"You're the nice lady from church," I say when I recognize the dark haired woman who walks through the door.
"And you're that orphan child," she responds. Eryk looks back and forth looks between us.
"Fuck." His face falls to the table with a loud thump.
"Language!" the woman snaps at him.
"Ahh, sorry, but..." Eryk trails off, still holding his head in his hands. It takes a few moments for the situation to sink in. I'm supposed to be acting like a vulgant right now, because she won't teach me if she knows I'm a peasant. But if she already knows me, then there's nothing I can do! So do I keep acting like a vulgant or go back to acting like a peasant? I don't know!
While I'm beginning to panic, the woman steps forward. She's wearing clothing similar to what I've seen her in at church. Very dark, showing sort of shiny blue when it catches the light just right. I think it looks even nicer than what I've seen her wear before, since it has golden colored trim ringing her skirt in a sort of swooping pattern. It curves down for a bit before going back up to a point. The pattern continues all the way to the bottom of her floor length skirt, about ten rings of gold down the length. There are similar patterns of rings around her sleeves as well. She also has a rather large bag made of some sort of stiff looking cloth, hanging over one shoulder.
As I stare at the woman, unsure what to do or how to act, she takes the skirt of her dress in each hand, lifts it slightly out to her sides, and lowers herself down a little. I don't understand what she's doing or why, but it looks really elegant... Closing her eyes as she holds that pose, the woman says, "I am Claire, your prospective tutor. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." When she stands up straight once more, I realize that must be a special greeting or something. She's doing that even though she knows I'm a peasant? She's not just going to refuse me outright?
Seeing that I might still have a chance, I decide that I'll do everything I can to grab it. She just showed me how to do the greeting, so now it must be my turn. I push myself off of my chair, forcing myself to move quickly, but not too fast. I step around the table, telling myself not to rush, or I might mess up somehow. I draw in a deep breath, holding onto my pretend confidence as I stand before Claire. When I match her gaze, I realize for the first time how dark her eyes are. I'd still call them brown, but they're so dark it's hard to see where her pupils end.
Despite my wandering thoughts, I move to mimic her greeting. When she did it, it looked really smooth and graceful, so I should try to make mine as graceful as I can too. If I rely on my combat training to make my movements as smooth as possible...
I stand up straight, release the tension in my shoulders with a small breath out, and gently lower my hands to grab my skirt. I gather it between my fingers with small movements. Then I keep my arms and wrists relaxed, like the posture of holding a sword at the ready, as I raise the skirt of my dress out to my sides.
At the same time, I bend my knees. I have to put my feet together, but angle them outward slightly so I don't jolt unevenly at the beginning when I unlock my knees. From there, it's a smooth motion, balancing the weight between my two legs so I lower myself down as straight as I can. I'm not sure how far to lower myself, so I try to move about the same distance I saw Clair move when she did it. As I go down, I slowly increase the force in my legs so I come to a smooth rest instead of jolting to a sudden stop at the end.
I think this pose is right, right?! Despite frantically questioning myself, I keep all my worry off my face, only displaying a confident and serene appearance for her to see. I close my eyes and repeat her greeting. "My name is Aria, your prospective student. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance as well." It's a relief that I manage to change the end of the greeting without messing up, since I only realized that it should be different when I was already halfway through. But what does 'prospective' mean? Probably something like 'possible in the future', since it isn't decided yet?
Gently pushing my muscles with all of the control I've been trained in, I straighten back up again, and lightly open my eyes once more. Having finished that terrifyingly difficult greeting, I tell myself that I did it well. Confidence. I'm still acting like a vulgant, so I need to keep pretending to be confident.
I look up at Claire, and she says, "Oh my, what a nice curtsy. You've been taught well." She throws an appreciative look at Eryk, but his mouth is kind of just hanging open as he stares at me. Did I really do it that well? I push away any worry that might come from the thought. I have to do things well to impress Claire here. Maybe then she'll still be willing to teach me.
"Now then, let us discuss your education." She glides over and takes the seat next to Eryk, so I return to my seat as well, once more moving smoothly and gracefully like Claire does. At this point, Eryk just keeps quiet and watches. Like he said, it's up to me to get her to accept me. For now I'll just forget about being a peasant and present myself as well as I can. If only I knew how to present myself well... While I'm worrying silently behind my faked confident look, Claire pushes on.
"Like most instructors, I only teach students who I believe show promise. I'm sure you are worried that I will reject you outright due to your social status." I have to keep myself from flinching when she cuts straight to my biggest worry. Even Eryk is sweating as he watches silently.
