Aisha took no time at all to return to the classroom and once she was in she went to her desk and sat down quietly. The teacher, Trencino, was at his desk sorting out some papers. From her desk, she thought they looked like small maps of Italy and southern Europe. Well, it was going to be Social Studies so maybe they would be learning map reading. It was a skill she already acquired through her training with Kenichi and the others so this would be a piece of cake. Slowly but surely the other kids came into class and once everyone was seated, Trencino looked to them and said with his usual smile.
"Alright class, now that we're all back and ready to learn let's review what we've been learning for the past couple of days." He seemed to regard the whole class before falling on the boy Anthony. "Anthony, why don't you tell us where we left off." Anthony seemed to be one of the smarter kids since he stood up and said with confidence in his voice. "We were learning about the Renaissance, and how at that time Italy wasn't together like it is today." Trencino nodded his head and said with a smile. "That's correct Anthony, good work. Italy in the fifteenth century was split into multiple different territories and these territories were all ruled by different people. It's not like today where Italy is a single country."
Aisha knew this much from her studies but she was at least interested in this topic since it was something relatively new to her. She had read books about the history of Italy and remembered them thanks to her memory but learning about it first hand is a lot different from reading it alone from a book. While she was thinking about how interesting the topic was, Trencino had returned to his desk and retrieved the paper maps from before. Before he handed them out, he said. "Now then, I have a fun assignment for all of you. Inside your desks are some colored pencils and the map that I'm passing out shows the different territories of Italy back then. You'll recognize some of the names, I'm sure. Your assignment is to read the list on the bottom of the paper and give each territory its respective color."
This caught Aisha by surprise. They were going from learning about the different territories to a coloring assignment! She completely forgot that this was first grade for a moment since the topic had been so interesting but she knew her fun would come to an end. She tried to make herself feel better by telling herself that she could still learn the names of the territories off the map, and even their various territories. Trencino passed out the maps and once hers was on her desk, she looked at it. The territories were all there: The Republic of Florence, the Republic of Siena, the Papal States, the Kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, Corsica, and even some of lower Europe such as Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. She never knew there were so many territories back then. After each name of the territory there was a number and in the legend each number was assigned a color so she at least knew how to color each territory.
It didn't take long before all of the children were opening up their desks and pulling out the crayons that were stored, along with the other supplies for school. Pulling out a box of her own crayons, Aisha grumbled a little bit before starting on her work. She had been expecting something fun and interesting like map reading but it turned out a lot differently than she expected. While the children worked on their individual assignments, Trencino walked up and down the aisles, checking each child's paper and correcting them when necessary. After he made sure they all understood how to work, he smiled and said to them all.
"Did you know class, that Italy was divided for a very long time. In fact, it wasn't until around 1815 that the push for true unification started. The process was well on its way long before that though. Between 1494 and 1796, there was a large change in the individual countries. For example, if you look on your maps, do you see the two countries called the Republic of Florence and the Republic of Siena? Over time, the two merged together and became the Grand Dutchy of Tuscany. The Kingdom of Naples also merged with Sicily, creating the Kingdom of Sicily. Over even more time, the Kingdom of Sicily remained the same size but to the north, the Republic of Venice merged with its nearby neighbors and became the Kingdom of Italy."
He seemed to pause for a moment to catch his breath before continuing with his personal lesson. "Over time more and more of Italy was unified, but there were always those who thought that remaining separate was best, and they fought long and hard. The fates were against them however, and a little after World War One all of Italy was unified. Now even today there are those who believe that Italy should have remained separate, and though most are peaceful protesters, there are some who take more..extreme measures."
As Aisha looked at Trencino, she could have sworn that there was a flash of emotion in his eyes when he talked about those who still believe Italy should be separate. Could there be something in that or was she just seeing things? She would have to investigate to learn more. Raising her hand up, Trencino called on her to ask her question. Looking curious, she asked.
"What do you believe Mr. Trencino? Do you think Italy should be separate?" She hoped that he wouldn't be suspicious, and it seemed her 'innocent' question paid off because he was definitely thinking about his answer seriously. When he was ready to answer, he said with a smile. "I think that it would be pretty interesting to see a separate Italy, but I don't think it's really something that will happen any time soon, if ever."
Bingo. Aisha definitely thought that she found the motive behind the Blue Phoenix faction and she would have to tell Kenichi about this as soon as he picked her up after school. Smiling and looking satisfied with his answer, she giggled some before bringing her attention back to her work. The class was silent for the rest of the period and Aisha was almost disappointed when she colored in the last portion of the map. She had been lost in her coloring and the quality was definitely nice, with the colors all within the lines. Time passes quickly when you're having fun so once the bell rang, signaling the final period of the day, she turned in her assignment and took her seat for Science class.