“Simple.” Hessa sat on the rug by the group of youth. The wooden wax tablet she was holding was one of the larger sized, rectangular, with the shorter edge spanning from the thumb to the pinky of a spread adult hand. It used plant-based wax that did not melt easily in the hot climate. Nua was familiar with them thanks to Hala, so she knew that at least. “It’s similar to how I learned.” Hessa started pointing. “On this side of the tablet, you have the letters. The alphabet. I’ve circled the ones that your name contains. And here’s your name.” She showed it written beside the list of letters, in large characters. “We’ll recite the alphabet in the evening, then you’ll copy it, and you’ll write your name. We’ll repeat it until you get it. In the meantime, I’ll give you other names to write down.”

“All right…” Nua scratched her neck. She had played along because she had hoped Hessa would write a letter in her stead, not because she believed she could acquire the ability. So many times Hala had failed to teach her, trying one letter at a time with painstaking patience, and now Nua had had the entire alphabet dumped on her.

“When you got at least some of the basics down, we’ll start with the songs.”

“Songs?!”

“Songs you already know, from the festivals and such.”, Hessa said. “It’s boring learning just from the list of names. Makes your attention drift. With the songs you know, you like, and they rhyme, it’s much easier. Ezekiel calls it “mnemmotechnique”. That’s Old Mycenae for the art of memorization.”

“That’s… good, I guess?”, Nua babbled, and quickly she formulated a question for Anki. “Does that have anything to do with sorcery? A Technique?”

“No, that’s just a name. There are Concepts that can be worked into spells and increase memorization,” he answered. “But these are very advanced. They require understanding the nature of the brain.”

“Have the tablet”, said Hessa in the meantime. “Make yourself familiar with the shapes. It’s a long journey until the evening, and when we arrive, you’ll also have other tasks.”

Nua’s kept staring in a stupor when Hessa left to join the merchants.

“I don’t envy you”, Oshana said once again. “She has a lot of expectations.”

“That’s going to be so much harder than working in a fish warehouse”, Nua said.

Zamar shrugged.

“If she thinks you can do it, you probably can.”

“You think so?”

“Well, one guy left the service in the middle of the desert. Stole a waterskin with the best wine, too”, he admitted. “He was hired just because he was a warm body, though. You said she took you in because you’re capable.”

I am so screwed, Nua thought. Then, she gathered the courage to face reality and she looked at the alphabet, the entire thirty letters of it.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Her heart skipped a beat.

She blinked in disbelief. Then she blinked twice. She was not dreaming.

“Anki… I recognize, like, half of them.”

“Now that wouldn’t be surprising, would it? Hala taught you some letters, after all.”

“But I never remembered! Whatever I learned, the next day it was gone. This is not…”

“Problems with memory”, Anki said, “Can be twofold. One side of the coin is taking knowledge in. The other one is getting it out. Most likely, your mind stores scraps and crumbles of memories that were hard to access and organize until now. Similar to your stock of leftovers behind the amphora at Hala’s place.”

“You think there’s more?”

“I think it’s best if you stop being surprised at what your brain can do, and start using it.”

“You’re making a very weird face right now”, Zamar remarked. “Something on your mind?”

“Not much. Just overwhelmed”, Nua said. “Are there any figs left? I think I could have some more.”

Sa’Utu had just replaced his grand brother in the sky when they arrived at their first caravanserai. The enclosure looked both larger and simpler that the one in the Numitor Druzus Plaza, back at home. It was built of sunbaked ochre brick just like the commoner houses in the Overlord’s Mercy, which was not surprising since the caravan had did not travelled that far from the city yet. The inn had the shape of an irregular circle, and it sported the usual large courtyard inside, supplemented with a fountain and a row of large troughs. In the outer circle, nearing the courtyard, there were animal stalls with more troughs that contained feed or water, supplied from the same source as the fountain; inside, the guest rooms for dining and sleeping, with the ones closest to the stalls meant for servants. Right now, the inn was not entirely empty; other travelers, including couriers, farmer carts, and passenger wagons, occupied the space. But there was plenty left.

The caravan slowly settled in. Soon, all you could hear in the whole caravanserai was the sound of animals guzzling water. Nua found herself face to face with captain Idris, who cheerily handed her the reins of his steed Maximus and directed her to the trough. She was still frightened at first. The giant was pliable, however, and friendly like a family dog used to small children. He took the measure of Nua, sniffing her from head to toe, then gave her a gentle bump with his snout. She managed not to fall on her butt and keep her dignity intact.

There were a couple of things the musushu needed help with. First, tending to their feet. After the whole day of travel on the road, their hind legs needed to be checked for injuries and lubricated with herb-infused olive oil. Sometimes, sharp stones caught between the toes or under the scales, or a claw was splitting at the tip. Both removing the stones with forceps and trimming the claws using a combination of sharp scissors and a large nail file were not something a steed would tolerate from anyone. It required patience, skill, and fast reflexes if the animal was irked, or just impatient, and decided to retaliate. As the musushu temper went, Maximus would lift his foot and shake the human off. Shadow kicked, and she wasn’t known for holding back.

After that arduous procedure, all that was left was scrubbing the steed with a moist loofah. They liked it and tended to calm down in the process. Or at least, most of them did. Shadow could randomly decide that she had enough in the middle of scrubbing and snap at the person tending to her, despite being all calm and trilling happily just a blink of an eye before.

While Nua was tending to Maximus and rubbing the warm, soft scaled skin according to the captain’s instruction, Hessa catered to Shadow next to them. The black musushu was occasionally glancing at the girl as if trying to figure out if that human should be here at all. The huntress was using a combination of encouraging words, treats, and kept her unwavering attention on Shadow’s sudden movements. That, all together, looked easy if you didn’t know what she was doing. Nua quickly realized she only made it look easy. Learning to take care of her steed would be no simple task.

So far, she had a better chance with the script.