A Peaceful Place to Study [Astrit]

[Charlotte Delprat]

From the word go Charlie had insisted that she could walk to the library by herself. Her argument was that Wes was practically housebound anyway and Kyle was busy doing whatever the hell it was that he did when he wasn’t keeping an eye on the two them, and to most people that would be seen as sensible. However the real reason why she didn’t want either of them around was because she didn’t want them to know that she was doing a school project, with a boy.

And it wasn’t as if she had asked to work with him, after he had announced the project the teacher had drawn up the pairs himself because “it would help interclass relations”. But even if she explained this to the two brothers Charlie just knew that Kyle would find some excuse to walk around menacingly with a boa constrictor in one hand and a cricket bat in the other. And Wes? Wes would probably sit right between the two of them and glare. This potential embarrassment combined with the very real risk of the parrot/dog/armadillo eating their project before they’d even finished it made Charlie determined to not let Astrit come anywhere near her house.

Funnily enough Astrit did not seem eager for her to see his house either (did he have embarrassing older siblings as well?) Charlie could hardly judge him for being uncomfortable with that, instead they had agreed to meet at the public library. So here she was, slightly early to be sure, but that was because she’d accounted for possibly getting lost when planning her journey here.

As she looked at the tall grey building it occurred to Charlie that her idea had been even better than she’d originally thought. There were books and online resources here in abundance for them to use, the place was generally quiet in that sacred way that all libraries had and, best of all, there were no hungry animals or annoying older brothers in sight. While she waited patiently for her classmate’s arrival Charlie took out a notebook and began to draw some flowers, red poppies to be exact.

Astrit Zupan

[Astrit Zupan]

Astrit thought that there were definitely both upsides and downsides to being assigned partners for a project by the teacher, but as no one had asked his opinion, he kept it to himself. Had he said this to anyone in the class, they might have asked what some of those upsides and downsides were, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to answer.

To himself, of course, he could admit everything. As far as upsides went, there was the relief of knowing that his status as the class loner wouldn't hinder him from finding someone to work with. It was also nice that the teacher hadn't assigned him to work with Logan Ryder, who was his least-favorite classmate, though he knew better than to count on being so lucky if this happened again. For an extra stroke of luck, he had been paired up with the new girl, Charlie Delprat, who might not have yet had time to realize how different he was from everyone else (aside from his tiny stature). It definitely could have been worse. But as for downsides... well, the biggest downside was that the two of them had ever so much difficulty figuring out where to go in order to do their work. It was obvious to Astrit that his home would not be remotely suitable for a classmate to so much as see, and for some reason Charlie had been equally unwilling to host their little project group.

They had settled on a certain library on Exhibition Road as a good compromise. It was quite some distance away from Astrit's home, but all things considered, that was probably more of a good thing than otherwise. After convincing his cat (with some difficulty) not to come with him in his backpack, the boy had come by bicycle to the library to meet his classmate.

Approaching the gray edifice, he noticed a figure small by comparison sitting outside, writing something in a notebook. That looked an awful lot like Charlie, and it wasn't long before he could confirm that impression. Astrit hopped off his bike, then, and walked beside it until he was right outside the building. “Hey, Charlie!” he called as a friendly greeting, tying his bike to the nearest bike rack. Having done so, he went to see what she was doing.

{390 words for Charlotte Delprat}

[Charlotte Delprat]

Charlie heard her name being called and looked up to see Astrit dismounting his bike (he rode a bike? In London? That was brave) so she waved at him in greeting “Hello Astrit, come at look at my drawing!” She showed him the only partially completed sketch “It’s meant to be Flanders fields, like the poem they showed us, I thought we could use them on the poster.” Charlie had a lot of ideas for the design of their poster and hoped that Astrit wouldn’t mind using them. She really didn’t know if he was into art and design at all.

Her first impression of Astrit was that he was one of those “tough guys” that liked to put their feet up on the back of other kids’ chairs and flick rubber bands at the back of teachers’ heads. Except Astrit didn’t do any of that, and stayed well away from the kids that did. He kept his head down in class and only answered questions when directly asked. Charlie had no idea where he went for lunch break except that it wasn’t the cafeteria, where most of the students liked to congregate and it wasn’t in the courtyard, where many more liked to go when it wasn’t raining.

