by Brian Keller
Mister Skran ended class a few minutes early, told the students to cool down properly and stretch for a few minutes. Cooper caught his eye and Mister Skran waved him over. Skran said, “You have learned how to fight someone with a significant reach advantage. Were you struck at all today?”. Cooper shrugged, “Once or twice, sir. Not lethal, actually the strikes were barely noticed. I acknowledged them simply because it made me realize where I stood to improve.”. Mister Skran had another question for him, “Do you feel ready to test?”. Cooper thought about it and answered, “Sir, I continue to improve in this class. I want to advance to the next class, but it’ll be your decision as to when I’m ready.”. Cooper paused, “I have to ask, sir. What would happen if I were to fail? If I am unable to strike you?”. Mister Skran replied, “Quite simply, if you cannot pass then you will not advance. Needless to say, if you fail, your schedule would have to be amended.”. Cooper nodded. He’d decided that he needed to better prepare himself. Tomorrow he would dominate Habbon, and let the larger boy struggle to learn whatever he could from the session.
Another concern crossed his mind, “Sir, where do I go for Etiquette Training?”. Mister Skran dropped his chin and shook his head. Cooper suspected he was smiling but his ever-present hood concealed all of his features when he looked downward. Mister Skran raised his head again and said, “Past Master Loril’s smithy, turn right at the next hallway and it’s the second door on the left. Well… I’m pretty sure that’s where it is.”
Chapter 23
During lunch he’d asked his classmates but they were no better informed than he was. He’d finished eating quickly and returned to his new sleeping bay to drop off the pick set and booklet he’d gotten from Master Darius. He read through a few entries in Miss Camilla’s book and couldn’t help wondering how much progress he could expect to make in copying the book with his current schedule. He decided he should start looking for the Etiquette classroom before he lost track of time. As he approached Master Loril’s shop he decided to stop and ask for confirmation of the location for his class, but as he got to the door Birt stepped out from the shop and into the hallway. Birt smiled what looked like a genuine smile but much, much fuller. Birt adopted a stuffy, very proper tone, “Ah, Mister Cooper! How delightful to see you again. It’s been much too long.”. Cooper rolled his eyes, “It’s been less than an hour and ten minutes, knucklehead. Prior to lunch, were both just in Mister Skran’s class.”. Birt returned to normal, his body language suggesting a deflated balloon, “Yep, but I’m just getting ready. What are you doing down this way? Do you have Etiquette class, too?”. Cooper nodded, “Yeah, what can you tell me about it? Is it all using-the-correct-fork kind of thing that’ll make me wish that Boyd had crushed me a few months ago?”. Birt put his arm around him and said, “It is… and so much more. In fact, if you allow it, you might even like it.”. From what he was picturing in his mind, he doubted that’d be possible.
Birt stopped at the second door, turned and lifted the latch and with a much larger than needed flourish, gestured for Cooper to enter. He entered the room. He had no idea what to expect, but if he did, what he saw now still wouldn’t have been right. The room was huge. It must have been over a hundred and fifty feet wide and almost twice as deep. The ceiling was twenty feet high in most places, but in some spots there was a false ceiling that was about ten feet above the floor. The room was absolutely filled to capacity with all nature of things. So filled, in fact that Cooper was unable to see everything before the details blurred together on the other side of the room. Beyond five rows of bench seats with tables lined up on the other side of a nearby lectern, there were dozens of tables and chairs of all styles and configurations, statues, potted bushes and even potted trees. There were a few fireplaces along one wall and various arrangements of furniture around each one, one of those arrangements looked suspiciously like the Master of Coin’s sitting room. There were at least two kitchens, a couple of, what looked to be, front doors from a house built into frames to hold them up and so much more that it couldn’t possibly be taken in all at once. He could see that each different ‘room’ had rice paper screens between them intended to create the illusion that they were separate spaces. To the right of the ‘classroom’ was a casual sitting area with several large pillows strewn about the floor and five or six stuffed chairs. Two of those chairs, facing the door that Cooper and Birt had just entered through, held a man and a woman. There were eight students occupying the other chairs and a few of the pillows on the floor.
