[Flashback] Basics First (Solo)

[Cilaes]

3rd Day of Winter, 508 AV There were about thirty chairs in the classroom, each with a small and smooth writing surface in front of them. Perhaps more than half of these were full when Cilaes entered that morning. The Drykas man was well groomed, his dark hair was neatly combed and his jaw clean and carefully shaved, but his eyes had soft bags beneath them. It was mid-morning, too early for Cilaes to be up and about. It was foolish to try and sleep last night, the man reprimanded himself, remembering lying awake in his tent. The moon had shone brightly through the fabric, dusting his small home in silver and making him restless. I suppose I will have to sleep in the afternoons now. Classes were going to be difficult and he knew it, they would be worse if he arrived exhausted each morning. Besides, a lack of sleep isn’t going to help me be social, and I need any help I can get. He sighed and passed a calloused hand over his face, sleepy brown eyes scanning the room. There were no men in the class and almost every head was topped with light, delicate shades of gold and silver. The precious locks tumbled over the backs of the occupied chairs, disturbed by only one or two splashes of darker, copper tones. It wasn’t so bad, he was used to being surrounded by Konti, being the odd one out. The man. The tanned and tattooed. The shining and horned. The fallen. However you see me, I am alone… he recalled as the light eyes of the Konti soaked up his presence. Some of the faces he recognized, though many of them were young, just beginning their careers as healers and servants for Rak’keli. The man ran a thumb over his chin, feeling the smooth, stretched surface of his scar rise over the jawbone, aware that he appeared to be entering his thirties, older looking than even the humans who had come to study under Obvala. He seated himself next to one of these women. She was slender and short, with very long fingers and sharp eyebrows, though her mouth was wide and cradled by smiling lines that had only just begun to sink into her youthful skin. The chair he sat in was delicate and white, with thin legs that swept up from the floor with a practical grace. He towered over both of them as he pulled out a small leather bound book whose pages were thick, powdery and, as of yet, untouched. I wouldn’t trust myself to recall everything Ms Obvala says today, he thought, stifling a yawn, Such forgetfulness could have severe consequences in Rak’keli’s realm... Two noises pricked Cilaes’s ears above the general shuffling sounds of a class preparing for the arrival of the professor. The soft tap of the leather cover of his notebook as it fell open on the smooth, white wood of his desk and the creak of a similarly well-crafted seat as the young woman leaned toward him from his seat. “Hello, it seems I’m not the only one to make the trek to Mura. Strangers in a strange land together, right?” Her brown hair had fallen forward over her ear as she extended a hand to shake, “Telen Marek, just Telen will do.” His dark eyes must have looked a bit unprepared because Telen smiled warmly at Cilaes, a motion well practiced by her face. He took her hand, his own thick callouses resting in the curves of her slender digits as they shook. “Cilaes…” he said in a voice much deeper than hers, searching for the proper words to tell her that he had been living in Mura for more than four years, for his entire life. It’s a rather awkward thing, to correct someone without being rude… “Telen, it is a pleasure to meet you. Though I must say, I’ve lived in Mura for several years now. Nonetheless, I rarely meet non-Konti, and… Mmm…” He wasn’t entirely certain what he was trying to say right now. If Leth were overhead he may have felt a bit more composed, but in the daylight Cilaes always found himself less prepared for grace than he hoped. The Ethaefal was saved as Kanis Obvala entered the room and the whispering among the students died down. His hand let go of Telen’s and slid over the cool surface of his desk, ready to take the notes of the day.