Becoming A Queen.

1

1

Miranda wiped the sweat off her brow. The tools could finally be placed on the workbench and she rolled her tired shoulders to relieve the tension.

Ever since her husband died, the little shoemaker's shop had been her responsibility. The pair of boots in front of her was finally complete, but the imported calfskin was difficult to work with and the customer was one of the richer ladies in the village. The stitching had taken hours of intense focus, but finally, she was done. The leather was adorned with a carefully embroidered rose to match the inlay in the wooden heel. Miranda proudly ran her polishing cloth across the finished pair of boots.

Her small hands were red and sore from pressing the soles and the tough work of attaching them to the upper leather. Her husband had always done the shaping and the hard work of pressing the soles, while she had taken care of the finer detailing and the design of the shoes. But with him gone, she had developed her skill until she had become a renowned shoemaker in the village of Dunwiddie. Nowadays most of the work was to mend the villager's shoes. Reattaching the worn shoes to their equally worn soles required all the skills she had gained as Birk Balthazar's wife. Thankfully he had taught her all he knew. He was a modern man like that, her Birk.

She was only a young girl when he had taken her on as a shoemaker's apprentice. She had left her home in Galdiz, to seek her fortune elsewhere. Her father had been the town tailor, but when he died there was no work to be had for her. Her mother had suggested she marry and settle, but Miranda felt there was something more for her out there in the bigger world. She had gladly left the tailor shop to her brother and left to find a different profession. Somehow she had ended up in Friezenberg, Where she had seen a notice for an apprentice in the window of Balthazar's shoe shop. She showed him the quality of her stitching and the designs she had brought with her from Galdiz and that was all he needed to know.

Gradually his teaching sessions had brought him closer to her. He had patiently taught her the skill needed to create good quality footwear, and she enjoyed his patient, calm demeanour and his warm sense of humour. As time went by, their hands had casually brushed more often than what Miranda would consider accidental. Her heart started skipping beats when her eyes met his big blue ones and a warm feeling settled in her heart whenever they were together. Over meals and work, they would talk about everything and anything. By the time the apprenticeship neared its end, Miranda realised she had fallen in love with her mentor. He had become her best friend. Thankfully, Birk felt the same about her, and on the day Miranda received her guild membership as a qualified shoemaker, he had dropped to one knee and asked her to share his life as his wife.

Miranda remembered her wedding day with a sad smile. They had been so happy together. And she had felt so beautiful in the new dress and the shoes Birk had made for her as a surprise.

Even the routine of running the shop and every-day hard work were the best days of her life.

It used to be a joy. The two of them used to sit at opposing workbenches, together, sharing jokes and small talk with each other and the customers who used to come in for a chat.

Work brought them together and when work dwindled in Friezenland, Birk had suggested they move to Enchantia. They had arrived in Dunwiddie and quickly become a part of the village. Their shop had thrived from the first day the sign had hung above their door.

When their daughter was born, Miranda thought her life was complete.

After her beloved Birk had died, the customers had gone quiet. They would give her work, awkwardly look at his tools, still laid out on his desk, before they mumbled something about "what a shame!" and left only to return when their order was complete.