“Does one of us need to watch the door? Make sure Kilniara’s safe?”
The other two looked at him curiously and Joe continued, “Well… last time, I sat outside to make sure no one went into the room while she was bathing. Do we need to do that? Or is she OK?”
Zilnek cocked his head in consideration before pounding on the door loudly, “Kilniara! Lock the door!”
Kilniara’s response was less than lady like as she snorted and called back something that Joe didn’t quite understand or catch.
Zilnek reddened in anger before calling back, “Lock the door or I’m opening it and making you!”
“No! NO! OK! Got it!” Kilniara stomped heavily through the room then Joe heard the clunk of the door brace.
Joe nodded to Zilnek and then turned, heading downstairs after Garnedell who’d already went ahead of them. When he got down there, he saw Garnedell already asking for their evening meal and staking out a table for them. Zilnek came tumbling down the stairs rapidly after all three settled in around the table, waiting quietly for Kilniara and their supper, although Garnedell and Zilnek spoke to each other in a relatively friendly manner.
Surprisingly, it was an enjoyable and private dinner as Kukurnal did not show and when Kilniara joined them, their meal came over in a timely manner and all four chatted and ate with easy companionship. Joe relaxed and didn’t speak much of anything, simply listening in and adding a couple passing comments until their meal was done. After, they enjoyed a small after dinner conversation which naturally lead them back to their room. A moment that Joe was soon dreading as he realized he would have to confront Zilnek on what had happened with the cores.
When they all made it back up to the room, Joe had the three sit down on the other beds while he sat on his and looked to the other three. Zilnek seemed to understand quickly enough and the other two quickly began to shy away, embarrassment on Garnedell’s face and worry on Kilniara.
Joe watched for a bit before sighing and then turning to Zilnek, “Alright, Zilnek. We need to talk.”
Zilnek quickly dropped to his knees and dropped his head down to the ground. Joe looked at Zilnek for a bit before sighing deeply and beginning, “I understand … well… wait, before we get into that. I understand why you are bowing and I understand it’s your way of trying to say sorry and hope I will forgive you.
“So first, so that you know. I forgive you. You are forgiven. You will not lose your place as my apprentice. I’m not going to kick you out. Nothing like that, but we do need to talk about it.
“Second, please just sit up and look at me. Among my people, we don’t bow like this. I don’t find it comfortable. The people I visited did this in the old times, and some traditional older people among them did. I even had to do it for one of my masters. So I understand it, but it’s… I don’t find it comfortable. Please just stand up and talk with me.”
Zilnek stayed down for a bit longer, but Joe waited patiently, saying nothing while looking at him expectantly, allowing Zilnek to parse the meaning then try to feel the situation to see if his master really meant what he said. Joe simply sat, and Kilniara fidgeted a little before whispering urgently at Zilnek. Zilnek heard his sister’s comments, his head glancing sideways a miniscule amount that Joe would not have noticed if he hadn’t seen it in his fellow peers back on earth as well as been watching for it.
Zilnek continued to check out his sister and Garnedell before gaining courage and realizing that Joe was honest in his request. He slowly came up, body rising but still on his knees.
“Sit on your bed. It’s ok.”
Zilnek considered once again, but responded quite a bit more quickly with the positive reinforcement from Joe’s first request, moving to sit on the bed although he still kept his head bowed.
“Look at me, Zilnek. Look at me.”
Zilnek reacted more quickly, raising his head, but actually took longer to complete the action, taking some time to finally make eye contact. When Zilnek was looking at him, the look of fear on his face soured Joe.
“Zilnek. Relax. I’m OK. Really. I’m OK!” Joe offered a reassuring smile while nodding slightly in encouragement at Zilnek.
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Zilnek took a deep sigh and relaxed, returning Joe’s smile with a weak flicking one of his own but didn’t reply in anyway.
Joe nodded then took a deep sigh of his own, “Right. Let’s get this show on the road. I don’t want to waste too much time explaining why I said not to use the cores, but I’ll explain it quickly. If you use the cores, you will cripple your growth. Bottom line, using the cores is a very bad idea.
“Now, Zilnek, if you really want to use the cores, you can do it, but I promise you that it will quickly cripple your growth and you will find that you will grow slower and slower. But, if you follow me and do as I say, you will grow as quickly as I. It takes a long time, but you will grow. I promise.
“Now, as for the whole stealing thing. I do not know what is done amongst your people. Can you guys tell me what would normally happen?”
