Saber

This story takes place on Fourth Earth, where a young human decides to explore the lands outside his own little valley, and discovers some remnants of the past.

1

Dreamer

"Are you paying attention, child?" a kind voice asked.

Saber blinked slowly, and looked from the window, where he had been gazing. The young boy's face sported a sheepish grin. "I am sorry, teacher," he said. "I guess I was daydreaming again."

The teacher's face was reproachful, but she did smile. "I could tell. I have asked you the same question three times."

Saber turned a little red, and he laughed. "Oops...sorry... Ask again. I will pay attention, I promise."

There was a giggle in the small room, where fifteen or so children of different ages sat in wooden desks. A little girl of no more than five cycles was miserably failing at holding in a giggle. "He's always daydreaming...I bet he daydreams more than *night*dreams!"

There was a general giggle at that, and a good natured laugh from the object of this comment.
The teacher turned around and said in her ever-gentle voice, "Leelanee, go and sit in the corner for five minutes, please."

The little girl pouted, but stood from her desk and flopped herself in the corner on the hardwood floor. She crossed her arms. "Rats," Saber could hear her say.

Teacher turned back to Saber. "What I asked was: 'what is the coloring of the male grischri when he is ready for a mate?'." Teacher ignored the giggling of the younger students of the class as she discussed mating, and only waited for Saber to answer.

Saber frowned, and looked down. He never liked studies; preferred instead to think of exploring and of the warriors in the village. He was very small for his age, smaller than most other Erthrins, and was always told he was too little to fight. Too little and too young... But he was not good with the studies, so why not? He could learn... "Um...green and white?"

The teacher shook her head a little sadly. "No, that is for the female, Saber. You were told that last week. And twice the week before." She sighed. "The male is blue and green."

Saber's face turned red again under the fine fur, and he fiddled in his seat.

"Did you finish your assignment from last night?"

Oops...he had been too busy making his own practice sword, since none of the warriors would do it for him... He turned redder and tried to sink into the seat.

"Saber's gonna get the swiiiitch!" one of the girls in his own age group taunted softly, as the teacher told him to stand up.

"Quiet yourself," the teacher said to her calmly. "Unless you would care to get it yourself. Saber, please stand in the front of the room."

Biting his lip, Saber stood up, his eyes fixed rigidly on the ground, his face burning with humiliation, as he made his way through the room...which suddenly seemed about ten times as big as it usually was.

Teacher reached down under her desk, and from eyes that looked from the corners, Saber saw her pull out the item of discipline in the classroom: a stiff switch from the tree outside. He looked down at the ground as he clasped his hands in front of him.

"That is the third time in this moon-time that you have not completed the assignment," Teacher said. "And you have not been learning half the things a boy of your age should have learned by now. And it is not because you cannot. You are able, but you cannot pay attention."

As most of the children looked on, some uncomfortable but many watching with the strange fascination that a crowd might view an execution, Teacher approached the boy. "Take down your bottoms, please."

Saber wordlessly did it, fighting the tears of embarrassment as he removed the lioncloth he wore, and stood back up, resisting the urge to cover his backside. Children who did that only got themselves in more trouble.

As a couple of the meaner children in the class giggled, and he heard a very rude comment from the boy he hated the most in the class, Teacher brought the switch down on Saber's backside with a loud "swatting" sound. He jumped a little and clenched his fists, but made no outcry.

The switch was applied five times, and he yelped on the last three. Tears leaked from his eyes as the teacher told him he could pull his bottoms back up and return to his seat, and he did so, once again focusing on the floor and trying not to hear the giggles. He bit his lip sharply as he sat back down, and tried not to cry harder.

One bit of satisfaction was that the boy who had made the comment, Iyen, received two strikes for it.

At lunchtime, Saber was not allowed to play with the other children outside in the schoolyard. He watched them as they played tag-and-run or climbed trees, or played Frittball. He ate his lunch standing up against the one room school building, as it hurt too much to sit down.

After the school day was over and the other children ran home or the youngest were collected by their parents, Teacher took the boy aside and said to him, "Saber, why can you not learn like the others? Why do you so often stare out the window, or draw on your parchments?"

Saber liked Teacher very much...of course he was pretty mad at her for punishing him, but all in all, she was one of the few adults he would like even if he did not have her as a teacher. He shrugged. "I dunno," he mumbled. "It...it's boring..." That wasn't all of it either, every child thought school boring...but still, it wasn't him. He was a warrior, he knew it! If only the others would give him a chance! He was not a scholar, he wasn't a craftsman, as his father so often told him. He was clumsy with his hands. But he was smart! If he could only work at it, he could be a scholar, even a healer!

Teacher frowned. She was a kind woman, and knew that it was more than the boy could tell her. "Perhaps it is...but there is more. Can you tell me about it?"

Saber sighed and looked at her for the first time since that morning. "I'm just...everyone says I should be a scholar...I don't want to be! I-I want to be a warrior...or an explorer...I mean..." He sighed. "I try to pay attention, I mean I start out doing it, but my mind...it goes on its own. It sees things, imagines..." He shrugged. "And I just kind of...go with it. I-I don't really mean to..." He didn't, either. When his daydreams took him, he was a prisoner as much as those in the arrest-house where the thieves and killers were put.

Teacher smiled kindly and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know how hard it is to want to be something that you cannot...but Saber, not everyone can be a warrior." To be a warrior was an aspiration, but she did not even mention being an explorer. To journey beyond the realm where the few villages of the Erthrins and their allies lay was for madmen. Few returned back, and if they did, they raved of monsters and great metal things. "I know you are a very smart boy, and you can do it...please, try harder." Saber only nodded. "You now today's assignment?" The boy nodded again. "All right then, go on home. And tomorrow I do not want to see you looking out the window once, all right?"

"Yes, Teacher," Saber whispered.

That night at home, Saber's parents asked him, as usual, how the day went. His mother, as always, only nodded and accepted what the boy told her, but his father scowled and swatted him on the rear. The boy howled. "Teacher is right, that's enough talk of that nonsense, is that understood?"

Tears once again in his eyes, Saber nodded.

"I have already told you, you lack the skills and the strength of a warrior. I want to see you doing better in your schooling, or what happened in school will be nothing."

Saber nodded once again, and was sent to do his chores.

That night, as he lay in bed on his stomach, the boy had in his hand, a gatt stick for writing, and his parchment booklet he had made. This was his journal. He wrote down everything that happened in his life, had since he was able to write. Aside from exploring and fighting, he liked to write and draw. He wrote his life, and drew what he wanted it to be. He hoped that someday his writings would be that of great adventures...

Today was no adventure...today had been a humiliation. Like many days, only worse. But he still faithfully, and truthfully wrote the day's events down, let the moist, natural dye of the gatt stick dry, and put the parchments away in the cubbyhole in his room, where his pesky little brother could not find it.

Dreaming of battles in far away places, Saber fell asleep.

Part 2: Tales of Days Past

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