A Capable Maid

Chapter 2

I feel a warm summer breeze flit across my cheek. I open my eyes. 'where am I?'.  A woman with violet hair and a beauty mark on her chin comes into view.

"What kind of tea are we having today?" A deep man's voice questions.

A handsome young man in a suit is sitting at a table. Now that I can see clearer, the woman is dressed in traditional maids attire. 'She must be serving that noble tea', I remark. 'She looks very graceful while doing it as well'.

"It is Da Hong Pao tea today, young master," the woman speeks in a soft melodious voice.

"Da Hong Pao?" he asks.

"Yes" the maid replies, "It is from North of Fujian, a type of oolong tea."

'Ah'.

"How delicious, as expected from you," the man comments.

'This is a dream' I realize.

"Thank you, the scent of the tea will make it even more delicious" the girl replies.

"No, it wouldn't be this delicious if someone else had made it, " he says. "Viola your my greatest treasure". I watch as Viola bows humbly yet graciously. 'Wow, she is truly amazing' I think as the scene fades into white. I can still feel the warm breeze as the dream slowly fades away.

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I blink open my eyes and sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. 'Viola....who are you? Such a realistic dream', I think as I go through my daily morning routine, preparing for a long day of work. 'Da Hong Pao, what is that...? I feel like I know it.' I shake my head quickly, my hair moves slightly, but does not fall from it's low bun updo. 'I must be crazy, thinking I know a flavor of tea I have never heard before'. I finish my routine by putting on my maid bun cover and securing it tightly at the base of my neck. Now the majority of my ash brown hair is covered, as per the maid's conduct. While it is true that we don't have to cover our hair like this all the time, I do it just in case, the less people see of me the better.

I meet up with my friend and we walk to get our assignments for the day together. 

"Marie, you've got to do your best today!", Jane says encouragingly as we walk, "You know maid Susan will be annal as usual. If you make a mistake it won't end with a simple scolding. I nod miserably, 'I'm the one that gets scolded on a daily basis'. (a/n Susan is the head maid btw, they didn't really explain this)

"Yes Jane, I'll do my best today", trying to reassure her. 'More like reassure myself', I think glumly. We keep walking and Jane makes some small talk to fill the silence, but I'm not listening. All I can think about is, 'If only I could be capable like that girl Viola in my dream....The girl from my dream is a perfect maid. Cleaning, laundry, and of course she's perfect at doing dishes too.....tea time, taking care of documents, everything. What do you call that? Jack of all trades? No.....she's more like the master of all maids' (a/n haha didn't mean to make it rhyme 😅 ). 'If only I could be half as capable as her...' My mind drifts and I soon realize that I'm at the corridor that I'm supposed to be cleaning. I faintly remember Jane saying goodbye as she headed for a different part of the castle.

"Now let's star-", I start saying encouragingly rolling up my sleeves, "Hmm?", I interrupt myself.

I blink to make sure I'm seeing this right. 'My goodness what is this?' I look around at the decorations and lampposts on the wall. 'Oh no, was it always this dirty here?! Why didn't I notice? Ahhh—I need to clean quickly before Susan gets here! What should I do there's so much to clean here. I don't think I will be able to do this all in time.' I panic and quickly start mopping the floors. '?', I'm taken aback. 'How strange. Why is work so easy today?'. I have already finished wiping the windows, mopping, dusting the paintings, cleaning the shelves, most of which usually takes me three hours to complete. 'Since I could see all the dirty spots I didn't waste any time' I noticed, wiping my brow. I look back at the corridor I just cleaned in wonder. "Wow!" I say aloud, my amber eyes sparkling at what a great job I just did. "Did I clean all of this?!", shocked by my own performance. I glance at the expensive carpet lying in the reception room. 'The carpet...since the hallway is now clean the soiled fibers of the rug are more noticeably dirty. I want to clean that carpet', I muse to myself.