CHAPTER SIX
I was startled awake by the sound of something scraping metal. After sitting bolt upright, I realized that it had been a maid at the fireplace. Tiny flames had by now begun to lick the small logs she'd placed there. She glanced up at me, a wryly amused expression on her face.
"Good morning, Your Highness," she said, nodding.
"Good morning." I paused, then said, "What are you doing?"
She laughed. "Setting your fire."
"But it's summer."
"You'll realize how chilly it is when you climb out of those covers of yours," she said. "Meanwhile, since you're awake: what do you want for breakfast?"
"Um... I don't know. Whatever."
"Well, Mabelle'll be happy to hear that." She pulled a seashell from her pocket, and, while I watched in fascination, shook it and listened for a moment. A tiny voice said something from within, and she put the shell to her ear. "Hi." A pause. "Hello? Mabelle! Quit yelling at whoever that is. Is that... it's Clorinda, right? Her suitor just informed her that he's moving to Oz and she's not coping very well. Right. Exactly. Well, that's what I told her, but... Yes, I'm up here. She said anything is fine." There was a pause. "Well, yes, I know that." The maid rolled her eyes at me and made a gruesome face. It was so unlike how I had expected royal servants to behave --- and such a nice surprise --- that I almost laughed. "Look. Yes, I'll talk when I get down there. I've got chores. Right. Bye." She slipped the shell back in her pocket.
"Breakfast'll be up in a few minutes," she said. "One of the scullery maids is having a fit. I told her that the provincial pearl divers are bad news, but would she listen? No. Well, she's learned her lesson well enough, poor thing. Her first love and all." She stood and brushed her skirt off. "I must be off. A lady-in-waiting will be here to help you dress in a few minutes."
"That's really not necessary."
She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Have you seen your clothes yet?"
"No."
"All right, then." She dipped a quick curtsy. "Good luck with everything today. I'll bet you're feeling a bit under the weather with all of this, but we're cheering for you." She winked. "See you later."
"See you."
She flashed me a grin and left. I realized too late that I had forgotten to ask her name. Still, it was nice to have someone cheery around, although I was puzzled and a bit bothered by what she had said about my clothes. Inspired to movement, I slid off the bed and opened the closet door.
It was a room unto itself --- a big room. The entire thing was stuffed with... dresses. All dresses. Not a pair of jeans was to be had, just gown after gown, most of which I'd feel very stupid wearing outside of a formal dance. The lady-in-waiting the maid had mentioned came in while I was still perusing the fabrics and ornamentations, feeling put out.
"Do you know what you want?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip and cocking her head to one side. Her name, she informed me, was Aretta. She had a strong face, young and freckled with dark eyes, and was dressed in something that looked similar to the rainbow in my closet.
I shook my head. "No. Do you have any, you know... pants?"
"Pants?" she said, looking puzzled. "Like... like how? Like a dog pants?"
"No. Like trousers."
"Boy clothes."
"Sure."
She shook her head. "No. Not unless we go find some boy's closet to raid, and I guarantee you that I will not be found doing such a thing, and neither will you."
"I don't like skirts. You can't do anything in them."
"You'll be able to do everything you need to," she said briskly. "If after today you really hate them so much, we can probably have some items made for you. There isn't time now." She entered the massive closet, looked around, and pulled out a few dresses.
"These should be suitable. Have you been given today's schedule?"
"Schedule?"
I didn't want a stupid schedule.
"Yes, schedule." She smiled. "And you might as well get that look off your face, Highness, because you'll have one tomorrow, too, and the day after, and the day after. Don't worry, it's got big empty gaps in it. Your parents understand that you may be suffering from some culture shock."
"No," I said sarcastically. "Not at all."
"Here," she said, pulling a folded-up paper from her sash. "Look. Breakfast in your rooms, tour of the palace --- an abridged tour, naturally, the whole thing is enormous and you'll do better to explore it on your own --- then you'll be having lunch with your mother and her ladies-in-waiting. After that you'll meet your tutors. You don't have many subjects to study yet, because they'll need to test your aptitudes and locate any gifts you have that may have emerged."
"Gifts," I repeated. Gifts, as though I were in some idiotic fantasy novel and was about to discover that dragons and I had a special thing going.
"Yes," she said. "They'll explain it all to you. After that you're free to wander around or do whatever you like until dinner, at which point you'll have dinner with your parents. After dinner Lady Lisette has requested a private audience, which I assume you'll grant, and then bed."
I frowned. She ignored this.
"So, suffice to say we'll want something functional but elegant, as it's probably wise to make a good first impression. Something light and fresh." She pulled a few more gowns down, and spread them out. "Choose one."
"There's nothing functional here," I said finally. She clucked her tongue.
"Oh, don't be silly. The pink one --- look how loose that skirt is, and the sleeves won't get into anything. The blue one, too. None of these are going to cause you problems. Goodness, none of them even require a corset!" She surveyed me, then sighed deeply, plucked something lilac and silky from the spread, and motioned me out of the closet.
"Here," she said. "Put this on." When I hesitated, she rolled her eyes. "For pity's sake, if you must be so modest take it behind the screen. But hurry up, because I have to lace up the back and do your hair and we've only got forty minutes until the tour is supposed to start." She motioned at a maid who had entered while we were in the closet, pushing a silver cart. "Set up her breakfast by the vanity. She'll eat while I'm doing her hair."
