Chapter 32
“Mom, Robin is eating on the couch again!” Gloria hollered as she picked up the toddler from the cream colored cushion and put him in his high chair. “Could you please tell him not to do that?”
“Why don’t you?” Anwyn asked as she came out of the bathroom. “You have the situation under control, you don’t need to complain.”
“How did he even get the food off of the counter? He’s too short.” Gloria said, confused.
“You used to grab food off of the counter all the time, it happens. Kids get an idea in their head and they- reach- for it.” she smiled at her little pun.
“Ok, are you ready to go? We’re going to be late for school. You always say that the boss should lead by example, so we can’t be late. Come on.” Gloria urged.
“Hold on, where’s your father? We can’t leave Robin alone.” Anwyn asked as she grabbed a premade lunch.
“He’s outside checking the fishing traps. He’ll be in any minute now.” Gloria informed, anxious to get to school.
“Very well.” Anwyn grabbed up the papers she had graded the night before, and headed out to the beach where the boat was bobbing. “Bye, honey. See you this evening.” She kissed Liam goodbye and climbed onto the boat. Gloria followed her and they sailed over to the big island.
It was a short walk up the beach to the school. Gloria used to run up the hill to see if her friends had arrived yet, but now she chose to just walk and wait to see them. Besides, she was still tired from her night of no sleep with the sisters a few nights ago, and it was hard getting back to normal.
“Oh, I should tell you, we’re getting a new student today. Try and make him feel welcome, he’s a new refugee. We know how hard it can be to be new here, it’s a culture shock. Jeez, just showing my legs took forever to get used to. But for you, you wear things that show your whole figure, I’d have died of embarrassment if we were back on the mainland.” Anwyn said.
“Mom, it’s perfectly fine. I’m not showing anything that only my husband would see, and half the population has the same anatomy I do.” Gloria teased.
“Yes, yes. At least I’m not your grandmother, she’s very old fashioned. Or Sophia, she’s very modest!” they laughed.
They made their way to the glorified gazebo and saw that quite a few of the students were already there, talking in groups and gossiping, sending glances over their shoulders and between each other's heads.
The new student was easy to spot. His bright blonde hair was luminescent in the sun and his large frame took up the space of two children. He was no child, heck, from his size he barely looked like he should be a student, but who were Gloria and Anwyn to judge? There were a few adults who had been learning from their children over the past few years how to read, maybe he just barely fit the age group and couldn’t read?
He turned around to face them and his front was even more beautiful than his back. He was if his frame wasn’t proof that he wasn’t a child, the subtle stubble on his face gave it away. He had bright blue eyes that looked like windows to the sky behind him that opened wide when he saw Anwyn and Gloria.
“Good morning, Mrs…-” he waited for Anwyn to introduce herself.
“Mrs. Reed, though it can be hard to get the students to call me that. If you hear ‘Auntie Anwyn’ or anything like that, that’s me as well.” she smiled. “I hear your name is Blake? How much education do you have?”
“I’m rather solid in my learnings, though I don’t know how rigorous you are with your schooling here. I could be vastly behind all of these bright minds!” he laughed, nervous. He spoke very well for a refugee. The people who fled to the Islands were usually simple people who grew up speaking the same way their simple parents had and had grown lazy in their annunciation over the years. Blake spoke with clear tone and gravity that would come with a well to do family.
“If I have your accent correct, you’re from the mainland?” Anwyn asked.
“I am. It’s a long story.” he said, hoping to divert the conversation. “When does class start?”
Anwyn smiled, acknowledging that his origins could very well be a sensitive topic. “As soon as I call everyone to attention. You can sit next to-”
“Next to me!” jumped in Mara. “I have an empty spot next to me.”
“I sit next to you!” objected Mable.
“What? Since when?” she played. “I haven’t met this girl before in my life.”
“You can sit next to Benjamin, He’s over by there across the room.” Anwyn interjected.
Mara rolled her eyes and took her seat behind Gloria, and Mable slid in next to her. Each of them had a hard time paying attention to the lesson and kept sneaking glances across the room at the new student.
“Where has he been hiding my whole life?” Mara asked quietly to that only Mable and Gloria could hear.
“May I remind you that we have shared a life, he’s been out of mine just as long as he’s been out of yours.” Mable bounced back.
“I’ve been alive longer than both of you, don’t forget.” Gloria said under her breath so that Anwyn didn’t hear while she narrated.
“And we know that Benjamin isn’t gay, right? He’s been alive even longer.” Mable asked.
“You’ve seen the way he fawns over Rachel, he’s not gay.” Mara observed.
“Heck, I would fawn over Rachel if I liked girls, she’s perfect.” Mable said. Too bad Rachel wasn’t at school today, she didn’t get to claim dibs on the new guy.
“-Without the fellowship to escort Frodo to Mordor, he would have never completed his task.” Anwyn finished. “Girls, do you have any information about the Journey of the Ring to share with the class?” she asked the trio.
They all looked at her with wide eyes and closed mouths, suddenly very quiet.
“Mrs. Reed, didn’t Aragon save the day finally when he led the army to Sauron’s gates? Wouldn’t he be the true hero?” Blake’s voice came from across the space.
“I see you’ve heard of the story then! Yes, Aragorn did save the day, but so did Mr. Baggins. One would not have been successful without the other, and that also leads me, a bit prematurely, to the fact that not all stories have one hero. There could be several, reliant on each other to pull their own weight to save the day.”
Anwyn looked at the clock. “Oh my, look at the time! Older kids, you can take your lunches, I'm going to have a bit of check-in time with the littler kids. Be back in 40 minutes!”
There was a murmur as the teenagers stood from their seats and headed out into the sunshine. Mara made a quick path to the new boy, and Mable followed quickly behind her, not wanting to let her sister have an advantage over her.
