Challenge #04642-L258: Books, Brains, or Boots

"What a tangled web you weave when first you choose to deceive."
The problem is, they got caught in their own web, and now had to come clean.
Fortunately, people were merciful. No magic use except for healing spells for a month, and having to be on dishes-duty for a month. Could've been a lot worse. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Nerd moment - the actual quote is "What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." And yes I looked that up to make certain. Today we learned]

Prodigies are always a problem. They don't fit the curriculum laid out for others and many teachers assume that they know all the things they need to know. Which is an enormous mistake, because the first time a prodigy hits a wall, it can lead to total ambition collapse.

The other way prodigies are problematic happens when they try to cover for it when they mess up.

Arlie had been sailing along on talent alone when ze hit hir 'wall'. Something ze hadn't known or thought about beforehand. Something ze could not automatically do, or even process. The assignment was due, and nothing had been done. Arlie had delayed, distracted hirself, and denied the progress of time.

Ze had never had to ask for help, before. Not for scholastic purposes. Help on doing things was fine. It was help with school that felt like forbidden territory. Terrified, lost, and not knowing what else to do, Arlie relied on inspired desperation and inventive fiction. In brief, ze started lying.

"I need more time for research," was a decent beginning, because scrambling through the library and clinging to that thin straw of hope. Not even knowing how to look it up.

Next was, "I'm formulating a new thesis," which sounded impressive but also raised tutor expectations for a paper that didn't exist.

Then came the day in which Arlie exhausted the possibility of every book they could think of. Ze walked to hir dorm in utter terror. If only someone could... beat... hir... up.

The hour was late, and Arlie was desperate enough to detour to the sketchier side of town, just to get some convincing injuries. But even the footpads and thugs had gone to bed, and the only people awake were the well-armed Watch. Who noticed hir presence and asked what ze was doing there.

"I was hoping for an obscure book emporium," said Arlie. "Obviously, I was misled regarding its existence." Worse and worse, ze gained an escort all the way back to hir dormitory door.

Ze couldn't sleep, trying to think of what to do next. At most, there was a couple of days before they'd noticed ze wasn't in the library any more. Further, ze had absolutely nothing beyond the assignment wording and empty pages. Out of such desperation, Warlocks were made. Arlie didn't crave power. Just knowledge.

Or a way to escape.

...escape!

Arlie packed hir important things into a backpack, scribbled the words, Don't look for me, on hir empty page, and left. Barely holding back tears.

Ze was a failure. There was no hope for hir any more. Just misery and running before Arlie could catch hir tutor's wrath.

Arlie didn't even make it two days beyond the city walls before Tutor Xarqueous found hir.

"Don't look for me," she repeated. "You really thought running away would solve your issues?"

"No," Arlie mourned. "I'm a liar and a fraud and I am not cut out for life in the wilderness," ze gestured at hir pathetic attempt at cooking over a campfire. Despite the fire's small smouldering flames, the 'meal' of skewered squirrel was burned on one side and raw on the other. "I'm a failure all around, and I deserve to go to prison 'cause I can't repay the grant you wasted on me."

Xarqueous sighed. "The whole point of this course is to test your abilities," she soothed. "Including your ability to ask. For. Help. That's the only area you failed in." She looked at the campfire. "Scholastically speaking."

She had a ration pack for Arlie, and a lecture on the other resources at campus, including hosts of experts waiting to wax lyrical about their expertise. And some proper magic to provide a shelter for the night and a burial for the poor squirrel.

"Am I in trouble?" whimpered Arlie.

"You're lucky. Some hours of remedial work, punitive taskwork, and catching up on the assignment with help. You'll be warded against using magic to cheat, of course."

"Of course," sighed Arlie. It could have been worse. Ze could have perished alone in the wilderness from food poisoning.

"And one of those remedial classes will be essential survival skills."

[Photo by Rey Seven on Unsplash]

If you like my stories, please

. Or share them with your friends! Or visit my to see what else I'm up to.

[26 remaining prompts!]

Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi