To hell and back

The first day as a maid

My first day was quite... uneventful?

Sara, the sweet creature that she was, did her best to show me the ropes and all that, but I was not really interested in what way the young mistress liked her tea, as well as other meaningless things she thought were important for me to know. But still, I played nice and listened to her carefully and showed my best paying attention face I had. It looked like it worked, as she seemed happy and even proud that she taught me so much.

Ah, and the way she blushed when I asked her questions or to show something again. The temptation to seduce her was still there, and I was sure that at one point or another I would break and do it, but I could only hope it would happen at the end of my stay or something, because I had no wish to deal with all the drama that comes with deflowering young girls.

Still, young Sara was a great distraction in this otherwise kinda boring job.

As I expected, the young Birdy was a spoiled brat, but what else can you expect from the only child of a family this rich?

If I understood the gossip correctly, the family has strong family ties to the current king, making them the big thing of the social tone, as to why they had to return to the public eye soon before the gossip got out of hand. The current story that the family is sticking with is that Birdy got ill and needed time to recover, but the same excuse will not buy them more time than it already has in the past month. So, to my surprise, the first public event we will be attending will be in two days and, as the protector of the young lady from the dark arts (Petros' words, not mine), I will be attending alongside her. I was informed as well that the family was going to provide the attire for the evening, so I would not embarrass them as I would be introduced as a distant cousin.

As boring as the first day was, I was always surrounded by people and I did not get the chance to explore the kitchen or gather herbs. At night, as I was shown to the adjoining room to the young mistress, I contemplated on going to do it after everyone had gone to bed, but that felt a bit too risky. I had no wish to deal with Petros' raft so soon, not when I had yet to figure out the best way to play him yet. So, instead, I settled in my new room.

This was quite a step up from the last one I was put in.

It had a bed, a dresser and even a desk, not to mention a window. As we were on the second floor of the house, I had a clear view out to the fields behind the house as well as the sky. So tonight, instead of lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, I spent my night watching the night sky. It was making me feel almost sentimental, as this was one of the things I used to do a lot back in the dark kingdom, especially when I lived in the dark king castel. It was actually one of the reasons why I agreed to stay for all the time that I did. It was the only place that had at least a somewhat clear view of the night sky or the day sky. From my own house I could get glimpses of it through the thick clods that covered the sky.

But here... here I could see it all.

I could see the moon and the stars so clearly that I had to blink a few times to ger used to how bright it was.

In the window cell, I laid the blanket from the bed and did my best to curl up there. To my luck, the window was quite big, and so I had enough space to curl up and just stare at the bright sky of the night.

In the past, people who found out about my fascination with the night sky used to try to impress me with poetic lines, like lines of how it looked like diamonds or how far away they were, as well as how much they must have seen... but I never liked or connected to those descriptions because that was not the reason why I liked the night sky. It was not because of wish making either, back then and even now, I knew that the only person that could make my wishes come true was me and me alone, so making a request of a light in the sky felt silly.

Instead, there was this calmness about the night sky that drew me in.

Every time I look at it, I feel myself settle down and calm down. The calmness of the night seeped into me and into my soul, leaving me feeling a lot calmer and more centered.

As all good things, the night ended and the sun rose into the sky, making all the pretty stars hide.

I knew that it was time for me to move, so I started getting ready.

Like yesterday, I started by checking on the runes carved into my side. There was slight bleeding, signaling to me that someone was using magic to look for me, but they were far enough that it was not really a threat to me. Which was to be expected, sure everyone was used to me disappearing for weeks, but currently it was over a month and even someone as self-centered as the dark king would notice that one of his toys was missing.

After redressing the rune, I then moved to the rash I got from the dress. Hmmm... would I be able to sway the young mistress to let me get a new uniform dress? Something that would not make me break out in rashes? It would be in their best interest, right? I need to be at my best to keep the young mistress safe.

As that thought crossed my mind, the adjoining door to the young mistress in question opened and the young girl stormed into the room.

"Good morning, miss Calli... what's that? What happened to you? Are you sick?"

The young girl was on me in moments with her cold hands brushing against the rough skin of my new lovely rash.

Well, I guess I can use the moment for my little plan of getting out of that cursed dress.

"Oh, it's nothing serious, my lady. Just the new uniform does not agree with my skin..."

I gave my most innocent and sad smile, hoping that the young lady would get the message... and she did.

"Well, that cannot be. I got a rash from a dress once and daddy had threatened the seamstress that made the dress with death if something like that happens again."

I can not say that I was surprised by something like that. Her father was so tingly wrapped around her finger that it's no surprise that he had this sort of reaction to something so simple and so out of the control of seamstress.

"Do not worry, I will talk with daddy, and we can ask the seamstress that is coming today to make you a new uniform as well as make you a dress for the ball tomorrow. Ahhh, miss Calli, you do cannot understand how excited I am for tomorrow. It has been such a boring month that I have almost gone mad with how bored I was. Mother forbade me from having anyone over or even going outside. All I could do is sit around the house and do nothing... it was total hell..."

This worked better than I expected, and I could barely hold the chuckle at the young girl's dramatic story.