It was a gaunt figure, apparently a thin, exhausted man, most of his body wrapped in a Wizard Robe. With his hood up, he stood in the slightly dimmer stretch between two Crystal Lamps in the corridor. His face was indistinct at first glance; it took a closer look to tell whether he was a man or a woman.
Ruger raised an eyebrow at the fellow.
The exhaustion in those eyes was impossible to hide, but their brightness suggested that his mental state was still reasonably good. He had clearly rested a little without recovering completely, much like Ruger himself, though Ruger considered his own powers of recovery somewhat better.
Ruger turned and glanced again at the stone door to Green's quarters, then raised his hand and knocked anyway.
He trusted himself, but he also knew himself.
That was why the latter part of the message on the wall beside the stone door told him not to come again.
He had known that even after reading those words, he would still try knocking.
As he quietly waited for a possible response from behind the door, he turned his head again to look at the wizard at the other end of the corridor.
Suddenly, the wizard moved. There was no dramatic motion; he simply began walking slowly toward him.
Ruger pursed his lips, unconcerned about his own safety. Even the fellow's gait looked weak, and everyone living on this floor was a low-rank wizard. Even if a high-rank wizard had come from elsewhere, Ruger could open the door and let his teacher out to hold him off. His teacher was only at the fourth ring, at the very bottom of the high-rank wizards, but he would still be useful. After all, this was Holy Tribunal territory.
Ruger could hear his own