Vera's POV
Vera was angry, she wanted to go play with the other kids in town but her father wouldn't let her. "It was so dangerous," he said. How come the other kids got to go play in the streets? She hadn't really cared much before but she hadn't known what it was like to play with other kids then. This past winter she'd played with the other kids in the northern kingdom and it was fun.
Why couldn't she make friends here? She lived here more. Her father told her it was because she hadn't learned how to blend in yet, that she needed to learn how to talk all weird like the people here did. Why did it matter how she talked? She could still kick a ball and play tag.
She'd just started school in order to better learn to read and write, but she wasn't allowed to talk there either, and other kids made fun of her for it. She wanted to tell them she could talk too, that she could even read and write some, but they used different letters here than they had in the north and the words were different.
She wanted to be allowed to play with the other kids so she promised to never speak outside her home. She was supposed to listen and learn the way they spoke so she could copy them later in the safety of their home. But it was boring when you couldn't talk to anyone else and everyone thought her dumb and scared. She sat quietly copying letters onto a piece of slate with chock her father gave her for school.
"What good penmanship, can you tell me what sound that one makes?" the teacher asked her.
She started to open her mouth then remembered and shut it shaking her head.
"She's dumb" one of the boys whispered to his friend. And she felt embarrassed and ashamed.
"It's ok just keep practicing your writing." The teacher said and moved on to the next kid.
At recess, the kids played and she wanted to as well, she could play without talking. She ran up to join some of the girls but they just sat watching the boys or drawing on the ground and hopping on it. Not understanding the fun of that she went up to some of the boys her age with a ball but they wouldn't share it and told her to go away. She saw some of the older boys fighting with sticks so she found her own and walked up to them.
"The little girl's got a stick." One said laughing. She didn't get how that was funny, they all had them too. But she walked up to them and lowered her moc sword at the closest boy.
"Girls can't fight with sticks, it ain't lady-like." She staired in question. "boys ant' supposed to hit a girl."
"The girl is dumb, she doesn't understand you." another kid said. She glared at him.
"Dumb means they can't talk, not that they can't hear." a girl countered.
"looks like she understands some" the first boy said. "You can't fight with us, you'll get hurt."
"And we'll all get in trouble" another added.
"you understand?"
She nodded once then turned away dejected. She found another stick and brought it to one of the older girls just sitting and watching the boys. Maybe they watched because no one would let them play either. "I don't want your stick." the girl said. She clapped them together to show they could use them to fight, but the girl just sighed. "Didn't you hear what he said? girls don't fight, it ain't lady-like." She said scornfully. So she watched, but they weren't very good. She thought she could do just as well.
They went inside and practiced numbers, she was good at this but couldn't say the answers and by the time she wrote them down someone beat her to it. The annoying kid kept making fun of her when the teacher wasn't paying attention and she couldn't say anything about it.
At lunch the next day, she tried again to fight with the boys. This time she approached the annoying kid who called her dumb. She wanted to hit him. She readied her stick and he laughed at her. So, she hit him with it. Then he got mad and instead of retaliating with his stick he grabbed her's and flung it away. Then he pushed her into the dirt and said some very mean things. some too fast and some too new for her to understand.
When someone said that's enough he stepped away and spat at her. "stay away from me, idiot." He said as he turned his back on her.
She had never had anyone be so mean to her before and not wanting the other kids to see her cry she ran off and no one tried to stop her. She made it about a block before she realized she wasn't sure of the way home and she had never been outside alone before.
Her father and Uncle Ham were working in the smith, and her uncle Frog just started a new job at the palace. He had stayed with her on her first day at school, hiding in the shadows to make sure everything went alright and he'd checked on her at lunch the next few days. She looked around for landmarks that could lead her home. But she'd rarely ever been in the city and had only traveled on horseback with an adult. From down on the ground everything looked different and she could not see as far until she looked beyond the city.
In the distance was the old castle she could see from her bedroom window. If she went that way she'd be able to see home. She had always liked that old castle and had asked about it. she was told that no one lived there and they just used it for practice attacks once in a while. She had watched one last year threw her window and had been fascinated. It seemed a waste to leave it empty most of the time though. She'd always wanted to explore it.
