I sulked the entire way back to the dorm. I couldn't even hide it from my friends, they had picked up on it about halfway back and then walked in silence the rest of the way.

We got back to the dorm and I just sat there on my bed contemplating on how I could figure this out. I had all the shapes memorized in my mind, but they did me no good. I have been getting on with my translation while speaking fine, the delay has gone substantially down actually and I had just assumed the letters themselves would translate. It had escaped my mind that this Will could have no idea how to read. How could I remedy this and how long would it take? Who knows it could even been too late for me by the time I figure it out.

I glanced around the dorm looking for anything that had writing on it so I could compare but found nothing. I guess my dejection was palpable as Bea finally spoke up on it.

"Will, what got you so down suddenly? You haven't been the same since we left dinner. What is going on?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, we're friends right? You can talk to us. Just let us know what happened. I'm sure we can work something out." Even Tom was being openly sympathetic instead of his more subtle self. I must've really looked depressed.

Deciding I should just come out with the truth, I tried to think how I could tie it to something other than what they thought was my insane idea of the suspect knights. It took just a minute but I think I found a way to mention it without seeming paranoid. They were quiet the whole time I was thinking, so they must have honestly cared. These were fine friends Will had made.

"Okay.... well, just hear me out yeah? Its not going to be what you first think okay?" I started off. They just nodded in agreement so I continued, "It has to do with the knights and the papers..." Bea let out the loudest huff at this but didn't say anything so I managed to keep going, "... all of the knights are carrying one and writing stuff down! It just.... made me realize that I.... you know.... don't know how to read." I finished my issue and then hung my head lamely. Surely this would let us broach the topic safely!

"Oh, is that all Will?" Bea laughed and slapped my shoulder lightly. "Don't be so silly! Did you forget that we would get some scholarly training in our classes once we became squires? Its one of the best benefits!" Bea laughed again at my plight.

"Oh, right..." I said lamely and added some soft chuckles. That wouldn't do! That would be a whole year away at this place and it would drive me crazy! "You don't think maybe knowing ahead of time would be good once it came time to select this year's squires?"

"Oh look at you! Looking for extra credit are you Will? That's not a half bad idea.... maybe we could find someone to teach us?" Bea seemed to like my suggestion and was even tapping her chin in thought. Yes! Ally get!

My heart fell just a second later though...

"Nah, that won't get you any extra notice guys sorry. A knight already told me." Tom haphazardly threw out there, "Remember, I'm a merchant's kid? My mother and father taught me letters so I could help out around the store. They also said I would be better for it no what I went to do in the future, whether it was a blacksmith, farmer or even an adventurer. So I asked a knight when I first got here and she mentioned I still had to take the classes even if just to prove I could do it."

Tom here is just information dumping on me here. I scrambled to process so much, but I had to stay on track to not let this chance go to waste.

"Oh really? That's a shame, I was hoping to find some other way to stand out in the class and thought it might help..... Still, I think it would be nice if we could read and write some things right? Could you write yours' and Bea's names?" I pleaded with Tom a bit here, this should surely pull on the sweet spot he has for Bea!

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Tom glanced at Bea and she just nodded enthusiastically. It seemed she hadn't quite given up on the idea herself!

"Well... okay" he actually looked a bit embarrassed to say that, but Tom shuffled over to his chest and opened it. He pulled out an actual book and closed the lid. Shuffling back over to us he sat down and opened to the back of the book.

"What's that?" I asked and Bea continued right after "And why have we not seen it before!". She sure seemed more enthusiastic about this than I thought she would be. I wonder what was going on there?

Tom made some calming motions with his hands before elaborating. "This is just my journal, I haven't written in it too much since it needs to last me at least a year. I'm just going to keep track of major things so I can send it back to my parents if it gets full, or in person if that becomes an option. Anyway.... here.... look" He opened the book and flipped to the second page. He ran his fingers down it a bit and stopped on a word "This is Bea's name. I wrote about making friends with you guys...."

Some of the letters in Bea's name looked similar to what the knight wrote, so I already had some of it down!

Bea chimed in "What about Will and yours? How about them?" Tom blushed a bit and scrolled down a little further in the page. Ahhhh, I see. He had to write about the pretty girl he met to his parents first huh? Something to tease later. He stopped on a word and I froze in recognition. Just to seal my fate he did explain though.

"This here is Will's and mine is on the front." I had a feeling it was coming, but I guess the confirmation helps..

Bea continued with a "Well, my name clearly looks the best. I obviously have the superior name." She and time chuckled at that and began bickering over small things in letters in names and what even made a name superior.

I participated in none of it. Tom had of course pointed to my name and it of course was something I recognized.

It was the last word written on the knight's paper.

—----

The morning came all too quickly. The night wound down rather quick after my name revelation and I just barely participated. Bea and I did get Tom to promise to teach us our letters as we were too interested in being educated. It took me sharing my tip on the obstacle course for where they were stuck at, but he did finally agree.

At breakfast I kept an eye on the knights as they walked around, but none seemed to write anything down this morning, so no clues there.

Once the training came around I had moved up significantly in the line leaving Tom and Bea behind, but I was still only about in the midpoint of the class it seems. I'm sure my friends would catch up by the end of the day, so I brushed all thoughts of the papers out of my head and tried focusing on this. By lunch I did make it through my obstacle and was on to the next one, but I became increasingly worried as I realized that every new obstacle was designed to get me higher and higher in the air. I was approaching two stories high now and the fall would definitely be unpleasant. I was currently managed land well, and even tried rolling as I did since I remembered watching a parkour video that said it helped which I was putting full faith in.

When we broke for lunch, I had still not made it to the top 25 (those kids had to be true professionals!). Sitting down at a table Tom and Bea mentioned how well my trick had worked for them and thanked me profusely. I waved them off with a "What else are friends for?" and we actually clinked mugs at that. Good times, but now that we were back in the cafeteria I was back to watching the knights and trying to deduce my name on the paper. None of them were glancing my way, so it wasn't quite a watchlist but something had to be up.

The knights had written down several things by this point so clearly they were watching for something. And it wasn't just the line or else they wouldn't even need to wander around our tables.

Lunch unfortunately ended without me figuring anything out.

Back at the course my progression was going great, though I'm not sure how we were supposed to handle the truly monstrous 4 story fall this thing seemed to cap out at. No one seemed fazed though so I was pushing through as best I could. I figured I had to be closing in on the top 25 when my hubris got the best of me. I fell and rolled but it didn't quite save me from injury. It was to be expected from as high up as we were going, I was definitely at a full 2 stories by now it seemed. As I limped away so that someone else could go, the abbot approached and offered healing again which I gladly accepted.

He tilted his head to the side when done though and mentioned "You're easier to heal than expected. You will probably bounce back from injuries fairly quickly." and with that he walked away.

I gave him a thanks but just shrugged it off and went back to the line.

What was that about?