Norbert twisted his body around, trying to see the speaker; all Norbert saw was a small blue robe walking towards one of the tents; without even turning around, a voice came out, "Come on."
Standing up, getting his limbs in place, Obsius resting on his head, Norbert picked up his backpack before following the mysterious person, adjusting his sword to ensure it didn't impede his movements.
Catching up, Norbert followed the mage, trying to see their destination. Opening the flap of the smallest tent, one Norbert had not yet seen inside. Stepping through the flap, Norbert was greeted with simple seats occupying a large round wooden table. Seeing the grass inside had been trampled everywhere, only showing mud and dust Norbert wondered how many people had been through here.
Around the legs of the table, Norbert saw ruts within the ground, the sections that had sunken in the most, earth piling up on either side of the legs. The rest of the tent was empty, the mage sitting at an empty seat; Norbert just stared, thinking about what he should do next.
The mage, now seeing her face a female sitting next to him, her red curly hair clashing with the blue of her robe, stared into her eyes; Norbert was lost in their seas of green. Clearing her throat, the mage indicated to the chair next to her. Woken from his stupor, Norbert quickly hurried around, placing his backpack on the ground, extracting his sword from his belt, leaning it against the wooden table, making sure it wouldn't fall over.
Finally, concentrating on the mage, he looked towards her, feeling Obsius on his head sliding around. Picking him up from his head and placing the bird on the table, he turned and looked towards the mage, waiting for something to happen.
The mage flicked her hood down, reaching onto the table covered with papers and organising them into piles before placing a stack in front of Norbert. Looking towards it, Norbert saw similar squiggles and shapes he had seen, looking and seeing a wooden stick on top of the pile of papers, one a metal point was attached to it.
The mage said, "I have been asked and chosen to instruct you in the use of language and numeracy, as well as any other subjects you may find of interest." Tapping her finger on the pile of papers, she continued, "Before starting, do you have any knowledge in these areas?"
Norbert just stared at her, wondering what to say; remembering he would be holding no bars, he uttered: "Yes, I do know some language and numeracy. However, I don't know the language I'm speaking now, and the symbols used by the person that taught me are different to this." Waving his hand over the paper in front of him.
Nodding, she moved her finger towards the top of the page, his eyes following as he looked at the images. "Here is the number system being used. We have 1, 2, 3" Norbert looked ahead, seeing the system. The first number she pointed to going straight down the page, the next digit had a straight down the line, and at the bottom, it went diagonally up and to the right. The next digit repeated the other followed the same pattern as the previous one, only going to the left.
This system continued building up from the last one until Norbert looked at the last digit in the pattern. Having the line going down, then up and to the right at an angle, continuing left until hitting the starting position. The line goes up to the right again at an angle before reaching a point in the centre where it reaches the start point of the second line. Going vertically up once again, the sixth line stopped in the air; the seventh line went left again until the eighth line went vertically down, hitting the starting position; the ninth line went horizontally down in the left position, the tenth and final line going vertically up, stopping on the second lines starting position.
Zoning out his teacher Norbert looked at the progression of the numbers, seeing how they formed from one symbol to the next without ever needing to leave the page, seeming similar to the Japanese system of always building on the last digit.
Nodding his head at seeing the pattern, now focusing on the words around him, "Did you pay attention to any of that?"
Norbert was startled, as that was such a strange way of starting a sentence, having lost track of what was being said. "Only slightly; what I assume is that this is a decimal system, with the previous ones going ahead; for example, if someone wanted to have twelve of something, it would be like this", Norbert drew with his finger, not knowing how the wooden apparatus worked.
His finger first goes down before moving to the left and gown once more before moving diagonally up to the right. Receiving a nod in return, Norbert was at least happy he received some congratulations from above for doing something good.
"That’s correct; I guess you were taught at least the basics, so please solve the equations below" Norbert looked, picking up the stick with the metal point. Spinning it around in his hand, Norbert rested the metal point on the pater, feeling it scratch over.
To his amazement, it flowed out like a regular pen, the "ink" or whatever was marking the paper effortlessly gliding across it, not even feeling as if it scratched. Writing down the numbers, Norbert looked across, asking questions about the symbols between the numbers and what the denominations and such meant.
Breaking through the first paper, only being simple addition without it going higher than single digits, Norbert looked at the next page, with addition and a new element. Once more, asking Norbert was notified it was a subtraction.
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Done with this page, Norbert continued to the next. Page after page, Norbert went through, slowly and steadily getting more complicated. Norbert never saw anything other than the same equations again and again. Finally, through the pile, Norbert stared down at the wooden desk, waiting for the next page to fill out.
After not receiving the following paper, Norbert looked to the side, tapping the pen against the table as he waited. Off to the side, the mage looked over the last page he had done, receiving a nod before moving over to the next pile.
Staring at the paper, Norbert saw no numbers on this one, seeing only the strange symbols on his card. Raising his head, Norbert asked, "Do we need to learn how to read this?"
The mage stared down at him, not believing the words he had just uttered. "Well, it was doubly cemented after your previous night's activities. Took way too long to get you under control."
