Part 10

Everyone who could find an excuse showed up at the school the next day. Several of the men even brought weapons, although they quickly determined that it was useless to try and intimidate my new companion. Artemis was uncharacteristically passive and allowed them to be their version of threatening without emasculating them. I was both surprised and impressed by his restraint. The young women giggled a little over Artemis, who was indeed very handsome. The children asked about a thousand questions, which he tried to answer. They were as fascinated with him as they'd been with me when I first arrived. I eventually rescued him from them by announcing that the first class was about to start and shoeing the littlest ones onto their stools. Everyone else shuffled out.

"Children, this is my friend, Artemis. He'll be helping me teach you to read and write. He's never been a teacher before though, just like me when I started, so be patient as he figures things out."

"Yes, Miss A," they chorused. It was the closest I could get them to calling me by my given name. I suspected their parents told them not to.

"We're going to pick up where we left off yesterday. Who remembers what we were learning about?"

Several hands went up, and class was under way. I watched Artemis get used to helping the little ones hold their chalk properly, answer questions, and just generally interact with them. He was a bit stiff, but I could tell he was trying, and he made it through without scaring anyone, which was impressive. Most people were scared by him. Music time was the best. I liked to take time in the middle of class, between reading and math, to sing and play on the simple little instruments I had collected. It let the children move around a bit and music was good for learning. Also, I loved music. Artemis was a little awkward, but he did actually play on one of the flutes and sing a bit. I'd never heard him sing before. He had a nice voice but was untrained.

The next class was older children, they were further along in their learning since I gave them a more rigorous work load, and they were considerably calmer. They all wanted to ask me about Artemis and Artemis about himself but were more restrained when going about it. I could tell Artemis preferred this age group to the last. These kids had both a music and an art class, which alternated days, and I took time to teach them team sports. I knew they likely worked in teams whenever anything got built or doing other work at home, but I wanted to have organized teamwork as part of my curriculum, with a goal, a plan, and everyone doing their specific part to make it happen. Artemis was fascinated by this. I was in the middle of teaching them to play soccer, or as close as I could get to it only knowing some of the rules, since I'd had to chose games that required few materials and ones that were easy to find. He had fun though, and picked up on it quickly. I again considered adding combat training to the things we could teach. Artemis would certainly know how to do those things.

The third class was all of the pre-teens and early teenagers. I let them have a short question and answer time at the start of class, then we didn't bring up anything to do with Artemis' arrival again. They were at about the same level, reading and writing-wise, as the last class, but further along in math, and I liked to add a little of the various sciences into their lessons, also basic information about 'their changing bodies' and a bit about foreign places and geography. I planned to have Artemis tell them about foreign places and cultures in the future since he was much more traveled than me. Their music and art classes also alternated days, but the things we learned were much more structured and complicated. Artemis was more a student than a teacher in those classes, but neither he nor the kids seemed to mind. He was very helpful during the phy ed class. I had a hard time keeping up physically since I wasn't very adept at that sort of thing, so having him there to help was nice.

At the start of the adults' class, I introduced him to each person individually and let him explain our relationship. I figured it was the easiest way to do things. The adults weren't picking up on things as easily as the children. They understood the concepts and reasoning more easily, but having pretty much passed the critical period of learning, which I'd explained to them a long time ago, without much or any exposure to these things, it was going to take them longer to learn. I added in more of the sciences, emphasizing critical thinking and the scientific method, and more information on health and how the human body worked. I let Artemis do the geography lesson this time around.

When I first started teaching, I'd offered the adults arts and music classes not expecting them to be much interested. They'd been surprisingly enthusiastic, even bringing their own art work, instruments, and songs to class. They helped me learn to play, and I taught them to sing and transcribe their music on paper, even add the harmonies they wanted. At the end of each month, all of the classes got together in town and performed the new songs they'd learned. Some of the adults in town came only for the music part of my classes. In art class, craftsmen taught us about their trades, and I taught drawing and painting as best I could with limited materials and learned several folk dances.

By the end of the day, Artemis was ready for everyone to leave and to have some peace and quiet. I ushered the last few people out the door, promising that we'd come to dinner soon, but Artemis needed to settle in. The man himself was standing in the back room examining the food we'd been given. Some of it always went into feeding the children who were here during lunchtime, but there was a large portion left for storage and my own meals. We set some aside for our supper and put the rest away, then sat down to rest.

"How do you do that every day?"

"I don't," I explained, "There are no classes on the weekends, and I take time off for holidays and if the weather is too bad or there's too much work to be done. Or sometimes, if the weather is too nice to keep everyone inside, we just sort of spend time together and enjoy it, or we go learn about nature or something fun out of doors."

