It took two days for the elders to get the education system organized. Kairen didn’t pay much attention as they went around talking with various tribesmen, working to arrange schedules so that all the children could be present at a single time. His focus was once more drawn to his pool of upgrade points and his next choice. While a part of him wanted to increase the Oasis size once more he currently couldn’t afford to do so. He needed at least one more upgrade, maybe two before his pool would be large enough to purchase the fourth level of the pond size choice. Improving his total area by grabbing the grassy area upgrade was also considered, before being ruled out. There didn’t seem to be the same damaging downsides the pool upgrade came with, and there really wasn’t anything outside his current zone of control except for more sand. What really drew Kairen’s attention were the blessing upgrades.

He still hadn’t seen any evidence of the fertility blessing at work. He supposed he did have a lot of insects, but he didn’t know enough about them to say it was due to his blessing and not just the general resources present. The humans hadn’t seemed to notice the fertility blessing, given it wasn’t something they mentioned during their daily offerings. Those offerings were what encouraged him to choose a blessing. The nomads were vaguely aware of his presence and had a positive impression of him. Originally, he had been worried that his blessings would be noticed and turned against him in some way, but that fear had slowly proven itself to be groundless.

If they noticed the blessings Kairen figured they would treat it as a positive thing. And with school starting, he thought that it was a great time to purchase the blessing that featured a teacher educating a group of students. More selfishly, he hoped that the blessing would extend to affect him as well. Kairen hadn’t liked school and hadn’t had an easy time learning in his own village. While he was more motivated now to pay attention and work hard, he would take any advantage he could to help him learn to read as quickly as possible. Before selecting it Kairen made his way over to the nomad camp. He wanted to have a good view to see if anyone present noticed that something had changed.

The camp was a bustle of activity as people woke up and started their day. Breakfast for the nomads usually consisted of leftovers from the previous night supplemented by bread, cheese, and cured meat. It was a casual affair, and more than one person walked around while they ate, catching up with their friends and neighbors before the heat and strain from work made casual conversation a chore. Selecting the education blessing was the work of a moment, and Kairen wanted eagerly for it to take effect. He felt it pass through him like a ripple; a single moment where something just beneath his notice changed but did so in a way that he couldn’t make note of what exactly was different. He wasn’t the only one who felt it. Most people continued with their conversations, unaware of what had happened, but here and there people paused for a second, some young, some old, men and woman alike who were just a bit more in tune with the spiritual side of things. A moment later they resumed whatever it was they had been doing.

“Must have been a breeze.”

Kairen knew that whatever benefits the ability provided would be subtle at best, but having confirmation that some people were aware of it was gratifying nonetheless. Something happened when he purchased the ability. It wasn’t simply a waste of upgrade points that he could be using on other purchases.

A second later he looked at his newly updated screen and revised that thought. The cost for the next purchase of the education blessing had increased as was expected. He could just barely afford to purchase it again with his new total pool size of 450, but what really soured his mood was the fact that the cost of every other blessing in the second row had increased as well.

“Sandy shits and scum water!” Kairen couldn’t bring himself to use the serious swear words he had overheard at one point or another since no one was actually hurt, but he really wasn’t happy with the unexpected twist and wanted to make his feelings known. He had thought he had a fairly good idea of how the window worked, so having this thrown at him was an unpleasant surprise. He verbally released some more of his frustration until he felt himself begin to calm down.

“It could be worse. It could have made me choose only one blessing ever.” It was a bitter truth, but Kairen knew that being forced into a single upgrade path wouldn’t have been out of the question. Every other Oasis he had heard of only offered a limited set of magical benefits that usually were tied together. The various blessings he could purchase seemed to be subtle enough that they might slip beneath notice, but what Kairen was seeing was a mechanism to encourage specialization. Providing all the blessings at a high level was simply out of the question.

The rest of the morning passed by quickly. School was scheduled to take place in the afternoon when it would be too hot outside to work. The hours until then were filled with people getting ready. The older children focused on their apprenticeships, while the younger ones focused on their chores before managing to sneak away for some rough fun.

