The More Tutoring the Better

Writers: Eimi, Michelle
Date Posted: 17th January 2006

Characters: Chynna, Nyblek
Description: Chynna keeps her promise to secretly tutor Nyblek in chemistry.
Location: Smith Hall (NPC)
Date: month 9, day 25 of Turn 3

Looking once over both shoulders to ensure that no one was watching Chynna opened the door to a storeroom she knew to be rarely frequented.
Armed with the practice chemistry test she had invented for Nyblek the drudge slipped inside. She was somewhat disappointed to see that Nyblek wasn't already in the room waiting for her to help him, but conviced herself that it wasn't a big deal. Settling herself down on the cold floor she hoped that the boy wouldn't be too long in arriving. Chynna knew that she couldn't risk being absent for too long or she would certainly get into trouble.

"Sorry," Nyblek whispered as he slipped inside the storeroom. "Master Yokadey wanted to talk to me after class. I couldn't get away."

"What about?" Chynna asked somewhat concerned, she knew that Master Yokadey didn't hold apprentices after class for no good reason.

Nyblek blushed a bit and looked down at the floor. "Kerowin was picking on Bundiel again, so I tripped him and told him to knock it off.
Yokadey saw me."

Chynna laughed out loud. "Good one," she grinned, "Kerowin deserves to be the one bullied for once. "What's Yokadey gonna make you do for a punishment?"

"Well, nothing really. You know Yokadey's a fair man. He knew Bundiel had been miserable lately and suspected the cause. Still he had to tell me that he can't abide by skirmishes in his class." Nyblek shrugged.
"Next time I go up before Daynar."

Chynna groaned a little, "I would certainly pity you then," she said, trying not to let her genuine hatred for the Hallmaster to show.

"He's not so bad. He's pretty fair. To the boy apprentices, of course," he added quickly.

"Trying been a girl, he'll kick you out faster than you can say your own name,"Chynna joked, "afraid to sit?" she patted the ground next to her.

He slumped down to the floor next to her. "All right, Journeywoman Chynna. What do you have for me?"

"Journeywoman?" Chynna asked, producing the parchment she had spent the previous evening working on, "shards Nyblek you know that you've had more than double the training I've had."

"Yes, well, I've never be taught any subject by a _dudge_ before," he said, giving her a teasing nudge.

"You really should have considered it earlier," Chynna joked, "I mean look at how smart we are. We not only know how to scrub the floor, but some of us even know how to make a decent stew." Nyblek was one of the few people she felt comfortable enough around to joke about drudgery.

He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Please tell me you weren't the one making the stew last night..."

"Of course I made it," Chynna said, subconsiously trying to prove that she was just as good at her job as any boy was at being an apprentice, "well I helped at least. Was there something wrong with it?"

"It tasted like you dumped our chemestry kit in it," Nyblek laughed, completely unaware that she was not joking.

"If I were playing with your chemistry set I could make the taste a whole lot better," Chynna said, surprised at how upset Nyblek's last comment had made her. She missed being an apprentice more than anything.
She missed being able to do something she was actually good at, and she missed being considered 'one of the guys'.

"I can lend it to you if you like," he smiled.

"I'd like that," she responded, mustering a conviencing smile as she lightly touched her hand to his shoulder before ackwardly removing it, "thanks."

Nyblek got the impression that they were no longer joking. He gave her a small, shy smile. "You were one the best of us, you know."

This reassurance despite all of its good intentions did nothing to cheer Chynna up, in fact it did the exact opposite as a tear finally escaped from Chynna's eye and trickled down her cheek. She quickly made an attempt to brush it away, hopefully before Nyblek had a chance to notice.

"Chynna, I'm sorry," he mumbled, unsure exactly what to do now! "Please don't cry. I hate to see you cry."

"Its not your fault," she said, breathing deeply hoping to regain control of her emotions, "I just wish things were different, but there is nothing I can do about it." She gave a little helpless shrug, "I guess we ought to work before someone comes looking for me."

"All right," he said, turning his eyes down to the papers in front of them. He felt horrible for making her cry. Nyblek made a note to himself to be more careful with her. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to, you know."

"No I want to," Chynna replied stubbornly, "its the only way I will learn anything useful around here. Plus you need all of the help you can get from what I hear."

"Well, that's true," he said, looking up at her slightly with a hopeful, teasing smile.

"Good," Chynna smiled pulling out the test she had written from the notes on tests Nyblek had been cheating off of. She was secretly proud of her work, although she wouldn't admit it to the boy, "try this out."

He looked down at the sheet. Reading the first question, he _knew_ he was going to be lost. But as he glanced up at Chynna's smile, he decided that the more tutoring he needed, the better.

Last updated on the January 17th 2006

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