High Cruic, Close Enough

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As she went about her business in Innorsford, Rithaleya could not help but overhear the struggles of some poor degenerate to sound off their letters by reading from a pot shard. She took a look over their shoulder, watched them continue to struggle, and as soon as she'd decided she was not being trolled (and had figured out what had been spelled out, in full), she loomed over them, stuck out her finger, and spoke the word clearly, pointing to one syllable after the other. "Di-vest-ti-ture. Divestiture! Not divey, not divot. Di-vest. Do you think you can finish?" The student didn't seem to appreciative, and kept going, completing the word successfully after another three attempts, and pretending he'd come to the conclusion without her assistance.

Rithaleya gave the proud fellow the stink-eye, but in truth, she was too embarrassed by her outburst to stay put, so she stalked off haughtily. This didn't stop her from encountering one of the student's companions a few minutes later. He was waving another pot shard. "Hey, do you do a lot of reading, miss?" He seemed more impressed than offended, so Rithaleya lied, "Of course I do," and beckoned him over to take a look at whatever scrap he was practicing with. "Why do you ask?"

"All the specialists need to know how to read, and the pay is good," the lad responded. "They gave us these letters to look at while the instructors are busy, but I don't get it. And my friend's proud he's better than all of us. You really showed him! Can you help me out?"

Though quite proud herself, Rithaleya noted the looked like he'd been on hard times, even by human standards. And he was a couple years younger than her. Refusing just didn't seem satisfying. "Alright, let's see what you've got there." She found a seat in the shade of some ruins with him, and helped him hold up the piece of clay, beginning to read it off, running her finger along the words again. "We jood... judge thee-the dis-tay-ance--er, distance, to be one-five, fifteen legumes, I mean... leagues, as the crow flies..."

It was hard work, but the boy seemed excited, even though Rithaleya was trying a bit too hard to prove she knew what she was doing. She was relieved to give him a turn to work through the next sentence, with some assistance from her. Soon enough, he rushed off to bring the piece back to where the rest of the group had the others, and she had to run after to follow him, listen to his exaggerated praise (though that part wasn't so bothersome), and provide another demonstration of her skills, before receiving the jealous skepticism of the older student, who was perhaps a bit older than she was, and heavier by about five stone.

Another rivalry... Rithelaya strained to say as little to the group as possible, and allowed them to split in two arguing factions around her. Still, at the end of the day, she tacitly agreed to put herself forward as an instructor, the next morning. There had to be something in this other than a way to pass the time, after all.

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The instructor in class the next day was far less impressed with his new student than her fellow semi-literates had been. Still, she'd managed to join in the middle of the session without slowing everyone else down, and despite receiving the most difficult assignments. Most of the class had never read anything, and though Rithaleya wasn't quite fluent in High Cruic, after learning Elkagr phonetics under far harsher conditions, it didn't seem all that challenging.

It was easy to assume the instructors had it out for her due to her parentage--and it wouldn't be the first time-but that was hardly the full story. She was a foreigner, she wasn't here to join the alliance so much as because other students had vouched for her, and she was about as patriotic as a fallen log. Aside from that, even if they didn't want her to fail, the superiority she presumed to have over humans was something everyone expected her to prove, never mind whether she'd been given a head start in her homeland, or not.

Rithaleya never considered it important to know how to read or write beyond the basics needed to get by in the military, which was what these classes were for, and was a standard she'd achieved half a lifetime ago. But, being seen as a valuable teacher, that was priceless. She could earn respect and a living wage without any risk or exposure to harsh conditions, or getting caught up in a war she knew too little about and didn't appreciate... or at least that's what she figured. It was an ill season to spend outdoors, anyway.

After class, she tried to limit the amount of time she spent with the other students, just to stay out of their warring cliques. It didn't work perfectly, and slowed down her progress, but it was better than letting the trouble brew openly, and it also gave her a chance to borrow an actual book to read--a grand leather-bound codex, of which peasant hands were unworthy. True, it was a compilation of bad poetry written by out-of-touch nobles, but without any other reference point, Rithaleya could only assume it was more or less par for the course.

There were a few close calls, but she managed to return it a few days later before finding herself required to hit someone with it. In retrospect, the pot shards might have made better weapons in that regard, though none of the other students had considered that, fortunately. The fine line between over- and underachieving was not one she'd ever managed to walk before, but almost by accident, Rithaleya managed to pass the training by the slimmest of margins without getting kicked out for fighting, first.


Even though she hadn't needed to learn what the class was teaching the others, she was surprised as much as anyone. The real challenge was going to be getting away from the students to an instructor's position...

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To Rithaleya's dismay, she discovered there was far more to the job of 'instructor' than just teaching the students who supplicated themselves to her expertise. Classes were too large for one person to handle without delegating, so there were leadership and interpersonal skills required to maintain order and balance. She lacked these entirely, and that was without considering the administrative skills needed to requisition materials for the classroom, track the progress of each student, and ensure all of them met the Alliance's standards by the end of their training--or at least, that those who did not were identified as incapable of learning their letters, and could be turned away without any injustice that might come back to bite her, later.

Fortunately, she had all this explained to her before she could land the job. One way or another, it wasn't too hard to observe at a glance that Rithaleya was not born and bred to be an authority figure, and in this case, a first opinion based on prejudice wasn't inaccurate; it saved everyone a great deal of time. Still, she didn't want to give up. Her knowledge wasn't entirely useless, and at least one of the instructors wanted to work with someone who knew Elkagr, so she was hired as an assistant. In this role, her responsibilities were a bit lighter--fetching and carrying, rotating around to help struggling students at her instructor's direction, and providing suggestions for classroom tasks that the instructors could easily reject when they were deemed unhelpful.

The pay was minimal, as were the responsibilities, but one perk was access to a private library. She couldn't borrow any more books unless the instructor asked for them, but she was able to read them there. And since she didn't have to join students in study groups outside class anymore--which was also a huge relief--she had ample time to read alone in the afternoons. Doing so by candlelight bothered her eyes (and nose) too much, so she fled the library as soon as the sky was dark, leaving it in the withered hands of incorrigible sages.

As soon as the weather improved, she hoped to use the credibility she'd earned as a teaching assistant to get a better job at the Alliance proving grounds, teaching the new recruits wilderness survival skills, which she was clearly an expert on. After all, her clothing was entirely made from animal products and all she owned was hunting gear, why would anyone think of her as a novice? She told herself she'd be done with the books and the bookworms as soon as the days were less sweltering, and practiced her combat drills each evening, by twilight.

[Azuloth]

Quest Complete
Rewards

High Cruic II (MAXED), Literacy II (MAXED for Class)
Stat points: +6