Still, he was here now and they were going to work on their history project together. Hopefully they would get through it all alright. “I don’t know much about WWI. I mean, I know what the ANZAC’s did, but all this British involvement stuff we’re meant to be researching is completely new to me, and some of it's contradictory.”

It really was quite a change, going from the Australian to the English perspective on the war, going from English colonisation to Roman invasions. It made Charlie wonder whether all countries were as self-involved when it came to history classes. Some might argue that the English history was more important, what with the impact they had and all. But Australian history was important to Australians, presumably like how Thailand’s history was important to Thai’s and Mexican history was important to Mexicans. Maybe it just didn’t matter as long at whatever was taught was true.

This made Charlie think for a few moments. “Did WWI really start in 1914 like our textbook says, or are there others that would disagree?” It was a pretty funny question and she didn’t expect Astrit to answer it. But even so she might try looking into it at some point.

[Astrit Zupan]

Charlie's greeting involved inviting Astrit to come and look at her drawing, so accordingly he walked closer and took a look. Red poppies had begun to sprawl across the page. “It's meant to be Flanders fields, like the poem they showed us,” the girl explained. Astrit nodded; he could see that, now that she mentioned it. “I thought we could use them on the poster,” Charlie continued.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Astrit said, since he felt like he ought to say something. It would be appropriate, certainly, and they would have to put some kind of effort into making their project presentable, so he was glad Charlie was already thinking about that. He hadn't been thinking about any aspect of what they were going to do yet, which suddenly made him feel behind and unprepared. His focus up to this point had been just on getting to the rendezvous to start with.

“I don’t know much about WWI,” Charlie admitted suddenly, much to Astrit's surprise. “I mean, I know what the ANZAC’s did, but all this British involvement stuff we’re meant to be researching is completely new to me, and some of it's contradictory.”

Astrit looked at her curiously. That was right: not only was she the new girl, but she had come here from a different country entirely. Australia, wasn't it? The boy, having lived in London since he was a baby, didn't know what it was like to move so far, but he had a glimpse of an idea of what such a thing would entail in that comment.

There was something else very interesting in what she had said, too. “Contradictory?” he wondered aloud. “To what?” That was something he'd like to hear. He had only ever studied in British schools, and hadn't noticed any internal contradictions in the things they were taught, but thanks to his family he had heard other stories, interesting ones that showed things in a different enough light that his family's stories and the ones he learned in school couldn't both be completely true at the same time. If Charlie knew stories like that, too... well, that would be something worth hearing, he thought.

There were a few seconds of silence. Astrit was about to propose that they go inside and start looking things up when Charlie asked a question, one that took him aback: “Did WWI really start in 1914 like our textbook says, or are there others that would disagree?”

“It started long before that,” he replied firmly, almost automatically. This wasn't something they would teach in school, for certain, but he felt completely secure that it was true. “Every side thought it was inevitable and that they were guaranteed to win. They couldn't all be right, of course, but they all assumed their enemies were deluded. Most all of Europe wanted a war, and all they needed was an excuse.” Astrit glanced from Charlie's paper to her face and then looked away. “That was one of my sister's favorite stories to tell, when we were growing up. You never heard it before?”

[Charlotte Delprat]

Charlie beamed a little when Astrit agreed with her idea for the poster. They were agreeing on things! So far so good. If they could cooperate on the design maybe they could do the same for the rest of the project. Charlie knew that she was kind of bossy, but that was only because she wanted to get things done, and to get them done well. No compromises, no sub-standards. This frequently lead to her taking charge of group projects which some classmates were fine with and others were not. She hoped Astrit was the former sort.

He looked interested when she mentioned her past history lessons “Contradictory? To what?” he asked her. This made Charlie pause for a moment while she tried to find the right words. “Well, we were told that the army tank was an English invention right. But in my old class we were told that the tank was only developed in Britain, it was invented by an Australian.” She explained. There were other things too, the tone of the lessons were different, though she couldn’t really explain how. It wasn’t something that she wanted to point out by standing up in class, it was not so different that it was wrong. But all the same, the difference was there.

