The funny thing is I never had any trouble failing students when grading their exams / projects / presentations when I was doing my PhD…
But here, damn…

Ailith listened attentively, but didn’t answer straight away. Well, she opened her mouth to do so, but instead took a few seconds to think about it some more. “I’m… Well, besides the fact that I find the idea of making something less good than it could be, uh… weird,” although that wasn’t exactly the word she’d really want to use there, “and much prefer the north approach, even though I suppose the jar is perfectly usable as it is…”

She shook her head. “The thing is, both did what they were comfortable doing. There’s no real risk, it doesn’t really feel like they tried to give it their all. It shows what they can do, not what they have the potential to manage with some polishing.” she smirked at the - perfectly involuntary - pun. “But… Maybe that’s a me thing?” she asked, clearly unsure. After all, while she had gone as far as she could - and had almost messed up - maybe most sent something they were comfortable doing, with the idea that if they could already do this, they’d go much further if they became apprentices?

“Of the two I prefer the cords… No matter where, the cords would still be useful after all. In fact…” She cocked her head to the side. “Maybe the coloring is a way for the girl who made that to go beyond? I mean, if they pretty much only ever go for practicality… Even though she messed up a bit there,” she pointed at the discordant colours, “at least she tried to do something unfamiliar. Maybe thinking about what we would want to see. Whereas he,” she pointed at the jar, “didn’t, for one reason or another.”

“It feels like of the two, the girl would be much more willing to learn and step out of her comfort zone.” But… it might just be the exact opposite, and she wasn’t terribly comfortable making those judgements like that…

“As for the perfumes…” she shrugged, “it all depends on what he’s hoping for, doesn’t it? I’m guessing he wants to, uh, do something else than his family and this is his ticket for it? I can think of lots of things we could do with something like that: for example, we know some animals don’t like each others, so maybe he could create something that carries the scent of something that would make pests avoid some areas?”

“Maybe make something that would perfume our clothes? I can guarantee that would interest quite a lot of people. But… None of those things are really things we can teach him, right? We could certainly give him the opportunity to work on it, maybe help with some experiments - like some kind of scented soap or something - but ultimately, it might lead nowhere.”

“Does he just want to get out of his family’s business, or does he want to experiment and develop new stuff? If it’s the former,” she shrugged, “he doesn’t really need our help. If it’s the latter…”

Matah nods, then points at the cords.  "I agree that both the jar and cords are, to use your word, safe.  If I were looking to train an apprentice that would keep to my family's traditions, I would probably send for the lady with the cords.  But...

"Excellence isn't achieved by being content with the way things are."

He picks up the perfume sample.  "You are correct in that we do not have a perfumer in our ranks.  But does that mean we can't teach this young man anything?  No matter the craft, there are certain similarities.  Even if we give him feedback on his efforts, wouldn't that be of use to him?

"I am considering taking a risk and bringing him here.  I would make it clear to him that he would be studying on his own in some regards.  But I think we can still provide him some guidance.  We can help him shape a methodology to his craft if nothing else.  I would pass him on to another family if I knew of one that had a perfumer. But sadly, I am not aware of one.

"What do you think?  Do you think I am being fair to him?"

“As long as he knows it’ll be as much a learning experience for us as it is for him…” Ailith shrugged. “Yes, I think so. At least he’ll have lots of things to aim for.” And in the meantime… She was going to try and ask Llewelyn about it. Or maybe Foot? That could probably work too, right?

Lost in thoughts for a few seconds, Ailith shook her head to focus back on the present. “I’d like to send an answer to the girl who made the cords though. I’ll pay for it?” Not like she used much of anything anyway, so…

Matah seems curious.  "What will your answer say?  And why nothing to the boy who made the jar?"

Ailith grimaced a bit: she’d have hoped to leave all of that unsaid. Not that there was anything wrong, but… “Uh, not to him because I assume you’re going to answer to him with some kind of standard answer? And since I don’t think he really tried to go beyond what he knows, I figured I had nothing more to say.”

“Whereas she may have so…” she shifted on her feet a bit, then shrugged, “I was going to suggest she try again next season but push herself. Show us she can go beyond what she’s comfortable with. It would give her a…strong…hint on what to do, assuming she’d want to, but since you’d also judge a second application more harshly anyway, I thought it’d be fair.”

