A Whisper to the North

Chapter XXIX ✠ Fleeting Hearts

Una woke up to a gentle knock on her chamber door. For a moment, Una forgot that she was not at home in her warm bed.

"You may enter," Una said, not realizing she was talking in her native tongue.

She heard the door again.

"Your grace, have you risen?" Una heard a meek female's voice outside speaking in another dialect that was not her own.

Una's eyes painfully opened. How long had she been sleeping? When the stone ceiling began to focus, that was when Una realized she was not home. The top stretched very far up, further beyond anything Una had seen in her own castle. She looked at the sun shining through on the timber beams supporting the floor above. Una had never seen so many windows in a court before.

"Oh, please do come in." Una moaned as she sat up and stretched her arms forward, shaking the baggy linen nightdress cinched at the wrists.

She could hear the latch on her door and watched as it slowly opened.

"Good day to you, your grace." A voice said as Una watched a young woman come in.

Una peered over to her. Her accent was remarkably similar to Frey's, which made Una sad for a moment.

"Good morrow," Una said, looking at the girl.

She looked to be quite a bit younger than Una, probably the same age as Una's late friend, Marged. She was relatively short, with short beautiful strawberry-blonde braids that curled at the ends. She wore a white gown with gray peplos covering it. Around her neck were a gorgeous necklace of silver and blue glass beads. She smiled very kindly at Una as she shut the door behind her. In her hand was a large pottery jug of water. She walked over to Una.

"Your grace, my name is Ingrid. I am here to serve you." She said with a polite bow.

"You may call me lady Una if you wish. I find that 'your grace,' 'your highness,' 'my queen' and 'your majesty' is not to my liking." Una smiled at the girl.

"Oh, my apologies, my lady." Ingrid hesitated.

"Well, my lady. I brought you up some heated water if you'd like to warm your feet." She said with her head still bowed.

Una swiveled around with her feet dangling off the bed and gazed down at her.

"Oh, that is very kind of you. For now, though, could you direct me in the direction of the garderobe, please?" Una asked, standing up.

"Oh, your poor feet! Let me fetch you some shoes!" She said, looking down at Una's bare feet on the cold floor.

Ingrid gently set down the pitcher and ran over to her boots. The stone floor didn't bother Una. In fact, the bed was much warmer than what she felt back in her castle.

"There's no need!" Una said, waving her hands as Ingrid tried to bring her muddy boots, still soaked from the night before.

"Shall I clean these for you? It will only take a few moments, my lady!" Ingrid insisted.

"Please, Ingrid. Do not worry about my feet or shoes. All I need you to do is, please show me where your garderobe is. I hate using chamber pots." Una smiled over at her.

"Yes, my lady!" She nodded.

The girl looked up and blushed from embarrassment. Ingrid had never met a woman from beyond the dyke. She heard they were wildlings and dragons there. Only the foulest of her people chose to go and invade there, where this woman is from. Luckily her parents decided to travel here. The people were much more forgiving and well-mannered to her kind.