The Finding (7 page)

Once the carriage pulled up to the path in front of the schoolhouse, Jahrra found herself gaping in surprise. Now that the horses were closer she saw that their harnesses were encrusted with tiny, yellow rhinestones. Gieaun and Scede shifted behind her and she turned her head to see what had caught their attention. Right behind the first carriage were four or five more exactly like the first, also drawn by two white horses.

The lead carriage came to a complete stop and a young footman hopped down and opened the door, completing his task flawlessly despite the shocked look he flashed towards Hroombra.

A matching girl and boy, both with hazelnut brown hair and clear, brown eyes, stepped out of the carriage. They were shortly followed by a dozen or so other children. The twins, for there was no mistaking that fact, wore the same uniform that Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede wore but theirs looked to be made of silk and satin.

Jahrra could only imagine that these children came from a palace and she hoped, with a small thrill that they might even be pure elves. Their ears looked pointed at the end, and they had an air of richness and importance floating about them. As she stood there gaping in wonder, the other carriages unloaded more blue and white clad students of various ages.

Despite their intimidating appearance however, Jahrra was glad to see the other children and couldn’t wait to introduce herself. She’d gotten along so well with Gieaun and Scede that she figured it would be wonderful to make friends with all the new students, especially if these children were really true elves. She quickly ran over to greet them, Gieaun close behind and Scede trailing back.

Before Jahrra could say anything at all, however, the brown haired girl looked up from fussing with her uniform and let out a blood-curdling scream. Jahrra froze and felt her heart jump into her throat.
What’s the matter?
she thought as she stood staring at the girl in confusion. Only, the girl didn’t seem to notice Jahrra; she was standing with her eyes fixed on something just over her shoulder.

Jahrra turned to look and then realized what had caused the girl to scream: Hroombra. Hroombra stood back, still as stone and blending in with the gray shadows of the trees. Jahrra almost laughed. How could these children not have noticed Hroombra before now?

“A dragon! We have a dragon teaching us? This can’t be right!” the girl shouted, sounding half outraged, half frightened.

Jahrra was taken aback and quickly jumped to Hroombra’s defense.

“He- he’s Master Hroombra and he teaches me once a week,” she faltered. “He only wanted to bring us to school on the first day.”

The girl finally noticed Jahrra and looked her up and down, sneering rudely. “When did they start letting Nesnans in to study with the Resai?”

The hazelnut haired boy sniggered along with most of the other children. Jahrra inched away, feeling the full blast of the girl’s acidic tone. She had thought school would be an exciting adventure where she’d make new friends, but it seemed she was making enemies before class even begun and she didn’t even know why. By now all of the other children had started murmuring and backing away from the dragon and the three children that had come with it. Jahrra looked back at Gieaun and Scede for support but they only let their eyes drop, moving away charily from the crowd of upset students.

“He won’t hurt you!” Jahrra blurted out desperately.

But the girl who’d screamed and the boy standing next to her started shaking their heads in disgust and began gathering the other children together as far away from Hroombra as they could. Jahrra stood on the pathway feeling like the only person in the world.
Why doesn’t Master Hroombra just tell them he won’t hurt them like he did with Gieaun and Scede?
she thought, feeling smaller and smaller as so many wary pairs of eyes darted between her and the towering reptile standing behind her.

“We don’t make friends with people who know dragons.” The girl whispered haughtily to her friends, “My mother and father told me that dragons sometimes eat children.”

Jahrra was shocked to hear such things. Hroombra would never hurt anybody!

The old dragon sighed and shook his great head, shocking Jahrra back into the present. He’d been listening and watching the children the whole time and he knew there was nothing he could do to make this easier for Jahrra except to leave her and hope her classmates would find a way to put aside their differences.

“I’d best leave you now Jahrra,” he said quietly for only her to hear. “I fear I’m causing you harm by being here.”

Jahrra whipped around, terrified at the thought of Hroombra leaving her alone with this horrible group.

“Master Hroombra! Don’t leave!” she pleaded, running frantically after him.

Hroombra stopped and turned around to speak to her, “Jahrra, I can’t explain why those children say what they say but you must stay and learn to be patient with them. You’ll be alright. You have Gieaun and Scede. Try not to let the others get you down, just focus on your lessons and know that your family awaits you back at home.”

Hroombra gave Jahrra one last encouraging grin then turned to leave. Jahrra watched him go, fresh tears beginning in her eyes. The twin brother and sister took another besmirching look at Jahrra and then the girl glanced at Gieaun and Scede and said, “You know, you still have a chance to be our friends. But you can’t talk to her anymore.”

The girl finished her speech with a jerk of her head in Jahrra’s direction. Jahrra hadn’t even heard what the girl had said; she was still trying hard not to cry. Gieaun just crossed her arms and stuck her chin in the air, a gesture that contained more gall than Jahrra had seen from the timid girl all day.

“We don’t want to be your friends,” was Gieaun’s reply. “We like Jahrra and Master Hroombra.”

The awful girl just glowered and said, “Fine, you can’t be part of our club then.”

The other children seemed too reluctant to defy this girl so they just stood there, looking between her and Jahrra. A malicious glare from the mean girl quickly made up their minds and they all stayed right where they were, except for the older children who tapered off on their own, eager to talk about the huge dragon who’d brought three first year students to school.

Gieaun and Scede walked over to Jahrra and put their arms around her shoulders.

“Don’t listen to them,” Gieaun murmured encouragingly. “We’ve met them before in town. Their names are Ellysian and Eydeth. They’re twins and their father is richer than anyone else in Oescienne. They think they’re better than everyone else so they’ll treat you badly. Just ignore them.”

