The darkness of the night envelops the tranquil environment of Wayne Manor. Dressed in pyjamas and a sleeping hat, Dick carries his blanket as he walks to his bedroom.
He had just finished his teacher's assigned homework, having fallen asleep in the process. Alfred had covered him with a blanket which made him feel somewhat embarrassed.
Bruce places importance on Dick's school performance. While he doesn't necessarily need to come in first, a minimum requirement is a respectable grade; failing grades are absolutely not allowed.
Dick doesn't like to study. He followed Bruce with the intent to learn combat and investigation skills. But Bruce insists that he must attend school due to his age, so Dick quietly devotes himself to schooling.
However, Dick genuinely is intelligent. Without diligent effort, he can still make it into the top three. But he truly hates rote learning and prefers to shine in various school activities.
Previously trained as an acrobat, his body coordination is top-notch, giving him an edge in sports. He even joined the school's high jump team, making him a typical all-around student.
Returning to his room, Dick finds Aisha waiting for him with a storybook. Dick walks over, takes the storybook and flips through it. He asks, "Where did we leave off? Let's see... Oh, we've already finished this book."
Aisha stares at him with wide eyes, Dick sighs and explains, "Can't help it. We can't get another book from the library now."
"We need a key to open the library door and the key is with Alfred. Right now Alfred is probably asleep, we can't disturb him, that would be impolite."
Aisha shows a disappointed expression, springs up, snatches the book from Dick's hand and turns to leave. Dick quickly grabs hold of her, saying, "Don't be mad. We can do something else instead of reading stories. Hmm, let me think..."
"Right, I used to join the school choir. The teacher taught us a few songs, but I didn't really like to sing them."
Dick sat Aisha down. He holds his blanket, thinking, then says, "Mr. Wayne was sorting out some material a few days ago and he taught me a song. I thought it was quite nice. Should I teach you how to sing it?"
Aisha cocks her head, she doesn't seem to know what song Dick is talking about. Or more accurately, she can't actually comprehend what a song is. Dick tries hard to recall the song, then says, "Never mind, it's not possible. That song is too complicated for you. I took a long time to memorize the lyrics myself."
Aisha makes a sound. Dick immediately turns to her, saying, "Are you sure you want to learn? It's really quite difficult…"
Aisha nods her head enthusiastically. Dick yields, saying, "Okay, but if you can't learn it, don't blame me."
"Let's start with the lyrics." Dick gets up, runs to his bedside table drawer, fetches a pen, and starts writing the lyrics on a blank part of the storybook.
Aisha leans in to look, but she can't recognise many words yet. So, Dick reads out the words as he writes:
"Court of Owls… watches over your every move…"
"Sounds like a strange set of lyrics, doesn't it? But the melody is quite nice. Let me teach you how to sing it, Court of Owls… watches over your every move…"
Dick has not experienced the previous battle with the Court of Owls. He has no idea that such a thing exists in Gotham. The book merely mentions this song as a nursery rhyme and Bruce doesn't place any special emphasis on it, so Dick only treats it as a regular song.
Bruce thinks that Dick, who has never had a professional music education, cannot possibly understand the score, let alone sing the entire song correctly.
However, Dick had participated in many school activities and joined the choir. He has a good relationship with the choir's nun and has learned the basics of a musical score. He can hum the song while reading the score.
However, because he did not fully study it and did not sing seriously, the melody he hummed was a greatly simplified version. Paired with the complex lyrics, it seemed a little peculiar. But since the melody was simplified, Aisha learned it very quickly.
Realizing that Aisha could hum the melody, Dick started to focus on teaching her the lyrics. However, Aisha couldn't even speak, let alone recognize many words. She simplified the lyrics as well.
And in this way, the complex, dark and gothic-themed nursery rhyme of the Court of Owls completely transformed into a children's song.
Perhaps Dick is especially gifted in the arts as this children's song is catchy. After the first two lines, "Court of Owls watches over your every move," all the other words were modified to be memorable, following the logical structure of a children's wordplay. The melody is also repetitive, making it pleasant to the ear and easy to remember.
It did not take long for Aisha to learn the entire song. She seems to enjoy singing. Once she learned it, she started singing incessantly, even the pronunciation of the words becoming more fluent.
After singing a few rounds and becoming more familiar with the song, Aisha, looking happy, clapped her hands. Suddenly, she froze and started to turn her head left and right, as if searching for something. Seeing her reaction, a bewildered Dick asks, "What's wrong? Aisha? What are you looking for?"
Aisha displays a very puzzled expression. She opened her mouth as though to bite something, but there was nothing to bite into. She sniffed hard, as if smelling something, but there was nothing there.