by S. K Munt
‘Training for what?’ I asked her, not giving a fig about my wardrobe, especially not when I saw that my dress had a high neckline and puff sleeves. How was I supposed to move in the thing?
‘For your life, of course,’ she said through the pins that she had clamped between her lips while she fastened a strip of silk around my waist. She had bright red lipstick on and her black hair was cut short and turned under in a curve along her sharp jaw. She had to be at least thirty-eight, judging by the gentle wrinkles at the base of her neck and at the corner of her eyes, but she looked half of my mother’s age in every other way.
‘As…?’
‘As a companion to Prince Kohén until your twenty-first year,’ she said, dark eyes like puddles of darkness lifting to me as she straightened. ‘And a representative of the castle.’
I frowned, for I’d already figured that much out! Was I supposed to be satisfied to believe that all that was expected of me was to be a companion to a sad little boy? No, it was too easy! ‘And after that? Will I still be a Blue collar?’’
‘You’re not a Blue Collar anymore, Larkin- you’re Given.’ Maryah turned away. ‘And as to what you’ll be after you’ve served your time, well… that will be discussed when you are old enough to understand it, and not a moment before.’
Maryah’s answer confused me more. I knew that I was Given, but even the third-borns got to choose a new caste after they’d served their time, right? How was I to study if I didn’t know what I was working towards?
Maryah reached for more silk then turned back to squat by my ankles as she wrapped that fabric around my hips. She risked a glimpse up at me and sighed before lowering her eyes again. ‘I know you are as frustrated by that answer as I once was, but even if I could tell you more, you wouldn’t understand and it would just lead to more frustration, believe me.’ She pinned the fabric at my hip. ‘All you need to know is that you will be taken care of and taught how to be a lady of many talents, and after your thirteenth year, you will understand everything.’ She moved to my hem. ‘Until then, you will be dressed, trained and treated almost like a princess, and you will be expected to act like one, or be punished. There is to be no running in the halls, no leaving Eden’s walls, no wailing for your family, no fighting with the other Given girls, no talking to the adults or visitors in the castle, no questioning your future and no complaining. This is a charmed life you’re being invited to embrace, and if you’re perceived as being too inquisitive to be grateful, you’ll be taken from the Given dormer and handed back to the king to be placed elsewhere, understood?
I nodded, swallowing hard. I still wasn’t certain that I’d rather be in the palace then some factory in Janiel, but I did know that I’d rather read and play than scrub latrines. ‘Yes, I guess but… can I ask how the prince factors into this?’
‘However he sees fit. If he asks to play with you, you must consider yourself to be a very lucky little girl, and drop everything you are doing in order to comply. If he does not, you are not to complain, but ask yourself why he does not want your company and endeavour to change that. And prepare yourself to be ignored for quite some time- not only is the prince mourning his brother, but he is a little boy and little boys are afraid of little girls. It is your job to change his mind and that can only be done with patience, tolerance and a nice, calm voice.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Little boys hate girls who shriek and cry. I see your eyes are red- you’re not an emotional little thing are you?’ I shook my head, for I wasn’t, not usually. ‘Good. Most of the Barachiel’s have their powers under control, but that cannot be said for Kohén’s temper. It’s equal to his mother’s, but more dangerous for his power, and I’d hate to see any of you fried after having angered him.’
‘If little boys are so afraid of little girls, why not hand over the third-born sons turning five this year, rather than the daughters?’ I made myself smile. ‘Surely they’d be at less risk of shrieking and getting themselves electrocuted or whatever it is that the Nephilim can do?’
Maryah stood up and turned away again. ‘That’s another question that must wait for an answer until you are thirteen, Larkin.’ Then she picked up a small cloth-bound book in a midnight shade of velvet and handed it to me. ‘Everything you need to know to exist until then and answer your questions, is in here.’
