11 A tour of the kingdom

It was a square piano of mahogany and satinwood. Muriel was sitting on a little bench. Her fingers were pressing all the keys she thought were necessary. The deep, thoughtful tones came from the piano almost as beautifully as steam. There was a book of sheet music to guide her. She was grateful for that. She didn't know all the songs in the world.

They were in the music room, a place full of instruments and related things.

Some feet away from Muriel, Princess Arya sat on a comfy couch. Muriel knew she was being judged quite harshly. That was fair, all part of the process. When the song was done, Muriel pushed her bench away and moved to face the princess. Then she curtsied.

Two fast claps of her palms, and the princess stood up. "That was pleasant enough. Now come with me. I might as well show you some of the rooms here."

What proceeded was something like a tour, or a slice of one. Muriel was shown several grand rooms and told seemingly trivial facts. She tried to remember as many of these facts as possible. After that, Princess Arya took her to a library, and it was a pretty large room.

"I'd fancy a some reading before lunch," the princess said, and that was that. The women read in the library, or rather, Muriel wandered around to see if she could gather as many books as possible to read at a later date while the princess focused on one book. A servant took the books Muriel picked out and promised to put them in her room. Then someone announced that lunch was ready.

They went into a dining room, one of several. This one wasn't formal, but it was lovely. The walls had no plaster. They were allowed to show off their gray and brown bricks and stones. Muriel sat across from the princess at a medium sized table as they ate pickled eggs, fried beet slices, and roasted radishes.

When they were full, the women went to a large window in the sitting room they first had tea in. Maids came with even more tea in a different tea set. This one was bright yellow with silver geometric designs. Muriel poured tea for the princess first and then for herself. This tea was green and bitter. It looked even more sickly inside the yellow cups. Muriel honestly didn't like the taste, but she took it well.

Snowflakes began falling from the sky outside. Good thing the tea was hot. There was even a plate of snacks for them, dried fish, which actually made the tea taste a little nicer. The princess remarked on how she hated the snow, no matter how beautiful it was.

"Every year feels colder to me," she said with pure acid in her voice. Then she sucked some air between her teeth, blinked a few times, and spoke again but with a much lighter tone. "Even so, if you want to have a walk in the snow, I won't mind, but I won't join you. I'll stay right here, where the fires are fed and the tea's burning my tongue. That's how I prefer my winters."