Lia woke to find herself in the bed but very much alone. She glanced up at the curtains and swallowed against that sudden nervousness rising in her chest. It was not as bad as it had been last night in the dark, but there was no escaping the fear of the curtains.

She quickly scrambled out of the bed. Unfortunately, her feet tangled up in the blankets and she fell forward with a resounding thud. Sprawled out on the floor, she looked nothing like the majestic princess she was supposed to be.

Still, there was no embarrassment. Just a desire to get off the floor.

“Your Grace?” A polite but unfamiliar voice echoed from beyond the doorway. “Is everything all right?”

“I am fine.” Lia responded as she struggled to untangle herself from the blanket. She really did not want anyone to come in and find her like this.

“Is it acceptable for us to enter now, Your Grace?” An older voice followed the first.

Lia looked at the door in confusion as she tried to understand the question. Before, the maids would never ask. They would just come in. In her dream, they had never been this polite.

It was certainly a new experience to have someone ask permission.

Finally managing to stand upright, she called out in what she hoped was the most authoritative voice she could manage.

It ended up coming out like a barely audible squeak.

“You may enter.”

The door quickly opened, and a horde of maids stepped into the room. Most were faces she recognized from yesterday. There were only a few new faces that were unfamiliar. The maid from Roam was nowhere to be seen. A fact that made Lia wonder where she was.

“Good morning, Your Grace.” The maids all said as they bowed in unison. While they were all varied in appearance, they all wore the exact same outfit. No one wore jewelry or anything to make them stand out compared to their fellows.

Unused to such respect, Lia felt like her skin was crawling.

“Shall we help you get dressed, Your Grace?” The first maid spoke.

Lia turned to look at her and saw a woman not much older than herself. Lia noticed that the maid had several buns on the back of her head, and there was no mistaking the enthusiasm in her blue eyes.

It was like the maid’s only goal in life was to do whatever Lia asked.

“Uh. Yes, please.” Lia said quietly. Her fingers fidgeted on the edge of her nightgown as she tried not to reveal just how uncomfortable this made her feel.

She knew it should not make her uncomfortable, but she just could not help that feeling that settled at the pit of her stomach.

“There is no need to say please.” The older maid just behind her said. “We are here to serve you, Your Grace.”

“Right.” Lia managed and looked closer at the older maid.

The woman looked like what one would expect a head maid to look like. Old, but with her back as straight as can be. There was a sense of authority in everything the woman did. Even the way she moved her hands made her feel like she was so much more than the other maids.

“Nef.” the older maid said, clapping her hands at the exuberant blonde maid from earlier. “You wait upon the Grand Duchess.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Came the cheerful response.

The other maids seemed a little downcast, but they all of them remained silent. Lia guessed that they might be unhappy that the older maid chose Nef instead of them. She just had no idea why it would bother anyone not to wait on her. She was a hostage princess in a foreign land.

Sure, she was the Grand Duchess, but she had no real power in Soce beyond being Calix’s wife.

“Your Grace, would you like to take a bath before breakfast?” Nef, the maid, said. “The Grand Duke had business this morning, so you have plenty of time to relax.”

Lia considered it.

She had taken a bath the night before, but she did feel a little clammy. It reminded her of what it had been like to lay in the bed in her dream. How her skin had felt perpetually filthy because the servants had not cared.

Her grip on her nightgown went even tighter as she felt repulsed by her dream self.

“I would like that. Yes.” Lia nodded.

“Ladies, you heard Her Grace.” Nef said as she clapped her hands in near perfect mimicry of the older maid from earlier.

A group of the maids broke off from the others and hurried to the bathroom. It seemed Nef now outranked them as they obeyed her. Lia glanced over at her, making a note to be more cautious around the cheerful maid.

“Your clothing arrived last night.” Nef continued. “Is there anything you would prefer to wear?”

“No.” Lia shook her head as she said it. She had no preference for her clothing. It was not like she could even remember what she had brought with her from Roam. She certainly did not believe it would be anything nice.

“Very well.” Nef said without missing a beat. “I’m sure the Grand Duke already has plans to buy you clothing for the weather in Batra.”

“The weather in Batra?” Lia cautiously asked.

What had the weather been like?

“Well, the summer.” Nef nodded at her and smiled. “It tends to be rather humid in Batra during the summer. I’m not sure about the weather in Roam but it rains a lot in Batra. That’s why they always joke that the men in Batra grow taller because they get watered.”

“Nef.” The older maid’s voice was firm and almost chastising.

“Right. Sorry.” Nef rubbed the back of her head.

“What… is Batra like?” Lia asked.

The whole Duchy was like a non-entity in her head. She only remembered her room, but outside that, the place was a blank. It was like she had never ventured outside in the entire time she had been there in her dream.

