I'm not sure this unit is vegan? on Elective Hall

Giselle Duell

February 26, 2024 9:38 PM

Intermediate Divinations by Giselle Duell

Giselle just wasn't quite sure what to make of her life by now. She was a teacher at a school now, and had been for some time. Every once in a while, when she had the time to stop and think about it, it just seemed so... surreal? Her life had been so strange for so long, it had been one long nightmare for most of her life, and now... now it was just so... ordinary. She spent time with her family, prepared lessons and taught classes. There were times when Giselle wondered if there was more, if she was missing something, or if something else still lie in wait for her. Unfortunately, she was in the very unique position of knowing just how futile it was to attempt to get to much detail about her own future.

For the moment though, it was time for class, and she stood in the front of her classroom as her students filed in and found their seats. Since it was the first class of the new term, she didn't have any homework to return to them. It also meant that it was the beginning of a new unit. The lights were low in the room, as they often were and a mild scent of incense was in the air. As usual the small, round, two-person tables were set up around the room. Each one covered with a eclectic mixture of cloth.

"Good afternoon everyone." Professor Duell greeted them once they had all found seats. "Welcome back from break as well. I hope you are all prepared to delve into our next unit, reading chicken bones." She smiled and allowed the students to react before continuing. "As you should know, reading chicken bones is one of the older types of divination techniques. It is often more closely linked to communicating with ones ancestor's spirits. This is assuming they did not leave a ghost floating about, in that case you can just talk to them directly."

She flicked her wand at her desk and the textbook floated into the air in front of her and opened up. "Chapter 11 of your text has most of the relevant details. Which bones are used, what they mean and some basic meanings of how they fall. Your homework is to review this information and summarize it for next time. Today, we will be focusing on the other material component of bone reading, the Crossroads." Her had been flipping through pages diagramming bones and patterns, but stopped on a page that showed a simple circle divided into four equal quadrants.

"Traditionally, this can be drawn in the dirt if that is easiest, but most diviners will have a cloth with the Crossroads embroidered upon them. Each quadrant may be designated for various aspects such as love, money, heath, the unknown, and so on depending on what might be relevant to the answers you are seeking. The bones that fall in the center represent the central issue, while those that land farther away, are more distant in time... forward or backwards."

"This is what you will be doing today, consider it a warm-up to get your magic back in use after the break. Feel free to use whatever transfigurations or charms you think will work the best to make your own Crossroads to use for the rest of the unit. Third years, I have some rough burlap up here if you want something to get started. Fourth years, I have an odd collection of buttons you could start with. Fifth years... well I seem to be out of materials. I guess you'll need to figure something out. You may begin."

OOC: Basic info from Chapter 11

Subthreads:

I'm not sure this unit is vegan? by Lenny Pierce with Samara Crosby

Gross by Charlotte O'Malley with Xarryn Bavol

Preparations by Gwendolyn Brockert

2 Giselle Duell Intermediate Divinations 1517 1 5

Lenny Pierce

April 05, 2024 9:45 PM

I'm not sure this unit is vegan? by Lenny Pierce

Lenny got a bad feeling about the lesson as soon as the word 'chicken' came up followed swiftly by 'bones'. Communing with ancestors was fine, he didn't have a problem with that and frequently chatted with his family's ghost Regina when he was back home. But he really hoped the chickens in question were free range chickens who died naturally.

He flipped to chapter eleven in his book, but while they told him what kinds of bones to use, a quick glance at the introductory paragraphs didn't really specify anything about the manner of death the chicken should have experienced to be used for this sort of divination, but it seemed like a chicken used for dinner was perfectly acceptable. Sigh.

Fortunately, his bad feeling proved to be dread for a future lesson. Today, there were no bones. Today, they were embroidering crossroads to be used throughout the unit. Out of apparently nothing, as he was one of the fifth years.

He turned to his partner with a mildly baffled look on his face. "I guess the fifth years start with whatever we happen to have in our backpack that we can turn into an embroidered cloth?" He peered into his own, setting aside the books and notebooks that he'd need over the next couple of weeks. During warming months, he might carry around a light sweater in case it got chilly, but it was already freezing cold, so as a California kid, he was wearing three layers already, not counting the school robes themselves. He was not taking any of those off.

What he did have, though, was a crumpled old test on the bottom of his bag. He pulled that out. Ah, Herbology. He'd gotten an E. Not his best work, but certainly respectable. "Think this'll work?" he wondered out loud.

