Dear Diary

Twenty-Two

First, they submerged me in a warm bath. It had been some time since I had felt the luxury, so I didn't mind as much. It was awkward to strip down in front of absolute strangers, but I supposed they did this for everyone.

Once I was undressed, they helped me into the white porcelain bath. One servant started cleaning my feet, another washing my hair, and the other attempting to wash my body. My face was red from the pampering, and I wanted to apologize or insist I could do it myself, but Xavier's lesson on social classing and how things worked stopped me in my tracks. I hesitated but pressed on.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, watching the woman who scrubbed my feet.

"For what, my Lady?" The one doing my hair replied.

"Well... I could do all of these things with my own hands, and yet, you do it with your own instead." I wanted to meet her eyes with my own but found it rather hard from where she stood.

From what I could see in the mirror nearby, I thought I saw a smile from her. "My Lady, doing things like this are our pleasures. We have been doing it for years. This is no trouble to us. Relax. You've earned it, my Lady." Her voice was light and cheery much to my surprise. I would have thought them to hate their jobs, yet here they were smiling and going about it as normal.

After those ladies had finished cleaning me, I could have sworn I had never been cleaner. They pulled me out of the tub as fast as they had thrown me in and wrapped a thick towel around my body, another one around my hair. They ushered me back to the bedroom.

The four of us went behind the divider; two searching the enormous closet while the other two began drying me off. I felt my face heat up again. I watched the ceiling, not wanting to even imagine what they were thinking.

Once the maids dried me off, they threw the towels over the top of the divider and grabbed hold of the underclothes the other maids handed them.

Layer after layer the maids gave each other, all of them ending up on me. First, they put on undershirts and thin material around my legs. Next was a pair of white bloomers, followed by a corset that had me gasping for breath. They said that was normal, but I wasn't so sure. Another skirt was put on, yet it had no cloth; only wires.

"What's this for?" I asked, running my fingers curiously along the wires.

"To keep your skirts spread out and off the ground, my Lady."

Finally, after even more layers were put on, I was given a dress to pull over my head. When it was finished, they turned me towards the mirror.

I started to grin.

The dress was a perfect cross between dark and light green. There was a small split at the bottom that slowly led up until the middle of the skirt where it was nothing but white ruffles. Upon my shoulder was a small little green bow as well as one in the front of my waist and upon the bottom of my back where the ribbons were to tie.

They brought me a pair of black shoes to complete the attire. Then they led me back to the vanity, assisting me down into the chair. It was a real challenge, given the wired skirt, but they were able to figure it out.

They started brushing my hair, almost being as gentle as Xavier had been.

As they brushed, I stared at the reflection looking back at me. A week ago, I was unrecognizable. But now? Now, I felt like I truly understood who I was. Things almost felt right. I wasn't sure if I was fond of the new look just yet, but I felt sure time would change that. If not, it wasn't forever. It was just one night. After that, I could take it all off.