‘It’s what we need!’ Felix snapped.
Mitsuko ignored him. ‘He has had little luck finding public or private funding for this. Interviews he’s given indicate that he believes that the Sonkei clan are blocking his progress because they don’t wish SAS-squared to lose Alliance funding.’
‘It’s–’
‘Felix Leavitt suffers from a problem which is not uncommon. He can’t accept that his own abilities are the cause of his problems. It’s a form of cognitive bias. I’m sure Sarah Keifer knows all about it. We all do it to some extent. There’s no conspiracy to defeat him. There are two reasons why Felix Leavitt is unable to secure funding for his project, and one of the foremost is that he’s not that good at persuading people to do as he wishes.’
Felix was turning purple. ‘You have no evidence–’
‘I’ve seen your interviews. You’re not that good a speaker. However, you do have a point regarding the “warrior culture” at SAS-squared. The problem is that it’s not caused by the school.’
‘Of course it–’
‘We live in a society which prides itself on self-reliance, taking up arms against any threat, and resolving personal issues in the duelling arena. Our media glorifies combat and the warrior spirit, despite the fact that it misrepresents both and most citizens have no idea what combat is really like. Most are ready to enter a duel, but never have to. Most of those who have been in a duel think that they’ve been in combat, but what they have really experienced is a game.’
Mitsuko paused, her gaze going out into the audience. ‘A friend of mine at school was not born into the culture of the Clan Worlds. She doesn’t talk about her life before she came to Shinden, but what I’ve put together is that she did not have it easy. She is… disparaging of our culture, even while she accepts it and, I think, believes it better than the alternative. Duels, she says, are abhorrent. They are bullies’ charters. The strong imposing their will on the weak in the name of honour. Just to be clear, no one at the school will duel her because they would lose if they tried. She’s studying support magic because she knows all she needs to know about killing people. Our entire culture looks up to “warriors” and down upon everyone else. It’s not just magicians. We idolise those adept at all forms of combat. Until we change the way our society thinks, we will never change the culture in our schools. SAS-squared allocates the same funding to all of its courses and to all of its official clubs, no matter their focus. I can display the figures if you wish. There are students and faculty prejudiced against the academic and support streams. They shouldn’t be, but they are. And changing their minds means changing the entire nature of our society. I have to say, that’s something of a tall order for someone only halfway through her fifteenth year. Perhaps the adults can handle it.’
There was a rumble of laughter from the audience. Nava did not laugh, but she did tap at her ketcom’s screen for a second or two. Up on stage, Melissa leaned forward and tapped Mitsuko’s shoulder, presenting her own ketcom’s screen for Mitsuko to look at. Mitsuko grinned.
‘Perhaps,’ Mitsuko said, ‘if that’s all we need to say about that subject, we could discuss the real future of sorcery education in the time we have remaining.’ She turned her gaze on Felix, but the man was glaring at the stage. He had nothing further to say.
~~~
Felix remained silent for more or less all of the remaining time, sullenly watching the other panellists as they spoke about the use of advanced psychological and sociological techniques to increase the rate at which students learned, alternate lesson schemes which had been proven to have some effect, and the promotion of teaching as a profession among magicians.
Fawn spoke up on the ASF’s views, returning to Felix’s agenda, to some extent. It was, she said, easy to get combat-oriented magicians out of the education system, but technicians were just as important to the running of any military organisation and quality magicians with technical skills were harder to source. They had other options, so the ASF was keen to push for more support students and commonly gave out more grants for them than for combat students. The latter point rather undermined Felix’s arguments.
The session wrapped on a far more positive note than it had started. Auberon crossed the stage to congratulate Mitsuko and Melissa on their part in the proceedings and Nava set off toward the stage to join them only to come to a sudden stop as something caught her attention.
At first, she was not sure what it was. The audience were filing out of the theatre and she had seen something… Nava turned, looking around the room slowly, her accelerated perceptions taking in faces where she could see them, profiles and hair where she could not. One such head, turned away from her, jumped out just as it vanished through a door and was gone. Nava considered running after the person she thought she had seen, but the crowd was too dense. There was no way she was getting near her prey now.
She turned back to the stage. She needed to speak to Fawn.
~~~
‘Maya?’ Fawn asked. ‘You’re sure it was her?’
‘No,’ Nava replied, keeping her voice low. Fawn had taken her to a room at the back of the stage, but neither of them were sure they could not be overheard. ‘I’m… sixty percent sure. The hair was hers, but someone else could have the same style and colour. I couldn’t see her body properly. But something caught my attention and made me look for her, so I think it was her.’
‘Your sixty is probably anyone else’s eighty or ninety.’ Fawn said it in a grumbling sort of tone. ‘We’ll check the security cameras…’
‘Are you aware of the
