fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, April 3]

Today the desks in Anakin's classroom had been pushed along the walls and replaced with cushy pillows and blankets.

"Today we talk about sloth," Anakin said, holding himself even more carefully and clearly uncomfortable with the very idea of relaxing. The students were certainly not expected to be held to the same standard.

"Originally, sloth was described as 'an uneasiness of the mind'," Anakin continued. "Apathy. Melancholy. Joylessness. And importantly, the decision not to do anything about it."

He shrugged. "The modern view understands that the mind is slightly more complicated than that and sometimes it is impossible to will yourself not to be sad. Instead, this sin focuses on the failure to utilize your talents and gifts."

He made eye contact with each student. "In a place filled with as many talented people as this one, I can view it as almost criminal to not live up to the potential each of you has. Today, pair up and talk about what your plans for the summer are, and how what you will be doing will be helping you in what you might think of as your greater destiny."

He waved at the blankets. "Or embrace your inner sloth and take a nap. Being tiny this weekend can be tiring."

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"Knowledge is neither good or evil," Anakin said, "only the application. And teenagers learning that kind of thing..." He frowned. "You add in a predisposition to think of everything in italics," he finally concluded. "It's not the most stable place to be working with dangerous anything."

Eve stifled a laugh. "That's why she's not going to be working with dangerous anything alone. There's her boyfriend, who isn't magical like we are but can run for help. And there's her brother, who's a sorcerer and already knows most of what she needs and wants to learn. Plus there's me." She shrugged. "I'm older than eighteen, if you really want to get all technical about it."

"The boyfriend might be a liability," Anakin commented. "Especially if he doesn't understand what he's watching."

"Which is why we're going to educate him as best we can," Eve said. "And we'll make sure he knows what could potentially go wrong. We're taking this seriously."

"What could go wrong?" Anakin asked.

"That depends on the spell. It could be something as simple as the spell just not working because she doesn't have enough experience or it could be something as complicated as the spell doing something completely unexpected -- especially if it's a witch spell. Witch spells are verbal and things can go wonky if you don't say the words properly."

Anakin looked unhappy. "We've had students here read the wrong spell and ended up turning pets in human beings, or giving other students detachable limbs. Is there a way to limit the...wonkiness?"

"Yeah -- teach her the words properly." Eve quirked a smile. "I may look like a teenager who doesn't know what she's doing, but if I hadn't been killed, I'd have turned forty-four last month. I'm an adult, sir. Well, a reasonable approximation of one. And I know more about magic than my daughter ever will -- including the darker aspects. And you can damn well bet I'll teach her to pronounce the words properly."

Anakin smiled. They were closer in age than he'd admit.

"And skip over the bits she won't really need to know?"

Not that he'd done that with Luke. Really.

Ethics [Thursday, April 3]

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