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Lyna was the first. As soon as he thought she was old enough, the Crystal Exarch taught her how to read. He was eager to foster a love of learning and reading from the earliest possible age, and as she was the only child he would ever raise, he had to get it right. She… did not like it. She did not like having to sit down and try reading when she could be playing or eating. Later, he learned that he had tried a little too soon for her, which he deeply regretted. His granddaughter came to enjoy a good book and liked to learn some subjects, but she was no great scholar and the Exarch blamed himself. It wasn’t that Lyna needed to be like him; she was much better suited to become one of the guard and rise through the ranks there. It was only that he had dearly hoped to impart his love of learning to her, and he failed his only chance.
Apparently, life decided to give him another chance. The Exarch married and had two daughters shortly after. Twin girls, with red-violet hair and crimson eyes. This time, he was determined to do it right, and so waited until they were older than Lyna had been. G’raha Tia pulled Sunflower and Daffodil aside when they complained of boredom and pulled out their favorite bedtime story. “Daddy will teach you how to read, how’s that sound?”
Their eyes lit up. “Can we?” They immediately climbed into his lap, and after some pushing, settled down enough for him to start.
“Daddy, how come we can’t do the voices?” Sunflower asked, sounding somewhat upset that she couldn’t make her voice sound the way he did it. Hers and Daffodil’s only came out shaky and wrong.
Thinking fast, he replied, “You’ll learn how to do that too, little buds, I promise. When you’ve mastered reading, you can apply your wonderful storytelling power to the words.”
His daughters wriggled and bounced, barely able to pay attention to the story anymore because of how excited they were. They began playing reading games with him and it didn’t take too long for them to be reading for themselves. The twins read aloud to their parents, their baby brother, their toys, the Scions, even to the small shrine Moonflower kept in a corner of the house.
Unfortunately, G’raha couldn’t get them to be excited about learning. They were bored of traditional study, and preferred to learn outside through practical application. That was more of Moonflower’s expertise, so he tried not to think about how she would teach them physics by jumping great heights so they could understand the pull of gravity. Just so long as she doesn’t let them jump…
To his surprise, Rahn wanted to read much sooner. G’raha assumed it was because his sisters were reading and he wanted to copy them, so he indulged his toddler son and brought out the children’s book he’d used to teach his sisters. Rahn smiled and clapped his hands, determined to read with the same energy as the twins. In even less time than it took Sunflower and Daffodil, he, too, was reading the books they had scattered around the house, which made G’raha suspicious that Rahn had been watching and listening to the games and practices that he had done with his eldest children. He couldn’t prove it, though, so he didn’t give it much more thought.
That was a mistake, as when Rahn was six, Moonflower came over to him and demanded, “Raha, why did I catch Rahn reading about the properties of the soul?!”
G’raha dropped his staff, completely taken aback. “He what?”
His wife waved the thick book he didn’t even know he had in the house. “This! I caught him reading about soul theory. He’s only six years old, Raha!”
“But… but… that shouldn’t even be in the house.” He was utterly flabbergasted. “How did he get it?”
“I asked him the same, and he said he found it in your study.”
Husband and wife stared at each other, confused. G’raha picked up his staff and first checked the study in the house and then went all the way to the Rising Stones to check his study there. Nothing. “He’s been sneaking around my study, it seems,” he commented upon his return. “I don’t understand, like you said, he’s only six. What else did he say?”
“He said he wanted to know how everyone came home. Alphinaud and Alisaie have been telling them about our adventures again, and he got curious.” Moonflower rubbed her ears, looking quite anxious. “Rahn told me, very proudly mind you, that he had also read your Archon thesis.”
G’raha’s mind spun. “What? He what? Did he actually understand it?”
“Some of it, at least,” she sighed, which made her husband drop into a chair.
“I’ve only been teaching him basic subjects, the same as the other two. This… this is definitely unexpected.” Some of his research had been based on forbidden tomes, too, which he wasn’t sure he wanted his son to learn about just yet. “What do you think we should do?”
“I am more than willing to let him learn more advanced subjects,” she was quick to say. “I just don’t want him reading about soul theory, or time travel, or necromancy, or… or anything that could kill him!”
He reached over and pulled her into his lap. “It’s all right, my love,” he promised. “We can ask Alphinaud and Alisaie what sort of studying they did before entering the Studium. Surely that should satisfy whatever curiosity Rahn has without letting him get into subjects he’s not ready for. I can finish the soul theory book with him—” he held up a hand before she could voice the protest he could see forming on her lips, “—if only to satisfy his curiosity. If we forbid him from reading it now, he will only try sneaking around again.”
She sighed again, her shoulders slumping. “You’re right. He’s too young for this, but we can at least change the direction into something more focused.”
And so it was. Rahn was given enough books and subjects to satisfy his thirst for learning, and he seemed content (the keyword was seemed, as the little boy still managed to sneak in some of the harder material that he really shouldn’t have tried learning, which was something that continued past childhood). G’raha still bemoaned his embarrassment to Krile, however, even though he knew she would tease him. “I just wanted to help them love learning like I do, Krile. I don’t know how Rahn went wild with it.”
Krile chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t know how you didn’t know it would happen. Rahn likes studying and especially likes reading. Of course he’s going to go poking around and trying to read the big books you have. Don’t worry about it anymore, all right? He’s only curious.”
Curious or not, G’raha didn’t think it was the best decision he ever made by teaching Rahn how to read by the time he was three. Aster was a mild child following her brother, happy to learn her letters and recognize her name as a toddler, and then learn to read at about five, just like the twins. To her parents’ relief, she was further content to read and study age-appropriate material. And, as she liked to learn, G’raha was pleased he had managed to foster an appreciation for it in his fourth child.
The last, Marigold, seemed disinterested the entire time he tried teaching her. She was a little too quiet, and she had almost no enthusiasm for reading. G’raha had stopped several times, thinking he was trying too soon, but she consistently came back for her lessons. Science disinterested her, too, as did mathematics. It wasn’t until he started talking about the history of their eyes—in response to a question she posed—that Marigold expressed interest in any studying at all.
“Daddy, tell me more about the Allagans.”
“Of course, my blossom, what do you want to know?”
“Everything!”
And she did. It wasn’t just Allagans; she wanted to learn the history of everything. Ul’dah’s royal family, the formation of Gridania, how Limsa Lominsa became a thriving sea port, the Dragonsong War, why Kugane’s country was closed off, and so much more. History and the people who made it were the only subjects that could excite her.
G’raha would take a specialized interest over none, and was relieved that all five of the children who came before her had taught him how best to teach her. Lyna taught him that he couldn’t be overeager. The twins taught him that he had to accept there were better teachers for certain types of learning. Rahn taught him caution. Aster taught him to go the pace necessary for the child.
All five of his children and his beloved Lyna liked to learn in their own way, on their own time. G’raha Tia looked back and considered it a job well done.