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k_a_webbLucille stared down at the envelope. She knew what it held, which was why she couldn't bring herself to open it. Becoming a world walker was the only thing she'd ever wanted to do and she had spent nearly nine years studying each of the thirty-four worlds it was possible for a walker to visit. The exams were there to test a potential walker on their knowledge of all the worlds they wished to travel to, so most would study only the worlds they were most interested in.
To pass any one of the exams took a lot of work because walkers needed to know everything about the world they wanted to visit. Knowing the geography of the world was important, as was knowing where all the doors were in that world. Some were patriachal societies, others were matriachal, and some were neither. Each one had its own beliefs and laws. Almost half the worlds had magic while the others had different technologies. There were animals that were indigenous in certain worlds that had never even existed in others. In some cases it could be very easy to confuse one world with another.
For every exam that was passed another tattoo was added to the walker's body, which would give them the ability to walk through one of the doors. Thirty-three passed exams meant that Lucille had thirty-three tattoos. Most of them were on her right arm, but she had two tattoos on her neck and five on her right hip. They had all hurt.
At that time there were only four walkers who could travel to all thirty-four worlds, so passing her thirty-fourth exam would make her the fifth. Lucille's mother had been a walker who could travel to all thirty-four worlds, until she had given up travelling to have children, as had her grandmother, and she had always wanted to follow in their footsteps. Failing her final exam meant that she would never be able to do that. After all the hard work she'd put in failing would be absolutely devastating.
Slowly Lucille turned the envelope over so she could see the seal of the Walker's council. She ran her finger over it. There had been twelve people in the exam room when she'd taken her final exam and she knew at least three of them were attempting the same thing that she was. Passing thirty-four out of thirty-four exams was a rare achievement amongst those few people who attempted it, so it was special when someone did. It meant that, if she'd passed, she would automatically have a place on the Walker's council, she'd be able to enter several rooms that other walkers couldn't, and, as far as she was concerned, she'd be a true walker.
Living alone meant that no one was there to rush Lucille into opening the letter before she was ready. If she'd been at home her three younger sisters, all of whom had different dreams, would be nagging her to open it. Her mother would be just as bad. They'd all supported her ever since she said she wanted to become a walker and if she felt like she would be letting them down if she failed the exam, even though it had been them who had told her that she'd be a true walker no matter how many exams she passed.
Finally, breathing deeply, Lucille slid her finger under the flap and broke the seal. It cracked in the same way the seal had on every other letter she'd received. As she slid the letter out of the envelope she noticed that her hands were shaking, because she was much more nervous than she had been about any of the others. The letter was folded into three with the writing on the inside, as they had all been, and she knew without looking that the ink would be purple. Unfolding it was the hardest part. She wanted to know whether she had passed or failed, but at the same time she didn't.
Lucille had to read the letter twice to be sure of what it said. During the exam she had felt confident that she knew enough to pass the exam at as high a level as she had all the others. It hadn't been until after she'd left the exam room, four long hours later, that she had started to doubt her knowledge and that was part of why she couldn't quite believe the letter. She read it through another time.
Passing an exam was good; a bronze pass was better; a silver pass was even better than bronze; and then a gold pass was what some believed was the top level that anyone could get. Lucille knew that there was a level above gold, which was somewhere most walkers never reached, because her mother had passed one of her exams at that level. It was a level Lucille never believed she would reach, but it was on the letter in purple and white. She'd passed her final exam, which was the hardest of all the exams, at platinum level.
Smiling, she glanced at the clock. Normally she would have gone to see her family first, but she needed to get to the tattooist before she got busy and then Lucille needed to talk to her mentor about what happened next. Knowing that all the studying was over made her feel strangely sad. Even though she was looking forward to what came next she knew she'd miss spending days with her head buried in one book or another and talking with her mentor, or a member of her family, about what the world that she was studying was like. It was hard to believe that all the hard work was really all over.
Lucille folded up her letter and put it back in the envelope, before putting it in the drawer that she kept all of her letters in. She couldn't help looking at them all for a moment. Thirty-four exam passes and it wouldn't be long until she had the thirt-fourth tattoo to go with them. When the drawer was closed she felt relieved that the waiting was finally over and it wouldn't be long until she was given her first assignment as a world walker. Smiling again at the thought of finally travelling to one of the worlds she studied she started walking towards the front door.
As she passed the mirror Lucille coudn't help looking at herself. It seemed strange that she still looked the same way she had on the day she started her studies, although she was probably a little taller, and decided that it was time to change something. Shaking her head at herself, because it really didn't matter how she looked, she pushed those thoughts to the back of her head, took her cloak off its hook, and left the house.
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Date: 2011-12-30 10:34 pm (UTC)>> she had the thirt-fourth tattoo <<
That should say "thirty-fourth" above.
>>Smiling again at the thought of finally travelling to one of the worlds she studied she started walking towards the front door.<<
Add a comma after "studied" above.
>>Lucille coudn't help looking<<
That should say "couldn't" above.
>>It seemed strange that she still looked the same way she had on the day she started her studies, although she was probably a little taller, and decided that it was time to change something.<<
Good idea, actually -- that's a common custom for marking important milestones in life. Often a person will change their hairstyle, but sometimes it's something else. Tattoos are popular in some cultures, but she already has those and seems to be looking for something else.
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