- Tom is learning to read
- The party is joined with a shared quandry
Some writing, possibly a contract, the party are struggling to deconstruct it. Possibly it's content is too dry and logical. The interpretation is confusing. But Tom can read the text with fresh eyes; having learned language from first principles. She can laterally interpret the sentances, not having a preconceived bias.
With this intellectual victory (but egoless, innocent and accidental) Tom causes all other companions to notice how mentally bright she is. All the other companions will not have realised Toms capacity, yet Tom simply has been isolated while growing up... but not stupid! Far from it, she is potentially one of the smartest of a smart group. The Knight and The Tailor are exceptionally academic. Red is smarter than your average city girl. In actuallity, Toms intelligence is higher than all but The Tailor.
The others would be too stunned to respond, and so Tom would think nothing of it and retain her innocents. And anyway, she wouldn't deal with the complements very well; she would be uncomfortable.
Summary: Suddenly the party knows Tom is really, really smart, and how smart she could be. The only one who doesn't think of it like this is Tom.