[ The explanation for his lack of education is neither complex, nor does it require cultural context - but it would be difficult to give for different reasons. After all, it is not very pleasant dinner conversation, to tell a friendly stranger that his cousin was too busy being drunk and miserable, and beating and belittling him, to teach him about the imports and exports of various regions, or about which operas were important and why.
It is easier - in other words, less painful - to explain how he managed to come to the throne. ]
No one believed it was necessary, to prepare us to rule. We had three elder brothers. We only survived to take the throne because the intended usurper, who murdered our father and brothers, in all his intricate plotting... forgot that we existed.
[ It's funny, in a horrible sort of way; there had been other reasons, why Tethimar's scheme had failed, but the fact is that he had not murdered Maia simply because he forgot about him. Maia had heard it from the very mouths of his conspirators. Strange, to be grateful for his long confinement at Edonomee.
But none of that story sounds very fantastical to Maia anymore. Assassinations and attempted coups are, sadly, becoming fairly standard to him. What Geralt describes of his own life has Maia round-eyed and listening with rapt attention. He had half picked up the menu, to look at the options on it, but forgets that he has it in his hands, staring at the other man as he speaks. ]
Worse?
[ There's no hiding how his voice squeaks in surprise; such things might exist in stories for children, but there are no spirits, no corpse-eaters (whatever they might be), no actual cockatrices or gryphons. How frightening it must be, to live in a world where such beasts rampaged. And how much worse, to be the one who had to face them. ]
You must be very brave.
[ It is, Maia thinks, a much needed dose of perspective. His life had its challenges, true. But he did not have to combat monsters. At that moment, he cannot imagine a single profession that he would be worse suited for. Surely he would be killed on the very first day. ]
But surely you are remembered by the people you have saved, in the villages and cities? It is true, what you say. There is no action so virtuous and just that it will make everyone happy. Such a thing is impossible. But... we cannot let the names we are called by- by the assholes, prevent us from changing the world, making it... a little better, in whatever way we can.
[ Then, because Geralt seems amenable to answering questions, even though he thinks he might be pushing his luck, Maia asks: ]
Why did you become a monster hunter, if you hated it?
no subject
[ The explanation for his lack of education is neither complex, nor does it require cultural context - but it would be difficult to give for different reasons. After all, it is not very pleasant dinner conversation, to tell a friendly stranger that his cousin was too busy being drunk and miserable, and beating and belittling him, to teach him about the imports and exports of various regions, or about which operas were important and why.
It is easier - in other words, less painful - to explain how he managed to come to the throne. ]
No one believed it was necessary, to prepare us to rule. We had three elder brothers. We only survived to take the throne because the intended usurper, who murdered our father and brothers, in all his intricate plotting... forgot that we existed.
[ It's funny, in a horrible sort of way; there had been other reasons, why Tethimar's scheme had failed, but the fact is that he had not murdered Maia simply because he forgot about him. Maia had heard it from the very mouths of his conspirators. Strange, to be grateful for his long confinement at Edonomee.
But none of that story sounds very fantastical to Maia anymore. Assassinations and attempted coups are, sadly, becoming fairly standard to him. What Geralt describes of his own life has Maia round-eyed and listening with rapt attention. He had half picked up the menu, to look at the options on it, but forgets that he has it in his hands, staring at the other man as he speaks. ]
Worse?
[ There's no hiding how his voice squeaks in surprise; such things might exist in stories for children, but there are no spirits, no corpse-eaters (whatever they might be), no actual cockatrices or gryphons. How frightening it must be, to live in a world where such beasts rampaged. And how much worse, to be the one who had to face them. ]
You must be very brave.
[ It is, Maia thinks, a much needed dose of perspective. His life had its challenges, true. But he did not have to combat monsters. At that moment, he cannot imagine a single profession that he would be worse suited for. Surely he would be killed on the very first day. ]
But surely you are remembered by the people you have saved, in the villages and cities? It is true, what you say. There is no action so virtuous and just that it will make everyone happy. Such a thing is impossible. But... we cannot let the names we are called by- by the assholes, prevent us from changing the world, making it... a little better, in whatever way we can.
[ Then, because Geralt seems amenable to answering questions, even though he thinks he might be pushing his luck, Maia asks: ]
Why did you become a monster hunter, if you hated it?