I stood alone in the large courtyard, looking over the other six dozen young men and women who had arrived for their 'volunteer' jobs.
I still didn't know why they were referred to as the 'volunteer' jobs when it was mandatory that everyone in the kingdom volunteer for two years between the ages of eighteen to twenty-four. It didn't matter which years, but for women, they suggested you do it right away. Having babies did not exclude you and it was never easy to be away from children.
My father had volunteered me for this cycle, even though I didn't actually turn eighteen until after the cutoff date. I was eighteen now but hadn't been before the paperwork was filed. He didn't want anyone to know I was here, he wanted them to all think I was studying abroad in Mareshomese with the famous Art Academy and that I would volunteer when I returned. I would do my time, of course.
No one could know I was here now, I had to hide my identity from everyone and he'd forged all of my paperwork.
It was allowed, of course, why wouldn't it be? The king could do as he pleased, no one questioned him.
I had very specific orders, though. No one could know I was the princess, I had to go by my middle name only, and I wasn't allowed to make any friends among the commoners.
It was looking like I wasn't going to be making any friends.
I didn't see a single noble arrive on the steam trains, not one. Not one noble at all. There were obviously wealthy youths from the merchant class, but mostly there were only the poor. They arrived with next to nothing, a sack with a change of clothes. The wealthier kids arrived with suitcases, some with a trunk or two.
My trunks were already in my room and I had only my large handbag with me in an effort to disguise my wealth. I was also wearing what the seamstress referred to as 'common' attire.
It wasn't common at all, if I had to put a name to it, I would call it eccentric schoolteacher a good two decades out of fashion.
Several of the others looked at me standing off alone, but no one approached until the final train arrived from the furthest point in Miovia with the last dozen youths.
A tall, broad-shouldered young man circled closer then as I watched the youths disembarking, hoping for just one person I could become friends with.
"You're quite a lovely sight, sitting up there all prim and pretty! You've been here since right off, you're local here in the capital, aren't you? I'm Paul," the young man offered.
I ignored him, watching the last two youths getting off the train and the conductor waved to the front of the train the all clear.
"That how it is then? A bit high and mighty. You know there's no class here these two years, right?" Paul asked. "It ain't allowed. We all have to mix and work together."
"Piss off, you ugly ape," I told him, repeating what I'd heard a servant girl say to a soldier once when he'd drank too much and cornered her.
He snorted. "Aren't you sweet thing," he offered before turning and leaving.
I hopped down from the parapet wall I was sitting on and approached the doors to the CogWorks. That was the name of the building of modern engineering and magic that ran the entire city where we would be stuck for the next two years. The day inside had been spent with the youths from the last two years gathering their things and saying their goodbyes, preparing everything for the new volunteer, the entire city was on a holiday as the infrastructure was at a standstill. The only thing that operated on transition day and the following 'training' day, was the train and that was because the conductors weren't volunteers. Last cycle's volunteers had just left into the courtyard on the east side of the building where families were waiting. No one was allowed in the west side courtyard but volunteers let off the trains.
The doors opened and a woman waited for us, ushering us in quickly, then we all stood in a huge foyer where another man stood, waiting on a dais. He was older, medium-height, and build, with a head of wavy brown hair that had gone silver at the temples.
I was told to expect this part. Job assignments.
There were two bowls on either side of the man and one bowl was labeled 'names', the other 'jobs'. We had to do the job we were matched with, no matter what it was.
We would then be assigned rooms according to our job, matching with those on alternating shifts and in similar jobs.
Standing in the very back, I watched over the others, all talking and whispering and smiling at each other. Some even obviously knew each other, from the same places and grew up together. I watched as they were assigned their jobs one at a time and given a card by a woman standing by, writing assignments and names and living quarters down as they were called off.
When Paul was called, and then put in as head of security, he turned and gave me a smirk as he left with his card.
Name after name was called and I stood and waited until the very end. The final girl before me left the room and the man in the front gave me a tight smile as I looked at the empty bowls.
"Ithica Savourlain," he gave me a nod. "First shift: Scheduling room."
I gave him a return nod and went to the woman who was writing it down.
"It is a unique position, Ithica," the man told me as the woman scribbled. "It is the only job that has a single shift. You will complete the schedule for all of the volunteers on every shift each day. Since you are the only person who works in scheduling, you will room alone. Scheduling used to fall under the purview of security so they would know where everyone was at all times, but for this cycle, it is its own separate job." He spoke to me with disdain as if he resented that he'd been obviously told to provide me with an easy job and a separate room.
"Thank you, sir," I told him, knowing that was my father's doing. It kept me from having to do something like sanitation where I would have to clean the sewers or something equally as horrifying.
"We only ask that you remember discretion," he told me softly. "Your room number is annotated on your card and there are maps at every intersection. Dormitories are noted as blue. Your uniforms will arrive the day after tomorrow for your job."
Giving him another nod, I hurried away and went up the four stories to the dormitories and found my room. It was on the end, alone, and the hall was long and open. Many of the doors were open and the other youths were in the hall, talking to each other and laughing.
Paul saw me when I entered the hall and watched me as I slipped into the first room on the end and smirked at me, his eyes lit up with mischief.
The room wasn't large at all, but I could tell it had been altered. Where there had been three small beds and three small armoires, there was now one large bed and normal furniture. I'd seen sketches of the rooms and they'd all been the same. I was told I would have roommates and we'd all work the same job, alternating shifts. It wasn't like that at all.
I was going to be alone.
I guessed that was good since I wasn't allowed to make any friends.
My door opened and Paul stepped in, an equally tall but overweight boy and a large girl with him as he looked over my room.
"We're...," he began.
"You will NEVER enter my rooms without knocking! You will knock and you will be told whether you may enter!" I told him angrily.
"Why do you get to be alone?" the girl demanded, her arms crossing as she scowled.
"We're security," Paul sneered. "Came to tell you we're right across the hall. It's our job to keep the rest of you lot in line and running things like you should. We don't have to knock. You haven't put your name up on the plate yet, you need to do it now."
"I haven't had time, I was last called, and I..."
