Ezre felt the end of this year of his education far more keenly than he thought he would, and the slow creep toward Vortas was something he couldn't quite articulate how much he looked forward to. He'd endured three years in the Kingdom, in Brunnhold specifically, and while he didn't entirely dislike his time spent so far from his homeland, he'd not realized just how restless he'd become, either. As much as he missed Hox—and Kzecka, specifically—the Hexxos Guide had come to realize he wasn't necessarily in a hurry to return to the home he missed to settle permanently, either, and the strange sensation of being in between desire and duty, curiosity and concern for Vita and its problems, gnawed at the very marrow of his young bones.
The dark-haired cxîl, regardless of his current state of mind, always looked forward to his Clairvoyant classes. He'd been in the morgue that morning, however, his fellow mortuary sciences students checking on the statuses of their final project for this school year: cadaver preservation techniques. Fascinating comparatives had been found between ancient Mugrobi and pre-BT Vezzean mummification practices that had been preserved in a single textbook from Brunnhold's founding.
Of course, he'd shared his thoughts over lunch with Lilanee, and their conversation had quickly digressed into various archaeological discoveries and cultural comparisons across several historical periods, only for their food to grow cold while ignored and for their knees to touch in subtle secrecy beneath the cafeteria table, hidden from public view. The dining hour ended too soon and the Hoxian made sure to give himself time to walk the Hessean to class before slipping away in the crisp Dentist chill to Varendare Hall for his own.
Now settled in his seat, Ezre found himself scribbling notes while Madame Exudus spoke about the various methods of obfuscationthe act of intentionally blocking scrying attempts by another person and various theories surrounding the creation of a well-guarded vestibulethe available part of the mind, usually limited to the area of consent, such as the channel of communication versus the careful protection of the rest of a Clairvoyant's mind within the latibulepart of the mind that the scrying target deliberately closes off from the scryer. It was not entirely new information, of course, but this lesson was definitely more in-depth than he'd been presented with before. It was a subject he couldn't deny being interested in.
"Scrying, as you all know, is not necessarily a private occurrence. While it is often easy to assume so, one must learn to be vigilant at all times against counter-scrying measures and spying."
The Professor repeated for emphasis, watching as her class nodded along. She was a spry, well-aged Bastian woman, poised and graceful with her greying dark hair pulled up into an impressively multi-braided updo. Her arms moved fluidly beneath her dark professor robes, worn as they were over a plum skirt suit, "Any other Clairvoyant sorcerer can attempt to listen in on someone else's magical conversation, through either mind of both participants, though the situation is usually determined by who the offending eavesdropper knows is involved and what information they are actually after."
"Clearly, for most casual, personal seer stone use, this is not a problem. The Seventen and the Anaxi Armed Forces obviously deal with espionage in a more formal and skillful fashion, but today I believe a little demonstration is in order. I will need three volunteers: a witness, a scryer, and, of course, an interloper."
Madame Exudus smiled wryly, almost as if she already knew which hands would raise in her class of a few eighth and mostly ninth form students.
Ezre sat up a little straighter, setting down his pencil and letting his dark eyes wander the class for one curious heartbeat before his tattooed fingers lifted from his desk to stretch upward, the sleeve of his tidy green (terribly uncomfortable) uniform bunching at his elbow to reveal more of the dark lines inked beneath his tawny skin. He certainly could play the part of any of the three roles, but, admittedly, he kept to himself in the quietude of his mind an interest in interloping on an on-going scryed conversation.
The professor nodded in recognition and then glanced around the rest of the students at their long-tabled desks expectantly.