The Necessary Art

[Morren and Esca]

May 12th | Agrabah Palace | Infirmary

Morren was still not quite used to her new surroundings in the palace. Being enclosed by walls and people, so far away from the call of the natural world was taking a significant time to adjust to. It felt strange that the only green she saw were in the gardens of the palace that she now was calling home and when she stepped outside there was only sand and more mud-brick walls hemming her in. It was choking almost, like she was struggling for the connection to the spirits of nature that usually would be buzzing around her. 

Thankfully, she had two things to keep her more than occupied: Esca's warm, comforting presence and a lot of work.

It had seemed that she had arrived at just the right time to put her skills to use. The Blackblood Legion had brought back seemingly an endless wave of injured from their last battle and she had eagerly taken the opportunity to get right into working. Finian would be proud of her, she hoped. Finally, the infirmary had been cleared out and it had taken longer than Morren expected considering she had insisted on doing most of the work herself. She knew there were other medics but she found she needed the work to take her mind off her other anxieties. 

Yet Nasira had informed her that she expected the medics that were under training to be ready to go as soon as they possibly could. She told her that she'd be sending the recruit to her and she was to see that he was trained and quickly. Morren had only nodded and accepted this, having an apprentice under her would be a welcome addition. Someone she could pass on her knowledge to like it had been passed onto her...and perhaps maybe too she needed more people to interact with besides her loyal wolf.

The sudden noise of a bark in the hallway told her that Esca must have found her new student. "In here!" she called, running to open the doors "Esca?" she only hoped her wolf had not scared them off immediately. He could be...intimidating to those not used to him.

[Thomas]

Scandal and gossip were meat and drink to the Blackblood Legion, and Thomas found he had a man's thirst. Knowing he was a cog in the buzz machine was a hard pill for Thomas to swallow, but it never failed to rouse his interest, and he wanted to feel like he belonged.

Frollo's defection to the Rogues was on the specials board. Unlike most hot topics, however, there was an undertone of fear and a deep sense of dread for the future. It was grim affairs like these that made Thomas especially glad that he had been all but restricted to the infirmary. Under the watchful eye of the new vizier, the remaining overseers clamped down on any sign of dissent, and mistrust was rife. The infirmary had become his sanctuary in this den of vipers. 

Speaking of vipers, Nasira came to see him today. It had been a short conversation. In fact, calling it a "conversation" was generous. She nonchalantly informed Thomas that he had been assigned a new mentor and told him to go to the day room to presumably meet them. Thomas tried to remind Nasira that he already had a mentor, but she cut him off to repeat her order and left to presumably make someone else's day miserable.

Thomas lugubriously made his way to the day room. His old mentor, Edgar, had been one of the few Blackbloods that had shown Thomas genuine kindness, and as far as Thomas was concerned, Edgar embodied all the best qualities of a teacher. Unfortunately, Edgar had been transferred to another base. Thomas supposed he shouldn't be surprised he had been given to someone else in the meantime, but he did not like it.

And that was how he ended up cornered by a wolf, no less. 

Thomas held up his hands, but the wolf showed no sign of backing off.

"In here!"

The doors to the day room flew open. Thomas looked from the wolf to the woman standing on the threshold.

"Um...hi?"

[Morren and Esca]

Esca had cornered the unfortunate man in the corridor, his yellow eyes pinning him to the spot. Whilst he didn't growl or flash his teeth, he wasn't giving off a friendly appearance either and he was going to make sure that Thomas didn't get a foot further to the infirmary without his leave. His scent was strange and Esca would not tolerate strangers wandering around without a challenge. That is, until Morren's voice caused his ears to prick up and he reluctantly turned his head to look at her as she approached the two of them.

"Esca, be nice." she admonished him, twisting her hand into the fur of his neck and forcing him to take a few steps back from the strange male "You must be the person Nasira sent down. You've met Esca and I'm Morren."

She wasn't entirely sure what else to do. Morren rarely interacted with many people before she had joined the Blackblood Legion's ranks and growing up literally raised by wolves was not the best for social interaction with humans. She did know some things, she had been taught at least a little, for one thing sniffing the new person was definitely not what people did when they met someone new.