The woman drew Cooper’s attention immediately. Her blond hair was piled on top of her head in what looked to be an impossible style. Her raised hair appeared to fan out to each side. Cooper thought she must have wires or netting to hold her hair in such a manner and she must have had at least one person help her with it. Her face was pale and she had some gold coloring above each of her eyes. Her nose looked a little pointed and at first he thought her lips were very full, but her mouth narrow but then he saw that she was using some kind of makeup to create that appearance. Her dress was a shiny, dark blue fabric with a high stiff collar. The collar almost came up to the bottom of her ears and it completely enclosed her neck. It was buttoned down the front with gold clasps and the edges of the collar, cuffs and seams were stitched with gold threading. She looked very ornate, almost like a fancy doll. She remained immobile except for her left arm which made a sweeping gesture indicating that they should take a seat on one of the remaining pillows. She introduced herself, “I am Miss Eiler. Seated beside me is Mister Ysel. Please be seated while we all introduce ourselves.”.
Mister Ysel was a small man with a generous head of brown but graying hair, combed straight back without the use of oil or by tying it in place. His hairline was what Cooper had learned is called a ‘Widow’s Peak, but not terribly pronounced. His complexion was swarthy with several blotches around his temples and cheeks. His face also had several pockmarks, especially below his eyes and on his cheeks. His forehead was creased with several wrinkles, commonly called ‘worry lines’. His eyes were pale blue, evenly spaced above a straight nose. His mouth was wide enough to be expressive but at the moment he was taking his turn to speak. He had a slight accent that caused him to lengthen his “o’s” and slightly roll his “r’s”. “Welcome back, Birt. I see you’ve brought a friend?”. Cooper replied for him, “I’m Cooper.”. The boys seated themselves on pillows.
Once everyone had been introduced, Miss Eiler spoke again, her voice had a constant joyful tone, as if everything in her world was wonderful. He found it irritating and a little distracting. “I’ll take just a few minutes to explain what you can expect, and what will be expected of you, in this class. In this room we will ask that you suspend your disbelief and imagine yourselves to actually be in the places that we tell you to imagine, and that you are actually taking part in certain events, whether it be a dinner party with the Lord General or in a Marquis’ sitting room enjoying a fine cigar.”. In whatever scenario you are participating in, you will be assigned a role to play. You might find yourself playing the part of a wealthy merchant from the Trade Quarter or an ambassador from a foreign land. We will teach you the customs and mannerisms you will need to know to play these roles. When you are acting, we don’t expect you to believe it, you just have to make us believe it.”.
Miss Eiler stopped and Mister Ysel spoke, “Miss Eiler and I have been to many lands and played many roles, so we are teaching from experience. For those roles we are unfamiliar with we draw from the first-hand knowledge of other guild members. As we proceed, for most scenarios, Miss Eiler and I will play the roles for you to observe. Be mindful, you will likely be assigned one, or even both of those roles during the class. On some occasions, Miss Eiler may take the role of a man, or I may act the part of a woman. This will be amusing, of course, but understand that you may be called upon to assume these same identities, so attempt to control your laughter and pay attention.”
Miss Eiler now continued in her cheerful tone
, “This class will be more than just play acting. We will teach you methods to alter your appearance to help you become more believable in the roles you play. It can be as simple changing clothes, but many also involve more drastic methods. If you are playing the role of a nobleman from a nearby nation, the correct clothes and mannerisms may be all that is necessary if the identity is a complete fabrication, but if you’re playing a role of an actual man then a more complete disguise will be needed to alter your appearance enough to make you believable.”.