1 Lenny Pierce I'm not sure this unit is vegan? 1547 0 5

Samara Crosby

April 12, 2024 1:14 PM

I doubt it by Samara Crosby

Initially, Samara had been unsure about taking Divination. It was not a subject that some of her more uptight and/or academically inclined and/or serious relatives approved of and it was sort of a niche thing in the magical world in general when she was obviously not a Seer. Then again why would she need to take a class in the subject if she were? Was it like one of those things where if she had a talent, she could use taking a class in it to hone her craft and there was a class right there to help her do so that Samara didn’t have to do one on her own? She had never been especially self motivated.

Actually, come to think of it, the main reason that it was surprising for her to be in this class was not because of what society or people in her family thought-in some cases that was a reason to do so, actually, if Great-Grandmother disapproved, for example, then by all means, Samara was encouraged to do so-or because she wasn’t a Seer or even her lack of self-motivation, it was that it was surprising that she would want to do additional work. Which was more or less somewhat likely related to lacking in self motivation. Like they were qualities that the same person seemed likely to have.

Of course, if it got too much, she could always drop it after CATS. Or even before. One nice thing about people being scared of Mother or at the very least reluctant to deal with her was that people tended to be really pretty quick to pacify the fourth year. Headmaster Brockert definitely seemed like he didn’t like to deal with people much in general, so there was a good chance of the two overlapping.

For now, though, she was enjoying Divination even though she didn’t take it too seriously. Which Samara hoped Professor Duell didn’t notice. It wasn’t due to any disrespect of the professor or her discipline, as she understood that the professor was the real thing. However, the Crotalus wasn’t and she knew it and she felt that it was better for her not to put unrealistic expectations on herself. She just needed to do well enough to pass the class.

Professor Duell started the class. It turned out they were starting a unit on using chicken bones to talk to your ancestors. Samara was not entirely sure why someone’s ancestors would be communicating through chicken bones. Unless you happened to be a chicken. Then again, it wasn’t as if you’d be using human bones. At least she hoped not.

And it turned out that they were just making crossroads cloths today, which might involve Transfiguration, a subject that Samara actually was quite good at. She got her buttons and was in the process of designing her cloth when Lenny spoke to her. “I mean, if you can transfigure it, it should work.” She looked back at her buttons. “I guess these are meant to represent the decorations. I might need to get a piece of paper too.”

11 Samara Crosby I doubt it 1563 0 5

Charlotte O'Malley

April 15, 2024 12:06 PM

Gross by Charlotte O'Malley

At most magical schools, third years got to choose electives if they liked, though of course not everyone did. Charlotte was not sure the reasoning behind that at most places,but she thought it made perfect sense at Sonora because third years and fifth years were in the same classes and therefore, started hearing about CATS then. If they waited any longer to start them, nobody would subject themselves to yet another class where they had to hear about tests that they didn't have to take for awhile, and another class they had to take exams in.

Although Charlotte had to wonder why bigger schools, where people were only in class with those in their own year, also started electives in third year. Perhaps so they learned enough to be tested on them during CATS? It was sometimes hard to think things in the academic world did not revolve around the exams, like they were the sole thing that all other classes existed for, so you could learn enough to pass a big test.

Which would be seriously messed up and Charlotte didn’t actually believe this was the case, but it often felt that way and she could certainly understand why people got anxious about them. Like when something clearly has been made so important that you heard about it before you needed to, it sort of wormed its way in and festered. Although she could also understand the perspective that they’d be absolutely ready for it.

Also, she had to take that back, that nobody would take classes if they knew it meant taking and hearing about exams more, since she was pretty sure that half the third year class actually would, despite not being in Divinations. Charlotte got the impression that some of them might genuinely enjoy taking tests and showing off. She doubted that it was taking more exams that was the reason some people didn’t take this class and more that it lacked enough serious academic value for some of them.

And admittedly she did feel a little guilty for thinking snide comments about her year mates, since they were Quillan’s friends. Maybe on some level she felt a little jealous that they got to spend time with him sometimes when she didn’t. Like how he was doing a Fair project with his roommates and Alexander. She was considering asking Ursula to work with her but she didn’t exactly have any ideas for it anyway. Quillan might be better off with his other friends for this one.

Furthermore, Charlotte was proof enough that her previous statement was inaccurate, as there she was in Divination. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known about all of this ahead of time. Still, she had thought it looked like an interesting subject.

