Chapter 28 - A normal Breakfast

They both reached us in a few heartbeats and Neile nervously did open the lit of the large basket she was carrying and did hold it up high. It was viola who spoke first. Her voice was without calm, collected and focused. "Neile said that you are bleeding badly may I take a look?" I nodded and it was now that I fully realized that all I was wearing was my nightgown and some underwear ... thankfully it had dried by now in the warm morning sun, but it still wasn't much. Viola gently raised the sleeve that by now had a clear visible red spot on it and took a look at it.

She gently inspecting my wound and probed my arm as well if i could move it then she shook her head with a slight smile. "It is nothing big, it will heal on its own and won't require any stitches, but we should wash it first and if you want, I can put some bandage over it just to stop the bleeding" She looked at me with her bright blue eyes. "That would be nice, thank you." I blushed a little being the center of the attention of all three woman.

Neile relaxed a lot once she heard Violas comment lowering the basked meanwhile Suha watched it all with an amused smile before explaining with pride. "Viola is the one in charge if any of us gets sick. She isn't a full doctor but with small stuff like scrapes and such she can do wonders." We reached the bathroom and viola completely focused on the task began to clean the wound before dressing it with some clean bandage. She wasn't at the level of many of the healers I had encountered in my life, but she clearly knew what she was doing. It didn't took her long before she neatly put away the unused ones and closed the woven basked again. It was like a switch was set because suddenly she looked a lot less confident and shy and muttered a quiet. "If there is nothing else ... I will take this and return It where it belongs."

She gently took the heavy basket and looked down Shyly. I couldn't help but smile. "I am fine thank you." She nodded then left. Neile, robed of her task of holding the basket was close behind with a muttered. "I will help Gabriele with the little ones. And thank you ..." She was gone before I could really say an reply. It was Suha who helped me up from the wooden bench that I had taken a seat in. She gently padded my unhurt shoulder. "Yes thank you. It hasn't really sunk in yet but I so glad that you were already awake." I blushed and shook my head. "I woke up early, so I was out and reading on the balcony. Thankfully her bright nightgown made it easy to spot her. I wonder if she would have stooped if I had called to her, but my legs decided that running was the right thing to do." I chuckled a bit.

Suha shook her head slightly. "I am certain if her miss kitty would call her, she would have stopped but Sabi can be quite focused so there is no guarantee that she would have noticed you. And then you would have less time to reach her." She gave my unhurt arm a gentle squeeze. And got up from the bench next to me. "If you wish to join us for breakfast, you are very welcome, but I suggest to change into something more fitting for the occasion." I nodded in confirmation blushing slightly. "Should I leave the top door open or lock it again behind me?" She pondered for a long moment then shrugged.

"I think ... for now we should keep it locked but we can include it in the doors that should be changed? I will discuss it with Gabrielle later." She hesitated again walking silently towards the stairs with me. "If you want you can use them to visit us that way instead or just use the long way around. But please do keep it to normal hours. I don't want to be woken by an exited miss kitty scream." She chuckled and squeezed my shoulder gently again. "Thank you again for helping my little one." I shook my head. "It was the only choice for me really don't worry about it. ... are you angry at Neile for what has happend?" She shook her head quickly. "She is punishing herself more than I ever could. As said two months ago I would have doubted how that could have happened, but since then my girl has escaped and hid so many time ... it is like it's an hobby for her by now ... or more like she sees a goal and wants to do it right that moment and nothing will stop her."

She shook her head once more. "Anyway, breakfast is on in 20 minutes or so I will see you there?" We had reached the main floor of the harem again and a healthy amount of activity could be heard from various directions. I could hear Sabi telling her older sister proudly how miss kitty jumped into the water in front of her. Neile and Viola seemed to be in a active discussion in Lizbeth room while owner herself just returned out of one of the bathrooms. She only shortly nodded to us before hushing back towards the other two. I let the sound of the sink in for a moment before answering her question. "Yes I will be back soon ... milady." I said with a soft smile and slight bow. She just chuckled and nodded to me before turning and walking towards the room, out of wish I could hear the little ones proud story telling.

I walked upstairs slowly remembering my own chaotic home. It wasn't as big as this palace ... you could fit the tiny house into just two or three of the large rooms here but ... the way that the family acted and cared for each other reminded me so much about the distance past. How there was always some discussion going on and wild gossip being shared. I walked up the stairs slowly with my head deep in the past but I was woken up by arriving at my goal way quicker then I had thought. Granted earlier I was in no shape to really count the stairs, but they felt way longer when the steeps were all that I could focus on.

I shook my head and steeped through the door and carefully locked the bar again like promised. I found the book I had read earlier as well as the blanked I had worn for most of the night were on the floor where they had been dropped in my rush earlier. I picked up the book gently and placed the blanked back around my shoulder like a cape before walking back into my bedroom. I decided that instead of trying to explain to my maids why my shoulder was red I would at least attempt to wash it. Which guided me to learn a new thing ... dried blood can be really tricky to remove. I tried the soaps in the bathroom but in the end, I had to give up. At least it didn't look as gruesome as before but still you could clearly see the dark stain. Something in the soft fabric had really soaked it in.

