Alistar would have been the only one to remain still, if not for his oblivious cousin and her disinterested friends. What was the point in those empty actions? He didn’t see the sense to it, but now was hardly the place to bring that up.

Mr. Herst resumed speaking. “In summary, Limnin was a hero from the Inverted Wars, who went on to found the empire that our kingdom belongs to. There are holidays and festivals in his name, so he’s somebody that you should try to learn more about.”

Other children began to ask questions, and slowly the focus shifted away from Alistar. Still, he had plenty of things on his mind. He mirrored the others and raised his hand, waiting patiently for Mr. Herst to call upon him again.

When his turn came, he asked, “About the Drunaeda—the demons—what happened to them?”

“They’ve mostly died off. You only ever see their descendants these days. Distan is one of the few places in the empire where these descendants may settle down, as I myself have done.”

“What do you mean?” Alistar asked slowly, as if the old man were trying to play a trick on him. “You said the Inverted peoples were monsters. You’re just an old man.”

Mr. Herst’s eyes took on a strange glint, as if they were observing some long forgotten scenery. “It’s believed that through generations of atonement, we descendants of the Inverted are slowly purging ourselves of our original sin. One day, our bloodlines will return to being human. This is proof that God is forever merciful.” He ducked his wrinkled head.

No one spoke for a few moments, not until a rotund boy exaggerated a yawn in the midst of the silence and said, “When do we get our snack?” He stood with Anice and her friends.

Eager to finish the review, the other children joined in.

“Yeah!”

“Snacks!”

“I wonder what it’ll be today?”

The youngest of the three women, a beautiful youth about twice Alistar’s age, stepped forth with a flourish of long, wispy hair. She looked the chubby child in the eye. “Did you forget your manners when you left home this morning, Woods? As always, snacks will come out when Mr. Herst concludes his lesson.”

“But I only came for the snacks.”

The stocky boy next to Woods put an arm around his shoulder and then patted his belly, taunting. “I’m sure even the new kid knew that.”

“Bugger off, Jaden,” said Woods, shrugging off the other boy.

Mr. Herst cleared his throat, and turned to the young woman. “No mind, Linda. I think here is a good point to leave off for today.”

“But we’ve only just begun,” blurted Alistar, who was starting to enjoy his first lesson. How could he leave after such a short conversation?

“Lessons started over two hours ago. You arrived just when we were wrapping things up for the day.”

Alistar glanced over at Anice, who caught his icy glare and looked away somewhat apologetically. He should have known better. She never attended these classes, so of course she would have gotten the timing wrong.

“However, if you wish to hear more, I spend much of my days reading atop this hill, and I’m always willing to speak to those who will listen.”

Some of the children began to chant.

“Snacks, snacks, snacks…”

Alistar’s eyes lit up. “Then, would it be okay if I came back tomorrow?”

The man nodded, smiling kindly as he removed a covered basked from behind his seat. “That would be fine. Now”—he turned to the three women and removed the cloth from atop the basket—“please distribute these evenly.”

Upon seeing the basket of fruit, the portly child made a pouty face. “Apples? Who would want apples?”

“Don’t be like that,” said Jaden. “I think an apple every now and then would do you some good.” Looking up from his friend, he barked at one of the women. “Hey, come on, already. I’m basically skin and bones over here.”

“Always impatient, this one,” sighed Linda. “You’d do well to show some restraint. There are people starving in the mines just a few days from here, even as you make such comments on this cozy hilltop.”

Alistar silently agreed with the woman as he eagerly awaited his apple. Unfortunately, by the time Linda came around with the basket, it was empty.

“I apologize,” said Mr. Herst, who’d approached after noticing the situation. “It seems that both of us are out of luck today.”

“It’s okay,” he said, hiding his disappointment. More than that, he felt bad that the old man didn’t get an apple when he was the one that brought them.

“It’s because they showed up again without informing us the night before…”

Alistar caught a part of the conversation that the women were having, as they glanced between the empty basket and the kids beyond it. Mr. Herst also overheard them, and left to join in on their talks.

All too quickly, Alistar was alone. As kids joked with and teased their friends, he realized that he didn’t know anyone here aside from Anice. Unsure of what to do, he approached her and waited until she noticed him rather than trying to catch her attention.

“Ah,” she said, amiably pulling him in as if they had been the best of friends since birth. “This is Alistar. He’s my cousin!”

One of the kids whistled, a boy with short, sandy hair and a lean, athletic build. “Another Silverkin boy, huh? That’s just what we need. I was just thinking about how much of a joy the others are to be around.”

“He’s not like them,” Anice snapped. “He’s a lot more like you guys than them.”

The round boy, Woods, waved a hand in front of Alistar’s eyes. “You must really like apples. I’ve never seen someone look like they wanted an apple so bad. Or maybe it’s Helen you like, not the apple.”

Having been caught staring at one of the girls while she nibbled at her snack—tall and athletic, with short hair the colour of fresh hay—Alistar looked away with embarrassment. Why was speaking with adults so much easier than speaking with other children? Why was he suddenly so nervous?

Go on, just introduce yourself. Just like Mama said, it’s always best to start with an introduction. But he couldn’t. His words disappeared halfway up his throat, and his face grew hot when he had nothing to say.

“So, where have they been hiding you, anyway?” the lean one said. “I thought we’d met all of Anne’s cousins.”

“I—I’ve lived in Crystellum up until recently.”

“Crystellum?” said Woods. “Never heard of it.”

“Yes, you have.” A shorter boy stepped forward, who’d been keeping to himself behind Woods and Jaden. “Those would be the mines on the other side of the mountains.”

Anice’s friends went quiet, as if none were sure how to respond. All too soon, the voices of the other children became easier to distinguish.

