Summons: The Squire

[Glenn]

"I'm sure that if you'd like me to spend some time at the sch..." Oh, wait, she... but she had started out by saying that he was with the wrong company, and then she was a mind reader. And Burnie knew everything. Had she just meant Niall? His mind was awash with emotions, panic, pride, fear. Would Solena be mad at him? Was Rhaena going to take some action? ... though her REACTION had been the sort to make him feel rather dangerous. He WAS training with SOLENA after all.

No, control. He had to keep under control and not give up much. "The knights haven't been teaching me to read and she thought it very important that I learn. I could not refuse her kindness?" The words were clever for Elliot. Ultimately futile. He should have denied it or claimed that she heard him wrong. Miss Alina, perhaps. Instead he ADMITTED it, but still felt like he had gotten one over on her in the process.

[Jirai]

Rhaena might be a mind reader, but no matter what some people thought, she wasn't in the habit of lurking around in the minds of those she spoke to. She arched a scaled brow in Elliot's direction. "Miss Solena is teaching you... to read." It was somewhere between statement and question. No, not even this Rhaena would believe that, especially since the boy had just admitted that he couldn't read anything. "My dear boy, you -certainly- need to spend some time in the school."

[Glenn]

"I'm a little old.." Now he was frazzled. It was nice to get the personal attention from her (even with the scales), when she was in such a lovely dress and was an important person. Important people usually didn't pay Elliot much heed. No one really paid Elliot much heed, squire or no. That's why he was such a good candidate for Solena's "reading" lessons, even though he still didn't fully realize it.

The fact of the matter was that he came from a way of life where education was sparse at best. He had never seen the inside of a school and from what he had heard from travelers or other kids who had relocated to Myrken over the years, most children who received any education only did so for a few years before they had go to work in the fields too.

What he knew is that this was the sort of attention that seemed permanent. Carrying books and having tea with a proper lady once in a while was one thing, and a rather pleasant thing at that. Being a virtual prisoner in a school for hours at a time, however. "I.." He tried his best to sound squirely. "The.. Miss Solena is giving me one-on-one attention during her current.." Words just didn't come to him quickly and there was a long awkward pause. "She's pregnant, see, so really all she COULD be doing is improving my mind, right?"

[Jirai]

"Hardly. Remember that most of the young people in this town come from exactly the same place you do - that's why I started the school in the first place, Elliot." So his age and his background were hardly a problem. She leaned back in her chair and regarded the boy over her teacup for a long moment. "Is she, now. Then perhaps you might give me a demonstration of what she has been teaching you? There are plenty of books right there," a nod indicated a chest across the room, "that ought to be suitible." She said it so -nicely- though.

[Glenn]

Smoke bombs. He hadn't seen Solena use them before. He had no reason to think she had them. He'd just heard about them in stories, but he wished, thoroughly, wholeheartedly, that he had them now. Could she read his mind? Smoke bombs. Smoke Bombs. She was talking about school. he was thinking of Smoke bombs.

He didn't have any. He DID have daggers, though. And for a long moment, that seemed like a viable plan. Just a flesh wound. Something quick and easy and then he'd get away. Gah! Mind reader! She was a mind reader! Puppies and horse riding and jousting and crashing into that swordswoman girl at the Dagger the other night and falling on her, and then laying on her for a few long seconds before she finally... SMOKE BOMBS!

Elliot just stared at Rhaena for a moment, blinking. "What?"

[Jirai]

She gave a small, pretty sigh. This was why young people needed school! They couldn't keep their minds on a conversation, always wandering off in their heads and thinking of who knew what (and Rhaena certainly did not want to know). "You said that Miss Solena was teaching you to read," she replied patiently to the squire. "And I suggested that you show me what you've learned." 'What' indeed! Manners were another thing that children ought to learn!

[Glenn]

"Oh! Of course. Yes." Elliot smiled at her sheepishly. And smiled. And smiled. There seemed to be no rush to get to his task. His expression was rather blank. Time seemed to stand still. Then, slowly, he got up and started towards the books. "Right." One step after the next gradually led him over to the chest. Instead of opening it however, he knelt down and started to look at the quite simple lock. Both hands went upon the top of the chest and he seemed to be having some problem opening it.

