Chapter 4
I woke up to the sound of curtains being opened and the sunlight hitting my face. I sat up startled.
"Rise and shine!" Three maids who I recognized started to uncover me and take me off the bed, then they stripped me and quickly dressed me. All the while me protesting their help. They left as quickly as they came and I sighed. I guess they are pretty busy. I walked up to the mirror and found that I was in an elegant yet simple dress that had a free flowing skirt that dragged slightly on the ground, but what surprised me more was what I looked like. I had striking intense, wise, violet eyes and my hair looked pitch black, but in the light it had a lavender tint to it and it reached down to a little below my knees. My skin was smooth and soft and was slightly tan. I was beautiful. There was a small timid knock on the door and I told them to come in. Greta peeked through the door.
"Don't worry I'm nothing to be afraid of, in fact, where I'm from people thought I was rather silly." I made a funny face and she giggled. She walked in and introduced herself.
"You're really nice and really pretty too." The bluntness of a child always surprised me, but I know from experience that they tell the truth.
"Thank you Greta, you're very pretty too!" She blushed and thanked me.
"Ah that's right! I'm supposed to take you to Gwendal so that you can talk or something." I started to follow as she walked. "Gwendal's really nice to me. He's teaching me how to make dollies and sometimes he gives me the ones he makes and they're so cute! He also sometimes makes me cookies and they always taste really good!" If Gwendal thought that I didn't know or would ever find out his secret, it's obvious that he didn't think I'd get along with Greta. "Here we are! I have to go meet Anissina so she can read me her stories!"
"Alright thank you for helping me, I hope you have fun with Anissina!" I waved goodbye and faced the door when I couldn't see Greta anymore. I took a deep breath and knocked.
"Come in." When I walked in, he was the only one in there. Strange, usually Wolfram or Gunter were here. I guess this isn't like I expected. I walked until I was a few feet from his desk. He looked up. "You should sit." He pointed to the chair that was across him from the desk. As soon as I moved toward the chair, he started to write again. He must be really busy. Even after I sat, he kept working, but I knew better than to bother him, so I just looked out the window, thinking about my situation. After a while I realized that I was sitting up with no problem and that it was actually rather comfortable. I continued to sit quietly until I saw Gwendal put down his pen. I saw his face and he was leaning his elbows on the desk, chin resting on the back of his hands. "If I had done that to Wolfram, he would have jumped out of his seat after two minutes." I gave an amused smile. "But you sat quietly for an hour without making so much as a noise." Whoa.
"Has it really been one hour?" I mused. He blinked, then cleared his throat. It looks like we're really going to start talking now.
"I know these questions may discomfort you, but I want you to answer truthfully if you can." I squirmed, realizing that this was going to be more uncomfortable than I think.
"I'll do my best." He gave a rueful smile before continuing.
"What family did you have on Earth? Who were you closest to?" I didn't have to think about the answers if they were all these kinds of questions.
"I had a very big family, but I was only close to my parents. I was closest to my mother." I noticed that my voice turned sad.
"Do you have any siblings?" I sighed unwilling to tell the full truth.
"Yes, an older brother, but I had cut any ties I had with him long before I came to this world." He accepted my answer and continued unflinching.
"What was your role in your family?" This is where I squirmed and he didn't fail to notice and pay closer attention to my answer.
"Well, truthfully, I was useless, I still am. I did nothing to help my family, nor could I. I am weak and have few good talents. Most of those talents are useless here and many of my interests can no longer be practiced because of the cultural differences of Earth and here." He looked out the window thinking.
"What are these few talents and interests?" His questions confused me, but I answered truthfully.
"I am an artist, though not a very good one, I also love to read and I love animals as well, any kind really." My voice sounded a little more happy as I started to think of all my favorite things. "I've also always been interested in horseback riding and archery, but in my world, you need to pay to learn those things and my family was below what low class is here." My voice once again lowered to its sad state.
"You have to pay for lessons on horseback riding and archery on Earth?" He looked so surprised.
"Well, yes, unfortunately, on Earth they don't have magic, but what they have may be worse. In their desire to be the most powerful country, they've gone far enough to create a weapon so deadly that it's made it impossible to declare war on each other without threat of that weapon being unleashed and destroying us all. Though this has staved of wars, it has not stopped crime from acting in its own countries." He nodded half comprehending the state of Earth. He moved on quickly.
"Do you have any basic knowledge on certain subjects?"
"Nothing that would be useful here. Everything that I've been taught by others on Earth is no use to me here. I can cook, but I can only make one thing, well two things I suppose. Come to think of it, I don't think you've ever eaten one." He gave me a curious glance. "I suppose I'll have to show you some other time." I smiled at the thought of me cooking in their ginormous kitchen. He walked around the desk to me.
"Now I'm curious. What is this dish called?" I stood when he stood then answered.
"Well one of the foods is called a tortilla and it means round cake in a language form earth but it's actually made out of flour." he looked at me fascinated." I heard from Greta that you're a very good cook. Are you that interested in this dish?" He stood there a moment before speaking.
"Show me how you make this tortilla." He grabbed my hand and started to drag me to the door.
"W-what? But don't you have work or something?" He glanced over his shoulder for a second before turning quickly back.
"I finished all of today's as well as the rest of next months work today."
"Huh? But I'm not that good of a cook and I don't even know if you have the right ingredients!" I gave up on resisting and just tried to keep up with him.
"We'll keep trying until you've found the right recipe and you said that the main ingredient is flour right. We have plenty of flour." I didn't know that Gwendal had such a flare for cooking! As soon as we reached the kitchen all I heard was giggles. I looked down to see what they were laughing at and I realized that Gwendal hadn't let go of my hand. We both snapped our hands away and looked away from each other. "We're going to use the kitchen for the next few weeks and we might need some of your assistance." As soon as Gwendal spoke, the maids remembered to respect. "First bring us a mixing bowl some flour and.." He looked to me for the name of other ingredients.
"A sample of every cheese you have, salt, baking powder, water, and lard." They yes ma'amed me then left. I turned to see Gwendal looking at me strangely.
"It seems you have a better memory than you think, Mina, and probably a better cook too." His words sounded strange to me. This doesn't seem like me at all. I'm not this wise or intelligent or nice.
"I don't know what's wrong with me. I was nothing like this when I was on Earth." My voice had a tint of fear in it.
"Who says there's something wrong with you?" I looked up to see him looking at me with an accusing expression. "Maybe now that you're away from what used to be reality to you, you're real potential is just coming out." His words made me feel so dizzy and light headed. The maids came back and I wasn't afraid of how I was different anymore. Suddenly I had turned into a head chef because sooner than I thought I had made more than ten tortillas. I wiped away the heat that I had gotten from being close to the stove.
"Now what?" The maids and Gwendal looked at me curiously. I giggled at the fact that something I was so used to having in my everyday life was so new to them.
"Try one." I gave them each a small piece of the same tortilla and the remaining piece to myself. It was much better than the store bought ones I was used to. I heard their exclamations of surprise at the good taste.
"I never knew how good something so simple yet difficult to make could taste so good." Gwendal remarked. I smiled at his comment and watched them chew on their tortillas.
"And that's not the best part." They all looked at me curiously. "You can probably eat this with many of the dishes that you already make!" They looked excited as I told them about eating it with soups, meat dishes, and then I taught them how to make quesadillas, quesadillas with meat, tacos, and all the dishes tortilla or not related that my mother used to make for me including the ones that I didn't like very much. I also introduced them to salsa. It was fun to see everyone's reaction to that mixture.
