After she left the table, Key went in search of Kaylee, who had waved to her as she walked by with a boy... at least, he looked like a boy--mostly. He had short black hair and a flat chest, but instead of wearing denims, like most Faraday students, he had on a black skirt like Miriam usually wore, and multi-colored striped tights. She meekly followed them to their table. The boy saw her first and turned. "Oh Kaylee!" he said, "Did you bring us a new recruit?" He had a deeper voice than she expected--a low baritone coming from a rather scrawny kid who was actually shorter than Kaylee. But, Key figured, she was the last person who should be making assumptions about a person based on the way they looked.
"Key!" Kaylee sprang up toward Key and then paused, about a foot away.
Key stared at the girl, stuck in a strange pose with her arms out. "Are you okay?"
Kaylee dropped her arms to her sides. "Well, I was going to hug you, but I realized you might not like it."
"You can hug me." The words surprised even Key. She had never been particularly physical with anyone other than Matsias. But she had never been encouraged to be physical either. Thisaazhou women were supposed to be elusive and not give away their thoughts, especially to outsiders. Men were taught similar lessons, though for them it was less important.
So Kaylee hugged Key, and Key hugged back, surprising herself again. Then Kaylee sat down. "Want to join us? Have you eaten?"
"Yeah. I ate with my roommate and my brother," Key said, but she did sit down at the table with them.
"This is Ketu." Kaylee indicated her companion. "They're my roommate."
"They?" Key looked at Ketu, and then at the empty table, wondering why Kaylee had used a plural pronoun.
Ketu calmly took a sip of juice. "I'm gender fluid. Not exactly male or female."
"You're not male or female?" Key asked, "So what..." She got a feeling the question was rude and stopped, wondering vaguely if this was how Miriam felt.
But Ketu shrugged. "Don't worry, it's a new idea for most people outside Antarand. Except in Hawthorne House."
"Oh." Key felt a little stupid, though she didn't know why. Ketu certainly didn't seem offended. He--They, Key corrected in her head--didn't even seem exasperated about having to explain this for what was probably many times.
Kaylee wasn't phased either. "Key is in my electrocasting class. She's a natural."
Key felt herself blush. "Well, it is my natural gift."
Kaylee shook her head. "It's more than that. You're genuinely good at it. I'll bet you anything Mrs. Theelnin will be ready to induct you into Providence by the end of the semester."
Key didn't think her abilities were anything compared to Mat's, but she didn't bring him up. "How do they induct people into houses?" she asked.
Kaylee and Ketu looked at each other and then back at Key. "It's top secret," Kaylee said, "other than third years are in charge of it." She nudged Ketu, who batted her arm away. Key must have looked worried because Kaylee followed this with, "don't worry, it's not like there's hazing. It's just... a surprise."
"You've got nothing to worry about. Promise." Ketu winked at her and took a bite of his sandwich.
Key looked at her watch. "I should get to class."
Ketu glanced at the cafeteria clock. "Ah. We're both on break. Why don't you come sit with us at dinner?"
"Um..." Key glanced in the direction of where she normally sat with the others.
Kaylee must have followed Key's gaze. "If you don't want to leave your friends, you can stop by Hawthorne after dinner."
"Bring them along." Ketu waved their hand in the air, as if beckoning an invisible person. "The more, the merrier."
"I'll stop by..." Key said, and then hurried off to class.
She wasn't sure why, but it was hard for Key to think about anything else for the rest of the day. Fundamentals of sewing seemed to pass as quickly as it began, though her notes on the parts of the sewing machine were pitiful, and she knew she would have to ask Ayan for some pointers later. Her next class flew by even faster. The closer she got to seeing Kaylee and Ketu, the more excited she became, and by the time she reached channeling objects, Matsias could tell something was different about her.
"Are you okay?" he waved a hand in front of her face. "I haven't seen you this fidgity since that archery competition last year."
"I'm fine," she said quickly. She noticed she was tapping her finger on the desk and stopped.
