4 Visit (1)
After leaving the classroom behind A-Narah turned to her maid. "You can go back to the my room, I will be going to visit mother. One of her maids will send me back later."
"Yes, my Lady." The maid made a small curtsy and left A-Narah. A-Narah watched her walk off, and then turned to go to her mother's courtyard.
When A-Narah arrived at the gate, no one came forward to open it for her. "How odd," she whispered to herself. Thinking that her mother might have planned it this way, she boldly opened the gates herself and entered. As she walked through the courtyard it was the same. No one could be seen.
A-Narah then entered her mother's receiving room.
"Mother?" A-Narah called, but no one answered. She turned through the room and then moved further into her mother's quarters.
It was odd, not a single person was there. There should have been at least five maids stationed in the rooms, but there wasn't even one. Not even her mother's most trusted servants were there. Everyone was just simply gone.
She had told her own maid to return to her rooms. She found herself now completely alone. This didn't even happen when she slept. The absence of another's noise was frightening. She was left with just her own heartbeat.
Feeling doubtful, A-Narah moved through the receiving room and into her mother's private lounge. From there, there were two doors, one leading to the dressing room and then bedroom, and the other door lead to the servant's hallway. Those were her mother's private rooms that no one was allowed in, except if invited. The only exception was father.
A-Narah sat on a chair and decided to wait. Her mother and her servants would hopefully return soon. Feeling bored with waiting, A-Narah got up and picked up a booklet that her mother had left lying on a small table.
Right now, her sisters must be redoing their makeup and picking out a new outfit to wear. Event though outsiders weren't supposed to see the women of the inner courtyards, that didn't mean that there was no chance for them to catch a glimpse of the girls from a distance, and by doing this her sister might catch the fancy of a noble man.
A-Narah casually flipped through the pages of the book, paying little attention to the words. Just when she was thinking of getting up and leaving, she heard it.It was a slight creak of a floor board.
If there were people around this would have been normal, but A-Narah knew that no one was here except for her, and if it was her mother or a returning servant then they would have made more noise.
Starting to feel nervous she tried reassuring herself, "The rooms are old, it's nothing strange for the wood to creak here and there." But even this reassurance couldn't assuage the spike in the pace of her racing heart. But then another quite creak came, and it was closer than before.
Why, why am I getting paranoid? These are mother's rooms, it is perfectly safe, and I wouldn't get in trouble for visiting. But then she could hear the silent footsteps getting closer. They were heavy, the person couldn't be a small female. A-Narah froze as the footsteps got closer to the door.
