With wild shapes hewn with Grace
Shift mindless beauty entranced
To gaze upon the rock so fine
Makes dalliance a dire fine
A young adult finely dressed in green traditional student robes sat attempting to reflect on a poem that was reaching its tenth minute, as were the other students. He listened absentmindedly as the lecturer read out the poem his class were assigned to study that day, wishing to be absolutely anywhere other than where he was. It was barely dawn, with dull sunlight beginning to illuminate the classroom in which Mito'Zorah found himself.
He was sitting, as he had many other days, in the circular layout of a recital room in the grounds of the Vaela Education Centre, a Civil Academy in Rannoch's second largest city. The city itself, Rilac, had been heralded by the Rannochian Government as a cultural center, and had seen a number of academic academies and investments in the last few decades.
But despite all that, Mito could feel his attention slipping away.
The classroom would be vibrant and circular had it been brighter, the walls curving inwards from the top all coloured a comforting rocky brown, mirroring the native colours of their home planet. On the walls was a variety of drapes; a variety of colours symbolizing the different disciplines Quarians could aspire to – the greens of wordsmiths, the blues of artists, the pinks of transcribers and many more. They sounded grand, relics of the past of Quarians, but behind the grandiose implications were painfully realistic realities – pink was more likely to signify an office worker in Rannoch's modern world. The drapes all shared a consistent pattern on all of them; the pattern of the school. It was full of curves and circles, supposedly representative of the nature of learning or something similar – Mito couldn't remember what the handbook had said.
Above the drapes, which were all roughly arranged at eye-level, there was a narrow window that ran the full diameter of the room, and directly behind Mito a door, physical, not electronic, hewn out of black Tec Wood with markings subtly different hewn onto it, though Mito couldn't bring himself to try and remember the meaning of these markings.
He had enough trouble trying to remember all the Clan markings he was meant to remember, let alone the symbolism of the academy.
Mito was just one of a small group of students, 20 strong, who were sat in chairs surrounding a standing lecturer, who was droning on about the rock formations of Rannoch. It didn't make much sense to Mito why there had been such a fad of natural poetry in the Unification Period – much less why so much of it was about the shape of rocks – but in truth he hadn't put much effort into finding an answer. Mito had little time for the arts, a reality that brought no comfort while trying to keep himself awake.
Radiant beams of mineral authority
Life giving means of supremacy
To the foundation of development we would be blind
To not praise the strength imbued
Mito cursed his Clan for a few moments, wondering why on Tikkun they'd abandoned him to such a fate as this. All he'd wanted was to seek admission into the Caach'Ly Technical School on Haestrom, a colony that speacilised primarily in some kind of environmental research, the specifics Mito wasn't certain on. But whatever it was saw a large Geth presence on the Colony for the researchers, and a specialized school had developed adjacent to it on the Geth as a result. Mito had also heard whispers that Haestrom was where a lot of the cutting edge Virtual Intelligence research involving the Geth was taking place, and Caach'Ly was potentially a way into that if he showed promise.
Sure it meant going off-planet - to a colony no less - but he had already got an offer, and he was noted as more distant and independent from the Clan than any others. Not to mention he was far more comfortable pulling apart an engine, software or even a Geth, than pulling apart words.
The dull shadows that the weak sun was casting from the sitting students shined over the floors from the narrow windows on one side, leaving the legs of the lecturer in a paradoxical darkness despite the dawning new day. He was pacing around the group however, refusing to stay in a single spot as if his life depended upon converting kinetic energy into the poem itself.
"If only this poem moved as fast as him" Mito mused absentmindedly, before realizing that he had spoken far louder than he intended, and he cursed at himself. Quarians were social creatures, and as such social procedure was incredibly important to Mito, as it was to virtually all Quarians. Mito's dislike of the course, and secret rebellious thoughts were for himself; he still expected himself to comply to the proper standards of respect.
