Platinum Blonde // L. Laufeyson

XIV

She entered the courtyard, being pushed by her own magical clone, December stumbled in, falling to the ground, more or less dramatically.

The head steward glared at her, as the clone exited the room. He was a lanky man with a long face, seemingly in his mid-thirties. Another guard came up and pulled her up harshly, shoving her back into the group of frightened looking beings.

The man who looked half-goblin paced to and fro in front of them, "my name is Head Steward Umik, and you will address me as such. I will be in charge of your positions, punishments, and anything else."

From there, a guard would push a person forward, they would say their names, the steward would inspect them, and then once he decided what they would be doing, he would push them to the side, where groups of servants depending on their jobs were collecting.

Finally it was December's turn, though luckily, she got picked before he reached the halfway mark, so she hadn't been standing for too long.

He scowled, "name and background?"

December lowered her head, to seem more submissive, and in a quiet and innocent voice said, "Ember Aegandottir, a bastard child from Alfheim, sold to the palace by slave traders."

Head Steward Umik nodded, roughly grabbing her face and inspecting it, "hmm..." He slapped her hard, and December quickly made a large scar appear on her face. Umik chuckled crudely, "have a bit of magic do you? Well you are unfit to be seen by the Queen or any other royals with that scar, you'll be in the lower ranks of maid servant." He shoved her towards a group of girls who had minor imperfections, or they're species wasn't excepted in the upper levels of the palace.

A plump girl who looked like she had Harpy in her blood, asked obnoxiously, "Aegandottir? Please don't tell me your the daughter of the Aegan. The hero who saved Alfheim a bajillion of times!"

December had to resist rolling her eyes.

Of course she couldn't tell them she was related to Aegan, but everyone knew he had become sterile because of a battle, and if December was actually the age she looked, anyone who had common sense would know she was too young to be his child.

"No, its another Aegan. He's dead." he's dead to December, was what she meant.

The harpy nodded haughtily, "makes sense. My names Lorefis, though you should already know that."

December turned away, this girl, who was a lower servant in the palace, thought way too highly of herself. Dec felt a little bad, for when the harsh reality, would punch Lorefis in the face.

Finally after awhile, the sorting was done, and they were herded down the servant stairs, deeper and deeper, slowly groups would disappear. They exited the stairwell after a long while, a lot of the servant girls and boys were huffing exhausted. December was fine, but that was only because of the intense training she had kept herself in for years, even after she escaped Asgard.

They were brought to where they would sleep and were separated into dorm rooms, boys on the right, girls on the left. The female hall, looked like it had over a hundred beds, each with a small chest beside it and a coffee table, nothing more. The group she was with, about seven girls, were directed to an area to the left of the door where they would now live, their uniforms were already placed on their beds.