“Why do they even come?”

“Yeah, what’s the point if it’s once a week? Just stop coming already.”

Closer to him, a pair of girls were staring in his direction.

“They make me nervous. My parents told me to stay away from them.”

“That’s because nobody scolds them. They just run around doing whatever they want. Should we warn that new kid about them?”

“Don’t bother. Looks like he’s pals with Anice already, poor fellow.”

Alistar turned to stare at the girls, who looked away almost immediately. Why were they so rude? He caught movement on his peripherals and instinctively turned around to catch the apple that Jaden had tossed at him.

“You’re lucky I wasn’t hungry today,” mumbled the boy, who walked off and descended down the steep side of the hill. He paused once only his head was visible. “Well, come on!”

“Oh, Jaden, you big softie!”

“Look who’s talking!”

While Woods followed after his friend, the lean boy held out his hand. Alistar took it.

“I’m Zech! And the guy creeping in the background is Corrie.”

“I can introduce myself,” hissed the short boy. “And why did you only introduce me?”

“Because you’d have just slunk away when nobody was looking.”

Corrie ran a hand through his wavy hair, which was finger-length and as black as his irises. Glancing back and forth between Alistar’s eyes and the grass, he simply nodded his acknowledgement and headed off, with Zech hot on his heels.

Once the boys had left, the rest of the little group crowded around Alistar with fascinated stares. Increasingly nervous, he straightened up and held his breath. The fact that they were all girls hadn’t mattered until he was left alone with them. His mind floated away for a moment and he stood there with a vacant smile on his face, careful not to look at any girl in particular. What was wrong with him?

“Your face is red,” Anice said loudly. “Can it be that the mature-acting Alie is shy around girls?”

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, turning his head.

Anne, you slive!

“Don’t be so mean,” said one of the girls, the taller one that had just finished her apple. Her blonde hair was cut short like Alistar’s, her eyes brown, and her clothes plain and loose. “I’m Helen. It’s nice to meet you!”

“Y—you too.”

“I’ll introduce everyone. From right to left are Emely, Rosa, Violet, Lily, and Lessa. The flower girls are sisters, if you couldn’t tell.”

As Helen named them off, each girl responded with a wave.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said, dipping his head. “I'm Alistar.” Despite his unexplained anxiety, he forced himself to look at each girl in turn. His eyes lingered on Lessa, but he forgot his thoughts when he looked back at the others, for something had struck him as off about the three sisters, and he finally noticed what it was. “You three, you have the same face!”

The three shared a giggle, and Lily, the one who allowed her brown hair to flow freely around her shoulders, responded. “Is it your first time seeing identical siblings?”

He nodded.

“I’m not surprised,” said Rosa, playing with her ponytail. “They’re not so common these days.”

“Even we’ve never met any others like us,” Violet admitted. Her hair was very straight and cut short, a bit longer than Helen’s.

Each of the sisters wore a simple dress that was coloured after the flowers they seemed to have been named after. Their mother must have loved flowers as well, Alistar thought.

“Don’t look at them like that.”

Alistar gave his cousin a quizzical stare.

“That’s how you look when you read. Don’t study my friends.”

He rolled his eyes. Was he supposed to meet people without looking at them? He shifted his focus to Emely, who was dressed plainly, like Helen. Her short, brown hair naturally curled inward, her big eyes innocent and kind.

During the time that he’d spent in Distan, Alistar had noticed that the quality of one’s clothing and their manner of speaking were the best ways to determine someone’s social status. As far as he could tell, Lessa was the only highborn present aside from his cousin, while all of the others belonged to the lower classes. This wasn’t something that mattered to him, of course, though he couldn’t help but notice the wary glances that most of the other kids directed toward these two in specific.

“Let’s get going.” Anice grabbed his hand and tugged him along. “The boys didn’t wait for us, so they definitely went off to our spot.”

“They always take the best seats…” muttered Helen.

Alistar felt very out of place as he was shepherded along by the gaggle of girls. He was usually full of curiosity and never hesitant to share his opinion, but right now his mind was frozen stiff by some strange new feeling, and he was having a hard time spitting out basic sentences. He didn’t enjoy the awkward sensation, and the thought of suffering through it in the coming hours completely stole away his enthusiasm over spending the day in Mayhaven. He’d even lost his appetite for the apple.

He pulled away from his cousin.

“I’m sorry, Anne. I think I’ll head home.”

“What? But it’s not even dinnertime yet!”

He turned and gave the girls a rigid bow, avoiding eye contact. “It was nice meeting you all. I look forward to seeing you in the future!” Already regretting his formal tone, he hurried away, though paused to hand his apple to Mr. Herst. In doing so, his eyes settled on one of the girls, who seemed so sweet that, for a moment, he had second thoughts about leaving.

Lessa, was it? Her long hair resembled his in its sandy blondness, her skin pale and smooth, with eyes of gentle silver. Her complexion was flawless, her hands delicate. Intriguingly, aside from the colour of her eyes, she bore a striking resemblance to Kaila. As he hurried down the hill, he found himself wondering, if Kaila had run a comb through her hair, sat through a bath and donned a pretty, frilly dress, would she have looked as pretty as Anice’s friend? His pace slowed significantly when he thought about his most cherished companion.

How are you faring without me? Without Mama?

He found his way home easily enough, though he felt odd walking through the city by himself. By the time he arrived back at the estate, his mind had regained its usual sharpness, and his heart burned with longing and purpose. He decided to seek out his uncle Caedmon, who had made it clear earlier on in the day that he wished to discuss Alistar’s future.

He was keen on sorting things out as soon as possible, and would initiate the discussion himself if Caedmon had other matters in mind. From then on, he would step onto the long and painful road toward freeing his best friend from slavery.