The problem with Watchers, the one overriding fault, is that they're not cut out for dealing with children. They work with books and dates and historical accounts, not teenage girls.
Of course, back in the earliest days of the Council, a sixteen-year-old girl would have been considered an adult. A Slayer's contemporaries would most likely have been married and raising their own children.
Not like the adolescents Giles has to work with.
Well, maybe part of the problem is that they are adolescents. To their credit, they've survived some fairly horrific things, but Giles knows that's mostly down to luck. And partly due to the interventions of a certain Mr Levinson.
Which is a paradox in itself, because Jonathan is only as old as his own Slayer. Giles remembers seeing him around the halls of Sunnydale High back when he first arrived there, sometimes in the Library with the students he tutored, sometimes just chatting with his friends between classes. It's just hard to believe sometimes that Jonathan is only eighteen.
Giles tries to draw hope from this fact. If Jonathan is capable of so much at such a tender age, then surely his own Slayer can achieve something close?
There's an occasional pang of guilt, but he has his reasons for making her work so hard. He wants to be proud of her, wants his Slayer to be more than just the latest in a long line of Chosen Ones. He trains her so she can be special. More like him. Giles just wants to bring her closer to Jonathan.
*****
Of course, back in the earliest days of the Council, a sixteen-year-old girl would have been considered an adult. A Slayer's contemporaries would most likely have been married and raising their own children.
Not like the adolescents Giles has to work with.
Well, maybe part of the problem is that they are adolescents. To their credit, they've survived some fairly horrific things, but Giles knows that's mostly down to luck. And partly due to the interventions of a certain Mr Levinson.
Which is a paradox in itself, because Jonathan is only as old as his own Slayer. Giles remembers seeing him around the halls of Sunnydale High back when he first arrived there, sometimes in the Library with the students he tutored, sometimes just chatting with his friends between classes. It's just hard to believe sometimes that Jonathan is only eighteen.
Giles tries to draw hope from this fact. If Jonathan is capable of so much at such a tender age, then surely his own Slayer can achieve something close?
There's an occasional pang of guilt, but he has his reasons for making her work so hard. He wants to be proud of her, wants his Slayer to be more than just the latest in a long line of Chosen Ones. He trains her so she can be special. More like him. Giles just wants to bring her closer to Jonathan.
*****