The children woke up before dawn, thanks to Grandma’s nagging and prodding, both through mental communication and the golem dragging the covers off the sleeping kids. They rose with grumbling protests, but moved through their morning routine quickly enough, with Grandma chivvying them along. Faces and hands washed, mouths rinsed, they stumbled down the inn stairs to grab a quick breakfast of meat filled buns along the way to the school and their new jobs.
Grandma curled the golem back up at the foot of the bed and, after covering the lump of earth with their saddlebags, slid back into Mina’s mind. [Oh, you walk fast, dear.]
[Welcome back, Grandma.] Mina grinned.
“Oh, is Grandma back?” Tanner asked, noticing Mina’s abrupt cheer.
“Yep!”
“Should we get Grandma some clothes so that she can walk around the city with us?” Tanner looked at a spot above Mina’s ears, as if he could see the ghost of Grandma hovering over the girl’s head.
Grandma laughed internally but didn’t correct the boy. [I would need a lot more than clothes to go about in town. First I’d need better eyes.]
“Grandma says she needs eyes. I guess it’s hard to see out of those quartz stones, and besides, it’s pretty obvious that there’s something weird about a person with rocks in their face.”
[Maybe if we have extra money someday, we can find a glassblower to make some glass balls. I bet that would help.]
The children arrived at the servants’ entrance of the Sorian School just in time. The head chef greeted them as they entered the vast kitchens, then a supervisor hustled them along, tossing two sets of uniforms at them and giving them rapid fire instructions. On one side, there were stations for washing vegetables, peeling, chopping, then a large bank of stoves. On another side, a long stretch of counters was occupied by many bakers mixing, kneading, whipping, shaping, leading to several massive ovens set into the wall. Along the back, there were stations for handling fish and animals.
“You, boy–” the supervisor paused expectantly.
“Tanner,” he supplied quickly.
“Go join the bakers. Follow their instructions exactly, no more, no less, all right? No playing around.”
“Yes sir,” Tanner nodded and scampered off.
“You–”
“Mina.”
“You’re good with a knife, so you can work the prep stations. Try not to snack too much,” his mouth twitched in a grin.
Mina bobbed a clumsy curtsy and scurried to her new station, where her coworkers greeted her with nods and smiles. [Grandma?]
[Sure, I’ll help you sometimes, but I want you to practice too, all right?]
The day passed in a whirlwind. Many students at the school lived in the dormitories, and so Mina and Tanner worked to make breakfast, which consisted of a variety of sliced fruits, pastries, and porridge. The cafeteria also had to be stocked with basic snacks all the time, loaves of bread and pots of jam mostly, in case some students overslept, or were particularly hungry during the day. Mina learned that lunch changed depending on the kitchen’s supplies of available ingredients, but mostly included some kind of soup or stew, more bread, and roasted meats. After the lunch rush, they prepared for dinner, featuring more roast meats, vegetables, and huge pots of rice.
The children met up throughout the day to compare notes over staff meals and short breaks. The other cooks were impressed by Grandma’s knife skills. Tanner complained that his arms ached from all the stirring and kneading he had to do over at the bread station, so Grandma gave his hands and forearms a quick massage. “We don’t want you getting hurt,” she said.
Finally, their work day was over. The cooks sent the children home with leftovers, and their supervisor handed them a small pouch of coins for their efforts. “We usually give out pay at the end of the week, but seeing how ragged you two are, I figured you could use an advance.” He patted them on the head. “Good work today.”
[Wow, we didn’t even have to beg for that advance,] Grandma said, impressed. [He’s a pretty observant and thoughtful fellow.]
“That school sure is fancy,” Tanner said as he ate the cold leftovers in their room.
“Grandma says it must cost a lot of money to attend as a student.” Mina paused in between bites. “I wonder if we can learn from there too?”
Grandma, in the golem, shrugged eloquently. [They keep us pretty busy in the kitchens. You’d have to figure out either a way to sneak off during the day, which I don’t think is a great idea, or a way to stay late after work, which sounds exhausting. Actually, do we get any days off? Maybe if we wander around the school on our day off…]
Mina relayed Grandma’s musings, then added, “I think Supervisor Lee said we get one day off for six days of work. Even when the students don’t have classes, they still need to eat, so we all rotate our rest days.”
[Let’s try to look around on our next rest day. Maybe we’ll find a library where we can learn to read.]
The next five days passed in a pleasantly food scented blur. At least they had enough money now to pay for the room at the inn, and buy the occasional treat for breakfast before work. Mina slowly grew more skilled at chopping vegetables, though Grandma still took over when there was a sudden time crunch. Tanner’s forearms ached every day, and they worried that he would hurt himself. Grandma taught him some self massage techniques, and helped him heat up some water to soak his sore muscles.
