Chapter 7: Chapter 6: Study Group

CHAPTER

6

Study Group

I

The next day, Ryen headed straight to the library after the morning lecture. Today’s lecture had been the lightest one so far, and probably because of that, this time he wasn’t the only one making his way there right after the lecture. The girl he had seen yesterday in the library was one of the initiates who seemed to have the same idea as him, and upon seeing her, Ryen walked his way over.

 “Hey.”

Startled at being addressed, the girl turned to look at him. “Oh,” she said, quickly turning away and looking down. “Hey,” she added, meekly.

Ryen fell into step with her, matching her stride. “You’re going to the library, right?”

Her head jerked slightly in a nod, without looking at him.

“I’m heading there, too.”

“Oh.”

“I’m Ryen, by the way.”

The girl hesitated, then, her head still low, softly said, “Arys.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Ryen said, flashing her a smile. “It fits you.”

Arys still didn’t look up, avoiding his face, but he could see her cheeks growing redder.

“I’ve seen you in the library a few times, I think,” Ryen said, shifting his gaze forward. “Yesterday, for example.” At that, she stole a glance at him. His smile widened, whereas her blush deepened and she quickly returned her gaze to the floor. “Anything you’ve been studying in particular?”

“Not really,” Arys said, stuttering a bit. “Just reviewing the lectures, really.”

“I see. That’s nice. Myself, I’ve been studying the Realmheart Wars lately. I’m assuming you haven’t gotten to them yet, considering they haven’t been mentioned in the lectures yet.”

“I think … I think I saw some ethertears about them,” Arys said, frowning a little. She had gone still before answering, but only for the briefest of moments. “But I didn’t visualize them.”

“I thought as much. In any case, I think I’m about done studying them, anyway,” Ryen said, shrugging. “I take it you’re planning on reviewing today’s lecture?”

“Yes.”

“Would you terribly mind if I joined you?’

Arys glanced at him, hesitating, before faintly shaking her head. “I don’t mind.”

“It’s a date, then,” Ryen said, smirking.

She started, again turning to look at him. He winked at her in return, and she immediately looked away, her cheeks a bright red now.

She said nothing, and he didn’t initiate conversation either, so they walked the rest of the way in silence, but not of the uncomfortable type. Arys would occasionally steal a glance at Ryen when she thought he wasn’t looking, and he’d feign obliviousness, keep his head turned toward the front. Eventually, they arrived at the library and Ryen broke the silence. “What should we start with? Beasts, demons, or devils?”

Today’s lecture had been entirely about the nine kinds—the broadest groups living beings were divided into. More specifically, the focus of the lecture had been on demonkind, devilkind, and beastkind, with humankind, plantkind, and the three spiritual kinds only being mentioned in passing.

“Demonkind?” Arys said, although she seemed rather unsure of it. “I mean, if you want to start with another one…”

“No, no. Demonkind it is,” Ryen said, making his way to the relevant bookcase, Arys following a step behind him. “I say we each pick a different ethertear about demonkind, and then we talk about what we read. What do you think?”

Arys considered it for a moment before agreeing with a nod.

“In that case…” Ryen reached out, grabbing an ethertear that, going by its plaque, appeared to be about demon culture. “I think I’ll be going with this one, then.”

Arys looked over to see which one he had picked, then made her choice, picking one about the history of Avergnie, the only demon kingdom in Khenthor.

They then walked over to the reading area. Ryen waited for Arys to sit first, then sat down on the cushion to her right. They spent the next hour visualizing their ethertears, reading their recordings. After a while, Ryen felt a nudge on his arm. Opening his arm, he saw Arys looking at him, a bit hesitant.

“I’m done with mine,” she said, flushing slightly. “I wasn’t sure if I’d just wait for you, get a new one, or…”

“Oh, no, I don’t mind. I’ve actually already finished mine and was just reading it again while waiting for you. The next time, if one of us finishes first, I say we just nudge the order like you just did,” he said. “Anyway, do you want to start? Or should I?”

“I can start,” Arys said. Given her stammering, however, it didn’t look like she wanted to.

Ryen gave her an understanding look. “It’s okay. You don’t have to force yourself. I can go first.”

Arys gave him a stunned look, then looked down. “Thanks,” she murmured.

