"Good morning, My Lady," Amelia said as she opened my curtains letting the light shine in my face. Her greeting made me think of Charles though, so I didn't mind. My body was stiff from not moving at all in my sleep and it took a long time before I was willing to get out of bed. "Shall we get you ready for your breakfast? I don't believe the royal family is willing to dine with anyone in the mornings other than his family," Amelia said.
"If that is the case, why must I go down for breakfast at all if I'm not to dine with anyone special for breakfast?"
"There will still be nobles at the table I would assume. Not to mention, you start lessons with Rehabiah right after breakfast. We have some casual clothes for you, too that were sent up with all your other clothes before you woke this morning."
"Fine," I grumbled pulling the covers back. I slowly sat up as I slid off my bed unhappily. I heard Amelia giggle and I couldn't help but join her. I stood and walked over to Amelia and she walked me over to my armoire and changing area. I pointed to a couple of the new ones I thought would be good for today. Amelia grabbed the simple light blue one that had white sashed around the waist and framing the bottom and showed a white ruffle on the top of the dress and sleeves. It was casual and reminded me of home in the blacksmith shop.
Amelia tied the bow in the back and tied my hair up with a white bow like on my dress so none of my hair would be in my face. I thanked her again for all her hard work. "Amelia, I don't know if this is okay to ask but I see no reason not to trust you, Is the prince always so rude to ladies?"
Amelia smiled before honestly answering, "Well, he is rude to everyone except the Lady Roseanne. It seems he uses all the sweetness he has inside of him to charm her!" Amelia laughed as she finished her sentence. I laughed at her answer. "Please, don't tell anyone I said that! I could lose my job for such comments towards a lady," Amelia suddenly exclaimed.
"I suggest that what we say to each other stays between a lady and her maid. Everyone needs someone to talk to honestly, and so far you're the only female I've met and can easily converse with," I explained to Amelia as she shooed me out of the chambers laughing. She told me to go on and have breakfast with other nobles and get onto work.
I had a small breakfast of my choice when I got to the dining hall. To my surprise, Prince Alexander was there talking politely to the nobles. I walked in and all the men stood up to greet me. "Lady Grace, I didn't realize you were such an early riser," one of the noblemen in a dark gray and red suit noted as he was sitting down.
"I'm not," I simply replied as I sat down to quickly enjoy my breakfast though I still wasn't hungry. I was eating and enjoying my breakfast when I heard Alexander turn to the men and explain it was because Rehabiah the physician started work early. I merely nodded in agreement. He was surprisingly accurate. "So my question is, why are you all up so early? What are your jobs for the day?"
"We have a hunt today that my father would like us to attend. The earlier the start the better," the blonde prince said giving me a smug smile. "Did you expect that we sat around all day just staring at ladies prancing around the court trying to get us to swoon with their looks?"
I turned a deep red for I had imagined that they didn't do much. Though I still didn't see how a hunt was that important. I managed to sputter out, "I-I thought no such thing!" I cleared my plate and walked off for the day on my way to see Rehabiah. As soon as I walked out on my way to Rehabiah I ran into Kenneth. "Daniel," I exclaimed as I bumped into him.
"Lady Grace," he said bowing respectfully. "I'm here to escort you to Rehabiah's work place in the palace. He led me along a path down steps to the right and down a twisted hallway. We were mostly alone now and I felt comfortable enough to make small chat with him as we walked.
"Slowly, please, I am to keep my dignity. I see you have figured out the paths in the castle well," I silently said.
"I'm doing my best. I don't know them all, but I know the important ones," Kenneth said as he slowed his pace. "We're almost there." As he spoke, he dug a piece of paper into my hand and showed me into the physician's room.
The room was large and there were herbs and tools everywhere. I didn't see Rehabiah but I knew he was in there somewhere because I could hear him. "Rehabiah," I called as I entered the room. Kenneth stood next to me, tense waiting to see what would happen. The man stood up and I saw he was slightly elderly. I would say he was in his fifties. He reminded me of what I would imagined my father would look like at that age. Not too heavy, but clearly well off. Only stubbles on his face, no full beard. He was at least three inches taller than me, and he had green eyes, darker than my fathers.
"Grace I assume? There is an apron, put it on and let's get to work. I think I will have to teach as we go for I usually won't have enough time to sit down and work on small details without an example," Rehabiah spoke quickly but smoothly. He wasn't gentle, but he didn't seem to mean. "Quickly please," he said sharply.
"Yes sir, I'll work on that," I put on my apron and went over to him. "Thank you so much for letting me work with you, Rehabiah. I've heard of your work and I am honored to be working under you as your apprentice for the time being." He looked up at me then seeing I meant what I said. Doing this reminded me of my father's work, it felt like a way to get to know him.
"Grab that there, that is comfrey root. I need you to grind that into a fine powder with that mortar and pestle," Rehabiah instructed me. I instantly grabbed it and started trying to grind it up as best as I could. It was taking more muscle already than I had thought as I tried to turn a solid root into powder. "That's it, keep crushing it."
"Excuse me, but what is this for? I've heard of comfrey root but have never heard its purpose. Is this for a specific person or is this just to store for later?" I asked question after question just like when I was a little girl with my father.
