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In response to the hand offered out towards him, Chauhn tightened up his shoulders again. He knew that the other one was offering an agreement, a kind of promise, but Chauhn failed to reach out in acceptance. Not yet, he knew, not yet could he take that hand. Instead, Chauhn looked away, purposefully directing his gaze towards the two Phasmas who were still playing in the hearth.

"How do you know if'n you can do magic?" Chauhn looked back towards him, brows raised his question, "Can you tell?" At the thought of having the potential to host magic, Chauhn felt a little sick. He wasn't sure if was excited at the news or anxious, but he wanted to know for sure all the same. If he could, then perhaps he could help Clurie. His little Phasmas had so much magic potential, it's just that he lacked any form of control over his talents and it often led to trouble for both the Clemmings boys. If Chauhn could help him, then all the better.

As Chauhn stewed in the unsettling feelings of perhaps having a hidden talent, he watched as Jin-Ho went on about writing and reading. A teacher Jin-Ho was proving to be, and a good one at that, as he was prepared to teach him right then and there. He took the pencil offered to him and stared at the strange tool, before he was prompted to watch Jin-Ho scribble a host of foreign symbols on the paper between them.

"Wha' does tha' say?" he asked, peering at the letters that were supposed to be Jin-Ho's name. He stared at the other ones, finding the similar shapes, trying to get himself familiar with each one, as he tried to figure out how to hold the pen in his hand. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the pen, but Jin-Ho told him he could keep it. Chauhn glanced up, a trace of happiness, an overreaction of joy to a simple gift, "Really, sir? Ah can? Thank you, Jin-Ho!" He looked at the pen with new found wonder as if he had just received a gold penny.

His eagerness to work was again rekindled and he held the pen out, taking it in an eager fist, "Ah wan' to learn now. Teach me, Jin-Ho, please, sir."

Clurie, distracted from stuffing every pocket he possibly could with ash, looked up at Blaithe who had scooted herself closer to him. He smiled at her, eager to finally have an audience besides himself or Chauhn to listen to him. Picking himself up onto his feet, he dusted his hands of ash and puffed out his chest with the straight of his spine.

"I can tell you a story of adventure! Good versus evil!" Clurie boasted, his high-pitched rasp announcing the beginning of an epic tale, "It's called 'Sloane the Savior'! It's about how Sloane saved my brother from the hands of three evil guys."

Pounding at his chest with a fist to clear it from the ash he had inhaled, the Plague began with a wide spread of his hands, "SHYREGOAD. Chauhn Clemmings has been captured by three really mean guys, stuffed into a bag he couldn't breathe in and he was brought to Shyregoad! BUT Sloane came and dispatched the three evil guys, one and two, three and through, they were done in. Done for! Finished with acting out justice, Sloane, with sharp teeth bared, searched for my brother, who was still trapped. But he found him and freed him from the bag! And then he wrapped his cloak about him and carried Chauhn to a nearby town where he would be safe. Then he galloped again into the snow, to find more bad guys and return to his lady! The end."

Clurie took a bow, dislodging tufts of ash and his hat. Scrambling to pull his hat back onto his head, he grinned and said, "That's it."

Potentiality wasn't concrete enough for Chauhn Clemmings, who based judgments on the practicality of things he could use to help him work, or help him protect. Hearing that he 'could' did little to improve his feelings on the subject regarding his newly discovered ability to even harness it. But, he had to reason, it was much more than what he thought he was able to do, which was work, wait, and toil. Being able to 'maybe' help his brother in his own training or control of abilities would be worth whatever he could get.

"Ah hope tha' when Clurie grows 'e can control 'is magic more, 'e can't 'ardly 'elp himself none as 'e is righ' now," but as Chauhn detailed to Jin-ho his brother's ineptitude, the scholar summoned a flame to rise above his hands. Chauhn gave a quiet gasp, started by the summoned flame, but after a moment, he leaned forward until he could feel the heat of the light on his face until it spluttered and died. Leaning back onto his legs, Chauhn bit his lip, more determined than before to learn, "Will." he repeated solemnly, as if it were a promise.

It was with steadfast determination that Chauhn watched Jin-Ho in his miniature lesson. He repeated the letters after Jin-Ho said them aloud and furrowed his brows at the different symbols. The frustration of not being able to see the letters with the same importance that Jin-Ho did was easily apparent on his face, but he never broke his gaze.

Clurie, sitting himself back down in the ashes and hugging a piece of charred paper to his chest, pulled his mouth down into a little frown. "Being saved is scary business, Blaithe. It happened to me before too. I don't remember much, but I was out like a candlelight, and Chauhn got hurt trying to protect me. It was scary. Not like when Sloane rescued my brother. Being a Hero is like being in a horror story, that's what my brother said." He dearly hoped that he hadn't inspired Blaithe to run off and do something to get saved.

"But!" he said, hoping to inspire towards something more safe, "If you play pretend and pretend you need to be saved, and let Sloane play pretend with you, it's a whole lot more fun than the real thing!"

Biting his lip, Chauhn contemplated his answer to the next question posed by Jin-Ho. He looked up at him, and then back down to the paper with the alphabet. With a finger, he pointed out the first letter of his name, a 'C'.

"That one. It's the same for my last name too," the boy said, "So, for signin' things for my employers back 'n Imisus, ah would write tha' one twice."

Chauhn didn't know if his Lord knew how to spell his name, as he didn't think it was of very stern importance, but if anyone had an idea, it would be Yizhaq. He eyed the pointed out letters and prescribed them to his memory, writing them out as Jin-Ho pointed them out on the paper. He studied them, feeling as if there were some missing, but what could he know? He hardly knew how many letters there were in the alphabet at all. He had the paper Jin-Ho had written out for him now, though, so perhaps that would do him some good. He leaned up from the floor, feeling somewhat better with his standing now that he had something to learn with. That was all he would have for the day, though, he quickly came to find, because Jin-Ho was picking up what things belonged to him and gathered up onto his feet. Chauhn stayed on the ground, near to his brother, who seemed rather put out by the sudden break in their short play date.

Clurie waved goodbye to Blaithe, giving her a smile from where he held his quickly burning away paper. He was glad to have such an eager listener to his fireside tales of heroism, but it would've been so much better if they had a chance to play them out. Clurie did want to perhaps have someone else to play his imaginary games with, but it was not to be because Blaithe was picked up from her place in the hearth, leaving him alone in the grey ash and black firewood crumble.

"Bye Blaithe!" he said, waving his hand up at her.

"Manners, Clurie," Chauhn said with a firm wag of his finger at Clurie.

The Ash plague thought for a moment, the polite routines for a moment having escaped him. "Oh....Uh..." he muttered before grasping the right notion, "Oh! Thanks for playing with me! Nice meeting you! A pleasure! Bye!" Having said his goodbyes he turned back to the fire pit where he had yet a whole half of paper to burn up and destroy into precious ash. He wasn't too sad for long.

Chauhn, on the other hand, gave Jin-Ho a sweet smile, only reserved for those he could really trust as they gave a handshake. "Thank you very much, sir, for helpin' me 'n' all. Next time, we could work on magic, if'n ahm able. 'N' again, congratulations for you 'n' your Plague. Bye, Jin-Ho."

He was right. This would have to happen again. And as Chauhn turned to the fireplace, his face more warm and lit with happiness despite the lack of a fire in the hearth before him, he felt comfortable. Perhaps, in a time soon coming, he would find his place here in the Fellowship, especially if he had people like Jin-Ho to help him along.