I wake up this morning feeling more refreshed than I've felt in years. Not only was I able to sleep in until past sunrise, admittedly not much past sunrise, but I also had a great, nightmare free, sleep. Not only do I feel physically refreshed though, I also felt mentally refreshed. I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I couldn't stop smiling.

"Good Morning!" A voice says, making me sit up in bed. Once I do I realize it's Runa, looking as pretty as ever and holding a tray full of food.

"Good Morning!" I reply as she sets down the tray on my lap and I realize it's breakfast. "What's this for?" I question suspiciously. I knew that The Selection was a public event and everything had to be documented for public entertainment. I also knew that the cameras aren't as prominent as they used to be, so that us Selected won't think about acting for the cameras. Though, did the palace staff go as far as putting cameras in our rooms? For I was sure that all meals were documented and here I was, having breakfast in bed.

"Oh!" Runa exclaims as if she read my mind, "No, the cameras are not in your room! You are simply having breakfast in bed because a mishap occurred with some of the dinning room cameras. There are people fixing them this morning so the official breakfast and lunch has to be canceled and the dinning room is off limits till dinner. Until then, if your hungry there will be snacks in the women's parlor and lunch will be served to you wherever you desire."

"Thanks Runa." I tell her, because in all honesty, if I had gone the rest of the day thinking that I couldn't even get dressed off camera it would have been a very stressful day. Actually, now that I think of it, I should have been dressed all ready. Where were Sondra and Averil? They always helped me prepare in the morning, not that I needed it. Although I still missed them and wondered where they were. I decide to ask Runa this bothering question.

"Well" she replies, not taking her eyes away from the curtains she was opening, "They are simply helping in the kitchens. Sondra's sister works in the kitchens and, with the dinning room being blocked off, the kitchen staff has had their hands full. They have had to hand deliver almost every breakfast, all while keeping the cold stuff frozen and the boiled stuff steaming. It has been quite a chaotic mess."

"But wouldn't the routine be the same?" I ask confused, "I understand that it's busier because people are trying to fix the cameras in the Dinning room, but the kitchen staff shouldn't have to change much. Right?"

I knew I had struck gold with that statement because Runa suddenly looked nervous. "Well... with the waitressing it's been difficult." She says as if her statement is a question.

"Runa." I say with as calm of a voice as I could muster, "I know I'm not a cook, but I do know how serving works. If one of every selected's personal maids helps with breakfast deliveries. Then the kitchen staff should be done early, not late." I then look her straight in her eyes before asking my final question. "What's going on?"

I watch as Runa's shoulders slump and she sighs audibly, as it giving into defeat. She then takes a deep breath before continuing, "There has been a slight power outage over certain rooms in the palace, the kitchen was one of them. The staff has been up since midnight trying to save all the food that needs to be refrigerated and checking what rooms still have power. So far the kitchen, dinning room, hallway 12, ballroom, office 1 and servants quarters are all without power. Although we haven't checked every room yet. We aren't supposed to tell any of the selected in fear of a widespread panick occurring. But I'm panicking and I don't know what to do and..."

"Hey!" I say interrupting her rant, "I know you probably weren't supposed to tell me this." She nods, eyes returning to their normal, bright glow, "but now that I know, why don't I help?"

"I'd get in trouble for telling you." She states rationally, "and with the staff being so stressed lately I don't know how they'd react to you being there."

"I was being rather pushy." I state, "and it sounds like you still need all the help you can get!"

"Well." She says, regaining her composure, "we do need more help. The Emperor has even been talking about of hiring more servants to help fix this. And since this would put everyone's job at risk I think that they'll welcome any help they can get."

I understood her concern about being fired. Back when I was working the gardens every day I was constantly trying to do my best. Although sometimes the employer would give me a big job and my best was not enough, so they would hire another Seven to 'help' me. After that job was over the employer would have to make the decision to let one of us go, for they only needed one Seven to do the daily jobs. When this happened, even though I was their first Seven, they didn't often chose to keep the young, weak girl who needed help in the first place.

"Of course I'll help!" I say excitedly, "I haven't been able to do a decent days work since I got here and, though I feel pampered, I also feel like a spoiled brat. I need some work to do, just let throw some clothes on and we'll get a move on." I start getting dressed while Runa laughs at my response

"Your not a spoiled brat!" She says, "your one of the nicest girls here, even Alex sees it!" I'm a little thrown off guard by her casual use of his common name. Although I guess that she has worked here for a long time, maybe all servants start to call him Alex after a while. I'm so busy thinking about Alex's relation to his staff that Runa's next statement throws me off guard. "I heard you laughing last night, late last night! You got along really well didn't you?"

I was too embarrassed to think about any implications or emotions behind her words. I was tomato red for sure and couldn't even come up with a decent response to her question. Thankfully though I had just finished getting dressed so I change the topic and ask, "where is the kitchen? Lead the way!"

