Chapter 51: Human Voices
A few hours after his confrontation with Stella, Kir was about to leave his history class for lunch when the professor called for him by name.
"Young Gale, I have been wanting to speak to you for some time," the old dwarf said. Professor Ingotszen was a man wider than he was tall, with big arms covered in grey hair and eyebrows that hid all but the most direct of gazes from someone as tall as Kir.
Kir looked down to find Ingotszen giving him a direct stare that seemed all at once amused, challenging, and curious. His eyes were a slate grey that contrasted with his starkly white hair.
"What about?" Kir asked, his tail tensing into a slight wrap around his leg. Thus far, the classes had been almost entirely lectures on Norneau's origins as a penal colony for mages six over a thousand years ago and one short paper.
"Not now, but perhaps this afternoon once you are done with your lessons," he continued.
"Is this about the entry exam? I understand my score was rather abysmal, but I am studying now that I have access to more books," Kir said, not wanting to wind up with more work.
"A little, my lad, a little. More to the point though, I wish to understand your perspective on history as a whole. Remembering your mother, she was always rather coy with her opinion, so I'm also interested in seeing if she's come along in the last couple of decades," he chuckled. "I trust you recall where my office is?"
He wasn't giving Kir the option to refuse. "Earth tower. Floor 20," Kir said, recalling it from the information he'd received after passing his exams.
"Good lad. See you around the sixteenth bell." He clapped a hand on Kir's arm and left.
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About ten minutes before the Sixteenth Bell, Kir was already sitting outside Ingotszen's office.