It took three years of arguing for the Patrons to accept the number zero. Soon after, Luke would bring up something that I had wondered about, but didn’t press Father on.

When Father was ending the day’s lesson on history and was going to move on to another subject Luke raised his hand “Teacher.”

“Yes, son of Atticus.” Said Father.

“There is an area of study I have been curious about. When we would begin our lessons on amulets?” he asked.

“Amulets? Tell me what you know of amulets, Luke,” Father ordered.

“Last summer, my father had commissioned a sculpture for our garden,” Luke explained. “The heat was incredible. I was constantly sweating despite the servants fanning me. The sculptor, on the other hand, was in direct sunlight and didn’t sweat a drop! I asked my father how this could be, and he said it was due the sculptor’s amulet.”

“What else did he tell you?” Father inquired.

“That was all,” insisted Luke. “That’s why I want to know more.”

Father raised his eyebrows. “That is surprising, considering it was your father, Atticus, who made the discovery,” he said.

Luke shrugged. “He said teaching was your job,” he replied.

“The creation of amulets – or Nomos, as the practice is called – is a relatively new discipline,” Dad told the class. “It was first discovered around thirty-five years ago, so there is still much to be learned about it. Despite this, does everyone want to learn what little we know?”

“Yes!” said everyone, including myself.

“Very well,” Father said. “Teaching Nomos will require demonstration and preparation, so it is not something that can be done today. The remainder of our time will be spent on what I call ‘education of the body’. You will all follow me – except you Philena. I’m sure your mother has things she still wants to teach you.”

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I crossed to the other side of the house where Mother was instructing the daughters of the Patrons in weaving. She gave me a small nod of acknowledgement as I took my place at a loom.

“Could you pay attention, Id?” chided Eth.

“Why should I?” complained Id. “Making cloth bores me, and only one of us needs to pay attention anyway.”

“What are you going to do instead?” I asked.

“I am going to see what Father meant by ‘education of the body’,” she said wickedly, “since it seems he doesn’t want us to know it.”

“If he doesn’t want us to know it then you shouldn’t look,” admonished Eth. They both looked to me to resolve the issue.

“If Father didn’t want us to know then he would have said so explicitly,” I reasoned. “He knows what we can do. Our lack of inclusion likely means it is something that isn’t necessary for us.” I added to Id, “You may look. I’m sure it innocuous.”

Id had been quiet for several minutes when she finally said, “What sort of teaching implements are those?”

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Father has led the boys to a building that has lots of objects in it,” she told us, “but I’m not sure how they are meant to learn anything here.”

“Show me what is happening,” I commanded.

Id’s vision was projected into the shared mind space, and indeed it was not obvious what lessons were meant to be taught in the new hall. There was a raised square platform that had a woven rope fence around its perimeter. Along one of the walls were racks that held objects with the general form of two disks connected with a bar, but the sizes of these disks varied greatly. One side of the building lacked a wall and was exposed to a rectangular field of well-cut grass with a circle of sand where the building and the field met.

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“This is most curious,” I said.

“Philena, are you listening to me?” came Mom’s voice. The other girls turn to look at me.

“Sorry. I was lost in thought,” I apologized aloud.

“I know you do not find weaving to be terribly interesting,” Mom said. “I didn’t at first either, but pay heed as you would your Father’s lessons. You will be expected to make your future husband’s clothes, and if you make them well, he will brag that his wife made them,” lectured Mother.

“Did you make Father’s clothes?” I asked.

“Yes, I did,” she told me proudly.

“Oh,” I said. “Well, you did a fine job.”

“Thank you,” she preened, mollified by the compliment. “Now, back to the loop stitch…”

I released Eth from her restraints. “You take over,” I told her. “I’ll study these strange lessons Father is about to teach.” I ceded control to Eth for the time being, confident in my ability to take it back after nine years of being in charge.

In Id’s projected image, the boys all had the top part of their togas removed. This left them bare-chested, which Id was enthralled to watch.

Father took two sets of the disk/bar combinations.

“These are called dumbbells,” he told the students. Id’s vision allowed me to hear his voice clearly in our mind. “They are used to build strength. You use them by changing their speed and direction. For example,” Father then held the two dumbbells in front of him with his arms straight and parallel to the ground. He then moved them quickly to his sides and abruptly stopped them so that he made a ‘T’ with his body. He then moved them straight in front of him again just as fast, stopping suddenly before they collided with each other.

“This exercise works this muscle.” He tapped the pectoral of Gregory’s chest, still holding the dumbbell.

“Now everyone, grab a pair and do it for yourself, but be sure not to hit one another.”

“I never noticed how good of a body Gregory has,” commented Id.

“I was wondering when you would start looking for a mate,” I noted.

“What is happening?” asked Eth, curious.

“Id is shopping for a husband,” I replied.

Eth saw the vision and was appalled. “For the love of all that is decent, stop looking at that!” she admonished.

“Absolutely not!” Id refused. “I am enjoying myself far too much.”

“I have yet to see why Father is doing this, so the vision will continue,” I decided, pulling my attention away from Gregory as he performed the exercise Dad had assigned.

After a few minutes of the boys moving the dumbbells, Evander – who I noticed had the smallest set – spoke up. “My chest is beginning to hurt,” he whined.

“Good,” said Father. “The more it hurts the stronger you will become.”

Evander stopped moving the dumbbells and said, “What is the point of this? We’re supposed to be learning from you.”

“There are several points to this,” Father told him. “First is the education of the body, second is health, third is virtue. Strength is a good in and of itself, and thus should be pursued as it is better to be strong than to be weak. Keeping the body strong will result in good health, which you will appreciate when you are older. There are both mental as well as physical masculine virtues that every man should cultivate; these feed into each other. Education in the mental aspects of masculinity will result in the physical ones flourishing, and vice versa. For example, having the virtue of self-discipline will inevitably lead to a strong body, and forcing yourself to obtain a strong body will result in self-discipline.”

“And why should I care about this?” Evander asked.

“Other than the fact that you are a young man?” Dad told him, “Your future wife is why you should care. Physical attraction is the result of the physical differences between men and women, while love is the result of the mental difference. The more masculine the man and the more feminine the woman, the greater the attraction and love there is.”

This seemed to have an impact, but Evander was still uncertain. “Teacher, Look at me. I’m not strong,” he said.

“That is no excuse to remain so,” chided Father.

“My time would be better spent actually learning,” argued Evander. “I understand why Gregory should be strong: his father is the General, so it is likely he will serve in the army. But would my time not be better spent cultivating wisdom?”

“Do you believe I am wise, son of Leander?” Father asked him.

“Well… yes,” Evander hedged. “Why else would you be our teacher?”

Father undid the pin holding the top part of his toga, letting it fall to the ground. His body appeared to have been chiseled from marble; his muscled bulged the way they did on the statues in the square. Then he flexed, and the muscles of his arms seemed to strain against his skin as though they might burst through.

“Do you see the flaw in your argument, or do I need to formally state it?” Father asked, smirking at the awed faces of his students.

This elicited laughter from the other students, and they picked up their dumbbells with renewed vigor.