Date: Mon, 22 May 2023 06:55:39 -0700
From: Juxepe Albi <juxepealbi@gmail.com>
Subject: The Grand Foaglarte Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - The Lessons


I didn't realize, when Moné asked me to "come by for some exercises,"
that there would be anyone but the two of us there. There was an entire
class of young students, around my age. Particularly, there was a boy
named TaliÄ"sin, evidently named for the world-famous poet, who impressed
me. TaliÄ"sin was a bit older than I was--by maybe a year or so. He and I
were presently the only two boys in the class; although Moné said there
were several other boys who were in martial arts trainíng elsewhere.


TaliÄ"sin said he was equivalently twelve years old. I didn't know
exactly what he meant by equivalently." Of course, I knew the definítion
of the word, but not the connotation he was placing on it.


"I mean to say that I am technícally older, but to my people, I am
twelve of your years," he explained to me.


That really didn't clarify anything for me; so, how old was he really?


The puzzled look on my face gave me away; and he smiled, putting his hand
on my shoulder and squeezing gently.


"We are little babies for a bit over six of your years," he explained.
"It takes longer for us to mature; but we live much longer than Humans.
You will live longer than your fellow Humans, also; because you have been
gifted with the Grand Fó äglæte. No one else in well over two thousand
years has been given that honor--some of our scholars are saying three
thousand years. Everyone will want to be your friend; but I met you
first; and that makes you my Special Friend."


"TaliÄ"sin, don't be making such promises, unless you plan to keep
them," Moné scolded. "That is serious business, young man. You know
that!"


"But my Foresight tells me it is true, Moné! I am not just making idle
talk," TaliÄ"sin replied defensively. "Truly, I knew before I came here
today, that Conler and I would meet," he stated.


"Very well, but don't you think you should have discussed it with
Conler, first?" she asked.


"What's to discuss?" he countered. "I have seen what I have seen. My
gift of prescience is quite strong; and I know that you are aware of
that."


"Oh, I'm well aware of it; but I have never, in my very long life,
known anyone to make that kind of commitment at their first acquaintance,
TaliÄ"sin," Moné insisted. "Now, let's all get to work!"



Some time after the classes began, another boy joined us. He was not very
friendly. After the class was finíshed, we were sent to the Túath Dé
Trainíng Institute diníng room. It was my first visit there; and TaliÄ"sin
helped me with my utensils and food selection.


There was a table across the room with people wearing strange robes and
headdresses.


"Who are those people," I asked.


"They are Daoine Sidhe [DEE-nah SHEE], Conler," a girl named Dierdre
said.

"They are here to teach their martial arts to us. Didn't you see their
strange horse-like mounts when you came this morníng? Maybe they had
already stabled them," she mused. "I have never been really fond of
horses; and their mounts are really too dragon-like to make me take an
interest in them."


"Dragon-like?" I asked.


"We call them crocattasaurs; but the Daoine Sidhe have their own word
for them. Their hide is covered with scales, and they have sharp, canine
teeth. I suppose they need teeth like that to eat meat, which is what
they are fed, I understand," she said.


"Well, the men really aren't very friendly," Tal commented. "I have
tried to speak with them; but they usually don't bother to reply."


"They are getting paid well to teach their students. Otherwise, they
wouldn't come here. Túath Dé are not actually their enemies, but we
don't meet on a social basis, either. They stick to their territory,
which is in some caverns in the cliffs on the southwestern coast. They
will ride all the way back there this afternoon. Never have they spent a
night here," Moné explained.



After lunch we were gathering for our next class, and I spoke to
TaliÄ"sin.


"What were you talking about with Moné this morníng--something about
chosen?" I asked him.


"I don't really know you well enough yet to talk to you about it," he
replied, slowly.


"You don't know me well enough? But you were arguing with Moné about
me?" I charged.


"It wasn't anything bad," he said, somewhat taken aback.


"What is a `Special Friend?'" I asked.


"Do you know what sex is?" he asked, blushing profusely.


"Of course, I'm ten, not two!" I answered.


"And have you done anything like that?" he asked.


"No, I'm ten, not fifteen," I answered smugly.


"Well, there are a lot of things that are called `sex,'" he answered.


"I know about the kind that you can have alone," I said, smiling at
him.


I was not a bashful child.


"Well, that's good! Have you ever done that with anyone else?" he
asked.


"Well, my cousin, Emris, showed me how," I replied, blushing as much as
he had.


"How old is he?" Tal asked.


"Nine," I answered.


"A younger boy showed you?" he said, rather loudly.


"Yeah, he didn't even have any hair there," I replied.


"And you do?" Tal pushed.


"I've had hair for more than a year," I answered, raising my arm, so
that he could see the curly blond hairs there.


"Wow, I bet you have more than I do," he replied, raising his arm.
There was a very small tuft of short black hairs in evidence. "I guess
you have a lot down there, too?" he asked, pointing below my waist.


"Yes, since I was nine," I answered.


"Will you show me?" he replied.


"Will you show me?" I asked brazenly.


"I thought you'd never ask!" he answered playfully.


