Lectured by an elder

[[Roll: 11]]

As Libet left the dining hall behind, the cooks preparing the fresh fish alongside the rest of the dinner food, a wizened old goblin waved her down. "You, brat! Come here!"

Libet recognized this goblin, she was Tria, an older goblin mage. This was not the first time she'd been called over by the senior mage, so Libet knelt down in front of her.

"Tell me brat, you didn't sneak any of the fish you caught, did you?"

"No, elder," Libet replied.

Tria leaned forward, sniffing Libet's breath. Not smelling even a hint of the fish Libet had caught, the older goblin sighed. "No greed in you, huh? You've been odd since you were born, brat."

Goblins had little concern for familial ties. The young were not raised by their parents, but by the community at large. Goblins had very little connection with their parents besides one rule: parent and child could not mate. This was supposedly a divine order, and Libet suspected it was one to prevent inbreeding.

Due to Libet being one of the few mages in the tribe, the sixth among their current number, she'd been entrusted to Tria when she was born. In addition to walking and speaking, which goblins picked up at an astounding rate, she was given instruction on magic. It was mostly about grasping the basic abilities she'd been born with, but it was something.

Tria continued to scold the younger goblin. "Goblins your age should be so greedy they don't think of the consequences when they gather food."

"But I'd have been beaten for it if you caught me," Libet replied.

"And you'd have learned your lesson. Teaching brats their lessons is why I like raising you so much, so cause more trouble." Tria went on and on, giving the same lecture she'd prepared if Libet had stolen from the food she brought, just without the beating.

But even if these lectures were tiresome (and Libet had already received many in her short life as a goblin) they did provide a lot of insight into goblins in general and the Fishbone Tribe in particular. Tria's habit of going on and on was how Libet knew about the unique traits of a goblin mage: their innate understanding of elemental magic and their above average pool of mana.

Tria had also explained some of the other key types of goblins. There were hobgoblins, born larger and smarter than most goblins, who made fine warriors. If about 1 in 10 goblins were mages, it was about the same odds of being a hobgoblin. There was also the rarer goblin champion, which only 1 in 100 goblins was born as, who were born larger and stronger than hobgoblins. All of these, similar to the goblin mage, were born with both a penis and vagina. Legends stated that these roles used to be much rarer, but had grown more common in recent generations. Libet, with her basic knowledge of genetics, suspected that these special goblins breeding and passing on their genes was the reason for this.

But for every kernel of knowledge Libet was able to glean from these rants came an hour of scolding and complaining. By the time Tria was finished, it was almost time for dinner.

"Come, brat, they'll be ringing the dinner gong any moment now. You should grab your share of the fish now before one of your elders takes it by force." With that, Tria led the way to the dining hall, intent on grabbing some of that fish for herself.

After dinner, which proceeded uneventfully, Libet had time to train her magic. Finishing that, it was time for bed, and her tenth day as a goblin came to a close.