Then Claire looks off toward the other side of the office and puts a hand to her cheek while she speaks softly. "Given the complete lack of information offered on the student, I expected to find a unique situation. A peasant student still comes as a surprise though." She looks to meet my eyes once again. "Normally such a thing would be worthy of dismissal, but I must recognize that you have successfully convinced the head of a large company to act on your behalf." So that's why she hasn't refused me already? "Clearly, he has even dressed and trained you for the part of acting above your status."
With a small grin, she glances over at Eryk, without moving her head. "For this man to go to such lengths for an orphan, I can't help but wonder what he sees in you."
I get it now. She's giving me a chance because she sees how hard Eryk has been fighting. It reminds me of what Eryk said earlier. How he sees something in me that no one else can see. So this woman, she'll give me a chance because she wants to know what he sees... I force back the tears that want to escape as the grateful feeling that rises in me starts to overflow. I gulp and nod my understanding.
"So Aria, will you show me your potential? Prove to me that you are worth teaching," she says, still holding the same small grin on her face. I give her another nod, full of determination this time.
"Very good. Let's get started." She suddenly stands from her chair. "I will begin by assessing your current level of knowledge. Eryk's request said that you required education in many different subjects, so I will begin by quizzing you on each subject to see what you already know and if I believe you can be taught."
As she speaks, she slowly walks toward me alongside the table. "I believe in starting with the big picture, so we will begin with geography." She draws something rather large out of the bag hanging from her shoulder and begins to unroll it on the table in front of me. It's pretty big and covers a good deal of the table. There's writing on it in some places, but it mostly looks like a drawing of some sort.
"Is that!?" Eryk gasps, rising out of his seat.
Loqaterna Map [https://i.imgur.com/XnEzr8i.jpg]
Click images to view full size.
"Yes, this is a map of Loqaterna. I was lucky enough to buy it off of a very well traveled merchant, though the price was..." she trails off with a small sigh. Was it that expensive? In any case, I can generally guess that a map is a picture of a place, though I never knew you could draw them before. That just leaves the other part.
"Umm, what does and 'Loqaterna' mean?" I ask, while still looking over the big picture in front of me. Then I realize that it's familiar. Or at least one part of it is.
"Loqaterna?" she asks. Then she looks over at Eryk, who just blinks at her. "Our world?" She says it like a question. "No one ever taught you the name of our whole world?" I can only shake my head, feeling embarrassed. People clearly name everything, so how did I miss that our world should have a name too?
Claire sighs loudly, then pulls something from her bag. It looks like a wooden board, and she begins to write on it with something. I definitely just made a bad impression... "This is a map of Loqaterna, the whole world. Do you know where we are on this map?"
"Here," I say and point to the spot.
"Uhh..." Both Claire and Eryk make the same confused sound. I look up at them, unsure why they're responding like that. If this picture is supposed to be the world, then this one spot is definitely where we are. It has the mountains, Western forest, and the river, all right where they should be. It is actually remarkably similar to how everything looks when viewed from up overhead. I wonder how they knew to draw it like that...?
"There? Not here?" Claire asks while pointing to a different spot on the map. It's over near the bottom left section, a little to the left of where I'm pointing. No, maybe she's pointing to the thing written over the picture in that spot. But I can't read it, so I can't really say. So I just shake my head. "No? Then why there?"
I still have no idea if my answer is good or bad, so I just try to explain my reasoning. "Well, I think the picture just looks like the area around the city. There are the mountains here, the river here," I trace each one as I mention them. "Here is the forest, and there isn't anything drawn here, but this should be the fields, and the towns," I point out to spots where I saw the two towns down to the south. The map doesn't have them drawn, but their spots are clearly visible where the one sits beside the forest, and the other by the water. "There's even this big thing of water over here."
"You mean a lake?" Claire asks.
"Lake..." I repeat the word to myself, trying to remember it. Then I nod. "There's this big lake, and even this valley here," I point up to the space I noticed between the mountains far to the north, that I couldn't actually see directly since it was over the horizon. "Everything matches. Well, except this," I furrow my eyebrows a little when I point it out. "There's a canyon here that isn't on the map."
"Huh, impressive," Claire comments while continuing to write on her board. I sigh, a little relieved that I made a good impression this time. "Have you ever worked with maps before?"
"No," I shake my head. She just nods and continues to write. Still, as I look over the rest of the map before me, I realize just how small the area I can see really is. On the map that covers a good deal of the table in front of me, the area I can recognize, from the mountains to the north, down to the other towns in the south, is only as big as three of my fingers held together. The world is so huge!
