You have plenty of questions that experienced mages could probably help with, but still want to keep things a little casual for now – at least long enough to show you are a polite person who doesn’t just focus on herself. You ask Sigrid if her 5000 septim eyepatch does anything cool. If your senses are right, she still has two enchanted items on.
Nothing cool yet, she says. Obviously, I’ll want to deck it out eventually, but my usual go-to of charm enchantments is apparently evil now. I’ll probably spring for something super generic, like an auxiliary magicka reservoir. Nobody ever assigned morality to “more spells”.
And just to check… the skill-stealing magic isn’t going to become a new evil thing, is it?
It wasn’t stealing, it was just borrowing. The spell only lasts a couple hours, tops. And it was for a good cause! A person was really upset about all the money I took from them, and I had to defend myself until the guards could drag them away.
That’s not really that good of a cause, Stephane says.
You of all people should think it is! If I’m the gods’ chosen hero destined to save the world, then defending myself is effectively saving everyone. Anyway, it was a restoration spell. Nobody other than a necromancer is gonna claim restoration is evil.
Mmf, you say, hurriedly swallowing your gulp of flax as to not be impolite and talk with a full mouth. I’ve actually been studying restoration myself, trying to get a better hang of it.
Any particular branch, Stephane asks? He imagines as an Atronach, your main interest is magicka absorption spells. Though, skill absorptions like Sigrid used in her swordfight would make more sense for a traveling mage, given their broad utility.
Aaah, those are definitely on the docket, eventually? Right now, though, I’m trying to figure out how to cast Heal Minor Wounds.
This spell? Like the one from the kids book?
Yeah, that one.
Are you… certain you don’t already know it? It comes naturally to a lot of people. It can be hard to learn one author’s specific variant if you came up with a different one yourself.
Yeah, I’m… sure I’ve never cast a healing spell.
Mine looks like this. It’s not particularly flashy.
Or look at that! The hot frost atronach’s is holiday themed!
You reiterate that, yes, you’re quite sure you have never cast a healing spell.
Okay, but, it’s not hard. It’s definitely not hard compared to conjuring a skeleton or pulling off a successful dispell. Watch:
Have you ever used healing magic?
The flame atronach shakes her head.
Try casting a healing spell. If you don’t know where to start, just believe in yourself or something.
You have decided you are done being polite and are going to ask every question you have just to change the topic.
Additional resource credits:
Squiggles – the mural