Over the years, I found that both Mr. Lupin and my father could come up with good solutions to problems, but the tools they used were quite different. Mr. Lupin’s teaching emphasized what machines plus organized manpower could accomplish. He talked a lot about the coming revolution in industry, as he called it.
“In France and England, men—ordinary men, common men—accomplish so much more by using steam-powered machines to help them. They are truly astonishing wonders. Someday you must bring the wonders of this man-plus-machine revolution to your Kalzov Valley here. It is the way of reason, and the way of the future.”
My father, on the other hand, looked into the hearts of men and sought the assistance of other magical creatures.
He told me, “You can accomplish much by using the magic arts to protect and guide the people of this valley, by using our abilities to understand men better and control their circumstances. You will be their Baron and they will count on you to make their lives better. So master your special abilities and form alliances with the many magical forest people who live here. Thus you will make our Kalzov Valley a better place for mankind.”
The one counted on motivating many people to work for the same objective, the other counted on building one’s personal ability, and using that ability with great effect. Their techniques were very different indeed.
As my learning grew, my abilities grew, but I noticed a difference between what I learned from Mr. Lupin and what I learned from my father. By age twelve, I could sense that someday, if I continued to study hard, I would equal Mr. Lupin. But I didn’t have that sense with my father.
On some days, after a frustrating session with my father, I would stare at my hands and think, “These hands will never produce the magic that my father is producing. Something is missing. I’m hopeless.”
By age fourteen, that divided sense of what I could accomplish was strong enough that I strongly considered giving up my magic studies to concentrate on Mr. Lupin’s more material-oriented science.
One Monday, after a previous week of difficult lessons, I started my lesson with my father by proposing that. I finished with, “I just can’t do what you can do, and I don’t think I ever will!”
My father’s eyes drilled silently through me for close to a minute. His face changed as he made a choice. “Perhaps it is time to talk more about Rostov history,” he said quietly. “I have talked to you often about the blessing we have from the Pope in Rome to protect this valley. And how every Pope is a powerful cleric, even though he is not our Patriarch.”
“You have,” I said.
“How many relatives do you have with our special ability? How many uncles, nephews, and cousins?”
“… None that I know of. In fact, I have no uncles, nephews, or cousins.”
“That, my son, is a big problem, although we don’t talk about it much. The Pope’s Blessing, whatever good it has done for this valley and our family, has done nothing to make the Rostov family … fruitful … to have many children. Ever since you were born in the first year of our marriage, your mother and I have tried hard, but you have been our only child, our only heritage. Now, how many Kalnichovs are there?”
“… No one knows exactly, but many. Too many for them all to live together.”
The Kalnichovs were the dark and secretive family that ruled the northern part of our Kalzov Valley. People moved and traded quite freely between Rostov and Kalnichov territory, but many people living in the south part of the valley, our part, said the Kalnichovs were allied with dark forces. My father “tut-tutted” when our people asked him about such an alliance, but in private he told me that, yes, it existed, but he did not discuss its details.
“Exactly. Their dark alliance has made them fruitful. And we are not. I was the last of the Rostov line until you were born.”
He smiled at me with the great pride in his heart showing through. Then his face saddened. “As far as the Kalnichovs are concerned, they have won.”
His face saddened even more and grew angry as he continued, “They let me live and rule this south end of the valley because they see me as a small threat. They feel that if I am unseated more powerful good forces will take notice of this valley and act, and their own position will weaken. I am not proud that I accept this situation, but I would be less proud if I were dead.”
He looked down for a minute, silently, then continued.
“You are a small unknown to them. They have watched to see if you have the Rostov heritage, to see if you are a serious threat to them. So far, you have done nothing special in public, so they are lulled into feeling they need to take no action. Lulling them was large in my thinking when I invited Mr. Lupin to be your tutor. He is a man of natural science, which the Kalnichovs dislike as much as Mr. Lupin dislikes superstition, and they see no threat in lowly steam engines run by lowly peasants. They feel that if I picked him to tutor you it is because you have no special heritage to train and grow.”
He looked up at me again.
“Protecting you is why I have kept some secrets from you. That is why I seem to do so much more magic than you can do. I will continue to keep those secrets for a while, but now that I know you can see their effect I will not hold off much longer. However, there are other things you must study first, and these other things will soon demand your full attention.
“I worry even as I tell you this, but soon you must study the world outside this valley we call home. The world is a big, strange place and many young sons have been lost to their parents by its temptations.”
“Lost? As in killed?” I asked. This seemed a strange way to look at the outside world. And why would my father send me to a place where I might easily die?
My father’s face lightened and he laughed. “No, no! Lost as in having the son say, ‘These other places are so fascinating and I do so well, I won’t go home.’ The sons indeed do well, but they are not with their parents to lighten their days.”
I was relieved, because Mr. Lupin and I had talked a lot about the outside world and I was looking forward to seeing it.
A few weeks later, my father came to where Mr. Lupin and I were studying. Mr. Lupin bowed to him.
“It is time to tell my son what comes next,” my father said to Mr. Lupin. Then he turned to me and said, “This is something Mr. Lupin and I have been discussing for a long time. When I went into the outside world, I studied in Rome, and many of your ancestors studied in Constantinople. These are the two cultural centers of the world.
“But Mr. Lupin has strongly recommended you study in Florence instead. He says the city has become a center of the natural and physical sciences; if you are to be well-versed in them, studying in Florence will serve your interests best.
“This goes against my instinct, which would send you to Rome. But I will take his advice in this matter. This fall, Mr. Lupin will accompany you to Florence. In a few years, you will become the most learned person in our valley!”
Later, when we were alone, my father promised, “When you return from your studies in Florence, I will teach you my last secrets.”
And that was how my first adventures in the outside world began.