The group of thirty children gathered in the courtyard, their parents standing by. The youngest was just eight while the oldest was thirteen. At ten Jane was in the middle. She held her spear proudly. Her mother made it for her specifically for this trip. The smooth length of it was carved from wood.
This was Jane’s first trip out of Home Square. She was born here after the founding. Her father was an important member of the guard. Her mother was a woodworker, with her own shop in the square. She wanted to follow her father into the guard. She thought the gift of the spear was her mother's way of saying she accepted her daughter’s decision.
Everyone here was tier one, which meant they knew at least one spell and their magic color was set. In the structure that meant they weren’t true children anymore, but at the age of apprenticeship, the first step to adulthood. Grandmother demanded that as many girls go on the trip as boys. After the first boy signed up, no more boys were accepted until a girl signed. Boys all over the square tried to get sisters to go. Not that there was much need to motivate the girls. Given Grandmother's approval, daughters begged their parents to pay the fee. When girls started to outnumber boys, girl slots became unavailable until a boy signed up. Grandmother was serious about wanting an equal number of both.
“Listen up,” Grandmother called from where she stood by the square’s crystal. The children all fell silent gathering around the old woman. They were on their best behavior with their parents watching. “Each one of you is going to step forward, touch the crystal and give your name. Sarah will then give you an armband in your magic color. You are to wear the armband at all times during the trip. We will be using them to identify you and provide safe heals in an emergency.”
When it was Jane’s turn she proudly set her hand on the crystal. The crystal color changed to a very faint red.
“What is your name and role?” Sarah asked.
“Jane, warrior,” Jane responded. Sarah used a stylus to write that down on a red armband.
“Wear it with your name showing,” Sarah said as she handed it to the young girl. Sarah slipped the red armband over the green cloth of her clothes. Almost all the children in the square wore green, since it was the cheapest cloth the tailors produced. There was a tie built into the armband to keep it in place. As she struggled with it, one of the other instructors came by and tied it for her. With a touch of awe, Jane realized it was Todd. Todd, with his red magic, was her personal role model.
“Next, Todd and Alex are going to inspect your packs. If you're carrying unneeded items we are going to ask you to return them to your parents for safe keeping. If you are missing anything we feel is essential for safe passage through the halls, it will be provided for you. These items are not gifts, and, except for consumables, will be returned at the conclusion of the trip,” Grandmother announced.
There were six outside tables in front of the inn. Each of the instructors picked a table. Jane was careful to pick Todd’s. He had her unload everything from her pack and pockets onto the table. He picked out a variety of items and set them aside, telling her she needed to leave them. He then added to her pile a set of vent forks, wedges, a water flask, a notebook, a stylus and a stack of travel food.
“Why did you reject my water flask and give me another?” Jane dared to ask.
“You were smart to bring a flask, water is essential for life. This new flask is enchanted to pull water vapor from the air and refill itself,” Todd explained to her. “With a group this large, it is much more convenient than trying to fill individual flasks with a trickle of water in dark space. We will do that at least once, so you understand how long it takes.”
Todd supervised how she repacked. When she started to put the notebook in the bottom of the pack he told her, “Keep the notebook and stylus in easy reach. You will need them to take notes. You will be allowed to keep your notes after the trip.”
Jane carried her extra items over to her mother, who was watching from near her shop. Her mother insisted on giving her a hug before Jane could escape back to the group to find out what would happen next.
They were assigned partners and told to stay close to their partner at all times. They were then set into groups. The thirty trainees were split into five groups of six, or three partner sets. Each group was assigned an instructor. Jane’s group instructor was Companion.
“How many of you understand me?” Companion asked. “Raise your arm if you can.” Three of them raised their hands, Jane was one of them. She learned selkie hanging out at the training yards. “Good,” Companion responded. “We will go over march commands and what is expected from you to ensure your safety. Those who understand me will translate to those who don’t.”
Companion taught them a few simple commands. They were alert, hide, contact, stop, advance, turn right and left. He taught them the hand motions that meant the same thing as the selkie calls. He gave the group a marching order. Their group was a mix of wizards, warriors and one boy who called himself a salvager. Jane’s partner was a boy named Alan, who wanted to be a wizard. His magic color was yellow.
