His announcement caused Avila to give him a confused look. She was usually ready in a matter of minutes, not hours. What could they be planning that would take them half the day? That also raised another question for Avila.
“You say that like I won’t be seeing you again until the ball.” She posed it as a statement, but the question was evident.
“I apologize, but I will be unavailable tomorrow at all. Dinner will be served in the adjoining room as per usual, but I will not be able to attend. I am sure you will not be alone, though.”
She knew he would be busy with arrangements, and the goddess only knew what else, but it was still disappointing. She had wanted to show her dress off to Galdren before everyone else got to see it. With a small shrug, she smiled and said, “I understand; it wasn’t anything important anyway.”
He furrowed his brow, but didn’t push her. “Please try to sleep well tonight. I am sure tomorrow will be a busy day for you, and you will need it. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening.”
With those parting words, Galdren walked toward his chambers. “Galdren, I hope you sleep well too.” Avila watched his departing back until he closed the door.
Although she knew he had been right, she was still too wound up to go straight to sleep. To wind down and to distract herself, she reached for a book before bed. Her thoughts were already too jangled to call anyone, but reading was a good way to try and relax.
She sat down on the couch with her current novel, and after reminding herself several times that she should not be thinking of Galdren, was able to get absorbed in the story.
It was a little over an hour later that her stomach reminded her that she had been too distracted to call for a meal, and a bit chagrined that Galdren had not thought to do so either. He was probably distracted with plans, but that didn’t help her hunger. Still, it was already late, and she doubted eating would do more than cause even more nightmares than usual, so she decided to wait. As she headed toward bed, she had to firmly keep thoughts of the following day from her mind. It took some effort, but once she lay down, she walked through some breathing exercises and finally relaxed into sleep.
25. Preparations
The next morning, Avila was up early. Since she didn’t have any plans until after noon, she wasn’t sure what she would spend her morning on. No matter what it was, she decided she would pamper herself a little to make sure she wasn’t too wound up before the ball.
She got up and went to the bathing room; if there was ever a time for a long bath, then today was that day. After the tub was filled with steaming water and she added a scented oil that she’d found, she slipped in and could instantly feel herself relaxing. It wasn’t until her fingers started to wrinkle that she finally decided it was time to get out and face the day.
After drying off and getting dressed, she still had several hours before her one o’clock appointment. She thought about taking a walk around outside, but saw a slight drizzle when she looked. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but after her bath, it was less appealing.
Instead, she called for breakfast. Thankfully, the meal was quick in coming, and once she finished, she decided it might be an appropriate time to look into the library. With that thought, she walked out the door. It surprised her to see Lee and Jacob arriving while two others, a man and a woman she did not know, turned to her as she opened the door.
“Good morning, ma’am. Is there something we can assist with? My name is April, and this is Brian, by the way. I think this is the first time we have met.” They both bowed at the woman’s introduction. Before Avila could answer, Lee and Jacob had arrived.
“Good morning, ma’am. We apologize for inconveniencing you with the changing of the shift, but if you would wait one moment, one of us will take you wherever you would like to go.” They all bowed at Jacob’s statement.
“Please, take care of what you need to. I only wanted to go to the library, so it is no problem.” Avila waved away their concern and stepped back so they could continue with their shift change.
April and Lee exchanged a few words, status updates, and the fact that nothing had been out of the ordinary. Once they finished, April and Brian both bowed with a chorus of “ma’am” before turning away to leave.
Lee took up his position by the door, and Jacob walked over. “You said you wanted to go to the library, ma’am?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, thank you.” Avila felt it was a little ridiculous to need an escort to cross the hallway, but she wasn’t going to voice that opinion. The last thing she wanted was for Galdren to hear about it.
Jacob extended his hand to indicate he would follow her. She took the few steps to the large double doors but paused before opening them. They were carved wooden doors, something you didn’t often see anymore, and they were beautiful. She shook herself out of her review and opened them.
She was surprised to find that for such large, heavy doors, they opened easily. Once they were open, Avila stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was the hush. It was so quiet she could feel the silence pressing against her ears. With the complete lack of sound, the noise of the doors closing made her jump.
Once she really looked around, though, the room made her gape in awe. The middle of the room extended up to a vaulted ceiling, and a balcony with bookshelves lining every wall ran all around the edges of the room. The far wall from the door had several large windows that went from the ceiling to the floor, flooding the entire room with a muted light. Avila could only imagine how bright it might be on a sunny day.
On the ground floor, there were rows of neatly lined shelves. Along the walls, under the balconies, there were more bookshelves interrupted every so often by what looked like reading nooks. Some had tables with chairs, while others only had comfortable looking seats in a loose circle. The whole room was obviously designed for reading.