“Think nothing of it. Now, let’s see…” He closed his eyes for a moment, as if to recall what he just read, before starting. “To start with, it appears that demons are quite similar to us humans as far as culture goes, though they tend to value beauty and art more. They’re also generally more hedonistic, and their societies are usually matriarchal. When it comes to relationships…”

Ryen provided a summary of what he had read, with Arys nodding along every once in a while. Most of what he spoke about had been touched upon in today’s lecture, but there were a few topics that had been explored in greater detail in the ethertear, as well as a few things that the lecturing elder hadn’t mentioned. Next was Arys’s turn, and since the lecture hadn’t gone into any specifics regarding kingdoms, her explanation went on for a bit longer than Ryen’s, but it still only took a short while—much faster than visualizing the ethertear and reading its recording would have been.

“Hmmm. I think this went rather well,” Ryen said once she was done. “Shall we try again?”

Arys nodded her head, and they both walked over to the bookcases.

“Devils now?” Ryen suggested.

“Sure.”

Just like before, they each picked an ethertear before sitting back down and starting to read, and once they were done, they repeated what they did before, sharing what they had learned once. After that, they repeated the process one last time, with beasts as the topic.

“Well, I guess this is it, then,” Ryen said. This time, Arys had gone first, and he had just finished summarizing his ethertear. “I have to say, this is much better than studying alone.”

“I think so too,” Arys said. She wasn’t meeting his gaze, but at least she didn’t have her head down now. She was still awfully shy, but she had grown much more comfortable around him over the last few hours.

“I think we should do this again,” Ryen said, looking at her expectantly. “What do you think?”

“I wouldn’t mind…”

Ryen smiled, but before he said anything, he noticed Mardyn walking into the reading area, an ethertear in his hand. “Hey, Arys?”

“Yeah?”

“That guy over there—do you mind if I call him over to sit with us? He’s another friend of mine.”

Arys glanced at Mardyn. And again, just for a moment, he caught her stilling. “That’s fine.”

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“Great.” Ryen waved to Mardyn, who then walked over.

“Ryen,” Mardyn said once he was near, nodding in greeting at Ryen, before turning to look at Arys. Ryen noticed Mardyn’s cheeks reddening slightly upon seeing Arys, and he had to fight the urge to smirk. “I’m sorry. I don’t believe we’ve met yet.”

Before Arys could say anything, Ryen did the introductions. “Mardyn, this lovely lady Arys. Arys, this dashing gentleman is Mardyn.”

At that, both Mardyn and Arys flushed, though Arys much more so. Paying it no mind,  uncaring of their embarrassment, Ryen motioned toward one of the cushions beside him, and Mardyn sat down.

“I noticed you two when I entered the library,” Mardyn said conversationally, still a bit awkward, but trying not to be. “It seemed like you were studying together.”

“We were,” Ryen said. “It was our first time trying it out, but I’d say it went rather well—so much so that we were just planning on doing it again. We were just talking about it, actually.” Ryen then paused. “Now that I mention it … I believe I just had an idea. You see, studying together with one other person worked out well enough, so what about studying together in a group? What do you say, Mardyn?” Ryen noticed Arys looking at him in alarm, and he quickly added, “If you don’t mind, of course, Arys.”

Arys glanced at Mardyn, frowning slightly. Just as Mardyn was about to say something, however, she nodded her head. “I … I don’t mind.”

“Great.” Ryen smiled and turned back toward Mardyn. “So, would you like to join us next time?”

Hesitating, Mardyn glanced at Arys, as if to make sure she was fine with it, before turning back to Ryen. “Sure.”

“Perfect,” Ryen said, clapping his hands together as he did. He then leaned forward. “Now, there are two other people I’d like to invite. Are the two of you fine with it?’

Mardyn shrugged, and Arys hesitated for a moment before agreeing to it.

“It’s settled, then,” Ryen said. “Moving on, how exactly do you two want to do this? I think that the system I used with Arys today wouldn’t work as well as it did with a group.”

“Hmmm.” Mardyn adopted a pensive look. “Do you have something in mind already?”

“I just thought of it,” Ryen admitted. “Assuming we meet up on a regular basis, I think at the end of each meeting we should pick the topic we’ll be discussing in the next meeting, then read up on it after the current meeting. If we have our meetings in the evening, it could work out. As for the first meeting … I think it’d be fine if we just introduced ourselves and got to know each other. What do you think?”

After considering it for a moment, Mardyn nodded. “That’s fine by me.”

Ryen turned towards Arys, who also nodded.

“Another thing settled, then. Now, with regards to where we should meet up…”

“I thought we’d just use the library,” Mardyn cut in. “I mean, you can’t even take ethertears out of it.”

“That’s true, but we can easily do the reading by ourselves. The group activity is really just summarizing what we learned, and for that, I don’t think we need the ethertears with us. I’m not sure about you two, but my memory has gotten much better since I became a cultivator.”