I looked down at the book and traced the embossed golden title with my fingers. ‘Arcadian Law.’ ‘I’ve read this,’ I said, lifting my eyes to her. ‘Well, it was read to us in the first year of school. It has the creation story, and the Caste laws and-’
‘This is a different version,’ she said. ‘All of that information is in there, but there is a special section on living inside the castle, and it has been made more simple so that children can understand it. You must read it before you leave the dormer and before you are introduced to the other girls and then you will mark your initial on this-’ she handed me a scroll of parchment. ‘To prove that you have read it and have agreed with the terms. If you need a tutor to go over it with you, just ring the bell by the door, and I will come back and assist. If you don’t sign the contract and hand it back to me by midnight tonight, you will be surrendering your right to live in the castle and be shipped off with the other Given girls who Kohén had sent away. ’
I took the parchment and glanced at the bell by the door. It was made of metal, but I could see that it had a switch beneath it, rather than a pull cord. Was everything in the castle electric? All of our homes were fitted with wires to run certain appliances via electricity, like lamps and the stove and the water system, but things like bells were still crafted and operated manually to discourage laziness. ‘Why do I have to sign this? Aren’t I a donation, rather than a volunteer?’
Maryah raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re not going to push me to answer why an exception is being made for you this year, and demonstrate that you’re more curious over your circumstances, than grateful to have been claimed by the finest palace in Calliel, are you?’
I shook my head firmly, because I wasn’t going to. ‘No, Maryah.’
‘Then read while I fix you up- there are a lot of rules for you to learn, and only six hours left for you to decide if you can abide them.’
I nodded as Maryah began brushing my hair, settling down in the chair in front of the bureau and opening the book, pleased to see that the letters were rather big. The six books of the creation story were still too hard for me to read alone, but the rules, caste information and contract were all printed in a large typeface and came with graphs and a few illustrations.
I would read it, and I wouldn’t bug Maryah about what any of it meant- no, those questions I would save for Kohén, who I hoped to find before my time to sign the contract had passed me by. Doing so would be breaking one of the biggest rules there was, but I’d not tattled on him, and if we were going to be Companions, I had to know that he would be a friend to me too and I didn’t care what the law said- friends don’t keep secrets.
*
After I was dressed and Maryah had had Lindy braid my hair (while Maryah clucked to herself the whole time about the lack of pigment in the strands) I set out to find Kohén, preparing myself to have to search high and low, but was surprised to hear him hollering my name before I could even open the dormer door. I moved to the open casement window and looked down into the courtyard, laughing when I saw that he was down in the gardens, waving at me with one hand and clutching a bright red ball under the other. He too was freshly scrubbed, but looked no less mischievous for it.
‘Kickball?’ was all he asked and I grinned, nodded, and hollered out that I’d be down in a moment before running down to join him. I wish I’d thought to ask Finch for his ball, but I hadn’t so I would have to get used to the prince’s shiny new one.
It took a moment for me to find the right way to the left-side entrance to the courtyard, and I shivered from a combination of nerves and excitement as I fumbled with doors and stumbled on mats. I’d had such a horrible morning, and though
I didn’t know if the years to come would be any better, I’d never had anyone ask me to come out and play before, and it felt... nice.
There was no one but us in the courtyard and I saw that there was a sign across the door saying: ‘Closed to-’ someone, probably public judging by the ‘P’ but I stepped under the rope it dangled from and rushed breathlessly to stand across from the little prince. Now that he was clean I saw that he looked exactly like his mother and father in equal measures: bright blue eyes, black hair, olive skin and a generous mouth that was almost awkwardly so, like mine, only his lips were blood red.
‘You lied to me,’ I said in a rush, ‘about who you were.’
‘No I didn’t,’ he responded quickly, and from his ready smile, I knew he’d prepared himself for that accusation. ‘You didn’t ask for my name, so I didn’t give it to you.’
I bit my lip. ‘I wish you had. I wouldn’t have said those things about-’
‘I know, which is precisely why I like it when people don’t know who I am.’ He wriggled his eyebrows at me. ‘They’re more honest.’
