Chapter 15: Professor Gemstone the bookworm? (15)
"Did everyone find a desk? Are there enough chairs?"
"Yes, teach!"
"Yeah but no, I'm missing one."
"Three free chairs in the back!"
"Wait, where's professor's desk?"
Ezera clapped loudly, cheerfully asking them to sit down.
"Alright, everyone. Quiet down. I don't need a desk. I won't be sitting much, I'll be very busy with that big slate on the wall behind me. Can you all see it?"
There was a general murmur of assent, until Ilun raised his hand to get his attention.
"Actually teacher..."
Yet, instead of asking for a new place, he discreetly hinted at the boy next to him... Onyx, the Queen's youngest son, with a scowl to scare a tiger away... and also five inches shorter than everybody else.
Ezera hummed.
"That is a problem," he mulled the thought over. "Shanon, would you like switching with him? You're tall, so you should not have any problem."
The beautiful girl stood up quietly and made her way to the third rank. Onyx did too, reluctantly, move to his new seat. Ezera recognized a prideful mind when he saw one. That wouldn't do well there. It couldn't be helped, the prince was a... what? twelve, thirteen year old boy in a classroom filled with sixteen year olds.
Once they were all prepared and attentive, he started cheerful.
"Okay, everyone. Let's do a quick test before starting. What's 1+1?"
They giggled, but he also heard some groans. Too bad for them.
"2," was the collective answer.
"Fine, fine, just checking. Next. 13+54?"
"67!"
"Okay! Let's up it a bit... 2x2?" He relished in the amusement.
"4!" They seemed to like his silly game, so at least that was that.
"Then 3x8?"
"24!"
"32x6?
As his questions became admittedly very slowly more difficult, the class had seemed to turn it into a game of who could answer the fastest. Only a few, including Onyx, didn't participate.
"192!"
"Well done, three seconds time. Next, 8**2? 6**3? What about √9? √125?"
As he plunged into more complicated equations, half of the class started giving up, as it wasn't their specialty. As for Onyx, his eyebrows were drawn together, and his grip was so tight around his quill that his hand was trembling.
After having gotten into the more complex side of functions, Ezera switched topic. Thanks to his sharp eye, it was possible to remind his students of where they had been in their studies as well as evaluate Onyx' reactions to his different questions.
Literature was a tough one, but then again Ezera should probably remind the boy that had nothing to do with his personal abilities and far more to do with the difference of worlds between he and Ezera's class. Literally.
At least he seemed better in economy. Sociology sounded like a complete mystery to him though. That would have to be solved. As for history... Well. History couldn't be helped. Foreign languages were no better. Ezera should organize a schedule for each specialty soon.
If the Queen expected him to up her son to par with the level of his class, then he had his work cut out for him.
Seriously, the child was twelve. If he was no genius, he shouldn't be forced. Chance was it worked differently in the noble circle though, and Ezera could do nothing about it.
By the end of class time, Ezera had made his mind. He asked Onyx to stay at the end, wanting to speak with him.
The poor boy looked tense. His nails were being abused, trust into the grainy wood of his desk with a horrible hissing sound. Ezera held back a wince.
"Stop that," he said, gesturing at his fingers, "Do not worry, you are not in trouble."
"I'm not scared," the other quietly retorted.
"And I'm not treating you as though you were," Ezera sighed quietly. "I, as your current teacher, only want to make a few things clear, is that alright?"
Onyx frowned, nodding with a jerky move of his head upward.
"Good. Then, I want you to know that I only ever taught fifteen to seventeen year old children. I don't have experience with students of your age, and I do not mean that in a demeaning manner. I do not know which knowledge you already posess and which I should start with during lessons. That is something for which I will need your cooperation. Do we agree on this?"
Onyx nodded again, hesitant.
"That is great. It means that you shouldn't hesitate to tell me if you do not understand something. It is not something to be ashamed of."
That part of his lecture didn't seem to sit right with Onyx, but the boy still gave his assent. Ezera hoped he was serious and would heed his words, and not just going along with it to get rid of the teacher faster.
"Onto the next point. I personally specializes in scientific activities. I do not think you or your family have much need of that. I do not know which languages exist in this world and what is the history of these lands. Any lack in my lessons are therefore not your fault as my student, but mine as a professor. Do you still want to attend during the history lessons I will provide to the rest of my students?"
Onyx glared at him and nodded. Ezera had feared he would. This was a boy who wanted to prove himself. Ezera had not seen that level of competitiveness since Kai's kendo competition the previous year. It had not ended well in his opinion.
"I see. They probably will never prove useful to you, though. On another note, I will ask of you lots of written proofs of your understanding, as I will the rest of my students. This is not me treating you differently, I hope you understand. You are mostly used to being tutored on your own, right?"
As a prince, Onyx might not have had many occasions to study alongside his peers. This might prove to be a bit destabilizing for him.
"Simply because I am the teacher of twenty one students as a collective doesn't mean that my students can't ask me to individualize my teachings sometimes. It is not prohibited to ask for help or reformulating of ideas, is what I mean. I will require the rest of the class to participate in the history lessons of this world, as I will their politics and economics, languages, and everything else including crash courses on magic and arrays. This might cover things you know. You should tell me as well if that is so."
They were now looking at each other, in the eyes.
"Finally, do not hesitate to ask the help of your classmates. They will not look down on you for your youth, you can trust that."
He caught a sliver of disbelief in the big amber eyes, narrowed at him. Very slowly, Onyx nodded one last time. He looked like he might wonder if Ezera had just made a joke at his expense. Ezera carefully did not react. There was nothing he could do until he knew the prince better, at any rate.
"Now, is there something you want to add? Feel free to speak."
The eye contact turned into some sort of battle of will, or at least Ezera felt so. It lasted half a minute, perhaps more, in the loud silence of the empty classroom.
Then, Onyx rose, breaking eye contact.
"There's nothing. Good day."
The boy gathered his things like a flash, and also like a flash he was out of the classroom.
Ezera allowed himself a loud sigh once he couldn't hear any more footsteps.
That went as well as he had expected it to go, he thought. Perhaps it would be easier once he had learned to know him.
For now, direction the library. He had new lesson programs to prepare, and they wouldn't make themselves on their own.
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