The hertasi are, as usual, omnipresent in the Tower as they scurry along on various errands, and most of them recognize Azabel at this point and wave cheerfully to her. 

"Hi! Do you know how people who live in the dormitories can change rooms if they want to?"

"They can go to the housing office! Or just ask any of us, really - why, is there a problem?" The hertasi know that Azabel doesn't actually live in the Tower housing. 

"I'm not sure! Ma'ar's roommates were teasing him but it could be it'll settle down or that there's nobody else with a spare bunk he'd get along with better."

"Ma'ar, hmm... Oh, you mean Kiyamvir Ma'ar, the youngster from Predain. Is he unhappy there? There wasn't really a perfect place to put him, there are only a dozen boys his age starting this year and none from Predain, we assigned him with some others from rural northern Tantara but they might still not have a lot in common." 

"He didn't say he was unhappy but they didn't seem friendly."

"Hmm - that does sound very unfortunate! I'll see what we can do. ...There are lots of private rooms available but he's a scholarship student, but if he says he's unhappy there, or if the teasing distracts him from his studies, possibly we could make an exception." 

"I think that might help!"

"Well, I'm not sure we can make an exception just on you asking, there's paperwork, but you can tell him he can come down to the housing office." 

"I'll do that next time I see him," nods Aza, and she makes a note. "Thank you very much." Hertasi are very good.

"You're very welcome!" And the hertasi goes off on her way. 

Aza goes back home and goes to bed. In the morning she goes looking for Skan first because she didn't see him all day yesterday.

Skan is easy to find! He is, as usual, practicing on the aerial obstacle course before his morning classes, and he sees Azabel coming and swoops down eagerly. "Where were you yessterday? Ssomething exciting?" 

"Kinda! There's a boy who's going to be starting mage classes at the same time as me and didn't have a lot of education before so I met him and helped him catch up. He's real smart. But he seems scared of everything."

"Oh. Why?" 

"I don't know!" It was frustrating. Especially since she could quite possibly SEE it but she had to not look and nobody is congratulating her about that. Except herself. Congratulations, self.

"You could assk him?" 

"I guess? I'm not sure he'd tell me. I'm not sure he knows! He seemed to think it was common sense and everybody should - carry a knife around everywhere - I realize you always have something sharp but it's attached, that's different."

Skan, remembers a certain conversation with Azabel years ago about the removability of nails, shivers and hisses slightly under his breath. "Yess, I ssupposse it iss different. ...Doess he come from ssomewhere with more enemiess?" 

"Maybe? Does Predain have a lot?"

"I don't know. We could go ssee if the library hass bookss about it?" 

"That's a good idea." Skan is very good. She pats him and they can go find Predain books.

"It'ss very good of you to be friendss with him," Skan says cheerfully as they hunt through the history section for the 'Ps'. "If he'ss sscared of everything it'd be hard to make friendss." 

"It does seem to be a disadvantage! I'm not really sure if we'll be friends, he might just have wanted to catch up on reading and math and not actually like me much, it's hard to tell."

"Fair enough. - Oh, here, I think thiss iss it. There is a whole row - what do you think...?" 

There are four different books on medicine as practiced in Predain, for some reason, and a couple of Predain language primers, a couple on geography of the region with maps and one on Predain's agriculture. And then tomes of varying thickness mostly on the history - this one on military history in particular, this one on the initial period when the kingdom was founded, this one on civil wars and conflicts within Predain.