For the next couple of weeks, Anya secretly and silently worked on her presentation, and as each day passed, the disappointment inside her grew. She really hoped she would be able to get to know her parents a bit better, and have them tell some of their story of their own free will, but as usual she had been shut out, only to be the lone carrier of all their secrets. The only stories she had to go on were the images and memories that she had briefly glimpsed through their years of living together, and she put them together in what she hoped was chronological order.
The day of the presentation arrived much faster than Anya, or anyone in her class, was prepared for. She clutched her handmade poster tightly as she watched the rest of her classmates file through the door with their stacks of materials. Some looked more nervous than others, and Anya's heart warmed when she saw Becky stride in, glowing with confidence.
"Anya!" she called, and made her way over to where Anya sat. "Check it out, I've managed to get all this information from my family going back five generations! Can you believe it? Look -"
Becky pulled Anya in closer, not noticing the grimace on her face.
"There's my Papa and his brother, my uncle, who was the first person in Ostania to own a private jet, and then there's my grand-pops who invented this cool kind of rifle to adopt to more bullets and then -"
Bullets and guns were cool, obviously, but still Anya couldn't help but put on a fake smile as she pretended to listen to Becky gush about her own family tree and their amazing accomplishments. Papa saved the world over and over again, but she couldn't tell anybody he was a spy! And Mama was an amazing bodyguard to people, and knew how to keep them safe, and again, Anya couldn't say a word of it to anyone. She had to lock it away inside her and throw away the key forever. It was so unfair.
A flash of black strode arrogantly through the door, and her eyes were drawn to him instantly.
His two lackeys were by his side, gushing to him as usual: "Damian-sama, I can't wait to hear more about your family and how impressive they all are!"
"Yeah they are cool… The Desmond line goes back a long way, and they have connections with all the people that really matter." She saw him glance her way so quickly, she might have imagined it. "We've got a list of our family tree going back eleven generations…"
Becky's ears must have picked this up while she was talking as she instantly whipped round to Damian. "Eleven? I have to say Desmond, while that's impressive, I bet they didn't do anything that impressive."
Damian looked as though he was about to retort, when Professor Henderson cleared his throat and called for the students to quieten down. "As you all know, today is the day that you will present your family line. Remember, you must mention at least three generations to get the higher marks."
The pit in Anya's stomach deepened, but she only gripped her pen tighter. She would do her best, because had no other choice.
Professor Henderson started to call the students down in alphabetical order, and one by one the students filed down. Their presentations were impressive, many people had pages and pages of photographs and notes. Becky was first of course, and she did give quite an impressive speech about her family's long line of accomplishments, mostly about military weapons of mass destruction, which she thought were cool in a distant kind of way. Anya managed to listen to most of it out of respect for her best friend, even though she struggled to squash down her envy.
Soon after came Damian Desmond: "My father is famous for being the leader of the National Unity Party, but he is also the CEO of the Desmond group, which is a collection of businesses all under his command. My mother, Melinda Desmond, is on the board for some of the projects, but mostly she spends her time at horse racing events. She is famous for her discerning eye, as she is especially interested in the strength and speed of horses and she sponsors several enhancement projects. My brother, Demetrius Desmond, is the heir of the Desmond group-"
He continued stoically, with a confident voice that projected right to the back of the class, but Anya couldn't help but feel a darkness in him as he spoke. A thought came through: I'm only the second son, so how will I ever be as important as him?
Anya started. From the outside, Damian looked as though he held himself with his shoulders high, and his voice clear and confident, but she definitely heard it. She heard his doubt, his insecurity. How could she have forgotten?
Then when it was Emile's and Ewen's turns, both spoke proudly about their status as heirs, during which Anya subtly turned her attention to Damian. At the word 'heirs', his eyes soured - just a fraction, but she saw it all the same. She knew she was selfish, but a part of her was secretly glad that she wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable about this assignment.
The next few students passed in a blur, and suddenly -
"Anya Forger."
"Huh?" Anya blinked as she was pulled out of her reverie, only to see Professor Henderson looking at her expectantly, along with the rest of the class.
Anya gulped, belatedly realising that it was her turn to present. "Oh! I'll just be a second, hold on…"
She gathered up her papers and materials, and bravely marched to the front. Her skin prickled with sweat as she tried not to think of all the eyes watching her. At the front of the class, she swore that the temperature had risen significantly.
"Hi everyone, um…" Gulp. "M-my name is Anya Forger." She peeled the first picture from her pile and stuck it in the centre of the blackboard. "I'm the daughter of Yor Forger and Loid Forger," with each name, she peeled another photo from her stack and stuck them onto the board just above her own picture. "When they work together they are a great team, and I've learned a lot from them as parents."
But I'm not really their daughter.
"My mama was born Yor Briar, and she is insanely strong! She trained really hard all her life, because when she was a little girl her parents died, and she took up a job that required insane physical strength just so she could earn enough money to also support her younger brother. She raised him all by herself, and even sacrificed being able to go to school so that she could make sure he got what he needed to succeed. Now she works at city hall."
And is a skilled and dangerous assassin!
Another picture went on the blackboard. "This is my Uncle Yuri. He works for national security and helps keep our country safe."
As part of the Secret Police!
"This is my papa, Loid Forger," said Anya, pointing to his picture. Although I don't actually know what his real name is. "His parents also died in the war when he was a child, and he was forced to survive on the streets for a while by himself. He was extremely resourceful, and often stole office supplies from the Westalian ambassador's offices and sold them on the streets in Berlint. The people bought from him because there were no shops open, and they felt happy that there was something they could buy.
