Her Rightful Place

15: The Bath

"Clothilde! Babette! Come hither. It is high time for Princess Mireille's first lesson in the etiquettes of bathing and dressing," Queen Généviève calls impatiently as she sweeps into Mireille's chambers. Ladies of the Chamber--many more than just Clothilde and Babette--emerge from various places and curtsey deeply to the Queen. Mireille stifles a groan. Christelle arches an eyebrow at the group of women before her, the group that will be her subordinates. As Mireille's Lady of Honor, she will be in charge of Mireille's household. May the King make that happen soon, Christelle prays, not out of a desire for power but out of a desire to protect her friend. From what she knows of the etiquette here--which she discussed with Clothilde after Mireille fell asleep--it is a thing to be feared and really quite unnecessary, designed to emphasize the separation between royalty and commoners and to separate royalty from ruling. It is no wonder that the King ignores much etiquette when he desires work to be done.

"What would you have us do, Your Majesty?" Clothilde asks demurely. It seems that she is the current leader of the group of Ladies of the Chamber, and Christelle congratulates herself on having befriended the right person.

"Well, the first thing is for Mireille to bathe. Clothilde, Christelle, Monique, and Laetitia shall see to that. Clothilde, you are in charge; I want you to teach Mireille and Christelle the etiquette of the bath-chamber. The rest of you, with me. We must choose what Mireille will be wearing today."

"As you wish, Your Majesty," Clothilde agrees, motioning for the others to follow her. Christelle pulls a restive Mireille along; Mireille, for her part, has no desire to allow anyone except Christelle anywhere near her while she bathes, and she is indignant at the idea of being bathed by others. I have been taking care of myself for as long as I can remember, she huffs silently. This is absolute nonsense.

Once they enter the bath-chamber, however, Clothilde's demure exterior melts away and she turns immediately to Mireille and Christelle. Monique and Laetitia busy themselves with gathering towels and soap and the like.

"So, Christelle. You're going to be the Lady of Honor, yes?" Clothilde demands in rapid Vyrunian, almost too rapid for Christelle's limited fluency.

"I believe that is the plan," Christelle answers carefully, unsure of where this is going.

"Then you are meant to be in charge here. I am certain that the Queen put me in charge today because you do not yet know the rules and also because I have been in her service since I was fourteen. She means well, you know, but the war drove her to religion as a comfort because of all the chaos in her once-perfect life, and you see the results. Anyway, everyone in the palace except the Queen, who has always loved etiquette for reasons unknown, believes that the bath-chamber etiquette is the most ridiculous thing in existence and we all hate it. Therefore I propose that we allow Mireille to bathe herself."

"I would like that very much," Mireille agrees immediately in a mix of Vyrunian and Mordalcean, having understood little more than that last sentence but finding that to be enough.

Clothilde looks at her in surprise. "I thought you didn't remember anything of your life here, including the language."

"It seems to be coming back to me in fits and starts."

Clothilde shrugs and returns her attention to Christelle. "Anyway, I strongly suspect that the Queen will want to check in on us, not only to see that we are satisfactorily abiding by the etiquette, but to examine her daughter. She has no doubt that Mordalce will move to renew the betrothal between Prince Xavier and Princess Mireille as soon as they decently can, and she will want to know about anything that might hinder those plans."

"Given that Xavier already seems smitten with her, I doubt that anything could hinder those plans except the King's resistance to losing his only daughter again so soon after reclaiming her," Christelle responds suggestively before turning somber. "But Mireille did not have an easy life in Mordalce, and she bears a multitude of physical reminders of this fact. It is in our best interests to prevent the Queen from learning of this for as long as possible."