Bandit Queen

Chapter Two

Lia slept peacefully in a cozy nest of handmade quilts and woven woolen blankets. It was an especially chilly fall morning, but the perfect temperature for a person cocooned in such warmth.

The sun sat bellow the horizon, when she woke from her comfortable slumber. Only the early risers were up at this hour, making it for her, a perfect time to wake.

Arising at dawn was always enjoyable for her. She liked the crisp air and the feeling of dew on her toes in the morning. She thought it was a shame that people had to wear shoes and was always very glad to avoid the lectures about her vessel-less feet. After all, she only occasionally acquired a splinter.

Lia rose from her bed and began getting ready for the day. First, she scrubbed her teeth clean with a linen clothe cloth, covered with a salt and mint paste. Then she brushed through her thick and knotted red hair, before braiding it tightly to the back of her head.

When she was little, Genoa would always cut it, but as she became older, she refused. She loved her hair and hated having to hide it due to the idiotic king and his search for the missing princess. After many arguments, braiding became the compromise. And she still had to conceal it under her head scarf and healer's robe.

Some days, she wondered what it would feel like to wear pretty dresses and live inside the courts of North Aramoore. She was envious of the girls who never had to work a day in their lives and were still better off than she would ever be.

Yes, it was vain, but for once in her life, she wanted to be allowed to be selfish. She wasn't asking to live that life, she just wanted to dream about it. She was happy living and growing older where she was on the surface, but deep down had always felt out of place. In her heart, she knew that her destiny was not that of a healer.

As she cleansed her face with the pail of water sitting by her bed, she washed away all selfish thoughts of becoming someone else. Her preplanned life was going to be fine.

"No more pitying yourself!" she muttered, wiping dry her freckled face.

It was a wonder that no one important had really looked or cared enough to realize that she had red hair. Her pale complexion and the immense number of freckles surely gave her away, but she hadn't been dragged to the king's dungeon yet. There were perks to being as insignificant in the king's eyes as she was.

In the morning, Lia's first chore was always refilling the water pails for the family's tent. She enjoyed the half mile hike to the well and never minded carrying the buckets of water back.

The welcoming aroma of breakfast after the short hike to camp always impelled her forward. It was usually a hearty meal that included bread, berries, and various animals that had been caught the day before.

After breakfast, she'd begin her second chore. This one was her least favorite, cleaning and collecting the eggs from the chicken coop. The inside was musty, smelling of grain and chicken waste, not a very pleasant smell and a sharp contrast to the more delightful and enjoyable aroma of her first meal.

She passed the time in there by naming each chicken after a vendor in the town market. There was Hubert the baker, Ethel the cobbler, Clancy the fruit seller, and Bert the butcher, just to name a few.

She liked to imagine each one's life when she was not around to spoil their fun and steal their precious eggs. She fully supported Ethel and Bert's engagement. One could even say that she "SHIPED" them.

After finishing her morning chores, she prepared to go into the town, taking extra care in securing her headscarf. She then would greet her dear sister and mother by kissing them both on the cheek for good fortune, as is a healer tradition.