The lecturer stopped his recital with surprise at being interrupted, and looked at Mito as did every student in the circle. While the students had a range of expressions, some voicing secret agreement and others annoyance, the lecturer himself had a look of irritation so apparent that Mito internally crawled within himself. His aged face, older than Mito would care to guess, narrowed at him.
"Zorah, stand" the lecturer commanded and Mito rapidly complied, standing at attention and grabbing the sides of his Academy robes. His three fingers lightly kneaded the fabric as he used the opportunity of being called upon to move any part of his body, hoping his lecturer would assume it to be nervousness instead of Mito simply taking advantage of being to move around and energize himself.
"I apologize, Teacher, for speaking out of turn" Mito said with as much honesty as he could muster, with each word a rehearsed lyric in his head. While mortified at his outburst, he couldn't help but admit privately that he wasn't really sorry for his thoughts.
"Zorah, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a man from a Clan as culturally impactful as yours would find this work so easy he feels he does not need to listen to it. Perhaps you would prefer we study the poetry of the Zorah Clan from the fractured century?" the teacher said with a hint of sarcasm. He looked around the classroom as if expecting a laugh from the students, but the room remained silent, either due to disagreement or fatigue due to the early hour.
"No Teacher"
"You would rather stick to our curriculum, and you didn't just want to show off your Clan markings then?" the lecturer pushed further, rapidly recovering from the silence he had been greeted with.
"You are correct Teacher" Mito replied curtly.
"Thank you Zorah, take a seat. And please follow along, the verses covering the Rilac Valley Formations will be covered in the assessment, so I advise you immerse yourself rather than let your mind wander," the teacher said with an admonishing tone, crossing his arms while regarding Zorah with piercing luminous eyes "and see me after this session has ended."
"I will Teacher, I humbly repeat my apologies" Mito said as he sat down, fighting the temptation to simply slump back into his seat. The other students took their attention away from Mito as the lecturer returned to his recital, and Mito let out a sign he was careful to leave barely audible.
The Zorah's were known on Rannoch for being an ancient Clan of artisans, crafters of fine art that were the pride of Rannochian antiquity. Their Clan was old, older than Mito could actually place, with a variety of poetry and writings to parade as Clan accomplishments over the previous centuries. It was a rock constantly around Mito's neck as far as he was concerned however, as great history brought with it great expectations. His mother had made that clear when he'd raised his offer from the engineering school.
"Haestrom? Keelah, why would you want to go to Haestrom for a hobby? You're a Zorah Mito, you don't have to write the Fes'al Scriptures like Raela'Zorah but you have to keep in touch with your ancestors. Besides, there's this school in Rilac that the Clan has attended for a few decades now that has a variety of career streams into the Citadel Embassy I want you to look at-"
Mito regarded himself as something of an expert with tech at this point, to allow a moment of self-congratulation, due to years of private learning. He'd discovered that he had a natural knack for the discipline years ago while playing in the Zorah household's workshops. A weaving machine had jammed, and a young 4 year old Mito had stumbled upon one of the Clan's Geth attempting to fix it.
He'd watched the Geth disassemble the machine with some awkwardness, as though the Geth knew its tasks better than the use of its limbs, and after a short while had begun asking questions of the Geth about the internal workings of the machine, and commanded it to let him aid it.
Mito smiled at the memory. He had been of little to no actual help to the Geth, but he had been introduced to his passion. By the end of that week he had started taking apart kitchen appliances and attempting to reconstruct them, to his Clan's chagrin. It had taken some time before he had been able to figure out what was making them explode when he reconnected them to power.
In the last few years he had been deactivating the Clan's Geth and studying their internal workings and software; all with the intention of attending the Cach'Ly School, since it had courses related specifically to Geth. But a simple sentence from his mother had condemned him to this hell instead, where he was having to listen to a man drone on about rock formations. He couldn't imagine how any Quarian could bring themselves to care about this poetry. But Meru'Zorah couldn't have her son not gain a prestigious position in Quarian affairs, and neither could his father.
