Eldeba hurried through the halls of Anders’ Private House, swiftly moving his rickety old body along in search of the tutor that Anders had for his two children. He was supposed to be with the boys today.
He found the tutor giving writing lessons to Anders’ two sons. The middle-aged tutor, who was named Arann, hovered over the boys, who sat at two writing desks, scratching ink onto a piece of paper in the form of letters. Arann had a serious intensity about him while he was teaching, with his large eyebrows hanging over his eyes, his thin beard over his face, with his mouth set in a firm line across it.
When he saw Eldeba approach, he turned to look at him and nodded his head. Eldeba made a gesture that he would like to speak with him, and Arann approached, telling the two boys to keep writing.
Eldeba asked him, “You know Samuel don’t you?”
“The boy from the Fourth Order?” Arann asked.
“Yes,” Eldeba said, “The reason I ask is because I was wondering if you had the time to tutor him? You could help him learn to read.”
“Sure. I got some time after this,” Aarann said.
Later in the morning, Arann was at the door to Samuel’s room, being led in by Eldeba. Samuel was sitting on the floor, holding the hunk of charcoal in his hand, drawing loops and lines on the stone. He couldn’t see what he was doing since the blindfold was still covering his eyes, but seemed to be enjoying it nonetheless.
“Hello Samuel,” Arann said, “I’m here to help you learn how to write.”
Eldeba touched Arann’s shoulders and whispered to him, “I don’t think the boy can hear.”
Eledeba looked surprised by this new information. He bent over, and, fairly close to Samuel’s ear, he clapped his hand. The boy gave no reaction. He clapped his hand louder. Still no reaction. And no reaction when he clapped even louder.
“It makes it difficult for him to learn how to write,” Arann said, “We’ll have to do it with pictures. But that means we’ll have to remove the blindfold. Can we do that?”
“I’m afraid not,” Eldeba said, “His eyes are powerful weapons. Or so they say. According to Anders’ three philosophers of state, he has innate power to bend people to his will just by looking into their eyes.”
“You sound skeptical,” Arann said.
Eldeba seemed to remember his place and replied with extra deference and politeness, “No sir, not at all. I’m just a servant tasked with taking care of the boy. I assure you that there is nothing that would lead me to think that such respected gentlemen could ever be mistaken.”
Arann ignored his words and replied, “Yes, well if you’re skeptical, then I’m skeptical.”
Arann sat down right on the ground in front of Samuel, crossing his legs beneath him and facing the boy. Only at this point did Samuel seem to notice him, and seem to notice that it was someone different than who he was used to meeting.
Arann reached out and grabbed Samuel’s blindfold, snatching it from his head. The boy’s reaction was to hastily cover his eyes with his two hands and shake his head back and forth. Eldeba was also shocked by this gesture and moved away towards the door. But he remained in the room, closing the door immediately so that no one might accidentally chance upon them.
Arann had to silently assure the boy that there was nothing wrong and that he wasn’t to be subjected to any tests today. He grabbed the boy, touching his shoulder soothingly, and gently pushed his hands aside. With his eyes exposed, Samuel still stared at the ground. Arann had to gently raise the boy’s head until they were finally looking at each other. Arann smiled to reassure him. The boy’s piercing blue eyes looked at him uncertainly.
“I’m Arann,” he said, gesturing to himself. He then grabbed the piece of charcoal and he wrote on the ground the word, “Arann,” again gesturing to himself and pointing to the word. Then he wrote it out as a sentence, “I am Arann,” and again made similar gestures. The boy pointed at him and pointed at the word on the floor. He smiled in a way that seemed to indicate he understood.
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