by Brian Keller
Apothecary class was becoming more routine. Never boring, but now that he was getting past the initial steep learning curve, he could focus on learning the actual processes instead of just learning the terms. With his schedule changed he hadn’t had any real opportunity to make any progress with copying her book. He walked to the front of the classroom where Miss Camilla was seated to let her know. He started awkwardly, “Um, Miss, I, uh, haven’t had time to copy any more pages in the book for a little while now. My schedule is about to change again, with even more time spent in classes than before… Do you want me to give the book and paints back?”. Miss Camilla just smiled and shrugged, “No rush. Just do what you can. If you don’t get any more pages done in a year, that’ll still be all right.”. Her smile never left her face as she asked, “How are your classes going?”. It was his turn to shrug as he said, “Well, I’m never bored. I think I am starting to understand Etiquette class better now, so that’ll help, and Master Brais’ class used to leave me sore enough that I felt I’d never last through dinner without falling asleep at the table, but it’s getting better. Not easier really, I think I’m just adjusting to it. I’ll have that class after dinner starting tomorrow since I’ve successfully passed Beginning Combat today.”. At this last comment, Miss Camilla brightened enough that she looked like she wanted to clap her hands. It appeared that she wanted to ask more but she regained her composure and sent him back to his seat with, “Very good, Mister Cooper. I hope you find my class rewarding. I feel it can be tedious at times, or maybe it’s just me.”. He thought about what she’d just said as he returned to his work table. He didn’t know what she thought was tedious about it. She had them working on extracting components from plants and insects to make a concoction that was mildly luminescent. Not bright, but if mixed correctly and stoppered in a small clear tube it produced just enough light to read by. The effect only lasted about thirty seconds, so Miss Camilla was working on adjusting the formula so that the last step in the process was simply mixing two remaining components. That way, a person could mix them where they needed a little light. At the current point of development, the final step involved heating the mixture to release the chemicals and produce light.
Miss Camilla was obviously in good spirits, which wasn’t that unusual in and of itself, but today she actually seemed cheerful. Class was halfway finished for the day before the reasons for her good mood became apparent. It seemed that she’d heard how quickly Cooper had managed to strike a lethal blow against Skran, and it caused her great amusement that the Combat instructor had been so quickly defeated by a first year student that hadn’t yet Manifested. Cooper could only hope that word of Miss Camilla’s amusement didn’t reach Mister Skran’s ears. He didn’t think the Combat instructor would react unprofessionally, but you never can tell.
In trying to rework the formula for the bottled light, Aden had been working with some acid to break down the insect body parts more completely, this seemed to intensify the light a little bit but it seemed to shorten the duration by about five to eight seconds. From this, Miss Camilla deduced that the acid caused the reaction to accelerate. Perhaps in the right concentrations, the addition of the correct acid could create the desired effect. Miss Camilla soon had half of the class working with different acids while the other half of the class began mixing reagents to create and concentrate additional acids for experimentation. As the class period was drawing near the end there were several students still working and it was apparent that all their processes wouldn’t be complete in the allotted time. Aden, along with several other students offered to stay long enough to complete the batches, but Cooper and several others still had other classes to attend. He stayed for as long as he could and then excused himself to run to the Arena.
He arrived not quite out of breath and not quite tardy, but close on both counts. Rukle and Kolrem were stretching and warming up. Master Brais was often a bit boisterous, but today he sounded almost jovial and he announced, “Today we will take to the skies. Move only as fast as you feel you can but know that there are many places along today’s course that are best completed with some haste. Spending too much time in one place is sometimes a sure way to lose your balance.”. Cooper wasn’t quite sure how that made sense but he’d come to accept Master Brais at his word. “I’m sure that all will soon become clear.”, he thought. Master Brais brought his hands together in a single clap, “To the ropes! Follow me, and don’t make me wait too long!”. Cooper wasn’t sure how, but it almost looked like Master Brais fairly ran up the rope. The ropes were now tied to the edge of a platform. In order to mount the platform it was necessary to either ‘muscle up’, or turn backward and curl one’s lower body up and over. He had the strength to muscle himself up, but opted to curl himself onto the platform. In Movement class, it had become his policy to maximize technique to conserve strength and energy at every possible opportunity. Rukle reached the platform first but he was still bringing himself upright when Cooper curled himself up onto the platform. As he was standing he saw Kolrem’s fingers grabbing the edge of the platform. Kolrem yanked himself up and held himself in place as he hooked a leg up over the edge and leaned forward to stand. Using strength to muscle up looked to be a little faster, and if remaining upright was important, then that might be the preferred method to use.
