BOUNDARIES

"Heidi!" An old lady called chasing a little girl down the long corridor.

The little girl continued to run ignoring the old woman's calls.

"Heidi, you will get into trouble if you run like this." the old lady pleaded still chasing after her.

The little girl giggled and continued to run down the corridor until she bumped into someone.

"Oh God," the old lady cried as she saw the person who collided with the little girl.

"I think Gideon is becoming lenient with the slaves." The young woman whom Heidi bumped into muttered.

"Forgive us my lady," the old woman said as she bowed in apology.

The young lady whom Heidi bumped into was none other than Vivian crane, the second wife of the crane house.

Vivian's eyes fell on the little girl and she said, "Why isn't she apologizing? Don't you teach them etiquettes anymore?"

"Apologize quickly," the old lady whispered to Heidi who was quick to bow.

"Forgive me my lady." The little girl muttered looking down to the ground.

"What's your name?" Vivian asked the girl.

"Heidi" the little girl replied coming to hide behind the old lady

Vivian observed the little girl before she finally said,"I will pardon you for today but I won't be lenient next time. You should know the boundaries of a slave."

"Thank you my lady," the old lady bowed as Vivian left.

The old lady then turned to face Heidi "you never listen to me. You almost got yourself and I into big trouble today."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Doris, but the butterfly was getting away." Heidi muttered with her face to the ground

The older lady smiled at the girl " it's okay Heidi but you should be more careful next time. Don't forget that you're a slave and we have our boundaries as slaves."

The little girl nodded with a smile and said, " then you're not angry with me, right?"

The old lady patted the girl, "who could stay angry with my Heidi? Come on, let's go back to our quarters"

Heidi nodded as she walked hand in hand with Mrs. Doris.

Heidi stood at the entrance of the big kitchen as her eyes watched all the watery dishes and snacks that were prepared for the royals.

Her mouth watered as she has barely eaten anything since morning and her belly groaned in biting hunger. She wished she could get an opportunity to sneak into the big kitchen.

"Heidi," one of the older slaves called "could you give the butter to Stella?"

Heidi nodded quickly, happy to finally enter the big kitchen.

She held the butter closely as she searched for Stella, the head chef in the big kitchen. The slaves there barely noticed her presence as she was just a little girl.

She tapped the older lady who was busy kneading the butter, "Mia asked me to give you this." Heidi said stretching the butter towards the older woman.

Stella smiled "thank you Heidi, I really needed more butter"

Heidi smiled as her eyes fell on the hot buns under the cabinet. She gulped as she tapped the older woman again.

"What's wrong Heidi?" Stella asked with her eyes fixed on what she was kneading, "you should leave before sir Gideon comes."

Heidi pointed at the hot buns"I want some of that"

Stella stopped kneading and looked at the direction Heidi was pointing and said, "I'll get into trouble if I let you have this."

Heidi pouted her lips as she said, " just this once, I promise."

Stella smiled at her "it's getting impossible to say no to you, Heidi."

Heidi's eyes shone in delight as Stella sneaked a piece of the hot buns into her little hands.

"Thank you Stella," Heidi whispered so that the others wouldn't know what was going.

Stella nodded and said "run along Heidi, before sir Gideon finds you in the big kitchen."

Heidi hid the hot buns beneath her dress and tiptoed out of the kitchen.

Heidi walked carefully so that the hot buns wouldn't fall. The skin beneath her dress hurt a little because the buns was still hot. She went to the balcony where the slaves hung their clothes to dry and sat down on the bench there.

Her belly groaned even louder as she brought out the hot buns. She was about to start eating when her eyes fell on the flapping pigeons.

Heidi smiled as she looked at the buns in her hand and the caged pigeons.

"You guys must be hungry, right?" Heidi said as she stood up from the bench.

"Mrs. Doris says it's good to share, so I'll share this with you guys." Heidi said and broke the buns into two parts.

She dropped her own share on the bench and walked towards the cage with the other half in her hand.

She stood on her tiptoes, as she was too small to reach the cage. She then broke the buns into crumbs for the pigeons.

She chuckled as she watched them pick the crumbs with their beaks.

Heidi looked out of the balcony and saw a bird flying across. she sighed softly and said, "You guys must feel trapped inside this cage, not being able to spread your wings."

"I also wish I could be free and leave this house. I and Mrs. Doris." Heidi muttered as she continued to watch the pigeons.

She smiled at the thought and returned to the bench to eat her own half.