.

Rictus had also given the description of the two people of note he had seen enter Riverwood. They were high priority targets for their informants. Any information about them would be valuable. He was not certain as to which one was the dragonborn, but it was almost a gaurntee to be one of them. His gut feeling was leaning towards the woman though. Ken was even warned about their potential identity and to keep careful watch over their movements. He was also warned that someone from the Blades would most likely try reaching out to them once their status as dragonborn was confirmed. Rictus couldn't remember the name or location of the woman who was the last of the Blades, but he gave a rough description of her. He thought she may have been out of the inn in Riverwood but couldn't remember for sure.

The training with ranged weapons was now a top priority for every member. It would be the main way they could reach this new threat. It wasn't like the dragon would conveniently land for them to try and stab it. Magic and arrows would be their weapons for now. Larger siege weapons were made a higher priority and there were some older veterans who had some experience in that area. They were given a large budget to increase the security of their base.

Thinking of veterans, it was time to start expanding faster. They did not want to overreach, but they needed a presence of some sort in more of the holds. Ken was placed in charge of figuring out which ones would be targeted first. With the civil war getting more intense, having members in Solitude and Windhelm was a must. Once the plan for expansion got finalized, Rictus would send a few members over to those cities to start recruitment.

One thing greatly slowed this process. Communication. There was not a good way for them to communicate with each other quickly or easily over these distances. Mages which knew the spells and were connected could form a type of mind bridge with each other, but none here knew how to do it. Rictus figured it was time to pay the College another visit to see if they had a solution and were willing to trade for it. Maybe there was an enchantment which would help.

It would also be a good time to check the progress of the city anyways. It had been a while now since Rictus had been there and a lot could have changed in this time. Getting a firsthand account of Ulfric's actions from Korir would also be good.

It was decided that Rictus would take 2 people with him. The others wanted him to take more, but he could only easily manage that many with his teleportation. He had an idea about using soul gems as a source of power for his teleportation glyphs, but it was still a work in progress, not to mention expensive.

A sudden thought crossed Rictus's mind. Could he scale down the teleportation glyphs? It seemed size of the object being teleported affected the cost of the spell. He had never tried teleporting something smaller than people so far. If they only sent a piece of paper, how affordable would it be then? If the glyph was small enough to fit in a small box, could that be a way to send messages fast? Could other mages even utilize his glyphs? Seemed they would not be leaving just yet.

Rictus wanted to grab one of the mages to join him on his testing, but he held off on it at the last second. He really wanted to test if others could use his glyphs but didn't fully trust them just yet. He figured he would do it after he saw if he could use the glyph as he imagined.

He created two different glyphs close to each other as a test. He actually used the ones the necromancer had for short range teleportation since they were significantly less complicated and required a lot less mana. He also already knew they could be used by any mage with enough control and power. They also were made in a way to have a matching pair. It seemed whoever had developed it had only made it so one could move from one to a corresponding one. They did not function like Rictus's glyphs which would be used to go to any of the others he had created.

A piece of paper was the first object to be tested. Rictus placed the folded paper on one of the glyphs and channeled his mana into it while staying outside of the area. It did not take very much mana at all before the paper disappeared. Looking across the room, revealed a piece of paper. It seemed the test was a resounding success, until the paper crumbled into dust.

This was not too surprising. There were many reasons this could have happened, but more testing would be required. Next, Rictus molded a brick from the stone near him and tried that. After channeling the required mana, the teleportation took effect. This time, the brick stayed together unlike the paper. Pulling the brick over with telekinesis, Rictus then hollowed out part of the middle and placed a rolled paper into it before covering up the hole.

The brick appeared to still be in good condition after teleporting it. Opening it up revealed a perfectly normal piece of paper. It seems there was potential for this as a quick messaging system. A mage would be required, and there would have to be more test to determine the distance these could travel, but there was potential. There was a nagging thought in Rictus's head. How come this glyph was for shorter range teleportation, and how did he know that?

