Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) - By Paula Flumerfelt Page 0,25

sarcastically.

Chapter

Four

It took significantly less time than he would have liked for them to get to Avian’s first class. It wasn’t that he didn’t think her schooling was important, he thought world leaders should be well educated; but he had never been to class or school and the thought of being confined to a room listening to things he didn’t understand didn’t appeal to him. When they got there, the Professor was waiting for them as they entered the library that doubled as a study room. He was a tall, overly thin man with skin the color of cool mocha.

“Avian.” His voice was slow and deep, with a twinge of a foreign accent. “Let us begin. Language Origins.”

“Do we have to start with that? It’s so boring.” She looked at him with big eyes, silently pleading as she dropped into her seat. The same two desk from before were there, one presumably for him.

Smiling slightly, the Professor shook his head. “One hour and fifteen minutes of Language Origins is what we shall start with, as we do every morning. Now, tell me what we learned yesterday.” The man instructed.

Settling more comfortably into her seat beside Mathieu, feet on his desk, she looked lazily at her teacher. “There are five countries on this continent, all of whom speak a different language. However, each language has a common origin. It can be seen throughout the pronunciation, the rhythm of speech and the use of non-enunciated letters.”

The Professor nodded, seeming to have know she would be able to summarize the prior lesion without difficulty. “Correct. Today we are going to learn about the ways that languages evolve from a basic, common language into distinct dialects…”

~*~

It was nauseating how much Professor knew and how long he could talk between breathes. He must have covered five full lessons in the hour and fifteen minutes designated for Language Origins. He didn’t relent and he didn’t hesitate; fact after fact was given and neither he nor Avian seemed to be about to stop.

Everything that the Professor asked or said, she had a quip to accompany it and she never touched the paper that was at her disposal. She had a fast mind and devoured the information, demanding more while maintaining a steady whine about how much she didn’t wish to learn.

Avian and her teacher bantered between verbal sparring sessions and the atmosphere in the room lightened to a comfortable companionship. Mathieu looked absently at the books on the wall, not interested in the slightest about how languages evolved or anything of the sort. Avian drifted towards him over time, and was eventually leaning against him as she took an oral quiz, more often than not predicting the question and answering it.

“I hate this…” She whispered lowly to him, feet dangling off of his

Smiling, he shifted so her weight was resting most comfortably against his side. “What comes after this?” He murmured back.

Avian sat up with a stretch. “Political Theory.”

“…Er.”

“We talk about how Unith and Korinth have grown as countries. ‘Know thy enemy’ and all that crap…” She yawned. The Professor was making notes in a thin ledger while they talked, his pen moving swiftly.

Mathieu bobbed his head in understanding and glazed back out, thinking back onto the dream he’d had last night. It still bothered him. The realness of it startled him and if he hadn’t woken up still beside Avian with a pain in his knee where it had pressed into the chair while he was sleeping, he’d have genuinely believed that he had been somewhere else. Dreams can seem real like that, right? He asked himself, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“So,” The Professor said, “today, we are learning about Korinth. What should we focus on?”

Avian considered the ceiling for a moment, humming to herself, “Let’s learn about their main government structure, shall we?”

“Very well.” The Professor leaned against the window sill. “Tell me what you know so I can continue from there.” He said, arms folded and eyes closed. The veins under his eyelids stood out predominantly.

“They’re lead by a woman named Elise, that I know for sure. I’ve even met her.” She stretched and popped her neck. “She has someone like my ‘Kin’ beside her at all times, a woman named Mina, and I know that they aren’t ruled by a throne like we are.”

The Professor smiled at her. “It is not quite that simple, but it is a start. Korinth is divided into four districts: Western, Eastern, Central and Southern. Each district has