“Alert everyone,” Grandmother called. “Alex’s group will lead, with Ellen’s next, followed by Companions, Sarah’s and Todd’s. We will rotate tomorrow. Keep your eyes open and follow your advisor instructions. Advance.”
Their departure out of the square and into the green was not nearly as organized as those simple instructions made it sound. Grandmother walked in the center of the group, with a man Jane did not recognize at her side. Jane thought she knew everyone in Grandmother’s party. She asked Alan if he knew who the man was.
“No,” Alan responded. “I bet Tam knows.” Tam was the boy who wanted to be a salvager. He was a grandson of the innkeeper and worked part time as a server. He grew up listening to the tales around Grandmother’s table and was fascinated by things they brought back. He called himself a salvager because he wanted to bring back more than just meat and scrap that the scavengers brought back. He wanted to be like Alex and bring back items too.
“He was at Grandmother’s table last night, she called him Valin,” Tam told the group, during a brief pause, while they waited for the group behind them to catch up.
“All magic is the same,” Grandmother called out to the greater group. “Crafter, wizard and warrior. We will now teach you all the first warrior spell.”
“You all have a knife. Draw it with you off hand,” Companion instructed the group. He pulled his own knife from his belt, while keeping a firm hold on the huge war ax he carried with his main hand. “Keep control of your main weapon, be it your casting hand or something with more bite!” He waited until everyone was holding their knife in a vertical position in front of them.
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“Advance,” Companion ordered, “keep those knives up.” They walked forward, keeping their spacing from the group in front of them. “You will now learn light blade. We will repeat until you all learn it,” Companion explained.
This is so awesome, Jane thought to herself.
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That night the big group camped in the north gallery. They arrived in the evening. As the lights in the halls started to dim due to the approaching night. The advisor taught their groups their next spell, the thrown spell light. Each trainee group was assigned one of the seating groups on each side of the center. They were told to eat travel rations, make notes on what they learned today and settle in for the night.
Grandmother planned to feed them a hot breakfast prepared by Todd in the morning, before making them march again. Tomorrow night would be their first night in the halls. They would stop early and teach them how to secure rooms. The youngsters were exhausted and fell to sleep quickly.
“How is it going?” Grandmother asked.
“They are all still excited,” Sarah responded, “but I have one or two who think they already know it all. They may be a problem down the road.”
“I have one who is afraid of everything,” Alex commented. “I am not certain how he got signed up.”
“Keep an eye on him. Fear often leads people to poor choices,” Grandmother observed. “I want a double watch tonight, one of us at each side door. I don’t want to explain to a parent that their child snuck out on a dare.”
“I know Harry confirmed that they all knew how to read and write, but competencies seem to vary widely. It isn’t just the youngest who have poor skills either,” Ellen commented.
“I noticed that,” Todd responded.
“Have you had any problems with your group not understanding you?” Grandmother asked Companion.
“No,” Companion replied. “Innkeeper’s grandson is in the group. He understands selkie well and translates. There are two others who also understand some.”
“I want to rotate the groups between you tomorrow,” Grandmother said. “Alex, take your group out into the hall and have them wait there. You take the group that was with Ellen today in the lead. Continue that pattern so you all lead the group that was behind you today. Todd you take Alex’s group at the back.” Grandmother turned to Valin, “If Companion has problems communicating with his group tomorrow, I’d like you to walk with them and translate as necessary. I want to teach them all how to interact with selkie, so try to keep your translation at a minimum.”
“I can do that,” Valin agreed.
“We’ll stop earlier tomorrow. I want to start teaching them how to read structure numbers. By the time we reach the grand staircase I want them to be able to read the ribbon.”
“Should we teach all the fonts or only Latin? The staircases are usually in Latin,” Sarah asked.
