The Paths

The students at Déynáir are divided into five paths: Razolní, Gistónu, Ästonie, Toníâs and Ushenhiener. Headmaster Edrin says at a meal in the dining hall, that the new students must go through a test so that the island can place them. So it is the island, not a teacher, that decides. Ahra’s grandmother has taught him that the island can see what you would rather keep hidden.

The whole team on the same path

Nobody gets a path alone. A team of three stays together, and all three are given the same name. How the island knows what to choose, nobody knows. Retia points to her mother, who holds that you shouldn’t interrogate a river about its direction.

There is no ceremony. Nobody is called up in a hall, and no teacher lays a hand on anyone. There are no path colours either, no points and no path tables. It is simply a name on a bed plate.

The bed plate

When a team comes back from the test, it is led up to the rooms high under the roof. At the head of each bed stands a small wooden plate with the student’s name in a steady, calm hand, followed by the path, painted in a darker and more crooked ink, as if another hand had added it later.

On the Sunday after the test the students compare plates in the First-Year Room, and the names go round the room without anyone saying anything solemn.

The sign on the sleeve

Each path has a sign, not a colour. The morning after the name has appeared on the plate, the sign is stitched on the sleeve of the robe, though nobody has seen anyone stitch it. They are small, simple signs, no shields or weapons.

• Razolní: a path of three stones.
• Gistónu: a knot.
• Ästonie: two plaited branches.
• Toníâs: a hand round a seed.
• Ushenhiener: an ear of stone.

Rooms and shared spaces

Your path doesn’t decide who you live with. Rooms are for two, and the two can easily belong to different paths. The First-Year Room is shared by the whole year, and in the dining hall you sit by year. Only Ushenhiener keep to themselves: they have their own teaching and their own rooms, and are rarely seen in ordinary lessons.

The five paths

• Razolní means those who find a way. Retia explains this to Chris.
• Gistónu stands for those who win by cunning.
• Ästonie stands for those who protect.
• Toníâs stands for those who build and heal.
• Ushenhiener stands for those who listen.