Separate But Equal

Writers: Eimi, Noola
Date Posted: 25th March 2010

Characters: Almonteo, Barnek
Description: Hallmaster Almonteo pays one of his harpers a visit and learns something disagreeable.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 8, day 13 of Turn 5
Notes: Mentioned: Corowal

Almonteo

"Who would like to solve the problem on the board?" Barnek glanced at
the group of older children seated in a semi-circle around the
blackboard. The older students were working on arithmetic at the
moment while, on the other side of the room, the younger students were
reading silently under the supervision of two of the Hold's foster
mothers. More to ensure the children were doing their work than
anything. Once he'd assigned the older children a set of problems to
do, he'd be making his way over to the other side to check the
readers' progress and discuss the songs they were memorizing.

For now though, he was waiting on someone to volunteer to solve the
example problem he'd written out for them. "No one? Come now, we've
gone over this before. Surely someone remembers from yesterday?" He
peered at each child until they began to fidget, the frown on his face
deepening. He was so focused on the children that he did not notice
the man easing into the classroom.

For his part, Almonteo was trying to be as discrete as possible. It
wouldn't be long, he was sure, until the harper in charge of instructing
the little one's would notice his stealthy entrance. He certainly had
no illusions of blending in with the little ones. Approaching the
fostermothers he whispered his name and business, and quietly waived
away their attempts to curtsy and cater to him. "Carry on as if I were
not here," he said quiet enough to be heard only by them and then turned
to find a good patch of wall to hold up for a bit.

After one reluctant boy finally attempted to solve the problem, got it
wrong, and it was then correctly solved by one of his female
classmates, Barnek finally noticed he had a visitor. At first, he was
too surprised to credit what he was seeing. But yes, the Hallmaster
himself was standing in Barnek's classroom, watching him teach.

He recovered himself after only a brief pause and, after giving the
other man a nod, returned his attention to the blackboard. He flipped
it over, and on the other side was another expanse of slate, upon
which several mathematical problems similar to the example were already
written. "Alright all of you, copy these problems out and then solve
them. Show your work! They are due by the end of class." He watched as
the children moved reluctantly to pull out their materials and crossed
his arms. "Come now, chop chop! You don't want Hallmaster Almonteo to
think you don't take your studies seriously, do you? Some of you might
decide to train in his Hall someday, after all!" That spurred a few of
them on.

Satisfied, the harper made his way to the back of the room where
Almonteo was standing. "Hallmaster, thank you for visiting. To what do
I owe the pleasure?"

"I was just checking on the progress of the new Hall, and I thought it
was a perfect chance to meet the Harpers assigned to our new," or
perhaps it was _former_, "neighbors. I hope I am not giving your
students undue stress by my surprise visit." He certainly didn't want
them to think that he would remember their shirking a few math problems
were they to apply to the Harper Hall. Math had come easy to him, but
paying attention in class was a little harder.

"Oh, certainly not. I do apologize for that," he referred to invoking
the Hallmaster's presence "They are good students as a whole, but a
little motivation never hurt anyone."

"Of course not," the Hallmaster assured him, not wanting to imply that
any criticism had been meant. "Your name is Barnek, I believe?"

"Yes, sir, that's right."

"And how long have you been here at Emerald Falls?" Almonteo had not
really been Hallmaster when the Harper Hall was still standing. It was
only a pile of rubble when he had come into the position, and so he had
not had much dealings with the harpers assigned to the Hold.

"I've been working in Emerald Falls for turns, working as a traveling
teacher before being reassigned here a few months ago to teach the
Lord Holder's children and some of the higher ranked fosterlings of
the Hold." Barnek remembered his days as a traveling teacher fondly,
now that they were over. Not that he hadn't enjoyed the teaching, or
even the traveling so much. However, he always found when he returned
to a place after being away for a month or more that the children had
always picked up so many bad habits in regards to their studies.
Keeping them on task was difficult. He much preferred the situation
now, having a group of students right where he could keep an eye on
them and make sure they were doing their work.

"So is this a _special_ class then?" Almonteo asked, looking around at
the children to try to guess which might be Corowal's.

"For the Lord Holder's children," Barnek confirmed. Then noticing the
Hallmaster eyeing the children, he pointed out two boys in the group
of older students around the blackboard and then one of the little
girls in the younger group. "Those are his. The rest are ranked
fosterlings living at the Hold and a few of the higher raked staff's
children."

"Whose decision was it to keep them separate from the rest of the Hold's
children?" Almonteo asked, rather surprised to find that some children
were being given preferential treatment.

"It's always been like that in this Hold, Hallmaster." In fact, there
was a long tradition of Lord Holders being very strict about not
allowing their children to mingle overmuch with the 'lower classes.'
Lord Corowal did allow some other children in with his, obviously, but
it was a select few.

"Really?" Almonteo had not figured Corowal for the elitist type. He
did not approve of the Lord Holder trying to put his children above the
others in their Hold. Not only did it keep them from being part of the
community that they would one day govern, but they had enough privilege
in their lives without making that distinction obvious. Perhaps it was
something he could discuss with the Lord Holder. "So then, where are
the _other_ children of the Hold?"

"There are two other harpers teaching classes in the Hold, and a third
who is here only periodically. He usually travels to the nearby holds
and cotholds and is only here at the Hold proper one or two days out
of seven." Barnek had been a traveling teacher before, but assigned
further out in Emerald Falls' territory. He'd rarely made it to the
Hold before being reassigned. "Their classrooms are on the third
floor, to be more easily accessible to the other children. I can show
you later today if you like?"

And limit their access to these children, no doubt. "And how exactly
are their classes different from these?"

"They are, essentially, the same. We compare our lesson plans to be
sure that we're keeping abreast of each other, of course. There are
children at different levels in all three classrooms, of course." The
major difference between himself and his fellow teachers - besides the
rank of their students - was that, for the most part, they did not
bother greatly with the girls in their classes. They taught them if
they -wanted- to learn, and made sure they at least knew the histories
as they should, but no special effort was made to be sure they left
the classes able to read or write or even that they came everyday at
all. After all, at Emerald Falls, lower ranked girls had little need
for an education.

Barnek did not approve of letting the girls go without learning the
basics. He felt that everyone, even women who were destined to do no
more than take care of their families should be able to read and
write. However, he knew his was not the prevailing attitude at Emerald
Falls. Some parents didn't even bother sending their girl-children as
they got older and could help with chores and babysitting. Tasks which
more aptly prepared them for their roles in life than learning
equations and the basic rules of grammar.

"That's good. Perhaps I can visit them later." The Hallmaster could
see for himself just what kind of education both groups were receiving.
It could be dangerous to keep the future leaders separate from their
future subordinates. Not only was there a social division, but it was
too easy to teach those with power to hold onto it at all costs, and
those without to follow without question. "Well, I have disturbed your
class long enough. Perhaps I will drop by again some time."

"I look forward to it, Hallmaster." Barnek nodded. "You're welcome
anytime, I'm sure." He glanced over and noticed a couple of his
students who had taken advantage of their teacher's inattention to
have a chat instead of focusing on their lesson. He cleared his throat
and eyed the children when they looked his way.

Last updated on the May 3rd 2010

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Separate But Equal