At the hatter. . .
I had to ask something extremely important to me. 'So you use mercury or any other material as such perhaps?' I asked with worry.
'A little while ago, we were using mercury, but then an alchemist found out mercury's lethalness, so we switched to magic materials which are far safer.' The hatter told me reassuring me with kindness.
I exhaled in relief.
'What's mercury?' Lucien asked.
'A very dangerous material that in which you go through prolongue exposure with it, you might end up expiring permanently, my little ball of snow.' The hatter responded with a smile.
Lucien looked horrified. 'W-Wh-What-WHAT?!' He exclaimed stepping back and clinged onto my skirt.
The hatter and I chuckled. 'Do not worry, as I said before, we used mercury, but we switched to magical materials which are far FARsafer.' He repeated himself as he took a measuring rope. 'Now hold still, I must take measure of your head.' He asked as he put himself to work. 'I must say, I've heard of "snow people," or "porcelain people," but this is my first time meeting one up close. Let alone a child.' He said with a happy and determined tone.
'From what I see, his head growth is stadistically a little slower than normal for a child of his age, but who am I to judge.' The hatter shrugged writing the measure on a notepad. 'Now, how many hats or caps do you wish to custom?' He asked me.
'Well, I would like from one to two hats depending on how you see it for in each pair of outfits of the children.' I showed the hatter the each outfit paired with each type of ocassion (home, school, church, work, and pijama).
The eyes of the hatter lightes up and smiled brightly. 'Of course, my lady, it will be my pleasure!.' He checked out the attire that Lucien was wearing now and took notes. 'Can I see the other outfits?' He asked.
I brought them and displacer them on the table, and let the hatter take notes. After a minute of two, the hatter was done. 'Very well.' He then changed of paper to a smaller paper and gave me one piece of the smaller paper with something written on. 'This is the date for your return, I am still waiting for more material to come as you can see, as I just opened this new store in this now town, which is why I am hoping you come by on this date and I promise I'll have the first one or two hats ready.' He promised.
I checked the date and nodded. 'Deal.' I streched hands with him and I gave him about 2 silvers in advance, and took Lucien's outfits and Lucien with me who bid the hatter goodbye with the hand and left with me with his eyes staring the ground.
As we got out, I sighed in relief, but still determined. 'Don't scream victory just yet, we still have to go to the show maker~~.' I reminded him.
His expression went from "finally done," to "again?! Really?!"
'The good news is, I do not like the idea of dealing win shoes THAT long.' I told him as I took him up the cart. 'So, unlike clothes and hats, you'll only get two pairs of shoes: boots for winter and normal shoes for summer.' I told him and I gave him a serious look. 'And I expect you to take care of both of them, because if you think clothes and hats are expensive, shoes are like FIVE times more expensive.'
Lucien gulped down. 'W-Why?' He asked.
'Because unlike clothes and hats that have more versatile and strong materials, I personally like to make my money worth on shoes that can last a LONG time, so the shoes not only will be biggest expense yet to do, but also, the one that I am really hoping they last for a long time while you grow.' I explained my reasons as I put the stroller in the cart and the girls on my front and back. 'If you lose them or break them, you'll have to pay your own shoes next time. Got it?' I turned to see him and out my hand on my hips.
Lucien nodded with extreme speed and straightened himself up. 'Y-Yes mam!'
'Good, let's go.' I jumped on the cart and made my horses keep going towards the local school.
. . .
At the shoe maker. . .
The shoe maker quickly took the child's measurements. 'Would lady baker want the shoes to be at least half a feet bigger to make sure the child does not need new shoes?' He asked.
'Make it two thirds.' I requested. 'He'll grow into them eventually after all.' I shrugged.
The shoe maker nodded and then showed us two pairs of footwear.
The winter footwear is a pair of black boots that would go all the way to the knee, made of soft tanned leader on the outside, and lined with dense cotton on the inside. As for the summer footwear, the shoe maker showed us a pair of black shoes made of soft leather.
Lucien tried them on and walked around the store with both tupes of shoes each time. 'Both are comfortable, but they are a bit too big.' He said.
'Yes, but that is a non-issue because you'll eventually grow into them.' I told him as I took out my pouch and gave the money to the shoe maker. 'Thank you very much.'
'Do not worry, come back any time.' The show maker accepted the money smiling.
We then left, with Lucien using his new shoes.
We then followed on to go on to the school. . . Which was now pretty close by.
The school itself was the size of a small church (it probably was a small church, but got replaced and is now being reused as a school), and when we got there, there were children running around and playing like there was no tomorrow, but at the same time, they were not leaving the school grounds which was good.
I then saw what I could guess was the (new) teacher of the school, sitting in the glass and reading a book to the younger children.
'Excuse me!' I called out to the woman. 'Can I speak with the teacher?!' I asked as I hop out of the cart.
