The Beautiful Chelona

2 : Maids and Servants

Laura was in fact, good at dressing trends and fashion. Chelona liked her even more. After a while when their long process of tying and untying laces got too dull, she launched into speech. The fact that Chelona did not stop her, encouraged her and her speech became a hundred times more clearer and more confident.

"I came here, in Nishan, from far south. It's so much warmer over there. Much less snow. And much less mountains too. And there was the sea nearby. I did love my home, but it's like...not habitable now."

Her voice trailed off. So Chelona did not question her. She'd heard about the attacks on Thalassa. The armies of Nishan had marched in, taking the king by surprise. The king's armies couldn't hold them off. It was a bloody war. Thousands had been killed and even more had been taken as slaves. If they wanted to live, they'd been recruited as low level sentries in the armies. It had been awful. Her father usually disliked wars, but the Thalassa issue had been different. He also strongly disliked the loss of life after a war yet, that was too, inevitable. 

Their king was hanged, their were treasuries robbed and their women stolen. It would have taken a miracle for anyone to actually escape for there was a strict curfew everywhere. It was a strict kill on sight agenda.

But Chelona was unable to keep her curiosity in. That state had been in a curfew. She asked," So how did you escape?"

"That is... that is hard for me to tell princess it was so horrible-"

"I command you to tell me, Laura."

She stiffened. Tears formed in her eyes and it looked as though she was working hard to not let them flow. Finally she took a ragged breath and launched into her story.

"Me and my mam tried to escape. They'd found my sister and killed her. They found my young brother even earlier and asked him if he would join them. He refused, he died. A bunch of soldiers found us too, and launched at us. I think they wanted to rape us. My mam stood in for me. She held them off enough for me to escape fast. She told me not to look back. I didn't obey her. I saw her killed before my eyes. I wandered along the countryside until I found a few good men and women who helped me here."

By the end of it, her hands were shivering uncontrollably, and tears as large as pearls rolled down her pale skin. She was whimpering, and that had always irritated Chelona. She snapped at her," Stop whimpering. You are dismissed, I can manage well on my own by now."

She bowed and left the chambers, still crying.

"That was very harsh of you, Chelona."

Rhea was standing in the doorway of her chambers, arms crossed over her chest. She had a stern look in her eyes that sort of scared Chelona. Rhea was dressed in a beautiful pine green silk gown that brought out the auburn of her hair. The gems that she had adorned shone like stars.

She welcomed herself in and seated herself on her bed and gestured for Chelona to sit next to her. Then she began picking at the laces of her dress, tightening them. She sighed,"Your lucky, Chelona, that this one is fierce. If it would have been any other, word would have gotten to your father as fast as a forest fire."

Chelona shuddered to think what would have happened in that case. Their father was sensitive about their servants, he treated them nicely, as though they were nobles. He would always be strongly upset about any misconduct towards them. And all Chelona did most of the day was to snap at them.

"They're humans too, Chelona," mused Rhea. "They deserve to be treated fairly, don't they?"

"Oh, I don't know. If they are treated well then what is the difference between themselves and us? We're royalty, Rhea. We deserve servitude."