Extracurricular Activities

I barely had time to hide behind my bed before the door completely opened. No matter what, though, I knew I had already been caught.

'Should I just say that I'm a cross-dresser?' I thought, my mind going blank from the panic. 'Maybe I can say it was a silly prank by my friends...'

I heard a small chuckle come from the doorway, and soon the head nurse came inside the room and promptly closed the door behind her. "Eleftherion, child. If you don't want your little secret to come out, I advise you not to wear gowns behind unlocked doors."

I groaned, but it came out more as a sigh of relief. "Nurse Melinda. I almost died from surprise. What are you doing here at this hour?"

When I stood up completely from where I was crouching behind the bed frame, the nurse's eyes went round along with her gaping mouth. "My, that is a gorgeous gown..."

I blushed, realizing that I was showcasing my whole outfit for her to see. "This... is nothing. May I ask for the answer to my previous question?"

She still kept glancing down at my gown, even while she said, "Well, I came here to bring you to my love's office room, but it looks like you're quite busy."

"I'm not!" I shouted and covered my lips afterwards, knowing how brash I was acting. I pulled my hands down and said, "I meant that I'm not busy, and if you would allow me a few minutes to change, I'll be off to your lo- to Professor Whitaker's office."

She looked like she was holding back her laughter but she pitied me enough to say nothing about my demeanor. However, she didn't leave immediately.

"Yes?" I asked her.

For a while, she only sighed. Then, she said, "Allow me to help you change out of your gown, at least?"

I blushed. Although I was more than used to maids picking at me since I was born, it was a whole other thing to have a lady assist me in my changing. Besides, I've mostly been dealing with this all by myself for more than a year now...

"Please?" the head nurse asked. "This is embarrassing of me to say, but I've always wanted to have a daughter of my own. Would you indulge me just this once?"

This surprised me. From what I've heard, she and the professor were married for a long time now. Based on the professor alone, with his gray hair, I had rather thought that he was an older man than he really was, but he shouldn't be so old that he couldn't grant his wife a child...

Soon, I nodded. "Alright, but just this once, because the ribbons at the back are quite hard to remove alone..."

Her lips came up shyly, and she walked and stopped right behind me, murmuring a song as she twiddled with the straps.

'Off the heads,

And off the hands,

Twist the knots,

And grind the minds

Hold them down

And keep them fine

Oh, how it feels to smother

How sweet tis to be a mother...'

My face crumpled up at the lyrics, wondering what it even meant, but soon enough, I noticed how every line was accompanied by a pull of a ribbon; how every verse was followed by a portion of my corset coming off. Letting out a laugh, I hummed along the catchy and easy tune. And soon enough, by the time we had sung and hummed at least eight verses, I was down to my chemise and the gown was carefully folded.

"That's a very efficient song to sing," I remarked.

She hummed in agreement. "I often heard it from the maids down in the town. Once in a week, they would gather in the big well, bringing the clothes from their masters' houses to wash them. They sing that song to keep their rhythms in synch."

That intrigued me. My own maids never did their chores anywhere close to the palace, and my travelling with Farseer often only involved moving around and sleeping in taverns. This part of the common people's lives never came to my attention before.

"... So songs can be used that way too."

"Oh?" she asked. "It surprises me how you haven't heard of it at least once. I mean, the words change a lot from town to town, but the tune stays the same. Some even sing it like,

'Strike the throne,

And bring out the pikes

Sore out yar throats,

And call out the blights

Take down their horses,

And shoot 'em in the eyes

Oh, if none of ya will bother

My, I'll take the heads off yer brothers!'"

I knew that my face had already gone pale long before she had finished her small performance. I simply stared at her in shock, too scared to say a word.

Observing me for a short while, Melinda then shook her head. "Frightening, isn't it? Often times, songs work in that way too."

I gulped down in anxiety. "I suppose so... That, That song hasn't been sung... in recent years, have it?"

She giggled. "In the great Empire? Oh, no."

I sighed in relief...

"But in the Kingdom of Saule?" she added. "It's quite common, I should say."

