The Tower

Chapter Three- Emilia

Present time
Mabon
Early  Autumn
24th September
11 Moon bells

The sparky orange glow of the candle light twirled
and spiraled in its glass cage.The ember light stretched down the spiral stone staircase as Emelia padded silently down the steps, cautiously, as if she were a mouse attempting to walk through a pit of vipers. The end of the staircase drew near as the small wooden door that led into the palace gardens came into view. Through the gap at the bottom of the door, silvery moonlight leaked onto the stone walkway, embracing the candlelight from Emilia's lantern in a cold swift motion. Each shimmer of the moonlight was matched with a flicker of the candle in a silent challenge. She stood still for a moment, as if the light would be startled by her presence, and slowly observed the beauty of the cool tones melting into the warm. It reminded her of how people melted their passion with perseverance. She pondered for a moment, silently storing the idea in the back of her mind. She'd use that as a metaphor in a poem someday, perhaps even a book.

A sound rang from upstairs which made Emilia flich, almost flinging her lantern across the room. A symphony of hushed yelling could be heard indicating a servant was probably receiving a scolding from one of their higher ups. Emila's heart lurched as the shame creeped into the stairwell from upstairs. It filled Emilia with tremendous anxiety simply making the two minute walk from the top floor of the west wing, across the corridor and down two sets of stairs. She felt terrible for the maids having to stay silent all hours of the night. The Kings gate strict orders that none of his courtiers be out of their chambers after eleven bells, he gave exceptions for balls and his concubines, but other than that servants were expected to hand anyone who broke the rules over to the guards. She had been caught by multiple maids and servants during her first few attempts to enter the gardens, but luckily had been able to make up an excuse to explain her actions. She made an effort to strike up a relationship with as many maids and servants as she could. This often helped her find her way out of sticky situations but it also provided some much needed perspective.

While servants were deemed to be of lower standing than the nobles, their gifts were not at all useless, they were simply crafted for a different purpose. At first she intended to befriend one or two maids in order to possibly attain some insider information, but after a while she came to see that a bunch of reckless misfits with nothing to lose often made for the best company. Despite her regal facade she felt somewhat at home in that category. Servants were much more interesting, they came from all corners of the globe and told the most wonderful stories free from censorship and full of laughter. Her life had taught her to smile sweetly and look as if she was in awe when rich people told tales of their travels, and while they were rather interesting, she spent so much time trying to communicate that she was paying attention that Emila often forgot to actually listen.

She felt guilty for admitting that living in a palace wasn't all it was cracked up to be. She thought that she had made some wonderful friends, but power could complicate any matter, even something as pure as friendship. The servants and maids were so much easier to talk to, everyone was addressed as an equal and nobody batted an eyelid at how much your dress cost. But with the others... Although she loved them dearly it was draining to constantly have to act as if life was perfect, everything had to look so easy for her and one wrong move could spell disaster for her reputation. It was all a big game. You learn when to ask the right questions, when to say nothing, how to read a person's anger signals, how to make them feel comfortable and unthreated. It was a game of using whatever you had to your advantage. And it was a game Emilia didn't want to admit she'd become rather good at.

She shook her head, overthinking was a trap she didn't have the time to fall into tonight. No need to dwell. She thought to herself. She had a pretty solid understanding of the maid's routines at this point however, the calamity from upstairs may have thrown the whole procedure off. She was going to have to be cautious on the way back up. If she was caught too many times she could arouse suspicion among the maids, or worse, with the king himself. She lowered her lantern and used her free hand to twist the door handle. With a gentle push she was in the gardens. A wave of calm rushed over her as the comforting scent of honeysuckle and jasmines filled her nose. The guards never patrolled this area. The garden was in the center of the castle meaning there was always a faster route to their patrol spots through one of the tunnels.It wasn't anywhere close to the kings quarters or the treasury so sationing guards here would seem like a waste of resources.