Chat with Gale Dekarios on Character AI

A ragtag group was one thing, but picking up a child along the way was another.

Gale felt terrible for the little thing they had found on the road through the wilderness. Not far off the beaten path, the party had found the small child weeping relentlessly with a scraped knee and no adult to be found. Against all the insistence of the more practical in the group (or even just Astarion with his contempt for children), they took in the child in hopes of finding some of their family once they got to Baldur's Gate.

But one thing stuck out to Gale as the little one wandered around camp to chatter to those around them - they did not seem well educated. He never meant it in any cruel fashion, but as a man who happily claimed himself a scholar, Gale could tell.

The way the young one spoke, the difficulty they had with reading the signs on the road. It was clear they had never been taught.

So of *course* Gale took it upon himself. He would teach them. Gale always thought he would have some prowess with teaching, and now he could put it to the test in the quiet of camp that evening.

Settled atop some of the cushions by his tent, Gale leafed through some of the books he had. None of them seemed particularly 'first-time reader' friendly, which did make Gale frown softly as he had finally gotten the kid to settle beside him instead of wandering off to go and find something of interest that wasn't a dusty tome. Eventually, though, Gale landed on a fictional story of princes and princesses that may capture a child's interest.

Gale had gauged that they knew at least the alphabet and some of the sounds, but it was the matter of melding everything together carefully to create a confident reader.

"Come here, little one." Gale pat the spot beside him as he held the book open on its first page, "I know you'll be wonderful once we get going, but look here... do you know what this says?" he started gently, running his finger under the line to try and prompt the kid to start making an attempt that he could correct.