To the alumni and friends of N’rellia Conservatory, Aalon seemed the crafted granite cornerstone of the landmark N’rellia Complex. Curator of the institution for more than two generations, never once had he thought of any other profession other than the one to which he devoted all his working days – and his life.

No other institution – no two institutions – could claim the celebrity alumni to which N’rellia could lay claim. No other institution carried the reputation of N’rellia, no education was more valued. Unfortunately for prospective students, no other educational institution so drastically winnowed their student application list from anywhere between 50,000 and 70,000 (depending on the year) down to a mere and rigid 500. For the fortunate 500, an admitted student who completed the rigorous journey through the daunting gauntlet of N’rellia academia was virtually guaranteed a prominent place worldwide in professional musician circles – as well as in Arrhazon society at large.

N’rellia did not stop at music education; the overall curriculum students were required to endure would outclass prestigious schools devoted to physical sciences, engineering, or biological sciences.

With the institution’s unapproachable reputation, with his record of accomplishment, with never any prior self doubt as to career choice, why would Aalon contemplate leaving what was for all intent and purposes his only true partner in life?

In Aalon’s mind, the reasons were three. Aalon was well beyond the retirement age of even the next longest serving curator, and he was not quite as chipper on cold mornings as compared to a decade previous; he was holding a message in his hand which ordered a drastic alteration in their admission criteria, beginning with the next selected entering class; (a class was already selected and slated to start when school resumed. Although N’rellia was a private institution, the letter in his hand cited new government law that overrode the rights of private institutions) and thirdly, he would never see another student quite like the valedictorian of the just graduated class. Having seen such a gifted prodigy in real time and day to day for four years through the institution, Aalon might prove to be too harsh a critic to future students who would actually need love and nurturing, not an accounting of their shortcomings in relation to llhaesa.

To Aalon, bringing politics into the realm of education and music was nothing short of heresy. Music was pure, a superconductor of emotion unhindered by the friction of the biases inherent in society at large. Or so he thought. Now… now dark times were on the horizon, and he feared young llhaesa was running headlong into the dark forces behind the gathering clouds.

Curiously, while he felt this sense of forboding, he also felt that music could be a supreme force for good, for change, to uplift a people by connecting them to their root spirituality, not hold them back from the connection. With the approach of dark times, music would prove vital in marshalling a counter, in Arrhazon finding its way through.

With these thoughts swirling through his newly troubled mind, it was for Aalon to decide how he would best serve his belief that loyalty given was a matter of ultimate reciprocity.

In other words and more succinctly… should he stay or should he go?

He would wrestle with this question for another few days, with llhaesa increasingly prominent in his mind. Others felt she was the person to see Arrhazon to better days, she was the person he felt could inspire and rally a world.

The most gifted musician from an institution that produced a majority of Arrhazon’s most gifted musicians, Aalon was in a position to know. Llhaesa was the best he had ever seen – in music, in inspiring others to do better, in her intellect, in her outlook. The very best.

Protecting her would be paramount in any decision he made.