Xilanada - Descending Dark Of Past And Future/Part 6

The 26th Day of Descending Wood, 766 in the Year of Our Empress.

Tugging his tabard back into place, Sen made his way toward the Hall of Audience. A Guild Factor was paying a visit to the School and a man of that prestige required an appropriate response on the part of the administration. Father was busy doing whatever it was that he did and Seya had some crises to handle, as she always did. That naturally left him.

He didn’t care for it, honestly. A little knife work in the dark, fine. Father wanted a secret found, someone spied on, something learned? He was his father’s son. Diplomacy though? Better left to Seya.

Sen would manage, of course. Even the Heptagram made certain its students mastered the polite basics of decorum. Enough for this backwater city in this backwater part of Creation. Sometimes he wished he was already back on the Blessed Isle. But then again, if he was, he wouldn’t have met Xilanada.

The smile she brought, along with the feeling, proved to be an unfortunate distraction.

"Sen!" whispered the voice urgently as hands pulled him out of the hallway and into a secluded alcove. His knife Crimson Laughter almost feasted on his attacker before hot lips met his and a most definitely female body pressed herself all over him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Sen said, pulling back a little. "Oh, now what’s this about?" The dark, petite girl mauling him through his clothes was an almost-graduated student that he had dallied with a few times. A promising Air-Aspect, if he remembered right. Pity he couldn’t remember her name. Or if he'd really dallied with her. Had he? Hadn't he? How much opium had he been smoking a few months ago?

"Well, where have you been?" she demanded. "You were supposed to meet me for the last two months! What happened to the third and eighteenth days you promised me? Who is she?"

"My duties take me all over," Sen chuckled. "I am most deeply sorry." He kissed her fingertips by way of an apology. The gesture seemed to soothe most of her ire, replaced by passion until he pushed her off of him again.

"What’s wrong?" she asked.

"My dear, I have an appointment with a Guild Factor that I can’t be late for. I’m afraid it’s not meant to be."

"What do you mean?" she said, her eyes widening with concern and deeper worry.

"You took Omens and Applied Divination, didn’t you?"

"...yes," she admitted, still obviously not understanding.

"I’m afraid destiny is pulling us apart, my darling." He leaned forward and kissed her neck, then her ear before whispering further. "The text In Still Light, Answers talks about this. Four times we have been kept apart, then we meet only to be kept apart again. It can only mean one thing. Obviously, you are about to find a great love."

"But...I don’t want a great love!" she said, showing signs of anger in her taut jaw and face. "I want you!"

"And I, you," he assured her. "But to defy these omens is to not only risk what we have together but possibly our lives. I cannot be so selfish as to chance harm to you, just because of my feelings. The Immaculate Dragons in the Scriptures are most mysterious but their will is unquestioned. If you are meant to experience the great love of your life with other person, I must stand aside if I want to see you happy. And I do, my dear. I want to see you happy."

Tears glinted in her eyes by the time he was done. A grateful smile wavered shakily on the edges of those lovely pouting lips before she obstructed his view by kissing him deeply with them. It went on long enough that he almost pushed her away but she relented on her own.

"Sen, you are the most caring man I’ve ever known," the Air-Aspect beamed. "And I really hope the omens point out love in your future too! I really enjoyed our time together. I’ll never forget you!"

With that, she flounced away giggling. Sen rolled his eyes at the whole matter and went on his way, relieved. Now that he thought about it, he did vaguely remember the girl. A smart student, if not especially inspired by Exalted standards. She had been a pleasurable dalliance months ago. A good thing he remembered Rainblown Joybringer mentioning her lackadaisical approach to his class. He’d lay good jade against it that she would even crack the book he cited to look up that line of nonsense he’d fed her.

Speaking of Rainblown...

"Well hello, Professor!" he called ahead as the God-Blooded stepped into the hallway, following the aftermath of a student crowd. He was a handsome man, if not exactly Sen’s taste. Rainblown was too slender, too long-haired, too pretty really. Sen liked a little more muscle when it came to a lover. At least for men. When it came to women...strangely, Xilanada and how she looked that night overwhelmed all else. He couldn’t even lust properly about anyone else anymore!

She really was getting to him.

"Good day, Sen," Rainblown said, giving him a reserved smile and falling in beside him. "How have your classes been?"

"Oh, not bad. I’m doing substitute work as usual, filling in for people doing research work. I guess I’m supposed to be covering Piiro in a month, you know, along with your schedule. You two have something planned, eh? You going somewhere special?"

An incredulous look of disbelief came and went so quickly Sen wondered if he’d seen it. The Professor smiled a little and inclined his head to the side, as if thinking. Exactly four girls walking by sighed when they thought they were out of hearing. Sen would have been flattered if he hadn’t known Rainblown was the recipient. He tried not to let it bother him.

"’Deep the pool is, full but unknown. Courageous and risky is the hand that reaches into it.’"

"Right," Sen said, nodding along. "So how are your classes?"

"As expected," he answered shortly.

"Say, I wanted to ask your advice. Would you mind?"