"When he looked old enough, he lied about his age to get into the army and serve as a soldier, and he rose through the ranks but he hated everything he saw and felt that war was too cruel. When the war ended, he decided to be a psychiatrist so that he could help people recover from their traumas."
Loid had never told her any of this himself, of course, but over the years she had seen enough of his memories that she had managed to piece some of it together. She carefully skimmed over the parts where he was recruited by WISE to become a successful spy.
"All of his friends died in the war, but he found a new friend - Uncle Franky." Anya carefully taped his picture next to Loid's. "Uncle Franky runs a shop near our house, and he makes really funny jokes and comes round for dinner all the time." And he is my papa's informant for being a spy!
Then, she put up a picture of her dog. "This is Bond." He can see the future. "He is a good dog, and a best friend."
Anya paused there, and took a deep breath. As she did so, she glanced at her classmates in front of her.
Everyone was listening. Even worse, she noted, some of them had tears in their eyes, but Anya couldn't let herself get caught up with them. There was more that she had prepared, more that she wanted to say, but suddenly it all got stuck in her throat. Pushing her feelings down, she stuck out her chin proudly.
"And that's it!"
A ripple of confusion, then shock, passed through the class.
"Wait, that's it?"
"It's so small!"
"What about cousins?"
"Godparents?"
A hopeful voice from the back: "Second cousins once removed?"
She stood proud, but she bit her lips to hide them trembling. A dark shape moved in the back of the class caught her eye and Anya glanced quickly at Damian Desmond.
He stared at her, his eyes full of sorrow, and a quiet understanding. For the first time in her life, Anya wondered if he might be reading her mind. She shook the thought out of her head.
Then, she glanced at Professor Henderson, and her breath caught once more.
"Miss Forger, do you know anything about your grandparents at all?" He said with kind eyes. "Even if it's just a little bit…"
She could tell he was trying to give her a chance. She was at such a disadvantage compared to the rest of the pupils considering her commoner status - after all, how many ordinary families actually kept track of their ancestors beyond the nuclear unit, especially after being in a war? They would have lost birth certificates, marriage licences, address books, countless documents and paperwork that proved people existed and allowed them to find each other. If they were already rich, they might have found a way to avoid being drafted - which was likely, if her classmates' presentations were anything to go by.
Anya shook her head no. "Because my parents were orphaned at such a young age-" her throat constricted at the word 'orphan' - "they find it difficult to talk about their parents at all, so I don't know anything."
At the sad look in Professor Henderson's eyes, Anya felt a wave of energy rush through her. She had prepared more to say, and she wasn't going to let all that work go to waste!
"But there's another kind of generation - the next generation. When I have children, I will tell them stories about how brave their grandparents are, and tell them all the stories of their resilience, strength, resourcefulness, and I will show them that if you work hard you can achieve anything! I will strive to teach them to have compassion and try to understand others' no matter what part of society they come from. My children will grow up in a time of peace, and be lucky that they have parents that love them, and they can have as many dogs as they like. If I get married to someone who has enough money, they might even be able to go to Eden, too! And then they will have the best education to give them another advantage in life that their ancestors didn't get to have!"
For one moment, the other pupils were silently impressed. Even Damian regarded her with a look of… awe? And something similar to hope. His face had gone quite red, but there was a warmth and shine in his eyes that made Anya's insides wriggle.
"Hey!" Called Grace Fein. "You can't talk about a generation that doesn't exist yet! That's cheating!"
"This is not a participatory presentation-" started Professor Henderson, but Anya burst out with an impassioned cry:
"I might not come from a long line of Forgers, but how many of you can say you know who the first of your line is? My Papa didn't just lose his family in the war, he lost his name when he became a soldier - my Papa chose the name Forger for his new life, and wanted to help create a world that was good for everyone!"
And finally, her emotions rose up from within and spilled out of her: "This 'three generations' bullshit is a complete waste of time, and only perpetuates socioeconomic inequality between the students in this school!"
As one, the class held their breath.
Professor Henderson raised an impressed eyebrow. "Language, Miss Forger." Incredible! She said exactly what I was thinking about this assignment!
Anya stiffened. What had she just done? Her face flushed with horror at the realisation that not only had she just sworn in a presentation in front of her entire class, but she had just yelled at another student! She would absolutely get a Tonitrus Bolt for this, and when she did, there was no way she would be able to face her Papa ever again!
Her eyes pricked with the effort of holding tears back as she turned from her classmates, and quickly left the classroom. It was all just too much. She needed some time to herself.
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Hi friends! Thank you for reading this far. I had a lot of fun writing Anya's presentation, and I thought it was important to show just how much she is holding back.
I filled it in a little bit with a story about my own grandma who grew up in communist Poland WW2. She lived on the streets as a child and broke into German offices to steal white and brown envelopes, which she sold on the street. I wanted to incorporate that story of hers here because I feel like Loid would have the same resourcefulness and drive to survive. Incidentally, she also lost all her documents in the war, so doesnt know how old she really is. I wanted to reflect some of that here, because we tend to think that war causes big problems when actually some of the smaller problems can have big ripples down the line.
The next chapter will show bit more 1:1 Damianya, and a well-deserved heart-to-heart 3 coming soon, so stay tuned!