By far the largest building on campus, with only the Great Hall coming close, was the tall office building he had spotted on the first day. Its design was sleek and modern, with large open windows and was known as The Prism.
Their class was situated on the tenth floor of the building. It turned out Spirit Studies were held in their form groups, a sort of collection of two sections under one teacher, in their case, Bob, the man with large sideburns who had greeted them on their first day. He was an excitable man, who would often find himself veering wildly off subject.
"Depending on who you speak to, they will tell you either there are three territories or four. I think it would be fairer to say that there are four, though only three of them are recognised as organised states," he said, enthralled in his subject. "The three states are of course the Western Alliance, the Heartland, and the Eastern Sun. Formed as alliances of previous states towards the end of the AI Wars, they eventually solidified these relationships. And yet the outer territories, the fourth group, are a fascinating case. Not only do they have no government, no historic alliance, or great wealth, but they are just as vulnerable to attacks from the spirit beasts. And yet, we know many survive in these areas. Some assume they are weak, surviving by chance, but I think such a scenario is unlikely, and they are greatly underestimated. Anyway…""
Lenny had never attended much schooling, other than the bible studies he had endured at the Sanctuary, but history was never a prominent part of it. The more he thought about it, the more Lenny realised he was fairly uneducated.
He looked around at the familiar and not so familiar faces. It turned out the other section they had been paired with was from Section 6, clearly a wealthier area with a larger faction presence as they had two blue sashes and even an indigo.
Lenny compared the colour of the two sashes and wondered if the indigo sash was really that different from what he thought of as blue. He might have described Nicholas's sash as light blue instead, or cyan might have been more accurate, but it was certainly a distinction that could be felt in the social hierarchy.
The indigo sash from Section 6 went by the name of Ben, and his companions with the blue sashes sat either side of him, sniggering as he made jibes at the other students. Although this might have been expected, placing someone above the rest, it had clearly gone to his head, and it was not long until the boy quipped: "When the salamanders arrive, the boys cheer and the girls cry." Predictably, the other two boys laughed, slapping their thighs in an exaggerated fashion at the juvenile humour.
Nicholas fixed with him with a cold stare, and though he played it off as a joke, it was obvious there was now some tension between the two of them.
"Posturing," said Bob. "Is a behaviour expected by lower primates. Please, keep your comments to yourselves. I will accept no fights in this class, or bullying. Besides, this session is coming to an end. Make sure you arrive her at the same time next Tuesday."
The students began to stand.
"The next session we will be covering the Fortresses."