"Of course not, Sen." Rainblown’s measured pace slowed, causing the traffic about them to move by more swiftly, giving them a kind of artificial privacy. Rainblown tucked a few stray strands of his long hair back behind his ears and looked attentively at him.

"See, here’s the thing. It’s about Xilanada."

"What about her?" Rainblown asked. His eyes looked harder and his voice rougher in the asking. He seemed unusually interested, Sen thought. But then again, maybe he was just taking the conversation seriously. How often did he ever see the Professor when he wasn’t disinterested in his surroundings? No wonder it looked strange.

"I don’t really feel comfortable talking about women with other women and no one’s supposed to know anything anyway. Besides, the few I know would probably tell me to stay away from her because of my...well, my reputation. I need constructive advice, though."

"’For the tiger, its prey, for the bird, its song. For the man, his continuity, for the woman, her world.’" Rainblown looked at him, as if expecting him to understand. "You have feelings for her. This makes you feel self-conscious discussing it with women because they still see you as a dilettante?"

"Hah. I suppose so." To be honest, Sen hadn’t thought Rainblown was rooted in the world enough to think like that. The enigmatic God-Blooded was full of surprises, it seemed. "The only women I know well enough to talk about this with...I’ve either slept with or she’s my sister. And even there...well, you know how the Realm is."

The utter look of shock on the Professor’s face made Sen laugh. He hadn’t thought it possible to provoke that kind of a reaction from the man. It was fun to watch Rainblown pull his composure back together.

"Seriously, though." Sen leaned in close. "I don’t know any woman I can talk to about it, none of the men I know understand women any better than I do except for you. Chiefly because of...well, you know."

"I do," Rainblown said with a sigh. Heh. He made it seem like it was a burden instead of a choice. Perhaps his love life with Piiro wasn’t going so well. Sen promised himself that he would ask about it later.

"The truth is that I love her, Rainblown. I’ve only been in love once before and that was...well, you remember that. She and I still don’t speak. But this is different, it’s even more than that was. Whatever the women say, I’ve offered enough prayers to lust to know the difference between it and love."

Rainblown’s jaw tightened, the muscles moving just inside his cheek. He looked straight ahead and stiffly nodded. Yes, definitely problems between Piiro and the strange teacher.

"Go on."

"How would you go about wooing her, Rainblown? You know Xilanda, she’s...quiet, she keeps to herself. I think she feels the same way I do, sometimes I know she does but other times its like she can’t bear to be near that feeling. I’ve been sending her letters, imagine me sending letters! But I don’t know what else to do."

"Do you have respect for her?" Rainblown asked sternly. The God-Blooded usually looked serious but stern? Sen nodded to him slowly. "Then you must give her the space she needs. Perhaps she fears what she does not remember. Perhaps other matters overshadow love, matters that weigh upon her. She must deal with those matters before she can give her heart to anyone."

"Thanks, Rainblown. It’s just good to get a second opinion sometimes. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing then, giving her the space she needs. But right now, I have a meeting to catch. Thanks again, Rainblown."

Rainblown didn’t even nod as he walked away, taking another branch toward the offices. Sen wondered a moment about the Professor’s moodiness, then shrugged. When wasn’t he moody?

The conversation had thankfully carried him to the Hall of Audience. Time to play the diplomat.

"Factor Auris Leestra," Sen said as he approached the small contingent. He inclined his head out of respect, the greatest concession he could make to the man’s rank. Even the Hierarchs of the Guild themselves hardly warranted more, at least from a Dragon-Blooded Prince of a Dynastic House.

"Tepet Ajalat Sen," said the Factor in a strong voice, if somewhat coldly. "The Six Poses of Lightening School is quite impressive from the outside, most spacious in size and design. I look forward to seeing that your school’s talent is its equal." He was a reserved man, for all that his words were winsome. A hard one to please. A good thing the School was the best in Nexus.

"Factor, you will certainly find it so. Please, follow me. I’ll take you by the classrooms, all available for your inspection, as well as our gyms, dining hall, dormitories and by the offices of our Professors so you can speak with them one on one."

"That’ll be fine," the Factor assured him. He fell into step behind Sen. So did a female servant as well as a half dozen guards. Sen raised an eyebrow but let it be. If the Factor was feeling paranoid...well, he was a Guildsman. He probably had it coming.

"You do understand that we’ll have to negotiate a lot of traffic during this tour. It’s a blessing and a curse to show the place during the day, for you’ll see what it will really be like for your daughter?" he paused, lilting at the end to turn his words into a question. The Factor nodded and he continued. "But of course, classes are beginning, in progress and ending all the time so there will be plenty of people about."

"Of course."

Sen took the Factor by the classrooms, explaining the wide variety of offerings the School had by rote. This wasn’t the first time he’d pulled this duty, though it was the first time they’d had a Factor come in person. Strangely, Auris Leestra didn’t look as interested as Sen thought he would. It wasn’t for lack of information or presentation either. Clearly, something was preoccupying the man and he seemed to be searching for something.

He would have to let Father know later.