Chapter 70
Serena was treated carefully in that pack after they discovered what she really was. The change took place at once, and it wrapped itself around her in an invisibility wall. The same women and men who used to look down on her now lowered their gazes as she passed.
She had been so many years under command and constant tasks that the silence of liberty was unknown to her. No one bade her fetch water from the well. No one gave her soiled bowls. No one told her to sweep the soiled paths or polish the wooden floors. Instead, they stepped aside when she came near, making way for her as if she were an inaccessible person.
Serena's heart, however, did not relax with the accolades. She moved softly, her head slightly lowered, hands clasped across her body as though she still waited t
