Finding the Wisest

Chapter Six

She woke up panting in the middle of the night, sweating. She felt extremely uncomfortable and slightly ill.
Maya had had a dream where she was stuck in a strange place where no one knew what a phone was. She chuckled to herself.
Just imagine that! A place where nobody knew what a phone was.
She threw her legs out of bed and stood up in the dark room, trying to see if she could make her way to her dressing mirror and check the time on her phone.
Her vision became a bit clearer as the moonlight filtered into the room. This wasn't her room. It wasn't a nightmare, she was really trapped in a backwards society. She sat back onto the bed with a heavy frown and soon she sank back into sleep again.

X

She woke up the next day, confused about her unfamiliar surroundings, looking at the basic items in the room until it all came back to her... All to the last detail of angering the Queen. The boss of this whole place.

It was a knock on the door that brought her out of her thoughts. She got up and walked to the door, there stood Hartley with a pile of clothes hanging on her arm.
The woman was in a light blue dress and an apron and she had a very noticeable beauty spot just above her left eyebrow
"Good morning miss..."
"Oh I'm not miss, Hartley, I'm Maya. You can call me Maya"
Hartley looked at her and gave a wry smile
"Alright Miss"
Lol
"The Queen would like to see you, should I run a bath for you?"

Maya was surprised, shocked... And then a bit scared. She hadn't gotten to apologize yet, what would the queen do to her?

"Do not worry miss, she doesn't mean any harm....." Hartley ended uncertainly.
Maya nodded, thanked Hartley and closed the door. She looked at the clothes, a blue dress and some rubber shoes.

She would wear it.... Just for a while, she didn't know how long she'd be here and having one set of clothes didn't sound so appealing to her.
She wore the dress but still kept on the jeans underneath. She rather left her jacket and sneakers and t shirt on the bed.
She quickly braided her hair as fast as it'd allow her and after a wash to the face and mouth she was out of the room.

She clutched her chest, Hartley was still standing there...Waiting

"Hartley! you almost gave me a heart attack. You didn't have to wait for me"
Hartley opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but shut it again, she just inclined her head slightly in Maya's direction "let's get going"
Hmm, Frosty much?
This Hartley was different from the one who grabbed her about a day ago.

She shrugged and pushed it aside after thinking about it for a while, she wasn't here to understand the changes in people's behavior.
She was going to get answers and go home with her mother.
No matter what.

Hartley walked them out of the Castle through another entrance and past maids and male servants walking around hurriedly. This time Maya tried her best to remember where they passed and what directions they took.
This castle was such a huge place.

It was a garden they were going to.
A beautiful garden with lovely flowers all around. They didn't walk too far before they reached a clearing, there were some wicker chairs arranged in circle formation around a large stone

Seated on one of those chairs was the queen in a yellow dress, her posture was straight and her head was tilted to the side as if to allow her to absorb more of the sun. The sun reflected on her, causing parts of her hair to appear golden instead of the brown that it was. Her bright dress shone as if it had been polished gold.
She looked very beautiful, regal
And then Maya tripped on a branch

The Queen turned and smiled at Maya , Maya turned back swiftly to see if Hartley would save her from this situation, she didn't know exactly what to say to the queen but the quick maid had disappeared.
Maya took a big girl breath and went to the circle of chairs, where the queen was and sat...very very far from her.