She was going to be in trouble for leaving school without an adult anyway so why not go explore before going home. They wouldn't even have to know as long as she made it home before school ended. With that thought in mind, she ran across town and threw a wheat field that had just sprouted. The tall wild grass came up to just below her waist it would have only gone up to her father's knee. She giggled as she ran, her hands making waves in them like water as she went, her earlier troubles temporarily forgotten.
When she got to the castle, she didn't see any doors and the windows were very small. How could someone forget to build a door? Maybe that was why no one lived there. She spotted something shiny up high in the wall and ran to get a closer look. It was two knives and above them was a bigger window.
She took off her boots and the dress she had to wear in front of others, even when it got hot. She had other clothes underneath them so it didn't make sense. Her small hands and toes fit perfectly in the cracks between stones and she climbed up to the window. It grew hard at the top, but the knives were placed perfectly to make the climbing in easier. Sitting on the broken window sill she looked around, it was just an empty hallway. That seemed odd for a castle but there were footprints in the dust that looked fresh so she followed them.
They led to a room and even though the door was open she paused at the door to listen. Not hearing anything she poked her head inside and looked around. There was a dusty desk, some chairs, some hanging clothes that looked fancier than most, and against the wall to the side was a cot with blankets and a boy not that much older than her. She turned to leave, apparently, someone did live here, then she saw an open chest filled with broken and dented armor.
She inched closer, curiosity getting the best of her. Looking inside she saw a long dagger with a fancy handle, the blade was chipped but she knew that could be fixed. Her dad made and fixed stuff like this all the time. she reached in and pulled it out of the pile causing the other metal pieces to shift. The clanging and scraping of metal sounded louder than normal, the way everything seemed to when all was quiet, and you make a noise you don't want others to hear. She froze and listened, hoping it didn't wake the boy, would he be mad?
"Who are you?" he demanded sounding more bewildered than angry.
She turned around holding the long dagger out in front of her with both hands. "I'm sorry, I was just… I saw this pretty thing…and got curious, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to wake you." She said before remembering she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers.
"How did you get up here?"
"I climbed… I didn't see a door… I thought this place was empty, that no one used it…I didn't mean to break into your home." Now she couldn't stop talking but she was scared she'd get in trouble.
"I don't live here and it usually is empty."
"Oh…did you run from school too?"
"Ahhhh…yes?"
"I was afraid, my dad would be mad so I didn't want to go home right away, and I'd always wanted to explore this castle…" she wasn't sure why she kept talking she just knew talking to someone else felt nice and maybe they could be friends and she'd finally have a friend at school.
"It's not a castle, it's a wall." He said.
"No, that's a wall, and that's a wall. And this is a room," she informed him. "Since it's made of stone and big, it is a castle." He must have skipped too much school, she'd never seen him there.
"I know what walls and castles are. This was designed to keep our enemies at bay, so even though it has rooms it's still a wall, soldiers and knights use the rooms for planning and resting while the towers and windows are being mand by others, that's why there is no door on the outside."
"So everyone has to go threw the window all the time?"
"No. It's supposed to be impenetrable from that side... but there are some doors that can be accessed from the other side. 300 years ago an earthquake destroyed the east wall and since the population, the king swore to protect had grown so numerous that the current walls would not have been able to protect everyone during a siege. New walls were built further away. The south wall was the smallest of the walls because the steep rock formations on either side acted as a natural barrier. Unless you're on the palace grounds there it's almost impossible to get in.
"But we got in. And were just kids."
The boy gave a half-smile, "Yeah, we did; didn't we. I'd thought my climb quite an accomplishment but if a little girl can do it in a dress, then maybe it wasn't as difficult after all."
"The bottom was easy the second half was very hard. And this isn't a dress." She kicked out one of her legs to show the cloth wasn't attached. "They are girl paint that we have to wear under our dresses."
He looked mortified and looked away, "boys aren't supposed to see those. They are underwear."
"No those go under this. I don't understand why we have to wear so much even when it's hot. Besides, why should I have to wear all that stuff when boys don't have to. Some don't wear shirts and you don't wear pants."
He glanced down at his legs as if horrified to see them there. And pulled the blanket over them. "I have paints, they are drying." His ears were turning red and he kept his gaze where his feet would be under the blanket. "Go away so I can change."
"Ok, I'm going to explore the rest of the castle." She said and skipped out the door. He was very different from the kids she had met in the northern lands and the ones at her school, but weird as he might be she still hoped they could be friends.