"Next, can you name the countries?" My breath catches as she asks. I still have no idea how many countries there are out there. What If the ones I've heard of are just a tiny bit of them, like I only know a tiny bit of this map?
But I answer anyway. "Melphira, Shonamakase, Eschalle, and Bromunst." Those are the ones I know, so I answer with my fake confidence.
"Hmm, you forgot Liantra," Claire comments. As soon as I hear it, I realize I know that name. I've definitely heard it before, but I completely can't recall where I heard it. So I just nod. That's not too bad, is it? Then Claire moves on. She pulls another map out of her bag and unrolls it on top of the first one.
Melphira Map [https://i.imgur.com/Orkn0Dt.jpg]
"Here is a map of Melphira. You've shown you know a lot about the surrounding area, but do you know of anything else beyond that?" I just shake my head. Looking at this new map, I see that it's like a larger version of the bottom left corner of the other map, with more detail. The towns and roads are even drawn in on this one. Unlike the last map where we were down in the bottom left section, the mountains and the area where we live are all the way in the top right corner of this map. Based on the picture, that would be the northeast section.
Also, now that I look at the mountains more closely, I see that they actually extend halfway down the map. To get around them, you would need to go all the way down and even cross a big river that leads south all the way from the mountains to another big lake.
"Hmm..." When I follow the lake that river leads to, I see another short river continue out to... something. It looks like the place where there's no more land. "What is this, where the land ends?" I ask, pointing at it.
"That's the ocean."
"Ocean..." I sound out yet another new word.
"You could also call it the sea. It is the body of water that wraps all the way around Terna.
"Terna?" I think I have an idea about this one, but I'm not sure.
"Terna is the whole continent, you can think of it as the part of Loqaterna that we live on."
"Huh..." I scratch my cheek a little before taking a guess to fill in the rest. "So if Terna is the land part of Loqaterna, does that make Loqa the ocean?"
"Why, I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say it that way before, but I suppose so," she responds with a playful grin. Unfortunately, it just makes me feel silly. Even though it seemed like a logical conclusion... When I glance at Eryk, he's grimacing a little. But then she pats my head and I look back over to her again. "Very impressive guesswork, you seem to have a good grasp of logic." Wait, she's praising me for coming up with something silly like that?
"Since you don't know anything outside of this area, let's test your knowledge of the surroundings. You mentioned the two villages here and here," she points them out on the map as she speaks. "Do you know anything about them? Like their names or primary trade products?"
"No, I only know that they are there," I admit.
"I see..." she says while continuing to write on her board. "I'll leave geography here. I think I have a good idea of what you know and what you still need to learn." She carefully takes the two maps and rolls them up again before returning them to her bag. "It seems that you are good at forming the big ideas, but you have trouble filling in the smaller details, and there are many things you simply do not know due to not receiving a proper education." She nods to herself a few times, as if she's just thinking aloud.
"Next we will look at your reading and writing skills." She pulls a flat black thing from her bag and I immediately recognize that it looks like the one on the wall in the other room. She also takes out a thin white stick and a small piece of light colored cloth. She sets each one down on the table in front of me. "Do you know your letters?" I shake my head. At least I know what a letter is now thanks to Eryk.
"I know there are twenty six of them, and that there are twenty one consonants and five vowels, but I don't know what the letters are," I explain.
"I see..." she continues writing on her wooden board. "Then let's test how well you'll learn." She picks up the black board and the white stick, and starts using the white stick to write on the board. After a few moments, she sets them down in front of me again.
"This is a blackboard, we use it for writing practice." That name is amazingly self-explanatory! Ignoring the random thought, I keep listening. "I've written the alphabet here for you."
Looking at it, there are twenty six marks up at the top of the blackboard, arranged into two rows of thirteen. So it's all twenty six letters. I guess that's what 'alphabet' refers to, all of the letters. "Let's see if you can write and remember them."
Claire hands me the white stick, saying, "This is chalk. It is used to write on a blackboard. You hold it like this." And she gently takes the piece of chalk and slides it into my right hand, positioning it so it's sort of held between my index and middle finger, and goes up to sit along my thumb. It feels really awkward and it's hard to hold it right. "Don't squeeze too tightly or it will break," she warns. I try to hold it gently but it's really difficult. "I suppose I'll get you an easier one," Clair says while going through her bag once more. Then she pulls out a thicker piece of chalk. I carefully set down the one I'm holding and she hands me the other. "It's harder to hold, but you don't need to worry about breaking this one," she says while working to get me to hold it the same way as the last.
Like she said, it's really hard to get it in my hands because they're so small compared to the chalk. I have trouble bending my fingers all the way around it. But I basically manage it, and at least it doesn't feel like I'm going to snap it with one wrong movement like the other one.
"Let's have you try to write a few letters to start," Claire says. "First is the letter 'A.'" She points to the letter all the way on the top left. "It makes the 'ahh' sound in words like 'arm'. There are two A's in your name, Aria. Try writing it down." She gestures to the blackboard on the table, so I carefully try to write the letter myself. It's pretty simple since it's just made of three straight lines, but my copy still comes out kind of lopsided and uneven. This is pretty difficult. It kind of reminds me of sewing, I feel like I'm going to need a lot of practice before I'll be able to write letters well.
"Hmm, not bad for your first try," Claire comments as she looks at the board. "Next is the letter 'B.' It makes the 'buh' sound in words like 'buy'.
"'B' for buy..." I repeat after her while trying to write down the letter. This one is a lot harder because it has curved parts that are really hard to do right, and the top one ends up coming out a lot larger than the bottom one. Claire just gives it a close look before moving on.
"'C' makes the 'kuh' sound in words like 'can'. My name starts with a 'C.'" Huh, that makes it different than the others. Both 'A' and 'B' made sounds that were a lot like the way the letters are said, but 'C' makes a different sound... But even as I think that, Claire goes on. "It also makes the 'suh' sound in words like 'center'." I blink a couple times in confusion. It can make different sounds in different words? So both 'can' and 'center' use the same letter even though they sound completely different? I stare hard at the letter as I clumsily work to copy it down. It seems that 'C' is a difficult one. Not only does it make different sounds, it's also another curved letter that is hard to write...
I peer closely at the three letters she has written at the top of the board. 'A,' 'B,' and 'C.' I try to remember each of them as best I can. I have to show her that I can learn them. 'A,' 'B,' 'C.' As I repeat the letters once more...
"Huh?" I look up from the board when something finally clicks. They're the same! All of our identifiers used a number and a sound, now that I'm starting to learn them, it's obvious that those sounds all correspond to a letter. But the way they're organized, they're in the same order that she wrote here! "So that's how it works," I say. When I look up at Clair, she raises an eyebrow. "Could it be that the letters go like this?" I ask her. Then I point to each one as I recite them in the order we used. "A, B,C..." I go down the line, saying each letter until I reach M. "Umm..." I try to remember back. Our group only went to the letter M, the group before us used the other letters. But they've been gone for so long now that I can't remember what any of their identifiers were. "Sorry, that's all I know."
Claire looks over at Eryk and asks, "She knows the first half of the alphabet?" He just shakes his head and shrugs.
"I heard something like it before," I explain, "but I can't remember the second half. I didn't know it was the alphabet until I noticed the pattern from the first three letters."
"I see. It seems you have at least been introduced to the idea in a way." She gives a small nod while continuing to write on her board. Her hand moves so quickly, it must take a ton of practice to write like that. I realize it really strongly after struggling to write the letters myself. "In that case, I have an idea where you stand with reading and writing. She picks up the blackboard and wipes the surface off using the cloth she left sitting next to it. Then she begins writing once more. "Next is math."
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Then Claire sets the board back down in front of me, with the numbers from one to nine written across the top. "Eryk mentioned that he couldn't get a grasp of your skill level in math." She turns to him, giving him a meaningful look. I don't know what it's supposed to mean, but she keeps talking to me while looking at him. "Do you know your numbers?"
"Yes," I respond with a nod. But my mind is spinning. What do I do here? Do I show her my skill? Do I hide it? But where do I put the cut-off? Numbers above one thousand? Or ten thousand?
"Alright, then we'll do a few practice problems. First, what is two plus two?" I suppress the urge to sigh with relief. As long as she's the one asking the questions, then I'll only have to do math that people consider reasonable. That's such a relief, I don't know what I would have done otherwise.
"Four," I answer simply.
"Nine plus three?"
"Twelve."
"Seventeen plus fourteen?"
"Thirty one." We go back and forth quickly, and I'm glad that I can just answer the questions normally.
"Ten minus five?" She finally changes things up, moving to subtraction.
"Five." After a few more, she switches to multiplication.
"Four times six?"
"Twenty four."
"Seven times nine?"
"Sixty three." I respond easily. Finally, Claire stops her steady rhythm of questions, looking closely at her board as she continues to write.
