"You're a Scholar," Aranth repeated.

"Since...since when?"

"Since a couple days ago. At the celebration." And when Salt continued to stare at him blankly, Aranth sighed. "You weren't paying attention to, I guess. I really thought you were -- nodding and everything."

It was getting worse. A couple days ago? Salt stood and began to pace the room -- this was stupid -- what had he even been thinking about? Oh, right, it was --

"No!" he yelled aloud, to anchor himself, and he fumbled around in his sash -- but Aranth had already taken out the roll of ribbon, sometime when he'd been thinking, and with a small knife cut off a portion of it and tied it around his thumb. Salt stared at it, and forced himself to think.

I am Tonsor --

"Out loud," Aranth reminded him, and Salt swallowed and nodded.

"I am Tonsor Salt Enval. I am in..." He looked around. "My house, I guess. My room. It's..." He glanced at the calendar on his desk, with its freshly torn sheets leaving bare the true date. "It's the third of Spring Lowest. Two days after the annual branding ceremony."

He paused, and Aranth tilted his head, searched his eyes, snapped his fingers. "Hey, hey -- stay here. How are you feeling? Do you feel better?"

"A little. I just...can't believe..." Three days. And not only that -- "I'm a Scholar?"

"To be honest, you could have been assigned anything and it would have been surprising," Aranth told him.

But Salt had already worked it through. "No...it doesn't make sense at first, but Scholar is the best choice." Because of the curse, it wasn't as if Salt's hair could be trusted to harvest -- and because of the curse, it wasn't as if he could fulfill any other jobs. He was too absent-minded to teach, to lead, to protect -- especially not to help care for children, which was the lowest-ranked job in the entire clan.

But if Salt were a Scholar, they could solve multiple problems. They could --

"Hey," Aranth said, calling him back, snapping his fingers again. "What are you thinking about? Why is you being a Scholar the best choice? Don't get lost now."

"I was just thinking," Salt said, "that it makes sense because if I go to a faraway university, they won't have to deal with me anymore."

Aranth pursed his lips. "And at a faraway university, there may be someone who can help you. You're only getting worse, Salt. I don't know why we bother with these dumb ribbons anymore when they're obviously not helping you remember to stay put in reality." He threw the spool on the ground.

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