Give him a hand

[A/N]: I want to thank everyone for all their ideas about followers and the story. It was great to hear all that, and it was very helpful I think. It will still be a few chapters before anyone is introduced, but it will happen relatively soonish.

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The archmage's room really lived up to being the abode of the leader of a mage's guild. Rictus could practically feel the mana in the air. There were huge shelves filled to the brim with various magical and historical tomes. Various magical crafting stations allowed one to create anything they wanted, from enchantments to magic scrolls. There was even a shelf dedicated to growing alchemy supplies under one of the large windows. A large conference table dominated the center of the room. There was even an ornate chair at the head where the archmage would sit.

It had taken a few days, but it seemed it was finally time for Rictus to have a talk with Morrigan.

Rictus was not complaining about the wait. It was understandable considering the circumstances. Morrigan did just become the archmage and needed time to adjust and figure out the operations of the College. Plus, she had to repair the damage done to the college from Ancano.

Rictus had plenty to occupy his time. He spent most of his time fixing up the town. There was quite a bit of damage done from the all-day battle. Some homes had even burnt down during it which left some families destitute. With Rictus's earth bending abilities, it was not much of a problem to create some stone houses for the people.

Most people were happy to have a new home and were grateful towards Rictus. It probably helped that the Jarl and guardsmen seemed to be friendly towards him and told people he was not part of the College. There were still some who declined Rictus's offer. They had already disliked the mages, and the recent attack had only made it worse. They preferred to face the cold themselves instead of getting help from a mage.

Rictus was surprised at the lack of College mages helping in recovery. The main thing they did was help clean up the remains of the magical anomalies. Most did that just to find soul gems though. They were a little disappointed only 1 in 4 seemed to have a soul gem. Rictus couldn't help but smile at their disappointment as he looked at his storage filled with various sized soul gems.

Faralda was an exception to the mages. She had made a few appearances to help however she was able. It seemed fighting besides the guards had helped her see the town properly for the first time. A couple of the mages which had been with her from the start of the battle were the only other ones to provide any real help, not just looking for soul gems.

Overall, tensions were still strained between the mages and townspeople. Rictus and Faralda helping in recovery was basically damage control and relieved some tensions. The rumor about this being the fault of the Thalmor did help once it began circulating more. Rictus made sure to drop hints at this attack being the Thalmor's fault and how even the leaders of the mages were killed.

Surprisingly, the people responded well to the idea of it being a Thalmor plot. The townspeople didn't trust the mages, but they hated the Thalmor. Apparently, Ancano had even made an impact in the town a couple of times, and the townspeople were always on the losing side of the exchanges. Having an enemy to blame really solidified the people.

The combination of Thalmor hate, the mages losing their leaders, and Rictus and Faralda's help improved the overall atmosphere of the town. The mistrust and tension were definitely still present, but there seemed to be a sliver of hope for something better. The town and the College would not be best friends any time soon, but it seemed cooperation could be possible, if limited at first.

Rictus had also sent a message to Dante during this time. He was basically asking about using restoration magic to restore lost limbs. This was mainly done for Assur who had lost his hand. There were a few guards which had also been severely injured during the battle.

Dante came into town and did heal most of the lingering injuries, at least for those who trusted a mage. Rictus was a little discouraged when Dante said he was unable to restore lost limbs. He said that reattaching limbs was one thing but restoring a limb from nothing was an entirely different matter. He said only someone at the absolute peak of Restoration magic would be able to accomplish such a feat. Dante seemed confident he would be able to accomplish it eventually, but he focused more on wards and spells involving undead.

The Jarl and his family were quite disheartened with his answer. Assur was especially distraught. Losing your dominate hand as a young boy was very traumatic. Eirid had become a life saver for him during this time. She was always around him and trying to cheer him up.

Rictus had a potential solution. There were faint memories of being able to use his alter body spell on a different person. He was not sure why those thoughts brought a smile to his face or why they made him think of feathers. Regardless, there was a chance now.

Rictus had been staying with the Jarl during this time. At the dinner table the night before meeting with Morrigan, Rictus decided to bring it up after looking at Assur's desolate face after he tried to pick up his drink and nocked it over with his nub instead.

"I may be able to give you a hand with your problem Assur."

Assur whipped his head around to stare at Rictus. A myriad of emotions could be seen on his face, from hope to denial to fear to hope again. Assur was still a little awestruck by Rictus. Rictus had saved his life and all the guards respected him for his help. Even Assur's father seemed to respect the mage. The Jarl was the first one to respond to Rictus.

"What do you mean? You have said you are not well versed in healing. The best healers of the College are unable to do anything, and they are the most powerful mages in Skyrim."

The Jarl tried not to allow desperation to enter his voice. No parent wanted to see their child in pain or disfigured.

