The Prince's Mate

A hungry woman

"I already told you to not call me that, simply addressing me as Cecelia is enough." She sat up and looked at the elf, and then at the items in her hands. "What's all this?" She asked, and Lifa tilted her head to the side in confusion as she looked down at the basin of water and the cloth on her arm as well as several other things she thought would be normal.

"I beg your pardon?" Lifa asked, visibly confused at Cecelia's reaction.

"I'm not a baby, I don't need you to usher me out of bed, you explained a lot of things last night, but that still doesn't mean I'm going to take advantage of the fact that you're supposed to wait on me all the time," She rolled to the side and jumped to her feet making Lifa take a step back out of courtesy. "On that same subject, what happened last night anyway?" Cecelia asked and suddenly Lifa had a blush on her face as she thought about what she had done, she'd secretly cast a small spell to make Cecelia have only a vague sense but no definitive memory of the vents that transpired the night before so that way she could work her way closer to her, it wasn't out of Ill intent though; she was simply making sure that Cecelia never left or replaced her, it was something that all servants did on their first stay with their respected superiors. She'd been a servant for over a hundred years of her life already and so she was more than skilled in the art.

"Oh, it seems you really were overwhelmed with fatigue, I basically carried you to your bed," Lifa spoke the truth without revealing the cause. "Are you well?" She asked Cecelia as she reached out her closed fist and opened it revealing a small vial. "This is to quench whatever headache you might be having and properly awaken you, there is much to do today." She added as she extended the vial to Cecelia, but the latter looked at it in slight disgust and held up her hands.

"I'm fine as I am." She responded and then walked off toward what she thought was the bathroom, but opening the double doors Cecelia had a deadpan as she had instead entered the closet space. "Where's the bathroom?" She looked at the elf who stood still at the bed and smiled. "Come on I'm gonna pee on the floor if you keep taking this long to tell me stuff." Cecelia looked over to the other doors when the elf remained silent and walked over to it, but again she was wrong and opened the washroom from the night before that had been drained of water and cleaned. "Shit." She bit her lips and looked to the last two doors, one small door with a silver knob and the other was like the other two she had opened already, so she headed for the golden door like a lunatic and kicked it open then rushed over to the surprisingly modern-looking toilet.

"Do you need assistance lady Cecelia?" Lifa called to her from the bedroom as she slowly walked back out after a few minutes of reflecting on all she'd seen since the night before, it was a lot to take in though and she was far more exhausted from thinking about it than she had been about anything else, her future was so uncertain now that it left her in constant wonder, nothing that was happening around her was of her consent and it was a migraine to even think about it all.

"f**k off," Cecelia shot back as she stopped at the closet and sighed then watched slightly surprised as Lifa gave a small bow and began excusing herself gracefully. "Actually," She scratched her head and sighed. "forget I said that, I do need your help, I don't have a single clue what I'm supposed to be doing right now, and I don't have the slightest idea what my role is going to do or cause, I need educating." She admitted as she thought about all she heard from the previous night again.

A concubine; she scoffed at the thought but it was actually happening, she'd woken up hoping that it had been a nightmare, but as it was, she was still there, and Lifa was an authentic elf with magical powers, this wasn't earth, it was Atla; a world of magic and probably unimaginable wonders as well.

"Are you jesting?" Lifa asked Cecelia, but then looked her in her eyes and gave her a small sigh through her nose while she smiled. "Would it be out of line to ask your origins lady Cecelia?" She asked, taking steps toward her and gesturing toward the washroom. "I know them when I see them and I could very easily tell that you are new to this kind of life, naturally as an untouched maiden it would be as such, except, you are not even a virgin," She spoke casually, but then quickly walked ahead when Cecelia looked at her, placed the things she'd been holding down on a counter and lowered her head. "Forgive my rudeness, please!" She suddenly felt dread because of letting too much slip.

"I don't want to ask or know how you know that, but it's true, I'm not a virgin," Cecelia admitted and walked passed her. "In fact, I have a son, and the entire castle is sure to know of him within a few hours, he will be introduced as my child brother, just a day ago I was in chains when we met last night it was after I was interrogated."

"A slave?" Lifa asked then lowered her head again when Cecelia looked at her. "Forgive me!"

"Would you please stop that!" Cecelia snapped and grabbed her by her shoulders. "I don't know what you did last night but I feel better thanks to it, I was unconscious and you didn't take advantage of that... I hope, but anyway, I was told that you'll be at my side indefinitely so I feel you at least should know this, I'm not from here."

"N-naturally one would assume that, you are the only person in the castle with black hair, it is such a rarity to see hair like yours that it would frighten the overly superstitious, and your eyes are a clear blue like the waters of a calm deep pond, that is a trait unknown to humans, I figured you were some halfling of a magical creature with a human parent." She admitted truthfully, but Cecelia raised an eyebrow and looked at herself in the mirror to the side.

