The Lost Voices (OLD VERSION - New Version to Come)

CHAPTER 8... SEEKERS (PART 2)

Sketch 48: Confidants

8-21-1620 A.R.

Location: Elios, Terrarin  

After another hour of walking, they finally came upon their destination outside the city. It stretched off from the main roads and was tucked in an appropriately secluded forest, but opened into a massive gated clearing. The iron entryway was labeled Raam's School in straight lettering that beguiled guests with its tasteful simplicity. No one stood watch at the gaping doorway as a wide dirt path carpeted onto the campus and up to the colossal mansion's oak doors.

Mariana waved at students as they trekked across the grounds. "My father takes in troublemaking, orphaned Casters from all over Terrarin and teaches them how to use their magic as constructive members of society."

"Wait, your father is Raam?"

"Yup. Well, I'm the only one he adopted."

"Oh." Retraenon hesitated, but enquired anyway, "If I may ask, did you ever know your parents?"

Mariana didn't look at him. "Only fuzzy images, so not really. Raam found me when I was eight." She exhaled with a dramatic lament. "That was fifteen years ago. I'm so old!" He chuckled at her, but reeled back.

"One would think you'd remember more."

She shrugged. "You'd think, but it doesn't matter. I've had Raam." Her smile wasn't fake, but Retraenon knew something resembling curiosity was buried beneath. As they reached the double doors leading inside, the mansion's architectural finesse was staggering.

"How many kids go here?"

"It was built to house up to four hundred students, but we usually teeter around three hundred."

"Heh, only that many huh?" Minimus's tail flicked wildly from the peripheral attention coming down on him from the surrounding students. "And who pays for all this?"

"My dad's a bit of an entrepreneur, but donations are also accepted. The students are also encouraged to get jobs once they come of age."

"Makes sense." Mariana gripped the massive handle on the front door and swung it open to reveal the gigantic atrium. Charming marble floors, sharp limestone columns, various stairwells, two visible levels above their own, and hallways that branched into several classroom settings with teachers, training quarters, dorm rooms, and an immense lecture hall directly behind the first set of stairs.

Retraenon made a sideways glance. "Those must be some nice donations."

"Something like that." Mariana led on as the three charted their way up to the second floor and down a long hallway of closed or slightly ajar doors before they finally came upon an office with a scuffed plaque that read: Raam Lar.

"Wait, why isn't he on the top floor?"

Mariana smiled. "He calls this 'the middle ground'. It makes him more approachable than if he were up in some 'lofty office'."

"Interesting." She knocked on the door.

A muffled voice responded. "Come on in."

Mariana entered first and Retraenon was caught off guard by Raam's personal office. Excluding the selfsame marble floors that everything else had, his space seemed bought from an entirely different paycheck. It had plenty of breathing room and was fairly vibrant with a couple book shelves pressed to the north wall, but a child's watercolor painting of The Caster's Tree was lovingly hung beside his doctorate in education. 

Additionally, he had an oak desk with a glass top, a contemporary map of Terrarin beneath the glass, and a bow window overlooking the campus, but it was the definition of minimalism. Everything from the sealed letters, to the triad of guest chairs, to the stack of books on his desk, it all felt correctly placed, despite the twinge of disarray hanging over the room. Not a shred of dust could be seen, except in one dim corner, but it all carried an air of life.