Luminous

9 - Dining with the Family

Trouble ensued the moment Meya's entourage set foot into the guest quarters.

Meya's ten guards had been sent to join the Hadrian guards and take up duties in various parts of the castle, and the chamberlain, Sir Rondell, had taken over the arrangements in the Lady's quarters.

None of the maids they brought from Crosset were noble or experienced, so Sir Rondell decided they'd join the other peasant girls in the scullery. Gretella wouldn't have objected, if not for the fact that her beloved lady was now among those peasants.

Gretella argued Arinel and Haselle were Meya's favorite maids of honor. Still, Sir Rondell insisted that as Meya was now a Hadrian, he would select proper maids of honor for her on behalf of Baroness Sylvia. However, he did relent and allowed Gretella, Arinel and Haselle to prepare Meya for the wedding, and let Gretella remain as Meya's attendant.

After some rest, a change of clothes, and another lecture from Arinel and Gretella, Meya was taken to her second nightmare.

The Dinner Table.

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When Baron Kellis said he'd throw a feast, it was a feast in the literal sense that awaited Meya when she entered the Great Hall.

The Hadrians and noble guests were seated at the long table at the end of the Hall, while their staff and lesser guests dined at the long tables in the middle of the room.

Servants buzzed about, laying down dish upon dish of extravagant cuisine. There was a roasted stuffed peacock complete with shimmering tail feathers as decoration, a two-foot-long broiled fish straight from the Southern sea, dripping with batter, beef and pork slabs peppered with droplets of grease and blood served on a bed of baked fruits and vegetables, plates of pungent cheese, meat pies, berry pastries and vividly colored fruit jellies. There was even a miniature Hadrian Castle sculpted out of sugar.

"So, Lady Arinel, how are you finding our home so far?"

Once servants had finished laying down the enormous platters on their end of the table, Baroness Sylvia opened the conversation while Baron Kellis heaped broiled fish onto her plate.

Meya sat across from the couple, between Lord Coris and Lord Zier. Coris had also begun plying food onto her plate. After a nod and a sweet smile of thanks, she answered the Baroness with a honeyed smile,

"More like not finding, my lady. It'd be some time before I learned my way around here."

Meya laid down her knife and took a sip of grape juice from her brass goblet, her other sweaty hand gripping the fork as her eyes traveled, studying the others as they dug in. Liquid was the only food she had the slightest idea how to eat right now.

The Baroness laughed.

"You have the Hadrian men to blame for that." She shot her husband a look of frustrated amusement, "This castle was built to thwart heists. By Freda, the number of hidden doors and rooms they've added over the generations, and the number of times I got lost trying to find the way to the scullery!"

She smiled at Head Cook Apollon, who bowed from where he stood at the head of the table. "Needless to say, I didn't get to enjoy midnight snack."

Meya giggled. Who would've thought the Baroness enjoyed sneaking out for a late-night finger dip of overnight meat sauce?

"Makes you wonder how many Hadrinians they've accidentally trapped over the years—Oh, it's alright, Lord Coris. Please eat."

She covered her plate with a hasty grin as Coris made to add roasted peacock onto the tottering pile. Coris froze, then smiled.