With a grunt, he pressed his body up against it, now using one hand to try to open it while the other was fumbling, hidden utterly by his body, with the lock. At some point in the midst of all of this, he had slipped a small object out of his sleeve. The clicking sound was hidden by the grunting and groaning. It all took JUST a bit longer than he had wanted, but he wasn't used to LOCKING things, just unlocking them, and never under pressure like this. His shoulders finally slumped and he looked to her with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. It's locked, I think. I can't open it!"

[Jirai]

Rhaena watched this whole display with a bit of an incredulous look on her face. That was a surprising amount of grunting and groaning, just for a simple trunk lid! What on earth was going on? Ah, locked. That might explain it (though really, that had STILL been quite a production). "Well, I shall have to ask Seli to find the key, then." Rhaena certainly hadn't the faintest idea where the key might be. She'd thought the chest unlocked, but clearly that wasn't the case.

[Glenn]

"Oh no," Elliot wiped his brow, trying to keep on his best poker face, which was a mix of looking like a constipated monkey and sticking his bottom jaw out slightly. "I so wanted to show you my progress. How about I take the the chest over to the school and I'll just have to show you some other time?" The teenager's cunning plan had succeeded! Now he would be able to take the chest away and then sneak away after that, and she'd have to formally summon him again if she wanted him back in her confusing clutches. He almost did a little dance. Almost.

[Jirai]

"Oh, well, it's not a problem. I think I have something here..." A few moments passed while the woman searched the room, eventually coming up with a pleased sound and a thin volume of poetry in her hand. "I knew it!" She announced triumphantly. "Here, now you can show me before you take the chest over!"

[Glenn]

Eat the book. He could eat the book. He could still kill her. No, mind reader! Think about eating the book. Elliot's mouth started to open and shut in a chewing motion, as if he was fully visualizing it. Then he stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes. That was a terrible solution. One rather depressed step after the next led him back to her where he put his head down and mumbled quietly. "I'm not very good yet, Miss Olwak."

[Jirai]

She set the book down on the table, beside the tea service, bronze eyes a bit wider than usual as Elliot stared and chewed, rather like a cow. What on earth was the child thinking? Just because he was born on a farm... The veiled woman coughed politely as the boy returned from the chest and made his confession. "Well. That is what lessons are for, are they not? I expect you will be getting better soon," If Miss Solena couldn't teach him correctly then the school could, after all.

[Glenn]

"Oh." Elliot's face contorted and strained as he looked down at the words before him. To be honest, given the probable subject of the poem, likely effusive and flowery verse about something he didn't want to be thinking about (and there were a wide range of subjects that would include), it might have been a mercy that his reading just wasn't that far along yet. In the here and now, though, it meant that Rhaena would be wildly disappointed with him. More than that, she might find some way to trap him in a SCHOOL, the thought of which was just maddening.

No smoke bombs. No chance of killing her. His delaying tactics had all failed. He only had one gambit left. She was a mind-reader, right? Maybe it worked both ways. Maybe he could read her mind if he stared at her long enough. "Do you know the poem well?" He asked, pointedly, even his gaze bore down upon her veil. A rather constipated look came over his face as he tried to pierce her thoughts and memories in order to recall the poem. It took about six seconds before he started getting crosseyed.

[Jirai]

This boy was... odd. The woman's scaled brow furrowed, perplexed as she looked at the once-squire. "Of course I know it. ...Are you... quite alright, Elliot?" Perhaps the tea had gone bad? It hadn't tasted off to her, though. "Ah... maybe you should sit down? Or lie down? You don't look so well, the books can wait." She hardly wanted the boy to pass out or vomit right here, after all.

[Glenn]

The small book of poetry went flying in the air dramatically, flipping end over end, away from both of them. Time seemed to stand still. Elliot's eyes were upon it and not until it hit the ground did he drop down to the ground, eyes once again crossed and tongue lolling out of his mouth slightly. The once squire kicked his feet a few times upon the ground and then the crossed eyes turned into a roll before his arms splayed out (perhaps three or four seconds too late). After finally sneaking one last peek at the veiled woman, he shut his eyes.

Though, in the midst of playing dead (except for the breathing; he was still breathing), he was rather... shimmying towards the door an inch every twenty seconds or so. Hopefully she wouldn't notice.