So in skyrim it seems that when you equip a spell it is in your shield hand and you can not equip a shield but can equip a one handed weapon
It might make more sense to equip a shield instead of a weapon if you are using destructive magic in the game
Also you might not want to read books that boost skills until you maxed out on the skill because you supposedly can go beyond macimum
You can hide from land enemies in the water when exploring the map as an argonian but there are water enemies