Are You New Too?

Writers: Ames
Date Posted: 9th February 2019

Characters: Leofren, Kylar
Description: Kylar meets new vintner apprentice Leofren
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 7, day 8 of Turn 9

Kylar was adjusting to his new life as an apprentice at the Vintner
Hall. His older brothers had teased him that he'd be drunk all the
time as an apprentice, but that was far from the truth. He'd not
sipped any of the beverages the Hall made yet. Instead he'd been hard
at work learning how to read better. He'd had a very rudimentary
knowledge and had never really enjoyed the task of figuring out what
all the letters meant. Know, however, he was finding it was a
necessary skill if he wanted to succeed, and he _did_ want to succeed.

"The....b..boy..." he read quietly outloud in the study. The letters
jumped around a bit for him so he really had to concentrate. **Maybe I
should have chosen a craft that didn't require reading,** Kylar mused
to himself as he fumbled his way through the words.

Suddenly, the door swung open and a boy poked his head in and looked
around. He was laden down with a bag, an armful of clothing and some
hides. "Oh, sorry! Is this the apprentice barracks? I was sure the
Headwoman said the building across from the Hall on the right. Or was it
the left?" A slight frown creased his brow, then cleared. "Well, I'll
find it eventually. It's my first day, you see. Good thing I didn't walk
straight into the Hallmaster's study!"

Kylar slammed the book shut with an almost guilty look on his face. He
didn't want anyone to see just how much he was struggling with what
some of the other boys had called an _easy_ task during his first
lessons.

"You found the right place," He said to the newcomer. Standing up, he
wondered what he should do next. "I'm Kylar. I'm an apprentice too.
Been here only just over a sevenday myself."

"Oh, good! I mean, I'm glad I'm not the only new one," the boy said
cheerfully. He put his bag and the rest of the clothes he'd been given
down on a chair, and offered a hand in greeting. "My name's Leofren.
Isn't this Hall splendid? I've never seen such a big place just for one
craft. At Diamond Springs we have a distillery, but it's not as large as
this. Where are you from?"

Kylar felt like the boy talked non-stop. It had been fairly quiet in
the apprentice wing. He'd been told there were others coming soon
closer to his age. He'd been waiting for them to arrive. So far, he
hadn't really felt he connected with the other apprentices in the
hall.

"I'm from Blue Meadow. My family told me I could pick between
vintnercraft or minecraft. This sounded more fun that being stuck
underground carrying heavy bricks," Kylar shrugged. Maybe he should
have chosen minecraft since he suspected it did not involve so much
reading.

"It certainly does," Leofren agreed. "Mind you, I'm not sure it'll be as
fun as some people say. When I went to work in the tavern at Diamond
Springs, my brothers said I'd be able to sneak the leftover drinks and
have a fine old time, but it wasn't like that at all. Most of my day was
scrubbing - floors, tables, pots, latrines - and carrying crates up and
down from the cellar, and if the Tavern Master saw me so much as look at
a half-finished mug of ale, he'd find me even worse jobs to do." He
pulled a comical face. "When I got made apprentice, I was so happy I
thought I'd burst. But there was still a lot of cleaning and carrying!
At least here, I've heard, we get to sit in classrooms sometimes."

"I think I'd rather be scrubbing things than sitting in the classes,"
Kylar grumbled a bit under his breath. "So far _all_ we've done since
I arrived is sit in classes. I want to _do_ something else."

"What are the classes like?" the other boy asked, curious. "I've never
been to one. Not in the vintner craft, anyway. Back at Diamond Springs I
used to just help my Master and the journeymen, and they would explain
what they were doing. Usually. If they were in a good mood. But Master
Stryce - that was my Master's name - he said I'd have to go to a lot of
classes before I got to learn distilling properly. He said I'd have to
learn to sit still and hold my tongue. I'm not sure if he was joking or
not."

"Well, they do expect us to sit and listen _alot_," Kylar grumbled, "I
thought we'd be _doing_ more things and not just trying to read
letters and words all the time."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Leofren said. He had never had to sit
still and read for more than a short time. There had always been some
work that needed doing. He glanced at Kylar's book. "What are you
reading? Is that for class?"

"Oh, this," Kylar tried to cover the book. He didn't want the other
boy to realize it was a _baby_ reading book. "Um, well, yeah, I have
to read it for class. Not everyone does though," he added the last
with a low grumble.

"What's it about? Is it a book about the craft? Can I look?" Leofren
suddenly realised that the other apprentice looked uncomfortable, and
hesitated. Maybe he'd got in trouble, and been assigned the extra
reading as a punishment. "I mean, if you don't mind. You don't have to,
if you don't want."

He was embarrassed, but at the same time, he didn't want to push away
the new boy, potentially his first real friend here at the hall.

Kylar pushed the book towards the other boy. "You probably won't need
a book like this," he mumbled. "I'm not really very good at this
stuff."

"What stuff? Craft stuff? I don't know anything yet, not from books.
I..." Leofren opened it and was silenced for a moment when he recognized
the simple printed text of a child's basic reader.

But only for a moment. "Oh, you're practicing reading? I remember doing
this one with my Ma. I think. If you get stuck, I can help you, if you
want. It's the one where the boy goes to the Gather with his sister,
right? I'd never been to a Gather at all when I read it. I used to
daydream about what it would be like to go to one. Of course, I still
haven't been to a really big one, like at a major Hold. Do you think
they'll have them here, and we'll be allowed to go?"

Kylar waited, but found that Leofren's reaction had not been like some
of the other apprentices who had laughed at him.

"I'd like to go to a full Gather, too. We could have lots of fun
together," Kylar said with a real, genuine smile. "I think you and I
will have lots of fun times together here at the Hall." Kylar meant
it, too. He had finally found his first _real_ friend.

Last updated on the March 3rd 2019

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