have to puzzle this one out.”
Namour departed without further words. Relations thereafter between the two were polite but not overly cordial. Namour gave no more orders to Chilke, while Chilke made no further complaints in regard to the six-month Yips. Bureau D allowed him the services of Porric co-Diffin, to be trained as assistant manager, while the Yips were employed only at “dog work.”
----
Chapter I, Part 5
With the onset of autumn anticipation of the wine festival, Parilia, with its banquets, masques and revels began to color the thoughts of everyone. At Parilia almost any kind of eccentric behavior was not only condoned but encouraged, so long as a costume purported to conceal identities. Araminta Hotel had long been booked and overbooked, so that, during the week of Parilia, all manner of desperate expedients would become necessary. In the end, no one would suffer disappointment; if necessary, the six great houses would throw open their guest chambers and feed the visitors in the formal dining halls, and no one so lodged had ever been known to complain.
Glawen had undertaken no special role at Parilia. He lacked proficiency with musical instruments, and the antics of Floreste’s Mummers interested him not at all. His studies at the lyceum had given him no difficulty, even though he had continued flight training, and at the end of the first quarter-term he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence. Arles received an Urgent Notice of Unsatisfactory Achievement.
Glawen’s methods were disarmingly simple: he did his work methodically, promptly and thoroughly. Arles used a different philosophy. From the beginning his work was meager, late and incomplete. He was nevertheless confident that through clever manipulation, bluff and sheer élan he could avoid tedious drudgery and drill and yet promote good grades for himself.
Upon receiving the Urgent Notice, Arles was both impatient and exasperated. In a single decisive gesture he crumpled the message and flung it aside; such was his opinion of all pedagogues! Why did they bother him with such priggish little messages? What did they hope to achieve? The notice told him nothing he wanted to hear; the pedants lacked all largeness of perception! Surely it was obvious that he could not cram his large and sweeping talents into the petty little pigeonholes which they had designated, and which were all they knew! Ah well, he must ignore, or by some means slide around, all this pettifoggery. One way or another things would sort themselves out and he would be graduated into full Agency. Any other possibility was unthinkable! If worse came to worst, he might even be forced to study! Or his mother, Spanchetta, would set matters right with a few well-chosen words, although involving Spanchetta was a risky business. Far better, if at all possible, to let sleeping dogs lie.
At the end of Arles’ second term - this would be at the beginning of summer, before Glawen’s sixteenth birthday – Arles had failed promotion into the third-year class. It was a serious situation which Arles could remedy only by attending summer school and passing an examination. Unfortunately, Arles had made other plans involving Master Floreste and the Mummers, which he did not wish to alter.
The Honorable Sonorius Offaw, superintendent of the lyceum, called Arles to his office and made the situation clear: if Arles failed to meet the lyceum’s minimum requirements before his twenty-first birthday, his Agency status would be canceled and he would become a collateral without option, which meant that under no circumstances could he regain Agency status, unlike collaterals who had met the educational qualifications.
Once or twice Arles tried to interrupt, in order to express his own views, but the superintendent made Arles listen to the very end, so that Arles became more annoyed and edgy than ever.
At last Arles said: “Sir, I understand that my grades should be better, but, as I tried to
Namour departed without further words. Relations thereafter between the two were polite but not overly cordial. Namour gave no more orders to Chilke, while Chilke made no further complaints in regard to the six-month Yips. Bureau D allowed him the services of Porric co-Diffin, to be trained as assistant manager, while the Yips were employed only at “dog work.”
----
Chapter I, Part 5
With the onset of autumn anticipation of the wine festival, Parilia, with its banquets, masques and revels began to color the thoughts of everyone. At Parilia almost any kind of eccentric behavior was not only condoned but encouraged, so long as a costume purported to conceal identities. Araminta Hotel had long been booked and overbooked, so that, during the week of Parilia, all manner of desperate expedients would become necessary. In the end, no one would suffer disappointment; if necessary, the six great houses would throw open their guest chambers and feed the visitors in the formal dining halls, and no one so lodged had ever been known to complain.
Glawen had undertaken no special role at Parilia. He lacked proficiency with musical instruments, and the antics of Floreste’s Mummers interested him not at all. His studies at the lyceum had given him no difficulty, even though he had continued flight training, and at the end of the first quarter-term he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence. Arles received an Urgent Notice of Unsatisfactory Achievement.
Glawen’s methods were disarmingly simple: he did his work methodically, promptly and thoroughly. Arles used a different philosophy. From the beginning his work was meager, late and incomplete. He was nevertheless confident that through clever manipulation, bluff and sheer élan he could avoid tedious drudgery and drill and yet promote good grades for himself.
Upon receiving the Urgent Notice, Arles was both impatient and exasperated. In a single decisive gesture he crumpled the message and flung it aside; such was his opinion of all pedagogues! Why did they bother him with such priggish little messages? What did they hope to achieve? The notice told him nothing he wanted to hear; the pedants lacked all largeness of perception! Surely it was obvious that he could not cram his large and sweeping talents into the petty little pigeonholes which they had designated, and which were all they knew! Ah well, he must ignore, or by some means slide around, all this pettifoggery. One way or another things would sort themselves out and he would be graduated into full Agency. Any other possibility was unthinkable! If worse came to worst, he might even be forced to study! Or his mother, Spanchetta, would set matters right with a few well-chosen words, although involving Spanchetta was a risky business. Far better, if at all possible, to let sleeping dogs lie.
At the end of Arles’ second term - this would be at the beginning of summer, before Glawen’s sixteenth birthday – Arles had failed promotion into the third-year class. It was a serious situation which Arles could remedy only by attending summer school and passing an examination. Unfortunately, Arles had made other plans involving Master Floreste and the Mummers, which he did not wish to alter.
The Honorable Sonorius Offaw, superintendent of the lyceum, called Arles to his office and made the situation clear: if Arles failed to meet the lyceum’s minimum requirements before his twenty-first birthday, his Agency status would be canceled and he would become a collateral without option, which meant that under no circumstances could he regain Agency status, unlike collaterals who had met the educational qualifications.
Once or twice Arles tried to interrupt, in order to express his own views, but the superintendent made Arles listen to the very end, so that Arles became more annoyed and edgy than ever.
At last Arles said: “Sir, I understand that my grades should be better, but, as I tried to
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