The attendance of a maid was not an uncommon occurrence for Naavah. However, having to be naked in front of a stranger was definitely embarrassing. Her cheeks were so red that the maid asked her if she had caught a cold.

“Oh, no. I, uh,” said Naavah, rubbing her palms and biting her lower lip.

“My lady, please don’t be shy. From this day forward, I will be your personal maid. I hope that you will take good care of me.”

Noticing Naavah’s discomfort, she said something reassuring to her while preparing the water and testing it with her elbow to make sure it was of a particular affable temperature for her new master.

“Of course. Can you, perhaps, uh, tell me your name?”

“It’s Linda, my lady. But you don’t need to concern yourself with such trivial matters like my name,” said the maid, avoiding Naavah’s gaze.

“It’s not like that,” said Naavah, pressing her lips together.

Even before arriving at Fyodor’s manor, Naavah wished to have a close relationship with her maid. It was not something that any of the other noble ladies considered, yet she believed that servants also deserved to be treated with respect; maybe it was due to the harsh and bad treatment she had received up to that moment, or maybe it was her different opinion, but either way, she didn’t want to treat Linda poorly. And the first step to accomplish this was to know and address her by her name. Thereby, she tried to think of a way to express herself without being misunderstood, but before she could make up her mind, Linda had already led her to the metal bathtub and began to wash her body with excessive care. The maid had a soft and gentle touch trying to make her lady comfortable. The soap emitted a strong, sweet scent, and lather began to gather around Naavah’s body. She felt submerged in a sea of white, letting her hair float in the warm water. She felt wonderful. It was different from the way others acted toward her in Dargan’s household; She remembered that the only products the maids used to clean her were of poor quality and always irritated her sensitive skin, along with the rough gestures of the maids as they washed her. After getting out of the bathtub, her skin was always red and uncomfortable to the touch, and she couldn’t sleep all night because of it.

“How are you feeling, my lady? Is it to your liking?”

“Oh, yes! Of course. What is the soap made of? It is so pleasant and smells divine.”

“It’s made out of roses, oranges, and vanilla. It was bought from a prestigious apothecary from the Hocklend’s land. They specialized themselves in making flower-scented soaps.”

“It would be nice if we could go buy more someday. And maybe try other varieties as well,” said Naavah with a slight smile, approaching the lather with her nose.

“I believe that the lord will give his approval for a departure there. He also has some business with them, and it wouldn’t be a problem if he would take you with him.”

Running her hands through the lather, Naavah bit her lip and mustered the courage to ask about what interested her the most.

“Perhaps do you know if the lord mentioned anything about, uh, the marriage?”

“Oh, yes! He was thrilled and couldn’t help but talk about your beauty, intelligence, and confidence and how many things you will accomplish when you get here,” said Linda, smiling with all her heart.

“Confident.”

Naavah smiled bitterly at the idea. She was never confident in her abilities or her appearance; whenever a party or a ball was approaching, she would make up excuses not to attend out of fear of being disliked by others or becoming the focus of gossip and even harassment. It was a quality that had always interfered with her future actions and her view of society. The fact that Fyodor thought she was confident was delusional in her mind. She was afraid of disappointing him, though it was inevitable, she thought. Hence, in the end, this brought a feeling of sorrow into her heart.

“I truly hope that he will be gentle with you tonight,” said Linda while stirring into a bowl full of herbs and some rose water that was good for Naavah’s possible irritations.

“Gentle? With what?” asked Naavah with wide eyes and curiosity.

“With your first night. The other staff members and I had many conversations with him about this, and we hope it wasn’t in vain.”

“Our first night?” asked Naavah, frowning, without a clue about what her maid was talking about.

“Don’t you... I mean, the first night is crucial for a marriage. It involves having an intimate relationship with your spouse that will decide the way your marriage will be like in the future,” explained Linda, trying not to show her bewilderment.

She was surprised that her lady was unaware of the first night of a newly married couple. It was a tradition and a necessity in every social hierarchy, and people often told their children about the significance of this act and its implications for what was to come in the future regarding the type of relationship the couple would have. However, she still explained all this to Naavah with the utmost care. After all, it was her duty to inform, stand by and help the lady of the house about and with everything. However, she couldn't feel light-hearted about the effect this new finding might have on her lady. She also did her best to explain how two people have intercourse so that Naavah would know what was going to happen.

And indeed, Linda was right; for Naavah, this was something completely unknown and terrifying. Her breathing grew shallower than usual, and she started to feel lightheaded. She cupped her cheeks with both hands and endeavored to calm her heart that was pounding so hard in her ears. Ubertina never said such things to her, and with trembling hands, she tried to caress her own shoulders.

“I read about it. Yes, it was a book with dark brown covers. This is what every couple does to reproduce. It has been said that it is also pleasing. It will be fine. It will be fine. Fyodor is sweet, and he was considerate when we first met, and, uh, he will be the same now. It is good. I can do this.” she thought, attempting to compose herself.

“My lady, hold your head like this so I can wash your hair.”

While adopting the exact position her personal maid had shown her, Naavah tried to focus on something else to distract herself from the unsettling feeling that had begun to take over her. It was something she always did when needed, yet sometimes it didn’t work as expected; this was one of those times.

Coming out of the bathtub, Naavah held her chest with both hands and looked at her own feet. Linda gasped and remained silent, watching her trembling lady. She closed her eyes tightly and hoped for the best. She dried her black hair, combed it, and wiped her body with a towel, then helped her to put on the white lingerie that had been prepared in advance for tonight’s event. It was a terrible sight for Linda to see how badly Naavah’s hands were shaking, and began to think that her lady was going to have a heart attack soon. She had tried to talk about the village, what their most famous apothecaries were, some nice shops she saw, and how she couldn’t wait for her lady to make a name for herself, but Naavah hadn’t responded with anything more than "Yes," "Really?", "Thank you!".

After all the preparations were done, Naavah sat on the bed with misty eyes. She was detaching herself from everything. The last thing she heard, as if in a dream before Fyodor’s arrival, was Linda, who wished her good luck and assured her that things would go well. Her hands were sweaty, and her body numb. Then she heard a low-pitched and welcoming voice from the doorway.

Snowyflakes

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