"Good morning, everyone," said a roundish sort of man with a nice smile. He seemed very happy to see them all, and Alandra liked him at sight.

  "Good morning, Sir," came from the ten young people standing about and waiting for the teacher to come. Alandra was the youngest, but not the shortest.

  "Sit, and we shall begin."

  He distributed fat little sitting cushions around and took one himself, sitting on it with legs crossed, and they all copied him.

  "I am Zinos, and I am the teacher for the Novice class. Whether you are called as Priest or Lawspeaker or Healer, there are things everyone must learn. My work here is to give you the basics to build upon. So let us set the foundations properly, and your knowledge will be a solid wall against your back, and a place of safety to depend on. You will have other teachers as you walk the path, but the foundation is being set here."

  Alandra liked that idea. To learn things so well that you could lean on them, and have them support you when you needed it. She settled herself on her cushion and paid attention to the Master.

  Zinos looked them all over.

  "I know that you all can read and write, to some degree. We all need those skills. We will teach you how to read better and faster, and comprehend more of what you read. We will also train your writing. Do you know why?"

  "Can't read a judgement or a ruling out if you can't read the handwriting," said Aneirn, with a bit of a grin.

  "Or read the Healer's instructions, if they have a messy hand," said Kinra, one of the other girls there.

  "And you can't read your own notes on things very well," said Tomas.

  Zinos beamed at them.

  "Very good! I see this is a very perceptive set of young people! We will also train your body in strength and flexibility, and teach you to defend yourself. "

  He caught the look of some of the girls.

  "A good strong body lets a Lawspeaker work for hours writing up opinions, or a Healer stand up to the work of helping lots of people get better. The stronger your body, the easier your Mana flows. So you will do the exercises that make you strong, and you'll run every day so you have the endurance you will need to do the will of our Gods."

  They nodded intently. Zinos continued.

  “I don't want you to be worried about the level of fitness or learning that you have to eventually achieve,” he said, kindly. “You have four years to get there. And we all help each other to learn. Why, in my year of training, we had a Priest called who was entirely blind. But he had a marvelous voice and even though he had to memorize far more than any of us, he led the singing and sang the great litanies at the holy days. He was a very important part of our lives and had a very good life with us. He sang so very well,” he said with a smile, “he was asked to go to Malbanar, to the Temple of the Huntress, and he is still singing there.”

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  Zimos spoke until the bell rang out three times, and he stood from his cushion, as they all did.

  "I will see you all tomorrow at the same time. And I believe you now have some running to do."

  They all bowed to him, and headed out into the courtyard. Movement would feel good after sitting still.

  It surprised her that there was a pounded and level graveled track right round the inside of the cloister walls, but if they were to do this day after day, it only made good sense. It felt good to run. The point wasn't to run fast, but to keep moving. She knew her own stride well, and put on the speed to run from one end of town to the other the fastest. A thought struck her, and she nearly laughed. Sweetsprings was nearly the size of the Temple compound itself, leaving out the fields around it. Suddenly, it all didn't feel so very large. Just different, and different in a good and exciting way.

  They ran for fifteen minutes, and then got a drink of water from the pitcher by their eating room and a bun from the basket. Alandra's eyes widened as she bit it. Sharp cheese and herbs! Yum! She'd love to know that recipe.

  Then they were off to specialized teachings. For Alandra, as for Timos, Ninda, and Vanla, it was to the herbalists. The senior Healer looked her over and frowned.

  "You undoubtedly have a strong healing gift. However, you are physically not ready to manifest it. For now, I will send you to Sister Marva to learn herb-healing, and you can work with her. You should also practice the Open Hand with the others daily, as it will help your mana circulate and get you ready to use magic and heal."

  She had been quickly promoted to helping in the Herbarium, since her hand was steady to chop and measure, even if she was not sure of identification yet. But it was Fall, and time to make up cough syrups and Winter fever specifics, while they still had the time to do so. The herbs had produced well over the summer, and there were those who said ominously that the Gods gave before need arose. The herbalist she was working with sighed.

  "Well, if there is a great sickness, all we can do is to have the herbs ready and dose and heal as we can. And all we can do about that now is to have the herbs ready, and for the future Healers to learn and grow stronger."

  They all nodded. No sense worrying about what might be. She concentrated on cutting the horehound root thin and even, to get all its goodness out while still being easy to strain later. Once she had done enough for two gallon jugs, the Petitioner with her set her to weighing out and stitching up bags for infusions. The herbs were ground fine to let them release quickly, and so she stitched them up tightly into a little circular packet that could be steeped in the kettle for a medicinal tea. A bit of paper made a funnel to fill them up once half-stitched, and once she had done a dozen or so, the bell rang for noon prayers, and she was dismissed.

  The Master of Novices had tested her reading and her writing and her numbers. Better than some, worse than others.

  So she had her schedule. Rise for dawn prayers, run round the compound with the other Novices, and then assemble with the others in the courtyard to dance the forms that were the Open Hand. She could almost feel the calm, progressive hum of Mana being channeled through bodies and minds to heal and strengthen them. The movements were deceptively easy; she was sweating and shaking by the time she was through the forms, and was dismissed to wash and change. But none of the other Novices were much better. That helped.

  Once washed and changed, there was breakfast, then making the cell clean and tidy before going off to the library's classrooms. She liked Zinos better than any other teacher she'd ever had. It felt like they were all finding things out together, and that was a nicer way to learn.