Gloria rolled her eyes and followed. She knew how this would turn out; Mara would be forward with her flirting, the boy would be impressed with her confidence and flirt back a bit, but then she would pass on him after a date or two saying that he wasn’t her type. At this point, she’d gone on so many dates with guys that they couldn’t figure out what her type was.
After Mara was done with a guy, Mable would make her move, try and pick them up off the ground after Mara had dropped them. She was the balm to Mara’s burn, and the guy would talk to her about his feelings and even eat out with her once or twice, but then he would recover and come to the conclusion that he was hanging out with Mable so that he could be closer to Mara.
And Gloria was just the best friend that came in contact with them when it was a group outing, or at school. She would smile, encourage, but she knew how it was going to end.
Ben had brought Blake over to one of the tables to eat their lunch, and by the time Gloria got there he was crowded by Mara and Mable. Gloria took a seat across from Blake, spending more attention on her meal than him.
“You knew a lot about the Journey of the Ring, how much schooling do you have?” Mara asked.
“I’ve spent quite a lot of time reading in my life, and remembering the plot of such a well talked about book is easy. I enjoy literature.” he said. “My parents weren’t around very often, so I read most of the books in the library at home.”
“You read most of a library?” gasped Mable. “How many books were there?”
Blake looked around for a reference. “I believe that from that post-” he pointed to one of the corners of the school, “- to that post would be about it. Ten feet? From floor to ceiling?”
“That’s amazing!” Mable beamed. Mara was already losing interest; she wasn’t into the brainy types.
“But man, you couldn’t have spent all of your time inside, your arms are huge! What sort of workout do you do?” Ben asked.
“Mostly sparring, sword fighting. It’s good exercise without worrying about it being repetitive.” he said openly.
“Well, you won’t need much of that here on the Islands. There are no battles to be fought.” Gloria added.
“There were battles where I came from.”
Most of the table went quiet except for Mara, who didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut.
“Oh, that’s right! You’re from the mainland! What’s been going on there? Our parents came from there. How screwed up is it?” she asked and the rest of the table glared at her. “What?”
“It’s rough. The soldiers patrol the cities but it isn’t always enough to keep the raiders from-” he went even paler.
“Mara, you know that we don’t ask refugees about what happened before they got here. It’s a life they leave behind.” Gloria turned back to Blake. “If you want to put your life behind you, you can. There’s even a ceremony you can go through where you change your name and vow to live a better life. It's like rebirth.”
“That sounds like entirely too much attention to put on me.” he smiled and picked up his sandwich.
“How old are ya, buddy?” Benjamin asked.
“I’m 17 and a half.” The table shifted away from him a bit. “What, aren’t you all that age?”
“Benjamin is the oldest one here, he’s 16, Gloria is next at 15 and a half, and Mara and I are 14.” Mable admitted.
“Oh. I thought for sure you guys were a bit older."
“Well, there aren’t a ton of kids on the Islands, so we all have to get along.” Mara rolled her eyes.
~*~
Class ended for the day after a few more hours had passed. Anwyn and Gloria were some of the last to leave, with a few students hanging around.
Blake looked slightly panicked.
“What’s the matter, Blake?” Anwyn asked on her way out.
“I- I’m staying with the Poms until I can apply for my own place, but I forgot how to get there,” he confessed.
“Oh, they’re just on down the hill a bit. We’ll walk you home.” Gloria offered.
Blake looked relieved and he grabbed his things and they made their way across town, chatting as they went.
“Have you read the Hariet Potting books? I found them thrilling!” Gloria asked.
“I have! If I were sorted I would have to say I would be in the Crawlin house. I’m not evil, but I am ambitious.” he said.
“Really? So far I would have said that you were an Eaglefoot. You seem so smart.” Gloria said.
“Gloria sorts herself into Gryphingate. She’s always conquering new tasks.” Anwyn said, a slight tease in her voice.
“Mom, it’s not weird to sort yourself! Most people who read the books do!” She shot backwards.
“I didn’t say that it was weird, did I?”
~*~
The sun was dipping lower than it normally did by the time they got back home that day.
Liam looked like he was a nervous wreck but was trying to hide it. “Hello, my loves! How were your days?”
Anwyn gave him a big hug. ”What’s the matter, Liam? Why are you worried?” she whispered into his ear.
“I don’t want to talk about it now, maybe later.” he answered. “I hope you’re hungry, I made spaghetti for dinner!”
“Yay!” Gloria rushed into the house, and Anwyn held Liam’s hands.
“What’s the matter?”
Liam looked away, and he felt as if he were about to pull the plug on a tub of water, not wanting to let out all of his emotions. “You were late and I didn’t know where you were. What if you were taken? What if the king took you away?”
“Liam, you had one dream. We haven’t seen the king in over fourteen years. Why are you thinking about this? We’re safe.”
He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Liam, there’s no man that the king is sending. Let the dream go.”
“I wish it would leave.” he said quietly.
Anwyn looked at him with concern. “Are you still having the dreams? I thought they had gone away.”
“They’re unpredictable, but they come maybe once every three nights. This isn’t just a dream, it feels real. Something is coming, Anwyn. What about the prophecy? There will come a ruler, that’s the king! He is coming!” he hissed quietly.
“Liam, I think we should talk to the sisters about something to help you sleep. We aren’t in danger. And the ruler could be any sort of ruler. There are other rulers in other kingdoms, it could easily be one of them.”
“And one of them would show an interest in Gloria? Why?” Liam asked.
Gloria peaked her head around the kitchen door. “I think the sauce is burning!” she shouted.
“Then stir it!” Liam hollered, and started to walk back to the house. “Anwyn, we need to be more careful.”
“We need to find some way to prove to you that we’re ok. We’re ok.” she repeated.
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