Sacrifice

Chapter 24 - The Mentor

Miriam inspected Kalli critically when she stepped into the office that week. Kalli flushed slightly.

"I'm in one piece," she said.

"Hmm," was Miriam's less-than-expressive answer.

"What did you expect?" Kalli asked, more and more embarrassed. "That a painting would fall on me?"

"Worse," Miriam answered still watching her with an appraising eye. "How hot is the centre of our system's star compared to the surface as expressed as a ratio?"

"Three to one," Kalli answered.

"And what is the speed of the Drisden comet?" Miriam asked.

Kalli sat down. "Last recorded speed was estimated at 250,000 kilometres per hour. What's this all about?"

"You were looking at art in the Imperial Gallery last week with the Prince were you not?" Miriam asked.

"Yes. Of course."

"Well I was just making sure that your mind hadn't turned to mush from all that art," Miriam said.

"You think that art destroys the mind?" Kalli asked completely blown away by the idea.

"What else would it do?" Miriam asked.

"Expand it. Inspire it and force it to look at the world from an entirely different perspective."

"Art has nothing to add to a well-ordered mind."

Miriam was dead serious, and Kalli had no idea what to say in the face of such an erroneous statement.

"Now," Miriam continued completely disregarding Kalli's horrified expression, "we should get started on our studies for this week."

Kalli stood, startling Miriam. "I need to show you something."

"Now?" Miriam asked.

"Yes, now," Kalli answered. "Look, I know that it's time for my lesson and that we missed my lesson last week, but I think, I think that you know me well enough by now that you know I would never interrupt a lesson unless it was really important."

Miriam's expression was more puzzled than annoyed. "Yes, I suppose. What is it you want to show me exactly?"

"You'll see. Follow me."

Kalli, turned and left Miriam's office, hoping that her professor would follow. Miriam did, so Kalli wasted no time. She led Miriam out of the university and hailed a transport for hire.

"We need to go to the building des Solla des Stella," Kalli told the transport driver.

Then she spent the length of their short ride fidgeting and hoping that Miriam didn't come to the conclusion that she had completely lost her senses. The looks that Miriam kept shooting her weren't reassuring.

The transport dropped them off in front of an ancient stone building. It was tucked out of the way behind a set of clothing shops and built from age-worn stone. It stood one-story high and was circular with a large smooth dome.

"What is it?" Miriam asked baffled.

"It's called Dommus des Solla des Stella; it's over a thousand years old, come on. The part we came to see is on the inside."

They entered and were dazzled by the brightly coloured mosaics that covered the walls.

"This is pretty," Miriam commented, mildly impressed.

Kalli shook her head. "Looking, not talking."

"At what?" came Miriam's exasperated reply.

"You see how the light from the window falls on the wall?" Kalli pointed to a section of the wall. "It highlights the portion of that panel where the tree is in its full summer glory. But as the seasons change the light will shift to the other portions of the panel. It will highlight fall, winter and then spring each in their turn. It does the same for the light from the other windows onto the other panels."