The three apprentices stayed silent, all three staring at Joe before beginning to look at each other. The looks continued until the siblings settled their eyes on Garnedell and soon Joe was also looking towards him as well.
Garnedell locked eyes with Joe and took a moment before he began speaking, “Master, an apprentice who steals from his master receives different punishments depending on the severity. The punishment for stealing of food or other simple perishable items of low value is the choice of the master. He may choose to abandon the apprentice. But if he wishes to redeem the apprentice, the apprentice will lose a limb of his choice. For a greater theft of incredible value, the apprentice is often punished with slavery or even loss of life.”
Zilnek’s head had dropped as Garnedell’s statement came to an end and Joe felt his mouth twist in disgust. Joe had no problem with death, per se. He’d been dealing it out to countless animals and creatures for the past half a year. Even the death penalty back in some of the States of his home country, the USA, did not bother him as unjust, as long as the punishment matched the crime. But the death penalty for stealing was quite far beyond what he was willing to accept, let alone taking the hand of a thief, as was common in medieval times and even some modern countries such as the Middle East.
Joe took a deep sigh and shook his head, “Right. We’re not going to do that. That’s just too much. A thing is never important enough for a life. A simple enough thing to understand, I would think. So no. No death. And not going to kick you out either.”
Joe sat on his bed, falling silent as he pondered, mind whirling through what he could do. The three stood watching on, Zilnek with hope tinged with no small amount of worry as Kilniara sat next to him and grabbed his hand to hold it. Joe remained silent for quite some time, and the three began to fidget a bit in worry.
Finally, Joe looked up and shook his head, “Right. I’m not sure how we can figure this out so I’m just going to do it the way my people do it. First off, you have to understand the consequences of your actions. I know all of you already know that stealing is bad, right?”
Joe glanced at all three of them, catching a nod from each one, “Good. So, let’s go over this. Normally, this would be… well… normally I would treat this pretty harshly. But I didn’t really explain myself about stealing the cores and honestly, you are helping me kill these monsters so the cores are more ours than they are really mine. I should have explained that a bit better, so let’s do that now.
“So, property here. Some things are owned individually, like my weapons and maybe my backpack and tools in it, or your weapons you got from defeating the dungeon the other day, or your clothing, etc. But when it comes to things like cores or any money that we get from fighting or even some items, like the rings we got from the killing the goblin king that let us use a new weapon. Those are ours. Something we all share and use together. Even the stuff I got, I don’t mind sharing and letting you use it. I only ask that you ask me first, OK?
“As for money, if you need money, ask! Just ask. I’ll make sure to share it with you or help you or… well… whatever. Now, if you want to buy a castle or something and it will take all our money, then I’ll probably say no, since each of us all have right to the money, OK?
“But as for cores for growth, I’m still going to say you shouldn’t use it. It is really, really bad for you. But if you want to, I won’t stop you. But, again, please just tell me so that I can keep track of who takes how much. I want to be fair that we all get our fair share.
“As for stealing or … well, any other criminal act, know this! If you commit a crime, you lose your apprenticeship. Got it? Immediately. You do something like steal, murder, rape, kidnap... Look, I don’t want to make an exhaustive list. Please just ask me if you feel like I might not like what you are doing, but those four I mentioned, yeah. Don’t. Or you’re gone. Got it?”
Joe looked to each of his apprentices with a hard stare, firmly catching each of their gazes as he enforced his last statement with a serious glare. As each one caught his eye, they all quickly nodded and Joe sat back with relief.
“Good. OK. So, about this. If Zilnek wanted to use the cores for growth, I would have been fine, although I would still have really warned him to not use it at all. But it’s his choice and I would have let him. I would have fought him very hard, but I would have let it happen.
“Zilnek, you obviously felt that what you were doing was wrong, since you hid it and are now acting pretty guilty, from what I can see. Are you feeling bad because you were caught or because you knew what you were doing was wrong?”
Zilnek squirmed under Joe’s direct question and Joe quickly added to his question, “Please don’t lie, Zilnek. I’m not angry… not exactly. But I can’t help you or explain my side of things until I understand what motivated you.”
Zilnek flickered eyes up and down as his shame fought to lower his eyes in a battle against obeying Joe’s request to look at him. Joe allowed time for Zilnek to think and wrestle with his thoughts. After a few moments, Zilnek was finally able to respond.
“I… um… I … well… I am feeling bad because I was caught, but… I... I did know... yeah, I knew it was wrong when I took it.”