How could Hin'Zorah, a senior servant of the Conclave, have a son not in the galactic government somewhere? There were plans for Mito after all, plans that the Clan constantly raised and wouldn't let him get away from. Becoming some technician would be an 'affront to all their ancestors'.
"Some Zorah I am," he thought to himself "I must be the first one in years to think this is nonsense". After all, why should he care about this when he knew he could contribute to the future of Quarians, and even other races, everywhere? In a way more real than just talking about problems, which seemed to be all the Conclave or Council did. The Council didn't even allow races like the Quarians a proper voice anyway.
AI was the burgeoning crown Jewel of Quarian society, and while its rapid developments were kept away from the extranet it was an open secret on Rannoch that they were on the brink of revolutionizing what it meant to be Quarian. His practical knowledge and study of Geth VI systems made him ideal as a Geth technician in one of the research hubs in the countryside, he was certain of it.
He just had to find a way to get qualified, something he certainly wasn't doing right now. Instead of helping propel science into a new age, he was listening to poems about rocks.
"Maybe this explains why all the Conclave does is talk, if this is the kind of stuff you need to learn to get there" he mused, and noted with some satisfaction that the poem was coming to an end. Shaking his head, Mito refocused himself onto the words of the lecturer, attempting to get immersed in it as he had suggested, at least for the final lines. He may not see the point, but at the very least it would keep the Clan off his back to at least pass the course, and he owed it to the educators.
For all his frustrations it wasn't their fault.
Temples of Rannoch's fire
Jagged as our planets desire
Hold conflict barely held
Conflict dancing on Tikkun's palm
The poem ended, and a polite applause drifted from the circled students, which the lecturer merely nodded to in curtesy. Mito joined in, genuinely impressed he had been able to recite such a long poem with no aids, but the small applause lasted only a few moments.
"Thank you, all of you, I understand it can be hard to immerse yourself into this work at such an early hour. I'm grateful to all of you who applied yourselves to the task" the lecturer said with a considerable amount of pride in his voice, pride that dissipated as the lecturer glanced at Mito. The sentence as such trailed off uncomfortably, but the students in the room, including Mito, voiced gratitude in unison regardless.
The lecturer pointed towards the narrow windows above the drapes. "See, students, how our sun's light is steadily burning in ferocity as we listened to that piece and brings in the day. Immersing yourself and understanding a poem is much like the encroaching of dawn as well. It may start weak, almost tentative, but with momentum can become a light so bright that it can illuminate your mind, and the same can be said to any piece you experience".
The lecturer took a momentary break to allow the students to absorb his words before continuing. "When Quarian's are newly awake, as you all know, the gap between our unconscious and conscious minds is at its most reduced – harness that, as we have today, to aid the unconscious mind in analyzing and understanding writings. The results may surprise you."
Students in the room turned to each other and whispered to each other about what the lecturer had just told them, something the lecturer allowed for a few moments before raising his hand once again and silencing the room. Mito didn't move however, having not participated in the conversations and merely keeping his attention focused on the lecturer.
"You all have your assignments for the day, how you choose to complete them is up to you. Think on what I've said, and I am free to speak to any of you further on this in the afternoon. Dismissed." The lecturer's words jolted the students into rapidly, but calmly, rising from their chairs and leaving the room. Mito didn't move from his seat however, only turning in his seat to watch as the other students walked towards the hut's doors. As they opened them, light flooded in from Tikkun as if to remind the students that the day had truly begun in earnest while they had been caged. Mito had to raise his eyes at the sudden brightness.
As the door closed, bringing the room back into its shadow, Mito put down his covering hand and turned back in his seat as the lecturer walked over to the seat next to Mito. Seeing this, Mito quickly stood to attention as he had done earlier, however the lecturer gestured for Mito to sit as he sat down himself.
"We aren't in class anymore Zorah, let's not get caught up on procedure" he said, however Mito didn't move except for a hesitant and slightly confused glance at his recently vacated chair. The lecturer sighed watching this, repeating his gesture to the chair. "I'm not interested in shouting you down Zorah, I think we both know that isn't going to accomplish much."
