Hearts All of Glass 2: Day One

Part two of many more, Enjoy:

“When presented with a great opportunity, when faced with a brave new challenge, are we -- the mightiest empire the world has yet seen -- not obligated to meet it with valor? Each brave young person in this nation is bound by their birth to become a force of history! I urge all of you to face the future with fervent resolve. Victory flows through your very veins! In this crucial moment in our empire’s march to glory, you are all champions of the national spirit. Go, make your homeland proud by what you choose! The path to glory is paved in bold actions and virtuous courage! All of you, promise yourselves one thing. Promise to take every step towards victory, no matter the cost or apprehension! The sons and daughters of Deltora do not hesitate to take what they want and overstep fear’s grasp!”

-Queen Elaine Glasskard, Youth day Imperial decree, Siphrobion 30th, 6011

I took her advice to heart. I had my own radio in my room at my uncle's flat, and used it to acquaint myself with the music and slang of the city. Many stations played new genres of music I was astounded to learn existed. I never once heard swing or electronica in my hometown growing up, and in fact I'd heard very little music aside from the live performances of old ballads and harvest dance songs from the old army band which resided at the tavern most of a turn. To have so much music readily available to me was overwhelming, I must have spend hours listening to the radio at first, while I leisurely read the old leather bound books my grandfather lent me when I left.

As you may have guessed by my authorship, I have always been quite bookish, to the extent that I often neglected to participate in public sports or the any athletic teams. I didn’t make me unfit, as I was still bound to the compulsory physical education at school, and did a great deal of walking myself, but when it came to my ability to throw balls or kick them, my performance was lackluster to say the least. Now in my hometown I had come to pace myself in reading so much, as I knew my grandparent’s collection was limited and I wasn’t often able to visit the library in the neighboring town. One day, before my uncle took me to the academy offices to enroll me, I wandered several miles away from the aerodrome, to a huge glass-domed temple; practically a palace of literature. The West End library was supposedly the smallest of the city’s five libraries but as I reverently crossed through the doorway I felt as if I could spend a lifetime there.

When I came home, my uncle showed his first sign of irritation at me.

“Where were you?” He growled in a stern voice I had not heard yet.

“I walked to the library. I’m sorry I’m late.”

“You missed dinner. Give me that book.” He tore the thin adventure novel from my hands and examined it. He gave me a suspicious look and broke out in his usual jovial laughter. Shoving the book back in my hands he took Mei by the waist and swaggered away. “Very well, light out now, and no radio, you have school tomorrow!”

I was perplexed by his attitude towards me. Distinctly more indifferent than my father’s, but somehow more hostile too. I didn’t think much of it at first and simply took a discarded muffin from the table and ate it in my room. I could hardly sleep that night, I could hardly sleep any night at first, the city’s constant murmur and glow just beyond the window pane was enough to keep me alert all night as I tried to guess what was in store for me at my new school. I never could have guessed I’d meet her there.

I asked my uncle why we walked to the Blackheart Academy’s high walled campus instead of taking his steam-car, but he gave a dismissive grunt and held open the iron gates of the school grounds. The entire campus was contained in an enclosed city block, with a large looming centralized hall full of classrooms with an office and the gymnasium contained in the building’s two wings. The quad was deserted, as it was early in the morning when we arrived to register, and I saw no students on the grassy field out front of the hall or seated at the many tables scattered here and there.

“Name, birth date, and identity card.” A rather impersonal clerical witch had me enrolled within minutes and informed us that my father had taken care of my tuition there in advance, I had only to get my uniform and return when school started that day. The tailor down the street was done with me quickly and before I knew it I was dressed up in a typical student’s blazer, dark blue, of course, with matching trousers and a tan knit vest. I admired the spiral crest emblazoned on the left breast of my jacket and began my habit of rubbing it for good luck as I crossed the street again. I wished my uncle goodbye, and entered through the gates, just as the morning bells sounded. I was accustomed to many students at the academy in my hometown, as they all came from the entire county to be educated, but the sheer density of this school was stunning. I meekly shuffled to class that first day admiring every aspect of the hulking modern school hall, and the first day flew by without very much conversation to any of my fellow students.

The second day, though, was a different story. My class schedule was boring routine of Deltoran literature, history, maths, physical sciences, and gym class, livened only by the random elective I was placed in. I had desperately hoped I would land in alchemy or creative writing, but it was in theatre arts I was assigned. I had nearly fallen asleep in there the first day, the over-enthusiastic golden haired man onstage flaunted himself about with a passion for acting I did not share. My uncle crudely commented that night that it was the class all the future courtesans took, and I should help myself to the plethora of easily swayed girls in there. Mei playfully slapped him with her long white glove and dinner continued in silence.

I did notice the imbalance of the sexes the next day, however, as we had been instructed to sit in a circle onstage and envision shapes out of cut scraps of paper we had been given. Beside me were two girls who giggled and chatted across me as if I did not exist, and snatched the colored pencils I had been using to color in their own scraps of paper. We had to illustrate what we envisioned those scraps of paper to be by coloring in the white space to clarify. I sat idle for a few minutes, discreetly spying for the colors I wanted, feeling amused by the elementary level of this assignment. I took to scoping out the girls in the class, and found them all surprisingly young, maybe only a grade below me but looking fresh out of middle school either way.

A couple of the ladies did catch my attention, either through meaningful glances across the circle of students, or by virtue of their figures. These city girls, I had noticed, had a habit of being graciously endowed and it came as a shock how openly they flaunted their assets. That is to say, it was startling at the time, though even the most radical Blackheart fashion of back then would come across as fairly conservative today. A lone redhead in the shadows peaked my interest the most, partially because she looked so very engulfed in shading in her scrap of paper, and somewhat because of her long auburn veil of hair covering her face, but mostly due to how she sat. Most indecorously hunched over her paper, she sat on the stage with her legs bent at opposite angles to her body as if she has just fallen from the sky and broken both her legs. I was tempted to ask if that hurt, but then I was startled to realize I was already walking over to her for reasons unknown.

I’m glad I didn’t ask how it felt to sit that way, but what came out of my mouth was less than inspirational. The Queen’s speech had possessed me for certain.

“Can I use that red pencil, when you’re done?”