3 - For now I need to be a servant

For the next few minutes, I kept my head down, my thoughts troubled by everything I had just heard. Not to mention the choice of name. I could go back and choose any other name, but I couldn't imagine any other. Layla kept repeating itself repeatedly in my head, without making room for another. I was also haunted by the information I had gotten from that conversation with Beda, the bear woman in charge of the servants' ward.

I didn't want to believe that all those with animal parts were servants.

Shouldn't we be stronger than humans? Precisely because we are different?

In the stories I read in my previous life, people with these peculiarities were always strong and capable, even in difficult situations and even if they were poor at first. But here, it seemed, all half-humans were in servitude. That was in the woman's words, of course. She might have lied or omitted something so that a girl like me wouldn't get silly ideas about wanting to climb up the hierarchy somehow.

It was not entirely certain that there were no half-human princesses or kings. I only saw animal servants and human guards. I had to walk further around the castle, bump into someone better dressed, more than one, to be absolutely sure they were not hiding anything from me. This forced me to work as a maid to carry out my investigations.

I didn't like the idea at all. Just by imagining standing almost all day, walking those halls carrying things, serving people who could be as cruel as I was to my employees. I got tired just thinking about it and shivered too, but that was due to the cold. The wind inside that room was too cold.

It was only then that I realized I had a natural blanket or something close to it. My gaze, still low, went a little to the side. The tip of the foxtail was lying there, and I could feel the connection was made with my back, the hairs sticking out a little above the entrance to my butt. So I tried to move it like one moves an arm for the first time, and the tip moved, wiggling a little on the thin mattress.

It wasn't difficult, but until I got used to having it attached to my body and that I could touch as part of myself, I imagined that some accidents would certainly occur. I would have to be doubly careful, especially since I was a servant. But at the moment, I just wanted to use it for warmth, so I managed to move it enough to get it over my lap and sank my hands into that fluffy and soft thing. It was kind of funny to feel my hands touching something so fluffy and that the fluffy part touched was mine. This time there was no blushing or weird sensation. The tail was a safe area to move.

My happiness was short-lived. I was smiling that at least my thighs and hands were warm when something came into my field of vision. A change of clothes that were unmistakable. It was held out by small, half hesitant hands.

I lifted my gaze, following those little hands down to the thin, short arms until I reached the torso wearing something just like the one he was offering me. The servant's uniform. The person who handed it to me was Chia, the little mouse girl. With a look around the room, I realized that now we were the only ones there, the others had left, and yet the little girl in front of me didn't seem any less nervous.

I decided it was best to be polite, as nothing good would come of treating her badly. I needed information and having a friend I could talk to and even tell her some future plan I could come up with was always a good idea.

Then I took my slightly warmed hands out of the fur and took the uniform from Chia's small hands. Lifting my face and giving her the best smile I could manage.

- Thank you so much, Chia... is that your name?

The girl nodded only once. The bangs of her hair still covered her eyes, mostly because her head was so tilted down. Submissive. Very embarrassed. But better like this than a girl who could be too smart.

She moved away a little and waited for me, standing beside a bed in the middle of the room.

Now with that uniform in hand, I needed to face reality. So it didn't take me long to get out of bed, leave the clothes I just had gotten on there, and remove the thin nightgown. My body shivered cold in contact with the icy air.

When I removed my nightgown, I realized my tail was passing through a hole. So it was mine, right? If there was an exact place for that particular part of mine. With the clothes in my hands, I looked for the hole where my tail had passed, but to my chagrin, it was obvious that the circle cut in the clothes was not mine. Someone had cut it very badly, but enough to make a fox tail go through and not get stuck inside the clothes.

Either I or someone else had made that adjustment in the clothes for me. That was another question that should be investigated.

For now, I left the nightgown on the bed and hurried to put on the uniform I had been given. It also had a hole to let my tail through, and the tiara didn't bother the ears on top of my head. It seemed to be made perfectly for someone like me, a half-human, little fox girl.

