She opened the other door, which led to the most amazing room I had ever seen. The marble floor and walls were striped black and white, and at the far end of the room the floor dipped into a trench with gratings underneath it. Above that were metal nozzles projecting from the wall. Maia shrugged out of her kiton and stood naked before us. She pressed a metal switch in the wall and water began to jet from the nozzles. “This is a wash-fountain,” she explained. “It is to cleanse you. Come on.”
We moved forward hesitantly. The water was cold, pleasant on a hot afternoon. “Take soap,” Maia instructed, showing us another switch and putting her hand underneath a jet that provided a single gush of liquid soap when she pressed it. I had never encountered soap before. It felt strange on my palm. Maia showed us how to wash with the soap and how it lathered up in the water, she showed us how to wash our hair under the jets. “There is no shortage of water, but you should not be wasteful of the soap,” she said.
“It smells of hyssop,” said the girl who had noticed the hyssop outside.
Then Maia showed us the four cubicles at the other end of the room, each of which contained a latrine-fountain—a marble seat, with a lever to pull to summon water to carry away our wastes. “There are four latrine-fountains for the seven of you. Be reasonable in taking turns,” she said. “Tomorrow I will teach you how to clean yourselves with oil and a scraper.”
I was becoming numb with marvels when she led us back into the bedroom. “There is a bed here for each of you.” She turned to the dark-skinned girl. “What is your name?”
“They said I was to be called Andromeda,” she said.
“That’s a wonderful name,” Maia said, enthusiastically. “Andromeda, because you spoke first and noticed the hyssop, for now you will be the watcher for Hyssop house. You will have this bed by the door, and you will come for me if you need me—I will show you where I live. You will be in charge of the house when I am not here, and you will take note and answer for the conduct of the others. The rest of you choose beds now.”
We looked at each other. We had been splashing comfortably together in the wash-fountain, but now we were shy. I took a hesitant step towards a bed, in the inner corner. The other girls sorted themselves out with no squabbling—though two girls ran for the other corner bed, the girl who got there second retreated and took the next bed. “Now open your chests,” Maia said. We did so. Inside were two undyed blankets, one linen and one wool. “Dry yourselves on one.” I took out the wool blanket and dried myself. “Now put that one on the bed to dry. Take out the other.” She picked up her kiton and shook it. “This is how you wear it.” She demonstrated. It was much harder than it looked, especially making the folds. It took some of us a long time to develop the skill of tucking it in—a thing that is second nature now, but was difficult that first day. Maia gave each of us a leather belt and a plain iron pin to fasten our kitons. “These will change,” she said, but did not explain further.
“The other blanket is your cloak,” she said, and showed us how to fold the cloaks. “You won’t need it before winter. They are also your blankets and towels, as you have seen.”
“They are ours?” one of the girls asked, touching the pin. “Ours to keep?”
“Yours to use,” Maia said.
“Who is our master?” Andromeda asked. “You?”
“You must obey all the masters, but you are not slaves,” Maia said. “Ficino will explain later. Come on now. It is time to eat.”
We were all dressed, and none of our kitons were actually falling off. Maia led us to our dining hall. “Our dining hall is called Florentia,” she said. “A sleeping house is a small thing, though each has a name and a flower, and you might want to embroider hyssop on your kiton later, if you care to. But a dining hall is a very important matter. Each of them seats seventy people, mixed boys and girls, and each of them is named for one of the great cities of civilization.”
“How many eating halls are there?” I asked.
“One hundred and forty-four,” Maia answered at once.
I calculated in my head. “So there are ten thousand and eighty of us?”
“You’re quick with numbers! What is your name?”
“Simmea,” I said.
She smiled. “Another wonderful name. Well, Simmea, yes, there will be ten thousand and eighty of you, twelve tribes, a hundred and forty-four dining halls. And you will all learn about the cities of your dining halls and take pride in their accomplishments.”
“And is Florentia a great city?” Andromeda asked. “I never heard of it.”
“You will hear about it soon,” Maia promised.
The dining hall was immense. It was built of stone, not marble, and it had narrow windows and a twisting tower rising from one corner. Inside it had a courtyard with a fountain, and stairs leading up to a big room with a great cacophony of children sitting on benches drawn up at tables. I was glad to spot Ficino and Kebes sitting eating among the others. They were both wearing kitons, but Ficino kept on his red hat.
Maia found us places, all together at one of the tables. Kebes saw me and waved a hand as I sat down. “We all take turns serving,” Maia explained. I was hungry. A boy brought out trays of food and set them down where we could help ourselves. The food was amazing—it was bread and fresh cheese with olives, artichokes, cucumbers, and olive oil, with fresh clean water to drink. That first night I remember we had a delicious buttery ham that seemed to melt on my tongue.
It was when I was eating the ham that I looked up and saw the paintings. On all the walls of the room hung paintings, ten of them, all of mythological scenes, and nine of them painted with a wonderful delicacy of imagination that made me stare and stare. I did not see all ten that night, only the one on the opposite wall, which showed an old man with a long beard shaking snow from his cloak while beautiful young women danced around a frozen fountain and a wolf gnawed at a bundle dropped by a fleeing hunter. I had never seen snow before, but that was not why I couldn’t stop staring.
“You’re not eating, Simmea,” Maia said after a time. I realised I was sitting there with ham in my mouth and not chewing.
“I’m sorry,” I said, closing my mouth and swallowing. “But the painting! Who did it? What is it?”
“Sandro Botticelli did it, in Florence. Florentia,” she corrected herself at once. “It’s Winter. It’s part of a set. Summer and Autumn are here too.”
“Not Spring?”
“Spring is in the original Florentia,” she said. “But I can show you a reproduction one day, if you like it.”
“Like it? Of all the wonders here it is the most wonderful,” I said. I had seen paintings before. There were two ikons in the church at home, one of the Virgin and one of Christ crucified. Botticelli left them in the dust.
After dinner we went off to bed. It turned out that there was a glowing beam in Hyssop House, which gave us enough light to use the latrine-fountains and then undress and get into bed. Maia showed Andromeda how to turn it off, using a switch near the door. I curled up under my two blankets and slept. The next morning Andromeda woke us, and we cleaned ourselves again in the wash-fountains before going back to the dining hall. There were even more children present, though the hall was not full. I saw Maia was sitting with a another group of girls who were staring around, amazed. We were served a porridge made of nuts and grains, and there was as much fruit as we wanted. I had seated myself where I could see Botticelli’s Autumn as I ate, and I kept looking up at the rich leaf-colors and half-hidden faces.
At the end of the meal Ficino stood up, and after considerable hushing we all fell silent. “You are all gathered now, my little Florentines, ten sleeping houses gathered into this dining hall. You came from many different places, many different families. But now you are here in the city, and you are all brothers and sisters. Let your old life be to you like a dream on waking. Shake it off, as if you had come here fresh from Lethe. Imagine you had been sleeping in the soil of this island and dreaming all you remember, and that your life begins here and now. When you were under the soil the metals of the Earth mixed in you, so that you are all a mixture of iron and bronze and silver and gold. Soon you will learn which metals are uppermost in you, and what you are good for. Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent.”