Rhecks' life was not hard. He lived on campus, Rarely had to come into contact with humans, and helped mold young minds. Life was perfect for Rhecks Tzarki, or so he thought. Rhecks was raised to make sure he never so much as thought about the, so called, destructive emotions. He was taught to view matters from both side, so he could see universal reason.

Most people got along with Rhecks, seeing that he was rarely angry, a positive to the stoicism, but then the people he got along with usually found him boring. One colleague from his early days at Brunnhold thought that he was too mundane and never became overly passionate in his conversations. Another said he always seemed monotone. Rhecks did not actually care what these people thought, though it was always good to get feedback from someone they might be working with for the rest of their life.

Rhecks decided to head to the library and do some research on this philosophy that has shaped his and almost every Hoxians life. He found a nice table in the middle of the library, it made him feel centered. He found a incredibly dusty book in the philosophy section of the library, it was obvious the residents of the university didn't tread there often.

Athrym sat in the soft reading chairs of the library, elbow resting on one of the arms, fingers absentmindedly twirling a pale lock of hair around and around as her blue eyes flicked over the words of the book opened in her lap. It was a deeply interesting book about the technique and theory behind the Gioran canyon casting. The blonde girl was pretty sure she could try it, if she could find somewhere echoey enough.

Glancing up briefly as someone settled at the table in front of her, Athrym turned back to her book. It wasn't anyone she particularly knew and he looked as engrosed in his book as she was in hers. Licking a finger, she turned the page and continued reading.

Rhecks was absorbed in his book of stoicism. He probably would have not even noticed the Giorian if he hadn't eaten a buttery role earlier that day. The book quickly, but quietly, slipped from his ivory hands and straight on to the table. It slammed shut, a byproduct of the shock landing.

He was startled, Rhecks wasn't prepared for such a thunder from such a book. The book was about seven hundred pages and landed on incredibly hard word, the tables in the library were notorious for being harder then chroven hide.

A book went from his line of sight to a student, about five years younger than him. Her alabaster skin, not unlike his own, shimmered slightly under the lights. She seemed absorbed in her book, also, but it seemed an apology was in hand. A noise like the one caused by Rhecks was not a pleasant one, not in the least.

"I'm sorry, Miss. I did not except such a sound to ring through the whole section." His voice sounded apologetic, but his face did not change, it never changed.

Athrym jumped, cursing sharply at the sound of the dropped book, ears ringing as it echoed through the library. Other students looked over in her direction and she glared back. It wasn't her that had made the noise! Looking up at the pale boy in front of her, she shook her head.



Narrowing her eyes at him through the platinum blonde of her fringe, the girl considered her options. Yelling...casting...threatening....they were all options...but they were probably over the top options...according to the circle pegs. Taking a breath, she glanced at the book.

"Well...it's a clocking heavy book. I'm sure next time you'll hold onto it a little tighter."

There. That wasn't so bad.

Rheck’s eyes widened at the way the student had spoken to him. It wasn’t necessarily her words, but the tone of her voice. In his year at Brunnhold, he had never heard a student speak to a faculty member that way. She seemed to be making more ruckus than the book did; her voice was loud and conceded. She was obviously not like most of the students, she seemed more “passionate”, about things, or so it seemed.

Rheck’s sharp eyes glanced around at the other students; they had continued back to their business, Rheck’s wanted to go back to his, but the way this girl spoke made him restless. She did realize that Rheck’s was a member of the staff, right? An up and coming professor, well, Lecturer; Professorship and tenure were way off.

“Well, most of the books in this library are extremely heavy. I think a student such as you would know this.” Rheck’s tried to sound condescending, he wasn’t very good at it; his voice was monotone and rarely had a hint of any type of emotion. “I’m sure your book is heavy too.” He glanced over at her book and read the title. “I’m sure a book about Giorian casting is not too light, either.”

Athrym flicked the top corner of her most recent page in her book, blue eyes narrowing further as she glared at the man through her hair. Vaugely, her temple throbbed. Casually she flipped the book closed with her hand as a bookmark, reading the cover, before flipping it open again.

