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"Mytho's going to school with me next year." Fakir said during dinner.
They were talking about him, but they hadn't actually said anything to him, so Mytho kept eating. You weren't supposed to talk during conversations you weren't part of, that was a rule.
Charon was talking now "...School? Are you sure?"
School was a building where you learned things, like how to read and write. Fakir went to school, but Mytho didn't.
Mytho already knew how to read and write. He wasn't sure how he had learned, he couldn't remember.
When he was smaller, Fakir would say that he already knew how to read and write too, so he shouldn't have to go either.
It wasn't fair, he said. Knights didn't need school.
Charon said he had to go anyway, and then Fakir would come back and ask Mytho questions like "Is this right?" "How do you spell this?" and "What does this say?"
He said Mytho always knew the correct answers, though neither of them knew how.
Fakir hadn't done that in a while, though.
"I don't like leaving him alone all day." Fakir said now, "God knows what he gets up to when you're busy with the shop."
When Charon was busy, Mytho would sit, or read, or walk around.
...Or walk around, then sit, then read.
Sometimes he saw Rue.
Rue didn't go to school either. Mytho had once asked her why that was.
"Father says I'm-" She started, but didn't finish. "...That is, I don't need it. It's beneath me."
Her lips turned up "Besides, that just means I get to spend more time with you, my Prince. You like that, don't you?"
"I don't know." Mytho had said.
Rue closed her eyes and laid back down on the grass beside him.
"That's fine." She turned to him "You love me, right?"
"Yes." Mytho said, because Rue had told him that was the correct answer.
Rue had made him a crown out of flowers that day. She hadn't done that for a long time.
"Who put that on you?" Said Fakir.
"Rue." Mytho said. No one else put flowers on Mytho's head, except for Raetsel, and she wasn't here.
Fakir made a noise that didn't sound like a word, then: "Her again?"
Mytho nodded.
"And is she still making you say stupid things and filling your head with nonsense?"
"...I don't know."
Mytho wasn't sure what things counted as 'stupid' or 'nonsense'.
"-We look about the same age now, I can attend classes with him."
...Did Fakir look the same age as Mytho? Mytho didn't know how old he was.
He had been taller than Fakir and Rue at first, but now he was only taller than Rue, and only by a little.
Their voices and faces had changed as well.
Charon and Raetsel looked different too, though not as much.
(He wasn't supposed to say that the skin under Charon's eyes had more folds, or that Raetsel's chest had gotten bigger, that was another rule.)
But Mytho hadn't gotten bigger at all. He looked the same as before, except for his clothes. He wasn't sure why that was.
When Raetsel visited, she would say things like "My goodness Fakir, how you've grown!", "And Mytho dear, you haven't changed a bit!"
"Why not?" He'd asked.
Raetsel looked at him with different expression then, but only for a moment.
"Well," She said "I suppose some people just never change, you know?"
Both Raetsel and Charon had laughed at that. At least, Mytho thought it was laughing.
"...What school did you have in mind?" Said Charon.
"The Academy, of course. It has a ballet programme. He likes to dance, should keep him occupied."
Did Mytho like to dance? He didn't think he liked much of anything.
He knew how to dance, even though he'd been told you had to be taught, and no one had ever taught him... at least, he didn't think so.
Ballet, that was what they called the dancing he knew how to do.
Rue did it too, had someone taught her? She never said.
Fakir said Mytho knew ballet because he came from a story... But that story had been a book, not a ballet, hadn't it?
He had read something in a book, once:
"...Perhaps then it was this namesake that acted as both inspiration and catalyst for the man. Indeed, Herr Drosselmeyer's appreciation for and fascination with the arts is self-evident in his work, peppered with familiar motifs and references to classics such as-"
"-Mytho? Are you listening?"
They were talking to him now. He hadn't noticed.
Mytho was bad at listening, Fakir said.
He turned to Charon, who had spoken.
"...Would you like to go dance ballet with Fakir?"
