“You are welcome,” he said. “I will come again soon, we must not let Fin slip on this. It is an important element in the course of his future.”
I nodded and reached for the door as he did. All we achieved was to find our hands entwined. He pulled back, and that left me cold.
* * *
“Gravity is not an enemy, Fin. It is a constant.”
Those words made me smile. Ang was so patient with Fin.
“Understanding that can be the difference between striking a target and becoming one.”
“Don’t sugarcoat it,” I said from my place by the fire, smiling at the way two set of eyes turned to berate me.
Fin was struggling with the calculations of the acceleration within freefall. And I couldn’t blame him on that. I found it rather mind-bending. But while the experience of it could be sickening, it was also exhilarating. I rather envied those who rode purple dragons, who could use that acceleration to dive into water and propel them through that different medium. As long as it was deep water, otherwise it all got a little too messy to discuss.
“Okay, sir, I’ll be quiet,” I said.
“Thank you, Initiate Segast.”
I watched Fin turn to Ang. “Why do you call him that?”
Ang regarded the boy very seriously. “Because that is the correct form of address in the college. You are, or you will be, there as a student, an Initiate, and you will be addressed as such. The form is always the same, rank and surname. If a first name is used, then the surname will also be used, and woe betide you if you get it wrong.” A small smile crept onto his lips and his eyes sparkled. “When I was at the Murmaberg College of Riders, there was a Professor Thomas Jason. No one was ever sure which was his first and which was his surname, and he took delight in playing initiates so that would get it wrong. Then punishing them. I wonder if he’s still there.”
If it were possible for Ang to be wistful, he was wistful in that moment. Then he looked at Fin. “Perhaps you can tell me when you are accepted there.”
Fin’s face fell slightly. He glanced at me.
“Fin?” I asked. “What is it?”
“I er…” He stopped and swallowed. Looking between Ang and I, never quite meeting our gaze. “Well, it’s just that I was hoping to go to the Five Colleges in Rhastac.”
Silence fell.
The Five Colleges in Rhastac? But that was literally on the far side of Gultima. As far from here as he could get.
“Why are you keen to go there?” Ang asked the question as I tried to gather my guts, which seemed to have been sliced open and spread around the floor. My wits had fled even further.
If Fin went to Rhastac, I wouldn’t see him for threeyears. It was a fifteen-day journey overland. A dragon could get there in six days, but he didn’t have a dragon and wouldn’t be allowed to take one from the Riders force. I wouldn’t be able to take the necessary time off work to travel there with him. Or see him during the inter-term breaks, most of which were only ten days long.
“It’s the best college in all Gultima,” Fin said with conviction. “My mother studied there.”
That was true, she had. We had both been posted to Pasaocea after graduating, her from Rhastac and me from Frango, a city a long way south of Rhastac on the western seaboard of Gultima. We had met in Pasaocea, married there, had Fin there… And Sasha had died there.
“Dad has told me so many of her stories, and I don’t know how true they are, but I’ve always wondered what the place would be like. Besides, we’ve had men here from all over, and I’ve listened to what they had to say about where they studied, and I think Rhastac is for me. Rhastac and Fonsenva are the only colleges where all of the disciplines are taught under the same roof. And I think that is valuable. You—” He looked at Ang. “—have always said that the Riders can’t do everything alone. We need the Tidewardens at sea and the Infantry on land. So I think it’s valuable to attend a college which has a mix of disciplines which can help to train them all to work together.”
“I cannot fault your logic,” Ang said. “But why Rhastac and not Fonsenva? It’s half the distance away.”
“Fonsenva is the seat of power for the Church. The Church overruns the streets and the colleges. I am told it’s the only place in the world where the Church Guard outnumbers the Infantry. In Rhastac, the Seminary is so big that its members outnumber the combined size of all the other colleges, but it still doesn’t overrun them. That’s what I want. Besides, Fonsenva is in the tropics. It’s always hot and I’m not sure I could cope with having every day hot.”
“Would be nice if we had even one hot day a year here,” Ang joked.
“Then you would not object to my going to Rhastac?” Fin asked Ang.
Ang reached out and rubbed his head. “I would prefer you to be closer to home, so we might see you occasionally, but it is not for me to object to your choices. I am not your father.”
They both turned to look at me.
“Dad?” Fin asked, his hands tight on the edge of his chair. “What do you think?”