Granted, some lessons were better than others and a unit on talking to ancestors through chicken bones was…a little gross albeit maybe not as bad as the one where you had to read entrails. Plus, today they wouldn’t be reading bones, they would be making crossroads cloths, which appealed to Charlotte’s love of making things.

She got her burlap and a piece of paper, wanting to sketch out her design before she actually put it on the cloth. “So, what do you think of this…method of Divination?” The Teppenpaw asked her neighbor as she worked.

11 Charlotte O'Malley Gross 1573 0 5

Xarryn Bavol

April 15, 2024 9:39 PM

I think they get cleaned up first by Xarryn Bavol

Coming into the spring term of his fourth year at Sonora, Xarryn had a year and half of Divination under his belt. It was one of his more favorite classes, not least because the lessons generally involved reading symbology rather than words, and he was a lot better at that. He'd done very poorly on the runes unit, because he'd had had enough trouble telling apart English letters never mind ones in a foreign alphabet, but mostly it was pictures and abstract concepts, and those he could generally read better than the textbook chapter telling him what he was supposed to be getting out of the lesson.

Today, he didn't bother even taking the book out of his bag, much less opening to chapter eleven. It didn't sound like it was relevant to what they were actually doing today, so why look at it before he could turn his dictation charm on the chapter and just copy over the parts that sounded important for the homework summary?

He did take out his wand, since he was going to need to use magic to get from the button he was starting with to a cloth with a crossroads on it. Returning to his seat with a blue button, he set it down in front of him and frowned at it, not quite sure how to go from having a button to having an embroidered cloth with a crossroads on it. Neither was he entirely sure what a crossroads was, other than a circle with an x through it to divide it into four equal pieces, because that was the picture in the book that Professor Duell had pointed out. But she'd also said stuff about the four sections having meanings, so he wasn't sure if he was suppose to designate those now or not. He could put a treasure chest on the one for money, and dragons for the unknown, and . . . well, he'd figure out something for the other two that were more interesting than hearts for love and a red cross for health because that was just boring. Maybe mermaids for love, cuz who didn't love mermaids? And a bottle of rum for health cuz that was pirate medicine.

Which still didn't get him from button to cloth, but before he could start bugging one of his year mates to help him remember the incantation to do that transfiguration, his neighbor opened conversation, and Xarryn smiled at her. "I think it's pretty cool!" he enthused cheerfully. Obviously, he hadn't read the chapter about what was actually going to happen when the did a reading, but the brief overview the professor had given them sounded interesting, and definitely not something his poor reading skills would hinder him in. "It's pretty neat that the more immediate something is, the closer it's going to be to the middle. It seems a lot less prone to misinterpretation than some of the other readings we've had to make, like in the tea leaves and stuff."

1 Xarryn Bavol I think they get cleaned up first 1560 0 5

Charlotte O'Malley

April 18, 2024 11:44 AM

That definitely makes it better by Charlotte O'Malley

Xarryn brought up a fairly valid practical consideration. That reading chicken bones gave some prediction of when something was going to happen and not just what was going to happen was a plus. Especially as what was going to happen usually tended to be pretty vague. Divination tended to be very imprecise.

Which, come to think of it, might be why it didn’t appeal to a certain type of person. If someone liked to be exact, liked things to have clear and definitive answers, this might not be the right subject for them. Of course, you could also probably make several events fit the prediction. Like, you predicted something was going to happen, and then..something did, but because Divination was so inexact you could make whatever happened be what you predicted. Which was not at all unique to chicken bones, and seemed to be rather a discipline-wide issue, if one could call it an issue.

Still though, Charlotte doubted that was the only issue that some people took with the class overall and for some people it was more about the reputation Divination had as not being respectable enough or academic enough.

Also, there were definitely issues with chicken bones specifically. It was not the…method one used to obtain and prepare them either, though that did sound like an awful lot of work. The Teppenpaw liked creating things and she liked things that were personally meaningful, but in this case, she kind of would rather buy some already cleaned and ready to be read.

Her problem was that the chicken bones were a way of communicating with your ancestors. What if your ancestors were not good people? While it was unlikely that all of them would be terrible going all the way back, it was entirely possible to have an ancestor who just wanted to cause you misery. Like, Charlotte’s biological grandmother was a monster, and the third year would not even remotely put it past her to, when she died someday, lie to her descendents-Charlotte’s descendents and those of her siblings-about their futures, like by getting their hopes up by saying that something good was going to happen when something bad did instead or lying about what was going to happen.

