(White Dragon)
"MISS DIA! Falling asleep is simply unacceptable during formal conversation!"
"Perhaps you should let the poor dear rest Romana, the girl probably stayed up late reading again."
"We cannot let this behavior continue Martha, it's absolutely unacceptable! As a teacher of etiquette this completely insults my efforts at instilling the proper sense of decorum befit a lady of her-"
"But the young miss is just a child; couldn't we just let it go?"
"Mostly certainly not! Would YOU let Gina go for doing something like this!"
"Now dear you're overreacting. Perhaps we should just take a moment to calm down and maybe try bringing Miss Dia back gently?"
"Gently! Poppycock! Why if Lumina would even so much as blink for two seconds too long while playing I would give her a solid baton thwacking, goddess forbid she fall asleep! Now we are not delaying this any longer-"
"But Romana you must understand, she normally isn't like this! Perhaps if I were to get Gina to come in with her-"
"Ugh, enough of this! WAKE UP YOUNG LADY! Did you HEAR! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"
Romana smacked the desk before her forcefully, the thud rebounding off the marbled walls of the mansion, hoping to wake its occupant. Dia jumped up with a jolt, green eyes alert but still glazed over with the remains of sleep. Barely coherent, her head swiveled back and forth between the two older women before her, her extremely small stature dwarfed by their standing positions.
"Wha-?" Dia slurred.
Romana's eyes narrowed to slits as she stared at her pupil. "Well my dear you fell asleep, isn't that simply wonderful? Here I thought we would have to part ways so soon and with little extra work. I see now that that isn't the case."
The accused eyes widened at the new information and her whole body became rigid. A second latter, a barely audible groan of frustration emitted from her as she slumped into her seat, any lingering thoughts about manners forgotten.
"Romana, I believe that is actually enough for the day, the Master and Mistress will be home soon so I should probably start preparing the Miss for dinner."
Flabbergasted, the older woman whipped her head toward the blue-haired one by her side, offended by the servant's attempts at undermining her teaching.
"There are certain priorities within the life of every educated woman Madam Martha and dinner above appearance is not one of them!"
About to protest and assure the tutor that she was in no way trying to place importance, Martha could not help but notice the defeated appearance of the young mistress she was so readily willing to defend. Knowing she wouldn't win against her determined colleague, she resigned to helping her ward in the best way she knew possible.
"Dia dear, would you like me to send in Gina?"
The previously glum expression on the younger girl's face lifted at the spoken name, turned instead into a shy smile and what grew into a tentative nod. Clucking to herself, Martha daintily sauntered out of the room, only returning a moment later with her smaller granddaughter in tow as she walked over to the young miss. Without prompting the younger servant walked toward the other girl and, in an act that was most appalling to Romana's sense of etiquette, slid into the other corner of the large seat that occupied the area behind the desk.
Snuggling into Gina's side, the green-eyed girl returned her gaze to her instructor and gave a curt nod, now alert and with no sign of tiredness.
"Ahem, now that you're…settled…let us return to our interrupted lesson." Spoke Romana uncertainly, not sure how to take this new development between master and servant.
The two youngest in the room nodded in unison, sitting perfectly in their seat as if they were prepared to face an impromptu posture inspection (infamous under the reign of the tyrannical Romana, though Gina only knew so from Dia).
Martha left the room in a hurry then, suddenly made aware of the late hour and the imminent arrival of the Masters of the house. Finishing her thorough examination of her two pupils, at least visually, Romana turned toward the large oak table at her back, strewn with the various types of fine garments and jewels worn by the nobility.
"Now girls, whether you are eight like yourselves or someone of my vast experience, the most important aspect of any private function is how you appear to others. The key to making a good first impression is by striking a balance between a strong personality and the perfect, immaculate outfit you do it in-"
In the near silence of the mansion's library, broken occasionally by the soft thuds of clanging pots from the kitchen down the hall, Dia slipped her hand into Gina's.
Leaning over, Dia whispered quietly by Gina's ear: "I'm going to start reading the 'White Dragon' after dinner. If you want you could come upstairs and I could read it out loud…I wouldn't want to go through it alone…"
Smiling at her mistress's kindness, Gina did nothing but squeeze her friend's hand in return, touched by the selfless offer. She knew that Miss Dia had actually read the book completely the night before, despite its daunting length of 100 pages, just so that she could sound out and understand all the words within the text.
The young maid had passed by the girl's room on the way to the kitchen for a glass of water around midnight and seen the faint light from Dia's doorway; curious, she had snuck toward it only to hear the soft murmurings of her friend, as she read the story aloud to herself. Gina had wondered briefly at the time what she could have been doing but with the quiet request made in the library the girl finally began to understand. Gina had wanted to read the book for months now, but had had little time and a less than stellar reading ability to promote the activity.
Miss Dia, in all her selfless action, had read the book so that she could go through it perfectly when reading it to her friend. The thought warmed Gina's heart and she could not help but turn to smile at the girl by her side. Squeezing the soft, delicate fingers that were within her grasp she gave a slight nod.
"I'd love to Miss Dia."