Norbert just stared at her, wondering what he could have said, gulping, not wanting to get into any further trouble nodding along and looking at what she was saying. Going through the next couple of pages, Norbert tried to read the page. Constantly put his pendant off and on again to understand the teacher's explanations but then needed to know how the words sounded.
In this manner, the pair continued through the rest of the pages, finally reaching the bottom. With it finished, Norbert leaned back in his chair, slowly rocking on it, hearing the words and the symbols flashing before his eyes as he looked up at the pitched tent roof.
Hearing the ground crunch next to him, Norbert saw the mage scoot her chair back, walk around the table and head out of the tent. As the flap opened, Norbert saw the night outside, unable to see the moon or judge what time of night and how much time had elapsed. Leaning his head on the table, Norbert closed his eyes, head resting on the papers, feeling it crush into his cheek as Norbert waited for the mage to come back.
Light surrounded Norbert, wondering what could be happening; too late did he realise he was being sent back again; caught entirely unaware, Norbert bolted upright, looking around to see if he should bring anything. Paper stuck on his face, Norbert instinctively reached for his bag, wanting to take it with him.
Before he could reach it, he was looking toward darkness. Pulling the single page stuck to his face, Norbert slowly turned around again in the white marble room. The two chairs sat in the middle, with the coffee table in the centre and the drink cart on the side.
The doors swung open Luck entered the room, stopping as the doors closed behind her. Before they shut, Norbert could look out, seeing a corridor of the same white marble in the room, and someone was walking behind the doors before they closed on them.
Norbert walked to the seat he was in before, taking the piece of paper off his face as he sat in the seat he was in before. Hearing steps behind him, Luck appeared from his peripheral vision, making her way to the drink cart, rattling the bottles around before picking up a kettle and two tea cups.
"Tea?" Luck asked, turning around to see Norbert's reaction.
Norbert looked back at the woman, wearing the clothes he last saw her wear. Asking the question, "Is this just normal tea?" Receiving a nod in return, Norbert said with open arms, "Then, of course, I would love some tea, whatever you have."
Luck smiled as she looked back to the cart, putting something in the kettle. Placing two cups on their saucer first on the table, she sat on her chair; Norbert could see steam rising out of the kettle, the smell of tea slowly coming into the air.
Turning his eyes to Luck, she opened her mouth before Norbert could speak, asking, "So Norbert, did you like your gift?"
Placing the paper on the table, leaning back into his chair and relaxing, Norbert closed his eyes briefly, gathering his thoughts before saying, "It was a nice gift, bit out of the blue, matter of fact. But everything seems to be like that now, so ehh," Norbert finished shrugging his shoulders.
Luck nodded her head in approval. "So, what do you think of it," Luck said, waving her hands around the room. Norbert twisted himself around in the chair, ensuring he hadn't missed anything before returning to look at Luck.
"Well, it's white; the decorations are non-existent. The placement of the window with the door, centring on the tables, is a nice touch. I would have a bit more colour. Though it makes what you’re wearing stand out even more than it would otherwise in a place that's normally coloured. Now onto the good parts; the construction baffles my mind, how the marble is separate, but no joints felt. And so far, your drinks have been superb. Though your visitors are a bit weird."
Norbert finally finished, panting slightly, Luck scrunching her nose up, asking, "Visitors, whose come to visit you?"
Norbert shivered, thinking back to the something he found venturing out the windows, quickly glancing. Norbert was relieved, not able to see anything there. Nodding in the direction of the window, "Whatever was out there, in the emptiness" Tearing his eyes away, he looked to the kettle, wondering how long he would need to wait to have something to drink, to distract himself.
The tinkling of laughter turned Norbert's head to look at Luck; whipping a tear, she stood up, walked towards the cart, took the kettle and poured the now green-tinted liquid into the two cups. Placing the kettle back on the cart, Luck nudged one of the cups towards Norbert before picking up the other and taking it with her to sit down.
Bringing it to her lips, she breathed in; Norbert could see the steam swirl around her nose, and sighing, she brought it to her lips, taking a sip. She lit up when it touched her tongue, a smile on her face as she blushed slightly.
Norbert reached forward, took the saucer, and lifted the cup to his mouth. Breathing in smelling pine, clearing his sinuses, Norbert blew on it and rested his lip, confirming he wouldn't burn himself. Precautions made Norbert sip the drink, tasting it on his tongue.
The pine was strong on the tongue, clearing him out and refreshing him; taking another sip, Norbert drank in deeply, feeling the liquid warm up his body. Sighing in pleasure, he rested the cup and saucer on his knee.
"That is some good tea." Luck just nodded in return and sipped on some herself. The pair of them continued in this manner, the silence only being broken by the sounds of sipping. Finished, Norbert placed the cup and saucer on the table, looking at the page given and examining it.
Luck also placed her drink down, stood up, picked both cups and saucers and placed them back on the cart, shaking her legs. "Well, that was a nice break, time to send you along your way. Also, getting me a souvenir from Earth would be much appreciated. Maybe you could even get another gift?"
Raising an eyebrow, Norbert saw the light engulf him again, waving his hand. The flash of white subsided, only darkness for a second before he landed on his bed, looking up at the ceiling.
He was seeing the time; Norbert fiddled with his phone, happy to see it once more and started browsing the web, once more shopping.