So, how could one trust that their ancestors were telling the truth? Was there some sort of magic that bound them to do so? Could you pick the ancestor that you wanted to talk to? She had never met her biological grandmother, who was still alive as far as she knew-Charlotte was pretty sure she was, since she knew quite a few people who would rejoice, such as Uncle Seth or at least be relieved like Dad would be-but the idea of that awful woman messing with the Teppenpaw’s descendents and even if there was some magic that bound her to be honest, she was still unpleasant to deal with.

Maybe that was a reason not to use a chicken that you had a…personal connection to. A former pet who died of natural causes might be okay though the idea of their family dog dying and using his bones to talk to ancestors kind of made Charlotte both sad and nauseous but certainly that sort of creature would love and want good things for the person casting and get a nice ancestor to come though as opposed to the chicken you ate for supper. Especially if you butchered the chicken yourself!

“That’s true.” Charlotte agreed. “I personally like that we get to make our own cloths.” She added, pausing, before posing her musings to her classmate. Hypothetically, of course since she was certainly not going to tell someone that she wasn’t all that close to the darker parts of her family history.“How do you think it works, like which ancestor is going to be communicating with you? How do you get a good one? Like, if you have an ancestor who is not very nice, how can you get one that is and how do you even know you can trust any of them to begin with?”

11 Charlotte O'Malley That definitely makes it better 1573 0 5

Gwendolyn Brockert

April 21, 2024 2:24 PM

Preparations by Gwendolyn Brockert

It was now the second half of Gwendolyn’s fifth year. That meant that CATS were approaching. It also meant that she was going to have to figure out what classes that she was going to continue taking afterwards. As she was pretty sure that she was not going to fail anything and would probably score well enough to continue with anything that she wanted, that meant she was going to have to make some decisions as while Gwendolyn was an academically talented Aladren, she was not about to continue every class, since that just seemed unnecessary even though she was currently managing the class load just fine. Still, Advanced classes were more difficult.

And, admittedly, Divination was probably not going to be one that Gwendolyn kept. Not that she didn’t like it, it was plenty interesting but it was not something that she was going to need. She was sure that there were fringe branches of the criminal justice system, where Aurors used Divination to investigate, but that wasn’t really what the fifth year was planning on doing. She more wanted to examine serial killers and dark wizards and use criminal psychology to help get a better understanding of the criminal mind. Which might help Aurors profile and catch the evil doers but Gwendolyn didn’t actually want to do the physical part of being an Auror herself.

Divination wasn’t going to help her with that. Neither would Muggle Studies, Astronomy or Care of Magical Creatures. Actually, other than DADA, she wasn’t really sure what specifically she needed. It was probably a good idea to either talk to the Mr. Row or Professor Wright. Although Gwendolyn was absolutely going to continue with Transfiguration-she was a Brockert, after all, so while it was by no means an easy discipline, it was a fairly easy grade for her though she supposed if someone wasn’t academically talented at all, it would probably be challenging even with innate talent on the practical side, but that wasn’t an issue that she had-and probably Charms. She didn’t know if she would need either for her career, but they were pretty practical for everyday usage.

Also, when it came to Transfig in particular, it was just silly not to do what was easiest. Honestly, Gwendolyn didn’t know why more muggleborns and half bloods didn’t take Muggle Studies based merely on this premise. She supposed though that some of them thought it was a waste of time, because they already knew the material. After all, why would anyone want to spend time in a class where you already knew everything when you could be doing something you enjoyed? And this was taking into consideration that Gwendolyn actually liked school and learning. Sometimes you just didn’t want to have to do something.

There was also that some people might be choosing to embrace magic fully. Or they were glad to escape some particular bit of muggle school, like higher level math and therefore, certainly didn’t want to risk having to do it at Sonora.

Anyway, no matter what she ended up taking after CATS, for now, Gwendolyn was going to do the best she could in Divination. It looked like they were starting chicken bone reading today and making their crossroads cloths. It was a little weird though that Professor Duell didn’t have enough materials for them to work with. “Does it seem like the professor is a bit underprepared?” Gwendolyn asked the person she was sitting with. “I mean, we weren’t told to bring supplies.”

11 Gwendolyn Brockert Preparations 1555 0 5

Lenny Pierce

April 21, 2024 9:17 PM

That's what I was afraid of by Lenny Pierce

Lenny nodded as Samara, who had at least been given a button, mused that maybe she should get out a piece of paper to use as well. "It's probably an easier transfiguration to get paper into a cloth than a button," he agreed. He looked at his test and turned it so its blank back side was facing up. "I think I'll sketch out what I want the embroidery to look like before I do the spell," he decided out loud. "It'll be easier to use an ink removing charm than redo the stitches if I don't like how it looks."

