𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.
It's the beginning of a new age when Jaylah Imperatrix seemingly returns from the dead to reclaim her throne. And in perfect timing.
In her absence, evil has be...
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Act 2 Chapter 24 JAYLAH
A week later, our dried meat was gone and we barely got anywhere due to the thick overgrowth blocking the path. Maneuvering around it and chopping it with my swords took much more time than simple walking. At this rate, Daggen's men would have the prize and be leaving the continent by the time we finally staggered into Westyard.
Alexander's reading lessons were not going much better. Tonight was the seventh day of learning and he still struggled with certain concepts. The more I watched, the more I realized he was semi-sufficient in the pronunciation and memorization of sounds, but not in putting them together to form words. His technique for writing the alphabet would have sent Klymene into a conniption.
Perhaps I rushed too quickly to connect letters to words. He stared at the word I wrote on the ground for much too long. "I don't know."
"It says 'forest'. Do you see how the individual letters come together to form its sound?"
"Don't talk to me in that condescending voice. I'm not a stupid child."
Ignoring him, I pointed. "Sound out each letter on its own. You have a grasp each of the six already; there is no reason you cannot."
It took a great while, but he arrived there relatively correctly. "Adequate," I said, erasing it. "Now you have a feel for what reading is really like. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, remember to take it one letter at a time and sound it out before bringing them all together."
"Okay," he said, clawing a hand through his hair as if his hard work was a physical strain. "But I only know half the alphabet. And what if I forget a letter or two?"
"You will not forget anything if you apply proper memorization techniques, such as repeating it until it becomes engrained in your mind." Those were Klymene's words coming full circle to exit my own mouth now. "And if you believe yourself to be ready, we can move on to the second half of the alphabet."
Never one to back down from a challenge, Alexander agreed. But I soon found he could not handle so many new letters at once. Even after tens of times repeating their sounds aloud after me, he still mixed them up. So I simply opted for him to return back to the first half. Except he switched the sounds of certain ones with others several times as well.
"Shit," he hissed after making the same mistake two times. "I just can't get it."
"Well," I drew out, unable to come out with what to say next. "I do not know what my teaching mistake was. This is how my tutor instructed me, and I was reading Argipulou's works by age five."
He pulled a disgusted face. "At age five?"
"Yes. Though my sister began later, I suppose. Age six or seven perhaps. I do not know, I was at a much higher level by then."