“Latin and Roman, but start with Latin. Since they are all tier one, their interfaces should be in Roman. By the time we get back, I’d like them to be able to read them,” Grandmother explained. “Todd and I ran over to OpenSky yesterday and touched the crystal there. Someone needs to touch the crystal here so we have three source crystals. Valin, I’d like you to do it. That way this crystal will be on your transportation map and you will always be able to return here.” Valin nodded his head. He stepped out into the water of the pool and laid a hand on the crystal. The crystal turned a dark green.
Grandmother noticed in the Home Square crystal log that Valin never touched it. There were no level five records. Grandmother wondered if Valin didn’t touch the crystal because it would reveal his real level and race to the crystal owner, or if there was some other reason. She remembered that although he showed reluctance he did touch the crystal in the upgraded rest. She decided that whatever his reason for avoiding the square crystal it must not hold for an association hall.
“Are you going to teach them about interfaces?” Valin asked.
“No,” Grandmother responded. “At least not beyond showing them how to open it if they don’t already know. Hopefully, they all know Latin and Roman already too, but I don’t want to assume that.” Grandmother was thoughtful for a moment. “We can’t teach them everything in ten or twenty days. Reading is certainly out of reach. If I do set up a school during the maintenance cycle for the village children, I think I’ll make it open to structure children too. They can pay the tuition in structure coins, instead of Speedwell currency.”
“I thought you were going to use the teaching machines,” Todd commented.
“For some of it, sure; reading, math, history. Other subjects will need a more hands-on approach, like farming, cooking, physical defense, Earth crafting and structure magic,” Grandmother replied. Everyone looked a little surprised by this announcement.
“What about structure crafting?” Ellen asked.
“Well I was thinking that was part of structure magic, since my plan was aimed mostly at the village students. If we do get structure students then we need to break structure magic into its components too.”
“What if we taught an introduction to crafting class, where we crafted items both ways?” Ellen said. She always wanted to do something like that. Very early on, she discovered that Grandmother’s backpack had a special set of pockets in it to hold door wedges and vent forks. It was a simple addition when crafting by hand and pretty much impossible to add to a pattern. Magic made crafting fast, but it took a lot of the versatility and invention out of it.
“Benjamin warned me that some of the villagers might not want their children to know about structure life. I haven’t decided what to do about that. I think in order to reassure the parents that I am not trying to steal their children, I will require parental permission before we take any village student into the structure,” Grandmother explained as an introduction. “A crafting class like what you described would be very good, as long as the Earth and structure sections are completely split. That way a village student could take the Earth lessons, but skip the structure ones.”
“That would be easy enough,” Ellen commented. “We could use each crafting method on different days.”
“If you have two instructors,” Valin suggested, “Your village students could make the object using your Earth methods twice. Repetition is good for apprentices.”
“Physical defense could be taught in a similar style, focusing on body movement and weapon handling using the mirror system in the Speedwell one day, followed by a day in the structure learning imbuement and casting. We wouldn’t even need to be in the structure proper, we could stay in the entry courtyard or the meadow outside,” Alex offered.
“I like that,” Grandmother said. “Everyone think about your subjects and put together outlines for what you think we should teach to both sets of students.”
“Our subjects?” Companion asked.
“You know your subjects better than me,” Grandmother said. “Think about what you love. Obviously Ellen is already thinking about crafting, and Alex is physical defense and song. I’d put Todd down for cooking, although I’d like to convince my brother to come in and teach baking. Sarah is enchanting, but also the art of drawing. I’d like Companion to be our expert on all things selkie, but if you want to teach physical defense with Alex, that is fine with me. Valin is our structure expert. I’d love for you to teach politics inside the structure and the updated User Manual.”
“What will you teach?” Todd asked.
“How to use the teaching machines,” Grandmother responded, “and engineering.”
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One of the youngest cried in the night, lonely for home and family. Valin was surprised when it was the selkie that went to the child’s side and comforted them. In the morning there was no sign of tears. The children all ate the hot meal provided by Todd with enthusiasm. Grandmother told everyone this was their last chance to go home, if journeying in the structure was not for them. She would refund the tuition and explain to their guardians if they wanted to go back to Home Square.
There were no takers.