27 Cylus 716
Malcolm stood at the front of the lecture room, and with the lesson drawing to its conclusion, he called for any last questions. A young woman at the front of the room called for his attention with a lazy wave of her hand and sat with legs crossed under the table, an ink pen pressed to the open book in front of her. "A lot of the information we receive in other classes is straight from the book," she had observed, "but in your history class we are struggling to find references for our papers, would we be more successful seeking out information at the city library rather than the university?"The tall knight leaned back and sat down against the front of his desk, arms folded, the thumb and forefinger of his right hand touched to his chin in thought, "Who says that we should only take information from books?"
"Pardon my saying so, Ser, but would it not be unreliable to question a man or woman in today's society about acts that took place over three hundred arcs ago?"
"Undoubtably," Malcolm agreed.
"And your suggestion for our current predicament?"
"Ask an expert," he smiled.
"You, Ser?"
"Or any one of the history teachers here or across Idalos, in fact," Malcolm got to his feet and picked up a piece of chalk to put a new assignment on up the blackboard for them all.
"Discuss an event between arc two hundred to six fifty that took place within Rynmere's history. Correspond with two experts on the events and explain how their recollection or provided information helped you understand the historical event of your choosing. Provide original letters of correspondence." The notes on the blackboard detailed.
A few heavy sighs saw Malcolm smile, amused by the tone if discouragement at his back, "You have until the end of Ashan to hand in this assignment, any overdue essays or submissions that lack the appropriate correspondence will receive a failed mark.
"Can we explain who we are and why we are writing to these people?" A man at the back of the room called out.
"By all means."
"Where, or rather who, would you suggest we get in contact with?" Another young man nearer the centre inquired.
"Start close to home," Malcolm answered.
"Would you recommend someone from Gawyne?" The woman in the front waved again.
"Or any well educated member of a noble line," Malcolmed agreed.
"What about someone from Viden University?" She smiled.
"Perfect," Malcolm nodded.
"Ne'haer?" Someone else called.
Malcolm looked over the crowd in order to try and seek out who had spoken, but failing to find him, he returned his gaze to the woman in the front row who kept her gaze keenly upon him, "The First Shields were said to be from the west, two of which hailed from Ne'haer, I'm sure you will find something there."
When all of the questions were through, Malcolm dismissed the class, packed up his books and cleared his desk before heading home.
