[Beruthiel]

“Oh no, I couldn’t take this Maira!” Shumita said to the woman sitting beside her. The woman was holding a long, dark blue dress, which had flared sleeves, and a simple but bold pattern, which wound its way around the sleeves and skirt of the dress. “Of course you can dear, it’ll look lovely on you. Besides, you can’t possibly wear one of your old dresses at the dinner now can you?” Shumita grinned like a little girl. She had never had the chance to wear a dress like this before, especially not since she’d come to the palace.

Shumita couldn’t say no to such a lovely gift and so accepted the dress and thanked Maira many times before returning to her quarters. She only had a short time before she had to get back to work, more cooking and more cleaning. Shumita laid the dress down carefully on her bed, sighing quietly, there was no way she’d be allowed to wear such a thing at the dinner. She’d just have to wear one of her plain dresses and stay out of sight as much as she could. That was her plan anyway, to remain as inconspicuous as possible. She had not wanted to be at the dinner, the head cook had come up to her the day before and told her she’d have to do it even though she knew about Shumita’s encounter with one of the cats.

Shumita wasn’t made for such things, she preferred to stay out of people’s way but at this dinner she’d have to be there at hand whenever someone needed her. ‘How humiliating’ she thought as she folded up the dress and stored it away in her cupboard. There wouldn’t be many people there, only the closest family members and friends. The young nephew would be there. Shumita had met him once when she came to clean his room. He reminded her greatly of her younger brother that she’d left behind. The way he was always curious, always asking questions. The hound, Huan, had taken a liking to her and she was glad of it. She had grown up with animals and had loved dogs. Eärnil had talked to Shumita with ease and had convinced her to tell him a tale. It was one Shumita had heard when she was young, none of the tales that Eärnil probably already knew of, but a simple tale. Eärnil was listening closely as Shumita told the tale and wiped away the dust and dirt from the floor. By the time she’d finished her story she had also finished her cleaning. Eärnil was a sweet boy and the two of them had gotten along well like brother and sister.

Shumita had only glimpsed Eärnil’s mother and father; they and the King and Queen would definitely be there. Shumita had to admit there was one thing she was looking forward to in this. She had never actually seen The King and Queen talk to each other for more than a minute or two at a time and when they did the Queen's voice was full of bitterness and sadness. Surely tonight would mean they would have to have some kind of conversation, it could turn out to be very interesting indeed.