Kadri's face was a reflection of genuine commendation. His new charge, a young girl by the name of Fala, was almost completely illiterate when they had first met just a couple of days prior and yet now she had a full grasp of the alphabet and could spell almost every word she attempted as though she possessed the same genetic memory of dragon-kin.
In short her progress was astounding.
"I can see why your uncle is so determined to teach you. Your potential is incredible, but I have to ask, I thought he only arrived not long ago, are you really related to him?" His common sense had obviously told him that there couldn't possibly be any form of genetic relation but her sheer intellectual growth made it impossible for him to be certain. In spite of himself, he thought that it would be easier to comprehend her mind, if she was genuinely linked to the man who spoke of millennia long past in first-hand accounts.
Fala chuckled, proud that she managed to make someone think her uncle Teacher was her real uncle Teacher. (Even if her uncle Teacher was actually uncle Adam, but only her and auntie Eve could call him that.) Reality dimmed her brightness however.
"No, he isn't really my uncle... He just saved me and my dad... I think I might be bothering him sometimes, but he's just too kind to say anything." Airing that secret made it somehow feel more real, much sadder and she began to sob, unable to stop herself as her own words seemed to echo around her head.
Within seconds however, before Kadri could even attempt to ask her what was wrong or reply to her, Valo had charged up the stairs and burst through the door. Her demeanour was fierce and protective, she demanded an explanation.
After Kadri explained what happened, he felt a little insulted when Valo asked the girl to confirm it was true. Indignation quickly translated into confusion at the relief the confirmation brought her. "Oh my god, please don't scare me like that girl, I thought I'd have to tell him something happened." Valo muttered picking Fala up and hugging her as she sat down with Fala on her lap.
"I don't get it, I know he is strong and I can tell he is a bit impulsive, but you act like he's a devil." Kadri said, still largely ignorant of his new employer beyond rumours and even those were few thanks to the time he spent in the archives alone.
Valo looked at him like he was the most ignorant man on the planet for a second. "I had forgotten he hadn't granted you the memories yet. I better fill you in on the key de..." Valo stopped at a sudden outburst from the girl on her lap.
"Wait! Why don't I write it? Then I get practice and he gets to learn to." Her enthusiasm was innocent, infectious and totally belied the horrific story she was about to write.
An hour later, she slapped her hands on the table and declared she had finished, sliding the several pages she had written across the table and waited expectantly for her teacher to read.
"My Uncle Teacher! He's great, but he can be silly sometimes and scary sometimes. When he was born it was a very long time ago..." Kadri's face, which had been impressed by her penmanship and spelling, suddenly dropped. "...He watched his parents die when he was little, then he watched a girl friend die, I don't think she was his girlfriend but she was a girl and his friend..." Kadri released a deep exhale as his eyes wondered and looked up to Valo, who was nodding.
"...She killed herself, then Uncle Teacher got very mad, then stopped getting mad and started working really hard. His memories are a bit foggy so I'm not sure what happened exactly, but he was committing gen-o-side. He was unhappy for a long time, but then they killed him, but he smiled first so I think he knew he was being bad and wanted to be punished, so he could learn his lesson." Kadri took a deep breath, scratching his hairline and eyebrows, then covered his mouth and breathed deeply.
"...He then met a god, who made him a judge when uncle Teacher complained, after that my uncle was much happier, he was only pretending at first, but he felt he was doing something important. Then he had to commit gen-o-side again, a few times and much worse because some of the time there were lots more people to punish." Kadri, suddenly fell victim to a rather severe migraine, finding himself in need of the ampule Teacher had given him far sooner than he had hoped,
As staggered and unsure as to the legitimacy of the child's writing, for some reason it seemed to be made more believable by the innocent phrasing it was written in however, that didn't make this new font of knowledge any easier to swallow and he found himself skim-reading until more current affairs.
"...Well he says "they were disgusting pigs who should have suffered far worse" To dad at least, they talk loud when they drink uncle Teacher's night night juice." Kadri coughed awkwardly. Then turned to look at the two say opposite him, placing the paper he was holding down and promising to finish it later as he steepled his interlocked fingers above them.
"So when you ran up here..."
"Yes..." Valo said, before quickly covering Valo's ears. "...We are under no illusions, if anything happens to this girl, it would get out of hand very quickly. Eve might survive, but the rest of us..." She left the statement to linger in the air, the implication was obvious and she didn't wish to accidentally speak such events into reality. Instead, she told Fala to go wash her face because Teacher might have teased her for crying, then leant over to grab one of the last pages to see how recently she wrote up to, grabbing a drink before she started reading she swilled the water around her mouth as she read the last paragraph.
"...He told auntie Eve he can't have kids, says he tested it a lot in other lives... something about "funny business" not sure what that means..." Valo unfortunately spat the water over Fala's hard work and they soon found themselves desperately trying to stop her tears yet again.