Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Really, it was her own stupid fault. Faith knew this, she had put herself in this situation and now, now she was unable to take herself out of it. She had been the one who had gone to the Order of the Adunih, then Professor Carter and she had insisted that there was a better way to do what they did.

Following the cure of Lightbane and as part of her study of the Rot, Faith had grown more and more convinced that diseases had patterns which, if they just paid attention to them would tell a lot. The Rot, she was now more or less certain, was more prevalent in Sev’ryn. That was because, she thought, of the differences in Sev’ryn brain anatomy because of the familiar link.

But people should know that already.

Where diseases happen, who to and where they did not and who did not catch them were all tools to the earnest young woman. Magnifying glasses which allowed people like to identify issues, to plan services, to trace back diseases and their spread. To be better doctors.

All of that was fine, she knew. It was right, too, she was sure. However, it was her insistence on telling people that was the issue. Why did she insist on that, she wondered as she sat outside Dean Manyon’s office? Why? When she had been a slave, she had been quiet and would not speak out. When she had been a slave, she most certainly would not have been allowed here.

That, actually, was a point and Faith frowned slightly. Her hands were folded in her lap, resting atop the dossier of information she had and she considered that she needed to add that to her list. In a way, it would be the easiest thing.

“Faith,” Felicia Du’Wintre called to her and Faith looked up. “Dean Manyon will see you now.”

Faith breathed in and felt the nerves start to build in her even more. With apparent absolute calm, the former slave put the nerves and the fear, the anxiety and uncertainty into her hands. Then, she stood and nodded. ”Thank you,” she replied and then made her way to the Dean’s door. Three steps, one foot in front of the other, then repeat and repeat again. Yet it seemed so far away and even as her hand raised to knock on the door, there was a sense that her arm reached across a chasm.

Well, Faith thought with a wry smile, at least she wasn’t over dramatizing. She knocked on the door, having given herself a mental shake, and stepped in as she heard Dean Manyon’s voice call that she should come in.

“Faith,” the white haired man said, looking at the young woman in front of him. He gestured to the chair on the opposite side of his desk and he bade her sit, which she did. Kristoff Manyon watched her as she did that. Straight back, minimal movements were the usual order of the trial for her, and the same was true here. Faith sat, hands clasped together in her lap, where she had placed the folder of information and Dean Manyon smiled.

“I’ve looked at your proposal, discussed it with Professor Carter and the other heads of department,” it was a very comprehensive proposal and what she suggested spanned a lot of different areas. “You have more papers with you, is there anything you’d like to add before we discuss this?”

”Yes,” Faith said and looked at him. ”The University doesn’t allow slaves on its grounds. That shouldn’t happen.”

Well, of all the things that he might have thought she’d come up with, that was not it, Dean Manyon considered as he looked at her and sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers together. “Go on.”

”Slavery is fundamentally morally wrong. To deny another being access to knowledge is a cruelty. Therefore, simply put, the practice of denying slaves access to those areas of the university non students and non staff have access to is both morally wrong and cruel to the most vulnerable and abused in our society.” She gestured slightly, a tilting of her head, towards the world outside his door. ”Enlightenment. Knowledge. Progress. Those are the purview of those who walk these halls and it is our responsibility to stand against and challenge those previously held and obviously false assumptions. That is as true in physics as medicine as in the treatment of mortal souls.”
Dean Manyon looked at her and smiled. She was passionate, he had to give her that. “Faith, I commend your notion, but a slave would not want to come here and if they did they would not have the wits to …”

”I was a slave for eighteen arcs.” Faith considered that interrupting him might not be the best idea in the world, but she was not listening to what he was saying. ”I was desperate to attend the university, but I was not allowed to. I don’t tell people that here, because I choose not to. But I was trained in Athart from the moment of my birth.” Dean Manyon’s eyebrows rose in some surprise at that. He knew what happened in Athart and the delicate seeming young woman in front of him seemed likely to not survive such. Except, he considered with a wry smile, there was a rather large gap between how Faith seemed and how she was; something he was learning by the moment.

”I was branded four times in total,” she could see him look, her short sleeved dress was something she would never have worn were the brands still there. ”Moseke healed me. I wanted to attend the university, my owner knew that and so arranged for me to have a private tutor.”

