Whispered Tales

2. Feathers and blades

"I can't believe I'm doing this" she whispered whilst looking at herself in the full-length mirror.

She wore a light-colored dress that reached the floor which complimented greatly her short brown hair and dark brown eye. The shoes she was ordered to wear were also incredibly uncomfortable and she worried that they would slip out of her feet while walking down the hallway.

Seeing a small glint in the background, the brown-haired girl looked behind her through the mirror and saw the small dagger blade that she was gifted by her master. She was greatly honored but she had decided to never use it.

She let out a quiet sigh and looked again to herself in the mirror.

Her hand moved slowly towards her head of hair as her face turned towards the floor. Slowly she let a good amount of hair fall in front of her face hiding her right eye.

Reluctantly she turned her face towards the mirror, making sure that she had done it correctly. She could still see a little of the almost yellow and blurry eye that she was instructed to hide.

Suddenly the door opened slowly and in came a small girl, probably in her late teens wearing some simple clothes. To which the brown-eyed girl looked up and down slowly comparing their practicableness and comfortableness to hers.

"Do you wish for me to do your hair?" asked the new girl, who had just entered the room a few seconds before, avoiding eye contact.

The burnet turned to the mirror once again and sighed while slowly nodding, however she never took her eyes off of the girl. This always made her uncomfortable; having someone be so close to her person, which she was trained not to be.

As the smaller girl stepped towards the burnet she reached out to the table nearby to grab a hairbrush to which she proceeded to brush gently the girl's head. As she felt her hand in her hair she immediately tensed up, however not so visibly to notice at first glance.

The small girl hadn't noticed and that bothered the oldest girl in the room. She took a big breath in an attempt to try to calm herself down as her sibling had told her before. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, in and out.

She felt the comb and the delicate hands of the youth run through her scalp to help her hair gain some sort of balance. She became hyperaware once again of her movements as the teen's hands grew closer and closer to her neck but tried to relax; it took all of her effort to not lash out right then and there, but she did it.

Suddenly she could see a shadow through her lids and almost immediately she shoot open her eyes. A hand was nearing her face at an alarming rate.

"Leave it" she almost screamed in panic. Taking a small gulp of saliva down her throat she continued "Leave it, just make a simple braid".

"Is it okay?" asked the small girl looking with furrowed brows.

"Yes," She answered clearly.

The teen had her doubts on what to do, as her life could be on the line if she didn't do a proper job with the presentation of her lady.

-This will be okay- she thought –I've done this a couple of times before so there should be no problem-.

However, everything was thrown out the window once the oldest felt the hair that was supposed to cover her face moving.

Opened eyes and a rush of adrenaline later, Elia had the small girl pinned by the neck and her hand on her wrist to the wall beside the mirror and the table.

"What are you doing?!" she spoke in an almost accusing tone. "Did you not hear me?!"

The small girl had wide eyes and her mouth couldn't form words even if she knew what to say. Truth be told she didn't know what had happened. Had she hurt her? Had she done something wrong? Had she disrespected her? And in just a couple of moments, it clicked. She was told by the other servants that the princess had taken to an incredible limit her front locks which covered half her face. The very first time this happened the older woman had almost lost one of her eyes to a pair of rusty shears.