The door swung shut behind Eti, and she was momentarily surprised that Naira wasn't behind her. Then Sisi came into view, the sweet, innocent smile on her colleague's face enough to make Naira wince. Sisi had a reputation as being somewhat slow, but Eti had never quite believed it. She was sharp enough when it came to exploiting weaknesses in her rivals' and having them sent off to Thayer for rapid dismissal, that was for certain.
"Hello Sisi," Eti smiled, willing a pleasant look onto her face.
"Eti, has the Queen finished with her interview?"
"She has," Eti said, and wondered if she could just walk out now.
"I believe she wished you assigned to some task?" Sisi asked in a sugar coated voice.
"Yes," Eti said, a trifle dully.
"How wonderful," Sisi said. "Well, come with me. I have just the thing."
As Sisi turned, Eti fancied she saw a triumphant grin flash across the face of her fellow Lady in Waiting. She allowed herself a small, internal, groan. Sisi had doubtless allowed some unpleasant task to build up in her absence.
They left the Queen Mother's chambers, and made their way deep into the bowels of the palace. Eti wondered whether they were heading for the Terra Group's private area.
Saints preserve me if it is to be so, she worried as they walked down the corridor. Towards the usually off limits area. She could hear Egro Fenyajul cursing a blue streak as they approached. Apparently he had tripped over a 'thrice-benighted' piece of equipment that the Terra Group had left lying in the way. I know how fussy they are about their privacy. And the place is always a mess. Strange devices litter the place like snowflakes on Mount Atner in the winter months. Oh, please don't make me tidy up after them. What could be more humiliating?
Unbidden, an image of the Terra Group's Lieutenant Clark swum into focus. A regular visitor to the apartments of the Ladies in Waiting, she knew how fastidious he was about his tools, and how likely he was to erupt should even one of them be misplaced by an incompetent helper.
Please Lord not that.
And as they passed the entrance to the Batcave, Eti breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Instead they approached the kitchens. Eti knew full well that they were always on the lookout for more waitresses. Half of Mendellia, it seemed, ate their each day and good staff were hard to find. Would she be expected to wait upon the diners?
To serve the Queen Mother is one thing. To serve minor nobles and bureaucrats is quite another. Such work is beneath me, chasing around for hours, at the beck and call of others, trying to make sure everyone is satisfied. I shall not do it.
But they passed by the door to the kitchens as well.
Their wanderings took them back up among the palace's higher levels, and into the area marked over for living quarters. Name tags marked the private rooms: Corletti, Clark, Cochran. . .
Heavens, why am I being brought here? Please tell me my assignment isn't to. . .
She shuddered at the very thought of doing anything in those rooms. While none of the men were unattractive, this wasn't how she had imagined her service to the Queen Mother would end.
And end it would. The others may wish to spend their time so, and one or two have done so, and by all accounts found it pleasant enough, but I would rather walk away from the palace and all I have here then shame myself so.
But they passed by the living quarters too.
They had been walking for a long time, and they had been silent since they had left the Queen Mother's chambers. Finally, Eti gave in.
"Saint above, Sisi Arorua," she exclaimed. "What am I to do here? Why do you torment me so?"
"Am I tormenting you, Eti?" she replied, without turning. "But we are just strolling through the palace. I a trying to decide on your assignment. So much has built up since you were away, and of course before that you had that unfortunate injury. It seems that there is a lot to do."
They continued onwards. They passed cleaners cleaning ( Honest work, at least, but heavens it's a hard life. ) and painters painting ( When are there not painters painting? The palace is barely painted once before it needs doing again. It must be a good life, being the palace painter. You work will never be done, so why worry at all? ) Eti saw carpenters sawing and plasterers plastering, electricians tested circuits, plumbers flushed pipes Eti looked on in wonder as she began to realise how many people it took to keep the palace running each day.
How did I not see this before? she asked. But I was busy with my own work, and it was every bit as important as any one else's.
Wasn't it?