The boys took a moment to scan the area around the platform. Cooper wondered who Master Brais had working for him because there was no way that one man could’ve built the course that extended before him. A network of beams and rope bridges crisscrossed the Arena. Some of the beams and ropes were anchored to the tops of other obstacles, some were suspended by ropes or chains secured to anchor points in the ceiling. As the boys’ eyes were tracing the most likely routes that their teacher intended for them Rukle broke the silence, “Sir, there’s no safety netting below this course….?”. Master Brais body language suggested surprise. He continued to wear his head wrap and mask. The boys had not yet seen his face other than around his eyes. At this moment his eyes had a twinkle as he replied, “Ah, how forgetful of me! Well, I suppose I can only discourage against falling in the most certain of terms. Yes, I most strongly suggest that you each maintain your balance. Now, if you’re quite finished with your observations, follow me and try to keep up. I care not whether you use the same route that I do, just don’t fall too far behind.”. With that he launched himself into the space between the platform and a beam. The beam was about four or five inches square in cross section and suspended by a chain, and it was at least eight feet away. Their teacher landed firmly on it, his landing causing the beam to swing. As he scampered along its length he timed his next jump with the swing and covered the distance to the next platform with little more than a hop. Cooper followed Master Brais, but had to time his jumps since the beams were now swinging. He landed well but needed to grab one of the chains to steady himself. At this point he’d decided that getting onto the beam was certainly easier that getting off of it was going to be. He needed to reach the other end and time his jump according to the swing. He carefully timed his next jump and felt fortunate to have landed on the platform near his teacher. Rukle was already partway across having come much closer via a rope bridge. He was testing a rope for the purpose of using it to swing himself over to the platform. The rope was too short to allow him to cover the distance but he was working out an alternative. As he swung out, he reached out with one hand and grabbed another rope, letting go of the first. This second rope was a little closer to the platform and with the momentum he’d gained from changing ropes he’d generated enough swing to cover the distance to the platform but only just barely. As he caught his breath Rukle said, “I won’t be trying that again!”. Kolrem had been watching Rukle and was shaking his head. He quickly jumped onto the beam, following the same route as Master Brais and Cooper had taken. Master Brais was scrutinizing Rukle. The boy shrugged, “I expected the rope to swing more, sir. But I still made it.”. Their teacher looked like he wanted to say more, but he
turned and leapt off the platform and grabbed onto a rope bridge a few feet away. He pulled himself up onto it, ran about ten feet along its length and stepped off of it onto the top of the freestanding stone wall that stood near the center of the Arena. He crossed it easily. He leapt from the top of the wall to grab a rope suspended from the ceiling. With a powerful kip, Master Brais managed to build enough momentum to cover the distance to the platform. Cooper thought that it looked like it required a whole lot of technique that he hadn’t practiced. He’d need to find another way to the platform.
The next hour went much like this. Sometimes the boys would be able to follow the same path as their teacher, other times they’d need to discover a different path. But every time Master Brais moved from one platform to another, the boys observed him closely and learned. After an hour had passed, Master Brais led them down the ropes and told them to “take the last thirty minutes of their time to practice some of the unfamiliar movements closer to the ground or”, he looked at Rukle, “practice above a safety net.”. Cooper felt fairly certain that Master Brais was teasing Rukle but he couldn’t miss the hints of reproach and disappointment in his voice.
After class the boys got to the dining hall as most of their peers were finishing their meals. Dinner was available from five to seven in the evening. At seven the staff began gathering all the foodstuffs and sorting out what could still be used from what needed to be discarded. Looking around near the end of dinnertime Cooper was thinking that they were discarding more in a day than he’d likely ever eaten in a fortnight, “Someday, I’ll be interested enough to ask where the discarded food goes but tonight I’m just too tired.”. He finished his meal, put his plate and utensils in the cart, and walked back to his sleeping bay.