“It’s just…” she looked away for a moment, “I dislike judging her making an assumption that may be wrong…” she grimaced a bit, then shrugged once more. “If she doesn’t try again, nothing lost, and if she tries but is rejected once more, at least she’ll still be better than she was, so…”

Matah chuckles.  "Fine.  Go ahead and write up a response.  Have it to me by morning.

"I'll send out the responses to the other two."

When you get back to your room, you find Hand and Foot engaged in some kind of squawking contest.  They've been drawing something on a chalk slate.

It looks like a map of some kind.  But as to what, you aren't sure.

“Alright, I’ll do that.” Ailith easily agreed. It wasn’t like she was planning on writing a whole novel after all.

Now pretty much used to the near-constant bickering between Hand and Foot, Ailith didn’t even comment on it. She did consider asking where they had gotten that chalk…but since she wouldn’t be able to understand any answer she’d be given - assuming she even got an answer - she simply decided to leave that subject alone.

She did however approach the drawing and looked at it for a moment. “Soooo… What am I looking at?” she asked after a moment, “Is it some kind of map? Something you want to go see or something?”

You're answered with a lot of squawks.

Well.  Really.  What were you expecting?  You did sort of walk right into that one.

Foot uses the chalk it got from somewhere and manages to scrawl

ground hole scout

You study the map.  It looks familiar.  Wait.  It's the cave where you went to gather reeds.  And discovered the...what did Llewelyn call it?..the scow tit ship

But the map seems to include something of the cave system.

If this map is correct, under the scow tit ship is some kind of underwater cave that extends further back.

“Uh…” Ailith looked at the 'map' while tilting her head this and that way, trying to make sense of it. “Wait, that’s the, uh, little ship, right? The one in the river?” Once Foot confirmed, she continued, “And if I understand you right…” Which would be a first… “There is some kind of, uh, cave? Below?”

“And I assume you’d like to go there?” Which… “You know, I’m not a fish… Even if we leave aside the fact that I don’t swim all that well, I kinda need to breathe you know, and water doesn’t really work for that.”

But… “I suppose you wouldn’t be looking at that if you didn’t have a solution for that?” she asked after a second…and before they could 'answer', she asked, “And what are you even looking for down there?” She was of course unlikely to understand the answer, but if she didn’t ask, she was sure not to learn anything, right?

Foot and Hand squonk furiously at each other.  Then they make two symbols.

An "L", which you think they use to mean Llewelyn.

And then they draw something that looks like a circle with three dots along the upper edges.

“You actually want to ask Llewelyn for his help? <sub>That’s a first…</i>” Although after their little 'trip', Ailith figured they didn’t have much to hide anymore. Or what they were looking for wasn’t even really a secret in the first place and more an opportunity maybe?

“But…” Ailith closed her eyes for a second…hoping that maybe when she opened them again she’d somehow understand. Or the problem would have gone away…which it obviously didn’t. With a sigh, she pointed at the second symbol. “I have no idea what this is. Is it a person too? A place? A time?” As she asked each question she left a pause to get her yes/no answer in the form of squonks…but she clearly wasn’t feeling super optimistic about getting a yes in the first place…

More squonking.  Of course more squonking.  There's always squonking.

Finally Hand flashes some of the pictograms he's picked up.

Sign

Path

Find

“The day I understand you for real cannot come soon enough…” Ailith muttered, tiredly pinching the edge of her nose. “You guys have a real gift making me think I’m a moron who shouldn’t have any difficulties understanding what’s going on…” Not that she was arrogant enough to think she was a genius or anything, but she liked to think she wasn’t a moron either.

Even though that was exactly how she felt whenever such discussions happened.

After a minute of thinking, she went with her best guess which…well, she knew it wasn’t even close at best… “You think Llewelyn can find a sign that would indicate the path to something? To what’s in the cave underwater?”

If you were expecting they wouldn't squonk, you are disappointed.

But you do notice they both seem to bob up and down.  As if they are trying to nod.

“Wait… Really?” Ailith asked, clearly not believing she had gotten it right. Finally after a couple of seconds, she may have lifted her arms to the ceiling and let out a 'woot!' of victory. Possibly. But that would have been undignified, and surely not something Ailith would do, right?

“Hmm, hmm.” The girl cleared her throat. “Alright, so, Llewelyn. Hmm, well, he said he needed a few days to work on what he got from the moon, so…” She looked at the two drones, “Can it wait until he comes back?”

