Persuasion in the Pantry [Maid for More #1]

Chapter 7: Don't cry over spilled soup

Mina shuffled as quietly as she could along the thick Aubusson runner but soon realised that in the short interim between putting on clean shoes and leaving the kitchens she had managed to step in soot and was now leaving a noticeable stain in her wake. Discreetly she took one step to the side and continued walking on the marble tiles near the wall...at least those were easier to clean. The silverware rattled against the tray as a none too subtle reminder of her nerves. She was not a silly young girl but even with all her defiance and feigned confidence she had to admit she was not prepared to serve dinner to the Duke and his family. She was so nervous she could have eaten the entire pudding that she carried, and that would be a very poor start to the evening. Trust Verushka to get them knee deep in horseshit but here they were- together, a team, as it should be.

Mina's life had not been the ease that Verushka's had. Yes, Mina was poor now, but she had started off even poorer; working for a family that had little to eat themselves and even less to give the maid. She supposed it was better than the orphanage where Liara grew up but even Liara had managed to make something of herself. She could still remember taking out the rubbish to the darkened alley in the back streets of Chapel lane, a less Christian area than it sounded. There was Liara huddled next to a fire barrel for warmth as she and some other urchins attempted to learn French from a book more likely fleeced than borrowed from the Governess Academy nearby. Mina had tried to conceal herself but Liara's band of renegade orphans had pulled her from her crevice and threatened her with short steel pipe. Brandishing the one French word she knew, Mina's 'bonjour' saw her welcomed into their weekly meetings. Sure, her French was still dismal, but she really only went for the company and the crusts of bread handed out like slivers of gold. And here she was now walking through corridors of marble carrying trays of silver laden with thick hearty soups and pudding in dishes of gold. This was a moment to remember.

Unfortunately some cruel twist of fate left a crease in the Persian rug Mina was crossing. She wasn't particularly clumsy but the word clutzy had been bandied about from time to time. Mina was always the girl to be running late to things, to mix up her vocabulary so that the sentence she produced was only mildly recognisable to the one she intended, and her feet would mysteriously trip over thin air at the most inappropriate times. So today, of all days when her job and the roof over her head was most likely hanging in the balance, she fell head first to greet floor.

"Oh my god, what a complete head case" Liara grinned over her shoulder.

"Mmphh pmmfh rrm" Mina muffled into the carpet

Verushka stopped and turned back to help her friend to her feet. Liara just shook her head and watched while tapped her foot impatiently looking toward the dining hall.

"It's okay," Verushka commented, "You didn't drop much, just spilled a little pudding on the rug, but the soup looks mostly intact."

Mina shook her head "I knew something would go wrong, I just knew it!"

"Hey, don't talk like that," Verushka countered sternly as she piled the dishes back on the tray.

Mina hmmphed and rolled her eyes but brushed off her apron and took Verushka's offered hand to stand back up. However, Mina being Mina, her hand eye coordination wasn't quite what it should be and instead she leaned on the already precarious tray for balance and with the result both ended up on the floor again.

"Oh my god!" Mel complained.

"Hey! shut it!" Liara cursed at the new girl then turned back to Mina and continued, "but seriously Mina, butter fingers much?"

"Oh dear...." Verushka's brow furrowed. "You'll have to go back to the kitchens now to at least change your apron and get some more stew."

Mina just moaned into the carpet again. A moment passed with Mels' cursed breathing irritating Liara to within an inch of sanity, then Mina slowly rose to her knees and looked at the mess. Stew was now soaking into the rug she had so admired, the pudding had flipped over and hit the floor mostly intact although a small chunk was missing and she thought she felt it dripping off her left shoulder.