“I also noticed that,” Mardyn said, with Arys agreeing. “In the first lecture, Elder Ahrezou mentioned that cultivators cultivate all their other aspects indirectly as they cultivate the halidom. The better memory could be related to that,” Mardyn added, looking thoughtful. “In fact, I’ve also been feeling more energetic lately. I’ve been only sleeping for four or so hours each night so I could spare time to cultivate, and I haven’t been feeling sleepy at all. To be honest, if it hadn’t been for this, I don’t think I’d have been able to endure the lectures.”

“We can look into that later—it can even be a topic for a group meeting, I think. The effects of cultivation on the mind, or maybe even the effects of cultivation on the other aspects,” Ryen said, appearing thoughtful. “But anyway, as I was saying, we don’t really need to hold our meetings in the library, so how about the gardens?”

Both Mardyn and Arys considered it for a moment before agreeing to his suggestion. They then agreed to meet in the gardens tomorrow right after the morning lecture.

Afterward, Arys was the first to excuse herself, and eventually, so did Mardyn. Ryen, on the other hand, remained in the library, having picked up another ethertear to read as he waited. He had already agreed to meet with Ellys today in the evening, and since it was almost time for it already, he reckoned he’d just wait here for him.

II

“A study group?” Ellys asked, surprised. “Who else would be in it?”

As expected, Ellys had arrived shortly after Mardyn and Arys had left, and after picking an ethertear had unceremoniously plopped himself down on the cushion next to Ryen’s.

“The confirmed ones so far are Mardyn and Arys,” Ryen said. “I’m also planning on inviting Gwyn. I’m not sure if you know any of them.”

“I don’t. They’re your friends?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmmm.” Ellys was hesitating, but Ryen was fairly certain what his answer would ultimately be.

Sure enough, Ellys nodded his head. “All right. I’m in.”

Ryen then told Ellys when and where they’d be meeting, and once Ellys had all the details, they started their study session as originally planned.

Afterward, on his way back to his room, Ryen came across Kyna, her back toward him as she walked down the corridor. On corridor duty, he assumed. Smirking, Ryen silently sidled over to her, and seeing that she was so deep in thought she hadn’t noticed his presence, poked her on the shoulder.

Kyna started, turning around. Seeing him, she relaxed. “Ryen!” she said. “You startled me.”

“Sorry,” Ryen said, though he knew the smirk on his face didn’t make him appear particularly apologetic. Before Kyna could say anything, he leaned in closer, lowering his voice and adopting a look of concern. “Anyway, was everything all right with Myra yesterday? She doesn’t seem to like you much.”

Kyna paused, caught off guard by the sudden change. “Ah, that goes for pretty much all the servants, actually.” she eventually said, smiling ruefully. “Don’t worry. I haven’t gotten on her bad side yet.” She paused. “I think.”

“Oh, that’s good to know. Anyway, you’re on corridor duty right now, right?”

“I am. Why?”

“Well, in that case, I happen to be hopelessly lost, and I require a trustworthy guide to take me back to my room.”

Kyna raised an eyebrow. “You forgot the way to your room?”

Ryen smirked, unashamed. “I appear to have been struck by a bout of sudden and oddly specific memory loss.” He shrugged. “In any case, what's important is that you have an initiate in dire need of help before you.”

Kyna stared at him for a few moments, incredulous. Then she smiled, shaking her head. “Whatever you say, Ryen.”

Kyna started leading the way, Ryen following, and before long they were standing before Ryen’s room.

“Thank Eirwys,” Ryen said, looking at his door in mock relief, before addressing Kyna. “I truly don’t know what I’d have done with you, kind lady. You have my deepest gratitude.”

“Right,” Kyna said, rolling her eyes. On the way there, he had kept up the act as it seemed to amuse her. “Well, I guess I’ll be going then.”

“I guess I’ll be going, then,” Kyna said, turning around. Before she could even take a step, however, Ryen reached out and gently grabbed her arm.

“Ryen?” she asked, looking back in surprise.

“Actually,” Ryen said, letting go of her wrist, smiling wryly. “I’m afraid I’m still in need of your help.”

Kyna glanced at the door, then at Ryen. “With what?”

“Well, I…” Ryen paused, taking a moment to look at her, considering which approach to take. Finally, he sighed. “Yeah, I can’t think of anything funny. I’d just like to talk a bit more, to be honest.” Then, he opened his mouth, then closed it again. Finally, he added, “I … I like talking to you, I guess.”

Kyna froze, looking at him in surprise. Then she looked away. “Well, I mean, if you need my help…”

“Thank you,” Ryen said, softly, before opening the door, holding it open for her as she entered. He stepped into the room after her, closing the door behind him.

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