Shye Goes to School (chapter 1)
Shye held on to Mummy's hand as they walked up to the huge place. It didn't look like a house - it was too big for a house. It didn't look like a shop - he couldn't see any fruit or clothes or books out the front. It didn't look like the doctor's - he couldn't smell that funny clean smell the doctor's had - and it wasn't playgroup.
Mummy had told him what it was, but he hadn't understood.
She stopped walking as they got to the door and knelt down on one knee in front of him, the way she did when she had to tell him something important. Her white face smiled the nice way it did when she woke him up in the morning or whenever he did anything like cut his knee or ask for a drink.
"Now, remember what I told you Shye," she said in her comforting Mummy's voice as she straightened the front of his cardigan. "This is school and there are going to be lots of other little ones here - just like you. So you remember to be nice to them. Let's go inside and I'll introduce you to your teacher."
Shye trotted along as she led him inside, and he listened for clues about what to think of school. They walked by two brown, scaly tecton nymphs who looked like each other, and both watched him with blank faces as he and Mummy walked past. He looked up and saw big, wooden squares on the walls like pictures. But there were other pictures - real pictures - stuck to them. Pictures of rainbows and destriers and caudal families done in crayons and paint.
They were in a hallway that was quite dark and echoey, with green walls and a black and white floor. Further down he saw a grown-up luman molly holding things that looked like books, but the paper was loose. She looked at them and smiled, and her face was nice when she smiled too.
"Hello Mrs. Race, it's good to see you again. Oh, is this your little tod? Hello Shye!"
Mummy looked down and smiled at Shye. "This is Miss. Light. She's going to be your teacher."
Shye wondered what a teacher was. But he knew what he had to do next. "Hello Miss. Light," he said and smiled.
Miss. Light smiled back. "Would you like to come with me?" she asked and turned towards the doorway beside her. Her tail rested on the floor and he could see the patches on her black skin where she could light up. "I'll show you your new classroom."
Shye didn't understand that either, but he didn't like the come with me bit. He looked at Mummy to see what she had to say.
"It's all right - you can go with her. I'll pick you up later, darling. Give me a kiss?" She leaned down so that he could, and he stretched up on tip-toes to kiss her cheek. She gave him one back. "I'll see you later, Shye!"
And she walked away.
Shye wanted to follow her but then he felt Miss. Light's hand on his shoulder. He jumped, and looked up. She had a different face to Mummy's. It was fur-less and dark, and although she looked nice when she smiled, he was still unsure because she was a stranger.
"Come on, I'll show you where your classmates are," she said and pushed him gently into the room.
The room was square and slightly echoey, with lots of wood tables, each with two chairs, and a big, square, grey board on one wall with writing on it. It said, "-- (Shye didn't understand the word, but it started with a W) to South Maze City --" (another word he hadn't seen before.)
Shye tried to read the last word. S, he thought. That meant the sss sound. C... Kuh? Cee? H... Ch? Sch... But then Miss. Light pushed him a bit further and he looked away from the confusing word.
He could smell crayons and dust, and Miss. Light, who smelled like flowers.
Then Shye saw the other youngsters. They sat in the corner where there was a big red circle of carpet on the floor. There was a holder on the wall with lots of books in and a table with crayons and other things on. Shye remembered what Mummy had told him: be nice. He felt nervous, but Mummy knew best so he held his breath (because that helped when he felt nervous) and walked over to them.
One of them was a palline king with yellow eyes like jewels. He was looking around the room, fidgeting with his tail in his hands. He saw Shye, then went still and stared.
"Hello," Shye said. "Can we be friends?"
"Okay," said the palline. (Shye felt better about school already). "What's your name?"
"Shye. What's yours?"
"Truth."
Truth didn't look as nervous any more so Shye sat down cross-legged beside him and waited to see what happened next. Miss. Light had gone out of the room again. He could hear her voice echoing in the hallway. Then she came back in with the two tecton nymphs. She walked up to Shye and Truth. "Here you are," she said to the nymphs. "Why don't you get to know each other and make friends?" Then she smiled and walked over to a table. She sat down and opened the book with the loose papers and started writing in it.
The two nymphs looked at Shye and Truth but they didn't say anything. They looked at each other and sat down.
"Hello," Truth said. "What are your names?"
The two nymphs blinked. "Sonn," said the andro one.
"Mennah," said the gyne one.
They didn't say anything else. Shye looked at Truth because he didn't know what to say or do next. Truth looked like he didn't know either, and took hold of his tail. He twisted the fur at the end in his hand, let it go so it untwisted, and then twisted it up again.
Shye looked around the room, and then saw the books on the wall again. He liked books, so he stood up and went over. He read the titles. One was called Fisher Loses his Hat, and another one Writing is Fun. And there was another with a picture of all the nine species hugging each other. It was called We Are All Just the Same. He took it down and opened it.
"This is Petal, and she is a palline," said the page. Under the words was a picture of a palline fae in a pink dress, skipping across a field of flowers. Under the picture it said, "All pallines are white so Petal is too. Her eyes are blue but they could have been green or yellow. Her fur is thick and very soft. Petal likes to be pretty but her friends love her even when her tail gets dusty or she's forgotten to tie a bow behind her ear. Petal is a palline gyne, which makes her a fae. An palline andro like her brother or her daddy is called a king."
Shye turned the page. "This is Onk, and he is a tecton." Onk wore glasses and looked very clever. "Onk has brown scales all over his body and a very long tail. When he goes to sleep he curls up tight in a ball. Onk likes everybody to follow the rules and be polite, and sometimes his friends think he needs to relax. But they love him anyway - and he loves them too. Onk is a tecton andro which makes him a boar-"
"NO!" someone shouted and Shye looked up from the book. Mennah walked angrily over to him and snatched We Are All Just the Same away. She put it back on the wall and turned to him, her hands bunched into fists. "You're not supposed to do that!"
Shye didn't understand what he'd done wrong and was just about to answer when Miss. Light came over.
"Now, what happened here?" she asked. Her voice was kind, and Shye wondered what that meant when Mennah was so upset.
Mennah pointed at Shye and said, "He took the book out of the rack!"
Miss. Light smiled nicely and tilted her head. "Is there something wrong with that, Mennah?"
"That's its place!"
"Well, yes it is," Miss. Light said and folded her hands together. "But books are for reading."
"But that's its place!" Mennah argued.
Miss. Light looked kind again. "I don't mind Shye reading it if he puts it back afterwards. You were going to do that, weren't you Shye?"
Shye hadn't thought about it, but he nodded. "Yes, Miss. Light."
"There," Miss. Light said to Mennah. "You see? Do you think Shye'd like the book back, Mennah?"
Mennah looked worried, and her eyes went to the wall and then back to Miss. Light.
Shye wanted the book back and looked hopefully at Mennah. "Yes please," he said, remembering that tectons liked everybody to be polite.
Mennah looked a little bit angry and a little bit embarrassed. She gave him the book back.
"Thank you," Shye said, and sat down again.
Copyright © Hayley Deakin.