Circus ⚜ Ch. 2

Andrae's closest friends were the only ones he told the truth to. In this world of royalty and nobility, if anyone knew where he was from, what he was... He would lose out on opportunities, surely.

Walking into language class, he was anxious to learn a new and exciting language or two. He sat down, leaving an open seat next to him that was soon occupied by a very pretty girl.

Glancing at her with a brief smile, he quickly noticed that she looked strong. Unusual at the Royal Academy.

Curious, he whispered, "Where are you from, my lady?"

She seemed to hesitate. "Transylvania. And you, my lord?"

"Languedoc-Roussillon, France," he replied.

"Ah. And what languages are you here to learn, Monsieur?" she asked.

He half grinned. "Well, I already knew several - French, Spanish, Italian. I'm hoping to learn something more exotic. Like German."

She chuckled. "Oh yes, very exotic. What was your name?"

Yes, she'd asked for his name! "Andrae. And yours?"

"Kezia," she smiled.

"I see. Tell me, are you perhaps from farming country? Or maybe you're a dancer."

She chuckled embarrassedly, covering her arms. "Oh that. Yes I am a dancer. They actually made an exception for me to go to the Arts school for ballet lessons. Only five girls get to do it. We get to be part of the recitals and we're considered for all the performances too."

He smiled. "You must be talented then."

She shrugged. "Maybe. We'll see what they think after today, I guess."

The professor then came to the front of the class. "Alright settle down now. I am Professor Cheng. I'm sure you're anxious to find out what languages we'll be learning this year. I won't keep you in suspense. From now until December we'll be learning Czech. Next semester we'll do Italian."

Everyone whispered amongst themselves in response.

Andrae grinned. He'd ace Italian. And his best friend was Czech, so he could tutor him if needed.

"So, shall we get started? I've sectioned out each week with a list of thematic words. Starting off, we'll do the family word unit. So talk to your neighbor about your families while I pass out the list."

Andrae looked down. He couldn't tell her about his family... Glancing up, he saw she was looking away. He quickly tried to think of something that wasn't an outright lie. "So... My family..."

"Yes... How to describe them?"

"Um, well my family were sort of... Sort of adventurers," he finally said. "What about yours?"

"Uh well... My family is made of up a lot of immigrants, really."

Andrae nodded. "Great."

"Yes." Kezia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

He noticed she was wearing several rings as she did this. Though there wasn't a gemstone in sight. Again, he thought, rather odd.