Skaffwory began immediately to verse Chimbeeriun in the trade of an elementalist, first by teaching him how to shave feathersticks and select swatches of linen or jute to heat into charcloth. She realized soon that she had against succumbed to her tendency to spoil the runts of her clutches, and struggled at first to force the spoiled brancher to sit still, and then to pay attention, and then to practice. He greatly disliked the salamanders and she could see his feathers sticking out on edges whenever he looked at them. He also disliked the labor that she put him through, both its tediousness and required dexterity.

He quit study and she refused him food, and ignored his tenacious cries for it, advising him gently that he could put his voice to other tasks that would be more likely to result in a fuller stomach. When he became obnoxiously loud she moved her sitting spot to an isolated loftree limb with no neighboring boughs for him to perch on, and she summoned larger salamanders to engulf her perch. He could not near her and was terrified of the larger salamanders and for a week's passing of sunrises she did not see him at all, and wondered if he had maybe found himself a different trade, or died.

Sure enough, however, he returned, his beak stained with gruel that the walkers gave to their poor, and he had such sad eyes that she was moved to consider feeding him, but didn't. He couldn't survive this way. She was old already and her profession was not the safest. In any case, she was disinterested in nourishing stupidity, and it would not be the first time such an unfortunate pattern of brain waves had arisen in her offspring.

She waited until his hunger encouraged him to ease closer and closer to her perch, one gripping step after another, and was pleased to finally see his eyes and back harden as he stepped over the coiling salamanders. She could see his determination and the shaking of his legs, and could only just barely see his hardened eyes peeking over the huge ruffled ruff. The salamanders in their relaxation and contentment had seeped their figures mostly into the branches of the loftree, so even to Skaffwory they were only semi-transparent, a vaguely colored shimmer of the air; but she knew that Chimbeeriun hardly saw them at all, especially the large serpentine one whose coils overlapped most of the branch. He was stepping over it now, and without warning a coil unraveled itself from the branch and gently encircled his ankle.

Chimbeeriun screeched with alarm as a seemingly weak smolder of flame flared to life around his left leg; at the sudden noise the fire abruptly grew louder and hotter, as the salamander moved from being disturbed, and Skaffwory called out at it sharply.

"Be still!"

A flicker of an ice blue eye, rolling to regard her; then the salamander rolled about, and settled. The flames abated. The feathers on Chimbeeriun's left leg were either ash or gone. The heat had also nibbled on the feathers beneath his left arm and wing, and swiftly Skaffwory jumped and pulled at the radiale, stretching out the wing and examining it for damage. The other primaries were damaged, slightly.

"That will teach you to lose your calm," Skaffwory snorted, dropping the wing, and Chimbeeriun grabbed at it and held it to his chest, looking horrified.

"It wasn't my fault," he said, "I didn't even see it --"

"That is because," Skaffwory interrupted him, "you are selfish, and too concerned about yourself to see beyond the end of your beak. Rather, the end of your tongue. Until you get over yourself, you will be unable to reach any other destination."

Chimbeeriun's beak clipped shut. He looked -- angry. The salamanders stirred. For a moment Skaffwory had the slightest warning sense, but she shook her head.

"I'll purchase mending for your feathers and we can fix them tomorrow. For now, tell me what you remember of feather sticks and charcloth."

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