“Are you in charge of watching the kids, too, Alice?” I asked.
“Ah, Misha,” she replied. “I suppose you are as well.” She looked visibly relieved as she explained that the classmates she was close with had been assigned to different teams. “How should I play with the kids? Do you know?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” I replied. “You just need to ask them what they want to do, and they’ll tell you, I’m sure.”
“Is it that simple?”
“That’s right. You don’t have to think too deeply about it.”
Alice and my other classmates looked nervous as we stepped onto the orphanage’s premises. We met up with the nuns and were guided toward the kids; the children gasped with awe when they saw us.
“These big brothers and sisters attend magic school,” a nun explained. “They’re future wizards and witches, you know. They’ll play with you today, so be sure to get along with them.”
There were about thirty kids in the orphanage, all between the ages of five and seven. Older kids attended school and weren’t around during this time of day. Once the nun finished her explanation, the children rushed toward us; Alice and I were surrounded by five or so girls in an instant.
“Look, a princess!” a girl chirruped.
“A princess!” another shouted.
They all pointed at Alice and called her a princess, their eyes twinkling with excitement.
“Um, no, I’m not—” Alice started, but I hastily placed a hand over her mouth.
“I don’t think you should ruin the dreams of these kids,” I whispered into her ear.
She nodded back, and I let go of her.
“G-Good day, little ones,” she said. “My name is Alice.” She placed a hand over her chest, pinched the hems of her skirt, and did a little curtsy, much to the delight of the children.
“I knew it! She’s a princess!” one said with delight.
Alice only stood there looking troubled, so I crouched down to match their eye level.
“What should we play today?” I asked brightly.
“Pretend princess!” a child in front of me shouted energetically.
Yeah, I thought so. I glanced at Alice, who shook her head with a straight face as though she had no idea what to do.
“Misha, how does one play this game?” she asked.
“Hmm, well…”
The kids gazed up at Alice with excited twinkling eyes. I feel like they’d like it if we just greeted each other like nobles…
“Oh, I know!” I said. “Alice, do you know how to act in front of an audience at the debutante ball?”
“Well, of course,” Alice replied. “I made my debut last year.”
“Wow! You made your debut before me! I’m actually going to that ball this year, but I don’t quite have all the basics and etiquette down. Would you mind teaching me?”
I joined the kids and looked at her expectantly. Alice finally gave a sigh of resignation.
“Very well,” she relented.
“Big Sister Alice will teach us a ritual on how to become a princess!” I told the kids. “Isn’t that fun?”
The children jumped up and down eagerly.
“What do we do first?” I prompted.
“Ladies must have a splendid coiffure,” she replied. “First, we tie our hair up.”
She explained that women who haven’t made their debut yet would leave their hair down, but those making their debut would have their hair styled in a lovely way during public occasions.
Alice produced some velvet ribbons and hairpins from her pocket and carefully combed each child’s hair before tying their locks up neatly. I clumsily tied my own hair into a braid behind my head.
“I’m surprised you carried all this with you,” I said.
“I planned on giving them to the kids as a present when we became close,” Alice answered.
“That’s so nice of you!”
The ribbons were of excellent quality. The kids would surely treasure them.
“We should probably send everyone a ribbon so that they won’t fight amongst themselves later,” I suggested.
“Ah, indeed,” Alice replied. “Goodness me, I failed to notice that.”
That wasn’t her fault. She likely never had to fight for food or items among her siblings, and she had no reason to envy them for their material possessions.
“First, we greet His Majesty the King,” Alice instructed.
She bent her knees low and bowed. Her movements were fluid and elegant, but she went so low that I almost thought she was sitting down. When I observed her intently, she was frozen beautifully in place inches above the ground. She reminded me of a swan gliding across the lake’s surface; though swans seemed to be elegantly swimming across, underneath the water’s surface, they were actually furiously paddling with their legs.
The fact that Alice could do this so easily and elegantly was the result of practice. I clapped with awe, and even the children voiced how impressed and amazed they were as they joined me in applause.
“These are the very basics for a noble,” Alice said. “Any noble can do it as easily as they breathe.”
“I-I had no idea,” I muttered.
“Now then, shall we all give it a try?”
So began a hellish training lesson. Alice taught us how to bow, handle our skirts, act with elegance, and even dance. This pretend play felt far more realistic than I thought, and it became lunch hour in no time.
Those in charge of cooking handed out tea and sandwiches to everyone. Alice and I sat with the kids under a tree to enjoy lunch. The bread was tough, the ham was paper-thin, and the tea was so weak that I wondered whether they reused tea leaves several times. The poor food and drink weren’t because the cooks messed up or anything; this was a normal lunch for those at the orphanage. Alice was surprised the moment she took a bite.
“I suppose this is normal for the kids here,” she said.
“So it seems,” I replied.
When I told her I had similar meals back home during the winter months, she gazed at me sympathetically.
We played pretend princess into the afternoon. As the minutes ticked by, more girls gathered around, and we were all dead serious as we tried to act like princesses. I gave up midway and planted my bottom on the ground in defeat, but the kids’ passion and admiration for princesses was on a whole other level. And Alice’s ardent teaching matched their energy.
The day was over in a flash, and it was soon time for us to leave. Alice, who at first didn’t know how to interact with children, was now close friends with them, smiling happily. We returned to Vizer under the watchful eye of the children who saw us off. I was happy to have this experience. In fact, Alice and I agreed to visit the orphanage again on our days off.
✦ ✦ ✦
MY busy days and daily life at school went by. The foliage in the Garden Plant turned red and brown, the colors of autumn, and the cold wind also notified me that the colder months were near. Students had changed into their winter mantles and breathed puffs of white while murmuring that winter was around the corner.
I was used to the cold. Even during fall, I didn’t wear a mantle, but a professor I walked past in the corridor sharply told me to wear one lest I catch a cold. Since students wore mantles year-round, I thought I could get by wearing a lighter one in the warmer months, but I couldn’t deceive the eyes of professors who had worked here for decades.
Kinder professors offered to lend me money to buy a mantle for the winter and invited me to visit them in the employee lounge, but I told them I wasn’t cold since I was used to it back at home. They all looked at me with disbelief that I could tolerate this cold.
I think it was around this time last year, when I was at the entrance exams, that people were concerned I wasn’t wearing a mantle… In any case, my days at school were fun, stimulating, and very fulfilling. I couldn’t have enjoyed my time at Vizer more.