Open The eudaemonics of Ignorance

[Hwyn]

The eudaemonics of Ignorance
Summer 1, 518 AV

If ignorance is bliss, then was knowledge misery? Once again cursing his lack of education Hwyn glared at a poster that had appeared outside the manor. Large black letters looked down at him imposingly. He Frowned. There was something to be said for shame, and one would think that a slave wouldn’t have much pride but it still irked him to admit that he had no knowledge of the runes people used to write down their knowledge.

However, the signage looked important enough that he felt compelled to learn whatever it was saying. Casting a glance about he wondered if anyone else appeared to be reading the sign, he figured if someone else took interest in it he might be able to ask them what it said but he lacked the courage to actually ask a passerby what the sign said at all. The resulting quandary left him standing off to the side of the sign looking from it to the people passing by it nervously waiting on someone to read it so that he could pester him.

However his lack of social tact did leave him looking perhaps a tad suspicious, an odd character staring at an important decree as if they were almost sweating with anticipation. It was likely that one might not just assume they were unable to read, perhaps they were guilty of something, or knew something and the sign scared them, after all it’s not like any child of Rhysol would be scared of such a decree after all it was there for the purpose of protecting Ravok’s very important citizens. Not to harm them.

[Rook]

Rook was pensive from the day’s activities, and the kelvic could feel an intense weariness weighing him down like an anvil. He felt as if all the eyes of the city were on him. For a kelvic like Rook, who lived in the shadows, the proclamation had been a nightmare. He would survive, he always did, but that didn’t make the wolf boy any less wary or weary.

As he moved through the city, he could hear the murmurs of the city buzzing around him. Gossip was spreading like a wildfire. Didn’t their neighbor lock themselves up in their homes every nightfall? Surely they were one of the Deplorables, a cursed Ethafal, scorned by Leth’s light. The gossip was making the poor kelvic’s head ache.

Rook’s footsteps carried him past another of the wretched boards. Rook stared at the board irritably, a flicker of annoyance crossing his face before he snuffed it like a light. A human child hovered near the board shifting back and forth from one foot to the other, and peering at the board, then returning his gaze pleadingly back to the street.

Rook’s eyes fell on the child, and he quirked an eyebrow. A slave, by scent and by appearance. Suspicious to say the least, but Rook’s heart twinged with his bondmate’s compassion.

“What’s wrong?” Rook asked the child, looking the androgynous creature up and down.

Rook

[Hwyn]

The eudaemonics of Ignorance

“What’s wrong?”

The question shook him out of his concerned staring. Looking the figure who was now talking to him over he flushed with embarrassment briefly before shaking his head. He hated to admit his silly flaw but at the same time if he never got a chance to read the signage, then he’d never find out what exactly it was that the towns guard was trying to warn everyone about.

“I… I.. I can’t read… c-can you tell me what this sign says? It… It.. looks kind of important, but I’m just a slave, so I’ve never been taught to read… Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Looking the man over Hwyn hoped he would be willing to help, but more than that he was interested in the man’s appearance as well. His read hair was rare, at least in Ravok that was, perhaps he was an inarta but they weren’t exactly common in Ravok, though he’d met several in Alvados. Though his inspection did reveal a startling lack of any obvious coin on the man, he was either poor, a slave, or good at hiding his coin. Either way if a pickpocket were sizing up marks this man was a pass, though he hadn’t picked a pocket in a long time it was still something he considered on occasion. Regardless it wasn’t something he was planning on doing at the moment, especially before he got what he wanted witch was somebody with more literary knowledge than himself, he hoped that the man would oblige.

“And… Uhm… do you know what’s going on in the city? People are real riled up, even more so when the ice came and froze everything up.”

Rocking back and forth on his feet Hwy awaited the man’s response trying to pull a relaxed smile over his face though it didn’t exactly reach his eyes he was still nervous about whatever Rhysols most recent divine proclamation might be.

[Rook]

Rook tilted his head very slightly at the child’s words, a distinctly animal-like gesture that Rook couldn’t hide if he tried. A fellow slave, huh? It wasn’t as if Rook rarely encountered them or anything, but with the exception of his bond mate, the majority of interactions with other slaves swiftly resulted in bullying. A kelvic, it seemed, tended to find himself low on the slave totem pole. That said, Rook found himself in the odd position of this child acting submissive towards him. It felt very strange. Rook wasn’t sure he liked it.

“The people controlling the city have found out who was responsible for last season's… attacks,” Rook told the child. “The Dhani, Ethafaels, Akalaks, Charoda, and Pycons are all named Deplorables. The Black Sun is trying to remove them all from the city.”

After his brief explanation, Rook turned back to the sign and read it to the slave, slowly and painstakingly as he got stuck on large words or strange sound combinations. After he had recited it, he turned back towards the child.

“The city is up in arms,” Rook explained, in response to his question. “Because everyone wants to purge the city of the Deplorables.”

Rook

[Rook]

Your grades are here!

Hwyn

Notes
Let me know if you return and I'll get you your grade!

Rook

Skills

*+2 Observation
*+2 Socialization
*+1 Teaching

Lores

*Hwyn: The Strange Slave Boy

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