"If you want to know that you should probably read some of your books. I can explain things as we are going, but I expect you to take some of the books home and use them to study for when we are here. I want to in a few weeks be able to ask you to make a tincture and you be able to know exactly how to even if it means going and collecting the necessary ingredients. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir. Which stack of books should I read through first?" I asked in a tone much sweeter than his own. He merely looked up and pointed at a stack of three books. All of them were pretty much the basics of being a physician and being in herbalism. I knew I wouldn't be sleeping much these next few days. "It needs to soak in alcohol and water if I'm not mistaken, correct?"
"Yes. There are things to measure it out over there. Why is it that you soak it in alcohol and water, or, on occasion vinegar or some other liquid?" he asked testing my small amount of knowledge.
I thought it over as I measured out the alcohol and water and poured it into a jar that had a stopper. "It brings out the full power of a root, or whatever it is you are soaking. But you have to first let it soak in it in a certain spot. Though I don't know where you would have to soak comfrey root," I said.
"Good, you are off to a promising start. Comfrey root is soaked in a dark, moist environment for a night. Usually it is left to rest in a cupboard. And to answer your question from earlier, I just gave someone in town the rest of my comfrey root because they burned themselves while tending to a fire. That is why I am making more. Not to mention it is easy to make which meant it was good for you to learn so early on in your training,"
I looked at him, and like he had done to me many times already that morning, I just smiled at him showing him I acknowledged that he spoke. He looked back at me knowing what I was doing and he let out a soft, quick laugh. I, too had a slight giggle as we realized that this would be a good time with me as an apprentice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was soon midday and we didn't have much going on. I took this time that nobody knew I had to sneak off to the gardens. In Vezana, the gardens were my favorite. It would be nice to have some alone time and a reminder of my home. I was walking through when I suddenly remembered a note from Kenneth was in the pocket of my apron. I pulled it out and read: Grace, any notes you might need sent place behind the picture outside your chamber. Make sure you write who they are to. I will check behind there every night. Check every morning in case I have to leave you something. Post Script, I would suggest only sending letters to me and the Mathias. Sorry. –Daniel
I smiled a little bit at the thought that I could still send letters to Rem. I don't know if I would, but somehow the thought was still comforting to me. I could still have something from home even if it isn't often that I can. I knew when he was saying sorry it was because it was too dangerous for me to send a letter to Charles. His relentless teasing was starting to get annoying. Besides, who was he to talk? He is married!
I was lost in thought as I was walking when I suddenly ran straight into Prince Alexander. He started mumbling about people knocking into him when he suddenly saw it was me. "Lady Grace, I apologize! What are you doing here? I thought you started your apprenticeship today with Rehabiah," Alexander said in a questioning tone.
"Oh, I did. I have a break to eat a snack and rest. I don't think he rests though. What about you? I thought you were on some adventurous hunt with all the noble men? You said it was very important and you didn't just saunter around all day. It seems to me now you're doing just that," I said bluntly.
"Exceedingly frank of you to say, it is kind of refreshing. Well then, to be honest with you, because you apparently seem to be like that, I'm not on the hunt today because we are expecting guests this evening that I am apparently supposed to be readying for. A guest I don't particularly want to see. A lady actually and one that my father is very fond of," Alexander said with a slight sigh at the end.
"You mean I'm not the only lady you dislike? I am not sure if I should be happy that it isn't something I did personally, or sad that I'm not extraordinary enough to especially get on your nerves," I retorted back.
"I sometimes wonder if you know who you are talking to. Not to worry though, you really do get on my nerves more than most can manage. But also, I can still manage to tolerate you more than I can tolerate the Lady Suzanne!" Alexander stopped for a minute. "Honestly, why are you so much nicer to me around my father? It makes it very hard for me to predict your mood."
I had to take a few minutes to laugh, seeing as I was relentlessly teasing him and not being nice, as we walked through the gardens before answering. "I need to impress your father. He was very kind to me and therefore I am very kind to him. Plus, he doesn't seem to hate me; I'd like to keep it that way. You, however, have hated me since you set your eyes on me. I mean, I know I had an unflattering look from traveling, as a prince you should be more kind." He gave me a smug smile in return.
After that we were in silence until we came to the impressive fountain. The sound of it was loud and reminded me of a rushing river and it brought me piece. There were benches around them but I had not the time to sit. "I'm afraid I have to get back to my apprenticeship," I curtsied as I was about to leave. "Goodbye, Prince Alexander."
Before I left, Alexander grabbed my hand and kissed it, clearly teasing about being more polite. As he slid his hand away I knew he felt the calluses on my hand that clearly shouldn't be on the hands of a lady. "Goodbye, Lady Grace," he said as he watched me walk away, with curiosity gleaming I his eyes.
"You're late, Lady Abrenth." Rehabiah said looking up at me. "That does not make a good impression considering it is only your second time walking through those doors."
"Sorry, not that it is an excuse, but to be fair, it was the prince who stopped me when I was in the gardens trying to peacefully enjoy the gardens. I'm surprised you know my last name. I have not used it much since I've been here," I said looking at Rehabiah surprised.
"I like to make sure I know about the people before I make them my apprentice. I hardly even let anyone into this area let alone work with me. Your case intrigued me though. For you, it is a mission. Something you feel required to do for a family member you held dear to you and you now have to honor. I knew you would therefore want to learn a lot, and you would work hard, no matter what. So far you've worked fairly hard, but I do request more."
I nodded in agreement, realizing how my fake story matched up a lot to my real identity. I vowed to work harder as a physician and herbalist while I was here, even if it was just to get the king's crest. I began to work harder even that day, and by the time I was done, I was exhausted and hurried off to my chambers