FIELD of PRACTICAL APPLICATION | MORNING CLASS
Professor Siordanti had experienced a huge influx of young people in the small, closet-like confines of his office in the Physical Conversation wing of campus, the windowless room like a little brick oven when packed with nervous, crying students asking his emotional advice on whether they should be studying or going home to see their families in the aftermath. Nauleth didn't dare move a quiz, didn't alter his lesson plans, and hardly seemed to bat an eye in front of his educational responsibilities, young as they were, though on the inside, he'd experienced a bit of concern for his own family, aware that Hadrian Siordanti was an Incumbent.
Not that anyone had reached out to him to let him know they were, indeed, safe and sound after how Roalis had gone.
He could have swallowed his own stubborn pride and contacted his mother or his sister or even his brother, but he refused to cave, still so very angry that his father had arranged his marriage to Ambassador Athrym Bruthgrave of Gior even before he'd met her, even before he'd awkwardly confessed his love to her in their mutual ignorance of the political and economic maneuvering on the part of their powerful families.
Did it really matter?
The eldest Siordanti felt as though it did and he couldn't clocking let it go.
Ruminating on how twisted and strange the plans of the Circle sometimes appeared to be at first, he had chosen this blistery, windless, but thankfully cloudy day near the end of Yaris to take his students out on the Field of Practical Application for spellwork in class. The dry season was beginning to slowly cool off, the hottest days of the year probably past them all, but the chilly temperatures of Vortas still far away. His fifth form Physical Conversation class followed him from their room, young, uniformed galdori chattering amongst themselves as they walked briskly across campus toward the withered, scorched grass and various lingering plots that marked the Field, also infamously known as the Lawn.
Nauleth, of course, had spent so much of his student life and also post-graduate life outside on the Lawn, dueling and studying. He'd even almost died on the same Lawn when he was barely older than today's students, and the memory of that incident always whispered his failures into the back of his mind every time his feet crunched on dry, withered plantlife and cracked earth.
Or, at least, it used to.
Filled with more purpose and confidence than he had been in months, if not years, the Junior Professor strode his young charges until he found a sufficiently pleasing section of mostly still green grass. A hint of sun danced through the clouds, but dry heat already had him sweating beneath the long almost robe-like coat that marked his position as an educator here on Brunnhold's redwalled campus. Shifting the slightly oversized classroom equipment satchel he wore forward so he could open it while he raised his free hand to signal for his students to stop, he paused and let everyone settle,
"So, this whole month we've been studying physical mechanics in order to better understand using Physical Conversation to influence the laws of motion. Today, class, you're going to be creating some simple exercises to demonstrate your understanding."
Opening the bag, Nauleth began removing small spheres, polished and smooth, made of a light metallic alloy and each carefully crafted to all weigh exactly the same. They weren't heavy at all, but he'd carried enough for each student to have two with a few extras just in case. Various items to help create a plot or to create simple machines to assist in position or velocity of the spheres were also laid out at his feet in order to give all of the young galdori plenty of options,
"I'd like everyone to pair off and find a spot on the Lawn. I have here—" Fumbling into the inner pocket of his coat while he silently counted his students today and noticed one was missing, leaving him an odd number with the flicker of a scowl where the right side turned downward before the left as always, he pulled out small slips of paper and waved them for emphasis.
Surely his class was used to the very slight delay in the once-damaged side of his face, but Nauleth was equally used to people noticing at the most inopportune of moments,
"—each a problem for you to solve using Physical Conversation and an alteration of a mechanical law. Now, go on, pair off. One of you will either have to be a group of three or I suppose I can play student for a day." He offered with a chuckle, gold-rimmed eyes watching as a bunch of fifteen year olds sorted themselves loudly.