"Don't phrase it like that." Fakir said, rolling his eyes and turning away. Then, quieter: "...He doesn't 'like' anything."
Charon's lips turned up, "You just said he likes to dance."
Fakir made a noise, it reminded Mytho of the sound he had heard a cat make once, the fur on its back and tail all standing on end.
Dancing was... something Mytho could always do.
Rue could start with any pose, and he knew exactly what to do next.
He didn't make mistakes, and he could do it whenever he wanted.
It didn't confuse him, and Mytho could do it without thinking, like when he helped small and injured things (only he'd never gotten bruised or cut while doing it, so Fakir didn't shout at him).
...Maybe he did like ballet.
"Okay." He said. Both Charon and Fakir's eyes widened slightly at that.
Later, after the meal was over, but before it was time to sleep, Mytho heard Charon and Fakir talking in the kitchen.
He wasn't supposed to listen to conversations happening in different rooms, that was eavesdropping.
...But Mytho didn't know how to not-hear things.
"Are you sure, Fakir? You don't have to enroll just for Mytho's sake. You have your own life, I don't want you to do something you aren't passionate about..."
"It's fine. Someone has to keep an eye on him."
That was probably true. Mytho didn't know much, he had to be told about a lot of things, and got a lot of things wrong.
"Even if you're not hungry, you still need to eat."
"Mytho, don't eat too much! You'll get sick."
"Don't talk to strangers, Mytho."
"Mytho, that man was speaking to you. You can't just ignore him. That's not polite."
"You have to look at people when they're talking, Mytho."
"Mytho, don't stare!"
...It was all very difficult to understand.
Fakir did most of the talking when they met people, and he and Charon told him how to behave.
When he'd been smaller, Fakir would hold his hand when they went into town, and would say "This is Mytho, he's my friend. He lives with us!" to people they met.
Mytho would say "Hello" and raise his hand, like Charon taught him.
You had to greet people when you met them. That was polite.
It wasn't polite to look away, or look without speaking, or ask questions like "...Were you always an ostrich?"
Fakir answered any questions people asked when they saw him.
"We found him on the ground, in the street!"
"He came from a book!"
"He doesn't have a heartbeat, I checked!"
The people would look at him, or look at Fakir, and then say "...I see." or "Is that so?".
Some smiled, some didn't. Less people asked, nowadays.
Now, if they met anyone new, Fakir would just say "This is Mytho. He's shy." Then Mytho didn't have to talk.
Mytho didn't mind not talking.
He didn't have very much to say, anyway.
The school they were going to was different from Fakir's old one.
There were special clothes they had to wear, and they weren't going to come back to Charon's house at the end of the day.
They had to sleep there, at the Academy.
"It won't be the same without you, you know? I'll miss the company." Charon said as they were leaving.
"We'll visit." Said Fakir "Won't be difficult, we're not exactly far."
He was right, it wasn't far. They didn't even have to walk for very long to get there. Mytho had walked for much longer before.
Once, he walked right around the entire town, following the walls. He'd gotten blisters.
They had a room with two beds to sleep in, like back at the house, but bigger.
Everyone else had rooms, but nobody else seemed to share like he and Fakir did.
"...Did you tell them to give us a room together?" Mytho asked.
"No. We just got lucky, I suppose." Fakir said.
His face turned red afterwards. "-That is, at least I can keep an eye on you this way."
After Fakir and Mytho put everything they had brought with them away, they went to another building and got changed into new clothes.
They sat down on the floor, and listened to the teacher talk.
There were a lot of other people around them, including-
"...Hello, Rue." Said Mytho, like he'd been taught.
He thought Rue didn't go to school, but she was here.
Rue looked over at him, her lips turned up.
"We can see each other every day now, my Prince." She said quietly.
Fakir called his name in a hiss, so Mytho turned away. They probably weren't supposed to be talking right now, anyway.
"-of course. She WOULD be here, wouldn't she? What did I expect?!"
They were back in their room.