The woman looked up and stood up. She seemed to say something to the children and the children dispersed with the older ones. The woman then walked up quickly to me and greeted me. 'Hello, are you picking up any children?' She asked.
'More like I want to enroll a child to school, but I have some minor issues to discuss with you if that is fine.' I told her as I opened up the back of the cart to pull out the stroller.
'Em, am afraid that the school only accepts children from six years old and up.' The teacher clarified looking at the girls attached to me in my long scarf.
'Oh no! I'm not talking about them.' I chuckled and then looked up the cart. 'Lucien! Come on!'
Lucien made some effort to show his face, for the weather was turning warmer and the clouds were leaving, letting the sun shine to us all. . . 'H-Here.' He said a bit weakly.
The teacher walked up to where I was and saw Lucien. 'Hmmm. . . Is this the child?' She asked.
'Yes.' I confirmed picking Lucien and settling him down in the floor. 'I apologize for bringing all of my children, but I did not had anyone on call to babysit them.' I apologized as I picked Liam off the cart and settling him down.
'Oh no no no! It is completely fine.' The teacher reassured me. 'I was only confused by who you wanted to enroll here.' She told me. 'There have been a few mothers who tried to enroll their children "early," mostly women of higher status.' The teacher sighed heavily remembering those days and rolling her eyes a little. 'We even had to call the mayor for him to settle things down.'
'Yiiiikes.' I shrunk in my place. 'Well, good news is, my boy Lucien here is already around six years and a half, so he's pretty much in school-age.' I put my hands on Lucien's shoulders with a small laugh.
'I see.' The teacher looked down at the child, but not with malice, but with a strict yet soft demeanor. 'Hello little one, I am Miss Agatha Whiteford, but you may call me Miss Whiteford.' She gave her hand to Lucien, who straightened himself up and shook her hand.
Miss Whiteford quickly saw the extremely pale hand of Lucien (who was still using under the cloak he wearing), and frowned. 'Why are you so pale?' She asked a bit worried.
The child used his free hand show his beautiful pale and delicate face along with the red eyes which clearly showed what exactly he had. 'I am an albino.' He responded.
Miss Whiteford looked surprised. 'Oh wow. . . Such a peculiar child.' She straightened herself up, most likely being the first albino she ever met in her life. 'I heard albinos often have trouble in the sunlight, shall we head inside just in case?' She offered to take us inside the school.
'Oh, yes please.' I agreed and took the baby stroller already ready and put my baby girls alongside Liam.
'Can I go inside too?' Lucien asked seeing that the toddlers had shade in the stroller.
'Unfortunately, you are already too big for the stroller Lucien.' I told him smiling sadly. 'But I promise you to get you an umbrella after this.' I promised him as we followed the teacher into the school.
Lucien frowned. 'What's an umbrella?' He asked.
'Is an object that protects you from the rain and the sun.' I told him.
'Oh. . . Okay.' Lucien nodded in agreement.
We entered the school, which was as big as a barn. The school itself was full of desks with chairs for children and a big desk at the left side on the opposite side of the entrace for the teacher.
There were three windows on each wall, which was not of the liking to Lucien, but fortunately, there were curtains and the teacher did us the favor closing each one of them to give us shade.
Miss Whiteford then brought out two benches for me and Lucien to sit on. 'Let's get on with business shall we?' She proposed bringing out the papers necessary for me to sign. 'Since it is November already I have to ask, are you sure you want him to start school now, or until next year?' She questioned.
I thought about it. 'Personally, I would like him to start school as soon as possible, but I also understand that it might be difficult for him to catch up.' I told her. 'Therefore, I would like to officially enroll him to this school and let him try it out for the first few weeks, but, if you see that does not seem to be able to handle the schedule, the routine, or the kids are just being mean to him, please let me know so I can try homeschool instead.'
Lucien was about to open his mouth.
'No Lucien, I want you to try to learn and get new friends the normal way before trying homeschool and tutoring.' I responded to his unspoken question without even looking at him.
Lucien then shut his mouth. Liam giggled at that.
Miss Whiteford smiled. 'I see. In that case, you just need to sign these and he can start school next week.' She said giving me some papers. 'As for the school supplies, we have some paper and crayons here, but if you want to get your own things that is just fine.' She let me know. 'As for school clothing, while you do not need to come formal, you might want to bring your child to school in a good set of clothes to avoid. . . Prejudice.'
'I am aware, and I already got Lucien his school clothes as you can see.' I pointed to the clothes he was wearing right now. 'As for the school supplies, I would rather get him his own supplies so he does not need to fight for the school supplies with other children.' I told the teacher.
'Do children fight all the time?' Lucien asked weirded out.