His only theory was somehow to do with the implanted knowledge of spells he got when he was still technically leveling up. He didn't actually have to study but instinctively knew how to cast them all. His master level spells were top tier magic spells. They would require lots of knowledge of the basics to be able to successfully cast. Magic for that matter usually took someone a lot more work to learn as well while he was able to just do it without much effort. Seems he really was lucky in choosing more spells as his starting boon since now he has a wider understanding of all related magics.

His instincts were telling him that a smaller object would be able to transport itself much father with these glyphs than a person could. He would have to bring in another mage to start testing these things out. There was no telling when Ma'randru-jo would return with the caravans, so he was not an option for now. Reysera would be the obvious choice since she would be the acting leader of the mages. Maybe he should go ahead and make her one of his official Minions.

On second thought, maybe this project would act as her trial for it. Her willingness and work ethic would be the true measures of the trial. Those and keeping the project a secret. Besides, this would allow Rictus to not bother with the tedious parts of the experimentation like measuring out the distance this would work at. Proper delegation was an important aspect of a good leader after all.

Since he was done with this for now, he went to go grab Reysera and tell her about her new project. Then, he would grab whoever Ken assigned to him this time and finally head off to Winterhold.

---

It did not take long to explain the project to Reysera. She seemed thrilled to be working with such magics. Any form of teleportation magics was precious in the current age. For some reason, the availability of it had drastically decreased over the years. Rictus was a little unsure of the exact reasoning, but he wasn't too worried about it. He would just be thankful to have such a useful power.

Ken had assigned Roluth to go with him along with someone new. Hawk was a veteran hunter who was an expert with the bow. He was one of the only Bosmers in the faction. He was short and wiry with his light hair cropped close to his skull. Hawk didn't talk very much and constantly surveyed his surroundings. An attacking bear had mauled him which cost him his left arm and a couple fingers from his right hand. Some members had happened upon him while moving around the outskirts of Whiterun and quickly brought him back to be restored by Rictus. He had been an avid follower since that moment.

Rictus was a little surprised to have one of the better hunters join him instead of them being used as an instructor, but Ken had a good reason. The main reason was to give Rictus's team more long-range support, especially with dragons being back. The other reason was that Hawk was a terrible instructor since he would not talk to those he was teaching. Working as a silent guard fit him perfectly though.

It did not take them long to finish getting ready and teleport to Winterhold. This time, they teleported right into the mage's college in the hall of the elements. Before he had left Winterhold, Rictus had studied the hidden runes inside the college which allowed the Psijic order members to teleport the Eye of Magnus out of there. It did not take him long to memorize the location and be able to utilize it himself.

Luckily for them, there was only one person in hall. The poor young acolyte tripped over the mop bucket and fell butt first into the soapy water. She was staring at the group in fright over their sudden appearance. She was paralyzed in fear as Rictus cast telekinesis to raise her back on her feet and grab the dropped mop and knocked over bucket.

"Sorry if we frightened you little lady. We are here to see the archmage. Do you know if she is in her office?"

The young girl continued to stare at Rictus, still reeling in shock over him suddenly appearing. It didn't seem like she had quite caught up to what was happening. Thankfully, Tolfdir chose that moment to walk into the hall with a few other mages following behind him. He rose his eyebrows in surprise seeing Rictus and company with the new acolyte.

"Rictus? When did you get here?"

A smile graced Rictus's lips as he looked at the aging mage.

"Ah, Tolfdir. Just the person I needed. Do you know if Morrigan is in her office or not? I want to meet with her. As to when I got here, it was just a few moments ago."

Tolfdir looked a little suspicious at the group before him. He was not sure how they had gotten into the main hall of the college with no one seeming to notice. There was a pulse of unfamiliar magic which had come from the room which had to be some part of the reasoning, but there was no direct evidence though.

"The archmage is here, but she is terribly busy. It is customary to make an appointment with her so that she can make time for guests. It takes a lot of work to manage everything going on around here."

Rictus started walking once he heard she was here.

"Don't worry. I am sure she will be okay with me dropping in. I have somethings to talk to her about which she will be very interested in hearing. Thanks for all your help. If I can get some time, I would love to talk with you more about alteration magics. I think I have a new alteration to a spell you would really enjoy. I will let you get back to your teaching though."