As I walk towards the kitchen I realize the slow decline of formality. The doorways start to be stone instead of marble, the floor tiles stop being intricately designed, the paintings on the walls turn into fancy lights, then into normal lamps, even the air stops smelling like feminine perfume. The hallways also started showing more color than the sterile white I was becoming accustom to. It seemed like every room we passed had a different color rug, or carpet. The first started off with a white yellow, the second was a white green, then a light pink until eventual I was walking past rooms with vivid blue carpets or dark red walls. I feel more at home with every step away from the bleached, white, marble halls. I feel like I could sprint down these halls laughing and nobody would care, in fact, they might even laugh with me. This place feels homey, safe and smelled like chocolate chip cookies. I knew we were close to the kitchen.

"And here we are!" Runa exclaimed gesturing towards a pair of double swinging doors. These doors seemed splattered with paint from a distance, though closer up I could tell that each color mark was a signature. Each person seemed to have signed with their own color and style. Some signatures were in dark blue, some in light, some using many colors and some in plain black, some in print, some in cursive. Though they all had one thing in common, they were all members as the palace staff at one point or another.

They weren't the small swinging doors you would see at a salon, they filled up the entire door frame. Although these doors were still the most welcoming doors I had seen in the entire castle. Maybe it was the fact that the door was filled with the signatures of the staff, maybe the fact these doors were the first I had seen without an obvious lock on them, maybe the fact that the aroma of chocolate chip cookies was wafting out of them. I didn't know why, but I smiled wide at the sight of it none the less.

"It's a tradition." She told me, smiling just as wide as I was, "If you have worked over a day in the palace then you get to sign your name. It's become such a big hit that we've had to write over some of the names. Mine is right here!" She then pointed to a name written in swirling black cursive that read Runa Giolda. "Took me far to long to get it that neat." She commented, "though completely worth it! Some people used yellow and you can hardly see it! I wrote mine in black, so it's bold! And because it's bold I had to make sure it looked alright."

"Runa?" A voice commented from inside, "Is that you? Come on silly girl, we've got more work to do."

"Coming!" Runa replied right before pushing open the colorful doors. "I brought some extra help." Runa told an older lady who I assume had been the one to call her in.

The lady was definitely older, she had wrinkles all over her skin and her hair was a grayish white color that had been put into a bum on the top of her head. This woman also had the stereotypical plump body of someone who works in the palace kitchens. Though the thing that set her apart from every old lady on the streets was her eyes. Her dark brown eyes drastically conflicted with her aging body and seemed to jump with excitement. Even in this dark kitchen full of candles, battery activated timers and aggravated people she seemed as happy as a lark. She seemed like the perfect grandmother and I loved her instantly.

"Oh thank goodness!" The old lady exclaimed, "If we don't pick up the pace soon the king'l have a right fit! Come girl." She exclaimed rapidly and gestured for me to come towards her. "I'm Mari Nokamis, but you can call me Mrs. N for short since it's a real mouthful. What's yours?"

"Nadia Garison." I reply while Mrs. N hands me a dishrag and leads me to a sing if dirty dishes, "so I guess that means I'm Miss N"

"Your not missin'" she replies, not even missing a beat, "your right here!" She then laughs at her own pun before quickly asking if I could clean the pots in the sink, then dry them.

"Sure." I reply immediately, for I knew this was what I was here for, "although I don't know where to put anything once they are clean."

"Just set 'm on the table next to ya deary." She says, gesturing to a table full of even more dirty dishes. Then, with a sweep of her hand she pushes them all into the sink. Causing a massive splash, along with a now overflowing sink of dishes. She then takes out a wet washcloth from one of the many pockets in her apron, wipes all the crumbs off the table and into her hand using a complex back and forth motion. Then, to finish it all off, she takes large, dry, towel out of yet another pocket and hands it to me with a bowing gesture. "For you m'lady" she says dramatically before a timer goes off and she runs to the fire to remove a tray of, what looked like cookies.

'Well' I think to myself, 'might as well get started.'

And so I did. I scrubbed plate after plate, polished utensil after utensil, I wiped down cup after cup. I made sure every pot and pan was cleansed to perfection and every bowl sparkled like a mirror. It seemed like every time I placed a fully washed item down on the table someone would take it, sometimes even before I was able to dry it. It seemed like every object I washed someone would place two more in my sink of wet, soapy slush. I worked for hours and hours, until my hands had turned to prunes and far after. Sometimes people would talk to me, although the time was often cut short as a timer would go off and they would hurry back to the fire and continue his or her work. There were times that I felt like it was impossible, like when I was reaching elbow deep into the sink and still not reaching the bottom of the sink, or when was reaching shoulder deep into the sink to fish out the last fork and someone dumps another pile of dirty pots and pans into the soapy depths.

It turns out the only way I was able to survive the loads of dishes was when Runa started helping me. With the two of us working together we were slowly able to unpile a seemingly never ending mountain of dishes. We started out in silence as we vigorously tried to clean all the plates before the next timer went off and were handed another stack to clean. Then, as we started to anticipate one another's moves, we were able to converse while working. It started out casual, talking about the weather and what foods were being made in the kitchen. Then it became a little more personal, she would ask me about my family. I explained Odelia in heavy detail, and left out all detail of my brother's death or my parents absence. It turned out, however, that Runa understood my situation. For she talked all about Mrs. N and how she was always such a motherly figure. Though I never heard her talk about her real parents, or her life before she came to the palace. I knew what the avoidance of certain topics meant so I changed this one as soon as possible.