'Not all the time, but there's definetely some fights here and there.' Miss Whiteford confirmed. 'There is a trio of boys who always try to bully other smaller children into doing what they want. . . I've been trying to set them straight, but. . . With two of them coming from "rich families" and the third one even being a low noble. . .' She took a deep sigh. 'It is best if you keep yourself away from their sight.' She adviced.
That might be difficult with Lucien's appearance. I pursed my lips knowing full well that, while adult's attention towards Lucien's have been curious and mostly positive. . . Children's attention can be the opposite. . . Or far worse. I can only hope the children will be "horrible enough" to just give Lucien the cold shoulder and not to try anything else. . . I hoped as I signed the papers and gave a side smile to Lucien to reassure her.
Lucien frowned at what the teacher was saying but nodded understanding.
Once I finished signing the papers, I gave them to Miss Whiteford, who she then gave me a paper with the necessary school supplies. 'Because Lucien is just starting school, the school supplies shall be also basic.' She let me know. 'Do you need anything else?'
'Em. . . Did I already let you know about Lucien's garlic allergy and sun sensitivity?' I asked her.
'Em. . . The sun yes, it is practically really noticeable, but I was not aware of the garlic allergy.' Miss Whiteford pointed out.
'Oh yes, em. . .' I became a bit nervous at that. 'You see, do you have those kid's who are allergic to peanuts?' I asked.
'We have one of them, yes.' Mss Whiteford nodded.
'Well, imagine the same symptoms of intoxication. . . But with garlic, and onions.' I told her.
Miss Whiteford's eyes went wide. 'Oh dear. . . In that case, I highly discourage of Lucien accepting lunch from others.' She told both Lucien and me. 'For most children do tend to have garlic at home and probably eat them as well.'
Lucien gulped down. 'Em. . . It is only when I eat them, not when I touch it.' He added.
'Yes, but an allergy effects can become stronger or weaker as time passes, but if you are hoping to get your allergies weaker, that is something you should not even think about trying to do until you are older.' Miss Whiteford told him.
'How older?' Lucien asked.
'To try and outgrow your allergy?' Miss Whiteford asked and thought about it for a moment. 'I suggest giving it a try when you are officially an adult.' She determined.
'Ahhh?.' Lucien expressed confusion.
'I agree.' I expressed agreement with the teacher.
'Aahhhh?!' Lucien expressed both confusion and betrayal.
'Welcome to my world.' Liam muttered under his breath.
The teacher and I giggled at that.
After a few more minutes of talking about what Miss Whiteford will be teaching and what should I tutor Lucien in before starting school, the baby girls' started to get fussy and I decided to end the meeting because. . . Well, I did not wanted to change diapers outside of my home.
As walked out, Miss Whiteford pulled out a bell, which was much prettier and never than the one I had and started to ring it.
Immediately, all the children started to fun back to the school at full force.
'Doesn't the school have it's own bell tower?' I asked pointing to the bell tower on top of the school
'Yes, but the bell is broken and there's no welder in town.' Miss Whiteford sighed. 'I had to get this one from a miscellaneous store.'
'Oh, but there is a welder.' I informed her.
Miss Whiteford turned to see me. 'Really?'
'Yeah, his name is Finn Calloway and he lives in the mini houses close to the Spice Delight's restaurant.' I pointed in the direction of the restaurant. 'You just have to let the guard know who you are looking for and if the person is home, they'll let you meet him right away.' I informed her. 'In fact, I also had a dented bell and he was able to fix it really well, and he seems open to negotiation so I am pretty sure he won't say no to a job.'
'Oh that's amazing!' Miss Whiteford smiled. 'I'll make sure to pay them a visit.' She promised.
'Good, anyway see you later!' I said my goodbyes and brought my children through the crowd of children who ran to get inside.
Some children who were coming to the opposite direction as us, seemed to stare at both Liam and Lucien. Liam probably because he already got a reputation of being the "elf-human toddler" who makes cute magic tricks; Lucien on the other hand, with his cloak covering him most of his body and by default his face in plain sun, he received some stares that were far from discreet. . .
But even I could not understand what they were staring at Lucien for.
'Look! There it is the "elf-human!" Hi!' Some kids' waved hi to Liam, who greeted back with a huge sunny smile and we passed by.
'Is he sick or something? Most probably. . . I think he's staring at my soul . . Why is he too dresses up? In December maybe, but in November?' Some children were whispering and staring at Lucien too much.
'Awwww, cute babies! Awwww! Awwww~~~. . . How cute!' A group of girls cooed at my baby girls who smiled at that.
I soon got us to the cart and took my children up the cart, untied the horses and hop on the cart to the leave the school grounds.
As we traveled back home, I went all the stores that offered school supplies. Not to buy anything right now (we were all exhausted), but I wanted to make a list of both quality, quantity and price to have in mind the best options for Lucien's school days.
Once we finally arrived home, I set all the children for a nap and then went to do some paperwork while they rested.