(no subject)

[aintwortha]

One morning, as they gathered at the line, Helga actually came to the door, with another lady.

The other lady was introduced as Sister Carlotta, of the Sisters of St. Nicholas, whoever he was.

There was some discussion between Achilles and Carlotta, which Bean paid little attention to, as it didn't seem to affect him. They weren't talking about sending him to school, as much as maybe he'd want to go.

Then one line from Carlotta caught his ear

"Surely one of the others can look after them."

Oh, she was thinking of taking Achilles away from them! Maybe it made more sense from an adult perspective.

And, of course, Poke speaks up. Bean does his best to conceal his snort of disgust at the idea of Poke leading this little crew against the bullies to keep their place in the line. There was no way she could possibly manage it.

Sister Carlotta seemed to agree, given her next statement. "Then I will come to you. After you eat, take me where you spend your days, and let me teach you all in a little school. Only for a few days, but that would be good, wouldn't it?"

At that, Bean pricked up his eyes. School would be good.

Achilles agreed, "School's good. None of these little ones can read."

Well, that wasn't quite true, but Bean had never given them any hint that he could, so it was a reasonable assumption to make. Maybe some of that showed on his face, or in his actions, given the way Sister Carlotta's eyes lingered on him.

---

During school, Bean stayed as quiet as possible. He even refused to give an answer when Sister Carlotta tried to insist. It simply wouldn't do, for the others to know he could already read, and do numbers. Or that he understood every tongue spoken on the street, and while he'd heard a few more in the little time he'd spent at Milliways, he'd been getting the jist of them as well. Especially thanks to that translation sound changer that seemed impossibly effective.

While her general teaching was on things he already knew, in conversation, she mentioned things about the wider world that he did not know, and while she taught in I.F. Common, she explained further details in Dutch, and her frustrated mutterings came in Spanish, the language of the merchants of Jonker Frans Straat.

It was a banquet of knowledge, so long as he was allowed to stay and feast.


Only one week after the arrival of Sister Carlotta, however, he made a mistake. A stupid, stupid mistake.

Sister Carlotta passed out a papers to them, with writing already on them. Usually, she provided them with blank paper, if they were doing some writing work, or else nothing, and learning was carried out by conversation.

So, Bean read it. And began following the instructions.

He got half way down the page before he realised his mistake, and he only realised it because everyone else had fallen silent looking at him. Because Sister Carlotta was looking at him.

"What are you doing Bean?" she asked. "I haven't even told you what to do yet. Please give me your paper."

STUPID!

That was so, so, so stupid and in complete defiance of all he had shown up until now. If he died because of this, well, he deserved it.

So, he handed back the paper. She took it and looked at it, then looked back at him, far more carefully, like she was trying to examine his mind. "Finish it."

Okay, how to play this to get off right? Pretend to be struggling with the answer? They're all so easy, the limit to how quick he could complete the test was how fast he could read the questions and get his marks on the paper properly, rather than any challenge of the test itself.

But, no, Sister Carlotta wasn't having that. So, he gave up and just did them all.

Then he sat and listened as she took the rest of the group through the test out loud.