"Hmm..." She looks back up at me and asks, "Nine divided by three?" I guess we're doing division now.
"Three." Still, if this is the level of what normal people can do, isn't it way too limited? Or maybe she's just doing the really easy questions first?
"Twenty four divided by six?"
"Four."
"Thirty five divided by eight?" Oh, finally one that I actually need to think about.
"Four point three seven five." I answer after taking a moment to divide it out. Claire pauses briefly, continuing to look at the board in front of her. I glance at Eryk. His face is passive, but he's watching with clear interest in his eyes. Is watching me answer easy math problems really so interesting? At least he doesn't look worried or freaked out...
Then Claire speaks up again. "Twenty five times fifteen?"
"Three hundred seventy five." I guess she decided to go back to multiplication?
"Five hundred minus two hundred fifty one?"
"Two hundred forty nine."
"Eight hundred thirty plus one hundred seventy?"
"One thousand." That one comes to a nice even number. But why is she making her way back through the things she's already had me do?
"Twenty five squared?"
"Six hundred twenty five."
"Six hundred thirty divided by four?"
"One hundred fifty seven point five." At least these questions are more reasonable, I actually need to think about them. Again, Claire stops questioning me for a bit as she continues to write. Another glance at Eryk shows that he looks just like before. Maybe even more interested actually. Probably because I'm answering questions that aren't so simple now.
Then Claire begins once more. "One thousand three hundred fifty four plus one thousand seven hundred forty six?"
"Three thousand one hundred." She continues to ask questions for a bit longer. Only now she seems to be asking questions at random, jumping all around between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, with no pattern to it. I continue to answer whatever she asks, but I'm definitely getting the impression that the questions are slowly getting more difficult. I guess she's continuously increasing the difficulty because she hasn't seen everything I'm capable of yet?
But doesn't that mean she'll eventually reach a point where she considers my math skills strange? I start to worry about that, but so far she hasn't had any real reaction to any of my answers. She simply listens to my answer, then goes on to the next question. So she must not think it's strange, at least not yet. So while I'm a bit worried that we'll get to that point eventually, I just keep working on the problems she gives me for now.
"Eight thousand six hundred forty divided by three hundred sixty?"
I have to think for a few long moments before answering, "Twenty four." The speed of my answers has definitely started to decrease.
"Twenty five cubed."
Six hundred twenty five, then multiply again... "Fifteen thousand six hundred twenty five." She purses her lips a little while writing some more. The numbers are starting to get pretty big, it isn't starting to worry her, is it? What example did I use that freaked out Emily and her friends again?
But before I have a chance to think about that, she asks another question. "Thirty four thousand five hundred sixty times one million?"
Huh, that's a big number, but it's just adding more zeroes. Move it over by six and you get... "Thirty four billion five hundred sixty million." Claire closes her eyes and nods a few times.
"Alright, I think I have a good idea of your basic math skills. How about geometry?"
"What is geometry?" I ask. All of the names of different topics are all words I've never heard before.
"Geometry is using math to calculate the properties of shapes."
I frown a little. "I don't know geometry."
She furrows her eyebrows at my response. "Nothing?"
I shake my head sadly. "I've never learned how to use math for shapes. I know I would be able to do it, but I never had a chance to figure it out."
She takes a quick note on her board before speaking again. "I see, then what about algebra?"
"What is algebra?" It feels like we're falling into a pattern...
"Algebra is using math to determine unknown values on either side of an equation. It uses letters as stand-ins for unknown numbers, then solves for those values." I nod slowly. I... think I understand her explanation. "For instance, if A stands for some unknown number, and A times fifty five equals three hundred eighty five, then what is A?" she asks.
A, A... I have to take a few moments to remember the letter she taught me before we started on math. Right, the one that makes the 'ahh' sound in my name. But here she's using it to replace some number... While I'm thinking about this, she raises an eyebrow. "Sorry, umm, I think I can figure this out," I tell her so she doesn't get impatient.
If A stands for some number, and that number times fifty five gives you three hundred eighty five, then what should that number be? I can't remember what number times fifty five would give that, and just guessing and multiplying it by a whole lot of different numbers probably isn't the point. She said you're supposed to calculate it, not just guess it.
Think about it differently, I tell myself, and close my eyes. Use an easier example to start. If some number times three is twelve, then that number must be four. So to go from twelve to four, you could subtract eight or divide by three. Three is what you multiplied by! So if you multiply by three, then divide by three, you get what you started with. So multiplication and division are reversible... After another quick calculation, I can see that addition and subtraction are the same. Meaning I can do the larger equation by working backward.
