Dyder briskly walks down the ninth-floor hallway of the male dormitory and heads for the east stairs, as they are the fastest route to the home of Kolaus Ulme. The decorative red carpet dampened the steps of his heavy iron greaves. Pulling open one of the wooden double doors, he enters the stairwell, makes his way down, and exits through one of the side doors into the courtyard and takes a deep breath of the cool, earthy air of the autumn morningStraying off of the stone walking path, he begins cutting across the grass towards the home of the Ulme family. The leaves, knocked free and carried by the wind, fall down around him; some fall softly on the grass, others settling on the surface of the large fishpond. Usually, he would stop to take a moment and watch the fish as they swim (there is one fish in particular who is his 'favorite'—a large catfish named 'Rhenkroush' [1]; he had fallen into the pond when he was little trying to catch a frog and came face to face with Rhenkroush in the water; it had scared him immensely then—he was only about four or five—but now and then he will stop by with offal, and he feels like the fish remembers and they two might be sharing a silent laugh), but now he is in a hurry. He steps back onto the path; the leaf litter on the boundary crunches between his greaves and the stone. Taking the steps up to the veranda of Kolaus's house two at a time, he arrives at the oaken door and knocks forcefully—no response. He knocks again—silence from the other side. With the base of his fist, he hits the door harder. “Kolaus Ulme, your presence is requested by the queen,” he yells.

  “Just kick it down—you Dornytters love doing that.” K?spar says groggily as he walks past.

  K?spar S?wyr, the captain—and only member—of the Eyes of Our Pale Lady [2], is a tall man of above-average height with sharp facial features under tight pale skin. His shoulder-length graying hair is combed back, and his beard is waxed into a sharp point. With his black wool overcoat pulled tightly around him, he walks back to the castle.

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  Dyder turns to look at K?spar and is able to make out the dark bags under the man's hollow blue eyes as they briefly make eye contact. “Good morning to you, K?spar. Why were you out all night again?" Dyder asks

  "Why would I tell you that?"

  Dyder chuckles, "You certainly have not mellowed out with age.”

  "Judging by your father—neither will you," K?spar responds, his baritone voice raspier than usual. He walks off; his hunger takes priority over talking to a Dornytter, and today the kitchen is serving a breakfast of chicken quiche for the court officials—which he will not be missing. After making it fifteen paces, he turns around to Dyder, “Kolaus should be in the Hall.” K?spar has sworn to assist the Hersts—it was one of the conditions ?thalrykk VI gave him in order to pardon his public flaying—in this case, his knowledge of everyone's schedule would be of assistance.

  “Thank you, K?spar.”

  K?spar responds with a resonant ‘mm-hmm’ before continuing on.

  Dyder waits until K?spar has put a significant amount of distance between the two before heading back inside at a jog. K?spar's information was correct, and Dyder finds Kolaus in his usual seat, sipping tea and eating quiche. "Gekaryna vela'Herst has requested for you to meet her in the library cabinet at about 11:37."

  Kolaus sets his tea down. "All right; I shall be there."

  "Excellent." Dyder leaves.

  Footnotes

  [1] Translates to Old (Rhen) Cat (Kroush)

  [2] One of the three divisions of the security of The Kingdom of the Great Moon of Our Lady. The Eyes of Our Pale Lady was founded in 0058EotG by Ayl? Anneliese Herst I (b. 02/01/0017 EotG, d. 13/13/0095 EotG). Due to their tendency to work exclusively outside the Crown Isles, usually on foreign operations, they have been compared to The Pale Hand in Ianyan history books, but scholars from outside Ianya tend to argue against this, as The Eyes of Our Pale Lady lacks figures whose influence can be comparable to members of The Pale Hand, specifically (Unknown) a.k.a Kid (b. Unknown, d. Unknown)