Logs:Facing the Music
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| RL Date: 22 April, 2008 |
| Who: Madilla |
| Involves: Healer Hall |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: A few weeks after her arrival at the Healer Hall, Madilla is taken aside to address an increasingly obvious problem. |
| Where: Healer Hall |
| When: Day 5, Month 2, Turn 16 (Interval 10) |
| After some weeks of classes, Madilla was not exactly feeling comfortable, but at least she felt like she knew what to expect more than she had. She hadn't really made any friends, though most of the other Apprentices seemed nice enough. She sat on the edge of a row, in the dining hall for meals, and always felt outside the conversations. Still, no one was unkind, or deliberately excluded her. She was just starting her porridge when someone came up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She flinched, dropping her spoon into her bowl. Someone sniggered; Madilla went pink, straightening her shoulders, her nose going in the air. She turned around, to see who it was, and there was a Senior Apprentice in front of her, a girl she didn't know. "You're to report to Master Dougil, after breakfast. One of your classmates will tell the Craftsecond why you're late." Madilla could feel all eyes on her, and felt her cheeks flush more darkly. "Yes, Ma'am." The Apprentice smirked, looking rather pleased at this title, though once she'd turned on her heels and left, the girl sitting next to Madilla nudged her. "You don't call the Seniors 'ma'am'. They're still just apprentices, like us." "Oh," said Madilla, still pink-cheeked. "What do I call them?" "Their names, usually. Or--" the girl seemed to take pity on Madilla, and smiled. "Their titles work, too. I know it's hard to remember everyone's names so quickly." Madilla nodded, grateful, reaching in to pick up her spoon, which was covered in porridge, and made her hands gooey. "What did you do, anyway?" asked the other girl, tossing blond hair over her shoulder. "It'd have to be pretty bad for you to have gotten on the bad side of Dougil." "I don't know," admitted Madilla. "I mean - nothing, I think. I haven't broken any rules." Despite having the spoon in her hand again, now, her stomach was in too many knots to even consider eating it. She felt nauseous. "Has to be something!" "I don't know." The girl gave Madilla a long, searching look, and finally nodded. "I believe you. Still, it's strange. You should eat, anyway. It's /ages/ until break, and Master Amaryllia is an awful taskmaster." Madilla nodded, remember Amaryllia from her interview, when she first arrived. But the porridge seemed to weigh her down as if her stomach was full of iron weights, and she didn't manage more than a few mouthfuls before the bell rang. As the rest of the Junior Apprentices continued on to their classes, Madilla ventured back up the stairs, heart-racing, to find master Dougil's office. No one paid her much attention, for which she was grateful, but even that couldn't calm her nerves. Was she going to get kicked out for some unknown infraction, after only a few weeks? She hadn't exactly done /well/, so far, but she hadn't done badly, either! She couldn't be expected to know everything. Right? In her nervousness, she walked right past Dougil's open office - not that she'd known exactly where it was, anyway, admittedly - and was interrupted instead by a call from inside. "Apprentice. In here, please." She doubled back, pale faced and trembling, entering the office with hesitating steps. He was a kind-looking man, probably a little younger than her own father, and she recognised him from yesterday's Herbalism class. He was smiling at her, and she found it unnerving. "Shut the door, Madilla, and take a seat. I won't keep you long." She did as she was told, sitting, her hands pressed into her lap, her eyes boring holes into the wood of his desk. "What was your education like at home, Madilla?" he asked, then, his voice soft. "I understand you're from one of the holds near Peyton." She frowned, glancing up at him in confusion. "We did our teaching ballads, and my Aunt helped us with our letters and numbers. We didn't see a Harper much... but we're not ignorant! I can read, and make all my letters, and count--" He hushed her with a shake of the head, and two upheld hands. "Of course you can, and no, you're not ignorant, Madilla - far from it. But I think you'll agree that your reading and writing are... not at the same level as that of some of the other apprentices." Madilla lowered her gaze again, cheeks burning darkly. She didn't know what to say to that. "It's nothing to be ashamed of," he promised, leaning forward. "/Nothing/. You're not the first - and it's nothing that can't be fixed." "So you won't, um, send me home, or make me not be an Apprentice anymore?" "Definitely not. You're going to be a good little healer, my girl, if I'm not mistaken. Your knowledge of Herbalism is quite good, already, especially for a brand new Apprentice. But a Healer needs to be able to communicate through written methods - to tell other Healers how we're treating a patient, to report on their condition, to keep our records." "Then--" "You know that the Harper Hall is just across the courtyard?" Madilla nodded. She'd not been over there, yet, but sometimes, when you were outside, you could hear the music. She liked it. "I'm going to arrange for you to take some extra classes over there, just until you're more comfortable. Have you got your schedule with you?" She handed it over, still nervous, straining in her seat to see what he was looking at on it. "If it suits the Harpers, we'll pull you out of Anda's class on basic ailments, just for the term, and you can spend that time with them. You can pick that class up again once you're all up to speed. How does that sound?" Madilla nodded. To be honest, she didn't really know how it sounded; she was terrified at the idea of ending up in a class of babies - kids half her age! - but, on the other hand, it would be worse to fail all her exams, for example, or lose her knot altogether. "Then it's set. Don't worry about it, Madilla. You're a smart girl, I think. You'll pick it all up." Again, she nodded. He glanced down at her schedule, and winced. "You're with the Craftsecond in the infirmary, doing the rounds. Better hurry on down, before you miss too much. I'll let you know when we're organised for all of this." Outside the infirmary, a few minutes later, she hesitated, taking a few deep breaths. The Craftsecond terrified her, frankly. And, despite Dougil's words, she was ashamed. They must think her home, her family, so backwards. To consider her education complete, when everyone else in the world, it seemed, knew so much more! To her surprise, however, Amaryllia hadn't seemed to notice that she'd been missing, nor even her tardy arrival. And that girl from breakfast - Evede - reached out and squeezed her hand. "Alright?" Madilla nodded. "Alright." |
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