Avila jumped again when she heard an unfamiliar voice. “May I help you?” The voice belonged to a woman who looked to be quite a bit older than Avila. Her hair was completely grey, and her eyes were framed in a face that showed more than a few wrinkles. At the moment, those eyes were glaring at Avila.
“Pardon me; I wanted to see what was available to read. I hope that won’t be a problem.” Avila wasn’t sure if it was just the way the woman usually looked or not, but her expression hadn’t changed.
“How did you get into this library? It is off-limits to anyone that isn’t part of the royal family.” Avila was sure she wasn’t imagining it now. The woman was definitely not happy to see her.
She flushed a little at the woman’s thinly veiled hostility. She hadn’t had to deal with anything like that in a long time, and it took her by surprise. She heard Jacob move behind her but held out her hand to stop him from saying anything.
“His Highness, Prince Galdren, explained to me that since I am staying directly across the hall, everything in this wing would be accessible to me. I would not want to inconvenience you, so if you will excuse me, I will just look around. Please go back to what you were doing.” Avila saw the woman’s eyes grow round at the mention of her staying in that wing; she must have realized who Avila was. Avila wasn’t in the mood to be accommodating, though. She turned away from the woman before she could say anything else and walked to the first bookshelf.
Avila picked up and replaced several books without seeing anything. After a few minutes, she sighed and tried to let it go. So far, she had met with very few people that were anything other than respectful. She wasn’t going to let someone like that ruin today of all days.
She finally started seeing the titles closest to her. From the looks of it, they were all strategy books. With another sigh, she stepped back from the bookshelf at looked at the other bookshelves close by. She found there were content labels at the end of each shelf and soon found the fiction section.
It didn’t take long for her to get lost in title afte
r title. She wasn’t planning on reading anything at the moment, but she was looking for things to note for future reference. After some time, she had a mental list of at least a dozen titles she wanted to read at some point.
When she turned to leave, she found the grumpy librarian was nearby. Her expression had not improved much, but it was markedly more respectful when she spoke to Avila. “Did you find anything you would like to check out, ma’am?”
The woman’s words surprised Avila. She hadn’t expected to be able to check anything out and was thrilled with the prospect, even if it meant dealing with this woman. “Actually, yes, I did. I wasn’t certain I would be able to check them out, so I only noted them for future visits, but if I could take at least one, for now, that would be wonderful.”
Avila noted the surprise in the woman’s face. She took a deep breath and reminded herself it was best to kill them with kindness. She couldn’t control the way any given person treated her, but she could control her own reactions, and this wasn’t worth getting stressed over.
“If you would bring your selection to the desk there, I can assist you.” The woman pointed to a desk near the door that Avila had not noticed when she entered. Once Avila turned back to the bookshelves, the woman went to wait near the exit.
Avila went back to the fiction section and deliberated for a few minutes on which one she wanted to take. After looking at two of the selections again, she picked the action story and headed to the desk.
“I would like to take this one, please.” Avila handed the book over.
“Of course, please sign here, and I will mark down which title you have taken. You can keep it as long as you would like and bring it back once you are finished.” Avila signed the ledger where indicated and took the book back.
“Thank you for your help today. I hope to come back often.” Avila made a point of giving the woman a pleasant smile as she left.
Once they were back in the hallway, Jacob opened her door for her and bowed as she entered. Avila thanked him before he closed the door. She was slowly getting used to how most people treated her here, but it sometimes made her stop and wonder why her life had taken the direction it had.
When Avila entered the room, she checked the time. It was already much later than she thought. She wasn’t going to have much of an opportunity to read before whoever was coming arrived.
With a sigh, she thought it would be good to ask for some lunch while she had time. As she was getting ready to go back to the door, she remembered her com units had been installed the day before. There was no time like the present to try it out. She diverted to the com unit and hit the button on the left. Since she wasn’t sure exactly who she needed to ask for, she thought it might be better to start with the directory.
Once she had it pulled up, she was almost flummoxed by how many choices there were, but it didn’t take long to locate one called “Kitchens.” She thought that might be the correct one and decided to try it. Once she touched the name, a woman’s voice came on the line. “Hello, kitchens. How may I help you?”
The woman sounded like she was a little rushed, and Avila was suddenly nervous, but she had already started, so she pressed on. “Um, this is the Lady Durant. I wasn’t sure if this was the correct connection, but I wanted to ask about having lunch brought to my room?”
“Of course, Lady Durant. We can have something sent right over. Is there anything in particular you would like?” Avila was a little thrown by the question. Usually, the meals were preplanned. She had always liked them, but having a choice was different.
“Well, I hadn’t thought about it, really. Whatever you would normally bring will be fine. Thank you!” Avila started to relax. Ordering had been easier than she had feared, but she supposed that was the reason for the com unit in the first place.
“You’re welcome. Someone will be there shortly with your meal. Was there anything else you need?”
