It also helps, of course, that the third floor common room is currently empty. Gonou had chosen a spot near the door; when an older man walks in, glancing around, he smiles and gets to his feet.

He's tall, skinny, and barely twenty; his clothes are plain, shirt clearly home-dyed a slightly streaky dark green. The black leather eye patch he's wearing over his right eye spoils the poor scholar effect slightly, as do the three silver earrings in his left ear.

"Mr. Lensherr?" he asks in a light tenor. "I'm Cho Gonou, your new warden. A pleasure to meet you."