Mito shook himself out from his hesitation and sat down wordlessly, curious to see where this conversation was leading. For a teacher to drop social procedure with a student, even temporarily, was an intimate moment that carried a great deal of weight. Considering that he had been expecting a shouting down for his conduct, he was interested in seeing how this would play out.
"Zorah, for this conversation you may call me by my Clan name, Shan" the lecturer said after a pregnant moment, looking at Mito, before continuing on with a small amount of discomfort. "I think it would be best for us to speak like equals, rather than adversaries. Despite my harsh words during the lesson, I'm willing to take a chance in this conversation, if you'll go along with it with me. Agreed?"
The slight difficulty that the lecturer, or rather Shan, was having in speaking so informally to a student was clear to Mito. It clearly wasn't a frequent event. "Teacher, I can assure you I do not see you as an adversary" he replied cautiously.
Shan stared at Mito for a moment before letting out an honest laugh that echoed around the room. Mito was surprised, and quite confused, tilted his head at Shan as he brought himself back under control.
"I appreciate that you still want to conform to our proper standards even in your position, that says a lot about you Zorah," Shan said while controlling the last of his laughter, "but while we're being informal lets leave aside the polite lies for now. I've noticed your attitude in recitals and I've asked around the school, and it seems you have quite a reputation growing around you."
Somewhat eased by the explanation Shan's laugh, a social break that assured Mito of his genuine intentions to speak informally, Mito responded albeit still with some trepidation. "I guess I have a distinctive personality" he said.
Shan nodded "No riddles for now Zorah, let's leave that for our recitals. You're being known as a difficult student. Unwilling to completely immerse themselves within their academic journey, who struggles to embrace the material and assignments given to them. I see it in my own sessions with you, but I also notice that you try and remain respectful about it and don't seek out confrontation with your superiors. Today's outburst was a genuine surprise to me, and I'm willing to chance that it was an accident. I've been a teacher for decades Zorah, and not just at this school, so I've seen a lot of students." Shan paused for a moment.
"Teacher-" Mito started, but was interrupted.
"Shan"
"Uh, Shan" Mito said the name as if it were truly alien to him. "What are you trying to say, that I am a bad student? My performance is adequate, although I certainly agree it isn't exemplar"
"Exactly Zorah, it is adequate and clearly takes a lot of effort from you to do so, at least in my opinion. The time you spend in our public archives going over material has been seen" Shan paused again, and looked away from Mito for a moment taking a deep breath. "Zorah I have a question to ask, and I want you to know that this is asked in confidence and with all respect to you and your Clan. Will you be as open with me by giving me an honest answer?"
"Yes Shan, I'll try" Mito responded with a small hint of uncertainty. However, he nodded to Shan to reinforce the sentiment.
"Are you committed to your studies, are they truly what you want? Or is this something that is being put upon you by your Clan?" Shan inquired, hanging on the final word for a moment.
Mito did a small jump in his seat, taken aback at just how forward Shan was being and mentally recoiled instinctively from the question. He began wringing his hands and looked down at the floor, and stuttered out a response. "Of course Teach-"
"Shan, Zorah, this is informal remember. And be honest, whatever is said here does not leave this conversation unless you want it to. I swear it upon my Clan" Shan reassured him. Mito looked back up, to see Shan still looking at him intently. He didn't see anything but sincerity in the older mans expression however, a far cry from the persona he took on in the classroom.
Mito exhaled and leaned back in the chair, covering his eyes as he considered how to respond.
To announce that he didn't care for his studies would be an insult, to both his Clan and to the school. After all, it was a rebellion against the wishes of his Clan, no matter how minor, by openly undermining them to another. It was also an announcement that he had little time for the passion of his teachers and for the school, and he had used up the place of someone who would have been better suited. To usurp someone's place like that was a grave insult, even if he didn't know who to. He couldn't tell Shan any of his feelings.
"But they're true" he thought to himself. "Why should I be held to commitments that aren't mine?"