To her surprise Astrit seemed to ‘get’ her question and he replied almost immediately. “It started long before that. Every side thought it was inevitable and that they were guaranteed to win. They couldn't all be right, of course, but they all assumed their enemies were deluded. Most all of Europe wanted a war, and all they needed was an excuse.” Astrit looked at her and Charlie realised that it was the first time since their meeting that he’d made contact, and his eyes were brown “That was one of my sister's favourite stories to tell, when we were growing up. You never heard it before?”

“No” Charlie found herself replying “Tell me?”

[Astrit Zupan]

Astrit had expected that Charlie's “contradictory” stories would be interesting, and although it took her a moment to answer she did not disappoint. The correction about the tank interested him on a number of levels: it added more layers to the story of where that weapon had come from, and also highlighted the possibility that Britain's relationship with its old empire might be a bit different from the hagiographic version that certain classmates were so eager to relate. He could see what she meant, now, about the contradictions, the little discrepancies that left everything seeming just a tad off; it was very similar to the conflict between the “official” story from school and the private stories his sister had told him.

Charlie wanted to know more about the stories Astrit had heard. He took a few seconds to think it through; he had never told anyone about this in much detail before, since on every previous occasion he had brought it up, the person he was talking to had either been satisfied with that much or demanded he stop talking. Charlie's interest seemed like a rare opportunity to really discuss this, and he wanted to take proper advantage of it. How would be the best way to say this?

“There were empires, in those days,” he began, with perhaps a bit more of a dramatic flourish than he had strictly intended. “Huge empires, which together spanned almost the entire planet. They had found out that just about every place on Earth existed, and conquered most of them with ease. And so their leaders imagined themselves gods, capable of overcoming any foe—but the only remaining foes were one another. And none of them were willing to accept that they were equals.

“Where was my family in this? We were subjects of one of the smallest of those empires, which was dying but refused to believe that its prime was past. The Ottoman Empire was called the 'sick man of Europe' by then for a reason, but it still had control over a good bit of land, and it too was going to compete with the much healthier empires, like Britain and France and Germany. The trouble with that ambition, of course, was that the Ottoman Empire still existed only because the other empires in Europe wanted to put off the feeding frenzy they were going to have over the scraps. Knowing that, maybe it was naïve of my ancestors to think they could make their own countries anyway... but then again, they succeeded.”

He paused at that point, realizing he'd gotten caught up in the story, and glanced at Charlie. “Still with me?”

[Charlotte Delprat]

Surprisingly Astrit seemed to understand what she was getting at when she explained the differences between her old lessons and the new. It was difficult to explain, especially if the listener had only received lessons from one source all their lives. Because it make it hard for them to imagine that there could be an alternative version of events. It made her wonder whether Astrit might have come from an overseas education system as well.

Astrit obliged Charlie’s request first by puffing himself up like a miniature professor and then launched into his tale with the words “There were empires, in those days”. Charlie was swept away into a world where greatness was measured by amount of land you amassed. Where leadership was judged by the number of loyal subjects you possessed. Where strength was displayed on battlefields… It was a world that Charlie half recognised, she was after all from a country that was once part of an empire. But for the most part it was totally unfamiliar to anything she knew or understood.

“Yeah, I’m with you” She replied when Astrit glanced her way to see if she was still following. They were inside the library now and Charlie sat herself down at a convenient table. “So what happened when your ancestors were no longer an empire? The Ottomans left soon after the war didn’t they?” This stuff was much more fascinating than the contents of their lesson books. The reasoning behind why a bunch of countries would want to pick a fight with each other was beginning to make a lot more sense.

[Astrit Zupan]

Much to Astrit's delight, Charlie seemed to be genuinely enjoying the story, so he continued talking even as the proceeded by some unspoken agreement into the library and sat down together at a table. When he checked to make sure, his classmate confirmed that she was following his train of thought fine, and asked further, “So what happened when your ancestors were no longer an empire? The Ottomans left soon after the war didn’t they?”

With a grin, Astrit returned to the story. “Yes, the Ottoman Empire ended when the war did, and it's been just Turkey ever since. Now, there's a bunch of different groups of people in the Balkan Peninsula—the area where I was born—who spent maybe five hundred years or so getting treated as basically the same by the Ottomans, so it was a really big deal when they finally got to have all different countries for the most part. Problem was, five hundred years of getting treated as all the same thing meant that they'd been forced to move around and gotten mixed up according to what the Ottomans wanted, so they had a lot of disagreements of what places belonged to who and where the borders between them ought to be. They argued a lot, and I think they might have started killing each other over it at least once.”

