Vhalar 52 722
University turned out to be a lot more difficult than Eternity could have ever expected. It was tough to learn things that were entirely out of your wheelhouse. There were students that were snooty jerks, she felt the constant feeling that she would never be good enough, and a dozen other things that made Eternity feel crappy every time she walked around campus. Unfortunately, she had to put up with it all. She was a victim of Sunk Cost Fallacy which basically meant she was forcing herself to continue lessons only because she’d paid for them already. If not for the cost she would have easily quit by now and focused more on thievery. It didn’t help that Eternity felt as though the university administration actually cared whether she learned anything or was able to get a job with what she was learning. Her teacher being the exception, of course. She hoped to one day make friends with some of her classmates, but they hadn’t shown much interest in her so she’d held back.
Eternity focused while her instructor went over last lesson’s material briefly. They hadn’t been assigned any homework since it’d been the first day but it was made known that they’d have some going forward. The instructor talked about how wells came from fractures and how wells were basically just solid masses of chaotic energy. Euadne was good at saying things in a variety of different ways so that students could more easily understand the concepts. Eternity didn’t know jack squat about what ether was on her first day but now the concept was digestible. Euadne was actually an excellent instructor. She was able to get Eternity to understand things even despite her uneducated background.
Euadne cleared her throat after clearing her drawings from the board. She then turned and saw that someone’s hand was up. She pointed to him and asked, “yes?”
“Professor, when will we actually get to handle wells? You’ve spoken about them at length but we haven’t even seen one yet,” asked the student.
Euadne smiled and said, “that’s a good question. Believe it or not, but your ensorcelling tools are actually ensorcelled items themselves. So you have been exposed to wells to some degree. Note, that your tools are very weak but that’s by design.” There was a collective gasp of awe from the classroom as they each dug out their ensorcelling tool kits that hadn’t been put to any practical use yet. They looked completely unremarkable but they somehow held some special power within them.
Euadne didn’t want to get into tools at the moment so she waved her hand and said, “put them away, you won’t be needing them today, I was merely making a point. To more directly answer your question, we will not be handling wells any time soon. Keep in mind that this is the most introductory course on Fractive studies and that ensorcelling is a very, very dangerous craft. I would be an irresponsible teacher if I exposed you to that danger without properly training you on safety measures and making sure you all are prepared for the rigors ensorcelling demands. Ensorcelling is not something I can teach you by reading you facts. It is a process that involves many different skills just to accomplish the smallest of jobs. Your mind needs to be clear, you need to be free from distractions, your body must be protected, you must have a proper eye for examining a well. Until I can be sure that this class is ready, there will be little to no handling of actual wells.”
A dark look at dawned on Euadne’s face as if recalling some mishap that had happened years ago that still haunted her, or perhaps she had a genuine worry of her students getting killed. She was very aware of what might happen if a clueless student started whacking their tools at a raw well. She took a moment to collect her and continued, “… but that’s not to say that you will have no exposure to wells. I only ask you to trust that I know what I’m doing and we will get there when we get there.”
The students were silent. They knew they hadn’t been told off but they still felt intimidated by how dangerous ensorcelling sounded. This was good, it would at least ensure that none of them would be brash enough to go try ensorcelling while unsupervised. Euadne moved on from the subject and dove into the mechanics behind which a well actually came to be. It was engaging enough to distract her students from their own negative thoughts and led to a productive lesson. Afterwards, they were dismissed.
Their homework was to write a short paper summarizing what they’d learned thus far. It was a very open ended assignment that Euadne would use to see to gauge how she needed to adjust her lesson plans. It would also allow her to see which students needed extra help and perhaps which ones ought to be recommended to apply for the next level of coursework, though she doubted any of the students in that class were that knowledgeable.
Eternity made her way over to a quiet area of the university and took a seat at a desk. She wanted to get her homework out of the way as soon as possible. She was disciplined enough to know to start it, but quickly lost motivation as she started actually writing her paper. She often paused to collect her thoughts and then ended up looking away to focus on other things. Sitting down and working on anything that wasn’t lockpicking was very new to her. Lockpicking was a passion of hers. Working on a hard lock for hours was something she enjoyed and there was a reward at the end, that satisfying click. She felt no joy in writing this paper.
Eternity tried nonetheless and managed to finish half of it and she’d only gotten that far because she shut her eyes and focused hard on remembering what the professor had said. Her thoughts on the subject of Fractive studies were a jumbled mess that took a lot of meditative prowess to properly manage. She truly did understand what Euadne had taught but trying to make a good summary was difficult in ways she couldn’t explain. Eventually she just said, “fek it,” and folded the paper into her pocket to be dealt with at a later date. “It’s not like I need to finish this NOW,” she thought as she hurried out of the campus.
Eternity’s stress didn’t end after class and homework. She had chores to do just like anyone else. She was used to having all day to do chores but when she had class she had no choice but to do them at set periods of time. She’d clothes to wash, food to go buy, a house to clean. Then on top of all that she had to make time to go steal enough coin to get by for another week. Paying for the course and keeping a supply of drugs took up a lot of the money she typically earned.
The obvious solution for a lack of money was to pull off bigger crimes. However she didn’t know how she could do it alone. She didn’t have much of an eye for appraisal so picking a home to steal from was always a crap shoot. What she really needed was a partner who she could rely on to help her. If someone could help her pick homes, gather intelligence, or just be a lookout she would be able to steal a lot more money. Though it wasn’t as if fate was going to hand her one. She would have to find time to go find such a partner and even then she would have to be able to trust them with her life. Eternity’s relatively simple life had gotten rather complicated this season and it was likely only going to get more complicated from there.
By the time Eternity made it back home after chores and thieving she was dead tired. All she wanted to do was pass out but she knew she had to work on her homework. It wasn’t due tomorrow though so she only jot down a couple more sentences then folded it back up and set it aside. There were so many things that popped into her mind that she ought to be doing instead of resting. She ought to be checking on those plants she planted so many days ago. She ought to be practicing some lockpicking to keep up her skills. She ought to be catching up with friends or blowing off some steam in a bar somewhere. But no, she was stuck at home without the energy to do anything else. Eternity lay on her bed and thought, “This is only my second lesson. How am I ever going to make it through the entire season? Oh, right, and it goes into next season too. I’m in for a lot of hard times.”
[Template credit to Pyrre]
