The Capital of the Earth was the largest city in the world, with the highest population density that was still increasing as more and more people poured in from the country sides. The Earthen University was a sprawling edifice of buildings linked together by rambling walkways, tiny landscaped gardens and ponds interspersed in between the cobbled pavements.
Gingetsu tried hard not to gawk at the sheer number of people around him, but his eyes were sparkling and he was truly enjoying himself, if one could ignore the fact that people pressing against you on all sides wasn't the most comfortable of experiences.
As for the ex-lord...He sighed. The Capital had changed so much in 16 years, and he wondered if his liege had ever forseen this. He was fairly sure that nobody would recognize him - like the Capital, he too had changed, and it had been also 16 years since anybody from the Court saw his face, so really, he was safe from detection.
Father and son reached the University gates, and the sentry standing guard there ran a critical eye over them.
"Business?" he barked out gruffly.
"My son wants to enter the Examinations," the ex-lord replied. The guard grunted and pointed to their left.
"Follow that path until you see a big blue door. Join the queue there and register yourselves," were the curt orders. The ex-lord thanked the guard and walked off briskly, Gingetsu trailing behind him and looking in wonder at the different kinds of plants and flowers blooming all along the path. There were so many different varieties of blooms.. Gingetsu had never thought so many existed, and in that moment, he realised how ignorant he had been. He began to wonder if he even had a chance to pass the Examinations.
The line of people waiting outside the blue door was daunting. Gingetsu and his father sweated an hour in the queue, occasionally pushed from behind by another impatient candidate and his sponsors, or squashed flat against the wall as a successfully registered candidate wormed his way out of the door and past the queue. Finally, it was their turn. As the ex-lord opened his mouth to give his name, he was shoved yet again from behind, and out of the way.
"What the bloody he-yell, Lord VeNeer, what can I do for you?" the man in charge of registering candidates miraculously transformed from dour and foul-tempered to fawning and generally disgusting. Gingetsu studied the people who had so rudely cut the queue. They were obviously very important, the weave of their clothes spoke of nothing but the best, and the sheer number of gems on their fingers screamed out for attention. The father was nothing remarkable, and the mother's makeup was overly done, but the son was the epitome of haughty elegance, from the wavy mahogany hair artfully arrayed over broad shoulder to his boots, cut from the finest leather and polished to perfection. And his expression was one of irritation and disdain, as if coming here to register his name was the basest and most idiotic thing ever in the world.
"Nephrite VeNeer," he yawned, covering his mouth with one hand.
"Thank you very much, young master," the man said ever so politely. As soon as the trio was out of the room, his face resumed it's black expression, and he snapped out at Gingetsu. "Name, girl?"
"Gingetsu Illandi, sir, and I'm a boy," he corrected crisply. The man peered at him and snorted in disgust.
"Get some muscles on, you look like a shrimp! Here's your number. Next!" Gingetsu and his father hastily exited the room.
"Where do we go from here, father?"
"We go to an inn. You need to get an early rest today, your exam's tomorrow. Come along."
As Gingetsu walked down the streets with his father, a thought came to him. Not in all his sixteen years had they come anywhere near the Capital, so how was it that his father vaguely knew where to go? Something was obviously going on in the dark without his knowledge, and Gingetsu hated that. But then again, as he saw his father, and himself, get lost, he wondered if he was just being jumpy before the Big Day.
He really should be nervous, but somehow, seeing all the worried faces of those who had come to sit for the Examinations was like a soothing balm to him, and he relaxed, just letting his mind wander where it wished. Time later to put it under stress when he was doing the paper. His father came to peer into his eyes.
"Good luck son, and do your best."
Gingetsu returned the look. "I will not disappoint you father," he replied softly.
His father gave a faint smile. "Good." The bell rang then, and the doors to the exam hall were flung open. All the candidates filed into the hall, and as Gingetsu went in, he gave his father a thumbs up, and was rewarded with a wider smile.
The scratching of pens on paper was all the noise that the young professor who'd come to invigilate heard. As he walked up and down the rows of candidates to ensure that no cheating was going on, he caught sight on one candidate so absorbed in his answering of the questions that he did not give any sign that he knew the young professor was reading over his shoulder, not even a start, as some of the students were wont to do. Intrigued, the professor read a few lines of the candidate's essay, and nodded to himself. What little he had seen of the essay was well organized and fluent, and the points raised were salient, and altogether much better than some of the scripts he had read so far. He made a mental note of the candidate's name, Gingetsu, and moved on.
Down the next row, diagonally in front of Gingetsu was the mahogany haired teenager Gingetsu saw the previous day. The young professor amended his previous observation - there was another sound other than pens moving, and that was the sound of a keyboard being pounded on furiously. He frowned. Who was the boy to warrant a laptop instead of pens and paper like the other candidates? Looking at the identification card on the desk, he realised that it was the son of the most wealthy and prominent citizen in the Capital, Cameroy VeNeer. The boy's name was Nephrite, and when he found the professor standing behind him, he instinctively shielded the screen to prevent the professor from reading his answers.
