The Joys Of Education
The Joys of Education
It is said that a sidereal can be trained in but a year and a day. That those newly chosen by the maidens are taken by their peers to isolated manses concealed from the eyes of man and god alike by cunning artifice and potent sorceries. Here hidden from the world and shielded from distraction the newly reborn servants of fate are educated and moulded by their elders in preparation for the centuries of labour that lay ahead of them. These academies are overseen by the most venerable and respected of the five fold fellowship. They are amongst the most powerful beings in all of creation and many of them have preformed this task for millennia. Under their austere guidance back alley whores are transformed into priestesses and petty bar room brawlers become skilful, erudite generals.
Considering all of this it is somewhat surprising that the sidereal known as Caras’Val lingered in the hidden academies for the better part of five full years and that when he was finally released from his studies to take his place in heaven it was not with the celebration that usually accompanies the arrival of another sidereal into the ranks of the woefully under staffed bureaus. Rather it was with bitter resignation on behalf of his sifus as the ancient sorcerers reluctantly admitted defeat and released their most stubborn pupil back into creation.
It wasn’t that Val was a poor student of course. He had always been a quick witted and deeply intelligent individual. Indeed several of his tutors were rather perturbed to find their pupil was already far more skilled than they at certain feats.
The time that the Lady Vardra attempted to teach him the proper forms of dance is still a cause for much snickering in certain quarters of Yu Shan. It is said that in their first class she had attempted to awe him by performing the fall of the seven thunders a stunning and moving piece created at the height of the shogunate to commemorate the death of a great Dragon Blooded hero. She had moved across the manses broad floor of polished marble, the epitome of grace and elegance, as she relating the tragic fall of the house of Voreth. It is said that all who saw this performance were moved to tears by the bitter sweet beauty of it, all that is except her student. After she had finished Val had tutted irritably and shaken his head “Well that just won’t do at all now will it” he said “You did the right thing coming to see me.” And while Vardra had stood positively stunned at this statement he had crossed the hall and with quick business like hands had set about correcting her posture and stance all the while pointing out the minor errors she had made in her rendition.
Neither was Val a lazy man. Indeed he was filled with a boundless energy and a near insatiable wander lust. In all the years of his life the troubadour had seldom stayed in any one place longer than a few months, dwelling no longer than his surroundings held his interest. After but a few short weeks wandering the halls of the great manse where he was housed and looking out over the decidedly uninteresting view of bare rock and snow and he was becoming more than a little bored.
Naturally he decided to take a brief walk down to the nearest township, a mere week or so to the south, but as he made for door he found his way barred by one of his senior tutors and he was informed that he was forbidden to leave the grounds. Even as the words left he lips the sidereal in question realised he may well have made a mistake as Val crossed his arms over his chest cocked an eyebrow and stared levelly at him, a slight smile touching his lips.
It was after this incident that Val began to take what he liked to call “holidays” and what he tutors referred to as “Repeated Escape Attempts.” At first these were rather unimpressive affairs with Val attempting to sneak from the ancient fortress in the dead of night and to flee as far as he could on foot. The first few attempts saw Val barely make his way beyond the door of his suite before finding that on of his masters had divined his intentions well in advance and stood patiently awaiting his arrival.
His teachers had naturally assumed that like most students Val would quickly come to see escape as impossible and accept their authority. However each time he was caught Val would simply smile thoughtfully too himself. Much the same expression he would wear while quietly taking notes in class. The truly astute may have noticed that on each occasion the would was intercepted just that little further from his rooms and that his somewhat over confidant tutors had received ever so slightly less warning. So it was that they were most perturbed to wake one morning and find their student missing. It had only taken a few hours to track him down to a small guild caravan camped in the mountains to the west. There they found him sitting by the fire with his feet up chatting amiably with the yeddim drivers as he played upon a borrowed fiddle.
The mortals were more than a little intimidated at the sight of a dozen men and women suddenly appearing amidst falling snow and striding into their camp an expression of fury etched upon their faces and raw essence arching in the air about them. The guildsmen rather quickly decided that it would be a good idea to be elsewhere for a time and promptly ran off into the morning twilight. Val remained seated plucking at his instrument as the ancients gathered about him, their expressions grim. Finally Val looked up and smiled warmly at his tutors. “Four hours, twenty three minutes and thirty two seconds” he said shaking his head and laughing “I do believe you’re slipping honoured sifu’s.” “Still” He said poking at the sausages sizzling on the camp fire “I do wish you could have lingered just a little longer in your beds breakfast isn’t quite ready yet. You’ll have to take a seat and wait.” Their features darkening his teachers had drawn in about him none looking terribly amused.
A few weeks later once all of Val’s broken bones had healed his tutors had come to hope that he had learned his lesson, thought just in case he hadn’t they went to the trouble of binding a couple of demons to keep and eye on him. Things were peaceful for a few months with Val dutifully keeping to his studies and being, at least by his standards, quite respectful to his elders. His tutors grateful for the momentary respite from his caustic sense of humour and inventive practical jokes didn’t really think to check exactly what it was that he was studying with such new found passion. At least not until the day they found that the demons set to watch him had some how been bound to the new task and interesting task of inscribing a series of very powerful and specific runes and wards across the walls of the manse. Wards designed to block and confuse the precognitive abilities of the sidereals. By the time they tracked down the demons and banished them the very walls of the manse had been impregnated with counter magic. The ancient masters were blinded to the goings on of the world.
It took them some time to grind the inscriptions from the stone walls and purge the tainted essence flows of the manse. Of course by the time they did they found Val to be slightly more than a few hours away.
Three months later when master Belshamoth successfully tracked his wayward student down to a small tavern on the Coral archipelago where an old bearded sailor sat behind a filthy corner table telling jokes filthy enough to make a Deathlord blush. The elder wasted no time in crossing the room and with a single sharp word in the language of the old realm stripping the magical disguise that shrouded Val’s features. The young sidereal looked up with an expression of impudent glee that all the hosts of Yu Shan have come to dread and said “Four months, two weeks, four days, two hours, seventeen minutes and twenty nine seconds. Well done. Now you hide and I’ll try to find you.”
It’s said that the cry of frustration and impotent rage that issued from the sifu on that day were heard as far away as the Neck. It was shortly after this that the masters came to the general consensus that The Whispered Truths education was very much complete and that though he may be somewhat undisciplined he was certainly highly skilled and capable. Indeed they argued that new sidereals were so desperately needed that it would simply be immoral to keep him any longer.
The more private consensus amongst his tutors had been that if they had to endure one more instance of his odd sense of humour or track him down again when he went on one of his “Little holidays” they were either going to kill him or suffer a mental break down brought on by the unnecessary stress.
Still before they realised him to work his will upon the world at large there was one more thing they felt it necessary to teach him. Humility…..
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