"Key. I know you better than anyone. You've got something on your mind."
Part of Key wanted to tell him about making friends with upperclassmen--people who didn't really care if she was a boy or a girl and didn't look at her confused that they couldn't figure it out. She wanted to tell him about this person who was maybe somehow like her--somehow also not quite boy and not quite girl--but she couldn't find the words.
And some part of Key wanted to keep Kaylee and Ketutit to herself, at least for now. There was no reason they wouldn't get along with Matsias, and if they didn't, their friendship wasn't worth it. But Kaylee was a weather wizard in her second year, and she thought Key was talented. And all that would end if Key introduced her to Mat. Once they met, Key would just be Key again. She would be Mat's sister and nothing more. So Key shook her head and told Matsias, "I can't stop thinking about fourth period." In the last few months, they had both become experts at half-truths, and she thought, for a moment, Matsias would call her out on this, but he didn't.
"Hey," he said, "It's one test. It's not going to make or break your whole school career." She also didn't tell him she had actually worried about that earlier in the week. She just smiled back and thanked him.
Matsias still seemed suspicious at dinner. Key ate quickly and scanned the room for Kaylee and Ketu, though she didn't see them, and they should have been pretty easy to spot, what with Ketu's brightly colored tights. Key didn't pay much attention to the conversation. She was vaguely aware of Mat and Ayan talking about their history class, and some mention of weekend plans, but she didn't hear any details until she heard her name.
"Key?" Key turned to look at Matsias. His deep brown eyes looked concerned. "Do you still want to take the train to Shakif tomorrow? You don't look like you're feeling well." She half expected him to feel her forehead the way her father might. He did put his hand on hers.
Later, she thought, she should have noticed the excitement in his voice, that look on his face that Matsias got when he had the opportunity to learn something new. But at the time, she struggled to process the words, as if she was swimming to them through a myriad of other thoughts.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." Key pulled away, and then regretted it when she saw the look on Mat's face.
Matsias returned his own hand to his fork, but he continued to watch Key. "Maybe you should get an early night."
That's when Key saw Kaylee and Ketu walking out of the cafeteria with a tall boy from Westwood house. "You know what? I think... I might..." Key stood up and took her tray to the return. It wasn't until after she had walked out of the cafeteria that she realized Mat had spoken in Zhohu. But she didn't have time to worry about Matsias. She glanced back, to make sure no one was following her, and then walked to Hawthorne House.
Mat lay on his bed and Key sprawled out on the floor. At twelve years old, she had hit a growth spurt which made it difficult to fit many places. It was Springday, the first day of the weekend, and they had no school. Still, Mat's father had told her to practice her reading. She picked up Mat's Faraday brochure, which had been shoved under his bed.
"It says here that there are six houses, but the founders wanted to create a sense of unity, so they leave the doors open until nine. Aren't they worried about people breaking in?"
Matsias tossed a wooden ball into the air. "There are wards on the ground. They can activate them to keep people who aren't affiliated, but they only use those for emergencies. Most of the time they opt for low tech security."
"Like what?" Key tried to grab the ball out of the air and missed.
Matsias caught the ball and grinned at her. "Eyes. Each house has a desk at the front with someone to watch the door."
"Oh." Key flipped through the brochure some more. "So, do you know what house you want to be in?" She asked in Shugbo.
"This one, I guess," Mat responded in Zhohu.
Key popped her head over the edge of the bed. "What are you talking about?"
Mat tossed the ball off the bed. "Key, I'm not going to Faraday."
"What happened to 'we're going to be the best wizards ever?'" She waved the brochure at him.
Mat sat up. "Mom and dad just took Lamel to the only playground in Illegate we can go to. If they won't let us to a playground, do you think they'll let me go to a transport station to go to Nefrale? And even if they did, do you think they would let me come back? The only way I'll ever get there is if our whole family leaves. And that's never going to happen."
