28.Aug.12, 09:32 PM
Bordtai had been sent to the kitchens to help with chores for the morning before his dreaded classes for letters and numbers. He was honestly beginning to wonder how much longer they would keep him in the beginner’s class before giving up and no longer demanding that he attend at all. He was taking up attention that could be put to better use on smarter children. Bordtai wasn’t completely dim – he knew he was a lost cause and that they now only bothered to check up on him when the other children no longer needed help. He had no delusions that it was out of pity than any sort of hope that one day the random symbols might make sense to him.
Seeing a young boy in the kitchens, and one they knew to be a hard and quiet worker, they had sent him first to bring inside more firewood for the hearths that were busy with fresh Klah and Bread. With both arms full of timber (only two logs, he was too scrawny to handle more at a time), he had been making his way carefully through the doorway to not bump the man standing there asking about something fresh from the ovens when the man suddenly turned – managed some rather comical movements – and still managed to bump Bordtai just enough to knock the currently-top-heavy kid off balance.
A tangle of scrawny arms went down with an ‘oof’ as the two logs he had been carrying landed heavily on his legs. An intake of breath was all that escaped him where other kids would have cried out, however, before he pushed the logs off and brushed off the patched breeches. Hearing the man ask if he was alright, Bordtai looked up and actually managed a smile.
Because if I smile, I might not get kidnapped again. he thought, the memory of that rider-father carting him off to the healers still fresh in his mind. Besides, a little bump was NOT enough to go. Some riders, especially the father ones, were just silly.
“I’m a’right.” He said before rolling onto his knees and standing back up. Now it was his backside that got to be brushed off – Faranth only knew how the ladies in the kitchens could complain when he came in with too much dust and dirt. “I’m surprised you didn’t go down in a heap with me, how much you were flailing and all.”
In honesty, it was all Bordtai could have done to keep from laughing at the man if he had not been the one being tripped over.
Seeing a young boy in the kitchens, and one they knew to be a hard and quiet worker, they had sent him first to bring inside more firewood for the hearths that were busy with fresh Klah and Bread. With both arms full of timber (only two logs, he was too scrawny to handle more at a time), he had been making his way carefully through the doorway to not bump the man standing there asking about something fresh from the ovens when the man suddenly turned – managed some rather comical movements – and still managed to bump Bordtai just enough to knock the currently-top-heavy kid off balance.
A tangle of scrawny arms went down with an ‘oof’ as the two logs he had been carrying landed heavily on his legs. An intake of breath was all that escaped him where other kids would have cried out, however, before he pushed the logs off and brushed off the patched breeches. Hearing the man ask if he was alright, Bordtai looked up and actually managed a smile.
Because if I smile, I might not get kidnapped again. he thought, the memory of that rider-father carting him off to the healers still fresh in his mind. Besides, a little bump was NOT enough to go. Some riders, especially the father ones, were just silly.
“I’m a’right.” He said before rolling onto his knees and standing back up. Now it was his backside that got to be brushed off – Faranth only knew how the ladies in the kitchens could complain when he came in with too much dust and dirt. “I’m surprised you didn’t go down in a heap with me, how much you were flailing and all.”
In honesty, it was all Bordtai could have done to keep from laughing at the man if he had not been the one being tripped over.