I stepped up to him. ‘No one’s honest with me, ever,’ I said quickly. ‘My entire future is a secret, and that Maryah woman says I won’t know otherwise, or be allowed to ask about it until I’m thirteen.’ I winced. ‘It drives me insane, honestly.’
Kohén nodded. ‘I know. I’m not allowed to ask either and I hate it.’
My eyebrows shot up. ‘Really?’
‘Really. My brother and I have known that he would be sent away and trained for the Corps when we turned five, and that I’d receive playmates that year in compensation.’ He made a face. ‘And that’s it. Apparently, I have to wait until I’m thirteen to find out why I have a bunch of girls in my house now.’
I cocked my head to the side, agreeing with the look in his eyes that said that getting a bunch of girls under his roof was no substitution for losing a twin brother. ‘I didn’t know your twin was going,’ I said softly. ‘My mother didn’t tell me much except what she thought I needed to know.’
‘My mother doesn’t tell me much either,’ Kohén said. ‘But it’s weird that you didn’t know about Kohl I mean…’ he rolled his eyes. ‘That was my father’s big peace offering, you know? People have been complaining that the system was unfair and didn’t think that my parents would honour it.’ He sighed and looked down at the ball. ‘But Dad’s always honourable…like I have to learn to be, and so he made a big deal over surrendering Kohl to the Given caste at last year’s New Year’s Ball, when people started to whisper that maybe he wouldn’t.’
Well that explained why I didn’t know! An official statement delivered to our residences is pretty hard to hide, but I wasn’t privy to the goings-on at balls so it would have been much easier for mother to conceal that from me. But WHY?
‘I’m sorry that you get me instead of your brother,’ I said sadly. ‘It’s unfair that you don’t at least get boys.’
‘I think it’s my father’s way of making sure that I grow up with the whole equality thing in my head,’ Kohén said. ‘If I’m surrounded by girls from other castes and depend on them for amusement, then I’ll be able to make decisions that profit both genders and all castes, if I ever get to be king- because I will have experience hanging around both. I mean, back in the last age, the nobility were sequestered from the commoners, you know? And men in charge had a bad reputation for being sexist in the time before. So maybe this is the throne’s way of ensuring that everyone goes on being treated equal, and that the power of being monarchs doesn’t go to our heads.’
I thought that over, and decided that I liked his theory better than anything that I’d been able to cook up. It sort of contrasted to the whole duchess instead of titled queen thing, but it was a step in the right direction and did sound like a judgement call that the level-headed Miguel Barachiel would have made.
‘Well, then I’m sorry that you got me,’ I said, trying to sound brighter than I felt. ‘I’m not anyone’s version of a typical anything- girl or Blue Collar.’
‘You’re pretty weird-looking,’ he agreed. ‘And weird in general and sort of bossy... but you’re the only one who I’ve interviewed so far who seemed more interested in playing with me than living in the castle- so who cares if you’re not girly?’ He looked away, squinting out past the Barachiel house, which was very well built for one man to have built alone. But then again, he’d been a Nephilim and superior to most men- the way Kohén, as his Nephilim descendant- was superior to me. I hadn’t seen it earlier, but I could see it now. His eyes were too blue to be human, and his translucent skin glowed as though lit from within. His gaze was sharp, his movements quick and his countenance self-assured in a way that no five year old had the right to stand; taller than even the king. He sparked without sparking.
‘Why did you choose the others then? Maryah said that I am the third of the offerings that you’ve accepted?’
Kohén didn’t look back at me. ‘Because they needed to be here more than I needed them to be elsewhere.’ He turned back to me and tossed the ball up, catching it. ‘Now, can we play? I only have thirty minutes of lunch left before I must go to my combat class, and it’s a special class today. Because it’s my birthday, my instructor is going to teach me how to fire a gun!’
‘Wow!’ I said, and then added. ‘It’s a special day for me too. In fact, it’s my birthday.’