[Thomas]

Thomas nodded slowly. "I-I am," he confirmed meekly. "I'm Thomas." 

Morren seemed alright. Thomas thought she looked more like a warrior than a medical practitioner, but he knew he had no room to talk. 

"Yeah, Edga - oh." Thomas rubbed the back of his neck and looked off to the side. "Um, you probably don't know him. My old mentor got sent to another place - uh, I mean base. I don't know; it was kind of sudden. Um, I'm not that great at, uh, treating people, but I can hold things and keep things tidy and...and..."

Thomas was rambling. He knew he was rambling, but he could not help himself. He was nervous. Thomas bit his lip and looked down at his shoes, embarrassed. Why was it so hard for him to just talk like a normal person? Thomas already knew he was going to replay this conversation later on and hate himself even more than he already did. Morren probably thought he was a moron. So much for making a good impression.

"...so...I guess you're stuck with me now," he added apologetically. "Sorry."

[Morren and Esca]

Morren could only look at the young man in confusion, he was sorry? As far as she understood people only said that when they had done something to hurt or anger the person they were saying it to and this was the first time she had ever met him. What could he be sorry about? Clearly she too had a lot to learn whilst she was here when it came to people and their ways that her mentor had not taught her.

"It's okay...I think." she replied, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, she honestly didn't know what to say other than to accept his apology for nothing "I mean, Nasira said I'm supposed to teach you what I know. I suppose that you'll be able to do what I can eventually...I had to learn it too once. Plus it's always nice to have people to help me. Esca's great but he doesn't have hands...and he thinks the herb mixtures smell weird."

The wolf let out a huff at that, clearly annoyed by her assessment of him and it was all she could do to shoot him an apologetic look. She'd make it up to him later on with a tasty bit of meat or a nice scratch.

"Oh!" she suddenly had an idea "There is one thing that I'd like your help with right now if it's okay." without giving him the chance to reply, she had darted back through the doors of the infirmary and reappeared with a leather bound book in her hands, holding it up to show Thomas.

"Can you get this thing to speak? I was told it would tell me more about medicines I'd not heard of before but no matter how nicely I ask it, it won't say anything to me. Can you do it?"

[Thomas]

Thomas looked surprised. "You're joking, right? Right?!"

Morren being unable to read was not unusual. Illiteracy was not exactly unheard of in England - especially for the working class. Apart from a very lucky bright few, poor children would not go to school at all and would start work as young as six. They would spend their whole lives illiterate and thinking nothing of it. Thomas was one of the lucky few. He went to grammar school, where the curriculum was confined to Latin and Greek. The pupils was expected to speak Latin at all times in school and would be punished for speaking English. Thomas had often come home with his hand stiff and swollen from the schoolmaster's ruler. They broke him eventually, of course, and he obeyed the rules and mastered Latin like the rest. Thomas might have even gone to Oxford or Cambridge - if his family had the money to send him. Literate or not, Thomas knew if he stayed in England, he would be doomed to spend the rest of his days working to make someone else rich.

Morren believing the book could talk was...something else entirely.

"Um...books don't talk." There was no way to say that without sounding like he was off his rocker. "May I?"

Thomas gently took the book from Morren's hands and opened it to a random page. He held it out for Morren to see. "See the symbols? Those are letters. See how a lot of them are in groups? Those are called words." He pointed to a tiny dot. "That's a punctuation mark used to mark the end of a sentence." Thomas realized he did not explain what a sentence was. "Which is a group of words," he added quickly. For example-" He pointed to a random sentence. "-that sentence says, 'Chamomile is commonly used as an ananxiolytic and sedative for anxiety and relaxation.'" He trailed his finger under each word as he spoke. 

Thomas closed the book and handed it back to Morren. The first step in learning to read was recognizing the letters of the alphabet. Then he'd have to teach her the sounds of each letter. Then short, one-syllable words. Then higher frequency words. Then build her vocabulary. Then -

His mind was spinning. So many steps! But he must. 

"I can teach you how to read."