They squonk, though it sounds uncommital in it's pitch.  You would guess so.

A few minutes later, there's a knock on your outer door.  You peek through the door covering and find Zez.

He smiles at you, waving.  "Good afternoon.  Wanted to go over some of the head apprentice duties with you.  Got time now?"

Before she opened the door, Ailith pointed at the two drones, “Alright, well… We’ll keep those writting lessons going.” After all if she couldn’t understand their squonks most of the time, at least she would be able to read what they wrote! Wouldn’t work everywhere, but it’d be something.

Outside, she answered Zez’s wave with one of her own, then rubbed her eyes, “Can’t we just pretend Helza will be it?” Though she didn’t let him answer before she added, “Fine…” She didn’t seem super pleased though. More like she had just been told she had to go back to polishing…

Zez laughs.  "Ya know.  There are actually perks to it.  Like you get my old quarters.  Let's stop there first."

He leads near the gate and stops before what you always thought was an abandoned storage shed.  Turns out it's not.

The "shed" actually opens into a larger room in the back.  Twice as large as your current room.  You also notice how cool the room is.  It's several degrees cooler than your own room, which sometimes can get to the level of an oven.

Zez points to some baskets and small boxes in one corner.  "I'll have my things out of there the day after tomorrow.  Then you can move in.  That door back there?  It leads out behind the kitchen.  If you're nice to the cook, you can sneak some extra food time to time.  Like I said.  There's perks to being the lead."

He laughs.

He then leads you about the compound, introducing you to a few servants you hadn't yet met, showing you a few dozen secret stashes of supplies you never knew about, and walking you through the various duties you will now be performing.

"You have to make sure everyone else does their cleaning.  That's the biggest pain.  Most everyone tries.  But some of the masters are pretty particular about what they consider "clean".  You get to sweep up after the apprentice if the apprentice doesn't do it right.

"But the biggest pain is orders.  That servant we talked to...R'pau?  R'pau is in charge of taking  the orders and distributing them to the masters.  But you are in charge of making sure the workshops are supplied with what those orders will need.

"You have to check with R'pau daily and make sure no new orders have come in, no orders have been cancelled, and no orders have been altered.  You'll need to restock the shops as necessary."

You recall Zez having you restock from time to time.  Or move supplies from one master's shop to another.  Apparently, this is why that all happened.

"Questions thus far?"

The food might - might! - have persuaded Ailith to protest a bit less about the whole thing and nodded 'seriously'. “I can definitely be nice to the cook.” Well, that and she was perfectly aware that protesting wouldn’t achieve anything…at best.

Although thinking about it a bit…larger quarters would also mean she’d have less troubles hiding Foot. And Hand whenever he visited. That was something at least.

She was understandably much less enthused about the whole cleaning thing. “Joy.” she grumbled. Although at that point all the apprentices already knew what they had to do so only the newcomers could be a problem…one more reason to pick seriously.

As for the orders…she didn’t quite know what to think about it. On the one hand, it sounded annoying, on the other, it was a way to stay appraised as to what sold and what didn’t, which could allow her to make a few suggestions here or there. But more importantly… “Well, I suppose R’pau has a preferred system that works just fine so I guess I’ll go with that…” At least for a start, but she didn’t imagine there’d be much of a need to change anything.

“Questions?” The young apprentice took a moment to think about that, then shook her head. “Not right now.” She shrugged with a wry smile, “Although I’m pretty sure I’ll have a bunch as soon as I find myself having to actually do anything…”

Zez nods enthusiastically.  "R'pau has it down.  So just work with him.  Oh. If I have to travel for a few days, I make sure R'pau knows.  And I stock the shops up with what I think they'll need.  One thing about the orders is they tend to follow a seasonal pattern.  Talk to R'pau before you travel.  He can give you an idea about what to expect and you can make best guesses based off that.  It's not usually a problem. Usually."

He hands you a small stylus.  "Take this.  It was given to me by the last head apprentice.  She told me the one before her gave it to her.  I guess this is the closest thing we have to a badge of office.  Congrats Ailith.  You'll do fine."