"Sir!"
The professor looked up and found another candidate with his arm raised. Making another mental note about Nephrite and preferential treatment, he hurried over to the girl's side to give her another piece of paper.
RRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!
"Candidates, please put down your pens, and stop typing," the young professor said, with the barest hint of displeasure on the last three words. Nephrite coolly saved his work onto a diskette and ejected it from the A-drive. Gingetsu scanned over his paper one last time and stretched his fingers, feeling them pop. He'd never written so fast and so much before, the novelty of it all left his fingers cramped and aching. He doubted he'd ever wanted to repeat the experience. The invigilator came round to collect his paper, and he caught a slight smile on the professor's lips, as if the professor was trying to tell him that he did well. Interesting.
"The results will be announced in a weeks' time. Please come back here next Thursday to collect your results and check your rankings. You may leave the hall now."
Chairs scraped backwards on the floor as almost all the candidates rose and tried to squeeze out of the doors at one go, causing a huge human jam in the process. Another professor was in the Hall, and he walked over to the main invigilator and helped him sort out the papers.
"Caught any gems, Jadeite?"
The young professor smiled. "One. From what little I read of his essay, he has a very ordered mind, and an interesting viewpoint. I must admit that I'd never considered some of his points before."
"Oh, so I presume you're going after him even if he doesn't get the first two rankings?" the other professor asked knowingly.
"That is a foregone conclusion," Jadeite agreed, and changed the subject completely. "Where do you want to go for lunch?"
"So, how was the Examinations?" Gingetsu managed not to jump when his father suddenly materialized behind him.
Gingetsu smiled. "Not that bad, though my fingers feel like swollen bananas," he replied ruefully, examining them.
"Good."
"So, what's for lunch?"
The parents were not faring any better, it seemed, they were just as nervous and high-strung as their offspring. Gingetsu glanced over at his father, who leaned against a wall in a deceptively calm position, though he knew that his father was just as excited as anybody else. He just hid it better.
Finally, the doors to the Hall were flung open again, and the candidates filed in, each one preoccupied with their own thoughts. The results were recorded down on little slips of paper, and they were given out according to the index numbers that each candidate had been assigned. In the far end of the Hall was a huge white board with all the rankings of the students, and Gingetsu looked towards the top to see who was first and second. It was no surprise to see Nephrite VeNeer printed in block letters as the top-ranking candidate, even if the boy wasn't smart, there was always good, old, reliable Money. And behind him was what sounded like a girl's name. Gingetsu was third, which was exceptionally good among three thousand peers, but third was not going to get him the place that his father wanted. The little slip of paper with his results was crushed in one hand as he made his way towards the doors, a disappointed expression on his face.
"Gingetsu Illandi?" a naturally soft voice called from behind him. Gingetsu whipped around at the unfamiliar voice, and found the young professor who had invigilatedthe Examinations standing behind him.
"Yes, sir?"
"You are ranked third, correct?"
"Yes sir," Gingetsu replied, wondering where the conversation was heading for.
"Well, I would like to extend a University scholarship to you. Your paper was very well done, and you missed out by barely a mark to the second ranked candidate."
To say that Gingetsu was speechless with surprise was an understatement. Here was a second chance offered to him, and he grabbed hold of it with all his life.
"Thank yu, sir. I am honoured." He bowed.
The young professor smiled in a friendly fashion. "Good. I'll take you to get the necessary forms filled in, and to brief you on what this scholarship entails. Follow me, please." He looked around and spotted his colleague not far away. "Hwei! I'm taking this candidate to the Dean's office."
"Sure Jad, go on, I'll take care of things here," the other professor answered a little distractedly, besieged by parents begging for scholarships. Jadeite flashed him a grin and left, the teenager trailing behind.
The ex-lord wondered where his son was, he'd seen the results, and for a moment wondered if Gingetsu was worried that he would be too angry, and hence had not gone to tell him immediately. But his fears were allayed when he saw the bright head cut through the crowd, another man behind him.
"Father, this is Professor Jadeite of the Humanities faculty. Professor Jadeite, this is my father, Graffain Illandi."
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Illandi. I took the liberty of offering your son a University scholarship, which includes internship with the Court. I hope you have no objections?" Jadeite asked carefully, scanning the man's face for his reactions. Gingetsu did not look one bit like his father, he presumed the boy had taken after his mother.
"None at all, thank you, professor Jadeite."
"Don't mention it, your son is a very intelligent child, and he will be an asset to his race. I need your signature for a few of the papers. This way please."
As Graffain followed the professor, he allowed a brief smile to touch the corners of his lips. Finally, the plan he had waited for 16 years to put into action had entered phase 1.