407.
They were young, the children and already Anu was planning such skills as reading and writing for them. Nayru considered this and wondered what her life would be like had she stayed with her parents. Would they have felt it right to steer her towards certain skills or would they have left her to make her own choices, as she did now? The girl couldn’t decide, her memories of her parents were fuzzy and out of focus, their personalities were only reminiscent of loving and warm. Had they been protective? Intellectual? Spiritual? Nayru didn’t know, but she did not wonder these things with sadness at not knowing them, only a curiosity that slowly died off as she picked up the next book, thumbing through the pages, her eyes scanning the pages and replacing her thoughts with words she recognized.
Nayru noted the smile and shrug and felt the hesitance, as if the skill was out of reach of the older woman. Nayru only smiled back and turned back to her books, her ears perking when a question was directed her way. What was she looking for? There had been nothing in particular when she had first entered, but now ideas swarmed her. Most any knowledge could be found in books, and what did she want to learn? What would be useful to her? Oh, I’d like one on plants I think. You know humans used plants for many different purposes and I think I’d like to learn how to use them myself. Maybe not just for medicine, but food or to make things out of. Or even just to know the names of the flowers I see.
Nayru turned back to the books, her heart beating a bit quicker. Did she want to be an herbalist? Not particularly, but a little knowledge wouldn’t be bad to know. Still she was unsure of how she would or could contribute to Dahlia de Mai. Although she was an excellent stalker, she did poorly at hunting, unwilling to kill if others could and would do it for her. Saluce, he had begun to teach her how to handle a dagger, and that was useful, but the idea of her becoming a warrior like himself or Cwmfen seemed daunting. There were too many options and too many ideas, they floated before Nayru daily but she had failed to grasp one and hang on. Anu, what do you do in Crimson Dreams?
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