He started by drawing the circle with an X through it that Professor Duell had shown them in the book for what a crossroads looked like. He had to make a few minor adjustments with the aforementioned ink removing spell before he thought the circle was actually round and the four quadrants were evenly divided, but he got there.

Once that basic framework was in place, he took out his box of colored pencils that he kept in his bag for when Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures wanted them to make sketches, and put them where both he and Samara could reach them. "If you want to color yours, too, you're welcome to borrow my pencils," he offered. Picking up a pink one, Lenny shaded the upper right corner in that color then moved clockwise around the circle coloring the next green, then blue, and the final one gray. He thought those were good colors for love, money, health, and the unknown respectively, as those were the aspects Professor Duell had mentioned, but the colors were generally versatile enough that he could find other meanings for them should he need to.

Deciding those were the essentials of what he needed on his crossroads, he left the pencils where they were in case Samara wasn't done with them yet and picked up his wand again. Transfiguration time. Paper to cloth was pretty basic, especially for a fifth year, and he did happen to know the spell off the top of his head because paper was often in copious supply in school, but extra cloth for an emergency coat, a warm quilt, pick-up costumes, or an impromptu picnic blanket not so much.

Being January, warm blankets were rarely far from his mind, so his crossroads cloth came out a bit more like a fuzzy throw than something you really wanted to be throwing chicken bones onto, but it had the circle and four quadrants even if it wasn't really embroidered at all. Professor Duell had said a drawing in the dirt would work in a pinch, so he assumed a colored blanket was as good as an embroidered cloth for making readings. And as a bonus, it could double for keeping him warm when it wasn't in use for divination.

"That . . . came out a little more plush blanket than I'd planned, but it should work."

1 Lenny Pierce That's what I was afraid of 1547 0 5

Xarryn Bavol

April 22, 2024 9:22 PM

Yeah, potions is probably grosser by Xarryn Bavol

Xarryn nodded, agreeing that making their own cloths was nice. He liked making things as long as the thing he was making wasn't an essay. Maybe he should try out the art club? Of course, he was already in Gaming and Dueling and Quidditch, so he hadn't before because he didn't have time for it in his schedule, and that was still true, so he guessed not. Or maybe he could just show up occasionally. Some people did that in dueling club. It didn't work so well in gaming since that was a continuing story, but art seemed like something you could just do when you were in the mood for it. He told himself to try to remember to check out a meeting if he was free sometime.

Before he could ask Charlotte if she was in the Visual Arts club since she liked making things, too, she asked him a more on-topic question for the divination class.

"Maybe you get the one who ate chicken most recently?" he guessed wildly. But then he thought a little harder about her question, because there were a lot of things wrong with that theory, starting with some ancestors might not have ever eaten chicken if they were vegetarian, or that the most recent chicken eater would always be the same one until another ancestor died. "Um," he said out loud to show that wasn't his final answer.

"I think, maybe, like with tea leaves and stuff, your intent and aura might help determine who you get? Like, if you have a question about swordfighting," it did not occur to Xarryn that this was an unusual thing for people in this day and age to have questions about, "you might get an ancestor who was good at it? So to get nice ancestors, you might need to frame your question and your intent that way. Like, What would my nicest ancestor think about the best way to prepare for the next boarding party? But then you might just get a nice ancestor telling you that boarding other ships and stealing their loot isn't nice and not give you anything useful about how to prepare for the swordfight." Neither did it occur to Xarryn that piracy might be an unusual pastime for a fourteen year old in this day and age, especially if he didn't clarify that it was all staged for the tourists.

He made a disappointed face. "Sadly, I don't think any of my ancestors were pirates. Other than dad, of course, but he's not dead, so I can just ask him directly." Of course, he didn't really know a whole lot about his ancestors. Dad never talked about his parents much. Xarryn just knew they were landlubbers from some landlocked state like Kansas or something and Dad escaped as quickly as he could to the open ocean. And his grandpa and grandma on Mom's side owned a bar. But Grandpa and Grandma were still alive, too, and Xarryn didn't know a single thing about their parents. Except they'd all been married. And Grandpa and Grandma were married. But Mom and Dad were not married and Grandpa had a lot of bad things to say about Dad regarding that.

