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“This man,” Ishani muttered, pointing to Arlo and shaking her head.
After the meal, they took a cab to the Academy, which from the air looked like a mountain of white rock rising from an azure sea. As they drew nearer, details took shape, and the mountain instead became a massive castle of pale stone. By the time the speeder landed, the castle revealed itself to be a series of structures, some connected or building upon one another. The tallest towers were the oldest sections, as the stonecutters dug deep into the bedrock of the aisle, fashioning what would become the icon of their civilization even as that civilization was struggling to rise.
Arlo led the way, a swing in his step indicating just how glad he was to be home. Trimmed trees and manicured lawns lined the pathway from the parking lot to the campus proper. As they walked, they passed by students and faculty in long robes, the women also covering their heads with linen veils like Ishani. The sashes wound around their waists were color-coded to denote their rank: light blue for students, maroon red for those who had completed their training.
“Here we are,” Arlo announced. “The art and antiquities building. That’s Tania Bayern, the founder of the Order of Mystics. The sword and the staff represent our role as defenders and protectors of our people. And that is her actual sword, right there.”
He pointed to a display case at the foot of the statue. Behind a thick layer of transparisteel, a sword lay on a blue velvet cloth. Time had not dulled its shine, but it was clearly very old, a relic of a bygone era.
"The staff was lost some time in the 400s. Capped by a rare, valuable crystal, y'know. Probably stolen. Funny thing is, we don't know for sure what type of crystal it was, only that she used it as a focusing lens. Severed the Force connections of a whole lot of Sith nerf herders with that thing."
"I wonder if she was really that beautiful," Ishani remarked.
"I wonder if she was really that tall," Arlo replied with a smirk. Turning to Iris and Val, he added, “If you promise not to spray paint anything, you can look around all you want here."
He gestured to other items on display throughout the building. None were as magnificent as the statue of Tania Bayern, but they had their own charms and interests. Much of it was meant to depict historical figures and moments, vanished cities and cultures and lives, sometimes in a romanticized fashion, other times raw and unrefined. Taken together, they formed a kind of portrait of the Chaldean people.
"My favorite thing in here is the painting of the mermaid," Ishani said. "I used to come here when I was little, and I was always drawn to it..."
"That one's depressing," Arlo murmured, but didn't try to prevent her from wandering toward the painting in question.