“No, thank you.” Avila watched the screen go blank. That had been relatively painless, she supposed. She opened the book she’d just checked out and sat down to wait.
She had barely gotten started when there was a knock at the door. That was even quicker than she had anticipated. She called out, and Lee escorted a young woman Avila had never seen before into the room.
She came in and set up the meal and, with a bow, turned to leave. Avila didn’t want to pounce on her like she had Michael on his first day, but she made sure to thank the girl before she left the room.
She noted the meal was a steaming vegetable soup with a thick slice of bread to accompany it—the perfect meal for such a dreary day. She went ahead and started eating while it was still hot. Once she was finished, she made herself comfortable on the settee with her new book. She got lost in the pages quickly but was interrupted again before she got very far. She sighed at the intrusion but put the book down again.
After she called out, Lee led in a whole group of people carrying an array of different implements Avila had never seen. She assumed they were the people she was told to expect to prepare her for the evening.
Before Lee left her alone with the group, she asked if he would have someone come and collect the remains of the meal. She had forgotten she needed to call them back to pick it up. He did open the door, but only passed the message along to Jacob and then walked back to take up a position near her. She frowned at him, then realized they were probably told to not leave her alone with anyone other than Galdren or the professor. It bothered her, but she had more than enough to worry about already and decided to not ask.
Once Jacob was in position, the whole group bowed as one. A smart-looking woman stepped forward. “My lady, my name is Savanah. We are here to help you prepare for this evening. We have a lot to get through, so if you could point us to a place, we can set up and get started.”
Avila indicated the area next to her worktable, where there was plenty of open space. The others immediately started setting up the equipment they’d brought with them while Savanah turned back to Avila.
“Ma’am, we would like to start with a haircut first. Is there any particular style you would prefer?” Avila took an involuntary step back at that. She had not been expecting a haircut. She could use one, but it was still unexpected.
“Um, well, I wasn’t expecting anything like that, so I hadn’t thought about it. Honestly, I think I would only need a trim.” She liked her current style well enough. There wasn’t much work to it.
“We can do that as well. If you would have a seat here, we can get started.” Avila hesitantly stepped up to the seat she indicated. After she sat down, Savanah immediately started combing through her hair.
While Savanah was working on her hair, two of the others stepped up as well. One of them had a small collapsible table. “Ma’am, while you are getting your hair cut, we will start working on your nails if that is all right with you.”
Avila was beginning to wonder what she had gotten herself into but just nodded. She remembered Savanah afterward and apologized for moving. After she gave her consent, the two moved in. The one with the table took her right hand and started soaking it in some sort of solution. The other one took hold of her left leg. Once the woman had Avila’s sock and shoe off, she started soaking her foot in a different solution, this one warmer. It actually felt nice.
Avila had never been one to pamper herself, but decided to relax and enjoy it while she had the chance. She closed her eyes and listened to the snipping of her hair being cut. She wasn’t sure what the two taking care of her hands and feet were doing, but she felt them massaging and buffing. Once they finished one side, they swapped places and finished the other side as well.
Savanah completed her trim before they finished with her hands and feet, so she held out a small mirror for Avila to look into while they finished. They finally let her go, and Avila felt almost as relaxed as she had after her bath.
Savanah asked
her if she would like to shower quickly and clean up before they proceeded. Avila thought that might be a good idea. No matter how good Savanah was, it always felt better to shower after a haircut.
Avila only took a few minutes for a simple rinse off since she had just bathed that morning. While she did that, they managed to clear up everything.
Avila had not bothered to dry her hair, so the first thing Savanah did once she was seated again was start drying. While she was working on that, the other two, Amelia and Kate, went back to her hands and feet.
This time, they started by shaping her nails and then applying color. When Avila had the opportunity to look down, she noticed that it was a gorgeous lavender close to the color of her dress. It didn’t take them long to finish, and they admonished her to keep still for a short time to let the color set.
By that time, Savanah had already started styling Avila’s hair. She hadn’t bothered to ask what the style would be, but the woman had begun by pulling most of it back. There were tendrils left in the front that framed Avila’s face that Savanah slightly curled and then let lay. Avila couldn’t tell what she was doing with the rest that had been pulled back, but she could feel regular tugs and pins being placed.
26. Ball
Some time later, Savanah stepped back and announced she was finished. Avila went to go look and couldn’t believe the transformation. She usually pulled her hair back or braided it. Now, it was pulled into a complex set of loops pinned across the top of her head, all coming together at the crown to continue in waves past her shoulders. Avila didn’t think she would be able to reproduce the effect herself.
“Do you like it, ma’am?” Savanah looked a bit anxious as she asked.
“Yes, I love it! I never would have thought of this myself, thank you!” Avila made sure Savanah understood how grateful she was for the work.
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