Chapter 10 - Part IV

Like every other building within campus, the Fourth Hall was build entirely of white marble blocks and crushed limestone mortar.  Unlike the other buildings though, the Unseen, that is, the quiet and unassuming cleaning staff of the University on High, avoided the Fourth Hall in their duties and in some dark corners, greenish moss colonized the unassuming walls. 

Onion reached for the simple brass ring that hung listlessly upon the mahogany door and pulled it with a slight tug of her arm.  The door was well oiled and made not a sound as it closed behind her.  the room before her looked like nothing more than an amphitheater in reverse with stairs descending on all sides.  The ceiling was quite high and adorned with several windows allowing a flood of natural light to make its way to the floor. 

Onion stood on a smooth, half circle marble platform that was bare save for a couple of long desks and accompanying chairs, and several dormant torchlamps, undoubtedly reserved for use on overcast days and moonless nights.  A sole student sat at one of the desks with a small fort of books and scrolls guarding the secrets of whatever he was scribbling down furiously. 

"This is the Fourth Hall, correct?  I am looking for someone..." Onion felt her words stop in her throat at the student threw her a venomous glare and returned to his studies.  No sooner had she sat down at the second desk in defeat when she heard the a rumble as one of the thick metallic doors standing sentinel at the bottom of the stairs eased open.  A man in a purple cassock and a gold striped navy blue shoulder cape and hood emerged, his face shadowed by the billowy hood.  The single gold stripe ran from the tip of the hood to the back of the cape where it met the cassock.

Like most of the professors, high ranking instructors and Imperial Officials, the man wore curious shoes of silk and wood.  While the top part of the shoe was similar to the outer footwear of the Eirdren nobles, a soft and embroidered slipper of shiny silk, the sole was a black lacquered trapezoidal wood block covering only the forefoot of the slipper.  When worn correctly, a person's heal would never touch the ground, instead relying on the strength of form of the foot to keep it parallel to the ground.

Footwear was a much more important part of Yibouhese etiquette than that of the coast, as Vren had observed since her arrival, which made sense, given the coastal reluctance to wear shoes inside.  Yibouhese architecture favored sturdy flooring of stone rather than the extremely difficult to clean flax mats or easily marred wood floors of the inner sanctums of Eirdren buildings.  Footwear also helped to mark the person in those shoes.  Most students wore either flat slippers of silk and leather, or the shoes of their home countries.  For the instructor, it was a mark of dedication and elegance to opt for these reverse platform, or ket shoes.  The familiar clacking of the wood block brought talkative students before class to attention as quickly as swine to a dinner bell.

As the man clacked up the stairs, Onion too had a similar feeling of needing to be prepared, though she had only been attending classes for about a tide.  She straightened her back against her seat and put her hands on the desk in front of her.  He approached her and pulled back his hood with two pale but sinewy hands and liberated his long straight blonde hair from the vestment.

Onion seized up a little, eying the student lost in study, wondering if his presence was enough of a deterrent.  After all, the last time she saw the hooded man, he had tried to kill her.

"It has been awhile." Vren said stiffly.  After arriving at Eora Swou the following day, the bei, Anita had rushed him away on horseback.  So close to the border of the Yibouh province, perhaps they thought there was little danger in openly transporting him.  Or perhaps they had no choice.  He had not regained consciousness from the time he had been subdued until their departure.  Onion had thought that perhaps he had gone insane, and was a danger to himself and others.  Clearly, if he had, he got better.  The man before her now was calm, composed, and smiling at her.

"We haven't met properly, but this isn't the place for introductions," he eyed the student, "Come with me."