Dusk Till Dawn (Being Rewritten!)

Part 2: The Unexpected Banquet.

Melody said her own good night to Blue before she continued to walk down the corridor to head back to the mistress who would let her go to her room for the night. But instead of being given an uneventful night, the mistress caught her in the hall.

The mistress was older than most of the ladies at the court, but was still very much active. She had long grayed hair which she kept braided and out of her face. The woman had seemed to be a very kind woman, but when the King was around it was another story all together, but then so did a lot of the people around the castle. It made no sense to Melody.

“You there, are you on an errand for someone?” the mistress asked as she pointed towards Melody who froze for a moment.

“No ma’am,” came Melody’s automatic response as she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Good, come with me then. I don’t have much time to explain what is about to happen,” the mistress already started to walk as Melody rushed to catch up to her noting how tired the mistress seemed to be tonight. “Some of the maids ended up getting sick tonight so I need a few replacements for tonight’s dinner service. You seem to be healthy and you have manners so you will just have to bare with it and help.”

“But I have no idea about etiquette for a party such as that, I’m only a commoner,” Melody said hoping beyond hope she would be able to get out of it.

“Oh don’t be so silly child. It is simple. Here, Cordelia take this girl and put some of your spares on her and tell how to handle tonight’s dinner. I don’t want any major mistakes otherwise the king will have our heads tonight,” the mistress said leaving Melody to a blonde haired girl named Cordelia.   

“Come on,” Cordelia said with a soft smile as she urged Melody in the direction they had come. “All my stuff is in a random room until I get assigned one. I just started working today, but I have served other nobles before so I know how to do this.”

“Okay, but why suddenly choose me out of all the girls who would die to do this?” Melody asked wondering why she could not just be left alone.

“I don’t really know why, but if that is what the mistress wants it is what she is going to get. Now put this on real quick,” Cordelia tossed her a maid’s outfit before shoving her behind a large folding screen.

“Wait!” Melody said a bit louder as she became more and more frustrated.

“It won’t matter what you want tonight. I have little time to get your ready and to give you instructions, so will you stop trying to fight us for a few moments?” Cordelia said giving Melody a stern look with her gray eyes.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Melody said looking down at her feet.

“Good, now get dressed while I tell you all about what you need to do,” Melody nodded and started to undress behind the folding screen. “Now, all we have to do is serve the drinks. If someone is getting low on a drink just offer them more. When you leave you curtsy, you know how to do that right?”

“Yes,” Melody said as she struggled with the dress.

“Good. There are certain nobles you want to avoid at all costs and if you happen to get stuck with one of them I’ll help you through it. For the most part if no one talks to you do not talk to them. It is okay to talk amongst ourselves, but only small things because we are supposed to be watching if the nobles need drinks.”

“Okay, that sounds easy enough,” Melody said fiddling with the dress one last time before she came out from behind the screen.

“Oh my, you look good in that,” Cordelia said coming over to tug in a few places the dress had bunched together. “Now all we have to do is put your hair up in a nice fashion and you will be ready.”