As he passed Osrim’s bunk on his way to the privy the young man had a looked of frustration and not small bit of desperation. He saw Cooper and said,” Hey Cooper! Um, oh, when you finish in the privy do you think you could talk to me a little about locks? I’m worried that I may fail Master Darius’ class.”. Cooper thought about it for a second and nodded. Osrim wasn’t very detail-oriented, in fact he almost seemed to avoid details in an almost phobic way. Picking locks required a certain meticulous-ness. It was the smallest hints that meant the difference between successfully picking a lock or sitting and working the tools until your fingers went numb. Once he’d relieved himself, he returned to Osrim’s space with his thoughts in order. He remembered how Skaiven had explained it to him and it made sense immediately. He sat beside Osrim and began speaking, “Picture a lock in front of you. The opening for the key, the cylinder, this is the stuff you can see. Picture how the top edge of the cylinder holds the pins with the springs above them. You saw how I inserted the pick upside down at first and withdrew it. I did that so I could count the number of pins. Once I know how many pins there are it just comes down to which one gets picked first, and then the next, and so on. Once you’ve got the count, insert the tension wrench and apply a little pressure. Not enough to wedge the pins tight, just enough to hold them snug. Use the pick to find the pin that is held the tightest. That’s the one you pick first. As you pick it, you’ll feel the cylinder rotate ever so slightly. Hold that tension and find the next pin that’s held the tightest and pick it, and so on til you run out of pins. That’s when the lock will open for you.”. Osrim was staring at him, “You make it sound so easy.”. Cooper shrugged, “It is easy. The difficult part is holding the right tension and getting the feel for it. If the tension isn’t right you’ll either wedge the pins or you’ll lose the ones you’ve already picked. It’s the tension wrench that opens the lock. The pick is just there to manipulate the pins.”. Osrim was nodding, “That sounds very much like what Master Darius has said, but you make it sound easier… more practical. Thanks.”. Cooper shrugged, “Tomorrow morning we’ll take a minute at the door to the classroom. I pretty well have that one memorized and I’ll talk you through it.”. Osrim let his head hang, “Even that lock continues to give me problems.”. Cooper said nothing but thought, “Damn, I can almost sneeze that lock open. It’s been abused so many times I’m surprised it still works at all.”. He gave the older boy a light slap on the back, “You’ll get it. See you in the morning.”. As he got up to walk away Osrim spoke again, “Hey, ah, Cooper? Did you really beat Mister Skran in less than a minute?” He tilted his head and replied, “I tricked him. I doubt it would work again, and I would’ve been wounded getting past his guard.”. He paused and added, “I passed. I guess that’s what really matters.”. Osrim nodded but he could certainly see the older boy looking at him differently now. Osrim smiled faintly, “Well, thanks again. See you in the morning.”, he said as he turned and extinguished his lantern.
Chapter 27
The next morning, Cooper stretched as he thought about the changes to his day. Master Darius’ class was still his first class of the day and Master Brais’ class was the last, but the order of all his other classes had changed. He wondered if that would involve other changes as well.
After breakfast, Cooper went to Master Darius’ classroom to meet with Osrim. When he got there Osrim was leaning against the wall next to the door with his arms across his chest. Cooper was hoping that the older boy wasn’t already too discouraged to accept guidance. As he got closer Osrim extended a hand and clasped the handle on the door, twisted it and pushed the door open. Each boy was watching the others face. Both boys’ faces held an expression of satisfaction and pride. Cooper’s had a mix of relief as well. Osrim smiled, “Just like you said!... Yep, just like you said. I know this lock is easy compared to most,”, Cooper hadn’t meant to, but he snorted a little as Osrim continued, “but now that I understand better what I’m expecting to feel, it should start getting easier.”. Osrim paused for a moment, considering something, “I guess I owe you one.”. Cooper shook his head saying, “I didn’t teach you anything. I doubt I told you anything you hadn’t already heard. I just explained it in a way that helped you make sense of it.”. Osrim was shaking his head, “You gotta understand. I might even pass this class now. I might even advance to become a Journeyman, depending on how I Manifest. This is a big deal for me.”. Cooper hadn’t thought of it that way. He rolled his eyes as he replied, “Help me sort out all the drivel and trivia I get from Etiquette class and we’ll be even…”. Osrim went quiet and in a few seconds he said, “Let me give that some thought. I might be able to come up with something for you.”. Cooper had been joking, but if Osrim actually did come up with something he’d be more than even.
