“Come in here.”
Patrina took her to a little room off to the side of the kitchen. It looked like a storage room, with baskets of vegetables and dried meats lined up along one side. Along the other, there were all kinds of fabrics piled up on a shelf; Patrina headed that way.
“It’s a lot hotter in the Capital than it is here, you’ll want to change into something warmer. You…”
She suddenly went quiet. Cassandra had started taking the fur coat off her shoulders. Patrina, surprised, stared at the red dress for a few seconds before regaining her composure.
“You are… the Master’s concubine?”
“Yes,” admitted Cassandra, blushing a bit.
Patrina sighed.
“And a slave… You should have told me sooner! Really, what was the Master thinking? I don’t know if I have anything proper to dress you!”
“Anything is fine!” said Cassandra suddenly. “I really don’t mind the dress.”
“No, no. There are rules. A slave concubine…I don’t even know what I can give you that would be appropriate. Why hasn’t this come off yet?”
She was hinting at Cassandra’s slave collar; but those collars didn’t come off easily. Cassandra shook her head, feeling a bit helpless.
“His Highness doesn’t have my slave contract…”
Patrina sighed.
“I see. It can’t be helped then. Oh whatever, I guess we’ll have to work with it. Let me think… I can’t have you doing any hard labor…”
Cassandra felt really odd about the whole situation. Slaves were usually made to do the worst and hardest jobs but, because of her dual status as the Prince’s concubine, she couldn’t do anything that might injure herself. She also couldn’t do anything that would get her too dirty or be too close to male servants. But doing nothing while other servants around her worked wouldn’t be appropriate either since she was still a slave too. It really was quite complicated!
“Let’s do this. You will work inside the Castle only, and serve His Highness whenever necessary. We will find where you can help eventually, it’s not like we ever run out of things to do. Let’s see what he decides about your bedroom later. Oh here, try putting this one on.”
Patrina had taken out a long, thick wool tunic. The white, sleeveless frock fit over her red dress, ensuring her concubine attire would still be visible.
“My bedroom?”
“Yes, I can’t have you sleep in the stables and smell like a horse! We have servant rooms too. So, I’ll prepare you one just in case, but His Highness might have you sleep in one of the empty rooms upstairs.”
Cassandra remembered the shape of the Castle from her arrival, like a mountain of towers and grey stone; it did, indeed, seem very large. But despite its size, Cassandra had only seen a handful of workers so far. With all those rooms and so few workers… She suddenly wondered how many concubines Kairen actually had here and felt a little pinch in her heart. Could this be jealousy or sadness at the thought that he might have had other favorites? How silly...
“You’re so skinny, all bones! Put this belt on, too, maybe you’ll look like something. There we go.”
Indeed, the thin leather belt added some structure to her ensemble, showing off her thin waist. Cassandra felt more properly dressed in this, something better suited for the cold weather. She quickly did her long braid over and arranged it in a bun so that she could work without it getting in the way.
Patrina nodded, looking satisfied.
“Looks good. I suppose we can always make you other outfits later, if need be.”
Cassandra felt this was more than enough already. She had worn the same overused slave dress for years. Just being able to change into something new and clean felt like a blessing! The silk and wool felt great on her skin, too and warmed her up.
Patrina grabbed a basket of fruits on her way out as Cassandra followed.
“We’ll give you a tour later. For now, the Master just came back, so we have to cook his dinner. You’ll help us.”
“What should I do?”
“You can wash those vegetables first.”
Cassandra nodded as they returned to the kitchen. The two servant women raised their heads upon seeing them.
