Try it, try it!

[youknow_nothing]

Being with the book indoors was no good. That was being too civilized, too much of the South. Might as well put on her frilly dress and never run or hunt again.

But Ygritte was done with making other people do this thing for her. She needed to learn the writing and reading. After all, there was much to learn, and this was the best way for it

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[mrs_octopus]

Rosie couldn't help herself when she spotted the young woman struggling on the beach, her own teacherly sympathy having taken momentary control of her legs and walking her closer before she had even fully processed what was happening. As she approached, she did take the time be quiet and evaluate what the wild looking girl was doing, and when she sounded out the letters Rosie didn't even notice when she began to nod her head approvingly.

"S, A, M. Do you know what that spells?" She asked kindly as she stood not far from the young woman. She didn't want to appear as patronizing or intimidating as the young woman tried, but she recognized an illiterate in need when she saw one.

[youknow_nothing]

"Does it spell the ways I'll cut you if y'be mocking me?" asked Ygritte. However, since Brimstone stayed in its sheath and so did her knife, it was really fairly personable.

[mrs_octopus]

Rosie was momentarily stunned by the harshness of the young woman's words, but she blinked and flushed without any complaint. As a New Yorker, she'd heard and recieved many threats, not all of them as empty as they seemed.

"I'm not mocking you, I was only going to offer you help if you'd like it. I'm a teacher you see, and I enjoy helping others with their reading."

[youknow_nothing]

"A teacher," repeated Ygritte, still skeptical of the strange woman. "Listen, if y'haven't figured it out yet, I'm hardly any girl from places like... places people like you come from."

[mrs_octopus]

Rosie had in fact figured this out, quite quickly as she liked to think herself a good judge of character. The girl was....a strange one, but she'd feel poorly if she left the young woman to struggle on her own without at least offering assisstance.

"Well, there's no need for a classroom to teach. Where I'm from, I liked taking my class outdoors into the sunshine to read aloud." The girl seemed the type who appreciated the outdoors, that was for sure.

[youknow_nothing]

Ygritte was still skeptical, but she figured she might as well give the lady a try. Southern and mild, that was for sure, but some could say the same for knowing letters.

So she nodded.

[mrs_octopus]

Truthfully, Rosie had taught Literature, not actually how to read. But one could not exist without the other, so she supposed that it would be simple enough to just offer the young woman some advice, and leave it up to her as to whether or not she would follow it.

Smiling slightly, she kneeled in the sand but left room for the woman to have her own personal space. "Alright, for starters, do you know the English alphabet?"

[youknow_nothing]

"Is that the little symbols that have sounds?" Ygritte asked, and showed her the other book, the one that made the sounds. "And y'put them together, and they make a word?"

[mrs_octopus]

"Yup, exactly. There are twent-six of those little symbols, and they each make a sound. Some of them, vowels, make more than one. It depends on the word sometimes. See this first one? A? Depending on the word, it'll either sound like ahhh, or just A." She paused, hoping she wasn't moving to quickly for the girl.

"I suppose a nice way to start is finding the letters and sounding them out, as you were doing. That word you were working on; S, A, M. What does that sound like when you sound out the letters?"

[youknow_nothing]

Ygritte's lips moved as she worked through it. "Sa-m. Sam. 'tis a name," she said, eyes widening with the discovery. She genuinely didn't know enough about the modern worlds to understand that the book in front of her was for children-- it wouldn't have been wise to tell her that, either.

[mrs_octopus]

Rosie smiled and nodded, happy for the young woman's discovery. She always appreciated learning, and there were few examples of learning better than this. "Very good. Now, what are the letters in the next word?"

[youknow_nothing]

"Just an..."

Ygritte glanced at the other book, pressed the corresponding symbol. "I. Just an I."

[mrs_octopus]

"Good, now sometimes letters of the alphabet can be used by themselves. Like the letter I. We use it all the time, like we we say 'I am' or 'I will'. How about the next one, what do you have there?" She was silently grateful that the girl had chosen a children's book, as it was considerably eiser to help when it wasn't a novel with large and confusing words.

[youknow_nothing]

Ygritte stared at it, and then her eyes darted back to the word Sam. "Am," she said suddenly. "'tis the other word without the... the S."

[mrs_octopus]

"Very good," said Rosie quitly, and pointing to the small dot sidled in closesly beside the word. "That is a period, it means your sentence is over. You've read an entire sentence, so try putting it together now to see what it means."

[youknow_nothing]

"Sam I am," repeated Ygritte. She may have only begun to learn reading at this age, but she was quick. "So he's Sam. A plain name, but good."