"Well, I do not know for sure, but there is a small chance I could fix his hand. I will not know for certain until we try it though. I have not done this sort of thing before, so I do not know the actual results. If my theory is correct, I think I can return his hand."

The Jarl seemed hesitant to allow Rictus to experiment on his son. Korir trusted Rictus more than any mage he had met so far but experimenting on his son was another thing entirely. Seeing the hope and trust in his son's eyes, made Korir's internal conflict even worse. His internal conflict was quickly interrupted.

"Do it. If there is any chance to help my son, I will do whatever it takes. Even if this means I should chop off my own hand to let you practice before hand. I will gladly mutilate my body to heal my son."

Everyone grew quite and looked in shock at the speaker.

Thaena was not a very outspoken woman. Yes, she was the wife to the Jarl, but she preferred reading reports to speaking. Things were different when it involved her only child. She was not there to protect her son when he needed her. Before the attack, she was about to go out and get Assur, but decided to read a few more pages in a report about giants. The decision to wait caused her boy to be outside when the attack happened instead of inside with her. Thaena knew it was irrational, but she could not help but blame herself for what happened to her precious son.

"Umm.. I don't think that will be necessary. If you don't want my first attempt to be Assur, there are some injured guards which I believe would be more than happy to volunteer."

Rictus couldn't help but be a little shaken at the intensity Thaena had spoken with earlier. The fact she had slammed down her left hand and held a dagger in the other only highlighted her determination.

Hearing Rictus, Korir seemed to relax slightly. A guard would more be more than willing to regain a limb and would be safer than experimenting on his child. It also saved him from having to argue with Thaena about cutting off her own arm.

"I think that is an excellent plan. I am certain one of the crippled guardsmen would be more than willing to volunteer. No need to cut your arm off dear."

Thaena seemed to calm down a little bit listening to her husband. Assur felt hope about his situation since losing his hand. He believed if anyone could help him, it would be Rictus. Rictus had already saved him once so one more time wouldn't be out of the question.

There were 5 guards who had lost body parts. 1 lost a few fingers, 2 lost a hand, 1 lost his whole arm, and one unfortunate woman lost an arm and a leg. Every one of them jumped at the chance to be whole again. There was just something about missing a part of yourself which made one feel so incomplete. It was an almost indescribable feeling which only those who have experienced it know about. Rictus started with the guard which lost his fingers since it was the simplest injury.

Using alter body on the man was much easier than Rictus anticipated. The patient's own mana and subconscious desires seemed to be helping guide Rictus as he returned the man's fingers. Rictus was interested to see how the finger seemed to grow out of the numb. It almost seemed like some invisibility spell was slowly being undone to reveal the finger was there the whole time. There was another cost in addition to the large mana demand.

The reconstructed flesh had to come from somewhere. Rictus was not able to create a new finger out of mana alone. If he could, it would probably only be a temporary solution which would slowly disappear. Instead, the spell pulled excess materials from the man's body. Rictus was simply altering and repurposing unneeded materials. The fingers were easy since they were so small in comparison to the man. He may have lost a bit of fat, but it was not even noticeable. Using the spell on the others would be significantly more noticeable though, especially for Assur since he was a child and the woman missing an arm and a leg.

Before healing the rest of the guards, Rictus had Assur and the seriously wounded guard eat a huge amount of meat. Rictus then began working to heal them while the large meal acted as a supplement for the body. It was not a perfect conversion, but it seemed to help.

The only slight hiccup was while healing the first full hand. Rictus had been using the intact hand as a template to help guide him and his spell. This resulted in the man having two right hands. Rictus was able to quickly fix this problem and made sure it did not happen again.

Rictus only healed the missing leg from the seriously wounded guard for now. She already was noticeably skinnier than before. Rictus told her to continue to eat as much food as physically possible and he would wait a couple days before he healed her arm. He didn't want to accidentally kill her from the spell taking too much materials from other parts of her body.

Assur was elated once Rictus was done healing him. He had lost some of the remaining baby fat around his face and belly but nothing of note other than that. The boy couldn't help but shed some tears and jump for joy at the return of his hand. He gave Rictus a huge hug and smile before running around and picking up objects. Both the Jarl and his wife had tears in their eyes as they happily watched their son play and smile again.

Rictus decided to excuse himself to allow the family some alone time. Thaena gave him a teary hug while Korir simply nodded and patted him on the shoulder. As Rictus went to sleep, Thaena and Korir had the same thought. Perhaps magic was not nearly as bad as they had thought. While they still were weary of most mages, Rictus had firmly set himself into the trusted category for them. Rictus would always have a seat at the Jarl of Winterhold's table.

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Jumping back to the present, Rictus studied the new archmage. She was currently pacing behind the table as she reviewed a couple of papers. Rictus could see the slight bags under her eyes which showed she was staying busy with the new position. The intense gleam in her eye showed she was loving every second of her new position and all the challenges it brought to her. After finishing reading the report, Morrigan finally took a seat and gave Rictus her full attention.