The size was just a little loose, but nothing that would get in the way. I was thankful that the clothes were warm, with long sleeves and a skirt almost to my feet.

The uniform was not much different from the ones the maids wore in my house during the winter. Here it is a tiara with frills instead of a white cap. But the long dress and the white apron I wore over it were almost identical to the ones I saw every day. There were still the dark pantyhose underneath and the black shoes that were a little worn but fit my feet perfectly.

Mama Bear took good care of her little ones. She knew exactly what clothes would fit me without measuring me.

Once dressed, there was no turning back. I needed to pretend to be a maid. At least for the time being. I still didn't have enough information about what was happening, only that all the half-humans in that place were servants. And there were still doubts about that information. The right thing to do now was to follow the current until it was safe to perhaps escape from this place.

Yes. Run away. I would never spend my life being a maid. I was not going to accept the punishment of fate.

For now, it would be Layla, the maid. In the future, I could think of another name, far away from this place and this idea of mandatory servitude.

But for now...

I turned to my partner with a pleasant smile on my lips.

- I'm ready, Chia. Where do we start?

The girl seemed startled by my sudden call. Maybe she was not used to having her name used so informally, but there was no other way to call her, and I wanted a friendship as soon as possible.

I approached her, and with much hesitation, she raised her face a little. Her face was very pretty and young; the round eyes were black and shiny, and the mouth and nose were small, but they matched well with the round little face framed by short hair stuck to the sides of her face. The ears on her head looked more like some other fluffy rodent than a mouse, and her black tail was thin, curled at the tip, but unlike mine, hers was inside her clothes, sticking out from under her skirt, which was shorter than mine.

I wondered why our clothes were a little bit different. Her sleeves were short too.

- Uh... I was in charge of serving drinks in a guest's room today. - Her voice was low, almost a whisper, a shy child's voice.

That looked promising, serving someone in a much higher hierarchy, to see if one of the nobles also had animal parts in their bodies.

- It's okay, I'll help you with this. - I said, smiling even wider, and from Chia, I got a strange expression, seeming to doubt me. - What's wrong? I need to help you too, don't I?

- A-are you sure?

- Of course, the woman. - I stopped talking, almost calling the person in charge a bear woman, but finding it better to change the wording to something more respectful. - Didn't Mrs. Beda say that I would be under your care? I promise that I will do everything as you say. Everything to the letter!

She kept looking at me funny for another second. She seemed to judge whether I was sincere or not, maybe because I was a rookie.

- Hmm, okay then... I'll bring the drinks, and you bring the glasses, okay? If you don't know how to serve, wait for me to do it first.

- No problem. - I smiled, nodding my head cheerfully. I wanted to go straight to the nobles.

- And... Avoid talking too much. You know... We are servants. We only talk if they ask us something. When we are alone, we can talk freely, but not with the...

She hesitated to speak the next words, so I completed:

- Nobles?

- With humans. I'm sorry if anything happens to you... For being with me.

- What do you mean by that? - That was my turn to look at her strangely. Curious about what she had said.

- You are strange... - The mouse girl still had that curious look in my direction, as if she doubted me and how I was treating her. - I'll try to help you as much as possible, but pay attention to your surroundings, okay? Now we have to hurry...

Before I could ask any more questions, Chia passed me and went ahead, exiting the room into the hallway, leaving the door open for me to follow. Was that only so I wouldn't ask any more questions? What a strange girl! Maybe the rush is to avoid getting a punishment or a pay cut. And I should do the same if I wanted to stay here, even if not for long, as I had planned.

So I followed her, running a little to catch up with her, who was already at the end of the hall. Even small, the girl seemed to have fast little legs. Following her pace as much as I could, it took no time for us to leave the dormitory wing and walk through long corridors, where more and more servants appeared. All with animal parts, making me more and more aware that my destiny in that place could be nothing more than servitude.