When you get back to your room, Llewelyn has left you a message. Will be back tomorrow

“Thanks.” Ailith took the offered stylus and spent a moment looking at it. “Just in time too since I have a letter to write…”

“Anyway, hmm,” She seemed to briefly hesitate before she asked, “Is R’pau the kind who’ll try to push and test and whatnot to see where the limits are?” Which would be super annoying…

The news about Llewelyn coming back the next day was received with some ambivalence. On the one hand, it meant she’d be able to ask about whatever was under the water, but on the other…well, she wouldn’t mind a few calmer days for sure! To say nothing of the fact that she wasn’t super fond of the idea that he had somehow managed to put that message in her room!

You can ask him about the "how" regarding the message when you see him.  Which will be in just a bit.

When you were asking about R'pau, were you referring to the servant who handles orders?  Or the new apprentice?  Cos the new apprentice will have a name other than R'pau.  You can talk to Mattah if you want the deets.  I've always wanted to use the term "deets" in a sentence.  Thank You for making my dreams come true.

Llewelyn arrives a little after midday.  You still can't tell what his facial expressions mean...though you are fairly certain by this point that he has facial expressions...but he seems to be moving slowly and wearily.

He greets Master Matah and then has lunch with the other masters.  He finds you shortly before the dinner bell.

Greetings.  Congratulations on becoming head apprentice.  A little gift for the occasion.

He hands you a small box.  It has some odd runes carved on it, but doesn't seem to operate like Hand or Foot do.  It doesn't squonk at you.

You find the latch on it.  It opens.  Inside are a set of tools.  Carving knives.  A small bone saw that has no business being as sharp as it is.  A small, well made hammer.

The servant yes. Ailith doesn’t yet know the name of the next apprentice after all.
And my pleasure. Although now you’ll have to place it RP :P

It had taken a while for Ailith to write the letter to her satisfaction, and had Matah not been expecting said letter she may have spent even longer. As it was though, she wrote it the best she could. Not like there was all that much to write though.

Greetings,

You have sent a project to the Hiyal for a position as an apprentice starting at the change of the season.
Your project was well executed, and the work on the colours was quite interesting if a bit discordant at times but that’s nothing that can’t be improved on. I’m especially curious to know what technique or pigment source you used to get the reds to shine like that.

Sadly, this will not be enough at this time. Not because of any failure on your part since anyone would be satisfied to use your cord as they are intended to be. But a successful submission must be daring. Must show that you’ve pushed your limits… Show us that you can go beyond what is safe and that we can help you push them further and improve. It feels like you didn’t dare take that risk.

Still, it also feels to me that you tried with the way you used the colours but that it went against what you had been taught and thus you held yourself back. For that reason, we would like to give you the opportunity to try again next season if you want it. Show us that you can take risks, show us you have unearthed potential.

But take note that it’s not something we do often: should you decide to submit something else, we will take into account that it is your second submission and that you were given some advice.

If you decide not to, I wish you all the best and can only encourage you to keep experimenting with your colours: they’re pretty fun to work with. Oh and I’d like to know more about those reds of course.
If you do, then good luck. But remember: none of the projects that were selected for apprenticeship were perfect. All of them were lacking somewhere and/or had defects.

Ailith,
Head Apprentice of the Hiyal

That last bit might have been what had taken her the most time, taking a step she couldn’t take back… Not that she could have - or would have really.

---

“Thank you.” Ailith said as she took the offered box, which she looked at at all angles trying to divine what it was before she sheepishly realized it was a container. “Those are very nice.” She admitted once she had taken the time to go over the box’s content.

“Everything alright?” she asked, her head tilted to the side, “You seem…tired? Hurt?”

That's a very touching letter.  It's full of deets.  Lots of deets.  Good job.  It will be sent soon.  But for now...

Llewelyn jerks his head. You think it's a gesture of surprise.  You're getting better at this reading an Interloper thing.  At least you think you are getting better at it.

He nods slowly.  Oh yes. Thanks.  It was a long trip.  And there were...ramifications about that trip to the moon.  I had to speak to my associates.  I didn't mention you.  So don't worry.  Anyway.  Anything new going on?  Any drama I should know about?

“Hmm.” Ailith didn’t seem too convinced by Llewelyn’s explanation, but let him change the subject without raising a stink about it.

“Actually… Sort of?” She tilted her head to the side for a second. “Well, technically, it’s not a drama…yet.” She grinned, “Foot and Hand have something to ask of you. I’ll let them explain,” not like she could tell much about it anyway… “but apparently they think there’s something deeper in the underground river.”