Ten
By the time Andrina actually got close enough to the castle to see the gates, is was very late in the day. Despite the fact that the towers and spires rose high above the rest of the town, it was quite a long ways off from where she'd come in. As she had none of those things that the rest of the humans were wearing on their feet; "shoes," as she'd noted on a sign outside a shop selling them; her own new feet were very thoroughly worked on the stony street. She'd grown rather hot and out of breath over her long march, and had discovered the new sensation of a stubbed toe more than once. At last, at half past two, she stumbled up, dusty and sweating, to the feet of the high gates.
Now, she met her first real obstacle: how was she to get in? She'd finally made it to Henry's actual home only to be stopped just outside. Even craning her neck as far as she could, she could barely see the tops of the highest turrets. It was so much different from the castle in Atlantica; if she'd been back home, she could just as easily swim up to the windows one by one, searching for Henry's room. Judging by the guards posted on the walls and by the gates, she could clearly see that the human royals didn't let just anyone enter the courts; her dismay deepened when she looked down at her dust-covered clothes, muddy feet, and shabby appearance. Her walk through town had shown her the humans' idea of fancy clothes, and she was definitely not it.
Her next thought was to look for a side entrance or a servant's door; there were such things in Atlantica, so why not here? Perhaps she could be mistaken for a servant herself and slip inside that way. Walking round the edge of the wall brought her to a small but distinct pathway leading to a broad, short step next to some sort of human contraption with a wooden bowl hanging from the handle by a sort of strap attached to it. The contraption was dripping water from one end, and next to it was a very small door, covered up with a piece of wood.
With a cautious glance at the gate guards, who apparently hadn't noticed her presence at all, Andrina crept over to this door, keeping close to the wall to avoid being seen. She had just reached the step when the wooden panel opened outwards, almost smacking her as it swung out. Peering round it, Andrina saw a human girl, dressed in simple clothes, and holding another of the round bowl-things, which was filled with dirty water. This she flung into the street, then set the bowl under the contraption that dripped water and began pulling on a long bar hooked to the other side. Out of the thing, clean, crystal water began pouring, filling the bowl-thing until it was nearly full. Then the girl stopped pulling the bar, picked up her bowl, and went back inside, pulling the wooden panel closed behind her.
Now understanding the functions of the bowl, the contraption, and the door panel, Andrina knew what to do. Catching hold of the edge of the door cover so that it wouldn't close, she stuck one of her dirty legs under the contraption, reached over, and began pulling the bar, just as she'd seen the other girl doing. It was hard work, but water soon washed her leg clean, and then the other. Drying them on the skirt of her clothes, Andrina then slipped through the door and let the panel close again.
Inside, it was almost pitch black. She now stood in a sort of entryway to another, larger, well-lit room, bustling with activity. Many humans were hurrying through it, carrying things and shouting at one another. In the midst of the rush, a tall, thin woman with a rather pinched expression was barking orders at everybody. The place was hot and hazy beneath a thick blanket of steam.
Andrina hovered by the doorway, wondering what to do next. Before she could decide, the woman caught sight of her in the doorway and marched towards her with a very cross look on her face.
"And what do you think you're doing?" she inquired stiffly. "One of the new maids for hire, I presume? Well, come along and let me show you your duties." She stared at Andrina's damp skirt and bare feet. "Is that… all you have with you?"
Stepping out of the shadows, Andrina nodded. "Um, yep; this is it."
The woman sniffed disapprovingly. "Well, you can fetch something out of the maid's closet when we go up. I daresay you've come from a very poor household; you'll be needing whatever work you can get. Come along." Without another word of explanation, she turned and hustled off. Andrina followed, trying not to smile as she wondered what this woman would think of her if she really did know where she came from.
Even the servant's parts of the castle seemed large and alluring to Andrina, who had never quite understood what human dwelling places were like. She'd been wondering why the human castle was so tall if they could never get from floor to floor without any way to swim up; she was now treated to the human novelty of "stairs," as the woman called them.