"Where I come from one in every thirty people has black hair and blue eyes, maybe less, and similarly there are many different kinds and races of humans, there is no magic, and there is only one moon, so far away from the land that it looks like a fingernail, and you can spawn it with your fingers, yet it is the size of a continent spread out." There are no queens and there exists only one king, who rules over a country while most other countries are ruled by diplomacy, republic states, and democratic governments all under the ascendancy of a capitalist and self-destructive world order that nobody wants to admit the existence of, It's the exact opposite of Atla." She looked back at Lifa who was confused beyond words. "When I say I'm not from here, I don't mean this land, or this country, or continent if we're on one, you could call me an alien of sorts," She sighed.

"You hail from another world entirely?" Lifa asked her, and for a few seconds, they both remained silent before Lifa sighed and shook her head. "Lady Cecelia, it appears you are yet to wake." She chuckled, "Regardless, you must prepare yourself you have lunch later with the other ladies of this castle wing."

"You mean all those women I saw yesterday?" Cecelia bit her lip and sighed ignoring the fact that after she'd spoken the truth the elf had disregarded it as her mixing dream and reality. "I'm not actually ready to meet anyone," She admitted as Lifa reached up to her shoulders and began taking her nightgown off. "Oi!" She slapped Lifa's hands making her take a step back, but then she smiled and reached out again.

"It is your habitual preference to not be touched, I am aware of that now lady Cecelia, but please allow me to do my job as your servant, and stay still." She smiled calmly at her and pulled the gown down her torso, revealing her naked form beneath and then releasing it to pool at her feet, surprisingly for Cecelia she didn't feel as embarrassed as she did the night before and she stood there and waited as Lifa went and found what she'd be wearing for the first half of her day, and as she was doing this she also explained about the other women they would meet with, and what they do while on wait for the Princes and King's summons.

Before getting thrown here by whatever hand did it, Cecelia was a multitasking part-timer in everything she did, she couldn't find and keep stable jobs because of being a single mom and as such her mind was very active, and she caught on to things fast, but even then the number of things Lifa was telling her for the hour it took to get her ready made her head spin, and by the time she was dressed and fitted with a corset she already had enough and took a seat to breathe and let it all settle.

"And now for your makeup." Lifa opened up another section in the closet area and Cecelia stood immediately and left the closet. "Lady Cecelia?"

"I do not use makeup, I'm no narcissist but I never needed makeup for any reason, you've squeezed me, messed with my hair, sprayed a ludicrous amount of perfume on me, fit me in ridiculous clothes, squeezed my feet into uncomfortable footwear, and all because I have some stupid lunch with as you called them, a pack of savage women in disguise; if I change my face it won't be me anymore, I'm fine as I am, and besides as that, I don't know if anything in there is the same as where I'm from, it might poison my skin or cause an allergic reaction, like swelling or burning, or uncontrollable fits of sneezing, coughs or laughter, it might even kill me outright." She looked at Lifa with a raised eyebrow causing the elf to giggle at her excuses.

"I assure you nothing of the sort will ever happen," Lifa chuckled, but Cecelia was having none of it, she quickly went toward the lounge area where there was a small section full of fruits and small baked food, struggled for a few seconds to sit, and then proceeded to very daintily stuff her face. "You will be eating in another three hours, is it necessary to eat this much now?" She asked but Cecelia looked at her like she'd lost her mind.

"If it weren't for this thing squeezing the daylights out of me I'd be chugging this food down my throat like a hog, I've been patient because I'm new but I can't wait anymore, I haven't eaten in two days I'm f*****g starving, you should join me instead of being a pain in the ass," Cecelia looked at her from the corner of her eyes as she ate anything that looked like food off the table, another hour later she was sitting there and staring with a look of absence on her face, and next to her Lifa had the same look on her face and a half-eaten pie rested in her lap.

"Aren't you going to change as well?"

"No," Lifa responded and then burped and looked at Cecelia. "You are a very interesting woman, unlike anyone I have ever met, normally anyone who is welcomed into the castle is an arse to deal with or so high up their own hind that it is impossible to communicate or deal with them, and us servants often get abused and taken advantage of as well, most servants have a lower status than the maids and butler's and so we are seen as playthings, especially for the nobles who often use us to relieve their stress, be it man or woman in whatever way they please," She admitted and sighed afterwards. "But you do not seem like that kind of person at all, you have treated me as a person would another despite me being an elf above all else."

"Why wouldn't I treat you like a person?" Cecelia scoffed. "Sure you have fancy magic and pointy ears but you have a heart that beats as well, a warm body and blood in your veins, and a conscious and caring mind by what I have seen so far, to treat you as any less would be inhuman."

"Inhuman?"

"Treat others as you want to be treated, do to others what you want others to do to you, karma is always watching, and I try to make sure I keep a lot of good karma to outweigh any bad karma in my life, though I have to say getting thrown into another world, interrogated and then turned into a concubine has to be the worst karma I've ever heard about, even if it hasn't happened yet, I'm still someone else's property and can't escape that, if I run I will die, or worse, I lose my son" Cecelia looked at the door as she remembered something from before.