Prologue

"Give me that at once! Or I'll tell mother on you, you wretched slave. How dare you touch my doll?" Demanded a chubby little girl; her green eyes were glittering dangerously and daring the rag covered girl at the corner to reply.

"I'm sorry missus; I didn't mean to, I found it at the garden…I..." The little girl's voice was trembling now.

"Who told you to take what's not yours Lyrin? Oh! I forgot you never had anything. Now you're in big trouble. I'm going to tell mama you stole my doll. Just you wait and see!" declared Raven as she snatched the stained doll from Lyrin's grasp.

The tiny figure was left at the corner of the room, awaiting her punishment.

Lady Adriane was brushing her smooth brown hair as her daughter Raven came in, her shoulder length black hair disheveled. She immediately knew something's wrong as Raven approached. "What is it this time Raven?" she asked softly. "Are you missing your daddy Sir Oren?"

The little girl shook her head, still bearing a sad expression as she replied in a sulky voice. "Mama, it's Lyrin." Lady Adriane sighed. Not that girl again. The girl Lyrin was ungrateful for all the kindness she's shown her. "Now what has she done this time?" Lady Adriane asked wearily.

At this, Raven burst into tears as she took out a dirt crusted doll. "She stole my favourite doll and made it dirty. She took my favourite one! And look at what she has done to it. Mama, I hate her! Can't you just tell her to leave our manor?"

Lady Adriane studied the doll. It was dirt encrusted and torn. "Dear, I'll try and arrange that. But why can't you just try to get along with her?"

"Mama, I can't stand her. She's so mean." Raven burst into another pile of tears.
Lady Adriane sighed again and tried to calm down her daughter. "Don't cry, my little angel, I'll see to it that she leaves tomorrow to work at another manor. Are you happy now? Meanwhile, go and tell Lyrin to come and see me." whispered Lady Adriane.

Raven's sulky face turned into a delighted grin as she hugged her mother. "Mama, you're the best! Thank you!" as she rushed towards the exit in her eagerness to call Lyrin.

A huddled figure held a bundle of her remaining items as she walked barefooted outside the manor. A carriage was waiting for her. It was Lady Adriane's final gift to her as she slowly forwarded out the door. She had been in the manor for all her seven years, and now she had to go.

She sighed and looked back at the manor once more before she entered the horse drawn carriage. She was bound for another manor.

She climbed into the carriage and felt the grounds beneath her move.

Somehow she fell asleep for most of their journey, and it was not until the carriage flung her to the side as it came to a stop, did she wake up and realized that she had arrived.

She crawled out shakily thanking the carriage driver, and watched it disappear into the horizon. It was noon.

She slowly walked wincing as the ground burned her foot. This is it then, she thought as she approached the big door. She knocked.

An instant later, a woman came answering. She was a woman who made a deep impression. Her hair was brown, tinged with white, the only sign of her aging.

"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously.

"My name is Lyrin and I have been sent here to work from Lady Adriane." replied a shaking Lyrin.

"Welcome then, I'm expecting you Lyrin. Oh, and by the way, my name is Tarilne. Follow me now, to your sleeping quarters." She spoke: with her blue eyes took on a sparkle, the suspicious frown replaced by a warm smile.

Lyrin followed her to the servant's quarters. This is where I will live now, she sighed as she reflected on her previous manor and was surprised she somehow felt relieved and free, now Raven's not here.

She settled in her servant's quarters.