Fakir was walking back and forth in front of Mytho, who was sitting on the bed Fakir had said was his now.
"I don't know." Said Mytho, because he didn't.
Fakir only looked over at him for a moment, then went back to walking.
That must have been one of those questions people didn't want you to answer.
Mytho was never sure how to tell.
"The hell is she planning? What does she WANT?" Said Fakir.
"...Maybe she wants to dance, too?" Mytho replied.
Fakir stopped and looked at him again. His eyebrows were low, his eyes narrow.
He was breathing faster than normal, the air making a high-pitched sound as it went through his teeth.
Mytho had done something wrong. He probably wasn't supposed to answer that question either.
Fakir fell backwards onto his own bed with a loud exhale and didn't move, arms spread out wide on either side of him.
"Sorry." Mytho said.
Mytho didn't mean to do wrong things.
"No, it's..." Fakir breathed out again.
It was very quiet for a few moments.
Fakir stood, took something from inside the drawer by his bed, and put it inside a bag.
Then he turned to Mytho.
"Come on, we're going out."
"Where?" Mytho asked.
"...The lake." Said Fakir.
The lake wasn't very far from the school, but it was a lot quieter.
Fakir went over to a tree, then sat down on the grass in front of it.
He looked at Mytho, then softly hit the ground next to him with his palm.
"Come on, don't wander off" He said "Stay where I can see you."
"...Why?" Said Mytho.
Fakir reached into the bag, and pulled out a book.
Mytho recognised the cover.
'The Prince and the Raven.'
Mytho sat down.
Fakir made a noise that wasn't quite like a laugh, and started to read.
They hadn't done this in a long time.
After a while, Fakir stopped reading out loud and handed the book to Mytho.
"You read this next bit, I'm tired."
He sat back against the tree and looked upwards, exhaling. It wasn't like the noise he made when Mytho did something wrong.
Mytho hadn't read aloud in a long time, but it wasn't difficult. Fakir had just gotten to the part in the story where Princess Tutu appears.
Mytho had read that part a lot, he already knew all the words.
After a while, Mytho looked up at Fakir.
His eyes were closed, and his breathing was quiet.
Fakir had said he was tired. Mytho didn't think he'd been sleeping very much recently.
Mytho went back and silently read the paragraph with Princess Tutu in it a few more times, then stood up.
Fakir had said "Stay where I can see you." but his eyes were closed now, so he couldn't see anything.
Mytho walked over to the edge of the lake and looked out over it.
The sky was turning pink, that usually meant it was time to go home.
...Was that still the rule, even if they weren't living at Charon's house?
"Quack?"
Mytho looked down.
There was a duck. It was very small, and yellow. It was probably still young.
Mytho crouched down so he could look closer. The duck looked back at him.
Be polite, Fakir had said. Don't stare.
Mytho raised his hand "...Hello."
"Quack!" said the duck, and swam away, wings flapping.
"Ducks don't talk, stupid." Said a voice behind him.
Mytho looked up."...They don't?"
Fakir rolled his eyes, "Obviously not."
Mytho thought for a moment. "...The ravens in town don't talk either."
(The Raven from the story did, but Fakir said things in stories didn't count.)
"Of course not, they're just birds." said Fakir.
It was quiet for a moment, before Mytho spoke again.
"The Oxpecker twins, at the school. They talk. They wear uniforms and go to lessons too."
Fakir raised one eyebrow, then brought them both down, which meant he was thinking.
Then his face went back to how it was before, as he turned around and started to walk back the way they came.
"...Oxpeckers aren't ravens or ducks." He said.
This was true.
The School was called Gold Crown Academy. It was very different from Charon and Fakir's house.
It wasn't actually one building, it was lots.
Some for sleeping, some for eating, some for reading, some for writing, some for dancing, and even more Mytho wasn't supposed to go into.
The grass and trees outside were part of the school, as well.
There were a lot of rooms with a lot of people. Many of these were 'classes'.
In some classes, you had to read or listen to things, and then write or talk about them.
