Calore Dance Academy// Red Queen AU

Chapter 59

Hey guys! Sorry my update schedule has been a little off lately; my school district recently changed our distance learning schedule so that our assignments are due on Fridays instead of Wednesdays, which messes up my writing time. I'll get back on schedule next week.

Some things to look forward to: 

Brunch with the Calores

A trip to the ballet

High society party with a healthy pairing of spy work.

Enjoy, as always! And leave some likes and comments! <3

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In the warm light of his office at NYU, I nod along as Julian continues his monologue.

The Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, the Age of Exploration.

They're all words and phrases that go in one ear and out the other. By the time I've had the chance to so much as decide what I'd like to write down for my notes, Julian's already moved on to something new. Thus, in my college-ruled notebook, I'm left with incomplete sentences, question marks, and abbreviations that I won't understand later. But Julian doesn't seem like the kind of professor who would take well to being told to slow down and repeat himself. He'll just tell me that there are methods to his madness.

"So the Crusades, which really didn't do all that well in taking back Jerusalem, had a completely unintended and yet positive effect on Western Europe. As I already mentioned, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Western Europe was largely cut off from the rest of the world and descended into the Dark Ages. But as a result of the Crusades, Christians began trading with Muslim merchants on an unprecedented scale.

"And of course, all of this cross-cultural interaction brought about monumental effects. Western Europe was exposed again to the texts of Aristotle and the other great Greek philosophers. They discovered Eastern medicine, math, and science, the most advanced of its time. They discovered paper pressing, shipbuilding techniques, the magnetic compass . . . they discovered the softest silks and finest spices the East had to offer.

"Surely all of this—and don't forget about the Reconquista, Mare—set the stage for the Renaissance. It surely jump-started Europe's ascent from the Dark Ages and into the light of the pre-modern era. Don't you think?"

I stare back at Julian from over his desk, still littered with his professor junk. Books, academic journals, and random scraps of notebook paper splay across the wood, and if anything, there's only more paper than there was last time. Julian's historically-themed knick-knacks and coffee cups lie around the mess, leaving for one precarious workspace.

This evening, my professor dons a red sweater and a pair of sweatpants. I can only hope that Julian doesn't wear the same ensemble to his actual classes. He lounges comfortably in his desk chair, looking for all the world like an eager nerd.

"It's all very interesting."

I prop an elbow on my own desk. From some closet or other, Julian managed to find a wooden folding desk for me. It's sparse compared to Julian's, with only my laptop, pathetic notebook, and a couple of pencils that ought to be sharpened. It also sits at a terribly awkward ninety-degree angle to Julian's desk.

"I'm not just saying that," I continue. "It's all very interesting. Really"

Julian has the unique ability to make even the driest of history interesting. Everything leads to something else, whether or not its effect was intended. Great empires rise and fall. Societies fight in the names of land and religion and power. One person changes the world with the stroke of a pen, yet an army of ten-thousand troops won't always get the job done. A nation will persecute another if only in the name of ignorance. People learn from each other and find ways to survive in the most adverse of circumstances.