[Bonus chapter] The new normal (1)

An hour of sleep later, Annalise and Thomas went their separate ways. Annalise walked back through the market buying fruits to snack on at night and bread to eat after dinner. She also stopped to pick up more paper for when she needed to write another letter for Thomas. She then spent more time watching the people of the town so she could mimic the way they acted and spoke.

Annalise met up with Cara and Aria near the hour of five so they could share a carriage to ride back to the Callahan estate.

"Would it hurt you to buy a dress? There's a possibility we might get to dress up at the party Beatrice wants to hold for Rafael," Cara said, excited to dress up even if she would be working during the party.

"Why would they let the servants dress up when we have to work? I would only want to dress up if we get time off and the guests serve themselves," Aria said, seeing dressing up as a waste when working.

"Don't be so negative, Aria. Let me have my dreams. Rafael has been nice enough to let us off of work and attend a party he was hosting for the knights after a long trip. Even if we do not get to dress up, I would like another day off to dance around and eat the food we serve to his guests," Cara said, spinning around as if she was at the party already dancing.

Annalise and Aria shared a look with each other. They both decided to keep their thoughts to themselves and let Cara enjoy her dreams that were not going to happen.

"Annalise, just let it slip to the lady that Rafael would want to have the servants attending," said Cara.

"Why should I step out of line and suggest such a thing? If the young master wants the servants to attend the party, then he will make it happen without the need for a maid to be the one to suggest it. We should focus on doing our work," Annalise replied.

Aria was pleasantly surprised that Annalise did not encourage what Cara wanted. They were maids so they should focus on their work. If Cara wanted to dance around and dress up, she should work at a tavern instead. "Annalise is on my side today," Aria held Annalise's right arm.

Annalise looked down at where Aria was holding her. Perhaps it was because she was around more men than women at home or the people here were just strange altogether that she could not understand why Aria was odd in the morning, but back to being her friendly self now. Instead of asking about it, Annalise decided to put the matter to rest.

"A carriage is here, but it is only the three of us. Should we split the fare amongst ourselves or wait?" Annalise asked. It would be more expensive since they were not riding with at least three more Callahan servants.

Aria fished her pockets for coins and counted if she had enough to split a ride with just the three of them. She would waste three joins if the three of them were to ride together. "We should wait for others to arrive unless someone wants to pay more until we are paid in a few days?"

"It wouldn't hurt to wait a bit longer," Annalise said as she could not afford to pay for someone's share after the food and a small knife she had purchased. She needed money left over until they would be paid for their work.

Aria looked at the sky full of grey clouds. "We need others to come before the rain starts to pour down on us," she said.

Annalise looked up at the dark clouds passing over the market. "We'll be fine for an hour or so. If the rain does fall, it will not soak us."

"How do you know? Do you speak cloud, Annalise?" Cara joked.

"You can predict a few things when you pay attention to it regularly. It is something my father taught me regularly on the farm at home so we wouldn't get caught in the rain while travelling with our crops," Annalise made up a half lie. Her father had taught her how to monitor the rain, but not for this reason.

"Let's hope you are correct. Look, so many young men are signing up to become a part of Rafael's knights," Aria said, pointing to where a few of Rafael's knights stood surrounded. "The time is near for the competition where one of them will officially become a knight."

"Competition?" Annalise asked, curious about it.

"For the last three years, Rafael has held a competition for his knights to fight against each other and young men who wish to join his knights can sign up to fight. The winners are rewarded handsomely. Some of the young men take the rewards and don't join the knights," Aria explained.

"It is a big event for the town as King Tobias and other noblemen close to Rafael will attend. We should be mindful to call him young master or Sir Rafael since the knights are so nearby. They are not fond of someone not close to him addressing him without his title."

Annalise blocked out what Aria was saying and focused more on the fact there might be an opportunity to kill the King if he were to come here. Cut off the head and the rest of the body would run around crazy before collapsing. She needed to inform Thomas of this once she had confirmed the King would be travelling to meet with Rafael.

If needed, Annalise was prepared to kill Rafael, but King Tobias was a better target for now.

"Do we have to work on the competition day? Serving the King and the noblemen?" Annalise asked. She could take out all of the noblemen coming to visit Rafael along with the King.

"Of course. Who else will serve them their food and drinks? You have to be on your best behavior from now on and show proper etiquette when serving Rafael or any of his guests to become an option to serve the King and Queen if she comes along. It helps to be on Mavis and Edwin's good side plus Rafael's personal maid. Rafael's maid always gets picked," said Aria.

This was why Aria was working hard to become Rafael's maid. She had been working well with Mavis and Edwin complimented her many times. She could feel the job going to her, but then there were other people acting out of turn and being handed good jobs.

Aria looked at Annalise who had done nothing worthy of becoming Beatrice's maid. Annalise was not used to life here since she was a simple farm girl and there was much for her to learn. Aria knew she could not be upset with Annalise for getting Beatrice's attention, but it was hard not to be jealous.

Most of the maids had tricks they used to get the guest's attention like speaking up for a moment to show interest in art, doing sly things the guests did not want to do themselves, or commenting on the guest's appearance even if they were not dressed well. Aria was too shy to do anything other than work to get someone's attention. She envied how bold Annalise was and hoped Annalise would never find herself becoming Rafael's maid.

Aria would not be able to control her dislike then.