"Indeed, its a rather heavy tome. However," She raised an eyebrow at the galdor, Hoxian in appearance.

"I didn't drop mine." Her voice was crisp, tainted with cold. The man was getting to her, with his deadpan, yet condescending tone.

Rhecks, in all his days at Brunnhold, had never a student such as this. Either she didn't realize she was talking to a faculty member or she didn't care in the slightest. The students Rhecks was used to interacting with were eager to learn and treated him and his colleagues with the utmost respect.

"There, you are correct." His lips had begun to curl at the ends ever so slightly, giving the impression of a smirk. "You did not drop yours, but I did not purposefully drop mine. I did purposefully eat an extremely buttery role, which is the reason why the book fell in the first place. You must not blame it on me, but on the passives that make our food." Rhecks' Hoxian accent pierced the air like pins, he had never exchanged so many words with someone he just met. "It would make more sense to be angry with the passive that made the roles this morning than me, an innocent bystander that was just holding the book." Although Rhecks logic was correct, to an extent, it was extremely odd. And anyone with a brain would simply place blame on Rhecks than the passive with a love of butter.

"Makes sense, no?"

Athrym stared at the man in almost disbelief, sure she had misunderstood him. Either that, or sure he was crazy. Raising a pale eyebrow, she shook her head.

"No." Closing her book, she rested her folded hands on it, trying to maintain her temper. It would be of no good to her if she set his stupid book on fire, she chanted to herself. Letting out a slow breath, she pursed her lips.

"If you were to blame the passive who was heavy handed with the butter, then you are better off to blame the matron that did not keep an eye on her kitchen hands. Or the Head Passive who did not check the rolls before serving them to you." She could follow his logic and then some, if he wanted to play that game.

“Well yes, I could blame an innumerable amount of people for this, but I am not going to blame anyone.” Rhecks gently smiled, the way a tutor smiles after a student answers an answer correctly. “I’m not going to blame any of them. I try to stray away from blame, it’s a destructive emotion. I believe that no one should be blamed, most things are going to happen somewhere, sometime and we have no control over it.” Rhecks wasn’t expecting the student to actually follow his logic, she seemed one not for games.

“You know, child, you are interesting.” He chuckled quickly, and then fell silent. He had only just met her, and the meeting wasn’t very pleasant. The student looked like she wanted to burn his book and then him. “I’m Rhecks Tzarki,” He stressed every syllable, sounding out the name. His name was extremely hard for non-Hoxians too learn. “I’m a Teaching Assistant for history. I think I’ve seen at least one history class. You are Ali-Ati-ATHRYM! You’re Athrym Bruthgrave, correct?”

Athrym listened to his 'blameless' speech with impatience. All this chatter over a clocking book. She wondered, as he spoke, whether he was like Edguard...annoyingly annolitical.



The blonde snapped back to attention, giving the dark haired man a hard stare. Interesting? That was a new one.



The galdor raised an eyebrow, wondering vaugly if teachers spread rumors as well as students.

"Indeed, that I am, for the moment at least." Pausing, she sat up a little straighter.

"Teaching Assistant you say? Do you have a passion for history then, Mister T-zar-ki?" Athrym said his last name the way he had stressed it, breaking it into syllables.

Rhecks dark eyes stared at Athrym. He wasn’t used to being mocked, especially by students. He stressed the syllables for her convenience, why did she have to mock him. Some people are just built differently, he supposed.

Rhecks’ face brightened though, quite an accomplishment for someone whose face was already whitewashed. She had seemed to take an interest in his career, this made Rheck’s teeth flash. He wasn’t suspecting such a comment from Athrym.

“Well, I wouldn’t have taken up this career if I didn’t have a passion for this field. Like my father, I have decided to become a professor of history.” Rhecks raised an ebony eyebrow. “Don’t you like history, Ms. Bruthgrave? It’s good to know the past, especially if you want to make a splash in the future.” Rhecks father had ingrained that saying into his children’s heads as soon as they were born, it made absolute sense to the Hoxian.