As soon as Key stepped into the Hawthorne common, she felt out of place. It was nothing like Victoria House. Sure, the basic layout was the same. There was a door to each side, leading to the dorms, and there was a small room in the back where the staff head of house had their office, but that was where it ended. The furniture was a myriad of mixed and matched colors. Along one wall were several tall tables with bar chairs, many of them painted or collaged.
The wall behind had a mural of an ocean scene. There were several couches in the room as well, but many students sat on cushions on the floor. And though Victoria House had more students, the Hawthorne common was louder. On the walls, someone had posted pictures which looked like student artwork, and an array of lights and decorations hung from the ceiling. Key knew that each house had developed a personality over time. Apparently, Hawthorne was the house for artists.
Key could see she was not the only person from another house, but she was the only freshman. She was about to back out the door, when Kaylee saw her. "Key! We've been waiting for you!"
Ketu was nearby with the tall Westwood boy. "You're just in time," they said.
"For what?"
In answer to her question, two students came running out of the boy's dorm. At least, it was where the boy's dorm was located in Victoria House, but Key wasn't sure how Hawthorne divided their dorms if they had students like Ketu.
The two students carried several sheets with them, which they hung on hooks on the walls and the ceiling like curtains--a white backdrop blocking the staff head's office in the back. The other students moved the couches so they all faced the sheets.
"No one's studying, are they?" Someone asked.
"On the first Wintday night of the year?" Kaylee said, "Who would be silly enough to study?"
"Sophomores," the Westwood boy muttered. Kaylee frowned at him, but Ketu gave him a high five. Then he turned to Key and offered a hand. "I'm Charlie." Key shook his hand, noticing as she did, a bracelet he wore on each wrist, like the bracelets young wizards wore to help them keep their abilities in check. Only these didn't have a traditional binding pattern. They had symbols like the one on Mat's thermos--for temperature magic.
Kaylee pulled her toward the couches. "What is going on?" Key asked, looking around. The Hawthorne students moved as if propelled by the same force.
"Annual Hawthorne House pageant," Charlie explained as Ketu jumped in front of the sheets.
Key took a seat on the couch that Kaylee had brought her to. She felt as if she was not quite in her body, watching everything happening from the outside.
"You know, like a play." A girl joined Key and Kaylee on the couch. She resembled Tilli, though she was much shorter. She had bright red hair and the same tree-bark patterns on her skin.
"You're a sprite," Key said stunned. "I'm sorry." For the second time that day, she had acted like Miriam in a conversation, and for the second time, the other person barely seemed to notice.
The girl's eyes crinkled at the corners. "We're elusive, but there's a few of us here. I'm Robin."
"Key."
"Named after the Shax'ia goddess of deceit?" Robin asked as they shook hands.
Key goggled even more at the sprite girl. "Most people don't know that."
"We had a guest teacher from Atlinthaia last year who taught Thisizha."
Someone shut off the main lights, and Key turned to the front, where Ketu stood. With a wave of their hand, Ketu created a much brighter orb of light which illuminated only the curtain. They stepped in front of the sheets, where they were spotlighted, and spread their arms wide. "Gentlefolk of all varieties, welcome to Hawthorne House's first week of school pageant."
The students all clapped and cheered. Charlie whistled loudly in her ear as the pageant began. It was very silly, reminiscent of the games that young children play. The students were done up in home-made costumes crafted out of boxes and paper and paint. The stories were all modern retellings of myths. Some of them Key recognized at once. Others were less familiar, though Key figured that should be expected at an international school. Of course, Key also got the impression that much of the show was improvised.
At times, someone from the audience would yell at everyone to freeze and then trade places with someone in the performance. It amazed Key how everyone seemed to know their place. She was the only one who seemed not to know exactly what to do, though none of the students from Hawthorne House appeared bothered by this fact. Even Charlie jumped up briefly to create a miniature fireworks show during the performance. The whole thing reminded her of the first time Mat joined in a song circle.
The truck came to a stop at midday. Matsias, who had been sitting on his bed, reading a book, pulled aside the curtain. "Is this it?" he asked in Zhohu, "there's nothing out there."