Dante had joined them for this meeting as well and was standing a little behind and to the right of Morrigan. Rictus was not really surprised the redguard was here. He seemed to be Morrigan's personal bodyguard. Rictus was very curious about how that happened and what the whole dynamic was between the two mages.

Morrigan stared at Rictus as if trying to figure out a puzzle piece. After a few moments of contemplation, she broke the silence.

"First off, I and the College would like to thank you for your assistance with the recent tribulations. We invite you to visit the library whenever you want, and we will be more than willing to let you borrow books for personal research. I personally would like to cordially invite you to join the College of Winterhold."

Rictus nodded at her offer.

"I would be delighted to visit the library. I am certain there are some hidden gems to find in such a collection. As to officially joining the College…I think I may pass on that for now."

Both Morrigan and Dante seemed a little stunned by his rejection. The college was the premier location for mages to study and grow in Skyrim. There was no better place for a mage. Very few would willingly reject being a member.

"…What do you mean? Do you not want to be part of the College of Winterhold?" Morrigan had not planned to already be derailed in her questioning. She had wrongly assumed every mage would want to be a part of the College.

"Well, I am not against the College or anything like that. I just don't know if I want to be a full member just yet. I wouldn't mind doing a guest lecture, being a correspondent or helping when needed, but I think I will hold off on full official membership for now. This does not mean I won't join, just not yet. Besides, I may be doing some work with the Jarl in the future which will have me interacting with you more, and it would look bad if I was an actual member."

Morrigan narrowed her eyes at that last part. She was not sure she liked what that statement was implying.

"I see. I appreciate your honesty even if I am disappointed you will not be joining us. There is something else I wanted to talk about."

Rictus nodded. He had figured this would come up soon.

Morrigan and Dante shared a look before Morrigan addressed him.

"Just to be sure, are you one of the Skilled? Specifically in Alteration?" They seemed to hold their breath waiting for the answer. While they believed to be correct, it was not a sure thing.

"Well duh. I thought that would be obvious by now. Especially for the Skilled in Enchanting and Restoration."

Dante's eyes widened at being called out. He was not sure what gave him away. Morrigan seemed to expect this answer. She was surprised how easily he admitted it.

"I suppose some formal introductions are in order. Would you like to start Dante?"

Dante simply nodded as he turned towards Rictus.

"My name is Dante, the Skilled in Restoration. I was originally a Vigilant of Stendarr. My life was dedicated towards facing the Daedra and other abominations. I met Morrigan some time ago as she was about to investigate some ruins. We worked together to cleanse that place, and I have stayed with her ever since."

Rictus was a little surprised by his introduction. There was no talk about what happened before they came here or anything like that. Before he could mull over what that meant, Morrigan began talking.

"As you already know, I am Morrigan, the Skilled in Enchanting. I have been a member of the College for awhile now. I started as a lowly novice and quickly worked my way to where you see me today. There were a lot of events which lead us to finding the Eye of Magnus and Ancano's betrayal. I have been lucky Dante has stayed with me throughout all of this. We are hoping to expand the College and bring it back to the glory it once experienced."

The ending was a little grandiose, but Rictus couldn't fault her. He also thought it would be good if the College was able to become better than it is now.

"I am Rictus, the Skilled in Alteration. Not much to say about me honestly. I have a nice little house in Whiterun but have recently done some exploring to see the world. I do have a question for you Morrigan. Why didn't you change the story line for the College? I know we aren't the same, but how come you let things happen the way they originally did in the game?"

Morrigan's eyes grew extremely wide after hearing this. Dante just seemed a bit confused.

"Uh… Dante? Could you please give Rictus and I some privacy for this conversation? I had almost forgotten I had promised Colette to send you to her. She wanted someone to help her look at a wound on one of the mages which she claimed had some kind of daedric influence on it. I will fill you in once you get back."

Dante seemed a little put out at first, but upon hearing about the daedra his face hardened while he quickly left with a nod to both Morrigan and Rictus.

"Umm what was that all about Morrigan?"

She continued to stare wide eyed at Rictus.

"You are starting to make me a little uncomfortable with all the staring. I know I am good looking, but Dante may get jealous if you keep that up."

Morrigan finally seemed to break out of her shock.

"You know about the game?"

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[A/N]: Can't believe I started the chapter with how it was finally time for them to talk , and they barely talked. That seems a little misleading now that I look at it. Don't worry, there will be more in the next chapter...maybe...

I also hope you didn't think I would leave the kid without a hand. That would have just been mean. He definitely didn't do it to make the Jarl more indebted to him and trust him even more than before.

With this chapter, we have made it over 50,000 words which is basically 100 pages. Crazy how that happened.