Random servant's POV
I walk around town after finishing with my shopping and notice a small girl that looks at least a year younger than Prince Zuko. She's asleep and shivering in a box within a hidden alleyway. If I hadn't heard her sniffle, I wouldn't have even noticed that her or the alleyway were even there.
I walked into the alleyway and gently shook her. "Wake up, little one. Can you tell me why you are sleeping here?"
She opened her little eyes and looked up at me with eyes the color of ice. She nods her small head, making a bit of her long black hair fall into her eyes.
"My parents are dead but they saved me from the person. I'm not allowed to return home even though the person left." This news surprises me. I haven't heard of something like this happening anywhere within 100 miles of the lord's home, so she must have went an extremely long distance from her home. But that's not exactly the thing that confuses me.
"Why can you not return home?" She was silent for a moment before finally answering, her voice being barely a whisper. "It's gone." I froze. This young child was sitting here without a home or family. She has no where to go even though she couldn't be any younger than 9 years old. I hold my hand out to her.
"Here. Come with me. There's some people I think you should meet." She looks at me skeptically but places her small hand in mine anyway. I help her stand up and we start walking in the direction I was originally heading. When we reached our destination, I quickly placed the food that I had brought in the palaces kitchen. I held the fabrics that were requested by my mistress in one hand and held the young girl's hand gently in the other. "Come, little one."
She walked along side me as we reached my mistress's chambers. I let go of her hand and whispered to her. "Now be very good and polite, okay? It's up to your behavior around my mistress to decide wether or not this can be your new home, as a servant at least." She nods her head in understanding and I knock on the doors.
A woman's voice from inside calls out, "Come in." I open the door and signal to the child to follow me in. "Ahh, I see. So it was you, Seahlynn. Thank you again for getting those fabrics for me. I don't know what I'd ever do without you helping me." I chuckle, she's always so kind. I have no doubt in my mind that she will allow this young girl to stay here with me.
"Oh? Who's this, Seahlynn?" I follow her gaze to the young girl partially behind me. "This is a young orphan girl that I had found within an alleyway that I happened to have walked by. I had sympathy for her, seeing as she's so young, so I decided to bring her with me so that I could ask for your permission to take her in. So far, I can tell that she's one of the most obedient and mostly educated child I've ever met. There are no concerns that she would cause much of any trouble here, wether a servant or not." I bow as I finish stating my request and make a quick glance at the young girl beside me. She seems to notice what I'm doing and why, because she quickly mimics the action.
My mistress chuckles a bit before she answers back. "I'm sure you'll take great care of this child. Unfortunately, I don't think my dear husband would approve of me taking her in as my own, but I can allow her to become a servant girl. You may claim her as your own child since you are the one who saved her from the cold streets. You both may stand up straight once more." We both go back to how we were standing before as she continues speaking, this time focusing the conversation more towards the child than towards me.
"Now, young child, do you have a name?" The child nods and looks up at the mistress and me, waiting for permission to speak. I give her a reassuring nod to tell her that it was ok. Her small and sweet little voice is heard again. "My name's Klare." My mistress nods. "Well, Klare, it's nice to have you staying here. I hope you be good for Seahlynn and us. She'll be caring for you from now on, and you shall be helping her in her duties as well." Klare nods.
Klare's POV
The princess, Ursa, I suppose that's who she is, excuses us and I follow behind Seahlynn as we exit the room. We walk down a long hallway it seems and I notice on one side there's many openings that lead to what I can tell is a large open area that was basically an outside area with a large pond and big tree in it. We walk away from the area and to different places so that Seahlynn can teach me things that I'll be doing and helping with.
**Timeskip**
I've been helping Seahlynn with all her jobs for the past week. Today, however, she told me that Mistress Ursa has requested that I myself shall do one other job at least twice a week. Seahlynn leads me to the royal garden that I had noticed the first day I was here, telling me that she'll only lead me here for the first few days of me doing this job.
When we get to the garden, I notice two children that looked close to my age playing there. The boy, I noticed, seemed about a year older than me, and the girl about a year younger than me. Seahlynn looks down at me. "Your one other job is to come here and talk or play with the mistress's children. While doing so, you'll also be watching over them. After your job is finished during the day, you're requested to report back to me. If something unpleasant happens, you and I are asked to both visit the mistress and report the incident. Understood?" I nodded. "Yes, Ms.Seahlynn. Understood." With that, she gently pushed me towards the garden and I began to make my way towards the two, away from Sealynn.
A boy was dozing off with his back leaning against the tree, while his sister crouched next to the pond and was looking into in. I went over towards the boy and bent over him. "Hello." I greeted with a smile, the first smile that I've shown since I left home might I add. He stared drowsily at me with his golden eyes.
