Late that evening, after they had ensured that Lissa had well and truly gone to sleep, Drust and Tecka were processing the events of the last 24 hours. Drust's ordinarily measured voice was laced with anger and worry. "What are the chances that she'd have access to a skill like that... I mean, if she'd had any other shadow fundament, would it even have that same skill? What are the gods playing at!?"
Tecka, who recognized her husband's grief as the source of his anger, replied softly, "I don't know, my love."
He blustered wordlessly as he paced back and forth across the rug in their large bedroom. His emotional-fueled movements caught his toe against the squat nightstand next to their large bedroll, and he yelped, coming quickly to a seated position beside Tecka on the bed. He clutched his foot as tears came to the corners of his eyes. Tecka's warm brown eyes and soft lips turned to him sympathetically.
"I just don't know what to do, Tecks. If she... if she grows up and wants to adventure and see the world, what... what will I do if she doesn't come back?" he asked, his throat constricting.
"I'm not going to tell you not to worry about it," she said, and then added softly, "I'm worried too."
Her confession hit him like a ton of bricks; Lissa was also her daughter. Releasing his foot with the still-throbbing toe, he put his arm around the mother of his child and drew her close. Of course she was worried too. A prodigy. Their daughter was an actual prodigy with the [precocious] attribute to help her learn difficult things more quickly.
He and Tecka comforted each other, discussing the situation softly and reasonably now that Drust's initial anger had run its course. They decided they ought to foster and nurture her talent, perhaps because of their own fear: teaching her how to learn and master her apparently great ability would be one of the best ways they could protect her. But perhaps, perhaps their were other ways that they could work to ensure her safety. They talked late into the early morning, planning out what next steps they could foresee. Eventually, the burden on Drust of two nearly sleepless nights pushed them toward sleep. Their ideas might take years to put into motion, and they could get nothing accomplished tonight. Still they would do their best to support and protect their precious girl, no matter what it took.
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While Lissa grew accustomed to casting [dull senses] on herself regularly, the family of three decided it would be best to put Lissa's apprenticeship on hold for the time being, and her father unilaterally decided that it was past time for Lissa to learn to read and write. While Drust was fully literate in multiple languages, he needed to keep the sheep, so they found and hired a highly-skilled [tutor] who could instruct Lissa in basic literacy in the blocky script used commonly for their own language, Tana'avarian, throughout the fledgling country of Zhareem. After some drawn out discussion with Igmi and Hayzen, it was decided that young Bup and Artaxes would also study with Lissa. Glee, the gnomish woman hired as their tutor, had never attempted to teach with an intelligent [familiar] along, but accepted the addition in stride.
While Lissa's new [precocious] special attribute helped her to grasp concepts quickly, it did nothing to help with remembering information. So even when she understood more quickly than her cousin, his ability to memorize first and understand later kept them learning apace with each other. Artaxes surprised everyone, Bup included, when he began to write with one clawed foot in sharper and more delicate lettering than either of the children could manage. Their tutor was pleased to learn that he was both enjoying their classes and paying close attention.
Eventually, Glee also instructed them in geography, basic math, and a scholarly method of inquiry that was an awful lot like the process aunt Igmi used when exploring new fibers and dyes. At Drust's insistence, Glee then began to instruct them in the basics and writing systems (those that had them) of a few other languages as well: Eluelethan of the Elves of the Great Forest across the sea; Kranach, the trade language used by orcs, ogres, and goblins; Nodgeen, the language the dwarves spoke to outsiders; and Shoothish, the creole of all sea-dwelling folk on this side of the world, which was 'written' in knotted cords. Learning with another meant that Bup and Lissa could practice their language skills together—and that they and Artaxes could also get into as much trouble together as best friends who share 'secret' languages can.
