73 Ymiden 721
Continued from here
Once more, Oram found himself on his way to the Viden Academy campus in Scalvoris Town, to seek the counsel of Professor Seams. Knowing the way, he would not need to ask anyone for directions, nor would he need to consult the various signs that marked the way. Nonetheless, and notwithstanding the fact that he did not have his reading spectacles on him at that moment, Oram scrutinized those signs as he rode from the Tolentino farm. From long experience he knew each of them, their import, and since getting the reading spectacles had been able to discern how the letters conveyed that import, representing in a series of letters the sounds of names and words. Trying to look at the signs now without those spectacles, it seemed to Oram that he could somewhat trace those sounds. But perhaps that was just his memory rather than his perception. He would need to study from some sort of primer to do this properly.
Whether he was actually reading the signs or not, or just pretending to from memory, Oram made his way to the Science faculty of the Academy, only to learn to his disappointment that Professor Seams was not available. However, when Oram showed the feather to the student assistant, her eyes widened and she said: ”I’m pretty sure that’s a pantheon feather. If I’m right, the folks at the Menagerie will be able to tell you as much as anybody here can about them.” So Oram next went to the Menagerie.
It was well into afternoon by the time Oram reached the Menagerie. He asked to speak to someone who handled air mounts, showing the feather to any and all who asked for an explanation. Eventually he got to none other than Elise Flarsdotter herself, a strange Naerykk woman who didn’t seem to like Oram much more than she seemed to like him. Simply he asked her: ”I found this at a nearby farm, caught in a raingutter of a barn roof.” Elise looked at it and said: ”You know what that is as well as I do, Ranger.”
Oram scowled at her. He did not, and was not in the mood to play games. With an aggravated sigh, he said: ”I don’t *know* what it is. I *think* that it is a pantheon feather. I would like to know what you think, and what if anything you could tell me beyond that about whatever creature left this feather.”
Elise made an impatient *tsk* and took the feather, examining it appraisingly. ”It is a pantheon feather, of course,” she declared simply. ”And I must say, it’s a big one. You say you found it here on Scalvoris? At a farm? I find that hard to believe. You see pantheons all the time over Scalvoris, but never this big. Those you see around Ishallr or Immortal’s Tongue are bigger, but pantheons that size almost never fly out this way.”
Oram took the feather back. ”I found this one at a farm just a few miles from here,” he informed her. ”Do you keep any pantheons this large here?”
”Yes,” assured Elise. ”We raise and train them as mounts for lighter Air troops. But I assure you, all ours are present and accounted for.”
”This one isn’t,” Oram pointed out.
The Naerykk looked at him sharply. ”I don’t know what you meant by that,” she said coldly, ”but know this: trying to catch a full-grown pantheon is dangerous, especially a big one. And I don’t accept grown pantheons, so don’t expect to be able to sell it to me, if you somehow do manage to catch one without getting yourself killed.”
Oram shook his head. ”I don’t plan to catch it. I’m going to kill it.”
Elise was indignant. ”Why!” she exclaimed. ”Why would you want to destroy such a beautiful creature?”
”Because the farmer whose cows it has been killing is paying me to,” Oram answered curtly. Not wishing to pursue the conversation any further, the hunter turned and left the Naerykk mid-sputter.