"So" I say after about an hour of talking, "How are you romance wise? You know that I'm in the selection but I've never heard you talk about any guy yet." Runa, being the poor lier she is, immedietly blushes and looks down.

"There's no one" she says meekly.

"Come on!" I insist, "there has to be someone that you like! No one blushes that red without a reason."

"Well, there is this one guy." She says slowly at first, but gaining confidence as she talks, "he's sweet, caring, funny and not bad looking. But we ended it recently, it just got to much to handle." I felt a little bad for Runa. I didn't understand how someone could dump her. She was drop dead gorgeous with no makeup, had a steady job in the palace and was always sweet.

"His decision or yours?" I ask, wondering if I'm starting to pry.

"A little on both fronts, though mostly his." She explains vaguely.

"How long have you known each other?" I ask, now knowing I'm prying.

"Since we were kids." She said, "We used to sit around in the kitchen while the staff would give us each a cookie that they had just baked." Runa's eyes suddenly got glassy and she stopped working, as if she was remembering old times, "We used to spend as much time eating our one cookie as we possible could. It was time for us to escape work for a couple minutes and just sit together. This daily escape continued through all our childhood."

I was confused as to why she was telling me all this, although a quick glance at Mrs. N answered that question. Mrs. N made a single tear gesture down her cheek and then pointed at Runa. She had a sympathetic expression on her face and seemed to pity her adoptive grandaughter. The breakup must have been just recently, since Mrs. N was feeling so protective, and Runa was feeling so emotional.

"Eventually, as we became older" Runa continued "we took our cookies outside the kitchen and just talked for hours in whatever room we pleased. I know that the staff was just letting us have a break, but we still kept up the cookie act. We would talk only until we had both finished our cookies, then we would both go back to work. He was so adorable when he first asked my out. He was blushing so hard and he kept stammering the words so I couldn't understand him. I told him that he would never get any ladies if he kept stuttering like that. Then he responded with, 'but I don't want all the ladies, I just want you.'"

Runa stopped talking suddenly and her eyes came back into focus for a second before she squeezed them closed, once again prohibiting my view into her emotions. Though I didn't need to see her eyes to guess what she was feeling. For I soon saw that Runa was crying, and all to soon she started trembling as well. I didn't know how to help with bad breakups, but I did know how to comfort a crying child. So I did for Runa what I always did with Odelia, I held her as she wept. Mrs. N came over as quickly as she could manage and held Runa along with me. We all stood there for a few minutes, the only unmoving figures in a kitchen full of noise. We both stood there, comforting a girl we both have come to care for, Runa.

"Nadia, you should go right now." Mrs. N said in a calming tone, after only a few minutes of our comforting Runa.

"But Mrs. N!" I protested, "there's still so much work to be done and I couldn't possibly leave now."

"Child." She says in the same calming mannor, although it had a commanding sense to it as well, "Runa will be fine. You, on the other hand, need to get ready for dinner. You've already skipped lunch in order to help us out and you need to get ready. Dinners are always a fancy occasion. I'll send Runa up to your room when she's ready. Okay?"

Her tone made it clear that it was not a question so I responded the only way I could, "Okay."

I walked out the colorful kitchen doors only to realize the hallway lights were now off. Probably to fix the electricity of a room with the same circuit as this one. Though this wasn't a safety hazard it still made me disoriented.

Yep. I was definitely going to get lost.

Hey guys! So this has been my longest chapter so far, with over 3,000 words! I don't know about anyone else whose reading this, but I'm pretty impressed with myself. Seeing as how this is my first fanfic and all. Anyway, what did you think? I decided to show off a bit more personality wise for Nadia in this chapter, showing her perseverance and hardworkeryness. I also chose to make her relationship with her maids a bit stronger, maybe even a friendship. I thought that since Nadia has lived her whole life a servant she should at least get to know the staff. Also, what did you think of the unknown power outage. Was it really just technical stuff, or was it a stealthy rebel attack? You'll see later (probably much later). Also, what did you think about Runa. I wanted to explore her emotions a bit more and make her more than just a pretty maid.

Also, for anyone who didn't see the update on my profile, I have changed the update time to once a week. Things are starting to get busy for me, with school preparations, getting serious about getting a job and helping lead a kids camp. Therefore, I have decided to go quality over quantity. So yea... Every Sunday I'll be updating and the chapters should get pretty long as I learn to manage my schedual better.

(EmluvsMaxerica)- Thanks for the compliments. I really enjoy reading your reviews! They make me so happy inside! Anyways, now that I got that off my chest I will answer your question. In the last chapter they kept all their clothes on, except for Alex's shirt. Sorry that that wasn't clear. Also, next chapter will include the confrontation with Madalynn thing. And just a sneak peak, it may or may not be because she helped work in the kitchens during this chapter.

Now for the review section. Reviewing will help me update faster (it really will!) Reviewing boosts my self-esteem and gets my creative juices flowing. It could be a compliment, it could be constructive critisism, it could be ideas for future plot. Just review. Please!