"You'll be working mostly upstairs," she told Andrina, "but the sleeping chambers are down here. You will be attending the Lady Tremaine and her daughters; you are to carry up their breakfasts in the morning, and carry away the things when they are finished, you will bring their sewing, mending, and laundry down to the washroom each day, make sure everything is clean and tidy, keep up with the dusting, sweeping, and mopping, and you must mind whatever they tell you to do in the meanwhile. Other than this, you are to keep out of the way and do as you're told."
Andrina was mildly confused by the sudden rush of new information she had to grasp, but nodded. "Okay. Um, what's your name, by the way?"
"You may call me Mistress Prudence," the woman replied, not looking at her or changing her stiff demeanor. "If you have any further questions, you may ask me. Here is the closet for the maids," she announced, leading her into a small chamber down a side hall. Andrina recognized well enough what a closet was, and found several clothes like the ones she had on hanging up in it, as well as several human shoes, set together in pairs in two tidy rows.
"You are not to go barefoot about the palace," Mistress Prudence told her, rather severely. "It is highly improper. And above all, you must never enter the presence of any member of the noble family unless bidden."
Andrina looked up, startled. That was not something she was familiar with; in Atlantica, the merfolk were free to visit with members of the royal family as they liked. Well, she would just have to find some way round that rule. "Gotcha," she affirmed, glancing over the rows of shiny, black shoes. Which ones should she take? They all looked exactly the same; how was she supposed to tell?
Mistress Prudence cleared her throat pointedly. "We haven't all day, you know."
"Oh, sorry." Andrina selected a pair at random, stepping into them. They were rather large, and did not fit very comfortably. A moment's examination showed that she had them on the wrong feet; she had never considered the idea that a set of human feet were different from each other. Once that was confirmed, the shoes felt much better, though still roughly too big.
Mistress Prudence seemed moderately satisfied, at least saying nothing about it. "Come along, then." Turning, she marched across the hallway, Andrina keeping close behind, with some difficulty. The bottoms of her new shoes were smooth and flat, making it hard to walk across the hard, slippery floors. Presently, however, Mistress Prudence turned down another passage, the floor of which was covered with a soft, squishy substance rather like algae, except it was a dark blue and very dry.
"This is the hall where you will be attending to the Lady and Misses Tremaine," the mistress informed her. "Aside from carrying in the breakfasts, you are not to enter their rooms unless bidden to do so. At the moment, there is nothing to be done yet." She hurried through so quickly that Andrina barely had time to notice the lavish richness of the place. The walls were blue and gold, with strange, colored drawings of humans hanging from them. They were large enough that she couldn't help wondering if they would simply get up and step out into the hall. She'd have lingered longer, but Mistress Prudence did not alter her pace, going to a white panel in the wall with a round, yellow thing sticking off of it. Andrina watched in fascination as the mistress grabbed the yellow thing, turned it sharply to one side, and pushed against it, and the whole panel swung forward to reveal a doorway into a smaller, much darker passage beyond.
"This is how you will be coming and going between this hall and the servant's," continued Mistress Prudence, guiding her through the dingy passageway. "You are not permitted to linger about in the open halls, so I suggest you get a feel for the servant's passageways now. Remember, the best behaved servant is neither seen nor heard."
They sure have a lot of rules, Andrina thought to herself. To the mistress, she said, "I'll do my best."
Mistress Prudence threw her a sharp look. "You'd better do twice as good as your 'best.' Speak only when you're spoken to, do everything you're told, and keep out of the way the rest of the time."
Biting back a snarky remark, Andrina followed the mistress through the passage. There were lots and lots of stairs here, very rickety, sharp, and narrow, creaking as if ready to collapse with every step.
Mistress Prudence led her through several other rooms on the way through the servants' halls. One was hot and steamy, with lots and lots of human clothes and large, white things like very, very thin sails hanging everywhere. Another room, not so hot, had many women sitting at tables and doing something odd to the clothes, sticking them full of thin, sharp, silver spikes like the spines of a sea urchin. Andrina tried to memorize the way as she went; down one stair and up another, through a set of rooms that had large, metal human figures standing in a row, left and then right, until she had the feeling they'd been going in circles. She was relieved when Mistress Prudence opened another door and revealed they were back in the kitchen again.