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Interspersed with those other subjects though, Glee focused mostly on teaching magic. Bup couldn't participate as much, but the quiet boy was attentive and engaged, often asking good questions on his [familiar]'s behalf even without being able to apply the instruction himself yet. The older gnomish woman had done a fair bit of dungeon delving in her youth. Beyond just being a capable instructor, she gave her magic lessons in the form of stories from her experiences. While her [storytelling] skill was incredibly high-leveled, she didn't honey-coat her experiences, and Bup and Lissa heard stories of both treasure-filled victory and life-ending defeats. The children listened and learned and took the potential risks to heart.
She walked Lissa and Artaxes through the processes of acquiring the basic utility spells like [identify] that all [aware creatures] gained access to. Before she could help Lissa unlock the first few spells in each of her fundaments though, Glee needed to do some learning herself. The gnomish woman wasn't familiar with every fundament the two children and the eagle [familiar] possessed, and it gave them an opportunity to learn to research together. Etoleem's royal archive was still young, but they were able to find some information on fundaments that was available to the citizenry. Bup's unspecified [life] fundament was apparently quite unusual, and they could find no record of it in the portion of king's archive they had access to. Glee also had no expertise on how Artaxes's spellcasting might be different from her human pupils' and wasn't able to find anything about the subject in the archive either. The proud eagle took no offense; rather, he interpreted the lack of information as a sign of superiority on his part—those like him must be special indeed to keep such things hidden even from [kings].
Finally satisfied that she had found out all she could about her students' fundaments, only then did the gnome begin to teach Lissa how to unlock her fundaments' most basic spells. Lissa had tried to unlock more on her own, but after quite instinctively unlocking [dull senses], she couldn't figure out how to unlock any other spells. To her parent's great relief, Lissa's currently low level [capacity] and [potency] prevented her from learning anything more than the very first spells in her fundaments. Even the very basic forms of the spells granted to her by her ancient's blessing were yet inaccessible for this reason. So after walking her through unlocking what spells she could, the tutor instructed her, Bup, and Artaxes on the theories about magic, progression in spellcasting, and what they could expect when professions were finally available to them. After three years of private education, the two nine-year-olds were full of new ideas, and the more they learned, the more they became curious about.
In their free time in the late afternoons, they got up to all manner of trouble. Most of the royal archive was off limits, but her father required her to keep her expensive language skills sharp, and she began to read what scrolls and documents were available to the public. She read orcish children's books in Kranach and stumbled through salacious but highly metaphorical Eluelethan poetry that would have been completely lost on her young mind even if she'd understood the words perfectly. She even found a copy of Zhareem's recent treaty with the mer recorded on dried-out, knotted kelp. Lissa was also secretly searching for anything she could find on the Lost Treasures. Much to her dismay, she found mentions only in scrolls on lore and myth.
Occasionally within the archive, she would catch glimpses of Ezharim, the prince, reading something in an area that was off limits to average citizens. The standoffish boy was growing like sapling, lanky and thin like his mother, and he had allowed his wavy blue-black hair to grow down past his shoulders. Sometimes his brilliant blue eyes within his black face would catch Lissa looking at him, and he would quickly gather his things and move out of sight. He was never close enough to the public area for her to speak to him, but any time she saw him, his striking features drew her attention in ways she wasn't mature enough to recognize.
Bup, on the other hand, spent as much time with his uncle Drust as Glee's schedule would allow him. He became intimately familiar with the small, but growing flock and helped with the shearing each spring. As he grew and gained small opportunities for independence, he began to explore Etoleem's forest itself, familiarizing himself with the creatures great and small that lived there. He learned which plants grew where, introduced himself to the elder [alders] who had founded the city nearly 200 years before when the land had still been almost a swamp, and began to comprehend the delicate web that held all life in their forest city together.
In the late winter on the threshold of the spring of their fourth year living in Etoleem, just after Bup's ninth birthday, Lissa was returning from the city's archive to her mother's shop in order to walk home with her when she overheard mistress Glee talking with her mother and her aunt. As she walked toward the workroom at the back, Lissa only caught the last of what Glee was saying before the three women spotted her.
"... I really must insist: I'm going to take them to their first dungeon."