The Lord of the Crows

Part 12 - New Students

The number of my students had increased to three. More precisely, it had increased to two, plus the old man who persistently recited the "Ode to the White Lady of Kalioprega". That afternoon, in the library, quite unexpectedly, a skinny girl in the caretaker's uniform came to us, and bravely offered to help me with the household if I taught her how to read. Peck's face was red and deeply immersed in the book he was reading, so I assumed that the encounter was somehow his fault. I was about to make a joke, when I caught out of the corner of my eye, that she was desperately gripping the edge of her tunic. There was no doubt. The poor child knew very well who I was and was extremely afraid of me, but she was still determined to ask me to teach her to read. I put aside the book I tried to read during Peck's spelling exercises and looked at her extremely seriously.

"I don't need household help."

She shivered. Her gaze flickered to the young man for a moment, as if weighing what to do now.

"But I'll be happy to help you, if you really want to learn how to read."

Her cheeks flushed and her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Do you want to learn it?"

She nodded. I pointed to a chair across me and pushed a piece of paper and a piece of charcoal in to her.

"When you master the basics, you'll get your inkwell. Coal is easily wiped off, so we can reuse the paper. Do you know anything?"

She shook her head.

"I recognize some letters and symbols, but that's it."

"Fine. What do you want us to start with, once you master all the letters?"

She blushed again and turned her gaze to Peck. The young man stopped reading and followed our conversation with interest.

"Um, songs ...", I barely heard her.

I raised an eyebrow and repeated.

"Songs?"

The guy hurried to explain.

"Ella nurtures, you know, the ones with the green coats ... and ..."

I realized.

"Please, sir," she leaned across the table and took my hand, "he is the only one I cannot establish any bridge, any kind of contact with, nothing since they brought him in."

Her touch, though gentle, made me uncomfortable. I slowly pulled out my hand and asked, watching her face carefully:

"You could have just asked me to teach you a song."

She shook her head, now much more confident.

"It's not the same, sir. Yes, I could have asked you to teach me the song, but ... ", she raised her head and looked me straight in the eye: "Maybe somewhere outhere, there is another song he knows, maybe there is some medicine we don't know about, maybe... Please, sir, I learned everything about nursing they could teach me here, I only have those books left."

I got up and went to the shelves without saying a word. It took me a while to find something that could benefit us in the language we could benefit from. I sank back into my place, opened the frayed sheets, and lowered one in front of the girl.

"I'll read it to you and you just copy what you see. Your letters will be big and awkward, but don't worry. Tomorrow I will write it to you, letter by letter, and you will repeat until you learn."

She nodded and took a piece of charcoal in her hand. Peck returned to his book, mumbling, and I, having two students, finally had to completely give up on reading.