The part-gioran leaned back, resting her chin on her closed fist and looking at the man with a sidelong glance.

"Quite the contrary Mister Tz-arki, I've got a rather invested interest in history. I've been reading a lot of Estua and the War Of The Book...its all really fascinating." A brief sparkle in her pale blue eyes indicated a hidden passion.

"The Book is such an enigma. And such a powerful tome...surely, someone would have known of its actual location. Most of the books in the library are full of useless junk...myths and ledgends. The rare ones with actual facts, area surveys, maps, plots...now they are interesting." She said the last bit with a raise of her eyebrows for emphasis, a small glimmer of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

Well this was truly an excellent predicament for Rhecks. This student, Atrhym, seemed to have as much passion for history that he had. He had only heard himself and some of the professors speak of the Book in such a manner, it was quite refreshing to hear it from a student.

“Ah yes, the Book,” Rhecks did not hesitate to respond to her views on the book. “My father used to tell me stories about that astonishing thing. I prefer to call it by its actual name though, the Bashlem Tome.” A small smirk appeared on the Teaching Assistant’s face. “That grimoire is nothing short of all powerful; it’s a testament to our powerful our race truly is. If only someone would find it, I believe we would be able to control it now. We aren’t as bellicose as we were two thousand years ago.” Rhecks was brought back to the days of his youth. His father’s library, the largest in all of Holinzsat, sported hundreds of books and publications on the Bashlem Tome and the War of the Book. Though, like Athrym stated, most were just about the legends and the myths, but there was one book he distinctly remembered.

“You know, my father owns just a book. A book about the facts, it contains a few maps; I never thought about it until now.”

The blonde raised an eyebrow at his choice of words. Of course she knew the books real name, but it was just easier to say The Book to people. A lot of them gave you blank stares when you said Bashlem Tome.

"Oh yes, I have a book such as that. A very old piece, given to me by my fiance. It was part of his fathers library. There are all sorts of notations and hand written letters inside. I think someone was studying it just as much as I do." Pausing, she shook her head.

"I think, with dedication, one could find the Bashlem Tome, but the hard part is the Everspell. And of course, the Hatchers. Then the wielding of the grimore itself, which again is bound by the Gods, they say." It sounded like she had been giving it a lot of thought. Vaugely, her blue eyes sparkled again and a lopsided smile took her lips.

"The power of it, can you imagine?" A small thrill ran down her spine, and her field pulsed lightly. How could one even begin to describe the power you would hold.

Like Athrym, Rhecks had been given searching for the Book hours upon hours of thought. It was one of his "make-a-name-for-my-family" schemes; he would do all the extensive research (half of which was already done), hire out a small army of galdori healers, explorers, and cartographers, and finally head to Estua. All grand and frivolous, but Rhecks had always been a dreamer.

"Oh I'll leave the use of the book to the magisters and magic professors, I just want the glory." Rhecks glanced to each side of him, he leaned in closer to Athrym, even though there was still some distants between them. "Can you imagine all the riches and titles one would be given if he found the book." He spoke in a very hush tone, he wasn't even sure if Athrym could hear him. "I've been doing my research and ... I think if a gave it another year-" Rhecks stopped immediately. Why was he telling all his plans to a student? She didn't need to know, nor did she probably care. She was probably one of those galdori women that turned around and gossiped behind every one's back, a socialite.

"Never mind." Rhecks didn't know if he should have put his face back into the text or just leave all together.

The blonde girl frown again, brows drawing down a little. She shook her head.

"I suppose the monitary gain from it would be something rather phenomenal, but really..something like that shouldn't be sought out just for the riches and fame. Its purpose it to teach, and it contains such power." Sighing, she pursed her lips.

"A year you say? That's abitious, sir." Standing, she placed her book on the table, moving to stand on the opposite side of the professor, drawing on the table with a finger as an imaginary map.

"You've still got to traverse the terrain, and then, in the southern district, you have the hatchers. Last time I checked, hatchers weren't the friendliest of creatures. Do you have an army of galdori going with you? Because your going to need them to get through the Everspell...unless.." Athrym paused, tapping the table and leaning forward slightly.

