The Ways of the Forest

INTRODUCTION PART TWO: THE WAY OF THE FOREST

I know I still haven't gotten to the part about how he finds the first salvis, but this part of the story is necessary to understand his view on life, family, school, the forest, hunting, and the world; to understand Wyn's story, you will have to know his backstory. So, let us continue. (Wyn is complaining that I have already told you too much. Oh well.)

"Class, since we have new students, we will review the safety drill today. What do we do in a storm?" Mr. Gideon seemed to think this was unnecessary, since he could tell by the way Wyn acted that he was already completely prepared for anything. (Hunters were known for their ability to think fast under pressure, even young ones.)

"Go to the basement closest to here." The entire class except Wyn said in unison.

"Good. Now, Where do we go if we are under attack?"

"To the bathroom in the hidden door."

"And where do we go for a bomb shelter?"

"To the basement in the special room."

"Great job, class. Now, let's get to learning." Mr. Gideon directed the class's attention to the blackboard in the front of the room. Gideon was the only teacher in the entire school that prefered a blackboard over a whiteboard or smartboard. He also was the only teacher in the building that upperclassmen were afraid of and the young children were not.

Mr. Gideon was not the usual first grade teacher. He would yell at the class to the point where they would burst out in tears, or he would offer them prizes for exceeding his expectations, the only reason that was weird was because unlike other teachers for young children, not everybody could win. Basically, he was an old-school teacher. Eventually, the children grew to love him.

The students always thought messing around with the chalk was fun, especially the new ones. Wyn, however, enjoyed paint more. The second he saw the green paint, he snuck out of the clump of excited students and went to the art section of the classroom. He then found black, brown, and white paint, too. (There were other colors, but Wyn paid no attention to those.)

Mr. Gideon did not discover that Wyn had ditched class until it was too late. When Gideon found Wyn, Wyn had already managed to paint his face and any other skin that was not covered by clothes camouflage.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Gideon rarely ever yelled at a new student. Wyn was one of the few exceptions. Wyn also was one of the few children that didn't cry when being yelled at by an adult with an extremely loud and frustrated voice.

"I was painting." Wyn was a frank speaker. He said what he meant, and continued with what he was doing. "Do you have any powder?"

When Wyn said that, Gideon's reaction was the most confused I, or anyone else, had ever seen him. "What would you need powder for?"

Wyn had just noticed that there was powder from the chalk erasers. As he walked over to the chalkboard, he gave Gideon a brief explanation of what he needed powder for. "Granddad says to put powder to keep the paint from smearing into my eyes."

"What? Put the erasers down!" Mr. Gideon took a few steps towards Wyn, managed to go ten feet in those quick steps, and grab the erasers out of Wyn's hands before any chalkdust had been rubbed onto a child's face. "What were you doing with these?"

"I told you. I was putting powder on the paint."

"This paint is for paper not skin."

"So?"

"Wash it off. The bathroom--- Beth, show your brother to the bathroom and get one of your siblings to help clean him off."