Astoria

t e n

Meredith woke up the next morning, somewhat chilly. She vaguely remembered leaving her window open last night.

She stood and braved the cold, wood floor, going to the window to close it. Looking out behind the castle, however, and seeing the river flowing off into the distance and the lovely flowering trees, she decided to leave it open and she simply leaned against the sill and spent some time thinking.

The night before, she had gone to see the housekeeper. Mrs. Murphy was, surprisingly, younger than the under-housekeeper, and just as kind. She welcomed Meredith and gave her a brief overview of the work she would be doing.

As a new hire, she would spend her time doing, in short, whatever it was that needed done. If silverware needed to be polished, that is what she would do. If the pictures in the portrait gallery needed dusted, so be it. She was to be useful. With time would come opportunities to become a parlor maid or a table maid, but for now, her job was to assist.

And assist she must, for the staff had their work cut out for them, getting the palace prepared for the arrival and then the coronation of the new king.

Entire wings of the large dwelling had been left to dust and disuse due to the lack of interest of the last two kings: Rupert was always away with the Army; Jonathan was always headed for the sea.

As Meredith put on her new uniform- a black dress with a white apron- she mentally prepared herself for the work she would be doing today. It would be incredibly busy. She wondered, briefly, if she would see Evan, be able to ask him how he found his room, and if the butler was as kind as the housekeeper.

"Stop that pacing! It's driving me absolutely crazy!"

Isabella stopped and turned to face her cousin, who was standing by the large picture window in the biggest library at Mansfield, watching the sun finally rise fully above the horizon.

"Now," said Antony, somewhat more calmly, attempting to sooth his frayed nerves and remain calm. "What's bothering you?"

"Oh...It's mother..." she said vaguely, resuming her pacing.

Antony sighed and looked out the window.

"Is she badgering you about the need for a suitable marriage? Again?"

"Yes..." said Isabella. "She says that if I don't find someone worthy of me soon, she'll take matters into her own hands. But she doesn't understand! I don't want to just marry someone for their money."

He turned slightly to look at his cousin, then came to stand in front of her, resting his hands on her shoulders to stop her pacing for a moment.

"Isa, how would you like a distraction?"

By noon break, Meredith had already been lost in the palace twice.

However, she couldn't necessarily say that she hadn't enjoyed it. If anything, the palace was a beautiful place to find one's self lost in. She entered the scullery, left behind her pail of, now dirty, water that she had been using to scrub the floor near the front staircase and went to find her brother.

Mrs. Murphy had kindly told her that her brother would start out by working in the stables. She met him coming up towards the palace, presumably on his way to the servants' dining hall for a bit of lunch.

"Evan!" she called to him, waving. He made it to her side and fell into step with her.

"So," she said. "How are you enjoying your first day at the palace?"

He shrugged.

"Well...They work me hard...but they're not bad people. The head groom has a bit of a temper when things aren't done correctly...but he's really a nice man. How are you faring?"

"About the same," she said, massaging her sore hands. "I've been scrubbing floors all morning."

They entered the servants' hall and chose a few of the small finger sandwiches that had been set out on the sideboard for their lunch. Looking around, they found two empty seats at the long dining table and sat to eat.

Only moments later, a messenger came in and whispered something to the butler who was sitting at the head of the table, a man who, although normally composed, looked as though he were about to choke on his sandwich.

Evan snagged a passing footman that he had gotten to know a bit during the early working hours.

"What's going on?" he asked, gesturing to the butler, and the servants he had just spoken to who were now rushing to finish their lunch and get back to work.

"The prince! And the princess! They've decided to come a day early! They've just arrived. Fulton is in a positive panic."

"Fulton's the butler," clarified Evan for Meredith. "John," he added to the footman, "this is my sister, Meredith. Meredith, John." The two shook hands briefly before John rushed off at Fulton's summons.

Meredith put the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth and hurriedly parted from Evan, waving to him as he rushed off to another part of the palace, and another job.