A head full of flaxen hair turned when I entered the room. "Hello. You must be my new handmaiden." The girl was around my age; I easily recognized her from my viewing of her berating Chanda. She stuck out her hand as if she wanted me to shake it, but being doubtful, I curtsied and took the hand and kissed it, as it is custom for servants to do for those of a much higher rank. (A fact that I had learnt from finishing school.)

Her loud, boisterous, quite spurious laughter filled the air as she regarded me with amusement. "There is no need for formalities! Come sit down!" Then as if reprimanding herself for forgetting she said, "My name is Abigail."

I did not trust her. She was looking at me the same way that her mother had observed Citali. Shrewd observation. However, I did not see why she would do so. Why beat around the bush and falsify her true nature? I did not have something that she wanted, not to my knowledge, at least.

I curtsied again and said clearly, "Zuleika, ma'am."

She guffawed at my politeness once again, and said distractedly, "So uptight. Well, I suppose I can act the part."

"Well Miss Zuleika, I shall see you tomorrow at 11 am sharp. You are to draw a bath, pick out a gown and dress my hair. Then, you shall accompany me to dinner, and shall wait in the family apartments if any member of the family, especially myself, have want of you. Then you shall, once again, be in my company during supper, and will sit with me in the parlor afterwards. After I designate my rest for the night, you shall aid in getting myself ready for bed. This will be your schedule for the duration of our stay at this inn; I shall inform you of the difference when we are traveling and when we arrive at our permanent residence, the Crise estate."

Just as she had finished this rather boring diatribe, a knock sounded on the door. Lady Abigail rather lethargically muttered, "Come in." A man, who was all too familiar, entered. He spoke, and I noticed that the Lady Abigail blushed considerably as he addressed her, "Lady Abigail, Miss Zuleika is wanted by Miss Chanda in the parlor."

"O-of course Elek. Thank you. She will be just one minute." She smiled unabashedly at Lev's brother. I became even more confused. Was that ire that was filling my veins as I noticed her brazen tone? I slowly regarded Elek and realized that he had been observing me the whole time, while I had been looking at the floor and studying its intricacies. Unfortunately, the Lady Abigail had noted this too, and glared at me.

How strange that so many things can happen in a slow minute with naught any words!

Elek bowed and left, leaving a seething Lady Abigail and in myself disappointment.

She turned and looked at me, once again, with a friendly air that seemed all the more fake. "Miss Zuleika, would you be so kind as to come to my chambers around seven tonight? I just adore how you style your hair, and I wish it so that you would do the same for mine!"

I curtsied and replied an affirmative answer. As if 'twas actually an option at all! I did not know what she wanted to discuss with me, but I knew it wasn't my hair. I did not wear it in any "style" at all; on the contrary, I barely combed it!

She waved an absent hand at me; a sign I took that meant to exit immediately if you please it so. I left happily, glad that I had survived my first encounter with the beast, the Lady Abigail. At least Aakarshan was upfront about his evil nature, I couldn't abide when a person took a respectable quality erroneously, to cover their oft horrible traits.

"You know that you only became disgusted with her once her intentions towards Elek became clear." Replied a miniscule voice in my mind. Oh no.

My distress at finding that I would soon start to argue with my mind if that small voice continued was interrupted as I walked into the parlor to find Chanda and Elek who were in the middle of lecturing little Lev, who had evidently stolen a sweet from Citali's kitchen.

Upon seeing myself, Lev jumped up and hugged my leg. "'Leika! Don't let them punish me!" I smiled affectionately at the little boy, and pried him off me. "Lev, you shouldn't have taken it!"

"But-it was chocolate!" Now this I had to consider.

"Well, in that case... can I have some?"

Lev smiled beautifully and nodded. Chanda looked surprised and somewhat perturbed, and Elek started to laugh. I smiled despite myself, I wanted to make him laugh more. It was...nice.

"So Zuleika, you've survived the Lady Abigail, devil that she is."

I started to blush, remembering Elek's interruption. "She is rather strange. But the Lady Abigail wasn't cruel." It wasn't exactly true, but I did not want to insult my employer.

Chanda raised an eyebrow and replied darkly, "Oh? I can think of three reasons why." I looked at her, hoping that she would enlighten me.

"One will greatly embarrass my dear brother as well as yourself, "she said, looking slyly at Elek, then, "The other you cannot know." Her smile faded, but soon it was resumed. I had known her but a day, however, she struck me as one who was rather flippant, but nicely so.

"The third I can tell you. You are not foreign, as most of the servants are." She gestured to her family and said, "We are from Arrais. The Crises hate those from the eastern realms."

"I- I am from Ellora."

The looks of incredulity I got were not unfamiliar. No one would ever believe my heritage, so much of a senni I looked like. "But how can that be?" asked Chanda, "You look so much like one of them! It's not-" Elek, who had been regarding me quietly said quickly, "Hush Chanda. Perhaps it is not good of you to inquire as to her difference in looks to other easteners."

Everything came rushing back. The Ellorian children who criticized me, my father and siblings cursing at me, the girls at the finishing school, my mother's death, Abdul leaving. I knew it was weak, but I could feel tears starting to form. Oh Creator how I much I loathed myself then!

I quietly let myself out of the room before they could see my frailty. I leaned against the door to the parlor and sighed. Everything always came back to my original feeling of sadness and melancholy. I thought back to my conversation with the small family. It was then that I realized that for the first time, I had not been shy, not until my heritage was revealed.

My head hurt as I walked back to the servant quarters that were to be my new home for a time. I collapsed on my bed and promptly did not wake up until well after my appointment with the Lady Abigail.

A/N: I hope this chapter was alright. So, Lady Abigail has some designs on dear Elek does she? And we finally learnt his name! Anyways, I foresee many questions so therefore I shall write a F.A.Q:

-Who is Aakarshan? (He was mentioned in this chapter)- He is Zuleika's father, her mother's murderer. I haven't mentioned him for awhile, so I thought that some people might wonder who he is.

-What's with the supper/dinner thing?- I thought that this was very cool. I read somewhere that lunch used to be called dinner and dinner used to be called supper. I think it's still like that up north, though I'm not sure. But here in Florida we call supper dinner.

-What do all these crazy names mean what is their origin and how the heck do you pronounce them?- Zuleika is pronounced Zoo-Lay-Ka, it's Arabic, and it means lovely, although there's one source that says it means "white one" and that's why I chose it, since she looks white or senni in Ellorei, even though her family is dark and NOT fair.

Lev is pronounced how it looks, it's Russian and Hebrew, and it means Lion (Russian) and Heart (Hebrew) if I'm wrong, please correct me since I haven't looked up the name in awhile.

Chanda is Sanskrit I believe, it's pronounced how it's spelled, and it means bright and fierce in Sanskrit. Elek is Hungarian, it's pronounced how it looks I believe, and it means protector.

That was a long author's note, whew! I hope you liked this chapter. I'm not particularly fond of it, but next chapter will be much more exciting I promise! (You'll learn the other two reasons why Abigail is 'nice' to Zuleika!)

-Clare