30 Chapter 30: One Good Plan

As time passed, Shirazad became even more popular with the people. But a person who is loved a lot is also often hated a lot, and so it was in her case.

Mehrnaz kept hating on Shirazad, even when she could not always express her hatred. But she knew that even if King Shahryar recognized Shirazad as his wife, he could never get rid of the doubts he felt toward women. Perhaps he could soon suspect that Shirazad had an affair.

But no matter how Mehrnaz tried to provoke her, Shirazad simply ignored her. Mehrnaz, however, still had a lot of power over all of the servants. She couldn't bully Shirazad, so she resorted to bullying her hand-maiden Anuvaniya. One day Shirazad found out that Mehrnaz made Anuvaniya kneel in the cold rain. Suddenly, Shirazad's patience snapped. When other people's health was in danger, that was indeed too much. So, she decided to ask and move her quarters to the other wing of the palace. The palace was so big that once Shirazad arrived in her new quarters, Mehrnaz was too far away from her. She was gravely disappointed -- not only did she lose all contact with Shirazad, but also she had no means to harm her now.

***

When King Shahryar and the Queen returned to the palace, a certain project had started there. The Department of Culture and Education of the castle had decided to prepare new books for students and a group of noble ladies were chosen to select the texts that would be included and copy them to create books. When Shahryar learned this project had started, naturally he said to a few of the officials responsible for the task,

"Shirazad is well-read and knowledgeable. I think it would be a good idea to include her in the creation of these books. Wouldn't that be great?"

Shirazad heard of this but could not believe. Because Mehrnaz was one of the officials responsible for this task and she would be Shirazad's direct supervisor. The king probably did not realize the degree to which Mehrnaz hated Shirazad...

***

On the first day, Shirazad arrived at the hall. There were a few noble ladies, each sitting at her own desk with ink and paper beside her. Good. Individual work. It seemed it would be difficult for Mehrnaz to... do something.

The work was busy, people sat for hours at their desks, copying the books, so they kept near them some snacks or a warm coat for the evenings.

A few days later, Shirazad returned to her desk in the morning... but her items were not there. Anuvaniya, on realizing that somebody had taken their things and hidden them, was ready to throw a tantrum.

"Your Highness!" she hissed, "What... what... WHAT is this?!"

~Seems we're back to kindergarten...~ Shirazad thought.

"It's alright, Anuvaniya," Shirazad said quietly. She had brought with her some warm snack for breakfast and she shared it with her hand-maiden in order to calm her down. "Go around the room and look for my box with things. I am sure it must be somewhere here."

Anuvaniya took a walk around the room and indeed soon found Shirazad's box with things.

Soon after that, Mehrnaz arrived and she spoke with Shirazad,

"Oh," she said, "so you found your things. You keep your desk so messy! If I come next time and see such a mess, I will take your things and throw them away! If you are a Queen, this does not mean you are allowed to spoil the discipline."

Of course, this was not true. Shirazad had a few things on her desk, but other girls had left clothes and even empty dishes on their desks. Mehrnaz said that quietly and immediately after she arrived, when there were a few people in the room. So, only Shirazad and Anuvaniya could hear her. Therefore, they could not complain to other supervisors. Firstly, because it sounded ridiculous to complain that "somebody took your things," and, secondly, because the only witness was Shirazad's subordinate, which would make her testimony unreliable.

A few days later, Shirazad felt unwell because of her period. Therefore, she had to ask Mehrnaz for a day off. Initially, she sent Anuvaniya to ask, but the answer was that Mehrnaz had to make sure that people were sick. Otherwise, everybody would fake sickness to have a day off.

So, Shirazad went to ask her personally. She was pale and appeared sickly.

"I... have to ask the Chief Supervisor for permission and I will tell you her answer shortly," Mehrnaz answered her.

***

Shirazad waited for Mehrnaz to return from her visit to the Chief Supervisor. Mehrnaz returned quickly.

"Here," Mehrnaz handed Shirazad a piece of cloth with some writing on it. "I asked the Chief Supervisor to write her answer down..." Obviously, in order to avoid future conflict, because Mehrnaz knew the Queen did not trust her a lot.

The answer read -- "It would be better to have a day off tomorrow."

Shirazad narrowed her eyes. She was not asking for advice *when* to have a day off, she was asking for permission!

Shirazad had been waiting in front of Mehrnaz's study. Once Mehrnaz gave her the cloth, she entered her study and closed the door. Perhaps she'd expected Shirazad to knock on her door again and beg her to have a day off today. But she made one mistake - this time, she gave Shirazad some material evidence.

Shirazad turned to Anuvanya,

"Let's go out. Let's visit the Chief Supervisor."

If Shirazad was correct, then most probably Mehrnaz had asked the Chief Supervisor a completely different question in order to get this kind of answer. Perhaps something like "Our Queen has been working hard lately and I think she deserves a day off. I asked her and she said it would be nice to have a day off today or tomorrow. But today, we already prepared and divided the work among the available scribes... ... Then shall we give her a day off today... or TOMORROW?"

The scribes, among which Shirazad, were not supposed to visit the Chief Supervisor, but Shirazad was forced to do it.

Well, nobody could tell what exactly Mehrnaz had said, but after Shirazad's visit to the Chief Supervisor, suddenly Shirazad could have a day off, and Mehrnaz was scolded.