We didn't have a chance that day. After lunch, Moné took us back for
more training, then took me back home. She wouldn't allow TaliÄ"sin to
come with us.



"Don't let TaliÄ"sin talk you into anything," Moné warned.


"What do you mean?" I asked, as though I didn't know.


"Anything you don't want to do," she replied.


"All right," I answered.


The sky was the limit, then, I thought, mischievously.



There were no lessons the next day, and I was surprised when Tal showed
up at our door.


"Conler, there is a boy here to see you," Mum called.


"Mum, this is TaliÄ"sin ní Credne. We are in the same class," I
explained. "Tal, how did you know where I live?"


"Everyone knows where you live; at least, all my people," he replied.
"They already ask me questions about you, as though I have known you for
years."


"What kind of questions," I asked. I really didn't like it that people
were asking about me.


"Oh, like, when did you move here. I told them I thought you were born
here; and how strong were your talents. I told them I didn't know. It is
no one's business how strong your talents are," he replied. "I didn't
want to tell the boy that they outstripped his by a long shot," he
added, with a smirk.


"What boy?" I probed.


"He thinks he is superior to everyone else. Actually, he's not bad
looking; but he has an irritating personality, you know, snooty and
pretentious, and he feels entitled."


"We call that hubris," I replied. "I have no patience for that,
either."


"Whatever, anyway, he only spoke to me to ask about you. Ordinarily, he
wouldn't have given me the time of day," Tal confided.


"Why?"


"His father is Chief of a Clan," Tal replied. "He thinks he is too
good to speak to us commoners."


"Is that the boy named Brychan gli'Ordinez?" I asked.


"How did you know?"


"My Mum speaks Welsh; and she was talking about meeting a Clan Chief
with a son named Brychan. She said that means `spotted' in Welsh; and
she couldn't understand why anyone would name their son something like
that."


"Are you certain of that?" Tal asked. "That is a great thing to know,
if it's true."


"Let's ask her," I suggested.


Mum was just coming to call us to lunch.


"Mum, what did you tell me the name, Brychan, means in Welsh?" I asked.


She laughed.


"Spotted, or covered with speckles," she replied.


"TaliÄ"sin knows that boy," I informed her.


"He's a right creep, too," Tal told her, hastily.


"So is his Da!" Mum replied. "You would have thought he was a king,
the way he acted when he addressed the Trade Guild. The Consortium
decided not to trade with his group, because of the attitude he displayed
during the meeting," she informed us. "He was bloody furious. He
reminded me of an angry puff-toad."


"His son is really not bad looking," Tal said, again. "Probably he
takes after his mum. I've seen his `Puff-Toad' Da, too; and that's
the best description I've ever heard for him. There have been a lot of
descriptions of both of his parents----none good."


"What does your Da do?" Mum asked.


"He's a goldsmith," Tal replied proudly.


"Really? I have a bar of electrum that I would trade, if he would make
up something for me," Mum replied.


"Electrum? That's a natural alloy of gold and silver, `i'n' it?"
Tal asked. "I think he has been looking for some. He says when he makes
it from gold and silver, it turns out to be a different color, or
something. He would be glad to get some of the natural stuff, I know."


"I can get as much as he needs," Mum told him. "My Da owned the mine,
and it passed to me when he died. There is some gold there, and some
silver. There's also some platinum, but there's really no market for
that anymore, due to the difficulty working it, and the extremely high
temperature required to melt it. I have a few nuggets somewhere. We have
moved so many times, due to Conler's father being in the military, that
I still haven't unpacked some boxes from three and four moves ago."


"Far out!" Tal almost shouted. "Da will be very glad to meet you! He
sometimes has great difficulty getting the pure metals when he needs
them."


"I have some in the Settlement vaults here; but I'm afraid I can't
tell you exactly what, off the top of my head. I will look at the deposit
records, if you think he might be interested," Mum told him.



"Soooo! You're good-looking and rich!" Tal said, winking at me.


I turned as red as a boiled lobster, with embarrassment, but felt
complimented by my new friend.


"Mum has always said that the metals were only worth having, if they
were used to make something beautiful," I replied.


I wore a heavy platinum ring that no one ever noticed; it had belonged to
my grandfather, and it was gray and not shiny. People didn't even notice
jewelry made from platinum, unless it had diamonds or other precious
stones set into it.



Tal's father, Credne ní Ithja, was excited when Tal told him what my Mum
had said. He looked at my hand, noticing the platinum ring.


"Boy, where did you get that ring? It is worth a fortune!" he said.


"It was my grandfather's," I answered. "He worked with precious
metals; and my Mum lets me wear it."


"Your grandfather must have had smaller hands than most grown men," he
replied.


"No, when I first put it on my finger, it was too big, by a lot. Mum
wouldn't let me wear it, or even take it outside----afraid I would lose
it; but I wore it to bed one night, and when I woke up, it fit my finger,
only it seems to be a quite a bit wider and thicker than it was when I
first put it on," I explained.


"You are telling me that the ring resized itself to fit you?" he asked.