Mito thought about it deeper. Mito's choice had been made before he had enrolled here, by applying to Caach'Ly. That had been his choice, he'd worked for it. He'd submitted work assessments covertly, had attended an interview in Rannoch's Capitol Rayya under the guise of a 'cultural excursion' where his knowledge of Geth systems and ability to adapt them had been thoroughly interrogated. He'd had to sit in an assessment center and rewrite a rudimentary Geth platform to a given set of specifications in competition with dozens of other appliers. He had worked so hard to get the offer.
And yet one word from his mother had changed – no – coerced his choice away from that. Within weeks he'd been whisked away to learn the word arts, told to prepare for a career in the Quarian Embassies. Any protest he'd levied had been blown away as adolescent dreams – commendable but not realistic. Far from the capabilities of a Zorah. However despite all that, he still held true that he wanted none of this. Hadn't he been reflecting on this during the recital? Why back out now?
He would be committing a social sin by confessing any of this, that was certain. But this was an opportunity to be honest with someone outside his Clan, who might not force him to conform to the Zorah wishes. He had no idea what Shan would do with the information, but wasn't that a risk worth taking? Shan wouldn't have committed to an informal discussion like this unless he had a good reason, would he? What would he gain by just trying to trap him with a social misstep?
"You… swear on your Clan?" Mito asked cautiously. Shan's answer came quickly and with less discomfort, sensing Mito's easing into the conversation.
"I swear" Shan affirmed.
Mito sighed and straightened up in his chair, taking his hands away from his face. Instead of looking at Shan however he continued to look straight ahead as he answered.
"I say this with great respect to you and the School Shan, I hope you recognize that" he glanced at Shan and saw him nod, before looking ahead once again. "My studies – or rather these studies aren't what I want. They never have been. Before I enrolled in this course I had an opportunity to study Geth on Haestrom, even a place to the school there."
"Would that be Caach'Ly?" Shan asked.
"Good guess, though I suppose there aren't many schools there to guess from" Mito commended. "I was ready to go. I've studied Geth for years on my own, the way their intelligence capacity develops sometimes even without the need for our software updates, how they show limited ability to adapt to new scenarios in a way that mimics ourselves… they're fascinating. The Geth are the biggest technological opportunity the Quarians have had since we started to develop electronics a thousand years ago, maybe even the biggest opportunity that the Galaxy has had to make another leap forward! If we can fully harness this, imagine the machines we could create! So many still see the Geth as just a VI, and they are, but the potential to learn…"
Shan signaled to Mito to calm himself, as Mito got noticeably enthusiastic and animated. Mito accordingly stopped and took a breath. "Sorry Shan, but it's been months since I've been able to talk about them" Mito chuckled.
"Never apologize for passion Zorah, I'm pleased to see you so enthusiastic – although I admit I do feel some sadness it is not for academics" Shan said plainly. "I'm sure you know how greatly I admire your Clan, they deserve their place as one of our historic clans."
"I guessed you might because you are a Wordarts Lecturer Shan, it seems that everyone who is really into this admires the Zorahs." Mito turned back to Shan. "I guess I have crushed the illusion for you haven't I."
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, maybe someone else would have resented you for it – I almost did." Shan confessed, making Mito flinch. For a teacher to grow to resent a student was a great embarrassment.
"You performed adequately, but you never showed any spirit, and that's what we want to encourage in our students. What kind of education is without it? I was even frightened at first that it was due to your Clan, that you saw yourself as above our lessons and had inherited an arrogance I didn't know how to break."
"Well Shan, I suppose you can see that it is because of the Zorah name, though not in the way you might have thought. This material simply isn't… I'm not sure how to express it." Mito considered his words for a moment. "It isn't what I feel is the best use of myself." Mito offered in explanation.
Shan sadly smiled. "There's courage in admitting that Zorah, and I'm happy that you can be so honest. When I started this conversation I was worried that I would see that I was wrong, and it was arrogance that was prompting your attitude. I'm glad to see that it isn't. The fire of the Zorah's burns in you still, just in a different way." Shan smiled to himself, a warm smile that surprised Mito, unused to seeing such displays of strong emotion from his teacher. "I think I might be able to help you Zorah."
