Chapter Six
"Alleria!" Mam barged into her room looking ready to explode. It was a late winter afternoon, several weeks after they had moved to Callivar.
"That's my name," Alleria mumbled, without lifting her head from her book. Mam grabbed her by both her skinny shoulders to get her attention.
"It was Mr. Malluri on the phone, he's on his way here right now — he wants to talk to you, says it's something exciting."
Alleria blinked at her mother, doing her best to come back to earth. The information took its moment to register, but when that happened, she jumped into action, leaping from her chair in a flurry of papers.
Rummaging through her wardrobe, she searched for the best clothes she could find while she furiously tried to make sense of her hair. In the kitchen Mam and Da were banging about, trying to make everything look presentable and comely for their unexpected guest.
There was a buzz from the door, Alleria hopped out of her room in a green pleated skirt and a jumper and decided that her hair was her hair and that Mr. Malluri must learn to cope with it the way it was. Her parents seemed to grimace in the kitchen, she walked up to the door, took a deep breath, and opened it.
There was no one there.
"Alleria!" Mam's scolding voice came from the kitchen. "The intercom, dear! God, I sometimes find it hard to believe you're a genius."
It was difficult to remember that they were living in a block of flats. Sheepishly, she pressed the button on the intercom to open up the gate and continued waiting by the door, the cold winter air flowing into their warm home.
And there was Mr. Malluri, looking less grand and majestic than he usually did in his house, but just as tall as always. "Miss Bellencreek," he greeted her, a little bit out of breath from the climb.
"Mr. Malluri," Alleria said in a dry voice, unsure about how to greet him here in her house. It was strange, having worlds collide. "And Willum." she greeted his tall black-haired son. "Er... please come in."
They walked inside, two tall people making the little hallway look tiny. The three of them loitered uncertainly at the entrance to the living room. Mam bustled out of the kitchen, "Oh do come in, Mr. Malluri," she said in the best city accent she could produce. "Is that your son Willum? Oh my, what a handsome boy. Come in, come in!"
Mr. Malluri almost looked embarrassed when he walked into their little living room. It was as tidy as Mam and Da managed to make it. "Mr. Malluri," Da greeted him, shaking his hand.
"Do have a seat," Mam cooed. "Hedry and I will get you some tea. Alleria, you sit as well."
Alleria was surprised to feel a bit shy about their small and messy home. As far as she knew, the Malluri family had always been rich. She doubted they had ever set foot in an attic flat in the west of Callivar. It was a good neighbourhood, but not as good as where Mr. Malluri lived. There were papers scattered on the coffee table, official documents and things that her father had been reviewing. Alleria gathered them into a pile and then looked around herself for a place to put them, but all the available surfaces were occupied by books, ink bottles and pens so she placed the papers in her lap.
"Your home is so..." Mr. Malluri struggled to find something nice to say, which in and of itself was a kind effort. Still, Alleria hoped he wouldn't call their flat 'quaint'. She wasn't sure 'quaint' was a nice way to describe anything. "It is quite bookish," he concluded with some relief. "As expected from a flat owned by two imperial Hands and a future scholar."
Alleria smiled. While self-centred and pompous, Mr. Malluri honestly meant well. She refrained from correcting him about the fact that they merely rented the place and hadn't even owned their little cottage in the countryside. Her smile dimmed when she realised that etiquette dictated that she say something now. She blinked, determined to show Mr. Malluri how much her 'manners' had improved. "Thank you, Mr. Malluri and Willum..." Pause. She needed to say something more. But what? Panic. "It's... nice of you to... call upon us...?" Her voice peaked in the very last syllable as if she were asking a question.
"Oh yes, to business!" Mr. Malluri didn't appear to notice her obvious blunder, he was more than happy to trudge forward. "Your tutors tell me you're working quite hard so I do hate taking up your time. Haha. Tell me, the seminary, is it satisfactory?"
"For the most part, it is very satisfactory, sir," Alleria answered. Mam came in right then bearing a tray with tea and biscuits. She had taken out her fancy tea set, the white porcelain one with the gold rims and pink flowers. Da had bought it for Mam for her birthday two months ago. Alleria had never seen her mother look so pleased, she had always wanted a tea set like this but then after she owned it there was never an occasion grand enough for its use.
With the soft musical clink and chime of expensive porcelain, Mam placed the tray on the coffee table and proceeded to pour tea. In her apprehension, she completely forgot to ask Mr. Malluri how he liked his tea and Alleria had to stop her when she was about to dump a spoonful of sugar into his cup.
He paid no heed to the silent exchange. It was his blind spot, Alleria knew, he was incapable of seeing anyone who was serving him and how they went about it. "For the most part?" he inquired.
"Oh yes, sir, the instruction in almost all of the subjects is highly professional."
Mr. Malluri's eyebrows shot up and only then did Alleria realise she had probably said something wrong. "And in which subjects do you find the instruction, er, lacking?"
