Liath sits primly at the front of the class and deliberately looks away from her desk so her textbook will appear. She's only taking this course as a language credit and it has absolutely no bearing on her life whatsoever.

He sits next to Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji has never done anything horrifyingly offensive. Jiang Cheng appreciates how quiet he is and also how good he is at stabbing.

This is going to be terrible on so many levels.

Lily takes her seat at the back of the class with as much poise and confidence as she can muster, but internally she's sweating bullets. What's the Scholomance thinking, putting her in a class where the language of instruction is Mandarin? She still has an accent! Sure, she can read hanzi, but not all of them! 

Well, there's nothing to do about it but press onwards. She opens her textbook and starts to read.

The educated-sounding voice begins, "This is a seminar on dysfunctional families in literature. The family is the initial social unit in which most children grow up and it constitutes a central framework for many works of literature. Not only is the family interesting in itself, but many authors have used it as a metaphor for broader issues of the state and society. Many of us idealize the family. No one loves us like our parents. The family relationship is the one relationship that can never be broken. But what happens when the family itself is harmful? In this course, we will read several classic novels which--"

Why does he have to take this class. He's not an incantations person. 

Lan Wangji takes precise and detailed notes in exactly the way his uncle taught him.

If only she had a family.

She bites off the thought, forces herself to read. The hanzi are difficult. What's this word again? 

If nothing else this will be good for her mana generation.

Liath takes detailed notes as she has trained to do since she was six.

"In this course you will develop the skill of close reading. Close reading allows us to draw attention to the individual parts of a passage in order to clarify the passage's meaning and to understand the relationship between the form of a passage and its content. Why do we need to learn close reading? Close reading is an essential skill for the literary critic to discuss any text, because it lets you collect evidence which will prove your claims about the text. Close reading is also an essential skill for both casting incantations and writing your own. Close reading of literary texts trains the habits of mind which are useful for understanding spells: attention to both form and content and a clear understanding of the meaning of a passage. This habit of mind will also allow you to write your own spells with greater attention to aesthetic qualities, which--"

Well, that's great for incantations people. Jiang Cheng fully intends to go through the rest of his life without learning any incantations more complicated than a mend-and-make so why is he even here.

It has never occurred to Lan Wangji to ever ask why he's anywhere. An adult thinks he should do something so of course he does it.

Liath is languages track, not creative writing, but she supposes there isn't any harm.

Wonderful, the school thinks she's languages track. How thoughtful. At least the instructions are simple enough Mandarin for her to understand them.

Kinsei is an artificer but he has ever taken a literature class and he is aware of what they're for. Why do so many of the people in this class look so angry about it, it makes the whole room feel like it's full of static. 

When it's concluded, Jiang Cheng says, "this is a stupid class."

"I don't know. It's not more stupid than any other lit class I think?" 

"Maybe lit classes are stupid in general."

"I think it's useful to learn about symbolism. Alchemy and artificing are telling a story to the universe."

"And if you tell a story hard enough it just-- becomes the way the world is. Like with the blueprints."

"No one is making me close read the blueprints!"

"But-- if you want to tell a story hard enough that it becomes true, you should... know how stories work? Is I think the point?

...sorry." 

"I know how stories work. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end, and if it's one of those stupid pretentious novels they're having us read everyone's constantly reciting poetry, and if it's a normal novel all the porn is in the extras at the end so you probably want to skip to that."

Is he doing this? Why is he doing this?

"But for magic the kind of knowing how stories work that matters isn't that? It's knowing the symbolism you're using and the patterns you're referencing and how they all come together and what other people have done with them. And stuff like close reading does matter for that."

"Attention to detail is a good habit to have."