At last, it was their rest day. The children slept in until the sun was high in the sky. After breakfast, Grandma brought the children to the stationery shop. “Good morning, sir,” she called to the shopkeeper.
“Oh my, you’ve returned. Your shrimp painting sold for a decent price. Would you like to paint some more?” The man smiled, pulling out a sheaf of paper, a plush brush, and a saucer with ink.
“I’d like to receive my commission first,” Grandma grinned, showing teeth.
“Goodness. I suppose I can’t blame you for that.” The clerk pulled out a money pouch. “Here’s half of the sale price, and a little extra for today’s painting.”
Grandma poured out the coins on the counter and sorted through them. It was about as much money as the supervisor at the school kitchen had given them for their advance. It would be a nice supplement to their income if this continued. She put the coins back in the pouch and tucked it inside her dress. “That looks fine. Then, I’ll start painting.”
[I’m not sure that he’s paying us as much as he’s saying he is, but I’m not so interested in bargaining with him right now.] Grandma murmured to Mina. [At least he is paying us something for our trouble. That’s fine to start with.]
Grandma spent the next hour or so painting. She brought to life playful monkeys swinging through the air, chubby bunnies gazing soulfully at the viewer, stands of waving bamboo, even a thick vine draped heavily with gourds. “Is this enough for today?” she asked as she put down the brush. Truthfully, Grandma simply enjoyed painting, and was happy to have the chance to do so again.
“Hah, yes, excellent! Then, I’ll hang these up and share the sales earnings with you next time.”
“I’ll be back in a week.” Grandma waved as she left, Tanner skulking along behind her.
“What are you two doing here? It’s your day off,” Supervisor Lee asked as he accosted them in the hallway.
“We were hoping to look around the school a bit,” Grandma said with her best pleading puppy eyes. “Can’t we please? I promise we won’t get into any trouble!”
Tanner, glancing at Mina’s face, nearly burst out laughing, but managed to limit himself to a strangled cough. Then he too donned his best innocent puppy face.
“Hm, the students here are all pretty wealthy, so don’t get in their way, or they’ll make trouble for you, all right?” Supervisor Lee warned them. “Stick to the servants’ hallways. You know how to tell the difference, right?”
“Yes sir,” Grandma nodded. The servants’ passages were marked with writing that, presumably, said “servants’ passages”, but she couldn’t read them yet. Nonetheless, she knew what the words looked like, more or less, so she felt confident that she could find her way around.
“Very well. Go ahead then.” Supervisor Lee turned and walked away.
[He’s surprisingly nice. Now I feel suspicious,] Grandma muttered silently. [I wonder why he’s going out of his way to help us.]
[I agree.] Mina hid in the back of her mind, wary and terrified of the man who had such power over her wellbeing.
“Well? Let’s go.” Tanner tapped his foot impatiently on the stone floor.
The children roamed the back halls, peeking through doors now and again to get their bearings. Students shuffled past them in the main passages, which were better lit, better decorated, and more spacious.
“Where are you off to now?” a student dressed in pale blue robes asked another who was dressed identically.
“I have to go to the library,” the other responded, sounding morose and resigned.
“Perfect,” Grandma hissed. “Let’s follow them.”
Trying to follow a single child in nondescript robes that looked like everyone else’s robes, while staying hidden in back halls, was quite the challenge. If only they could mark the student somehow and navigate their way to where the child stopped. Grandma envisioned dripping a tiny droplet of mana onto the student’s robe, letting the mana sink into the fabric, and then following that thin tether of mana through the buildings.
[Mina, you take over, I have to concentrate on following that kid.] Through the tenuous link, Grandma sensed the student’s trajectory, turning here, down the hall there, up these stairs, along that corridor. The school was an elaborate sprawl of buildings, with dormitories, classrooms, and shared amenities like the library and cafeteria spread out amongst the structures. Luckily, the library, being a shared amenity, was in the same building as the cafeteria and kitchens. [They’ve gone upstairs.]
The children wandered around until they found stairs up in the servants’ halls. [Which way?]
[Left from here, I think.] Grandma shared a mental image of where they were, the hallways spreading out to either side of them, and the little blue spot that marked the student.
The children kept walking, and eventually came to a heavy wooden door. There was a sign on the door, but none of them could read it. Possibly it said something like “Do Not Enter”, but well, that didn’t stop them. Pulling the door open a crack, Mina and Tanner peeked inside.
“Whoa,” Mina gasped. “That’s a lot of books.”
“Jackpot!” Tanner hissed excitedly.
[Now we just have to sneak in here without being seen, and find some books to read.]
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