If A times fifty five is three hundred eighty five, then I just need to divide instead of multiplying, and I get seven. With my answer, I open my eyes and say, "Seven."
"And how did you figure that out?" Claire asks, narrowing her eyes just a little.
"I figured out that division and multiplication are reversible, so I divided three hundred eighty five by fifty five."
"Very good," she responds and smiles faintly. "That would be written out like this." She quickly writes it out on the blackboard. But the way she writes it, it's in three lines. First with the the A multiplied by fifty five on the left side of the equation, then with the fifty five missing from the left, while the three hundred eighty five is written over fifty five for division over on the right, and finally the solution, A equals seven. But there's another thing that catches my eye.
Between the first two lines, she has an arrow pointing over from the fifty five on the left side, over to the right side. Like it's being moved over. After a couple quick tests, I realize what's happening. The thing works with other numbers, and with addition and subtraction. If you swap them from one side to the other, you just need to reverse them.
So that's how it works... It would be really hard to understand that without seeing it written down. I'm reminded once more of when I tried teaching Emily and her friends about parity and they didn't even understand how numbers above ten worked since they had never seen them written before. I really need to learn how to read and write, it feels like there are a lot more things that will only become clear if I can see them written down...
I give Claire a big nod. "I see how it works now."
"Very good," she responds. "There are more subjects, but they generally rely on algebra, so I'll leave them for now..." She purses her lips as she writes. Then she takes something else from her bag. It looks like another page with something written on it. She looks at it briefly and I can see her eyes scanning across as she reads it.
"Ternian, history, economics, nature studies, and civics..." she mutters terms that I think I've heard before, though I don't know what most of them mean. I guess those were the ones Eryk told me I should learn? "I think I have an idea of your Ternian. It seems that will take a lot of work. For the others... I'll start with economics. Do you know what economics is?" I just shake my head, so she goes on to explain. "Economics is the study of money and trade. Given your age and status, you probably don't know much about businesses, management, trade agreements, taxes, and such. Is that right?" I nod bashfully. We're right back into a whole lot of topics I've never heard of before. "Basic economics then. Next is civics. Do you know anything about the government?"
"Government..." I definitely learned something about that. I think hard, trying the best I can to remember. "The government is run by the nobles." It's really hard to recall all the stuff Emily went over when she taught me about this. I think there were a few big ideas that stuck with me though. "The government makes the laws, and controls the guards and the military." I think those are all of the things I remember about it.
"Hmm, those are the basics at least." She writes a little more before moving on without any further comment. "Do you know any history?"
"What's history?" Having to ask about each and every thing is getting really embarrassing...
"History is the study of important events from the past. Do you know anything like that?"
"Not much, just a few stories I've heard about." Thinking about it immediately reminds me of what I brought up with Eryk earlier, and I can't help but glance over at him as I speak. He's watching me closely, so I immediately look away again.
"Mm, then do you know anything about The Ancient Times or The Age of Heroes?" I just shake my head. "How about The Liantran Ascendance, Bromunst Expansion, or Melphiran Revolution?" Those names sound like they have to do with different countries, but I don't know of them either, so I shake my head again. "I see... then what parts of history do you know?"
"Well..." I try to think, but I've never really heard about anything in any depth. I've heard that our first ruler had a famous sword, and Shona's first ruler was assassinated by his daughter, but I don't know anything about them beyond that. The same goes for Eschalle. Besides, I don't really want to bring those up again after that conversation with Eryk. So is there anything else I do know about...? I try to wrack my brain for any sliver of history I can. There's the story of Rostor and the start of the war, but that's also a difficult topic...
Maybe Emily's bedtime stories, but I thought they were just stories people made up, not things that actually happened... Well, wasn't there one other story I heard? That one Emily told me about visions? That's right! She mentioned that it was back in ancient times, so that must be part of what Claire asked about just before. And it was about Liantra too, that country I forgot about earlier...
"How did it go..." I mutter, trying desperately to remember the details. "I think there was a story about the queen of Liantra... She had a premonition, and formed an alliance with..." What were they called again? I can't remember exactly what kind... "With some sort of magical creatures." I scratch my head a little, embarrassed that's all I can remember. I can't think of any other stories from history that I actually know...
"Alright, so you know a little about The Liantran Ascendance," Claire says. "Is that all?" I look away as I nod. "So, basic history." She glances from what she's writing, back to the other page she's holding. "Last on the list is nature studies." I'm about to ask what this one is when she starts to explain.