It all made sense, Dean Manyon realised, although he had to admit to being rather shocked at the casual way that Faith said that Moseke healed her. Did that mean she’d met the Immortal? Still, what she said made a lot of things click together for Dean Manyon. “That private tutor was Professor Augustin?” Faith nodded her head in answer to the Dean’s question.

”I was a slave. I wanted to walk in these halls and have access to these books. To be allowed. It’s cruel and I’m going to keep trying to abolish it, slavery. But why not allow them? Why not let them learn? If we are so afraid that when slaves learn they become over empowered and seek freedom,” Faith looked at him and smiled. It would not be a logical leap to work out that was what had happened to her, ”then we are saying that we know that we are wrong, that what we are doing is wrong and we would choose to keep someone in ignorance in order to continue our hold over them. The best mind in Idalos, the greatest doctor we have ever seen might be out there with a brand on their face, denied access because we are afraid of change.”

Lowering her gaze to her hands, Faith breathed in and then looked back to him. ”That is not what I came here to speak to you about. My apologies.”

“None needed,” Dean Manyon said with a smile, “you raise a good point. I’ll take it to the next staff meeting. However, I would like to discuss your proposal?”

With a nod, Faith smiled. ”Thank you.”

“I’ve read this thoroughly and spoken about it, as I said.” Dean Manyon smiled at Faith. “Professor Til’na speaks highly of you. Tells me that you gave him your gloves.”

Faith smiled, “He has a remarkable mind. I would have hated to see him lose a digit to frostbite.” She didn’t feel the cold, after all and since they were in the ice caves of Ishallr at the time, it seemed more important that the professor she was working for did not freeze. Dean Manyon nodded his head in agreement and tapped the paperwork.

“I agree. You’ve identified here a very real, very genuine source of study. It needs to be researched and taught.” Faith beamed in delight at those words, but Dean Manyon continued and she liked the next words far less. “But I have no one on staff who is able or willing to do so. I can’t offer a subject with no one to teach it. I have a list of subjects such as this, those things which we would like to offer but do not have the expertise for.”

That was more than frustrating to the young woman. He wanted to do it, he saw the need for the subject in question, the demographics of disease, and yet he would not. Could not, she supposed, but that did not make it any better as far as she was concerned.

“The Department of Medicine is doing very well,” Dean Manyon said with a smile. “We have a lot of students, a lot of interest. It would be good to diversify the curriculum little. One of the things I’d like to do is to look at ways in which departments can work together. How medicine links with physics, chemistry, zoology, that kind of thing.”

Faith nodded. ”That sort of joined up approach makes sense to me. Padraig and I have worked together on a number of things and our skills complement each other’s.” Dean Manyon nodded.

“Is it an issue for the two of you, working together?”

”Not at all,” Faith said with a smile. ”We know the other’s strengths and weaknesses without having to discuss them, know each other’s skill set. I firmly believe that collaboration brings strength and my knowledge of medicine complements his of physics and vice versa.”

“So you’ll be willing to work with department heads, professors and associates?”

Faith frowned slightly, suddenly realising that there was a slightly different conversation going on here than the one she’d thought was happening. ”In what way, Dean Manyon? Yes, I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that this study, the idea of the demographic of disease, it’s distribution and prevalence is looked at. Whilst it is a medical application, the knowledge requirement involves most if not all of the sciences, mortal and physical.”

“I’m offering you a job, Faith. Associate professor of medicine with a focus on disease demographics and incurable diseases,” he said with a smile. “I agree. It needs to be studied and you are an excellent student. Why would I not offer the job to you? Would you like it?”

”Me? But I…” Faith looked at him and a hundred sentences ran through her head. ’But I’m not clever enough. But I’m just a slave who got freed. But I can’t do that.’ Round like a mantra they went. As though he could see them dancing in her mind, Dean Manyon sat and watched her. He said nothing, just allowed her to come to it in her own time. He knew, as well as she suddenly did, that she was going to say yes. It had to be done, it had to be studied and if that meant that she had to do it, then do it she would. ”Thank you, Dean Manyon. Yes, please.”

He smiled and offered his hand. “Welcome to the team, professor.”

As she shook his hand and smiled, Faith really wished he wouldn’t call her that.