"Well, that's what happened, just as I told you," I replied.


"Then, your grandfather was a Wizard," he said. "No one but a Wizard
could create a self-sizing ring. This one has grown with me," he said.

He held out his hand showing me a large ring made of five or six
different colors of gold.


"It is beautiful!" I said. "I've never seen so many colors of gold!"


"My great-great-great-grandsire made it; and he was a Wizard," he told
us.


"Credne, don't be fillin' the boy's mind with your prattle. Yuh don'
know that his grandsire was a Wizard n'more I do," his wife, Neit,
Tal's mum, snapped. "Don' mind the Wizard talk, Conler, my husband
should not be sayin' such."


"Neit, yuh know full well that my grandsire practiced Wizardry," he
countered, "and was in league with yer own grandsire. Where'd yuh think
TaliÄ"sin's gifts come from? Certainly not from the likes of us. We don'
`ave talent eno' ta bake bread w'out an ov'n."


"Well, some of us have a bit more than that, Husband!" she replied
curty.


"He is speaking the truth, Ma'am. It was said that Mum's Da was a
Sorcerer and Wizard. I'm not sure she knows that I know; but my uncle
told me a few years ago," I answered, trying to save face for the man.
It was the truth.


"Well, be that as it may, Credne shouldn't talk of it," she answered.



"Let's go, Conler," Tal said. "We are supposed to be in class in less
than a half a candle-mark."


"Don't be upsettin' Moné, boys," Crédne warned. "She takes `er
learnin' ser'sly."


"As well she should!" Neit added, glaring at her husband.



"Don't mind them, Conler," Tal said. "They fill every day with the
same cheerful banter." He laughed. "I have survived it so far; so I
guess it's not fatal," he added.



Moné had exercises for us in telepathy, teleportation, levitation, and
disparition prepared for the day's lessons. I was already Mage
Adept-level at all four, although I didn't want to show off to my
classmates.


"You are holding back, Conler! Do you think I can't sense that?" she
scolded. "Don't hold back. Do the best that you can."


I levitated to a foot over their heads, then spun myself like a top,
landing gracefully, after a slow down-spin.


"Well, that was surprising," TaliÄ"sin said. "I've never even tried to
do anything like that."


"I was always alone before I started class here; since there is no one
my age in our settlement," I replied. "There was nothing else to do."


"What else can you do?" Tal asked.


"Get ready," I warned.


"Get ready for wh...."


I levitated him, as I had done myself, and started a slow spin.


"I won't go too fast," I said. "The first few times, it made me
really dizzy."


"Sock it to me," he replied, so I did.


When I started winding him down, I could tell he was really dizzy, so I
didn't set him down right away, knowing he would stagger.


"Conler, I knew you had been holding out on us, but I had no idea,"
Moné said.


She looked at the class.


"All of you should be able to do what you just saw Conler do. You all
were born with those gifts," she said.


"Who would ever think of doing something like that," a tall girl asked.


"Show us what you do for practice," I said. She did not respond.


By that time, I had brought Tal to the ground; and he was still
stupefied.


"You said to sock it to you," I whispered.


"It was really fun," he replied, with a huge smile.


But he didn't tell me to do it again.



News of my spectacle spread like wildfire throughout the Túath Dé
communíty; and I had other students asking me to teach them how to do
what I had done. I didn't know how to answer them. They could levitate;
well, most of them could. So all they had to do was add the spin. That's
what I told them. Evidently, it was not that simple; even though I
thought it was. I didn't think of it as spells; I simply thought about
what I wanted to do, and it happened.


"Leave it to Humans to think of doing something so frivolous," Brychan
remarked within Tal's earshot.


"The whole purpose of that `exercise' is to teach control," Tal
remarked. "You could use all of that you can get; because your mouth is
always out of control!"


Several people who overheard their conversation broke into raucous
laughter.


"It's true," a very pretty girl said to Brychan. "You really do need
to think occasionally before you speak. I've heard you come out with
some really ignorant comments; but that `frivolous' statement tops them
all. You wish you could do just a tenth as well as Conler."


"I'll tell my father what you said, Diedre!" Brychan threatened.


"Talk about something frivolous," she replied. "If your father is just
half as creepy as you are, I pity the people in his clan."


"You...," Brychan began, when he was pulled aside by Tal.


"Be careful what you say. Diedre's father, Aurnír Ölvaldi, is High Clan
Leader, Chief Justice of the High Court, and your dad's superior," he
warned. "If she so much as mentions that you spoke against her, there
would be war."


"No one is superior to my father!" Brychan shouted.


The girl, Diedre, squinted her eyes at him and walked away.


In only moments, six guards came looking for Brychan.



"Well, I warned him," Tal remarked to me.


"Some people have to learn the hard way," I replied.


"Her father is fair, but strict; but he will not tolerate insolence
toward his daughter," Tal said.


The next day, Brychan was not at the training center; nor was he there
the next day, or the next.


"What happened to Brychan?" I asked Tal.


"His father put him in the army," he answered. "Technically, he is not
old enough; but evidently, his father has been having difficulties with
him for a while."



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