Killing Chivalry

Chapter 12 - Ladies Don't Do Those Things

When she woke again there was daylight peeking through the cracks of a shuttered window above the table. She sat up and looked around. The room was smaller than her apartment bedroom, and held only the bed, the trunk, the small table where the lantern sat, and a single wooden chair next to it below the window. The walls were wooden planks, except for the side with the window, which was made from some kind of large grey stone. Everything looked so...

It looked like the set of a movie.

She flung off the blanket and stood, stretching and running her fingers through her hair. She felt amazing, all things considered. If the potion they gave her was the same one Koeska had used in the alley, it was no wonder he'd looked better afterward. She fiddled with the lantern, unable to figure out how to turn it off completely, and settled for pulling the lever all the way down to close it up.

Next she put a knee on the chair and fiddled with the clasp to open the window shutters. She pulled them wide open, staring through the thick glass at a lawn that reminded her of country magazines and palace gardens all wrapped into one. There were stone fountains and walkways, but instead of just flowers there were raised vegetable gardens scattered throughout.

Past that was a hedge maze that seemed to wrap around the garden and the tower, disappearing around both sides of the building. Beyond that was a huge wall. And past that... waving grass dotted with stands of trees. She smothered the feeling of disappointment and closed the shutters.

There was only the one door, so it wasn't hard to decide where to go next. She peeked out and saw a room with tables and chairs, couches off to one side, and a little kitchen area, except without a fridge or stove or anything that resembled an electrical appliance. All the furniture was rough-hewn wood and looked like it weighed a ton. There was a really awesome fireplace along the stone wall though, and she could smell something cooking.

An older, portly woman stood at a counter in the kitchen area and had stopped whatever she was doing to stare as Airyn stepped into the room. Her face was a golden tan like Koeska's, but her rounded cheeks shone ruddy. Her eyes, small and dark, seemed to actually twinkle as Airyn met her gaze.

The woman smiled widely and wiped her hands on a towel that was hung at her waist with a cloth cord. She moved around the counter and Airyn glanced quickly around, wishing Koeska was there.

"Good morning, dear! I hope you slept well."

Nodding, Airyn took note of five other doors along the same wall as her small room, and the wooden wall on the opposite side of the commons had three others that were more spaced out, one of them directly behind the little kitchen area.

"You must be hungry."

Looking back at the woman, who'd stopped in front of her and was visibly trying not to stare, she smiled. "A little. But I really have to use the bathroom. Can you tell me where it is?"

The woman raised her eyebrow. "A bath before eating?"

Shaking her head, Airyn shifted on her feet. "Uhm, no, I have to use the restroom."

The woman still didn't seem to understand what she meant, but after a few moments of thought she flung her hands in the air and flushed dark red.

"Oh my, I'm sorry!"

She scurried off to a door two down from the one leading to Airyn's room and waved her forward. "Well, don't be shy. You'll find everything you need in here. We don't often get visitors, so it slipped my mind. I'm so sorry, dove."

Confused, Airyn nodded and joined her, looking into the room as the woman held the door open for her. It looked somewhat like a bathroom. There was a small table on the one side that held a basin and pitcher and a stack of small towels. In the opposite corner was a wooden box with what she assumed was a wooden toilet seat and lid on top.