I took in a slow and shaky breath through my nose, refusing to let her know the effect her words had on me. Meanwhile, I had climbed into my commoner boy's clothes and led her out of my room. When I was about to lock the door with my key, she asked, "Are you feeling alright, Eleftherion?"

I pursed my lips while my back was to her. "... Yes. Let's go. We don't want to have the professor wait."

~~

Apparently, I was to join a special class held even before the cycle officially starts. Professor Whitaker had called me to his office the night before to inform me of this. Although the Test of Waning usually marks the end of the school cycle, there were still some activities going on during the break between cycles. Well, most of which were extracurricular activities, but this "special class" was more of a test rather than a simple activity.

I sighed as I knocked at the door marked on the slip of paper Professor Whitaker had given me.

There was loud shuffling from inside the room before it finally clicked from its lock and opened up just enough for me to peek in. A pair of big, ruby-red eyes peered at me from the gap.

"Hello," I tried to communicate with it. It blinked in response. After a long while, for which I thought it had been engaged in deep thinking, it finally gasped in recognition.

"You're the boy under Prof Jamie!" it said.

My face was all stiff, but I nodded regardless. "... Yes. I was sent here... for the special class?"

Then, the door opened. It revealed an extremely short, slightly deformed, and pudgy... man?

"So you're old Jamie's new protégé!" he said, his voice noticeably grumpy and gruff.

I tried a smile. "Y-Yes, sir."

"Then you must be here for my pre-class matches," he grunted, and started to shoo me away from the doorway as he waddled forward. "Follow me. It won't be starting for another half hour, but it won't be bad for a young 'un like you to come early."

I was frozen for a few seconds before he harked back at me while he trudged onwards, "Hurry up now! I may have short legs, but I can outrun you in a heart beat!"

An uncertain smile came up on my face, but I followed the short man. Not knowing whether I should walk behind him or not, I simply allowed myself to be half a step behind him. From where I viewed him, I could guess that he was a full head shorter than me, and that's really a feat since I wasn't even eight and not particularly tall. But even so, I found it a challenge to keep up with him without outwardly jogging.

"S-Sir, what's this class about?" I asked after we passed through the outer corridors of a whole building.

He answered me just as we passed by another spiral tower and entered a white washed courtyard with a magnificent garden. He said, "As I said, it's a pre-class match. You probably haven't got your list of classes yet, right? But you'll soon know you made it to my class. Well, you're a special case, since I don't usually accept Sinus Fidei..."

I kept silent, and soon, the long courtyard changed gradually from glorious gardens into empty ground with tough soil.

The short man stopped at the center of the open field. He said, "Find a place to wait. You'll know what this class is about in no time."

I firmly nodded and was about to leave for the ceilinged sidewalks around the courtyard when he added, "And mind that I only accepted you in my class because of my ties with the second head professor. It will do you some good to know that the moment you disappoint me, you're out of the class roster even before the next cycle starts. You got me, boy?"

I turned towards him completely and faced him head on. "Yes, professor."

Seeing my determination, he nodded approvingly. "Good, then go."

I was walking aimlessly towards the shaded corridors when I thought, 'Go... where? And go do what?'

Overthinking the pudgy professor's words, I couldn't sit still and instead found a nearby heavy-looking twig and swung it around. I knew that this was a combat class, so I thought I should rather move around than sit around and wait.

I never took any formal classes for melee combat, but I at least knew the basic movements from my days watching the royal guard. But doing it now, I felt lacking. It wasn't as easy as the assassin's knife and daggers, and even then, I wasn't really trained to fight with real weapons...

'Maybe I don't suit swords...' I was thinking, and then I felt an attack come from right behind me.

I grew serious within less than a second, and with the branch, which I had quickly strengthened with notes, I blocked the attack using instinct rather than trained movements.

"Damn," my attacker cursed, and then dropped his own wooden sword down. "And I thought a weakling newbie just got lost and came here..."

He looked older than I was, but not by much. Maybe he was only a year older than Charles and Albert? He also wore robes. This one had golden designs. I've never actually scrutinized the robes before, but I just recently learned that different colors meant different mares.