What Gieaun said comforted Jahrra and even though Scede still wasn’t talking, his comforting gesture was nice just the same.

The small group of the youngest children waited a while longer for their teacher, on separate ends of the schoolyard of course. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede found a large granite boulder resting against the side of the hill with a great sprawling oak wedged between. While the three new friends sat waiting for their instructor they quietly endured the unkind comments drifting across the meadow to their side of the schoolhouse.

As Jahrra listened, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes finally spilled over.

“A dragon!” the girl called Ellysian exclaimed, managing to sound amused and shocked at the same time. “And did you see her uniform? How horrible! I bet it is made of old potato sacks that her mother dyed blue!”

Gieaun hugged her new friend tightly when she saw the look of hurt and confusion on Jahrra’s face. “Oh, don’t listen to her! She screamed the first time she saw me and Scede. She was frightened by our dark hair!”

Jahrra looked at the two siblings, eyes wide with surprise. Gieaun closed her eyes and nodded somberly.

“She had no idea that anyone could have black hair, and when my mother walked by her and her mother I could hear her saying, ‘Mama! What kind of people are those? They have hair like a crow!’ Scede and I were upset at first but then our mother said to us, ‘Just imagine how sad it is that she knows so little.’ ”

They then had a good laugh and Jahrra soon stopped crying. The three of them had been so caught up in the talk from across the yard that they almost didn’t notice a man on horseback coming up the path. When they finally noticed, all three of them sat stark still and appraised the man who could only be their school teacher.

He looked younger than middle-aged and his clothes were not as fine as most of the other children’s, a fact that somehow warmed Jahrra’s heart. He wore brown pants and a faded dark green riding jacket, along with a pointed hat complete with an exotic bird’s feather.

The man slid off of his tall chestnut horse and led it around to the back of the school building. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede watched as he took the horse to the small stable out back, not once acknowledging the curious students glancing his way. After he was done caring for his horse he turned and walked over to the children. He immediately noticed that Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede were on one side of the schoolyard while the others were on the other.

“What’s this?” he asked in a warm voice, his hands placed casually on his hips. “Did these three try to bite you?” He lifted one long arm and gestured towards Jahrra and her friends.

Ellysian and Eydeth blushed at the comment but kept their faces stern. Jahrra, on the other hand, saw the amusement in their new teacher’s eyes. She smiled. She was glad to have another person with a light heart here; the other children were much too serious for her.

“I’m waiting,” the man said, crossing his arms and tapping his foot in a falsely annoyed fashion.

It was the boy Eydeth who spoke up first. “That girl is Nesnan, and those two Resai want to be her friend.”

Jahrra frowned. So what if she was Nesnan or Resai? What did it matter if she had less elf blood in her veins then the rest of the class? It mattered to Eydeth and Ellysian, apparently.

The man raised one eyebrow and scrutinized Eydeth for a while. “What’s wrong with that?” he finally asked.

Jahrra allowed herself a more abundant grin.

“She’s lower in class than us! We can’t learn with her, our parents won’t have it!” Ellysian insisted, stamping her foot in a small fit.

The man curled one hand under his chin and gazed at the group in a pensive manner. By now, even the oldest students had stopped what they were doing to gaze on in interest. Finally, after what seemed like several minutes, the man spoke, “My mother was Nesnan, and therefore I’m half. Will that be a problem as well?”

Ellysian simply stood where she was, mouth clamped shut, not knowing what to say.

“How about we forget about who is Nesnan and who is Resai and focus on our studies instead? Now, everyone into the classroom, we’re wasting the day!”

The man walked briskly up the stairs and pulled open the door, smiling in Jahrra’s direction. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede quickly ran over to the building and went inside.

“Come on everyone!” The man called out to the quiet crowd. Slowly and reluctantly they all piled into the building, Eydeth and Ellysian coming in last.

Once inside, Jahrra narrowed her eyes and gazed around the spacious room. It was quite large with many windows that let in little light due to a thick layer of dust. At the front of the classroom was a huge black board for writing and in the right hand corner was an enormous stone fireplace. The room was lined with small wooden tables and chairs, and at the front there was a larger desk and chair for their teacher.

Maps covered the wall on either side of the chalkboard, and Jahrra stared at them in wonder. One map had the word
Ethoes
scrawled across it, the other
Oescienne
. Jahrra didn’t yet know how to read all that well, but she knew those two words from looking at the maps Hroombra had shown her. She approached the front of the room to get a better look at them and was severely disappointed to see how devoid of details they were.

These maps merely showed brown land masses surrounded by black, squiggly lines with a few cities shown as red dots. They weren’t colorful and stuffed with landmarks, lakes, rivers, trees and mountains the way maps should be. Jahrra was irked. She’d only ever seen a map of Oescienne at the Castle Guard Ruin and was eager to see one of Ethoes with all the details. For now she’d have to do with the boring, brown blob representing their world.

“Alright, everyone find a seat,” their teacher said loudly over the murmuring students.

Jahrra and her two friends found desks near the front of the room and the other seats gradually filled in behind them. To Jahrra’s profound relief, Eydeth and Ellysian sat as far away from them as possible.

Once everyone had chosen a desk and the murmuring finally dissipated, their teacher addressed them, “Today we’ll just be introducing ourselves and making this classroom our own. As you can see it’s rather dusty from lack of use. I also have many pieces of parchment for you to draw pictures of yourselves, your families and some of your favorite things. And yes,” he paused and shot a stern look at the older students rolling their eyes, “I even want to know what your favorite color is, Brethen.”

Jahrra risked a peek behind her where she could see a tall, floppy haired teenage boy being jabbed and prodded by his snickering friends. She smothered a grin, liking her new teacher more and more by the minute.