Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Roka watched several emotions play over Elise King’s face as she took in Yusubru’s question. Confusion gave way to quick understanding, followed by a flash of frustration and then composure.

“Not yet,” she said. “Some of my subordinates are preparing a few of your people for the work, but they are not quite ready. I hope to have one Donparsh teacher and one Ninzamian teacher in every classroom by the end of the year.”

“Do these children see only pale adult faces all day?”

Despite Yusubru’s tone, Elise King remained calm. “They do not sleep within the confines of the school. They are only here for six hours in a day, otherwise they remain with their families.”

“But in this environment, there are no Ninzamian minders at all? That is unacceptable.” Yusubru turned to Talit, who had remained quietly at the back of the group. “The emperor condones this?”

“It has proven effective, so far,” Talit said, though he spoke without conviction. “My father is pushing hard for our own teachers to complete their training. It takes time.”

“Ninzamian fathers and mothers do not need to be trained to watch their children. These children need supervisors with faces they can recognize.”

“You saw the guard outside,” Elise King said. “He is in our employ, but he belongs to your people.”

“Then bring him inside. Do not have him watching the gate to a fort he does not own. Employ more men and women who are marked with the pox and fill the halls with them. I cannot stand to know so many children live a quarter of their existence with only Ensigns to look at.”

Bringing Yusubru to such a place had been a mistake. Considering how well the emperor knew her master, Roka didn’t understand why he hadn’t seen this coming. Though Elise King had said the emperor thought Yusubru would find the schools “intriguing,” perhaps that was his way of saying appalling.

“Please, Master Sentinel,” Elise King said, clearly less concerned with Yusubru’s insults and more concerned that he see the benefits of her work. After all, he possessed the emperor’s confidence. “I have no wish to sever the connection between your children and their parents, neither do I wish to fill their minds with my own ideas. This is all to help them. To help your people. I can certainly see to it that more imperial citizens be vetted and placed in non-teaching positions while we wait for Ninzamian teachers.”

Yusubru remained quiet, giving her a long look. The teaching in the classroom had stopped. Frans, the Ensign teacher, looked out on them through the window, a confused expression on his face. Some of the children in the room gathered at the closest table and looked out curiously as well.

“But it is a slow process,” Elise King continued when Yusubru said nothing. “We cannot have unknown men and women among your children. It is unsafe.”

“I believe your expert teachers to be unknown and unsafe.”

Elise King finally squared herself up and looked Yusubru in the eye. “They are perfectly safe. I know your people and mine have a dark history, but I will no longer stand here and listen to you malign the staff I have staked my life’s work on. Frankly, I was against the inclusion of Ninzamian teachers. It is inefficient to train them to the level of one of my own teachers. But I understand, that is what your people want so that’s what I’ll do. You are not happy. I am not happy.”

She glared at him, and he glared back. Roka’s eye went to Yusubru’s sword, but he didn’t reach for it. His hands stayed at his sides as loose fists. Somehow, his anger remained controlled. Perhaps their conversation on the way into Topto had resulted in a turned over leaf on his part. Or perhaps his rage had merely become more clever.

“For someone so interested in the trade of ideas,” Yusubru said, his voice calm, “I’m surprised you would need to be coerced into educating adults, instead of just impressionable children.”

“I have to say I agree with him,” Talit said. He stepped forward, arms crossed over his chest. “I did not know you were so reluctant to include Ninzamian teachers, Ms. King.”

“It becomes rapidly harder to teach students as they age,” Elise King explained. “Donparsh studies have shown that a sixteen-year-old learner already has twice as much difficulty capturing new concepts as a fifteen-year-old learner, and the gap only widens from there. It is more prudent to give resources to younger generations than older. Despite that fact, I am willing to put in the extra resources with the adults of your people, but I will concede that I think it is a waste of my efforts. The subordinates I have allocated to preparing six Ninzamian teachers could have taken over instruction for four new classes of children. That is sixty-four minds that will fall behind their peers.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“It is also sixty-four minds that will not hear about the history of their people from someone with the wrong skin color,” Yusubru said.

“Wrong?” Elise King asked, her face beginning to glow red.

“I believe,” Roka said, stepping in between the two parties, “this is not the time for this discussion. You both understand how the other feels.” She indicated the children in the classroom. All sixteen of them now gathered around the window with Frans standing behind them, scratching his head. “I do not think these children need to see you dissolve into personal attacks.”

Elise King seemed surprised to see Roka interfere. She gave her an appraising eyebrow raise and then looked back at Yusubru.