She was none too gentle. Once I was dressed and laced, she sat me down and started yanking a brush across my scalp. When I yelped, she merely informed me that I ought to wear my hair in a braid at nights to keep it from getting so tangled. Somehow I managed to choke down the food Mabelle had sent up, and at long, long last, she patted my shoulder, pronounced me done, and fastened a necklace around my throat. The pendant was --- shockingly enough --- a seashell. This whole theme was getting to be a bit ridiculous.
"There," she said, surveying me in the mirror. "You look quite acceptable. Now, come along."
I stood and followed her out the door. A few maids in the hallway stopped what they were doing and curtsied. I didn't know what to do in response, so I smiled and copied Aretta's deep nod. We met with another lady-in-waiting at the end of the corridor, this one little older than myself, with red hair and big brown eyes. She smiled warmly at me.
"Your Highness, this is Grethel. Grethel, Princess Marina. The queen expects her at noon."
"I'll see that she gets there," Grethel said. She turned to me. "Come along."
There was something cheerful about her face, and she had a sweet, maternal air that would have been annoying in most people but which she managed to carry off with elegance. I was led through the palace, while she talked amiably, and I tried to absorb where we were going and what I saw. It was difficult --- there were far too many rooms.
"How are you adjusting?" she asked, very kindly.
"Okay, I guess," I said, turning to watch as a man with frizzy hair passed us, pushing an ancient phonograph on a cart. "It's all kind of hazy."
She laughed. "I understand quite well. I was the same way when I got here."
I perked up. "You're from outside, too?" I had begun to categorize things as "inside" and "outside," for it seemed the easiest way to both keep track and draw distinction between my old life and this one. She didn't seem to see anything unusual in it.
"No. Well, I suppose I am in a way --- my mother was Merlan --- but I grew up in Germany. My brother, Hansel, and I moved here shortly after our father died."
I paused. "Hansel?"
"Yes. I think you'll meet him soon; he's training as a knight here."
"Like... Hansel and Grethel?" Of all the absurd...
She laughed. "Yes. I understand it's gotten to be a fairy tale in some parts of the world. We weren't the originals, if that's any consolation --- they were born long before us --- but there's been a tradition in my family of naming the first son and daughter after them. Most of us venture into the woods and trouble. It's a right of passage, I suppose." She opened the door. "This is the library."
I took in the shelves of books. It was huge, with shelves upon shelves of mostly leather-bound volumes, light streaming through tall windows. I wanted to curl up in a corner and read for hours.
"Wow," I said, for lack of anything more intellectual to say.
"Yes, it's rather nice. You'll find books on everything in there," she added as she closed the door. "I'd let you wander about, but we've got a fair amount of ground to cover."
Typical.
She led me through several music rooms --- music seemed to be a big thing here, if the decor was indicative of everything --- several sitting rooms that apparently held significance, the throne room --- very grand, full of marble and the typical sea colors, with three marble thrones on a raised dias --- an enormous formal dining hall, and the reception room for the servants quarters, where apparently the king or queen met with the head housekeeper and palace steward each day regarding activities and any major issues with the staff that needed dealing with. The staff, Grethel explained, were a fairly well-pleased bunch, for working at the palace was considered an elite job and came with above-average pay and perks.
"This place is a little too idyllic," I said. She raised her eyebrows in an expression of sincere confusion.
"Too idyllic? I didn't know there could be such a thing."
"There must be something wrong with it," I said. "Nowhere is really this... contented."
"It's not," she said, shrugging. "Wonderful as the systems and land are --- and it is all impressively organized --- Merlana is populated with humans. And mermaids and fairies, of course. That in itself is enough to turn anywhere less than perfect, isn't it? I mean, we all have our bad days. Lady Ritta, for example, is pregnant, and she's the most miserable creature I think I've ever met." She laughed lightly. "Poor girl. It's her first, you see, and she's just discovering that motherhood is not all bedtime stories and baby kisses."
"How many 'ladies' are there?" I asked. We turned a corner into a hallway lined with enormous panes of glass that looked out to the ocean. The view was positively breathtaking, but I turned back to Grethel. "Moreover, what's a 'lady'?"
"Well," she said, nodding at a young girl in a flowered dress as she passed us. "Usually it means lady-in-waiting. Your mother has I don't know how many of them, and you'll have some soon, I imagine, although for now I suppose you'll stick to her circle."
It took a moment to register that she wasn't talking about Lisette.
"Most of the ladies-in-waiting are actually ladies," she continued. "Titled women, duchesses and knight's wives and such. We give the title of 'Lady' to female knights as well, although there aren't many of them. Your guardian, for example, Lady Lisette, is both a knight's wife and the mistress of several small provinces, mostly within a few miles of here, I believe. I'm not really titled at all, but since the queen granted me a place as one of her ladies, I was given the name."
Personally, I had never been one for the whole titles thing, but Grethel seemed satisfied with the situation. She continued leading me around the palace, pointing out items of interest. At last, when I thought my feet were about to give out in their jeweled slippers, she led me to the queen's chambers and knocked.