Chapter 5
Hitomi woke to the feel of Merle pushing her awake, what she assumed was two hours later as she had asked. "I thought you were too mad to wake me, Merle." Hitomi murmured with her eyes closed before opening them and rubbing sleep from them. She felt less tired as she sat back in bed to look at the cat.
"I was mad thinking about lord Verin, not at you Hitomi. Anyway, I'm a commoner and a cat. He's a lord from a very old Fanalian family. If I liked him, and I don't, his family wouldn't be likely to approve, like with most noble families. I don't know what it's like on the Mystic Moon, but it's like that here." She shrugged. "Anyway, it'll never happen even if that wasn't the case. He's a slacker when it's not something military related, and a womanizing pig. But he's a friend to Lord Von and a respected general. And Lord Von trusts him. So, I got to put up with him." "I see. I am a commoner in my world too." "That won't stop Lord Von. But it might not be good to talk about here. The old stogies won't like a commoner for a queen." Hitomi blinked. She had forgotten for a while that if she married Von, she would be the queen. Seeing her look, Merle shook her head. "Yeah. Wake up. You know you'd be queen if he marries you, Hitomi." Hitomi made a face at her. "I just woke up and hadn't thought of that for a while." It was Merle's turn to be surprised. It sounded like Hitomi had been thinking about possibly being Von's queen before, not just when Merle had asked her if she would marry Von.
"Okay, okay." She waved the seer off. She jumped into the bed and bounced a few times. "Are you in your skivvies? There's nightgowns in the closet." "Closet?" Hitomi threw on the light blue silk robe she had hung next to the bed and tied it shut before letting Merle lead her to a door between her bed and the window, that she thought was just a linen closet or something, because it wasn't as big as she imagined a palace's closet doors would be, especially for a room this size.
It opened on a while short corridor, which led into a sizeable room that reminded Hitomi of a luxurious walk in closet she'd seen in magazine pictures at home, with its walls of racks and shelving space, a seat and full-length mirror in one corner and a countertop with display spaces. Most of the room was missing clothes, but there were a few dresses to her right, some folded up clothes in the shelving and a few pairs of shoes and some other things. Merle crossed to one of the racks and pointed out some nightgowns hanging there. "I had to lend you some stuff for now, but the tailors will come for your measurements, and they can make you anything you need. I'm going to ring them now. You go pick out a dress. Not the fancier ones. They are for the evening or royal functions. I just wanted you to have some choices." "Okay." While Merle rang for the tailor, Hitomi picked out a semi dark blue dress. She was about to try to put it on as is, when Merle walked back in. "No, no Hitomi. You can't wear a dress without even a bodice in the palace. If you want to be seen as a lady, you have to at least wear a corset underneath." The cat girl showed her where she'd put the proper underclothes, and tried to show her what was what. "It's a lot like western medieval clothing from the Earth." "Mid what now? Anyway, put on what you can and I'll help you with lacing up the corset. When I get your ladies in waiting and maids assigned, they will dress you." Merle turned around to give her some privacy. "Jeez. Guess it can't be helped." The young seer muttered to herself about being dressed. When she was done, and Merle stepped up behind her to tie the corset laces, Hitomi spoke again in surprised realization. "Merle, you organized all this for me? You are so much more…responsible that before." Merle shrugged and rolled her eyes at this, which Hitomi didn't see. "Well lord Von has a lot to deal with, and I couldn't trust Lord Verin with this. He'd probably pawn it off on someone else. You're important to Von, and you're my friend. Like I'd trust it to someone who doesn't know you." Merle was done with the laces. "I wasn't sure you saw me as a friend." The girl from the mystic moon admitted. "Of course you were my friend! Its just you were so wishy washy about clearly choosing between lord Allen and lord Von, and I didn't want him to get hurt." The cat lowered her voice a bit. "But now you're together, so its different." Hitomi smiled to herself as she put on the dress. Merle gave her a pair of matching shoes. "Do you have any flat shoes, I'm not very good with walking on heels." Merle went back to where the shoes were and brought out another pair. "Not all people expect me to dress like a lady, being a cat and only Von's adopted sister, but I wear them sometimes, especially for court functions. Its part of the whole 'lady' thing. You're going to have to learn to walk in them. If you want to be taken seriously as potential Queen material by the council members especially, you have to act like a lady." Hitomi sighed. She hadn't thought about this part of it too much, but Merle was right. On Gaia, ladies wore fancy dresses and carried themselves a certain way. Her days of running around in Earth clothes was over if she wanted to live here in the palace and be with Von. "Can you teach me the ways ladies act and how to walk with heels all the time? I also should probably study Fanalian and Gaian history, economics and stuff." She muttered this last out loud. Merle stared at her before giggling. "You sure are taking this seriously." Merle gestured for Hitomi to follow her out of the closet and put her finger over her lips before she opened the closet door.
In her room, she saw the breakfast dishes were gone, the table cleaned, the chairs straightened and her bed made. There were three women standing there, as if waiting for them. One had an apron over her dress, but by the identical look of the women's dark blue dresses, they must be wearing the uniform of a palace servant. They curtseyed in unison.
The aproned woman introduced herself as Esa, head of the room cleaning staff for this floor. She gave Hitomi a set of keys to her room and told her that she would have a maid that was assigned to her exclusively, shortly. "If you need anything or have trouble with your maids, you can find me performing my duties on this floor or in my office to the left. My name is on my door. Now, I must go select your maid and tend to my other duties, if it pleases my lady." Hitomi looked at Merle for help. The cat girl grinned and whispered. "You can say 'Thank you' or 'Very well.' If they don't ask to be dismissed and you want them to go, just say 'That will be all.'" Hitomi slightly nodded to indicate her understanding. "Thank you, Esa." The woman curtseyed and left.
The older of the two other women introduced herself as Minae, the head tailor and informed the young woman she and her assistant were there to take her measurements. The girl from the Mystic Moon nodded, and the older woman flew about her with a measuring tape. She was done measuring quicker than Hitomi expected and then she and her assistant showed her some samples of materials and dress designs for her to choose. Merle helped her to know what was in fashion and not. When at last they were done, the tailors bowed their way out, with a promise of her order being complete within the week.
Hitomi sat on the edge of her bed and Merle sat next to her. "Whew. That was a lot of choices." "Yeah. You're lucky, able to get the latest fashion. I wasn't too big on dressing and acting a lady before, but I don't know, I've been trying it for a while now. It's just hard to run like a cat in a lady's dress." Hitomi tried to imagine that and giggled at the image. Merle smiled, but then sighed. "But I'll never really be a real lady. I mean, not that I mind, but some people sometimes treat me like I'm lesser and don't belong. I don't really, but…I don't know…" She shrugged. "But you're like the king's sister. How are they allowed to treat you like that?" Merle shrugged again. "Mostly because I'm a cat, but also because I'm common born. If I were Lord Von's birth sister, it would be different. It is what it is. Gaians have weird ideas about things, like how Lord Von wasn't allowed to show his wings because they see Draconians as a cursed people." "So, it doesn't bother you that they look at you that way?" "It just is. I'm used to it." Hitomi pursed her lips.
"So, what's next Merle?" "Um well, you can have a tour, I guess. We had to rebuild all but the old stone parts of the castle after the war, as you know. So, it's a bit different than the old one. Lord Von said it was hard to get the council members to agree to not stick with a more wooden design, like the old one, but no one could really argue with the logic that stone is not as going to catch fire like wood. He kept parts the same, but had more stone in the newer design. Anyway, what would you like to see first?" "Maybe inside first, so I can get more familiar with the layout. I mean, last time I didn't have much time to think about it before…that night…but I'm sure I would have gotten lost." "Inside it is." Merle got off the bed and led her friend into the hallway outside the room. She stopped and looked at Hitomi expectantly. When the woman just stared at her quizzically in response, the cat sighed. "The door Hitomi." "Oh!" The young seer had forgotten about her door key. She locked if before Merle led her to the right, back the way they had come last night. "It's better to keep it locked. Especially because of who you are as a famous war hero." She playfully leered at the woman. Hitomi raised an eyebrow at this as the cat shrugged and kept talking. "Never mind what you could become. Don't forget what politics can sometimes make people to do." Hitomi sighed at this. "I hope not." Merle shrugged again.
The cat led her through the main wings of the palace, showing her where the large and small ballrooms were, the hall where they ate at state dinners and before balls and so forth, and the different wings of the castle.
Once the main parts had been seen and they took lunch in one of the drawing rooms, they went outside, where Hitomi was shown the stables, the farrier, the mews, the smith, the combat training area, and the gardens. This last was as big as some of the parks on earth, with flower gardens nearest the castle, and greenhouses and vegetable patches farther away from the palace. Merle said it would take a while to look to look at it all, so after they had seen some of it together, the cat took her inside and back to her room.
"Wow, there is so much to see here!" Hitomi said, falling into the ottoman at the foot of her bed, exhausted from walking around all day. Merle sat next to her. "Yep. I love exploring. And I'm sure there are things I don't know about in this palace." The seer's interest was piqued. "Like what?" "I don't know, but I bet there are secret passages. There was in the old castle, so there must be some still, but I explored more when I was little." She feel silent for a moment, lost in thought. "Actually, Lord Von and I would go exploring sometimes." Hitomi tried to imagine a young Von running around the castle, looking for secret passages. She grinned. "What was he like when he was younger?" It was the cat girl's turn to grin. "Well, he was quiet and polite in public, but he spoke his mind with me and his family. He liked exploring, adventure and spending time with them. I would have never have imagined the royal family being so close with each other if I had never seen it for my own eyes growing up." She laughed. "We got into so much trouble for things. Queen Varie would scold us, but she was never really angry."
Just then there was a knock on the door. "Come in." A maid came in and curtseyed. "I am Hara, your new maid, my lady. I have been instructed to help you dress for dinner." "That's my cue." The cat got up and headed for the exit. She turned back and saw Hitomi's expression. "Hara will show you where to go, don't worry. It's just regular dinner tonight. No worries." She waved and walked off. 'Easy for her to say.' Hitomi mentally grumbled.