"Nature studies covers the study of different types of plants and animals, as well as their biology." She pauses for a moment, then also explains, "Biology is the study of how living things act, how their bodies are formed, how they age, and so on." I'm so glad that she's explaining the difficult words without me having to ask about each one...
Wait, animals? I sit up straighter in my chair as I ask, "I can learn about animals?!"
She raises an eyebrow, but answers, "Yes, do you like animals?" When I nod emphatically, she grins a little. "I see. What sort of animals are you interested in?"
I'm not sure how to answer that. I think aloud as I answer, "Well, I've seen a bunch of different kinds of animals, but I don't really know what a lot of them are called, so I would like to learn their names and things like that... Like different kinds of birds and cats and these really tiny things that run around in the city." I hold up my hands, trying to mimic the size of the little scurrying animals Chisa eats as I speak. "Things like that."
"Hmm, types of animals. I'll keep that in mind." Then she writes some more. Once she has finished writing, she looks over at Eryk and asks, "I see you did not put down Theology, is that alright?"
"Well..." Eryk rubs his chin. So she looks back at me.
"Theology is the study of religion and the gods. Do you know about them?"
I nod. "Yes, I know about the gods."
"Can you name them, with their aspects?"
I give her another nod, then recite them. It's a little difficult, but I manage to remember them well enough. "Arcanas, Goddess of Creation and Order. Venar, God of Time and Change. Herat, God of Chaos and Disorder. Saras, God of Sky and Weather. Hurena, Goddess of Land and Harvest. Shana, Goddess of the Large Moon and Water. Firos, God of the Sun and Light. Nuvo, God of the Small Moon and Darkness. Rostor, God of War and Destruction. Lila, Goddess of Love and Family. Baro, God of Health and Prosperity. Reena, Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom." I sigh slightly, glad that I can remember them all now.
"Good. What about their marks?"
"Marks?" I ask. It sounds familiar, but I don't know where I heard it before.
"Hmm, just the bare basics then," Claire notes. She looks over at Eryk, then back to me again. "Are you interested in learning more about the gods?"
"Yes," I answer, realizing too late that it could be an issue. "I mean, I would like to learn anything I can, but is that alright?" I look over at Eryk. Given everything going on with Reena right now, knowing more about the gods could be really important, but I've been trying not to talk about that much, so I try making an excuse. "Would I be able to with everything else I already have to learn?"
"That depends on you. It would be more work for you to do," he answers with a slight shrug.
"Then that's fine," I agree. I've already decided that no matter how much work is thrown at me, I'm going to go at it with everything I have. So of course I'll just have to take on this work as well.
Claire just nods and says, "I believe that is everything." She finally walks back over from where she's been standing beside me at the table, and takes her chair across from me once more.
Claire clears her throat, then speaks once more. "I can clearly see the potential Eryk sees in you, so I'll gladly be your instructor." She'll do it? Even though I'm a peasant, she still agrees?! Because I have potential? Eryk mentioned that, but I still don't really know what it means. Claire smiles at me, which makes me realize this is the first time she has smiled at me kindly like she does at church. I can't help but smile back. I actually start to tear up a little with relief, but force myself to remain composed.
"Now, we'll be covering Ternian, reading and writing, geography, math, economics, history, civics, nature, and theology. Since we have such a range of subjects, we will only have time for some of them each day. I'll come up with the lesson plans and let you know about your study schedule later." I focus and listen closely as she explains things. This is going to determine a lot of what I have time to do. "Classes will be from Arcaday to Firoday." So five days a week, leaving just Nuvoday and Shanaday. "Eryk, you requested one month of instruction, but I don't think that will be enough time to cover this amount of material in any sort of depth."
"I'm sorry about that," Eryk apologizes with a small frown. "Due to hiring restrictions, I'm working with Aria on a series of work contracts, so I can only sign for her education when we sign another contract."
"Work contracts?" she asks, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Yes, I know it's a moral gray area," Eryk puts his hands up. "But I guarantee that I'm not exploiting her. You've seen why I'm going so far for yourself. I have to do it like this because there is no way her guardian would sign for her education. You would understand if you met him."
At that, Claire shows the first unpleasant frown I've ever seen on her. "I have met him." She pinches the bridge of her nose between two fingers and exhales slowly. "Yeah, I see your point," her polite speech slips for a moment. "Given the circumstances, I'm fine with extending the education contract, just let me know and we can talk about it."
"Thanks for understanding," Eryk replies.