I went back into my room, which still felt wired to me that it was mine now, and dressed myself in the simple daywear I had got from the place. Then I clapped my hands signalling for the maids to come in. It was a different maid this time. She was thinner then Eva but definitely a fully grown  adult and I think I had noticed her a few times in the background in the last few days. "Good morning your grace how may I help you?" I blinked for a moment I had totally expected for either Eva or Ina to be here. "Umm I am I sorry I got blood on this nightgown, and I know that one has to take care of it early so can you get it to someone who can at least try to mend this before it takes permanent damage?" It spoke for their training that she didn't looked bothered by it nor took more then an heartbeat to reply. "Of course, milady. I will take care of that right away do you need anything else? Should I send for the doctor?" I smiled and shook my head.

"No thank you, it has been taken care of already and everything is ok." She nodded and carefully folded the gown as if she had been doing that her whole life. Then she bowed to me and left the room. I took a quick last look into the mirror before returning to the harems quarters for breakfast. The Path there was slowly growing familiar to me. Still not a feeling of walking through my home but i could identify the small little unique quirks that allowed me to identify the corridors which were the right way towards the Harem. The guards in front of the entrance just greeted me with a nod before opening the door, apparently fully aware of my status. I carefully peeked inside the dining room wary if there were any plates flying this time. But all I saw was Gabrielle arranging those and the knives, forks and spoons neatly on the table. I opened the door fully and greeted her with a nod and smile before steeping in.

She acknowledged me with her familiar relaxed smile and continued her setup. A maid came in through a side door and carefully placed a large plate of different breakfast ingredients on the table as well as a basket full fresh baked buns. They were a local delicacy one that I did not get any during the past 8 years. So I was already getting excited to have some of them later. Gabrielle waved me closer and pointed towards her setup. "Good morning my duke are you familiar with the typical arrangements of cutlery in the royal court?" I had not expected that question and shook my head. "i have heard about it in the books but never got into the details." She smirked slightly. "Well ... you will be judged in many areas and nobody will be expecting you to be an expert but it doesn't hurt to at least know the basic to spot someone else who obliviously doesn't know what he or she is doing. And the books sadly dont usually go to much into details there" She explained while arranging the cutlery in three different manners

Before I knew it I was in a short lecture about the correct use of a fork or knife during a royal breakfast she had show before that she was quite skilled in delivering condensed information in a clear way but this was on a different level. Things like that it was rude to raise the knife or fork and point them towards someone else. Or that one should not place a used utensil back on the table and instead use the plate for that. Those at least made logical sense in a way but when she gave a glance in the many different messages one apparently could send with the spoon It went straight over my head.

Feeling sleepy from the restless night did not exactly help me there but I was thankfully spared a deeper explanation by the arrival of the others. It was first Lizbeth sneaking in shortly followed by Neile in a deep conversation with Viola about wooden spoons for some reason. Just a short moment later the two little ones came rushing in, chasing each other until each was scoped up by either Gabrielle or Neile. Suha came in last and somehow with just her present the noise died down to a more pleasant level.

I was sitting next to Madiha who was sitting on Gabriele. The little girl was telling me and everybody who wanted to listen how yesterday she had learned about how a Waterwheel was working and started to explain in wonderful detail the different kind of Waterwheel that were in use in the kingdom. It was a small wonder that she managed to eat a whole bun while hardly ever stopping but it was clearly more the work of her mother and the others patiently making her to take short breaks in her explanations.

Every time she struggled with a difficult word she looked to Lizbeth for help who happily provided the word with a short explanation. Sabi meanwhile did listen with a big smile only to echo a word or sentence from time to time. She giggled about those that she found funny but didn't disturb her older sister to much. Suha was seated next to Neile and did help to gently guide the youngest to eat a bit more too. There where short conflicts from time to time when either of the young ones felt like they had done enough of their duty to eat but those never lasted long. I however felt more and more the effect of missing sleep tonight and was hitting a temporary low point where my body just wanted to roll up and sleep.

When I yawned again the ever-observant black-haired beauty next to me noticed that and managed to cut in a short. "Did you get enough sleep tonight?" In Sabis exited explanations. I shook my head slightly with a sorry expression on my lips. "I had to much on my mind and then got captured in your book." I shrugged slightly and suppressed another yawn. Suha chimed in from the other side. "Why don't you get a few hours of sleep before starting the tasks of the day. I mean the chats with the servants are not due to start for at least a few hours.

I sighed and nodded. "You are right I will try that ... after the breakfast. And after I finish listening to why not all waterwheels are driven from the bottom." I said with a smile turning back to Sabi who without hesitation continued her explanation as if she had never stopped. My eyelids were getting heavy forcing me to fight hard to keep focus on her explanations but at the same time it gave me something to focus on. Once the breakfast was over I went towards my room with the hope that I would be able to get at least some sleep now that I was this tired. As it turned out i was sorely mistaken.

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Most of this was written in five hours of train ride on two separated days. It was good to be able to finally concentrate on just this. It took me however over 10 minutes to find a halfway decent chapter header xD. This was definitely one of the shortest chapters i had in a while time wise. After all, all described in it happened in roughly only 20 minutes. xD But it was fun to describe these family interactions.

I plan to add a glossary (a reference book) in a second book as companion to this one. Just some place where i can quickly peek in which haircolor Suha had. Or what the name of that place was again xD. And it should be useful for the readers too. Or i could add it as a chapter but i think a second separated book is nicer for that.

I cant tell when the next chapter will be out but .. finding out that all i need is a train ride to find inspiration did give me hope that it wont take as long as this one.

I hope you all stay save and enjoy =)