Reyr the Gold (Dragonwall Series # 2)

Chapter 22 - Of Handmaidens and Deals

Kastali Dun

Claire greedily drank up Desaree and Saffra's company during breakfast in her quarters four days after their trip to the market. They had been nearly inseparable ever since. The challenge was thinking up excuses to keep Desaree from her duties. Fortunately, Tess was lenient where Desaree was concerned, and Desaree was largely influenceable.

That morning, Lord Verath was a popular topic. It was obvious to both Claire and Saffra that something was going on between Lord Verath and Desaree, though Desaree refused to admit it. "We are merely good friends," she claimed.

Claire made eye contact with Saffra and they both snorted. Then to Desaree she said, "Deny it all you want. Anyone with two eyes can see that he cares about you. Besides, he made that pretty clear in the market."

Desaree blushed. "I have already said—I doubt he meant it like that. You misinterpreted his words."

Perhaps she was afraid to entertain the idea that Lord Verath cared for her as more than a friend. It wouldn't have been the first time she expressed that kind of fear. Claire had heard Desaree's reservations before. When Desaree held her silence, Claire was forced to say, "Well, I imagine when you came to the keep, you never expected a great lord like Verath to single you out."

At this, Desaree afforded them a nervous laugh. "You're right. I had very different expectations when I began working in the keep. I had different hopes—different aspirations. I quickly learned to hope for nothing."

"Des!" Saffra cried, looking appalled. She had started calling Desaree by her nickname too. "What do you mean? You always seem so happy. Why didn't you come to me?"

"I..." Desaree shrank down in her chair.

Claire did not want her to feel ashamed, so she quickly salvaged the situation: "What sort of aspirations did you have, Desaree?"

Desaree began chewing on the skin of her lower lip before she spoke, "When I came here, I wanted to be a handmaiden."

"A—a handmaiden? Seriously?" It wasn't the answer Claire was expecting—far from it.

"Serving as a handmaiden is a prestigious job," Saffra said, coming to Desaree's defense. "In Kastali Dun, people in the middle class train their daughters for such."

"Oh..." Claire had not realized this. She had no handmaiden and was unfamiliar with such things. "I guess I had no idea."

"It was my mother's wish before it was my own," Desaree said.

"But I don't understand." Claire looked from Desaree to Saffra. "Wouldn't those of the middle class be better off working rather than serving? Wouldn't they rather have careers of their own? Look at Madame Rosanne."

"Madame Rosanne was trained as a Mage," Saffra said. "Besides, being a handmaiden is a job of its own, no different from any other, merely more prestigious. Look at Jocelyn. She has done quite well for herself."

Jocelyn was Saffra's handmaiden. Claire didn't know her well, and they had rarely spoken. Saffra was so independent that Jocelyn rarely accompanied her.

"Did Jocelyn aspire to be a handmaiden when she was younger?" Claire asked.

"I do not think Jocelyn could afford to entertain the idea—not in the social sphere she had originally occupied."

"What do you mean?"

"I rescued her from the Pauper's District. She was too poor to consider becoming a handmaiden."

Claire knew enough about the Pauper's District to know that it was where most of the lowest laborers and their families lived. The majority were employed at the docks. But there were a number of others living in the Pauper's District too: fishmongers, midwives, housekeepers for the middle class, artists, chimney sweeps, peddlers, thieves, tavern wenches, prostitutes....