Kohén widened his eyes. ‘This very day?’
I nodded. ‘When was yours? Obviously it as this month for Kohl to have been…’ a pained expression folded his brow and I rushed on. ‘At the start was it? Or is it yet to come?’
‘A week ago,’ Kohén said. ‘It wasn’t a good day at all, knowing that the full moon was coming and he, leaving.’ He passed me the ball. ‘I’d like a much better one for you, so you get the first kick. Boot it hard and not like a girl, got it? I don’t give up first kicks that often.’
I looked around the courtyard, cringing. ‘In here? What if I hit the house?’
Kohén raised an eyebrow, looking from me to across the courtyard, judging the distance. ‘You could kick it that far?’
I smiled at Kohén, lined myself up with the passage along the left hand side of the house and threw the ball up. When it connected with my waiting slipper, I kicked it with all of my might and felt a rush of pride when it sailed out of sight, low to the ground but fast, just like Finch had taught me. To my relief, it missed the rope cordoning off the cabin by over a meter and disappeared into the maze of gardens and hedges behind it.
Kohén grinned at me. ‘Let’s take the ball out to the fields, where we’ll have some room, hey?’ He turned and pointed to where the ball had gone. ‘There’s a gate at the back that will take us out into the main grounds, so I’ll be able to show you how to REALLY kick’
I grinned at him. ‘You’ll have to find the one that I just kicked first.’
Kohén grinned back and tugged on the end of my braid. Together we ran off, fast friends and desperate ones, but friends nonetheless.
When I got back inside, I signed the contract.
7.
I met Emmerly and Rayleigh, my dorm-mates and the other ‘Given’ girls as soon as I came in from lunch, and they took an instant dislike to me. They demanded to know why I’d brought nothing with me, and then poo-pooed my explanation that we hadn’t money to purchase a new suitcase, or clothes worthy of transporting anyway. The castle had said that it was fine for me to come empty-handed and so I had, and my mother had said that she would send whatever I wanted along once she knew what my position and location was to be. I had a few things she could send, like the doll my father had given me for my fourth birthday that I liked more than my others because she had white hair too, and the photo of my brother and sister that I’d always kept on my nightstand, but I hadn’t felt safe bringing them until I knew that I wasn’t going to be sent off with the Corps or shipped to the other side of the country instead.
But Rayleigh and Emmerly didn’t acce
pt this answer, because they were third-born too, so like mine, their families had also had to stretch their budget to accommodate five instead of four as well. I tried to explain why my circumstances were a little rougher than theirs, but they lost interest as soon as they realised that I had no ‘fun’ toys to share.
Our castes stem from the original twelve human survivors of Armageddon, and the people who grouped together to assist them in varying ways once they’d been saved too. After building his wife and child a cottage in Eden, Miguel helped the others build homes of their own and once everybody had a shelter, he wanted to do what he had done in Barachiel thousands of years before- create a community. But he’d been hiding in heaven for so long that he knew nothing about technology or politics, so, Miguel had relied on the people who saved him to realise this dream, while keeping God’s warnings close to his heart to keep them happy.
He’d amassed a strange collection of people; half northerners, half from south of the border, but they worked and bred together and luckily, there were enough doctors, scientists, builders, and helping hands among them to not only get things done, but to set about collecting the knowledge that we had been possession of not so long before. Anyone who wasn’t needed to work on drainage or cook for the workers, or care for children or help construct were sent off on missions to dig up every piece of knowledge that could be found from the old world, and because of this the very first building constructed in the heart of Arcadia was a library. Old books were hard to find, given how many cities had burned, drowned or had been swept off the face of the planet six hundred years before, but they were important in the absence of technology, and the ones that were found proved to be invaluable. We had questions and needs, so the people who made it their job to find the way to get these needs met via research and study became known as the Academics, and the ones who applied this knowledge to build, dig drainage, cook, clean and oversee sanitation: the Blue Collars.