“Good morning, Estrel dear! I have some wonderful news!”
Estrel nearly dropped the vial due to the start she received from the sudden visitor. She soon relaxed when she saw her sister, the Baroness Valeria Ravenwind enter—without knocking, like she always did—and gave a polite smile which barely concealed her annoyance. She clandestinely set the vial on a nearby table and stepped in front of it to block it from view.
“Good morning, Valeria,” she replied evenly, but not quite cheerfully. “And what news was so important to enter my room so suddenly?”
“Duke Blakeney has invited us to luncheon this afternoon at his palace gardens!” Valeria exclaimed happily, before lowering her head closer to Estrel’s as though telling her something in confidence. “And it’s rumored he has invited the royal family as well!”
Again, Estrel feigned a smile, trying to mirror her sister’s enthusiasm. Normally, she was eager to make an appearance whenever the King or any of his household were present at an event, but over the years, she learned these rumored appearances only came true a small fraction of the time. As usual, her sister’s timing was perfect in its inconvenience.
“That’s…wonderful news indeed,” her gaze followed Valeria as she fluttered about her room, idly rearranging the flowers in a vase on her nightstand or running her fingers across the window sill checking for dust. It was a bothersome habit she did even back when they were children. “I’ll need some time to pick out something to wear.”
“Nonsense!” Valeria scoffed. “The Duchess Blakeney has sent her personal seamstress with a lovely selection of new dresses. She’s currently waiting for us downstairs. We’ll have just enough time to pick them out and get ready before we leave!”
Estrel almost glanced at the vial on the table, but then stopped herself and let out a subtle sigh. “Yes…the Duchess has always been a woman of impeccable taste. Let us be off then.” she nodded, silently relenting. And a perpetually wagging tongue. We’ll be lucky to return before nightfall.
She turned toward the door to leave; however, she heard something behind her that made her instantly freeze. “What’s this?”
Looking behind her, she saw Valeria’s gaze fixated on the vial. Her meandering around her sister’s room had allowed it to enter her sight line.
“Nothing,” Estrel said quickly—a little too quickly, though she happened to also notice the wine glass she always kept on her table sitting next to the vial. “Just a…sample of elvish wine I picked up from a traveling peddler the other day.”
“Really?” Valeria picked it up off the table and turned it in her hand while her sister resisted the urge to rip it from her grasp and draw suspicion. “I’ve never seen wine glow like this before, even the elvish vintages.”
“It’s a uh…new vintage,” Estrel explained, mildly impressed with her own speed of improvisation. “They added a special leaf during the fermenting process, I believe it was mentioned.”
“Interesting,” she nodded, before popping the cork and pouring an few ounces into the wine glass. “Shall we give it a try then?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t!” Estrel pretty much shouted, though in an odd tone that was trying to sound conversational. It was enough for Valeria to finally pause her constant busy motion for the first time since she entered and regard her sister with a confused frown.
“I already tried it earlier and it was dreadful,” she continued, dropping her volume back to normal. “Elvish wines may try to pass themselves off as exotic, but I’m beginning to suspect it’s a cover for their actual lack of quality.”
Valeria sighed. “Oh, alright,” she set the glass back on the table, allowing Estrel to relax her tensed frame. She wasn’t about to let her irritating sibling know about the true purpose of this new concoction, much less be the first to drink it. Sadly, this also meant she had to follow her out of her room to prepare for the luncheon, in order to avoid any suspicion.
“This time, I’ll get first pick of the dresses,” Estrel told her as they descended the long, grand stairway to the foyer of their estate. “Just because you’re the Baroness doesn’t mean I need to always sacrifice for it.”
“My, you’re being extra-dramatic today,” Valeria laughed. “Fine. Run along and stake your claim.”
Estrel moved ahead as they reached the main floor, but Valeria snapped her fingers to summon one of the head house-servants, who instantly came to her side. “Liza, be a dear and have one of the chambermaids tidy up my sister’s room,” she directed her in a low voice. “It’s becoming a bit…squalid in there.”
“At once, milady,” Liza replied with a deferent bow before bustling off to the servants’ wing.
—
Now where could she have run off to? Liza wondered, having searches fruitlessly throughout the servants’ quarters and common area. Giving a short exasperated sigh, she threw up her hands. “Sierra!”
“In here, ma’am,” came a reply from the kitchen.
Following the sound, Liza reached a figure of a short, petite young woman with auburn hair tied nearly in a bun hunched over a washing basin, scrubbing dishes as fast as her thin arms could move.
“What are you doing in here?” Liza asked. “I didn’t schedule you for kitchen duty this week.”
“I know ma’am, I-I’m sorry,” Sierra stammered, still trying to make her way through the dish pile. “Yvette asked me to cover for her. She said she had another urgent matter to take care of this morning.”
“‘Urgent matter’ my foot,” Liza grumbled. “She probably ran off to meet that gardener boy behind the courtyard hedges again. Anyway, there’s no need for you to keep covering chores for the other girls. You need to stand up for yourself more, or else they’ll walk all over you!”
“Yes ma’am I’m sorry, I-I’ll…”
“And stop apologizing so much!” Liza admonished. “You’re not doing anything wrong. In fact, maybe you could stand to do more wrong now and then. You’re constantly burying your head in your work, which has always been exemplary. Maybe it’s time to open yourself up to the world a bit, do something more spontaneous! I wouldn’t even be that cross if I found out you were the one running off with the gardener boy or something of the sort one day.”
Sierra could only meekly nod in reply. It wasn’t something she had even thought about, if she was honest. She considered herself fortunate to be able to have this job as part of the esteemed Ravenwind manor staff for the last year, and she had put so much effort in trying to keep the job that she hadn’t really focused on much else.
“Now,” Liza continued, “Lady Valeria has commanded we clean up Lady Estrel’s chambers while they are away. Please see to that immediately. I can finish up here.”
Sierra gave a dutiful bow. “Certainly ma’am, I’m s—” she quickly swallowed a third ‘sorry’ before hurrying past Liza to the main foyer, then up the stairs to Estrel’s bedroom.
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