School Days

Laura was no scholar, but she was fortunate enough to know the basics. She could read and write and also knew basic arithmetic. With the Hounds requiring Sings-for-Rain to be literate, Laura had taken to schooling him. She borrowed a dictionary from the library in Myth Drannor, and a few supplies from the Chauntians and spent the first few nights making alphabet flashcards for Rain. (or Squid, as he was so often called.) The first lessons went so well she considered who else in the town might want to learn.

It wasn't that the town didn't have a school. She knew for a fact the orphanage in town had classes so the children could learn, but people had pride. Being a grown man in a classroom full of children who probably knew more and were way ahead in schooling would be awkward for anyone, if not humiliating. People needed dignity in learning, and Laura could give it to them.

The problem then became a matter of where, than how. Laura had supplies, and she used what little money she had to buy more. But where would she hold class? The most logical of places would be her inn-room, but there was some discomfort in using her own space. A lady did not let any strangers, let alone men, into her bedroom. Even if it was for goodly endeavors. She heavily debated outside, but the chill and cold quickly discarded the idea. She would have to do with her inn-room, at the very least temporarily. Laura did her best to make it presentable. She pulled in tables and chairs, and pushed her bed into the far corner. She covered the bed so it would not be so obviously in the room, and kept any sign that she lived there tucked away under it. To test the room, she began to continue Sing-for-Rain's lessons there, giving him his own desk made of an old table that used to hold a sink. Half of the table was desk space, the other had a gaping hole where the sink used to be. Laura filled the hole with a bucket of water to make the water-kin more comfortable.

One day, during Rain's lessons, Laura sat in the quiet of the room painting as he scribbled out his A B Cs. She placed a plaque on her inn-room door, and a sign right outside the inn.

Upon reading the note, Jay would reach Laura to tell her about the upcoming school project approved by the mayor and ask her if she is interested in arranging her lessons in a safer and more comfortable place.