Unholy Star, Beyond Faith

Old monster

[Halls of learning, Qura Amara, the living platform]

Sen had been sitting with her new friends Hett and Titus in the common room. Hett had prepared herself ginger tea in a special cup that she explained that had been made by her mother from clay and made pottery with nothing other than fire and wood; it had a beautiful green sheen with patches of orange. Sen wondered how something so pretty as the cup could be made so simply and without any kind of technology. She wondered if her grandfather back on Skye was making cups like that in his aged colony without any technology. Hett had also made her a second cup of the hot drink that Sen was quickly acquiring a taste for. She was taking a long, satisfying sip of tea when her Mawla entered the room in a rush. 

Xe'ed's deep coppery-red hair was loose and flowed freely, she was dressed in functional shirt and pants that were are dark and matched the tone of her skin. She wore a delicate bangle of what seemed to be pure gold over the wrist of her uniquely crafted right arm. Her expression was more than a little angry.

Lucky, thought Sen, when she soon discovered that the Mawla's anger wasn't aimed at her but rather at Hetasha. Xe'ed was a tall and physically strong woman, as handsome as Hett was soft in looks, but they could both be considered extremely attractive. Xe'ed aimed a finger from her mysteriously constructed synthetic arm in the Learned's face. "How dare you strike one of the Ethnaa Aashar! What in the galaxy were you thinking?!"

Hett just sat there doing her best not to react in any way, after a brief pause, she shrugged her shoulders, "Meh." and took another sip of tea.

"It's a good thing that you're above the law; otherwise you'd be hanging by your neck right now. But, I'm sure you knew that right? Anyway, it doesn't matter, in punishment Zoro is revoking all access to the processor until further notice."

"What?!" Hett stood in argument, "He can't do that!"

"Well, he did."

Hett stormed out fuming.

Xe'ed turned her attention to Sen, "Look at her, twenty-two years of age and she acts like a teenager. I'm sorry you had to see that, the truth of it is that Zoro has restricted everyone's access to the processor, except for you, the old cactus has a special task with your name on it, and it's going to need a lot of processing power."

"Are we going to see Zoro?" Asked Sen as since she'd been here for over a week, the elder Learned was the only one she hadn't met.

"Yes, you've been summoned. Come on, let's go."

"Bye Titus." Sen waved the learned goodbye as she left the room, but the alchemist was too preoccupied with his particals to notice.

Zoro was the Elder Learned and, as such, called the shots. Officially it was his role to consult with the other eleven Learned to determine which civilisation would receive the benefit of which new technology as developed within the Halls of Learning. But, in reality, there was no consultation, Zoro had a tight grip on the goings-on at Qura Amara, and over the years, the institution had become a kind of Dictatorship where Zoro decided everything. In addition to his real authority, he would boast, to anyone that would listen or not, that he was the busiest person in the Galaxy. An assertion that nobody could argue was false; however, the target of most his activity was a mystery and no one (ever) asked questions.

His office was situated down the end of an antique hallway lined with black and white tiles arranged in typical Amaran style. Several old-style wooden doors along the corridor indicated that there were other rooms here too. Sen could only imagine the type of wondrous things each of the rooms would hold.

Xe'ed knocked on the door at the end of the hall. They could hear the words "Who is it?" return from behind the door in a gruff, unfriendly way.

"It's me, I have Sennellia with me."