The Promise of the Dawn

Chapter Twenty-Four: A Simple Cup of Tea

The first thing I woke up to the following morning was Genevieve's cheery voice alerting me that I was requested in the drawing room, which wasn't an unusual occurance, but what was unusual was when I entered the drawing room and it was completely empty, except for The Duke, and, of course, Brianna herself perching on the edge of the window seat delicately.

"Amaris. Good morning. I was thinking about your... unfortunate... situation, last night, and I came up with a simply genius solution. Since you need to learn how to become a lady, and Lady Brianna has been trained how her whole life, I thought it fitting that she help you out today." The Duke explains.

"Oh... lovely..." I reply, hiding my anger.

My god, he really did make me sound like a simple peasant girl.

Which, to be fair, I was, especially when compared to Brianna, but still. Ouch.

"I can't wait to help you! We'll have so much fun!" She replies with her perfect little accent that only angers me more.

Goddammit. What had I gotten myself into.

Brianna pats the chair next to her at the table, inviting me over to sit down, which I do, after much hesitation.

"I heard you're having some trouble with the pouring of the tea. Believe me, I did too when I was little" Brianna starts off, grabbing the teapot and pulling it nearer to us.

Why did I find that hard to believe.

"My mother used to tell me that pouring tea is the most common skill used to associate the title of a Lady to a woman, because only ladies have the resources and time to learn how to accomplish the skill." Brianna continues, taking the teapot and pouring a perfectly even stream of tea into her cup before she sets it down and sips daintily from her teacup.

"Why don't you try" She suggests, gesturing towards the teapot.

I swallow my fear and reach to pick up the teapot, grabbing it by the handle.

"Oh, dear me! Careful with that. You must put one hand under the spout, and another on the handle. Otherwise the tea will spill everywhere" Brianna explains, placing my hands where they should be.

I glance over at The Duke, which was a mistake because he sits there with a sly smirk.

"This seems to be going well. I'll come back later. And I expect improvement in your skills" The Duke says, standing up and walking out of the room.

I shake my head, returning to the task at hand as I slowly lift up the teapot the way Brianna instructed, angling it down until the tea streams into my cup.

"That's better already!" Brianna exclaims happily, seemingly proud of her mentoring abilities.

The tea comes out of the pot faster than I anticipated and I quickly pull it back when I realize the tea has filled my cup up to the brim, leaving little space at the top.

"Well, that was certainly... a good first attempt. Now, let's talk about portions" Brianna suggests as she watches me pour the tea.

Good lord. How many rules were there to pour a simple cup of tea?

"You see this line in the cup here?" Brianna asks me, pointing at a line wrapping around her cup of tea, at the center of the cup.

I nod in acknowledgement when I see the line she's referring to, but mine doesn't have the same kind of line.

"That's how full you want to fill the cup to. Not all the way to the top. A lady is supposed to portion out her own sizes, and is expected to know just exactly what they are. For example, when you're sitting at dinner, you never take a full piece of bread, rather, a half. And when you do grab your half slice of bread, you tear it into pieces to eat it, instead of devouring the whole thing. That's how nobility does it, so you'll be expected to do the same" Brianna explains.