The boy paused, frowning, before speaking half to himself. “My sister didn't like this part of the story as much. Honestly, I think telling it to me scared her. She was always really uncomfortable around the idea that I belonged to two of those groups that were fighting with each other, probably because she didn't know if I was going to start agreeing with the one she wasn't part of.” There was more to it than that, of course; Astrit was half-aware that if his parents had been as socially respectable as his sister liked to think, he wouldn't exist. The thought was a little odd to him, especially because he had grown up in England, where the breaking of most comparable taboos was quite frequently celebrated at least as much as it was disapproved of, and none of the people who had played parental roles in his life had wanted to teach him that he shouldn't have existed. Most of what he knew, he had gleaned from reading between the lines in stories like the one he'd been recounting for Charlie, or from his father's long-ago explanation (back when he'd had a father) of why he didn't have grandparents like all the other children he knew.

Astrit shook his head, having lost track of what he'd been saying. “What were we talking about, again?” he asked, refocusing on his classmate.

[Charlotte Delprat]

Once they were sitting inside Astrit explained how after the war things in his ancestral homeland became confused and messy as newly formed countries fought places to settle down in. Charlie never knew that drawing up borders could be such a messy business. She could understand why his sister would want to skip over the unpleasant parts of the story. What she didn’t understand was why Astrit’s parentage would be considered unpleasant. She picked up on his implication that his sister was more of a half-sister, but surely it was more than that. Lots of families nowadays had half siblings and step siblings and they were not considered especially taboo. Her own family included both for instance.

She did not feel comfortable asking Astrit for further for elaboration so instead she said “I see. Thanks for telling me all that. Your sister would be a very good history teacher.” That much was true. The content that they had memorised in history class now seemed dry and faded in comparison to the colourful relevance of Astrit’s story. Absentmindedly she opened up her sketchbook once more. With a few quick lines she had a recognisable sketch of the Union Jack and began filling it in with green, orange and black, the complimentary colours of red, blue and white. The result was uncomfortable to look at, but then again so was truth. “We were talking about what our textbook says about WWI” she replied to Astrit’s question. "But I don’t feel much like using it to do our project with. Not when it’s telling us things that are wrong.”

A prickling of an idea was beginning to take shape in the back of her mind. It was not a bad idea but it was so very bad in that it was not what they were meant to be doing as unquestioning students. It would be frowned on, it would be more work than the actual project, but it would be so worth it. She looked at her drawing, then she looked at Astrit sitting across from her and showed him the paper. An invitation. Would he recognise it as such? And if he did would he be willing to go along with such a bad idea?

Astrit Zupan

[Astrit Zupan]

“Your sister would be a very good history teacher,” Charlie said, and Astrit couldn't help smiling in response.

“She'd have done better than the one we got, at any rate,” he admitted easily. “Though I guess he's pretty talented in his own way. How is it even possible to make wars boring?” The question was rhetorical, largely because Astrit wasn't sure there was any real answer. War was about as inherently exciting a topic as existed. It could easily be presented as glorious or as horrific, but you had to work at it to make it boring.

His classmate's reminder jogged the boy's memory about what they had been discussing. World War I, that was it. They had been talking about the war, and he had been telling stories about what had happened to his family before and after it, before he had distracted himself. And there was a project they had to do...

“I don't feel much like using it to do our project with,” Charlie said, referring to the textbook, at almost the same moment as Astrit remembered that the project existed. “Not when it's telling us things that are wrong.”

She showed him something she had just drawn. It looked like a sketch of the British flag, but it was colored in totally differently from the real thing, in green and orange and black instead of red and blue and white. The boy inspected the picture for a long moment before offering his answer.

“I don't think the textbook is wrong, exactly, as much as it's just... only telling part of the truth. I'm not gonna argue about generals and battle lines and dates and all that. It's just that there's a lot of important stuff—half the point of everything—that isn't there.”

Astrit met his classmate's gaze and grinned, a wicked look creeping into his eyes. “And I bet you and I are the best people in the class to bring some of what was left out back in.”

He knew what she was proposing, all right. He knew it, and he was entirely on board with it. It would be a tricky thing to do well, but it would be worth it just to shock everyone and fill in some of those missing pieces.