I glared at him, and watched as my makeshift sword crumbled into pieces the moment I let the notes go. I asked him, "What would have happened to me if I hadn't blocked your attack? What if I really was a... newbie who lost his way?"

He shrugged, his freckled cheeks distinctly complimenting his snide smirk. "I would've stopped the attack, of course."

I kept my glare at him. So, he said in a carefree manner after sheathing his sword, "All's well that end's well."

I huffed in annoyance, but knew I couldn't rebut either. Who knows? He really could've stopped his sword before the impact if I hadn't moved. His robe definitely showed that he had enough skill to back it up, no matter how quick his slice was when he did it...

Sighing, I left him where he was grinning and plopped down onto the shaded open corridor. Unfortunately, he had followed me.

"Who are you, anyway?" he asked. "I haven't seen you around... and where's your robes?"

I groaned at his questions, and mumbled out the answers:

"Eleftherion."

"Good thing that."

"I don't have any."

He stopped mid-question as he heard my third answer. He looked at me with wide eyes. "You... don't have one?"

I shook my head nonchalantly, and wondered how many other Sinus Fidei would be in the class. I hoped they could be persons I could mingle well with.

The freckled boy kept prodding at my shoulder, annoying me greatly. So I said, "What?!"

He stared at me with an extremely troubled expression. "You're kidding, right?"

I pursed my lips. "Can't you see how young I look?"

He then shook his head. "That's a given, but we've had young and young-looking students with robes hanging around for years now. But, are you really serious? You aren't just joking with me, right?"

I took in a deep breath, trying to steady my already impatient self. "... If you're really wondering, then yes, I'm robeless, and yes, I'm Sinus Fidei."

He blinked at me, and then at the professor, who was standing patiently in the middle of the courtyard, his beefy (yet short) arms crossed on his bulky chest. The boy then looked back at my face, asking with a tubful of seriousness, "You're here to... train, right?"

I looked at him with plain annoyance. "I'm here for the special class, just like you are. Now, shut up."

"Ha!" he let out a disbelieving sound, and then left me where I was.

I was a bit hurt, but I didn't mind too much. There would always be people who would be rude to you just because of your status. I learned that the hard way as a female royal and as a nameless, commoner boy.

Thinking that I still had time, and that I had become tired from the conversation with the freckled boy, I leaned my back at a white pillar and closed my eyes.

After another ten minutes, I finally heard the sounds of incoming students. Seeing them, however, I grew anxious. By the time only a minute was left out of the 30 minutes, my back was already coated with cold sweat.

'What exactly is this...'

Everyone around me was wearing a robe.

I mean, it wasn't exactly weird to have classmates with robes. Just this cycle, I had a few classes mixed with students with and without robes, especially in my advanced classes, but this...

Why am I the only Sinus Fidei in the class?

I started to curse at the second head professor. He probably did this as a punishment for me hiding away the secret of my sex from him. Imagining his strict face suddenly filled with a mirthful and vengeful smile, I was filled with resolve.

'I won't let you win!' I told him in my mind. (Although, honestly, I could never imagine a day where I would see the professor acting so childishly.)

And so, I removed myself from behind the pillar and started to mingle about the upperclassmen. Some of them noticed me and seemed confused, while most simply ignored my presence. All around me, they discussed about his and her romantic relationships, rumors about the royals, and botched vacation plans due to this class or the short break or the sudden blockages in the main transportation routes...

'Huh, I wonder if that involves the conversation I had with brother about those magical portals sprouting out all over the place...'

But my thoughts were soon interrupted by the dwarfed professor, barely noticeable around the taller children. He announced in a resounding voice, "Hark now! All of you decided to try out my class, ey? But it won't be easy! You think you're all so good having passed the admission process to this class, but remember this: Only the best of the best have ever entered and passed my classes! I can list out my past proteges and you'll know all of their famous names! Alas, I have neither the time or the drive to prove how grueling this class will be. So, I'll let this special class talk for me, instead. Get ready, all of you!"

Without any control over it, a burst of nervousness and excitement filled me. Challenges were always hard, but I never backed away from one, not from the Order nor from my days learning in the palace. A smile crept up on my face.

I wonder what this will be like?