4 A Leaf is Born (2/2)
At the center of the pentagon lied the tower of the dean, a large structure containing libraries, laboratories, living quarters mainly for my family and guests of honor, kitchens and the servants' quarters. The tower was surrounded by a large inner garden and the top of the tower allowed you to overlook a large part of the imperial city. After reaching the tower with my ears filled with the chatter of students, the voice of professors giving lessons I entered the great stone door, with monument of dragons to the left and to the right.
”welcome back little lord” said the two servants at the entrance. They were two Dar'els with their typical white hairs, dark blue skin, pointed ears and dark blue eyes.
”greetings Baruk! greetings Faruk”! said the cheerful Leaf ”where is my mother?”
”she has left recently for a meeting at the imperial palace, she will be back in a few days” answered Baruk.
”oh...and my father?” I asked disappointed.
”he should be in his office” said Faruk.
I did not ask them about my father because I thought of him as a worthy substitute for my mother. I wanted to know where he was to avoid him. That's because he was very harsh and stern, as for me he seemed to ignore me most of the time while being extremely harsh with my brother Alar. As for Shimun and Elemir, they were extremely talented in their fields, Elemir focusing on fighting being a blockhead and Shimun wanting to be a scholar at the university. Father showed a great -and yet strern - appreciation for the two of them while his harshness for alar came mainly from the fact that him being almost 25 years old would have succeeded my 60 years old father in a few years. The old dean would have continued to support the new one managing many important role while helping the new dean acquiring experience.
Alar knew that the harshness of my father was because of the high expectation he had of him and accepted it with utmost dignity and reverence. As I went toward the floor where my quarters were located using the elevator, I saw my brother coming in from the stone entrance of the tower. I heard him saying something to Faruk and Baruk about wanting to meet father, so I decided to precede him to the last floor where the dean quarters were located. I've been using the word magic up until now, but you should know that apart from common folk nobody called magic like that back then. Of course, today that is how it's called by everyone but a millennia ago it was known as Ba'sar and it's what today gives the name to the elite kingly troops of the Ba' Hasars. The instruments that made the empire great were such manily because of Ba'sar engines and they allowed the empire to achieve much greater feats than my old world managed to achieve through technology, which in this world is what the Qusayrs managed to achieve, they are short indeed but their intellect makes up for it! Reflecting upon it in these terms is really striking, that two intelligent species, separated by enormous space and time distances would come up with similar solutions. These ideas perhaps are not really ours; we borrow them in a sense from the Maker.
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After reaching the last floor I hid myself behind one of the enormous columns which were found right at the great door leading to my father's office. I held my breath as much as I could when I heard he steps of my brother who asked my father permission to enter
”Father, it is your son Alar who is requesting to meet you!” said my brother as the stone doors opened without making any sound thanks to Ba'sar circuits powering them.
As my brother entered the great office, I slipped right behind him hiding myself behind one of the enormous library sections trying to eavesdrop the conversation. That was the curiosity of my young self, a curiosity that gave me much during my life but that at that time would lead me to great suffering.