"I thought he did a good job. He - I don't know, he smiled at people at the right times? I think he made people feel more like they could say interesting things and not get weird looks about it."

"I wasn't really paying attention to that very much, but good for him!"

Shrug. "Anyway I'd better go practice more for combat class."

"Have fun! Maybe!"

"We'll see!" Smiling a bit to himself, he peels off back to his room.

Aza doubles back and asks the teacher if there's a list of topics so she could maybe do some reading in advance and have better prepared remarks.

"Oh! Yes, of course. I prefer not to-  run it on a fixed schedule, I look to see what sort of mood the class is in, but I can give you the usual list."

The usual list includes:

- What the laws and enforcement should be on un-Gifted people faking mage-gift, or on weaker mages passing themselves off as much stronger than they are.

- Relatedly, whether Tantara ought to use more credential systems for mages. Or fewer. Apparently this is controversial.

- The ethics of creating species. Hertasi and gryphons as examples.

- Whether and how young untrained mages ought to be punished for accidental use of magic causing harm or death

- Whether there are ever any ethical uses of Final Strike

- Whether there are ever any ethical uses of various magics classified as "dark" and illegal in Tantara, like demon summoning

"Do you recommend any books about these in particular?"

"Hmm. There's a whole legal section in the library, if you want to know what the laws are for those topics, but to be honest they are quite dry. I could recommend you these books on the history of hertasi and their creation - there are not any on gryphons, Urtho's notes on that are unpublished." He gives her some titles.

"Huh. Maybe I should go ask him about them."

"You could do that! He is very proud and fond of them. I think he feels a little like he is the father of their whole species. He would probably not share the technical details of it, he is secretive about it, but he might well share other things."

She nods and thanks the teacher again and wanders in the direction of Urtho's office till she expects a hertasi will know whether he's very busy.

There is a hertasi! "Miss Azabel! Are you looking for Master Urtho?"

"Yes, but it's not urgent at all."

"I see. He's in his Work Room right now - do you want me to tell you when I expect him to be less busy?"

"Yes please!"

"Wait here, Miss Azabel!" The hertasi bustles off, and comes back a few minutes later to tell her that Master Urtho has a committee meeting this afternoon but he should be in his office and not especially busy tomorrow morning.

(Unfortunately Azabel has weather-magic class scheduled for the morning tomorrow.)

"Could I maybe have lunch with him?"

"He doesn't have anything on his calendar for that, but - is there anything I could note down about why you want to?"

"We're going to talk about making species in class, and he hasn't published his notes about gryphons!"

"So you want to ask him yourself! How proactive! And I think he will find it quite flattering, so I can mark that in on his calendar."

"Thank you! What time will he take lunch tomorrow?"

The hertasi gives her a time. It'll fit in around her classes fine.

Then the next day, tired and hungry after weather magic, she goes up to Urtho's.

Urtho is in the process of being nudged over by a polite but insistent hertasi from his desk to the conference room next door, where lunch appears to be laid out for both of them. He looks absentmindedly confused about this, but his expression clears when he sees her, and he smiles. "Azabel! You asked to eat with me today, I heard, how delightful."