“Oh, you’ll love it!” Nef gushed. “There is no place like it in Soce. There are huge trees that are so wide men can’t even put their arms around it. With leaves as big as your-”

“Nef, take the Grand Duchess to take a bath.” The other maid’s tone had gotten even sharper. That kind of commanding tone that a superior would use.

“Oh. Yes, Lady Cerria.” Nef looked genuinely apologetic this time. “This way, Your Grace.”

Lia did not laugh or crack a smile as she followed this strange maid. Between the bedroom and the bathroom, Lia learned about nearly every kind of plant life in Batra. Things from sweet-smelling poisonous flowers to different types of moss that could dye things purple.

Lia quickly decided that she would not ask the maid any other questions.

Like before, she took her bath in solitude. And just like before, she sat there unmoving until the water began to cool. She felt a strange sense of relief from sitting there. It was like her own little world. There was no one but her.

Her head rested against the edge of the tub as she relaxed completely.  

“Your Highness?”

That voice was not the maids from Soce. The haughty tone and the Roamian accent made it clear who was waiting on the other side of the door.

“Yes?” Lia answered as she turned to look at the door.

The maid from Roam shoved open the door and strode in. She held her head high like this was her bathroom and Lia was soiling it.

Lia shrunk into the water as she stared up at the maid.

“You need to get dressed.” The maid said in a neutral tone.

It made Lia feel like the maid had changed her tune and would have been far more disrespectful if the other maids were not watching from the other room.

“Her Grace only needs to get dressed when she wants to.” Nef’s voice had the faintest amount of bite to it. Especially as she put an emphasis on the new title that Lia had gained.

“Well… yes.” The Roamian maid had the sense to look a little embarrassed.

“Very well.” Lia said.

She did not want to get dressed in front of this woman. Not that she knew why, she merely felt like she did not. There was just something about the maid that made her feel unsettled.

“Your Grace, you will need help to get dressed.” The maid continued. She sounded like she was speaking through gritted teeth. “Shall I help you?”

“Nef can help me get dressed. You can wait outside.” Lia said in a cautious tone.

“Of course.” The maid’s voice sounded almost smug. Like the Roam maid had won some manner of victory.

Nef came forward with a towel while another maid trailed behind her. The second carried a dress that was very clearly set in Soce style. The Roamian maid huffed at the sight of it before leaving the room. Someone else closed the door to offer some privacy to the ones inside the bathroom.

Lia stood and the two remaining maids quickly helped dry her off.

They then dressed her in rapid fashion. The silk of the dress falling around her in layers. There was only a ribbon to cinch about her waist to draw in the cloth. Otherwise, there was nothing overly cumbersome about the dress. It was comfortable and soft. The kind of dress that almost seemed made just for her.

“We should get Vera to do your hair.” Nef mused out loud.

“Sure.” Lia responded without much enthusiasm.

It was only another aspect of getting dressed.

“Trust me! You’ll love it. She’s the best at it out of all us maids.” Nef said with a happy smile, not noticing that Lia had given a bland response.

Lia merely nodded before she moved out into the bedroom, and this other maid did her work to put her hair into some manner of Soce hairstyle. Lia wondered why she needed to look this nice when she was just going to go eat breakfast.

She just knew better to question the maids.

They would pinch and scold her if she bothered them.

Lia walked from the room when they were done. An entourage of maids following behind her. The one from Roam was near the front of the line with Nef while the gray-haired maid was nowhere to be seen. She guessed that the woman had better things to do with her time.

The dining room was not empty when she arrived.

The table was already full of food, and they had set her placement. There was no sign of Calix.

“Your Grace.” The butler, Methos, from last night spoke up.

“Good morning.” Lia said in a quiet voice.

“Good morning, Your Grace.” Methos answered as he motioned to the table. “His Grace asked that I provide you with a variety of foods for you to choose from.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Lia slid in to the seat that they had readied for her. She glanced over the food and felt sick at the sight of how much was there.

They don’t expect me to eat all this… do they?

She had no idea what to think.

“I advise the soup.”

Lia glanced over at the bowl he was motioning to. She immediately remembered the last bit of soup she had eaten in her dream. Her stomach twisted as she remembered what had happened afterwards.

“No… no soup.”

The butler looked confused, but the emotion quickly returned to a neutral expression. He merely nodded before motioning for someone to take away the bowl of soup.

“Batra is rather famous for their fruits. Would you like to try some?”

Lia glanced at the fruit on the table and nodded. Methos then proceeded to explain about the fruits and how each one was good for different things. It was much like Nef earlier, but he spoke with an almost clinical explanation. Like he was giving her a lesson on the produce of the Duchy.

That was how the breakfast played out.

She ended up not eating much. Her head ended up feeling like it was ringing with all the words Methos had said to her. Eventually, she just wanted to return to her room.

Which was what she did in the end. She returned to the bedroom and sat on the couch.

Once more, she stared out the window at the sky.

She ignored everything else.