They passed out of the castle, and into Mendel City. The town crier gave them a hearty hail as he gave the lunchtime update. They paused for a moment to catch up on the latest news. Sisi made a point of thanking him at the end of his report. He thanked her hoarsely, popping a throat sweet into his mouth.
"Does it hurt greatly?" Eti asked suddenly. The crier chewed the questions over as he did the throat sweet.
"Not greatly," he rasped. "And besides, how would people find out the news if I didn't tell them? It is my job, after all."
"But, newspapers, radio, television," Eti said. "Surely you don't have to suffer so when there are alternatives."
He smiled warmly. "People seem to prefer the human touch," he said, popping another throat sweet into his mouth.
They made their way to the docks, passing through Sisi's old neighbourhood along the way. She greeted shopkeepers and old friends, and introduced Eti to everyone. Eti's mind was soon in a whirl as she met more people, it seemed, then she had ever known existed.
They approached the docks, and a little of Eti's earlier horror reasserted itself as they passed what her mother would have referred to as 'bawdy houses, hem hem'. But Sisi didn't even stop, except to say hello to one of the girls leaning out of an upstairs window.
"You know her?" Eti asked in disbelief as they walked away.
"Oh yes," Sisi replied. "She's my second cousin on my mother's side. She's happy with her life, and she earns more money than I do."
"But. . ."
"She likes seamen," Sisi added, as they approached the docks. Eti was lost for words.
Sisi greeted the harbour master, and he pointed the two girls in the direction of a fine looking sailing ship.
"Ahoy, Cap'n Sparrow," Sisi called, as they approached the ship. A tall figure appeared on the prow of the boat, gave a yell of delight, and leapt from the ship onto the dock.
"Sisi, my sweet!" He swept her up into an embrace and swung her round. Sisi giggled as she kissed him. Eti blushed demurely, faintly embarrassed at intruding on the lovers' reunion.
"Sisi, you have brought a friend to meet me," Captain Sparrow said. He bowed low, sweeping his hat off his head with one hand and taking Eti's hand in the other. His lips stopped a few millimetres short of Eti's hand, and he grinned up at her.
"A rare beauty," he said, and Eti coloured still further.
"Jack, this is Etidorpha Neris, she is a fellow Lady in Waiting."
"My condolences," the sailor said. "Far better to live an honest life on the sea then to wait upon the Queen in her ivory tower."
"Jack," Sisi said warningly.
"My apologies," Jack said at once. "Certainly she has raised a fine son."
"Yes, she has," Eti agreed at once, thinking of how Thayer had saved her life only a short time before. She stepped a short distance away while Jack and Sisi made arrangements to meet later that day, and was lost in thought when Sisi came up to her.
"Dar for your thoughts?"
Eti smiled slightly, and shook her head. "They're not worth so much," she said. "Captain Sparrow seems a fine man," she said.
"There are none finer," Sisi agreed. "Even Lord Thayer would be nothing more than a close second."
"Sisi, do you have a task for me?" Eti asked.
"I do," Sisi said with a smile back at Captain Sparrow as he bounded up the gangplank of his ship. "Come on, back to the palace."
Back in the palace, they made their way directly to the Queen Mother's chambers. Sisi took a seat behind the writing desk, and motioned for Eti to sit as well. Sisi held up a pile of letters.
"The Quwn has drafted her replies to these," she said. "She wishes us to writem them out in full, and she will check them over. It's important they go out properly."
"Who are they from?" Eti asked, taking the top few letters.
"People," Sisi replied. "The Queen has a lot of wellwishers. She feels it important that she replies to every letter, to let people know that they can contact her if they need to. She thinks it's very important not to forget that she is their servant, every bit as much as we are hers."
"Oh," was all Eti could say to that. With a very busy mind, she took the first letter, and opened it. She read through it, blinking in places, and then sat for a very long time.
"Eti?" Sisi asked. "Are you okay?"
"I believe that I will be," Eti said, picking up a pen and beginning to answer the letter. "I believe that I will be.