The Rossem Project

The University - Part 4

     They reached the edge of the woods and waited there, expecting to be met and challenged, but no-one came and they crept timidly a little closer, peering into the darkness between the trees. “This is very strange,” said Lirenna, stepping past the outermost trees, leaving the last straggly patch of grass to stand on the carpet of fallen leaves that lay beneath the forest canopy.

     She took another couple of steps, but Thomas took hold of her arm to hold her back. “We shouldn’t intrude without invitation,” he said. “Let’s search for a shae in the University and talk to him. There’s bound to be one around somewhere.”

     “No, this is wrong,” said the demi-shae, though. “There’s always a shae on lookout. Always. We should go in, see if everything’s alright.”

     “You’d look funny with donkey ears,” said Thomas, making Derrin giggle. “Seriously, let’s go back. This is wrong.”

     Lirenna pulled herself free from his grasp, though. and moved forward. Thomas gave a sigh of resignation. “We’ll wait here, then,” he said, taking Derrin’s hand. “They just might allow you in, but they won’t tolerate a pureblooded human.”

     Lirenna nodded, but before she could take more than a few more steps the expected shae finally appeared, seeming to appear out of nowhere, blocking her way. His hand was raised in the shayen gesture of greeting and he smiled in what appeared to be genuine pleasure at seeing them. Like all shae folk, he moved with an effortless grace that surpassed even that of Derrin, and Thomas felt himself wilting with shame as he imagined how clumsy and awkward his own movements must appear in comparison. Humans who'd never met a shae simply could not imagine that such perfect beauty could exist in the material world, and those that had met one felt inadequate and inferior for the rest of their lives.

     Then his heart was wrenched with sympathy for his wife and son as he saw that they were also cowed by the appearance of this awesomely perfect being. Most of their relatives were shae folk, after all, amongst whom they'd lived for most of their lives, and he'd expected this to have prepared them for the meeting. If the truth were told, though, the northern shae folk had intermarried with humans more often than they'd have liked to admit. Even Dallon had human blood in him, although it might only be one part in fifty or so, and that was just enough to take the edge off his shayen perfection. The entity approaching them now, though, was one hundred percent pureblooded shae, and small though that two percent might be, it made all the difference to the impact it made to those of mixed blood.

     Lirenna's hand flew instinctively to her dark hair, as if she were acutely aware of the physical traits that betrayed their partially human heritage. In doing so, though, she had also drawn attention to her hand, which was just a little too large with nails that were just a little too wide. At least Derrin had luminous blue eyes, a trait that he shared with more than half the pureblooded shayen race, but Lirenna had dark eyes and Thomas saw her try to hide them by dropping her eyes to her feet and allowing her hair to fall across her face.

     The worst thing, though, worst by far, was her height. Although she was small and dainty by human standards, Lirenna stood almost half a head taller than the pureblooded shae, forcing him to look up into her face as he came to a stop in front of her. Lirenna shifted awkwardly on her feet, clearly regretting her decision to come, and even Derrin was looking as if he wanted to be swallowed up by a hole in the ground. Thomas felt an irrational anger towards the shae man for making the people he loved feel this way, but of course the man had done nothing to deserve it. The only crime he was committing was existing.

     "Welcome to the shaewoods," said the shae man in a soft, musical voice, bowing low before them, and Thomas was reminded of their racial politeness; a trait that was as much a part of their make-up as their slanted eyes and their pointed ears. They even killed politely, and the thought made him glance around at the surrounding woodland nervously. He couldn't see any more shae folk, but that meant nothing. The shae folk's ability to move around silently and invisibly was legendary. "May I enquire as to your reason for coming here? It was our understanding that the shaewoods would be for our exclusive use, and that no-one of any other race would ever come here."