Challenge #01542-D081: A Painful Setback

Like most toilets in Educational facilities this one was littered in graffiti, some of it actually, (a) anatomically correct and, (b) spelled right. Someone had scrawled 'Plumbing does not define Genius or Worth!' -- Anon Guest

Those were inspirational words, but when one was battling digestive upset, plumbing certainly interfered with one's ability to learn. Taerl read arguments from other scholars, including one who repeatedly asked for proof of assorted statements. Someone else, irritated with the non-rebuttal, had scrawled, DO YOUR OWN FARKIN RESEARCH on top of the non-argument.

Maester Jaal insisted that Taerl was not used to the food in this immense school, or that she wasn't used to the water. Maester Jaal had also insisted that Taerl take time off to acclimate to the food, the water, and the way of life that was so very different to her former home. Taerl couldn't do it. This was a place that had everything she could possibly need, where people talked to her as if she were a full-grown man with lands and holdings and everything. Where people greeted her ignorance with reactions like, "Oh, you are in for a treat," instead of calling her stupid. Where people looked at her in admiration and not revulsion and fear.

And where, unfortunately, the local food or the local water had her going to the privy every five minutes.

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