Paideia

Paideia

---

Paideia is a professor at a university in the Starfall Isles, who has taken sabbatical leave and come to Electrician’s Edge for one reason and one reason only: to study Cadfael’s revolution. Paideia is a scholar of conflict studies, and the type of conflict that could potentially break a clan in two fascinates her. When she caught wind of what was happening in the Clan of the Striking Bolt, she dropped everything and made her way to Electrician’s Edge to study everything as it happened.

Paideia has most of the clan fooled, and most of them know she’s a collegiate scholar, and some even know she studies conflict, but almost nobody knows she specifically sought out the Clan of the Striking Bolt to watch things fall apart. Only the particularly perceptive have noticed her strange fascination with Cadfael and his inner circle, and even some of those who have noticed this suspect she just has a crush on him.

Paideia keeps careful notes on everything as events happen: fights between Cadfael’s followers and Screechfang’s followers, arguments about technology and its uses, Cadfael’s particularly suspicious behavior, new inventions Cadfael introduces, and so on. Anything that might spurn revolution is quickly jotted down in Paideia’s notes. She doesn’t want to miss a thing, and regardless of who wins, she intends to publish her findings.

When she’s not taking extensive notes or conducting research, Paideia’s activities consist of every scholar’s beloathed chore: applying for grant money. She doesn’t get paid for being on sabbatical, and until she gets back to teaching in a classroom, she has to beg her higher-ups for money to continue funding her stay with the Clan of the Striking Bolt.

As much as Paideia watches Cadfael, she can’t figure out whether or not he knows her real reason for being present. She hopes he doesn’t know, because that could mess up her study. But on the other hand, she knows very well that Cadfael is more than smart enough to have figured it out already, and she knows that Cadfael is more than clever enough to keep his mouth shut about it.