Tales of the Lore Teacher – Heritages

Creative writing submission from the Rest Less community – submit your entry here.

Adamas was returning from the shops in Salamander Town when she saw her teacher beckoning her from the gates of the ‘Holme of Care’ and urging her to hurry. She quickened her pace to see what she wanted.

The teacher explained that six new students would be joining her in school and that she was expected to help settle them in when they joined the main class with the rest of the school. To help with this, there was a special session today to allow them to meet and learn about each other.

Adamas hesitantly agreed, wondering what this special class would be about, but she was dreading meeting these children. They were bound to be like the others from town, who, despite her attempts at friendship, either ignored her or made comments about how short she was. She didn’t understand why, because there were short adults in town – she had seen them – so why did they treat her so differently? Besides, she was sure she would soon grow some more anyway.

Reluctantly, she walked into the ‘Hall of Lore’ to be introduced to the new students. There were five girls and one boy, all of whom she recognised from the orphanage. She was now very confused; these weren’t town children at all. What could her teacher be up to?

As the teacher introduced them all to one another, Adamas carefully looked over her fellow students. Three of the girls she knew well. The town children were often cruel to them as well for being different because they had pointed ears, an unusual birth defect in a human, and she had often comforted them or made up games to cheer them up.

The eldest of the three, Dawn, was a slender, pretty, golden-haired lass with dark green eyes and pale pearly skin. Adamas had known her since she was a baby. In fact, she’d chosen her name.

The next eldest, Silmaisil, was a toned, glossy dark-brown-haired lass with deep blue eyes and golden skin.

The youngest Winterheart was a lithe-built, silver-white-haired lass with purple eyes and jet-black skin.

The other two girls Adamas had known longer but less well, although they had protected her from the nastier tricks of the older children of the town.

Kethry was a slim, white-blonde-haired lass with fiercely intelligent bright-blue eyes and tanned skin.

Tarma was a muscular, beautiful, black-haired lass with penetrating black eyes and pale-white skin.

And the last member of the group, Taliesin, was a lean, red-haired lad with pale-brown eyes and darkly tanned skin.

Adamas suddenly realised none of the others was anything like the town’s children with their pale brown hair and their skinny build. Adamas herself was a strong, short-built, silver-haired lass with sparkling silver eyes and deeply tanned skin.

The teacher motioned for them all to sit down around her in a circle because today they would learn about the races and their heritages. Opening the book of Elder Lore, it fell on the first page of the Races section. The children all leaned forward to get a better look as the teacher explained that there were eight main races that all others branched from. On the page, they could see five images.

The teacher pointed at the smallest image, which she explained was a Fairy of the naturally magical races. The teacher then told the children all about this race. They were natural flyers born with the highest wits of the eight races, but average guts and charm. Adamas and the others looked carefully at the image as they had never seen anyone like that.

The next image the teacher pointed at was part-animal and part-human; these were Centaurs, a powerful partly magical race who liked to live in the wild, making them natural travellers. They were born with the third highest guts, but average charm and wits. The children listened carefully as it was very interesting.

The largest image on the page was very ugly, Adamas thought. When the teacher told them it was a Troll, explaining they were the only race that naturally regenerated, were born with the highest guts but had very low wits and charm, and they were one of the evil races, Adamas decided to avoid such creatures if possible.

Adamas suddenly pointed at an image on the page, asking if it was a deformed human. The teacher said no; it was an Orc, another of the evil races and a very devious one – a natural brawler born with average wits, charm and slightly above average guts.

The next smallest image, the teacher explained, was a Goblin. As one of the evil races, they were natural at escaping, born with the second highest guts, average wits, but low charm. Adamas laughed, and when the teacher asked why, she explained she’d once seen one buying things in town. He’d told her his name was Cobble. The teacher explained that Cobble was different to other Goblins, but he was the only good Goblin that the orphanage had ever heard of.

The teacher then turned the page so that they could see the final three races. Adamas and the others were startled by these final images. They all started chattering at once. The teacher called for silence.

The teacher then pointed at three images at the top of the page, telling them they were the different types of Elves, a goodly race who were all natural foresters born with average guts and wits but slightly above-average charm.

The teacher then looked at Dawn and smiled, telling her that her kin was called High Elves and pointed at the left-hand image, explaining all about them. She then looked at Silmaisil and pointed at the middle image, explaining these were her kin, the Wilderness Elves (Wild for short) and what they were like. The teacher then pointed to the final image of the three and said to Winterheart that these were her kin, the Dark Elves, explaining how these could be good or evil; they were the most changeable of the Elven races.

The teacher then pointed at three images in the middle of the page, telling them they were the different types of Humans who could be both good and evil and every type in between. They were all natural farmers and the only race born totally equal in wits, guts and charm.

Kethry pointed at one of the images, saying that the townspeople all looked like that. The teacher agreed, explaining that most Humans they would meet were like them, just as Taliesin was. Kethry then pointed at another image, exclaiming that it looked similar to her. The teacher explained that these were a race of Humans from the far tropical south who were rarely seen within this area of the world, then pointed to the last image, explaining this was a race of nomadic barbarian Humans from the far north and they were Tarma’s kin.

The teacher then pointed to the final three images at the bottom of the page, telling them they were the different types of Dwarfs, a goodly race that were natural miners born with slightly above-average guts and wits but low charm.

The teacher explained all about the left-hand image, showing a Mountain Dwarf, the most military type, then pointing at the middle one. The teacher explained that this was a Hill Dwarf, which related best to other races, and the last image the teacher told them was a Gully Dwarf, the only type that could be evil and devious.

Adamas noticed all the Dwarf images were short like her, but had hairy faces. When she mentioned this to the Teacher, the other children looked at her and then back at the images. Dawn said the Mountain Dwarf was most like Adamas except for the beard in the image. The teacher explained that Adamas was indeed a Dwarf from a sub-race of Mountain Dwarves, the Silvermountain tribe, which had a more magical nature than other dwarves and was less hairy. Unfortunately, as far as the Ladies of the Foundling Orphanage could find out, she was the last of her kind.

The teacher turned to the last page of the Races section, and the children looked at a written chart. They were told it showed the birth strengths and weaknesses of the different races.

Adamas finally felt happy and smiled at the teacher, thinking about how different she would feel the next time she went to town or school. Now, when the town children started making comments, she would be able to hold her head high and tell them it’s because she was different and special, as she was a dwarf. She looked around at the others, realising that they too now felt closer than before this special class.

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