Cooper picked his way through a small pile of locks every morning, usually in the first several minutes of the class. Today was no exception but this morning he looked over a few tables from time to time to observe Osrim. The older boy would sometimes get through a half dozen locks during the course of an entire class period. Today in the first fifteen minutes of class Osrim had picked four already and looked to be making good progress on his fifth. Osrim must’ve felt him looking because he looked over, raised his eyebrows and grinned. He held tension with his left hand while he flexed the fingers of his right. He then moved his fingers as if he were playing a few bars on a piano and re-grasped his pick. He dropped one more pin into place and rotated the cylinder, clicking the lock open. He leaned back on his stool, raised his shoulders, took a breath, and tilted his head to one side bringing his left ear nearly to his left shoulder. Then all at once he righted his position, scooped up his next lock and went to work on it. Cooper wasn’t the only one that noticed Osrim’s progress. Master Darius had taken a position where he could observe him from a distance and had likely seen him succeed through the last two locks. A few minutes later Osrim set down his sixth picked lock and Master Darius walked over to inspect the growing collection of opened locks. He raised an eyebrow and he leaned in closer to Osrim as he asked, “Mister Osrim, it appears that you’ve gotten a good night’s sleep…? Or is there some other explanation for your sudden proficiency?”. Osrim set down his wrench and pick as he looked
up at Master Darius, then he looked at Cooper and back to the teacher. Master Darius turned to look at Cooper as Osrim said, “Cooper explained how he picks locks. I understand it better now.”. The instructor walked over to Cooper and asked, “Ah, perhaps Mister Cooper would wish to be my assistant?”. Cooper was shaking his head, “No sir. I have no desire to be an instructor, assistant or otherwise. Osrim asked me for a little help, so I explained it to him the way Skaiven explained it to me. I guess it helped." Master Darius had a hint of a smile on his face, “Very opportune. In a week or so we will begin working on traps… assuming we can graduate past locks, that is…?”. Osrim had overheard, “Graduate? Sir, what do you mean “Graduate”?”, there was a slight sound of nervousness in Osrim’s voice, “Are we being tested on locks?!”. The teacher’s face now held a real smile, “Most probably, Mister Osrim. Most probably.”. The older boy turned back to his pile of locks. He seemed intent on tuning out any distractors in the room as he devoted his full attention to the task at hand.
Etiquette class retained the feeling of a series of non-sequiturs. He’d spoken with Birt about his thoughts on this matter and Birt simply said, “I enjoy the variety.”. Cooper stayed with his point, unwilling to accept Birt’s passive acquiescence, ”Wouldn’t it make more sense to structure the class where we learned everything about a certain culture all at once? Genealogy, mannerisms, table manners, and even language of a certain nation or culture as a single module. Essentially surrounding everyone in the class with everything to do with that culture for a couple hours every day. This way each day builds on the last, and the information gets reinforced a little more each day. If need be, have a test before proceeding to the next culture or module.”. Birt took a long, deep breath of defeat, “Yes, fine. That would probably be better for learning, but wouldn’t it begin to feel tedious? I like the fact that we never know what we’ll be learning one day to the next.”. Cooper was shaking his head, “We’re not attending Etiquette Class to be entertained, we are attending it because we are expected to learn the material and be able to apply it. If we’re constantly hopping from one culture to the next it becomes difficult to remember which culture feels that burping at the table is considered complimentary.”. Birt shrugged, “Caldori.”. Cooper stiffened and growled, “I know that..! I’m just making a point…”. Birt shrugged again, “Well then, you should voice your suggestions to Mister Ysel and Miss Eiler.” Cooper shook his head, “Nope. I believe our teachers think of me as a disruptive influence in class. They’d just think I was complaining about the class, again.”. Birt smiled at that, “Well, you are a disruptive influence, and you are complaining.”. Cooper was still shaking his head, “Not complaining this time, not really. I’m offering a suggestion. If it wasn’t all so difficult for me to remember, I wouldn’t mind one way or the other.”. Birt replied, “So why are you hitting me over the head with all this?”. Cooper almost had a pleading look as he said, “Actually I was hoping that you’d agree with me and decide it was worth mentioning it to our instructors.”. It was now Birt’s turn to shake his head, “Nope. Not me. You’re on your own with this one.”. Cooper took a deep breath and let it out slow. He felt he had a valid point. He’d just need to find the right moment and the right way to phrase it before bringing it to either of the teachers. For today he needed to satisfy himself with learning and retaining the social and political hierarchy of Temidan…