"And I guess if they take the time out of their afterlife to commune with you, you'd have to hope they want to be helpful to their descendant, right?" He shrugged, "And anyway, anything they tell you is stuck in Chicken Bone language, so there's a lot of room for interpretation and making your own judgements anyway."

1 Xarryn Bavol Yeah, potions is probably grosser 1560 0 5

Samara Crosby

April 23, 2024 4:44 PM

I fear personal discomfort by Samara Crosby

Samara nodded. “I mean, they’re circular, “She said, referring to the buttons. “And flat, but I think that paper and cloth are more similar.” Transfiguration was one of her best subjects, so she probably could manage a button into a cloth but she still usually liked to do what was easiest. The Crotalus was the sort of person who liked to do the things that she had to do in the quickest, easiest manner possible, so she could get on doing the things she wanted to do.

To her, this made perfect sense, and if she could find a loophole all the better. Samara liked loopholes because they kind of made her feel like she got away with something. Which made her feel good for a few reasons. First of all, there was that whole thing where Mother really resented how one had to do things to fit into society. In the fourth year’s mind that sort of put society in a place where it was this oppressive force that one had to outwit and doing so felt really really good. Especially when it was for Samara’s personal comfort, like wearing pajamas beneath her robes at times. Like, nobody saw what she had on underneath her robes because they usually had to wear them on top so why should she bother dressing up?

Then, well, to be honest, it sort of felt good to either help Mother by finding something that she could subvert or to subvert Mother herself. The fact that she might need to was still a little bit scary to her but Samara would take any survival skills she could get because one never knew what they might need for the situation that they were in.

However, since one never knew when and what they might have to survive, she preferred to be as comfortable as possible. After all, why make yourself more miserable than absolutely necessary?’

“Thanks.” Samara replied when Lenny offered to let her use his colored pencils. She took her wand and enlarged her button, then placed it on her paper. She traced the outside in order to make a perfect circle then divided it into four roughly equal pieces. Then she took a green pencil, and added some dollar signs to one of them for money.

She was about to grab another pencil so she could color in another quadrant when she spotted Lenny’s cloth. “Oooh!” Samara squealed. “It looks so soft.” Soft things were comfortable after all.

11 Samara Crosby I fear personal discomfort 1563 0 5

Charlotte O'Malley

April 23, 2024 6:06 PM

True by Charlotte O'Malley

Xarryn’s first theory was that it was the person who ate chicken most recently, though it didn’t seem like it was going to be his last. Which made sense to Charlotte, since the theory was very flawed. Like, for one thing it really narrowed it down since the odds were that unless you had a relative who was a vegetarian or otherwise didn’t eat chicken, it would likely be the last ancestor who died. Charlotte could just picture it. She envisioned a scene where, like, the newest dead person was at the bottom of the pecking order and put on chicken bone duty.

Of course, that was assuming that doing chicken bone duty was not something that was enjoyable. Maybe it was. Maybe some people quite liked helping their descendents figure out what was going to happen in their future. Charlotte thought that she might enjoy that part of it, that she was looking out for them. It was probably something that, like most things, was something that some people enjoyed and some people didn’t. She knew that she would care about her many times great grandchildren and want to help them but she did not know if she would like the ancestor end of leaving messages in chicken bones.

“That sort of would make sense.” Charlotte agreed with Xarryn’s next theory. “I mean, that’s like asking the paintings in the MARS rooms for advice.” His example was…not one that would have ever occurred to her but the general idea made sense that if you had a question on a particular topic, you would ask someone who knew. Though that didn’t exactly follow either, because with the four areas suggested, well, there were people who knew how to make money and Healers who knew about health but what if you didn’t have any ancestors that fit those criteria?

And who was an expert on the unknown? Didn’t the unknown, by definition, lack experts? If someone was an expert in it, then therefore it was not unknown, it was known. Unless someone could be an expert in not knowing things, which sounded fairly easy.

Charlotte blinked at the next thing her classmate said. “Your dad is a pirate? I mean, as far as I know I don’t have any pirate ancestors at all.” She had been about to point out that maybe some ancestors got bored in the afterlife and communicating through chicken bones helped them pass the time but she was a bit surprised at what her classmate had said. She had often mythologized her own dad’s career when she was little. He was a social worker and saved children from parents who mistreated them and she’d always seen him as a great hero. She still did, but in a much more mundane way.

However, Xarryn was a year older than Charlotte so he probably wasn’t mythologizing or misinterpreting. His dad might very well be a real life pirate.

11 Charlotte O'Malley True 1573 0 5