A soft rapping at the door to my door wakes me up. When I open my eyes I expect to see a dark sky through the window positioned just next to the bed. Instead, hot burning rays of sunlight reach out and blind me.
"Mademoiselle, are you alright?" a woman's voice laced with concern calls from behind the door as she continues to tap it with her knuckles.
Wiping bits of sleep away from my eyes with my fingertips I let out a long and heavy groan. The knocking on my door continues all while I slump out of bed and slowly make my way to the door and open it which shocks the woman.
I smile at her. "Yes, I am alright."
Breathing out a sigh of relief she rests her hands on her hips. "When you didn't come down for lunch or dinner yesterday we grew worried."
Yesterday! "Is it still Monday?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "It's Tuesday, mademoiselle."
I slept the whole day! The familiar sound of a cart hobbling along the cobbled streets outside echoes from outside accompanied by the call of the baker.
"Fresh bread come get your fresh bread! Fresh bread!"
Not only did his call certify the fact that I had indeed slept the whole day yesterday but made the crashing realization of how hungry I am settle into my frazzled mind. A long and deep grumble erupts from my stomach. The woman, who clearly heard it as well, stifles back a laugh, and my cheeks burn hot with embarrassment. I have to stop doing this in front of people.
"Please tell me there is something down there I can eat waiting downstairs," I say to the woman with pleading eyes.
She smiles sweetly at me and nods. "Breakfast should be ready by now. Bacon, eggs, and some toast."
"Can you get a plate organized for me I need to get dressed?"
"Of course."
While the very kind lady whose name I completely forgot to ask for went downstairs to prepare a plate of breakfast for me I rush back into my room and take out my last pair of clean clothes.
As much as I want to wear pants I can't draw too much attention to myself. Being new in town even though it will only be for another day or two will already put everyone's focus on me and I can't afford to stand out even more. Besides, wearing this awful thing now will give me some practice because when I reach Paris I will most likely be forced to throw out all my pants. I'm sure my mother added that small detail in the long letter she sent to my aunt six months ago when this move to Paris was being arranged.
With every boy in my village aware of how odd (their words not mine I think I'm great) I am they avoid me like I have a plague and finding a suitor for me became a difficult task. I can't blame the boys for avoiding me and not wanting me to be their wife. Most men these days want a wife that will serve them. A wife that will stay at home, clean up, cook for them, raise their offspring so on and so forth. I am the complete opposite of that. My whole life I've never enjoyed cleaning or cooking and quite frankly children and I don't get along. Even when I was a child myself I couldn't fit in with the others.
I have five brothers and every one of them went to school. As the only girl was not allowed to go to school which bugged me so much that one day I snuck out of the house dressed up as a boy and went to school. It would have worked had another boy not tripped me and my hat fell off revealing my long hair.
My mother found my stunt to be mortifying and an embarrassment to our family and my brothers took her side and would mock me for it daily for the next three years. My father on the other hand took a different approach.
When my father was young he had an older sister who died in a house fire. My aunt was very much like me and when my father saw the same qualities my aunt had in me he decided to nurture it rather than have me lock it away.
That was when my schooling took place. I learned to read, write, hunt, sword fight, and ride a horse among other things. I grew up to be the strong woman I am today and if my father hadn't died seven months ago I would be home right now perfecting my knife throwing rather than being here right now on my way to Paris where all the skills my father taught me will be forced to be locked away just like I feared they would.
When I reach Paris, my aunt will whip me into becoming a proper French woman and then send me out to join the marriage season where I will be the hunted instead of the hunter.
Brushing the dreadful skirt part of the dress down with my hands to get rid of the mild wrinkles that had formed from it being in my bag for so long I sigh and look long and hard in the full body mirror that is attached to the inside the closet.
Rolling my eyes at how ridiculous I look I lift the bottom of the dress just a bit and head downstairs to the bar area.
There are a few people scattered among the tables, I'm sure they are the same people I saw when I arrived yesterday.
"Here you go, mademoiselle." the same woman who woke me up this morning mumbles as she places a plate of steaming hot food onto one of the tables.
I sit down and shove spoonful after spoonful of food into my mouth, chew it up, and swallow.
Bang!
The door to the inn bursts open causing everyone- including me- to jump in their seats. I watch in shock and horror as two skinny young men run around the room roaring as if they were animals. Their faces are covered by a mask that looks like the face of a creature I don't recognize and their hands are cased in gloves that are made to look like paws. They look like beasts.
After they ran around the whole room they ran out of the door their roars echoing down the street.
A burly man positioned behind the bar sighs and shakes his head. "Forgot that was today."
"What is today?" I ask, noticing that everyone in the room except me seems to know what the man is referring to.
"Oh, I forgot you're not from here. Well, mademoiselle, welcome to your first day of the beast."