It was rare for Rukle to speak unless asked a direct question, but on this occasion he had a question of his own, “Why would you risk trying to pass yourself off as an actual person? The person you’re trying to pretend to be could be known and you’d be discovered.”. Mister Ysel answered, “An excellent point, but what if you have intercepted a personal invitation in order to gain entry to a place? Now you must assume the identity of the person on the invitation.”. Rukle shrugged but seemed to accept the explanation.
Miss Eiler seemed extremely pleased to announce that she and Mister Ysel would be presenting a scenario. She announced, “I will be playing the role of a Gianese princess, for which I am already dressed and Mister Ysel will be playing the role of a portrait painter. Please observe him now as he prepares his character. It should only take him a few minutes.
Mister Ysel picked up a paint set, similar to the boxed set that Miss Camilla had lent to him, and took a burgundy beret from inside it and placed it on top of his head, canted slightly. He then took a small jar from inside the box. He explained that the jar was filled with a paste adhesive. He spread a little under his nose and a dab on his chin. He took a tuft of hair from his pocket and smoothed out a tiny moustache under his nose and a small goatee for his chin. He put in a line of kohl under his eyes and took out two small wedge shaped sponges and slipped both into his mouth, one to each side at the back of his lower jaw. He then clapped his hands and said, “Viola.”. Cooper had been watching his every move and still ended up surprised. Mister Ysel was still recognizable, but he realized that if someone was asked to provide a description of him, they would undoubtedly focus on the parts that stood out, and none of those features were genuine, except for his pale, blue eyes. Any other distinctive features were either altered, such as his jawline, or obscured, like his widow’s peak hairline being covered by the beret. Simple, but genius. And it took less than two minutes. The trickiest part was lining his eyelids with kohl. Miss Eiler had moved and seated herself on a nearby divan and placed a necklace with a pendulous emerald around her neck. The divan had a small table on each side. The table on her left side had a short silver candlestick holding a single candle, and the table on her right had a full candelabra filled with candles. On the table next to the candelabra was a small, silver box, probably a snuffbox, encrusted with gems. While Miss Eiler arranged herself for her portrait, Mister Ysel was arranging his paints and setting up his canvas on an easel. Once he was satisfied, he stepped back and took a breath. As he exhaled, his mannerisms completely changed, he began to fidget and rearranged his paints as he leaned out from behind his easel to study Miss Eiler. He began to shake his head and make “tsk”-ing sounds. When he spoke, his voice had gone up an octave and his accent was changed. His speech now almost had a musical quality and he spoke as if he had to think of the words and phrases he wanted to say. He was saying, “Ah, your Highness, this is all wrong.. it is the eh, um… lighting. Yes, it is casting odd shadows across your beautiful… countenance… yes. I will make this correct, if you will permit me.” Miss Eiler turned her head away slightly and raised her chin a little as she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture as if to say, “Do what you must.”. Mister Ysel was already moving, his posture was slightly stooped over and his gait was more of a shuffle than a stride. He was wearing a tunic with long loose sleeves that were tied snug with a band around his wrist and another around his forearm. He had a sash around his tunic and had donned a loose, paint spattered smock over top of everything. He kept running his hands across his chest and abdomen, trying to smooth the wrinkles from his smock in a self-conscious manner. He shuffled over to the table with the candelabra while he was saying, “Yes, your Highness, this is making too much light. It is making a shadow from your nose... No, that is not right, it is casting a shadow of your nose across your face. I will place this on the other table. Miss Eiler was looking away from him as if she was completely bored with the proceedings. The snuffbox had disappeared as Mister Ysel moved the candelabra to the other table and shifted the single candle back. He made a show of repositioning the candelabra to create the light he wanted and while doing so, had blown out the single candle. He stepped in front of Miss Eiler and leaned down in front of her. He said, “Excuse me your Highness, may I pose you?”. Miss Eiler’s voice took a sharp tone, “You will not touch me. You will tell me how you wish me to pose.”. Mister Ysel took a half step back, stood almost erect and smoothed out his smock for what may have been the twentieth time. He cleared his throat and his voice quavered just a bit when he said, “Of course, your Highness. Could you please tilt your head a little to the left? Yes, that’s it… and tilt your head forward just a little? Excellent, your Highness! It is such a pleasure to be granted the opportunity to paint your portrait! Yes... I’ll just adjust these candles a bit more and we should be ready to begin.”. He shuffled over to the table and pulled the candelabra a little further back on the table and when he shuffled away the single candle and silver candlestick were gone. He returned to the easel and picked up his brush and leaned out to observe her again. At this point he stood fully erect and spoke in his own voice, “And I’d like to thank you for the contribution of the valuable snuffbox and the solid silver candlestick, your Majesty.”. Miss Eiler stood and smiled. She said, “This concludes out brief demonstration. We hope you all learned something and were also able to observe Mister Ysel’s transformation and activities.”. Mister Ysel removed the smock and pulled the candlestick and snuffbox from where he’d tucked them securely in his sash. He commented wryly, “If her highness had permitted me to touch her, I’d likely also have a wonderful necklace to add to this collection.”.
