Mount Asteria

Chapter Fourteen

"So you decided not to go into town in the end, then?" Ebony said upon arriving in the dining hall for lunch on Saturday.

"No, I'm too tired," Alexandra replied, yawning as if on cue. Hestia, Thea, Claire and some of the other girls had left at ten o'clock that morning, while Alexandra was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"It is a big adjustment for you, I suppose... How long has it been since you lived in Ireland, or even Europe?"

"It's over ten years since I lived in Ireland; four since I left Europe."

"Ten years? No wonder then. Where do you stay when you come back?"

"My dad's from Cork, but Mum's from Donnybrook so we usually stay around

Dublin. Didn't you know that? I would have thought someone in a spy school would have found that out," Alexandra added slyly, glancing at Ebony.

Ebony looked ready to kill. "It's not -" she broke off and sighed. "Come with me." She turned away and marched out the door, expecting Alexandra to follow, which she did.

"Where are we going?"

"The gallery." Ebony didn't miss a beat as she navigated her way expertly out of the dining hall, into the foyer and up the stairs.

"I didn't know there was a gallery."

"I'll see that you're given a map."

Once again, Alexandra couldn't be sure if Ebony was being sarcastic or not. She decided not to pursue the matter any further and kept her mouth clamped shut as came up the final flight of stairs into a high-ceilinged, long room with windows along one side looking onto the front entrance of the building. On the other side hung portrait after portrait of women. Ebony turned to the rights sharply and marched down to the very first painting, at the end of the gallery.

"Do you know who that is?" Ebony asked, pointing to this first portrait. It was a woman – like they all were - dressed in an old-fashioned green khaki military uniform. She held a gun in one hand, the other clenched in a fist. She had a determined look on her face.

Alexandra examined the plaque beneath the frame and raised her eyebrows. "Of course! Countess Markievicz. Everyone knows who she is."

Ebony shook her head, her icy blue eyes glinting in the way they did when she knew something others didn't. Something almost like a smile crept onto her face, a tone almost like pride slipping into her voice. "Constance Markievicz, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, founded this school."

Alexandra stopped cold. "What?" she couldn't help but gasp.

Anyone who had any knowledge of Irish history knew Countess Markievicz. She was the only woman truly acknowledged for her part played in the Irish rebellion against English rule on Easter Monday, 1916. She had become one of the first female cabinet ministers in Europe, the first female British MP – though she refused to take her seat in Westminster – a socialist, a soldier and a fierce feminist.

But never, ever, Alexandra was quite sure, had it been mentioned that she had founded a school. This school, no less.

Ebony looked back at the portrait and Alexandra saw something she had never seen in Ebony before – respect... and reverence.

"Countess Markievicz, along with some of her upper-class rebel friends, set up this school for girls in 1911. It was intended to properly educate young women, not just the usual languages and music and drawing. It was to train them to think big, to think past the barriers of society... as she did. She was a revolutionary, and she brought this to the school."

"I can't believe it," Alexandra whispered, staring at the Countess' face in awe.

"My point is," Ebony turned to Alexandra, "this is not a spy school. It's a school that teaches young women to think, to choose whatever career they want. This school opens up absolutely every possibility imaginable to us."

Alexandra smiled. "Okay, okay. I get it. I won't call it a spy school anymore."

Ebony looked grim. "Good."

Alexandra laughed and rolled her eyes. "Alright."

"I sometimes wonder what she'd think," Ebony said, walking over to the window opposite the painting. It looked down on the entrance of the building, where girls were milling around the steps. "If she saw us now."

Alexandra came to stand next to Ebony, looking out across the mountains beyond. "I think she'd be proud." She thought about it for a minute. "I know she would be. You're all so amazing. A bit crazy, but amazing... So what do you want to be?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, what do you want to study and to work as in the future?"

"Oh." Ebony turned away and approached the window, fingering the heavy green velvet curtains at the side. "I'm not sure. A government advisor, maybe."

"For the Irish government?"

"Ireland's more important than you think."

Alexandra looked doubtful.

"We have to keep a low profile, so as not to arouse suspicion."

"Suspicion about what? Ebony? Wait, Ebony, what are you talking about? Come back!"