He could understand some of what was being said around him, directly!

Jack was walking with a permanent grin on his face as he followed Jun down the street, listening intently to everything being said around him. It wasn't much, but he could recognise the odd word being said. The old gossips saying something involving a dress, a young child apparently asking his mother about a ball... it was exhilarating.

He was actually disappointed as they reached the more sparsely populated residential part of town, and approached the same compound as yesterday. He had secreted the orb in his pocket, and now and then he would reach in and grasp it as he looked at stuff. It didn't matter what, he was just eager to expand his vocabulary, and if he concentrated hard enough he would get a flash of a sound and a pictogram when he focused on something.

"Are they sending me here to be a student?", he thought as Jun was knocking on the small inset door. He wasn't dressed anything like the students he had seen there yesterday, which did raise a hint of suspicion within him.

The bored guard exchanged a few quiet words with Jun and barely glanced at Jack as they entered. It was the same scene as yesterday, but instead of heading down the middle of the compound, Jun led him around the sides and past the classrooms. On the far side of the compound, she knocked on an unobtrusive small door that was opened by a wizened old man whose bald head glittered more than his eyes.

She spoke a few words to the small old man, who then grinned at Jack and beckoned him inside the room. He looked at Jun who nodded encouragingly, so he entered the room behind the old man. It wasn't a classroom, neither was it an office - although there was a small desk in one corner.

Jack raised a skeptical eyebrow as the man headed off to a rather large storage closet, to the back of what he realised must be living quarters. It was small and tidy, but that was definitely a bed to one side, flanked by a small table. Was he being sent to live here? He turned around to question Jun, and then hurried out the door to see that she was well on her way back to the entrance of the compound. She saw him and gave him a thumbs up!

The wizened old man cleared his throat to get Jack's attention. He was carrying a mop and a bucket, and - still grinning - gestured at Jack to take the straw broom that he'd removed from the cupboard. Still very confused but unwilling to make a fuss before he knew the full story, he took the broom and followed the old man to a well in the corner of the compound, where the old man filled the bucket with water.

The two then made their way to the first classroom nearest the entrance, where the old man mimed at Jack to start sweeping! He was obviously sent here to work. But was this also to be his new home, or would he be returning to Confucius and Jun once he was done? The old man nodded approvingly as Jack headed to the far side of the classroom and started sweeping the stone floor.

He'd go along with this, for now...

As with everything else he'd encountered, the broom had an unexpected heft to it, so Jack was soon starting to sweat in the rising heat. When he was about half way done with the floor, the old man - who had been standing in the doorway, staring out at the students in the courtyards - moved to the back of the classroom, starting to mop where Jack had swept.

He was still grinning, in between softly whistling an unfamiliar tune, obviously delighted to have a helper for his menial job. Once Jack swept the last of the dust out of the classroom and into the courtyard, he stood there as well, waiting for the old man to catch up with the mop. He wiped the sweat off his brow and mimicked the old man of earlier, leaning on the broom and watching the students.

The next classroom was occupied, so they skipped it and headed to the third, where the scene repeated itself. The old man was considerate enough to offer him a drink of water from a large flask he carried one they were done and moved on to the next unoccupied room.

The students mostly ignored him, just the odd glance at this stranger as they studied, practiced and sparred, seemingly inexhaustible. After cleaning a handful of classrooms, Jack was getting bored, but the old man sat on a nearby bench and patted the space next to him, indicating for Jack to sit as he pulled out a whole Mìngmài fruit.

He sliced off a small piece for Jack, and then proceeded to chew a small piece he'd cut for himself before falling into a trance, meditating on the bench. Jack ate his tiny share, and attempted to meditate himself. He wasn't sure of the why, but he knew that meditating left him feeling more refreshed and fuller than just eating the fruit on its own.

Just as he could feel the usual uncomfortable heat gathering down there, the old man elbowed him and startled him out of his trance.

The old man, still grinning, nodded slightly off to the corner indicating not-so-subtly for Jack to look. Following the old man’s gaze, he saw several older students near his age that were gathered around the well for a drink, and a couple of the girls were sneaking glances in his direction! One of the cuter ones was also braver, and held his gaze for a few seconds before turning back to the conversation with her classmates, smiling and laughing.

Bo, who was sparring in the same courtyard as the well, scowled as he noticed the look his foolish younger sister shared with the foreign looking youth that was assisting the janitor for some reason.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

A loud and insistent knocking disturbed Elder Li, who was pruning some of his beloved plants in the courtyard of his home.

"Elder Li, you must come quickly! There has been an incident at the academy!" gushed the boy that had knocked after a hurried bow of respect.

"Wait a moment.", he told the boy as he hurried to fetch a small medical kit. Mounting the large lizard that the boy had ridden to his house, he made haste towards the academy, a sinking feeling in his stomach.