Silent Intrigue

Silent Education

Pierre poured himself another glass of wine and sat back in his chair, sighing in boredom. "He's not getting it Sophia. He's done seven a dozen times now."

Sophia studied the boy for a long moment, then smiled. "He's done seven seven times. Just like he's done five five times and eight eight times. He's got it."

She gently took the pen from him and wrote out a plus sign. She pushed the pens they had been using to count with together. Then she wrote a minus sign and swept up half of the pens, hiding them behind her back for a moment. She put them back before writing out a simple equation.

Three plus three equals...

She handed Silence the pen and waited expectantly. Silence stared at the paper for a moment, studying the equals sign. He made a sudden sound of delight as he worked it out and wrote down six. Sophia grinned happily and smugly turned to Pierre.

"He's a brilliant young man! Such a shame he was afflicted with an inability to hear." She shook her head as Pierre rolled his eyes and wrote down a subtraction equation. "Say what you like. I shall greatly enjoy this pet."

"Have you even bitten him yet?" Pierre smirked when Sophia refused to look at him. "He does at least know that you are a monster, does he not?"

Sophia let her eyes bleed red. Silence looked up as he solved the equation and startled a little, but it was clear he wasn't afraid, simply hadn't been expecting it. He grinned when she smiled in approval and handed the pen over without a flinch.

Pierre watched her pull out a new sheet of paper and begin to write the alphabet in upper and lower case letters. "At least get the urchin a proper slate. You're going to waste so much paper doing it that way."

"He won't be an urchin when I'm done with him. He'll be a proper gentleman, make no mistake. Numbers, letters, dining and riding. Dancing and fencing. Maybe even art. I'll teach him everything I know."

Sophia smiled when Silence dragged the number sheet back towards himself and happily wrote out 'horse' as she finished writing out the alphabet. She nodded with a smile and wrote out 'Silence'. Then she pointed at him.

Silence blinked. Then pointed to himself and ran his finger beneath the word. She nodded. He carefully copied out his name beneath the letters she had written. "He has a very steady hand."

"Isn't that nice."

Sophia sighed and twisted in her chair to look at Pierre in irritation. "Just what is it with everyone and immediately disliking Silence? You. The staff. Most of them anyways..."

Pierre frowned. "I don't know Sophia. Maybe because he's a boy off the streets? You know they're all thieves. And yet you've brought one in and given him free roam of the place. And he's, what? Eighteen? Certainly old enough to have figured out how to sell his body on the streets. Who knows what he's picked up out there. And I'm sure the young maids are guarding their skirts when he's around."

Sophia frowned. "He's too innocent for that. If he even knows about it it's because he happened upon it on accident."

"I suppose you'll teach him that too?"

"Perhaps." Her gaze jerked back to Silence when he gently touched her hand. He pointed to himself and his name, then pointed to her and handed her the pen. She smiled as she took the pen and wrote out her name. "And there has to be a better method of communication than pointing and pens."

"Signing."

Sophia turned back to Pierre in delight. "Signing? What's that?"

Pierre shrugged and swirled his wine in his glass. "Using your hands to talk. Someone set up a school for it a little while ago. Certain signs mean certain things. So as long as you two can see each other, you can communicate."