Then Clair straightens up and addresses me again. "We'll be doing thirty days of instruction, five days a week, so until we make arrangements to extend it, you will have lessons for the next six weeks. Today is Saraday..." She looks up, thinking briefly, then continues. "It will take some time to plan out your lessons, so we will begin next Arcaday. We can speak on Shanaday after church, and I'll go over things in more detail."
"Ok." So starting next week, for six weeks. But... if I count the next few days before we begin, that will be the twenty ninth of Bora. Six weeks is forty two days, but at that point I'll only have about thirty one days left before the next battle. When I realize that, I hesitantly ask, "Sorry, but what happens if I can't make it to one of my lessons?"
Claire's eyes narrow a little, I can actually see anger burning in there! "Your education is important, not to mention extremely expensive for someone of your class. I would recommend you do everything in your power not to miss a lesson." She even sounds a little harsh.
When she points out that I'm actually a lower class, my faked confidence falters and I end up nodding frantically. But I still have to tell her. "I'm really sorry, but there are some things that I have no way of getting out of. I will absolutely do my best to make it to every lesson if I possibly can." I bow my head as I tell her.
"Fine," she says with a huff. "But those days will still count against the days I will be teaching you, and I still expect you to turn in any work assigned to you on those days at our next lesson. Missing class will only harm you," she says pointedly. All I can do is keep nodding obediently. Once she finishes, I keep my head lowered briefly. She completely tore through the act I've been putting on. I have to take a few long moments to tell myself to get back to it. I have to keep up faking being a vulgant if I want to look her in the eye. With a deep breath, I try to force myself into that mindset once more, and look back up from the table.
"I believe that is all, do you have the contract?" she asks Eryk.
"Yes, just a moment." He walks over to his desk and grabs a page off of it, then sets it down in front of Claire, along with one of those sticks to write with. She reads it over briefly, then nods and writes something on it. She slides it over to Eryk and he writes on it too. Once he's done that, he goes to his desk and draws out a rather large bag that jingles with coins. He hands it to Claire and she tucks it away with the rest of her things.
"Thanks, it will be nice working with you," Claire says pleasantly.
"Nice working with you too," Eryk responds. Then Claire holds up her hand. Eryk takes it in his own, but sort of only holds her fingers, while crossing his other arm over his chest and bowing his head slightly. Another unfamiliar gesture... They only remain like that for a few moments before letting go though. Then Claire stands, and Eryk quickly stands up too. I'm halfway to following along and standing up as well when Eryk throws a glance my way that gets me on my feet immediately. He moves to the door first, holding it open.
As Claire walks through, he jerks his head slightly to tell me to go through as well, so I follow her out into the hall. Once we're in the hall, he moves past to hold open the next door as well. Why are we going outside? I guess Claire is leaving now that we've finished everything, but I don't understand why Eryk and me are going out with her.
Once all three of us have left the building to stand on the road just outside the door, she turns back. "Now that our business is concluded, I will be taking my leave. Have a nice evening." Claire suddenly speaks in a voice dripping with elegance. It's really surprising. Then she repeats the gesture from earlier, where she lifts her skirt slightly. Am I supposed to copy her again this time? When I send a brief glance at Eryk, his eyes say yes, so I carefully repeat the gesture, doing everything I can to mimic it properly, just like last time. While I do that, Eryk makes a gesture like I've seen him do once before, where he crosses his right arm over his chest to press his hand over his heart, and bows his head a little. It actually looks like the reverse of what he did after signing the contract, where he was crossing his left arm across his chest instead of his right.
"Have a nice evening," Eryk replies, another quick glance, and I repeat after him.
"Have a nice evening." Once I finish speaking, Claire straightens up once more, so I follow, and Eryk does too. Then she turns away and heads down the road. I let out a breath, relieved just a little after going through all of that without any idea why, or exactly how to do it. But then I notice the eyes of all the merchants and smiths moving in and out of the shop, all staring at us and immediately tighten up nervously once more.
"Where did you learn to curtsy like that?" Eryk suddenly asks while I'm distracted by the crowd. I look up at him, but I'm not really sure what that is, so I ask about it.
"What does curtsy mean?" Claire mentioned the word too, I guess it's that gesture?
"The gesture you just made," Eryk says, confirming my guess. "You were trained that well, but you don't even know what it's called?"
"I wasn't trained, I was just trying to do it like Claire did."
He chuckles with a small head shake. "You have the strangest talents..." while turning back toward the building. I'm grateful to turn my back to the crowd as we go back inside.