He entered a room where there were women sewing and making clothes, he looked around and saw who he was looking for, Niala, "Niala, I need to talk to you."
"Yes, Sam?"
"It is something I need you to make something, I don't know if you have ever, but it is for one of the younger ones."
"Shoot."
"A sort of doll, a rabbit."
"Like a child's doll?"
"Something fluffy, that someone could snuggle and feel safer."
"Okay, I can do that, I'll have it done for tonight, how does that sound?"
"Perfect, thank you very much, Niala."
"Of course, I can't get to it right now, I have a class."
"Sorry for disrupting it."
"Not a big deal," She said before beginning to walk around, looking at the clothes the girls were sewing. He left the room and smiled, looking around and waving at the few ladies that waved at him.
"I hope Diana will sleep better with Niala's help."
"So, Elena, let's start, I am Dariia," She nodded as Dariia pulled out a book, "And this is going to be the lessons you will have for a while, these are the hardest ones, are you ready to work hard?" She nodded with a determined face, "Okay, let's get started," She opened the book to the first page, "So, these are the letters of our alphabet."
"Alphabet?"
"The letters people write with," She said pointing at the scribbles on the page, "If I say 'a', what comes to your mind?"
"A? A, a, a," She repeated the sound, "Apple?"
"Okay, that is a start, now, apple, so, a is for apple, repeat."
"A is for apple?"
"Exactly, so when you see this," She pointed at the small 'a' on the page, "Try to think about apples, it will help you."
"Apples," Dariia handed her a pencil, "What is this?"
"Something to write with, now, if I say a, what do you think of?"
"A, a is for apple."
"Good, now, can you write this letter?" She pointed at the 'a' and Elena took her time and copied it to the best that her hands could do, ending up in a squiggly and uneven 'a', "That is a good start, now that we have 'a', the next letter is this one, 'b'."
"B, b, b, b, b is for, um, um, b, b, b, bottle!" She said, excited with her discovery, "Right?" Dariia smiled and nodded, "B is for bottle, b is for bottle," She took her pencil again and then began writing the letter, which seemed more like drawing than anything, "B is for bottle."
"Well, now, 'c', what is c for?"
"C is for, c, c, c, c, c is for sea?" Dariia smiled and shook her head, "What? But, c and sea, they sound the same."
"Do you like animals?"
"Yes, I like them, I like cats, cats, cat, c is for cat?" Dariia nodded as she stumbled upon the words she was looking for, "C is for cat, c is for cat," She drew the letter, making it a simple crescent, "What is this one?"
"'D', what is d for?"
"D, d, d, d, d, d is for," She looked around her and saw a flower that she liked, "D is for dandelion?"
"Oh, that is a complicated one, but if you want it, d is for dandelion."
"Complicated?"
"Hard one."
"Oh, so d is for dandelion, d is for dandelion," She drew the letter as Dariia watched her nearly teach herself, "What is this one?"
"That is 'e', what is e for?"
"E, e, e, e," She looked lost, "I don't know."
"When we have a chicken, we have both chicken meat and its?"
"Eggs? E is for egg?"
"Mhm, there you go, e is for egg," She cheerfully drew the next letter, "Good, now this one, do you know this letter?" She shrugged, "F, what is f for?"
"F, f, f, f, f, f is for flower?" Dariia nodded and she drew the small f. They continued until they arrive at to the letter n, "Why are we stopping?"
"There are a few more, but n is a good place to stop, so, now that you have those letters, do you want to write your name?"
"My name, my name is Elena, E, le, na," She uneasily wrote and 'e', "Le, le, le," She wrote a shaky 'l', "Na, na, na, n, n," She wrote an 'n' and then an 'a', "Elena?" She showed Dariia the page, "Like this?" Dariia smiled before pointing at the page.
"Elna? Is your name Elna?"
"E, le, na? Why are you saying Elna?"
"Because what sound does 'l' make?"
"L, l, l, is there a letter there?" She pointed at the space between the 'l' and the 'n' and then began writing her name again, "E, l, um, n, a," She left a space between the 'l' and the 'n', "What letter makes the 'le'?"
"Well, if I say I lean on the wall, what letters do you hear?"
"Lean, 'l', 'e', and 'a' and 'n'."
"Okay, now if I say E'lena'?"
"Elena, 'e', 'l', 'e'?" Dariia shrugged and pointed at the page where she wrote an 'e' in between the 'l' and the 'n', "Elena?" Dariia took the page and then smiled.
"Elena, your name is Elena, right?" She nodded, "You wrote your name," Elena smiled and hugged Dariia, "There, there, we still have a lot to learn."
"Like the rest of the letters," A bell rang as she finished her sentence, "Dinner?"
"Dinner, now, how do you spell dinner?"
"Dinner, din, n, errr, 'd', 'i', 'n', 'n', 'e'," She stopped, "I don't remember."
"That letter is this one, 'r', after dinner, we will get to it," She nodded and got up, "Now, let's go get some dinner and we can work on it again," Elena took the page with her, "Why did you take the page?"
"I want to show it to Cassidy," She smiled.
"Ah, I see, she will be proud of you."
"I am happy."
"Cassidy!" Elena sat down next to her and showed her the page with her writing on it, "Look!" Cassidy looked at the page and smiled at Elena, "I wrote my name."
"Good job, you are learning fast," She pet her head and Elena smiled cheerfully, "How do you like it here?"
"It is nice, I like it, the bed is comfortable."
"What did you sleep on before?"
"Hay, on the ground."
"Oh my," A lady sitting in front of them was surprised, "I can't believe having to sleep like that, that sounds horrible."
"It is, I had to do the same, Victoria," Cassidy spoke, "Well," She saw Elena eating, "There, there, Elena," She turned to look at Cassidy and smiled, "You can use this, it is much easier," She put her hands on her knife and fork, "You don't need to use your hands, yesterday you used your fork, so now use both, like this," She helped her out with manners as Samuel walked into the dinner room. He cleared his throat and all the girls turned to him.
"Good afternoon, ladies, I had an announcement to make," He began, "There is a chance we will have visitors joining us in a few days, Lord Gushknot and his wife and daughter, they will only be here for a day, so there is nothing to be worried about, but it is to let you know, now, I have nothing left to say," He smiled as the ladies went back to eating. He walked to his regular seat and sat down and began eating, "How are you feeling, Fiora?"
"Tired, from last night," The ladies near them turned, surprised, "A lot of hard work," They went back to their conversation, "Elena is getting taught by Dariia, and she is so happy to be able to write her name, and to learn."
"Good to hear that, she wanted to learn, and Dariia is a good teacher, and a good person too."