And you said that this was a class about spatial dimensions?
Yes.
What is the class you’re heading to now?
There was a beat of silence before Nightshade answered, and the answer contained some confusion.I am now uncertain.
Uncertain?
This is not the same hall, or the same floor, as it was yesterday. The students, however, appear to the same students. I will let you know if we also have a different lecturer when I arrive in the lecture hall.
He’d said that the day was repeated. The class schedule was repeated.Can the students who aren’t on the class schedule actually enter the class in question?As she spoke, she moved. The one good thing about the consistency of these floors was the fact that they didn’t creak. If she could breathe silently, she wouldn’t be heard. She might be seen—but she doubted it. Humans were never considered the most dangerous thing in a room that also contained Dragons.
The cohort could, but I believe their presence caused...difficulties. They are not, or were not, in the dining hall. I believe they have a freedom of movement that is not implied by differing schedules.
Meaning they’re considered intruders.
Yes.
In a sentient building that doesn’t approve of intruders.
...Yes.
The Arkon didn’t speak. Bellusdeo didn’t, either. Whoever had attacked them was silent, taking advantage of a lack of visibility. If Kaylin could attack from anywhere, and she was facing Dragons, she wouldn’t attack from the heights—the ceilings here were easily tall enough to accommodate Aerian flight, and she had a suspicion that full-body Dragons could manage, as well.
No, if she were going to attack, she’d do it from a vantage of stealth. She’d attack using the books as cover, where the shelving allowed for it. And even if it didn’t, she’d still use the books as cover. The Arkon would be hesitant to attack if the contents of the library might be damaged.
Would the attacker know that? Would they be aware of that weakness?
This is interesting, Nightshade said, interrupting the thought.
You’re in the classroom?
Yes. And we have, as you must have suspected, a different lecturer.
Do you recognize him?
Yes, but not because I have personally seen him before. You, however, have.
Larrantin?
No. It is Killian. And it appears that today’s lecture is about linguistics.
Pardon?
I believe he intends to speak about the nature of True Words.
She continued to move, but moved slowly, her hand anchoring her with a light touch across rows of shelved books. The shape of the library—from the little she’d seen—seemed to be honeycombed multistory sections of nothing but books. There had been no cabinets, no display cases. Just...ladders, and rounded walls of books rising from the floor.
Can you ask him a question?
Pardon?
Can you interrupt his lecture—if it’s even started—to ask him a question?
In the previous lectures, questions have been taken at the end of the lecture; some have been allowed during the lecture if the student in question feels the lecturer was unclear. This does not always result in better explanations. Even among my kind, there persists the belief that shouting the same words—or humiliating the questioner—will somehow result in better absorption.
Is that a yes or a no?