Words had weight, Alleria knew this, especially while conversing with someone like Mr. Malluri who, due to his money, held power in the palm of his hand. The wrong words spoken to the wrong ears could turn the fate of many. Still, lying was something Alleria had never had use for in the past and so she was not completely sure how to do it well without being found out.
She swallowed, and couldn't stop herself from looking at her shoes, "Only... only mathematics. They are, er, a little behind."
Malluri rubbed his chin, "Who are your mathematics tutors?"
"Mr. Vangroke, Miss Deneme and Miss Leger. It's not their instruction which is faulty but the program. They put too much focus on the basics. The other students... feel the same."
"I hope it isn't too late to change the program. Why didn't you mention this earlier?"
Alleria looked up. In truth, if it had truly been interfering with her studies, she would have told Mr. Malluri about it. "It's unnecessary to change the program. Mathematics is a subject I don't need tutoring in. If one of the questions of the exam will be in Mathematics, out of the students in the seminary, only I'll pass."
Malluri and Willum both regarded her with shocked interest, even Alleria hadn't realised she had it in her. It dawned on her now, she was truly malicious. There was a moment in which the implications of her words sank in, and then Malluri smiled as if savouring some good flavour. He nudged his son. "Keep your eyes peeled, boy, this girl will grow to be the most powerful woman in the empire."
Alleria clutched the pile of papers in her lap, glad she had something to hold. She couldn't bring herself to drink her tea.
"Anyway," Malluri went on, not missing a beat, "to the true reason of our visit. Willum, if you may?"
Brooding and bored once more, Willum handed Alleria an unsealed manilla envelope. It crackled between her fingers as she took it and looked quizzically from her benefactor and his son. Malluri, beaming, gestured for her to open it. Inside was a single sheet of paper. It was a list with no title. Just five items: Renaissance poetry, Barisinic architecture, Acoustics, Asomott numbers, Alaazian law....
A chill crept down her spine. Trouble on paper. "This is...?"
"The subjects for the exam," Malluri said in a low voice.
Alleria opened her mouth to say something, but she had no words that could express her thoughts.
"I don't doubt your abilities for a moment, my girl, but you must understand by now that the exam is anything but fair. They will know you by name, by age and most importantly, by gender and background. Over the past fifty years, only a marginal number of women were admitted into the High Academy and all of them had been from noble or upper class families. It was only in the time of Emperor Jarvius III that the High Academy had been opened to accept anyone who passed the exam regardless of social class. Seventy-nine years, and you know how many of common birth have been accepted in that time?"
"Four," Alleria answered. "But only one was made fellow of the Imperial Academy. Maddox Barnel, grand vizier to the Emperor Tarris, first of his name."
"Four!" Malluri cried, now swept away by the novelty of the situation. "And none of them had been women, or sixteen."
Alleria looked at the list. The exam had the potential to be about nearly everything there was to know in the world, but there were always only five questions in five different subjects. The subjects were revealed two weeks before the exam, probably to discourage anyone who didn't know these subjects fully from attempting to sit it. The subjects were said to be a closely guarded secret, but it was historically known that, on occasion, greasing the correct palms could grant an exclusive early reveal. How much money had Malluri paid for this piece of paper?
"Is it... authentic?" Alleria asked, tentatively.
"Haha, 99% authentic, dear girl." Malluri was beaming at her again. Even if he didn't always seem too fond of her, he enjoyed this sort of 'investment'. "And if it isn't, my source will have a lot of... explaining to do."
Alleria put the paper back in the envelope and fixed her patron with a hard stare. "Mr. Malluri," she said, as seriously as she knew how to. "You want me to study only these subjects? You understand that if there's any aberration, any alteration from these five subjects, then I may fail."
"Irene thinks it's the best course of action," Malluri admitted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Your case is so... unlikely. That's the beauty of it, of course, but also the fault."
"I can still... continue as I've been doing, sir, studying everything as if I don't know the subjects," Alleria suggested hopefully. "It would be a shame as I've been making very good progress."
"I know, dear girl, your tutors are highly enthusiastic. I don't know what you do to them to make them have stars in their eyes, haha." Mr Malluri reached out and patted the back of her hand. "But this will be best, Miss Bellencreek. It's exactly what we need to tip the scale. I have no doubt that if you started on the same ground as everyone else, you would be First Paramount, but we have to give you another edge so that the examiners won't be able to ignore how brightly you shine."
Alleria looked over at Mam and Da who had been, all this time, standing frozen in the kitchen doorway. Da looked doubtful, he always taught her that although the world was filled with lies people tell each other and themselves, you could never frown upon honest effort and the effort to be honest. But Mam understood the twisty sort of deceit required to be political, she nodded firmly in answer to the question in Alleria's eyes.
"Alright, Mr. Malluri."Alleria finally said, sighing in resignation.
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