But Yusubru was the first to speak. “Roka is right. I will bring my grievances to the emperor. It was not right of me to make light of your hard work. I apologize.”

Roka noted he did not apologize for his attack on the color of Ensign skin, but she figured it was a miracle he backed down at all and decided to tally a win for reason.

“Your apology is accepted,” Elise King finally said. “I am happy to discuss this issue with you again later, and I am sure the emperor’s perspective would bring much needed clarity to the issue. Would you like to see the rest of the school? Perhaps we could visit a classroom that focuses on a more objective subject? Arithmetic, for example?”

“Very well,” Yusubru said. “I should certainly see the entire picture before I allow myself to pass judgement.”

As they continued the tour, walking through the narrow white hallway to the next classroom, Roka dropped back to talk to her master. Elise King and Talit took up the front with Talit’s guard close behind, separating the two groups.

“Your behavior confuses me, master,” Roka whispered.

“I expect it does,” Yusubru said. “I saw the way you eyed my sword hand. Do I seem so close to violence?”

“Experience has taught me to be wary, but no, you do not seem close to violence at all. You have been far more… cunning with Ms. King than I expected.”

Any other observer would not have thought her master cunning in the least, but compared to his usual response to insult, injustice, and Ensigns in general, the word fit.

“The capital is different from the countryside. My approach to what I found unjust was bound to change. And while I do not like her, I am sure there is some part of Ms. King that is truly interested in the improvement of the empire. I simply wish her to recognize our visions may differ.”

“I am impressed,” Roka said. “You might be able to survive without me after all.”

Yusubru laughed and the others turned around at the noise. Elise King seemed perturbed, but she kept the tour going, explaining the level of arithmetic the students in the next classroom were engaged in and how it might help them in future employment or even entrepreneurship, a concept Roka did not fully understand.

Elise King brought them to each classroom and gave them a brief look at what was being taught. Every lesson looked the same to Roka, but she knew the difference was in the substance rather than the appearance.

The most surprising revelation was that the parents of the children being educated had not paid in any way for their child to be included. The funds for the schools came entirely from a treasury cooperatively filled by both the Ninzam Empire and the Many Ensigns of Donpar. No child or parent paid a single coin out of their pocket, though apparently the Ninzamian contribution was linked to taxes.

Roka left the school thinking Elise King was right, her system of education could benefit the empire greatly, albeit with a few important caveats. The schools needed Ninzamian teachers as soon as possible. Yusubru had not been wrong on that front, only in his approach to it. Roka did not have his same mistrust of the Ensigns, but she also recognized Elise King, a powerful figure from a nation that had once been a wartime enemy, could exert a great amount of influence over the empire’s future by staffing her schools with only Ensigns.

But as Roka felt the hot noonday sun bear down on her and realized they had been in the school for two hours, something else occupied her thoughts. She again took up position at her master’s side.

“I do not wish you to think I am rushing you, master, but have you given any more thought to when I will be raised to a full Sentinel?”

“You really are eager to leave, aren’t you?”

“Should I lie and say I am not? I would not trade the time–”

“No, I understand, you do not need to explain. The time comes for every apprentice to move on. In your case, it is clear and pressing. I have always known the day would come when you would have challenges to face without me."

Roka looked up at him, feeling some of the sentiment that had driven her to hug him the day before. As ready as she was to move on, she had spent six years travelling with and learning from this man. In many ways, she had two fathers, the man who had raised her to an adult and the man who had taught her what to do next. Tears formed at her eyelids.

“Now, now,” Yusubru said before the tears could fall. His voice cracked ever so slightly. “Not in front of the Ensign.” He cleared his throat. “We only need a few minutes alone to raise you to a full Sentinel. Perhaps tonight, after the choral ball but before bed? The citadel should be quiet enough then.”

Roka nodded, unwilling to speak and reveal her emotions. As she knew it, the ceremony was a simple process. It required isolation, but it was informal enough that any full Sentinel could complete the process with her. As long as Yusubru’s acknowledgment of her was clear and verified, nothing else much mattered.

“Very good,” Yusubru said. “I will raise you tonight and we will get the emperor’s permission for the interview as soon as possible. It will probably have to come after tomorrow. As much as it chips my blade, Ms. King and the other Ensigns want to talk to us formally before the official interview. We must wait for that.”

“I am not worried about that,” Roka said. “In fact, I am somewhat eager to see how they operate. I imagine it will benefit me greatly in the future to have a relationship with them.”

“That is a wise outlook indeed,” Yusubru said, but he did not sound like he agreed.