[Thin Ice V2] Chapter 6
The tutor, Harald Hawthorne, was an old man in his sixties. He had gray here and intelligent brown eyes behind steel-wired round glasses sitting low on his nose that he peeked over every time he looked at Cale. Cale, in turn, tried his best to sit straight and answer every question the tutor asked.
The first hour was excruciating.
With every answer he got wrong, Cale shrank. He curled up his shoulders, bent his back, slouched further back into the chair, turned his head down, lowered his gaze. It almost felt like he was going to disappear and all that would be left would be a Calla-sized impression in the chair’s soft fabric.
”Are you listening?” Harald asked, his voice sharp but not cutting.
Cale winced, straightening. ”Yes,” he said, still unsure how he should address the older man. Sir? Mister? Call him by his name? If so, which name?
Harald’s brown eyes narrowed over his hawk-like nose. ”Have you not been reading Dawlier’s essay collection Nature & Magic: There is No Divide?” the tutor asked, rising a bushy eyebrow.
Pursing his lips, Cale looked over the man’s shoulder. ”No,” he said, his finger absentmindedly drawing patterns on a naked page in his opened notebook.
Harald made a thoughtful noise and then asked, ”What about Coligér’s book Every Way to Accidentally Explode Yourself: An Abridged Edition?”
Cale’s gaze met Harald’s (that actually sounded like a cool book!) before he shook his head and drew his shoulders up a little higher. He leaned backwards when he heard the small sigh uttered by the older man, curling in on himself and directing his gaze out the window.
It was a beautiful day. The garden with its high hedges and green grass seemed to glitter in the midday sunlight, the workers scurrying across the fields visible in the faint distance. The forest that surrounded the estate was noble and bearing plenty of leaves. Sunlight filtered through the branches and cast long shadows on the ground.
It was a beautiful day and yet Cale was stuck inside, having spent the last hour realizing exactly how little he knew about this world.
His stomach was queasy. Scowling to himself, he directed his gaze back to Harald after a carefully calculated cough reached his ears. Harald was looking at him with calm eyes, his gaze unhindered by the glasses situated precariously on his nose. ”Do you have these books in your family’s library, at least?” Harald asked.
At the thought of that fairy-tale like library, Cale nodded before he even had time to consider it. ”Probably,” he concurred with his nod.
”Good,” Harald said and furrowed his eyebrows. ”Start with Coligér’s book—ignore any other book by her that you find—and then read Dawlier’s essay collection. You can also read their other collection The Human Component: The Difference Between Science & Magic. I don’t need any essays from you, just make sure that you take frequent notes. If you have any questions, write them down and we’ll go over them the next time I arrive.”
”Okay,” Cale said.
Mariana was a beautiful woman.
Plump cheeks and a wide body with a stocky build. Her hair was a whiteish color, like Calla’s, but her skin a much more healthy tan color. She smiled a lot, Cale had quickly noticed. She was incredibly free with her expressions, always easy to read. Even now, as she sat next to Calla’s father, she was smiling as she whispered something to him.
In contrast, Calla's father was a much more reserved man. Cale had never met him before, hadn’t even seen him around. It had been a week now, since he came to this world, and this was their very first meeting.
Biting into his cookie, Cale closed his eyes at the taste of chocolate lingering on his tongue. He ignored the sounds of Calla’s parents speaking, knowing that when they wanted his attention they would ask for it. And in the meanwhile, he took another bite and swallowed after too little chewing.
In his defense, it was chocolate.
Mariana looked away from her husband and saw Cale grabbing another cookie. She smiled gently at him, her eyes beaming as she asked, ”Like them?”
Cale nodded, his cheeks bulging from having half the cookie in his mouth.
Giggling, she leaned her head against Isaac’s shoulder and said, ”I’ll ask the chef to make more for you. Perhaps you can eat them while you study, and you’ll get something in your stomach, at least.” Cale twitched slightly. She frowned and added, ”You eat far too little, dear,” her tone no longer teasing.
Quickly swallowing the last of the cookie, Cale said, ”I know.” He picked up another cookie and nibbled on it, keeping his gaze stuck on the table between them. He knew he ate too little. He knew he needed to sleep more, too.
But what else was he supposed to do? He needed knowledge and the only way to attain it was to study.
And if he collapsed, then so be it.
Mariana shook off the somber subject and smiled. She leaned over to grab a cookie of her own, scooting away a bit from Calla’s father as she did so. Biting down on it, her eyes widened. ”This is good,” she mumbled so severely that it took Cale a solid twenty seconds to realize what she’d said.
”How is Harald treating you?” Isaac asked, frowning at Cale. His dark eyes stared right at him, the frown marring his handsome features. He was tall; taller than Cale, even. His skin darker, his body limber; he and Mariana were as different as black and white.
Cale gulped. He straightened up and picked up his teacup just to have something in his hands. ”Well,” he said, sipping at his tea.
Isaac narrowed his dark eyes. ”You will tell me if he does anything to hurt you, or make you uncomfortable. We can easily find another tutor for you,” he said, and Mariana bobbed her head in agreement.
She swallowed the cookie in her mouth, and said, ”We just want you to be happy. You don’t have to push yourself more than you can handle.”
”I’m fine,” said Cale. He got two pairs of doubtful eyes directed at him in response, and winced. Raising his head to face them head-on, he added, ”Ginny helps me make sure I eat enough, and go to bed on time. I’m fine, I promise.”
A clatter in the corner, and Ginny swore quietly to herself. Cale watched as she moved the vase back onto its proper position on the tall, narrow table. He hooked his lips into the shadow of a smile and hid it behind his teacup, taking yet another sip. Mariana eyed him thoughtfully, Isaac sitting back and drinking elegantly from his own flower-pattered teacup.
”Ginny is a responsible worker,” Isaac said at last. ”She surely knows her duties well.”
”Yes, sir,” Ginny said from her corner. When Cale glanced at her, she was looking straight ahead and worrying her bottom lip, her hair beginning to frazzle.
Isaac nodded, one single sharp movement.
”So you like the tutor, Harald Hawk…” Mariana frowned, her eyes drifting through the air before she settled on, ”Hawthorne.”
”Yes, I like him,” Cale answered truthfully.
The man was a good teacher. Moreover, Cale appreciated the fact that he could study on his own, and was given directions to pursue instead of assignments to do. Homework was never something that he’d excelled on. And if there was something that he really couldn’t understand on his own, Harald was good at explaining it step by step.
”Good, good. That’s good,” said Mariana. She smiled and picked up another cookie, her eyes zeroing in on it without hesitation.
It had been too long since Cale had had a good meal, and he grabbed one more cookie for himself. Isaac hadn’t touched the plate the entire time they’d been there, simply drinking his tea and refilling the cup when it was empty. Cale lowered his gaze again when he accidentally met Isaac’s, unable to maintain that contact.
He took a bite of the cookie, and threw his mind back to the most recent book he’d been reading.
[Potentially, make it clear that Ginny is a part of this scene earlier.]