"Help me? Help me how. Why?" Mito asked, curious to learn what Shan was suggesting. Shan leant forward, placing a hand on his chin in a fist as he thought. He didn't respond to Zorah for a few moments, deep in consideration, before doing a half nod to himself and turning back to Mito.
"My respect for your Clan may be for their art, but it's also for the fire that produced it. Such art is impossible without it, and if I were to let the fire of a Zorah be smothered by misguided wishes, it would shame me greatly. Maybe the Geth will be the pages upon which you write your addition to the Zorah history."
Mito was silent, unsure at how to respond to such an honest admission from Shan. He felt a rising respect for Shan, for looking past the Zorah's as just 'artists' in a way that even the Zorah's themselves didn't seem to do. It was humbling. Realizing that Mito wasn't going to interject, Shan continued answering Mito's questions.
"You will have to forgive me however Mito, but this will be a friend of a friend affair. I have a friend in the military, a General Heen'Gerrel. I met him years ago before his officer training, when he came to this school to earn a commendation, and after he completed his studies we remained in contact. One of the best students of poetry I ever had…" Shan trailed off for a moment, losing himself in memories for a moment.
"Shan?" Mito said, waking him from his daydream.
"Ah, yes. My point is, I know that he has some connections to the Intelligence research being conducted outside Rilac, as he does across Rannoch. I don't know any details I'm afraid though. If you would be ok with it, I could pass your name along and suggest he arranges for you meet with some researchers for an examination?" Shan finished, hanging on the final word as he looked at Mito. His eyes were full of expectation.
Mito took a moment to process what he had just been offered. "An examination? As in, maybe taking me on there in a role?" he asked in disbelief.
"I cannot promise anything of course Mito, all I can do is try, but I could see the passion you had for the Geth. If you had a place to Caach'Ly, I'm inclined to believe you too. If you feel your path is to be in technology and forging those new frontiers, rather than academia and public service like your Clan suggests, then I want to help you."
Mito stood up and began to nervously pace along the radius of the circle of chairs. "If they took me on, what would that mean?" he asked.
"I don't know without speaking to Heen. Maybe nothing and they have no opening for you, maybe a Technician apprenticeship at one of the research centers. Nothing glamorous, but solid. I simply do not know until I speak to him. Anything formal would require you to cease your studies here however, and you would have to face your Clan over that." Shan admitted.
"I see. I'm… not sure what to say." Mito paced harder, going over his two options in his head. To take this offer and have it lead somewhere would be an abandonment of his Clan's plans for him, and that was something that they would not just accept. He was certain of that, they would view it as a betrayal of not just them but the ancestors too. Mito couldn't recall the last time a Zorah had been so rebellious.
But why not take this chance? If he sheltered himself now and did what his Clan commanded, what would that mean for his future? A sterile, dull life having done what his Clan, and not himself, had wanted. He would lose the opportunity to put his passion into revolutionizing Quarian society like he dreamed of doing. To study how to mold the Geth from VIs to AIs, and master synthetic intelligence. Wasn't that worth a Clan argument?
Mito smiled, his mind forming into a decision. He had spent months fantasizing about being rescued from studying poems about rocks. Who was he to turn down his savior, as unexpected as they were? He stopped pacing, and turned to look at Shan, who was looking at him expectantly.
"I would be in your debt if you spoke to General Gerrel Shan" he said with a grin, a smile warmly returned by his teacher.
A/N: Hi Everyone, thanks for reading the first chapter of Zorah. This is a big bit of practice for me, having not written a story for over 4 years, but I have to say I've enjoyed trying it out again. Probably helps that I'm not a teenager writing overly-edgy stuff too like last time. If you see any formatting errors, or any kind really, feel free to let me know, like I said I'm rusty and despite me re-reading this god knows how many times I'm nervous I missed something lol.
Anyway, see you in the next chapter!