“What are you doing? How did you get so dirty in ten minutes? Your father will have words for you when he hears about this.” One mother was quite upset with the mess her son had made. “Strip. Give me those clothes to wash and go clean yourself up. You have half an hour to get clean, eat lunch and get to the gathering hall for lessons.”

The same scene played itself out with different mothers and sons, but most of the children simply had the dirt brushed off their tunics before they were bustled away for a quick meal.

Finally, finally, Kairen joined the group of kids as they made their way from the camp over to the gathering hall. Most carried small mats or cushions to sit on while the rest seemed content to sit on the dirt floor. Soon everyone was organized, and Elder Arun took that as his cue to make his way to the front of the room.

“Good afternoon.” He said firmly and clearly. It took a bit, but his presence quickly quieted down the murmurs and whispers as everyone focused their attention on him. Once he was satisfied that everyone was listening, he continued speaking.

“As many of you already know, we as a tribe will be staying here at this Oasis for a while. This means that our traditional habit of working on your education while travelling needed to be altered. Knowledge is a treasure that no one can steal from you, and as such we expect every one of you to treat this time and these lessons with the value that they are worth.

While I am your teacher for today, that will not always be the case. However.” Here Elder Arun paused to glare at the room, all the firmness he was known for as an Elder coming to the front. “I expect you to treat any instructor you might learn from with the same respect you would have if I was here in the room, watching you.” Kairen wasn’t even the target of the threat, but he still felt himself gulp nervously.

“Some of you might feel like they already know what I am about to teach you. You will still listen, until you reach the point where you can repeat my lesson word for word. Some of you might be hearing this for the first time or might have a poor memory. Do not bother me with your questions. Ask those students who are older than you or boast of their knowledge. If they do not know then find someone else to ask. Only as a united group may you ask me about any topics that you do not remember.”

Satisfied with the basic rules he had laid out the Elder began the business of teaching. The brick wall behind him had been surfaced with the clay mixture to make it smooth and straight. The wall was plain brown, but Arun reached his hand into a small pot at the foot of the wall and drew out a simple brush dripping with a black mixture. The strokes he made were choppy and it took a couple of passes to complete his work, but soon a straight black line crossed the middle of the wall. Judging his work to be adequate, he made his way to the left end and made a simple mark just above the line.

“My lesson for you today focuses on the most important knowledge you will ever learn. While you are here you will learn many things that will help you survive out in the Shifting Sands, but only my lessons will help you live. A life must have meaning, and I will teach you what it means to be a nomad, what it means to be a member of our tribe. Listen closely for what I share with you is our history in its fullness the heights and depths that brought us to where we are today.”

Elder Arun continued speaking, but Kairen found it hard to make out what he was saying over his own thoughts. He had been in most of the tents in the camp, but only now did he realize what he hadn’t seen there. There hadn’t been any books or scrolls, with the sole exception of Healer Elan’s tent. The tribe had a strong oral tradition. They shared tales and songs for entertainment, their history was memorized and passed down generation to generation. For the most part they had as little use for writing as Kairen had had before his death. There were exceptions to this rule. Kairen had no doubt that all the elders could read, but they wouldn’t bother taking the time to teach everyone to do so. Learning to read would simply become part of the training for their apprentices to complete. Kairen might be able to listen in on one or two of those lessons, but there were only five or six apprentices that might need to learn to read, compared to the forty some kids hanging on Elder Arun’s every word.

It would still be worth hanging around the Healer and Pathfinder tents to learn what he could. Even if he didn’t learn to read, having more information was always helpful. There was also a chance that some of the people he would be spying on would read out loud. It wouldn’t be as helpful as actual lessons, but even being able to recognize more words would help him figure out what the screen was trying to tell him.

It was still another setback to his plans, and Kairen took a moment to acknowledge that. It was easy to say that he should look on the bright side of things, that he was still in a better position than he had been yesterday, but right now Kairen was feeling a bit too upset to really think such thoughts. He had had things all planned out, only to have them not work out because the nomads didn’t have the decency to care about writing. Pushing the whole matter out of his head as useless, Kairen focused his attention on Elder Arun, letting himself get lost in stories of a better time.