"Unless your of the right heritige. I read that it will allow some people through, the right blood and all that. I think, that is where you would start. Instead of trying to end an everspell, try to get through it. Surely there would be some genological records somewhere, family trees and all that. Someone, somewhere is surely related to that era. Then of course, the process of elimination." Pausing, she looked to the floor, thinking, shaking her head with a scoff.

"Of course, a galdori probably wouldn't be able to get through. I mean, it was sealed off to us right? Unless...unless they purposely excluded a family. Keepers, so to speak. If-" She stopped, straightening suddenly and pressing her lips together.

"Well, all just theory...but a year, is ambitious."

Rhecks listened to Athrym's argument closely. She did make a valid point, a year was extremely ambitious. But ambitious would have been Rhecks' middle name if Hoxians had middle names. Ever since he realized that his family was merely an blip on the scale of academics to remember, he strove to become known. He wanted something, anything that would prove to the academic world that his family name could be known and recognized as a dispenser of greats. Rhecks looked up to his mother and father as if they were avatars to Bash.

Rhecks didn't know how to respond to her. She had obviously done her research; his research probably wasn't as thorough, but his drive and determination had allowed him to acquire plenty of sources that he could go back and check.

"Well, Ms. Bruthgrave, I'll start looking into that. I know plenty of other academics that know their ancestry back to the days of the Book. If I recall correctly, one of my old colleagues at Frecks was quite proud of his heritage and new of it quite well. Maybe I should start a correspondence with him, he might be able to give me invaluable information." In reality, Rhecks could not stand the old colleague. Debaust Lelion was one of the most boastful men on the planet. He was quite short and covered in pock marks, a duel had gone horribly wrong. His extremely red skin was only contrasted by his jet black hair. The last thing Rhecks wanted to do was to kindle a relationship with this obvious drunkard, but Rhecks did a lot of things he didn't want to do for the pursuit of knowledge.

Athrym nodded slightly, unsure whether she had said to much, or not enough. Here was someone in an academic postition that could help her on her quest, but...would he just take her advice and run off to find it himself? Or would he be willing to form a partnership. Crossing her arms, she narrowed her eyes at the man.

"Sounds like a starting point at least. Perhaps, if you find out any information, you might like to discuss it further?" It was the closest thing she came to for asking to form some sort of alliance.

Rhecks thought Athrym was angry by the look she adopted, but when then she spoke calmly. Was she proposing a partnership of some kind? If she was Rhecks would have accepted it straight forward, double the man power meant double the knowledge. His face brightened and his eyes widened.

"That would be an excellent idea, miss. It's good to have more manpower in studying such an elusive subject as this." Rhecks went searching through his pockets and found a small piece of ripped parchment. He placed it on the table and dove right back into his pockets, after a second of looking, he pulled out a small green pen. He scribbled something on the piece of parchment then handed it to Athrym.

"That's my address. My lodgings are 46 Turnahy Lane, as you can see. I live in Peregrin. You may come see me in about a week to see how my research is going. I shall start the correspondence tonight." Rhecks glanced down at his pocket watch. It had been getting late and his friend had invited him out to supper, he couldn't decline a free meal. "Oh, I must leave soon. I have to meet someone in about an hour."

Athrym looked at the paper, reading the address with a hint of excitement. Would they really go looking for the book? And a faculty member too...perhaps he could give her something in the way of 'field trip' to remove her from class...and maybe then Nauleth..

Well...they would have to discuss this a lot more. And it wasn't like she'd just signed onto an expedition next week. It was merely study and speculation - for now. Glancing up at the hoxian, she nodded.

"Alright, a week then. I'll be there. Thankyou Mister Tzarki." Slipping the paper into her purse, she picked up her book from the table, bowed her head a little, before turning to leave. She wanted to get back to her room and pull out the book Naul had given her. Perhaps in the meantime she could find out something more for Rhecks whilst the week ticked over.