Habbon muttered, “I was looking forward to seeing if Mister Ysel could actually paint. If you’re going to play a painter, you’d better be able to deliver, shouldn’t you?”. Mister Ysel leaned in Habbon’s direction and spoke in a loud whisper, “I am not an accomplished painter, but I do alright. But we have not brought you here to watch me paint.”.
The teachers had the students move to the tables and bench seats and provided each student with a small make up case, half of a brick of modeling clay, and a mirror. The students were told to take about five minutes to familiarize themselves with the contents and then they had another five minutes to change their appearance as Mister Ysel had done. Within ten minutes the class was filled with students with uneven mustaches and lopsided goatees. Several had forgotten to line kohl along their eyelids and had rushed to put it on when they’d seen their peers who hadn’t forgotten. Birt appeared to be thoroughly enjoying himself and had already adopted an accent. Cooper felt pretty foolish about the whole thing. He thought his mustache looked right, but wasn’t sure how to position his goatee.
Mister Ysel was busying himself by moving amongst the students offering suggestions and making adjustments if students didn’t understand the suggestions. Miss Eiler had disappeared somewhere deeper into the room.
After Mister Ysel had looked at each student and felt reasonably satisfied with their appearance he began to discuss different effects that can be made using makeup and modeling clay. Warts and moles can create memorable, temporary distractors especially if they are placed slightly below the temple around the cheekbone. He described the value in that, “A casual observer could be questioned later and not recall your eye color, because they had been distracted by your mole or…”. He trailed off as his eyes caught movement off to his right. There was an old man with bushy, white whiskers and a reddish,
wind-whipped complexion. He wore a black frock coat and dark pants. His black leather shoes had discolored brass buckles but the singularly noticeable feature was that he had a cane in each hand that was further strapped to his forearms. The little old man was looking all around the room as if he were lost, in a trembling voice he spoke, “I was taking a nap on a couch back there and a young, gold woman in a blue dress told me I had to leave. How do I get out of here?”. Mister Ysel appeared dumbfounded as he simply pointed to the door. “Thanks.”, the old man said. He hobbled toward the door on his canes, dragging his left foot behind him. After a few steps the old man turned and looked at Mister Ysel. Miss Eiler’s voice came from the old man as she said, “Could I at least have my snuffbox back?”. She stood, smiling, and took her arms out of the straps on the canes. Mister Ysel smiled and said, “Certainly, but you’ve got to promise to put my whiskers back where you got them.”. A few of the boys were still struggling to find Miss Eiler inside the costume. Cooper was only thinking, “She managed that entire costume change in less than fifteen minutes!”. He’d decided there was certainly more to this than selecting the right fork. The students affected five more simple disguises before the two hour class ended. Cooper could certainly see the value of it, and he felt confident that in a few weeks he’d feel much more confident in disguising himself, but play acting was a different matter entirely. That would require some consideration.