There were right and wrong ways to do this, Fakir said.
Mytho wasn't supposed to say 'I don't know' when asked how he felt about something he'd just read or heard, and he couldn't write his name as 'Μῦθο' on the paper.
"...Isn't that how it's written?" He asked Fakir.
"That's how Charon writes it. Most people around here can't read that. Put M-Y-T-H-O."
Fakir told him to just copy what he did, or agree with what he said.
Mytho had to use a book that had no stories, the 'Thesaurus', to make sure he wasn't saying the same things every time.
"The teachers always mark our work the same anyway, you could probably hand over a blank sheet of paper and they wouldn't notice." Fakir said one day.
Mytho had done that once.
Fakir was right, the exact same marks. Mytho didn't tell Fakir though, the teacher had probably just forgotten.
People often forgot Mytho was there.
He didn't talk much, they said.
Like the ducks, Mytho thought.
The other classes were dancing.
People noticed Mytho a lot more in those.
He was often called up to demonstrate a pose, or a step, or a whole dance.
Fakir didn't stop him, or tell Mytho he'd done things wrong.
"You're good at it," He'd said, "and how much trouble can you get into dancing?"
Rue was called up a lot too.
Sometimes both of them were called, and they would dance together.
"Rue is good at dancing too, the teachers say."
"Hm." Said Fakir.
He often talked less after Mytho and Rue had danced.
"Is that why she also gets called up?"
"Mm."
"...The teachers say you're good as well, why haven't we ever danced together?"
Fakir looked away. "Most pas de deux are male-female. Because of the lifting."
"You could lift me." Mytho was very light, Charon said, and he'd seen Fakir lift heavy things before.
Fakir coughed "Talk about something else, idiot!"
"...Our teacher is a cat."
"Yes."
"I saved a cat, once. It didn't talk."
"This again? Not everyone talks, Mytho."
"Like Ms Goatette? Or Mr Guinn?"
"Exactly."
They had been at the school for... a while now. Mytho had forgotten to ask how long.
They went back to Charon's sometimes, for short visits or longer stays, because you didn't stay at the school the whole year.
People called him 'Senior', and said he and Rue were a 'couple'.
They looked at him, Fakir and Rue a lot, and talked very quietly with each other. Mytho didn't know what they were saying.
(When people whispered like that, it meant they didn't want you to hear them, and it was none of your business, so he didn't ask).
Rue said this was called 'admiration'.
Fakir called it 'gossip'.
Mytho was awake.
It was morning, because the sun was up, but he couldn't hear any voices or movement outside, just the birds that didn't talk.
Fakir was still asleep. It must be very early.
Mytho could try and go back to sleep, or read, or lay back and wait for everyone else to wake up.
Or he could go out.
Fakir told him not to go places without telling him, or he might get in trouble. But he also said Mytho couldn't really get into trouble dancing.
Mytho got out of bed, and picked up the bag with his dance clothes.
The big clock outside said it was five forty-five when he left.
The air felt wet, and mist made the buildings ahead blurry and hard to see, but Mytho knew where to go.
The door to the building they danced in was unlocked, even though nobody was in there...had someone forgotten to lock it?
Bells started to ring in the distance, it must be six in the morning now.
He walked inside.
Mytho got changed, and went to the stage.
There was a machine that played music on one side, they used it to dance, except when Mr Guinn played the piano.
There was a record already inside, Mytho turned it on.
He knew this song, so he walked back to the centre of the stage and began to dance.
"-I'm sorry for being late!"
Mytho wasn't alone anymore. Someone else had come in. He hadn't noticed.
The someone was standing nearby, they were looking at him.
Who was that?
He jumped, and landed on the floor in front on the stage.
Now Mytho could see them properly.
It was a girl.
Her voice, her eyes...they were familiar. Where had Mytho seen and heard them before?
Duck.
Her name was Duck.
She lived in the building across from theirs.
She was a student here.
She'd always been a student here.
...Hadn't she?