Page 9 of The Broken Elf King
TWO
The next morning I woke up with purpose. I was going to change my outlook. I wasn’t an indentured servant, I was the hired hand of a royal. My contract was five years and then I could pursue my career in medicine.
This was just a blip in the road map of life.
After washing up, I found a beautiful silk lavender-colored gown waiting on the dressing bench outside the washroom. Slipping into it, I braided my long brown hair over one shoulder and applied some light blush and lip stain.
Personal assistant to the king.
All my days of studying, reading books, learning languages, tackling challenging mathematics and the sciences, it was all about to pay off.
I puffed my chest up.
There was a knock at the door and I was greeted by Mrs. Tirth.
She looked flustered, sweat beading her brow and hair falling from her bun. “You look pretty,” she told me.
“Thanks.” I smiled.
She exhaled as if catching her breath and then handed me a piece of parchment. “I’m late for orientation for the new hired help. Here is the king’s schedule for the week and meeting notes from last week. You are to brief him of last week’s meeting before he goes in so he remembers what was talked about.”
I nodded. How busy did someone have to be in order to forget what they spoke about just a week ago?
“The king is hungry. You must taste the food. Come!” she barked, and then took off down the hall.
Food taster. I almost forgot.
I finished strapping my right heel in the silver sandal and then took off at a brisk pace after her. As we rushed to the kitchens, I skimmed the schedule.
Farmers’ Union meeting.
Elder Council meeting.
Prospective wives family meeting.
Hospital rounds.
Bow Men meeting.
Lunch.
Treasurer Tax meeting.
Land Survey meeting.
Mining Union meeting.
Dinner.
I felt tired just looking at the list of meetings. My head spun as I imagined how much information would be crammed into them. I hoped the king had a typewriter, but by the look of the quill and parchment on his desk yesterday, I doubted it. My hand was going to hurt by day’s end.
The humans of Nightfall excelled in engineering and machinery. Inventions were encouraged and the queen paid bonuses for useful things, but I knew outside of Nightfall those things were not encouraged and so they lived “behind the times,” as we liked to say.
Mrs. Tirth burst into the kitchen, where the chef was waiting, looking down his nose at me.
“Kailani, this is Chef Brulier,” she said.
He took one look at my nice dress and braided hair and raised an eyebrow. “New taster?”