"Who are you?" He asks, finally seeming to wake up completely. I straighten back up again and grin at him. "I'm Klare. Nice to meet you. It's Prince Zuko, right?" He nods. "Yeah, but aren't you a servant or something?" The girl by the pond finally notices my presence and quickly comes over.
"Yeah! She is a servant! How come your not doing your chores, hmm?" She questions me. I chuckle half-heartedly. "Well, I've been given a bit of a break from my normal chores. -sigh- I might as well tell you the whole truth. You see, your mother, Princess Ursa, has requested that sense I'm close to both of your ages then it wouldn't be as awkward for me to be around the two of you. So I've been asked to hang around the two of you at least twice a week unless directed otherwise." I say rather matter-of-factly. She walks right up to me and pushes me down onto the ground.
"Like we need another kid to watch over us. I think we can handle ourselves without needing to have someone pathetic like you around us." Zuko looked surprised at his sisters actions but I just look at both of them with a slight frown making it's way onto my face. I let my bangs fall from behind my ears and cover my eyes. "Yeah. I know. I know all of that, you didn't need to point any of that out. To be honest, I think my parents decision to save me while they sacrificed themselves and my twin brother was a pathetic decision." I raise my head up and look boldly at the girl that I assume is Azula as I continue. "You seem to agree entirely with me. But I don't have a choice here, if I did then I would heed your wishes and walk away right at this moment." They both look at me in shock, Zuko had the slightest hint of sympathy in his eyes. I just smiled.
"Apologies for my rudeness, mistress Azula and master Zuko. It slipped out of my mouth on accident. Please excuse such impoliteness, I'm still a bit new to this lifestyle and occupation. My previous life was far different from currently." I got back up and bowed to the two.
Zuko step closer to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's fine. I'm sure you didn't ask for this added task. Here, if you want you can sit next to me so you can keep an eye on Azula and talk with me. That is, if you really want to." After going back to his spot under the tree, he pats a spot next to him and I gladly accept his invitation by sitting there.
"That is true. I was actually just given the duty a moment ago and according to Sealynn, 'all requests are best to be finished as soon as possible no matter the circumstances.' So I wasn't allowed to question it because that's like questioning our mistress's authority, which wouldn't be a smart decision for me to make, especially so soon after being allowed to stay here." I say thoughtfully. Azula just huffs and goes back to the pond, keeping her back towards me.
Zuko smiles. "Well, Klare, since we'll be around each other a lot from now on, I think it'll be easier for you if we drop formalities." I look at him with shock. "Are you sure?" He nods, his smile growing wider. I smile with him. "Ok, Zuko. If you insist." We nod to each other in unison.
I notice Sealynn walk by the garden and look in at us with a wide smile. I pay no mind, but Zuko seemed to have noticed it and I could tell that he had a slight blush across his cheeks. I giggle a bit at the sight and his blush grew with embarrassment. "I-it's not that funny."
I kept on giggling. "Hehe, I'm not laughing because it's funny, Zuko." I was able to get that much out before bursting out in a fit of giggles.
As if to change the subject, Zuko asks the one question that I hadn't expected him to ask. "What was your previous life and home like?"
I snap my head to the side and stare directly at him in shock. I think he noticed that he hit a sore spot but he kept quiet, his curiosity obviously getting the best of him.
"Well... if you really want to know then I suppose it wouldn't hurt that much to talk about it, at least to you. You see, I used to live in a rather large house in the woods. It was about two thirds the size is this palace. I lived there with my mother, father, twin brother, and a live-in servant that was actually just an orphan teenager whose long dead family was fairly close with mine. Heh." I smile sadly at the fond memories and continued.
"My brother would always treat me like a princess and acted as though he were my personal servant. We had so many fun times. Sometimes we'd even talk the teenager girl into playing with us when she wasn't happily doing chores. As for my parents, they were serious but still kindhearted and laid back. Because of all them, my life so far was absolutely wonderful. But a dreadful day came not too long ago and all that was changed." I began to frown agin and looked down at my lap.
"A group of people came to our home demanding that they gave them me and my brother. Unfortunately those people were benders and everyone in our household were non-benders so if we opposed then we wouldn't have stood a chance against them. ... But my parents did it anyway. They told me and my brother to run as far as we could and the teenager was to run the other direction in hopes that she would be able to distract them. We all did as we were told, but a few of them noticed me and my brother and chased after us. My brother, still acting like always had, forced me to leave him behind. I wish that I could have been captured in my brother's stead, but I was so scared of it all..." I trailed off and stood up.
Avoiding eye contact, I showed Zuko a fake close-eyed smile. "Hehe, but it's fine now. I kinda like it here. The past is the past, right? So it doesn't matter anymore." I could feel him staring up at me. I look away and dropped the fake expression.
"Klare."
Published: Jun 1, 2015. 2:08 am