"Oh, yes. That reminds me. Your door is finished and will be here in a few days. Also, the priest has already offered to marry us."

I laughed, "That was quick."

"It certainly was."

"What did you say?"

"I said you were dithering about your gown, or rather lack thereof."

"What?"

"Don't worry, a very nice old woman kindly offered to give you the one she wore when she got married. She even offered to tailor it for you since she knew you couldn't sew. Actually, all the ladies seemed to be on board with getting everything in order for your wedding do-over. Flowers, food, music, sprucing up the town." Artemis was enjoying this.

"Oh, my."

"It will be a high-toned and fancy to-do if ever there was one. I even got scolded for not bringing a proper dress for you."

"Did you really?" I goggled at the notion.

"Oh, yes, but they were more understanding when I explained that I'd brought the money to pay for one, but I didn't want to buy a dress unless you approved it first."

"How sweet."

"I thought so."

"Then what happened?" I was morbidly fascinated with this whole exchange, trying to imagine Artemis being taken to task by some wizened old hen.

"Well, I'm to buy the fabric and beads and lace and whatnot, and the ladies will make it themselves. You have to be surprised when they give it to you though. I wasn't supposed to tell."

"I can do that," I smiled.

"I'm also supposed to get your measurements."

"Is it even possible to do that subtly?"

"Good grief, no," he snorted, "They expect me to do it anyway."

"Did they at least leave you a measuring tape or something?"

"A string, which I'm to knot in a very specific way so they know which length is which measurement."

"All those lessons about standard units of measurement right down the drain."

"I'm sure they appreciate the idea." I could tell he was placating me, but I didn't mind.

"Yeah, probably. How was your first day of class?"

"You were there, don't you already know?"

"I know part of it, but I want to hear what you think."

"I felt more like a student than a teacher half of the time, but all in all, it wasn't bad. The little ones were a bit rowdy for my taste, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The older ones were easier to talk to. Also, you always say you have no practical skills, but you know a lot about a lot of different things, and that's practical in another way. I know for a fact that you can use that knowledge to deadly effect when you want. Like that crossbow you designed or the time with the claymores."

"Knowledge is power. In my world, the more you know, the more you can do, and knowledge builds on knowledge. I cultivated it there to keep me safe and to be successful. Here, knowledge is good, but it has to come with physical prowess as well or it won't get you much. Of course, money works in either world, but I don't really have much of it. I don't need it so much to get by here as I do at home though."

"Your monetary system is fucked up."

"Yeah, well, at least I don't live in the dark ages."

"I don't even know what that is, but I'm going to assume it was an insult." He didn't sound insulted.

"You would be correct."

"Wonderful."

I got up to start preparing dinner and Artemis joined me, cutting things up with a practiced hand.

"What did you think of my first day of class?" he asked.

"I thought you did very well, and the children liked you a lot. You didn't scare any of them even when they got on your nerves, so thank you for that. I was thinking you might teach a weapons class during phy ed and foreign languages and a class about different cultures. What do you think of that?"

"I'd be willing to give it a try."

"Oh, good. You can say no, if you don't want to, just so you're aware. I don't want you to be miserable."

"Let's give it a trial run and see how it goes."

"Okay."

We made the food in comfortable silence. It reminded me of our months on the road together. We settled back into our routines quickly. I didn't let myself think too much about the fact that he and I were going to be married soon. I might get nervous or tense or just feel weird, and he was sure to notice. I thought about the house instead.

The room I, or rather we, lived in was tiny. The bed was up along one wall, the chimney on the other. There was a small table and two spindly chairs in the middle of the room. In one corner, several wide planks formed the cellar door. A small bookshelf was the only other furniture, and it held my meager collection of books. My cooking things were hanging on the wall near the fireplace, my clothes on the wall near the bed. I hadn't decorated at all. There was a small glassless window with shutters and rough curtains which was open to let in the dwindling light and fresh air.

Even the school room wasn't very big. There were several long narrow tables set up with stools. They could be pushed to the sides for when the smallest children were in class, at which time I pulled out the small stools for them to sit on, or if we needed the space for a more active lesson. I had a desk of my own at one end and a large slate attached to the wall. There were more shuttered windows and a larger chimney so I could warm the room if it was a particularly cold day. There were pegs for cloaks and hats along the walls, stacks of small slates for writing on, a large store of chalk, a shelf with musical instruments and art supplies, and a barrel with sports equipment. I had a few communal use books on the shelf as well. There was student art done on bark tacked up on the walls, and one section had a small mural painted on it. One of these days, I'd have to have a paper-making class and get some proper writing done. I could have the students write stories and make a class book or something. I considered my small domain and made plans for the future.