Eager student

Writers: Estelle, Paula
Date Posted: 10th April 2019

Characters: Keayd, Leofren
Description: Leofren has endless questions to his teacher.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 10, day 3 of Turn 9

The lesson was running towards the end, and Keayd couldn't wait it to
end. His clubfoot ached and there was only so much he could do to make
the subject, different varieties of grapes, interesting. Half of the
class seemed to have dozed off and Key couldn't blame them.

"The differences will become more apparent to you once we get into the
growth season and you get to see and compare the actual plants and
grapes. Now, does anyone have any questions?"

A hand shot up in the middle row of desks. Some of his classmates might
have lost interest, but Leofren had been listening with rapt attention,
one question after another occurring to him until he'd forgotten the
earlier ones. But there were still plenty left, and now was his chance
to ask!

"What if there are other different types of grapes out there, that we
don't know about?" he asked. "Maybe there are some, in other Holds, or
hidden away in the North, or growing wild where there aren't any people
around. What if when we go out and look at the plants, we find one that
no-one else has ever seen before?" His eyes were bright with
anticipation at the thought.

"Well, that's very unlikely, although it might happen if someone
abandoned a grape plantation and they spread to wilderness. That kind
of discovery...there would be lot of excited Vintners wanting to
experiment with it. Althougt wild plants tend to me smaller and sourer
than cultivated ones," Key replied.

Leofren imagined himself, tramping through the wilderness, hacking aside
vegetation and then, suddenly, coming upon a long-abandoned hold. The
tumbledown stone building and the rusting farm tools, the acres of
vineyards choked with weeds, and there, hidden in the undergrowth, a
tiny, precious, unknown plant. He shivered with delight.

"I guess they're smaller because no-one is looking after them?" he
speculated. "But why would they be sourer?" He jumped and winced as the
apprentice next to him kicked his ankle under the desk. Some of the
other boys just wanted to get out of the class.

"The grapes we grow are larger and sweeter, because they don't have
competition. We pluck the weeds out and fertilize the vines. They get
more nutritions and more sun," Keayd explained. "There's also the
selective plant breeding we do, to get better and better grapes. That
doesn't happen in nature."

"Oh." Leofren desperately wanted to ask about the selective breeding,
but he had also quickly learned that if he kept the other apprentices
in class too long, he'd end up in trouble with the bigger boys and
then he'd have to watch his back. He could ask the journeyman after
class, if he didn't mind, and he didn't seem like he would. "Thank
you, sir."

"if there's no other questions?" Keayd looked around. "Journeyman
Harrad asked to remind you that he's still waiting for essays from
some of you. Class dismissed."

The room suddenly came to life with a loud scraping of chairs and noise
of chattering as the apprentices departed, all except for one. Leofren
had got up from his desk - he didn't much like sitting still - but he
waited behind until the others had gone. It never occurred to him for a
moment that the journeyman might want to be away as much as his fellow
apprentices.

"Sir? Can I ask you another question?" He hardly waited for a reply.
"What's selective breeding?"

"It's what we do to improve the plants, select what can grow and have
offsprings and what not. You'll have a whole course about it, in
second Turn," Keayd replied patiently.

"Second Turn?" Leofren's face fell. That was an eternity away. Would he
really have to wait so long to know the secret of how you could improve
a vine? He'd never heard of such a thing back home. "Can't we learn it
now? Or do we have to know other things first?"

"I apreaciate your willingness to learn, but first you need master the
basics before you can move to more advanced knowledge. Right now, it's
more important for you to be able to tell the vine from weed. Because
once the growing season is here, you and rest of the apprentices will
be plucking weeds out of the vineyards," Keayd explained.

"Yes, sir. I'd hate to pull up the vines by mistake, after all of the
work of planting them. That's not something a good Vintner would do,"
Leofren said solemnly. "You mustn't mind me, my old Master was always
saying I don't just want to run before I can walk, I try to fly, and I
need to keep my feet firmly on the ground. Only I think it's interesting
to at least have a little glimpse of what's ahead, to make you keen to
go on. Don't you think?"

"Of course," Keayd agreed, "and I'm always happy to see apprentices
eager to learn. However, you'll miss your noon meal, if you don't
hurry up," he gave the boy amused smile.

The journeyman had hit on the one way of distracting Leofren from asking
endless questions: mentioning food. The young apprentice's eyes
brightened. "Oh no, I'd better hurry, or the big boys will get all the
good stuff and I'll be left with the greens. It's kind of like eating
with my brothers back home, except not quite as bad because while there
are more of us apprentices, there's even more food." He nearly started
on another story, but stopped himself, remembering that he was hungry.
"Thank you, sir!"

"You're welcome," Keayd replied.

Last updated on the April 16th 2019

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Eager student