No one stopped him as he made his way out of the hall and towards the archmage's office. Everyone was too distracted with his words and the confident way he strode past them all. Tolfdir was annoyed at the causal dismissal. He held his tongue though. Rictus was not someone to offend. He was a very powerful mage at such a young age, extremely close to the Jarl, and even the archmage paid him respect. His knowledge of Alteration magic was also profound. The thought of getting a new variant of a spell was quite tempting to Tolfdir and distracted him just enough to stop him from calling out when the man left.

It wasn't long before Rictus was standing before the door to the archmage's room. He could tell there was only one person sitting in there at the main table. Her magical aura was impressive. It was also surprising in the way it appeared as well. It seemed very uniform and blindingly white. Apparently, skill and aptitude in enchanting was white. The flow of mana in the room seemed to be coalescing around her hand as something seemed to slowly be forming. Rictus was not entirely sure what it was, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Morrigan's special ability and enchanting. Maybe she could make soul gems or something.

Rictus motioned for his guards to stay by the door as he knocked and entered without waiting for an answer. Having only a simple metal lock with no magical alarm was quite an oversight. Morrigan must be really distracted. Maybe he would get a sight of what was in her hand. He could always apologize later and distract her with his information. A grouchy voice quickly greeted him.

"I said I was not to be disturbed! Whatever it is, it can wait. Tell Tolfdir and he will get your request to me."

Morrigan was turned with her back partially to the door as she stayed focused on what was in her hands while sitting in her chair. From this angle, it seemed to be some type of gem. Hearing the door close, she assumed whoever it was had left. A couple minutes later, she let out a sigh as she stopped channeling her mana. A voice speaking out caused her to jump.

"Well, that sure was some special magic right there. I am guessing it has something to do with your level 100 boon and enchanting. Quite an interesting phenomenon to see. It almost felt like you were channeling the powers of Oblivion, but the signature was a little off."

Morrigan looked up to see Rictus smiling smugly at her while leaning against the wall. She did not let her face reveal the nervousness she was feeling. She had been way too focused on what she was doing and not paid enough attention on her surroundings. She was also tired from channeling so much magic. If he had wanted to harm her, she would be at an extreme disadvantage right now.

"What are you doing here? Didn't anyone every teach you manners? You shouldn't barge into a woman's room, especially one with defensive enchantments that could disintegrate you in a moment."

She gave him an annoyed look as she deflected from answering his questions and giving him any more information about what she was doing. His cheesy grin showed he knew she was trying to throw off his pursuit of knowledge.

"I did knock, but what you were doing looked too interesting to leave. Besides, it seems you were too distracted to activate any of your actual defenses seeing as I am still standing here and not sensing any additional mana signatures which would be apparent if you had active defenses. A simple lock on the door is not enough to keep people out you know. You really should get some better security. By the way, where is lover boy?"

Morrigan rolled her eyes at him as a slight blush formed on her cheeks. He was right about everything he said though. She really should make her room better defended. The dark brotherhood and assassins were a real worry for her now. Her safety was not guaranteed.

"I will look into the security, thanks for your oh so helpful comments. Dante is currently out with some other mages looking into some rumors about daedra worshippers."

Rictus nodded. He knew Dante was still a Vigilant of Stendarr. He would probably be able to sense the Sanguine Rose on him and try and take it. That would not be good for anyone, so it worked out he was not here. Something to be careful about in the future though. Morrigan looked back at him before speaking again.

"Is there something you were wanting? I doubt this is just a social visit to see how I am doing."

"Actually, I do want some things. I have a couple of enchanting requests and some very important news I wanted to share with you that will be part of the payment for services rendered."

"And what news is so important it would work as payment?"

Rictus smiled at her answer.

"I like you so I will tell you in advance. Helgen was just destroyed, and Alduin has returned. Seems things are finally starting up. I also may even be willing to share my thoughts on the dragonborn and their identity. For the right price of course."

----

[A/N]: I am still not 100% sure on the fast messaging system here. I did a little searching and the lore was a little lacking in a lot of the teleportation/messaging details. There are lots of little mentions and allusions towards certain things, but nothing concrete or super easy to implement here. Ideas are welcome.