"As this is your first day, we won't expect you to do much," she told Andrina. "At the moment, I suggest you get settled in. Ellie can show you the servant's quarters." Snapping her fingers, she waved to one of the maids. The maid, a fair, pleasant-looking girl, skipped lightly over, flashing a bright smile at Andrina. "Show her up to the servant's chambers," Mistress Prudence instructed her. Her job done, the woman turned and walked away.
"Good day to you," greeted Ellie cheerfully, pulling on the sides of her human skirt and bobbing down in something like a funny sort of bow. "Well, just follow me; I'll show you where we get to sleep." Turning, she tripped lightly off, Andrina trailing just behind.
"So, what do they call you?' asked Ellie over her shoulder.
"I'm Andrina," Andrina told her, panting slightly. The euphoria of her new legs was beginning to wear off; she was wondering when, if ever, she would get to a place to sit down and rest.
Ellie glanced at her, wrinkling her nose a little. "Rather funny sort of name, isn't it?"
"Not nearly as funny as 'Ellie,'" remarked Andrina, halting at the corner. There was a cramp in her side, probably from all the walking, so she leaned against the wall to catch her breath.
Ellie didn't seem to mind in the least, dropping back beside her. "So, where are you from?"
"Near the beach," said Andrina truthfully.
"Is that why you have that?" Ellie pointed to Andrina's pink-shell hair comb. "I've never been to the sea before," she went on, not waiting for an answer. "I've seen a glimpse of it, now and then, of course, but I've never actually been right down to it. Is it very big? Have you ever seen any fish?"
"Lots," answered Andrina, nodding. "The salmon and the bass are all right, but the carp can be pretty obnoxious in the morning."
Ellie looked at her queerly. "Do you mean when out fishing? Have you ever been fishing?"
"Oh, no," objected Andrina, rather horrified at the idea. Checking herself, she added, "My, uh, brother has, though. He's shown me a few things about it."
They went through one of the halls Andrina had seen before, then around another corner to a little side-hall lined with more door-covering-panels, all of which were closed. "These are the maids' quarters," Ellie informed her, pulling a panel open and revealing a tidy, rather bare little room with two small beds, dresser, and small table with a large, queer object on it. Opening the top drawer of the dresser, Ellie brought out a tiny packet filled with little sticks with red heads. Andrina wasn't quite sure how she did it, but Ellie pulled off one of the sticks, rubbed it very fast against the side of the packet, and lo! with a flash and a crackle, a tiny flame erupted on the end of the stick. Andrina could hardly help letting out a small gasp of surprise.
Apparently, this was quite an average phenomenon, for Ellie didn't bat an eye, but put the burning end of the stick into the strange device, and another tiny flame sprang to life inside of it. In another moment, the room was filled with light. "This is where I sleep. You can stay here with me, if you like."
"Thank you," said Andrina, carefully sitting down on one of the beds. It was not very comfortable; rather hard, but very springy. Andrina bounced on it once or twice, then put up her feet.
Ellie smiled, setting the strange fire-holder back on the table. "I'll let you get settled in; I've got to go. Just blow out the light when you leave." With that, she hurried off, leaving Andrina to ponder all the amazing human wonders of the day.
.
The darkness was deepening as night fell over the kingdom of Atlantica. In the palace, the king sat on his throne, gazing anxiously at the door. He started up as one of his seahorse heralds entered and swam up. "Any sign of her?"
The seahorse shook his head. "No, you Majesty. We've searched everywhere, but we've found no trace of your daughter."
Triton clenched his jaw. "Well, keep looking. Leave no shell unturned, no coral unexplored. Let no one in this kingdom sleep until she's safe at home."
"Yes, sire," the herald sighed, hurrying off once more.
King Triton sat back in his chair again, his face in his hands. "Oh, what have I done? What have I done?"