Key had been sanding a piece of quartz. She followed Mat's gaze and leaped up immediately. "Nothing? The Shax'ia shrine is right there!" She pointed across a large circle of packed earth to a table with several figurines on it. "And that's where the priest lives." She pointed to two small houses standing nearby. "Come on!" She bounded from the room.
When Key reached the front door, she remembered Matsias hadn't been wearing his leg and waited for him to come down the hall. He arrived after a minute, and the confused expression had not left his face. Key beckoned to him as she opened the door.
Matsias followed Key down the trailer steps into the sunshine, and she saw her parents talking to the Shax'ia priest. She explained to Mat that he was easy to identify due to his red skirt. "He maintains the shrine and the song circle," she explained. "We always stop at a shrine. If anybody else is nearby, they will too."
Mat had witnessed a couple of song circles when they had met Thisaazhou on the outskirts of larger cities, but this was his first time at a Shax'ia shrine. It was a place for Thisaazhou travelers to rest, to honor their gods, and to share their stories with each other. Key's family helped the priest haul firewood from the smaller building into the center of the circle while they waited for other travelers to arrive. When they did arrive, they paid their respects at the shrine and brought tokens of food to the priest. As the sun set, the families shared a meal together. But it was after dinner that the real gathering began.
They quickly clearned away the dishes to their own trailers and then formed a circle around the fire. But they didn't sit down again. They waited. And then someone began to stomp out a rhythm. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp-Stomp. Clap. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp-Stomp. Clap. The others in the circle joined in, and once everyone knew the rhythm, the words came easy. The group sang and danced, shuffling around the circle. And when it ended, another began. And then another.
Mat watched all of this from the steps of the Truuit's trailer, as he always did, as if he didn't belong. Key knew Matsias hadn't been born Thisaashou, but that didn't make him any less part of the family. She ran up to him between songs and tugged on his sleeve. "Come on."
Mat shook his head. "I can't dance." He looked at his leg.
Key heard the familiar rhythm of her own family's song starting behind her. "I won't take no for an answer."
"Key," Matsias protested as she dragged him toward the circle, "I don't know the steps. And it's hard enough to walk with a fake leg."
"Matsias, is there anything in the Epaluno texts that would prevent you from dancing with us?" She didn't wait for him to reply because she already knew the answer. She pushed him into place among the other men.
Matsias grabbed her arm. "You can't just leave me here." Mat's eyes were wide, and his breathing heavy. Even before his parents had died, he had struggled to jump into new situations if there were a lot of people involved. And since the fire, he had clung to Key like a life raft, as if she were the last shred of normalcy in his life.
"I'm not." Key said and stepped into the circle next to him. She joined in the motions and instructed Matias when to clap and how to move his feet. When the chanting began, Key sang the men's part with Matsias. As the song went on, she couldn't help but sing louder and louder, her voice rising up with the smoke from the bonfire. Somehow, she felt she was exactly where she was meant to be.
Then the song ended. Key turned to Matsias. It was perhaps the first time she had seen him smile since her mother had found him outside the Pelan temple. She hugged him. "Now you're official."
Now Key felt like Matsias at that song circle. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she had been invited, and she got the feeling that she was supposed to take part and play some role in the pageant, but Kaylee and Ketu weren't kind enough to direct her.
Then the players began a myth Key knew well. The story was of a wicked queen who had hired an assassin to kill the sister that threatened to steal her throne. But thinking the sister might make a better ruler, the assassin instead went to a fortune teller to tell him what the fate of the nation would be if he carried out the horrendous deed.
Robin stepped forward to be the fortune teller, but Key jumped in front of her. "Pay no attention to that person. I can tell your fortune for half the price!" She then proceeded to give the hunter cryptic clues while rifling through his pockets. After a moment of trying to get attention, Robin fake punched Key and tossed her back into the audience, where Kaylee high-fived her. She had done it. She was official.
