“Would you like some juice?” a woman asks. “Or would you prefer a hot beverage?” She is wearing a tan crocheted dress like Helena.
“I don’t think she yet knows what she enjoys most,” Helena answers, squeezing my hand. “Let’s try tea today, what do you say?”
I swallow and shrug. I’ve had tea before, but I remember it as a boring adult drink.
“Sit here!” a young girl with curly hair says. She is small, but her belly is swollen with child. My stomach tightens, but I obey and slide onto the bench beside her.
Her eager eyes are a lovely shade of blue.
Across from me is one of the other new Drahkitas I’d sat with a few days ago. Her under eyes are dark. She keeps her gaze down at the table.
No one seems to pay her much mind.
“Tell us about you, Lina!” another Drahkita asks. I lose track of who is who. There is a swarm of well-dressed women around the room, gathering drinks, chatting, and several of them are now leaning over me. I am unsure who even asked the question.
“Yes,” another agrees eagerly. “Tell us where you come from.”
Helena sets a cup of steaming liquid in front of me. “I made it sweet for you. Let me know if you like it. And here.” She sets a pastry in front of me with yellow and white icing. “And take all the fruit you like.” She gestures to a basket in the middle of the table.
“Do you like bananas?” the curly haired girl asks, grabbing a long yellow fruit.
“I don’t know.”
“She enjoyed the banana muffin, so I suspect yes!” Helena chimes in brightly.
“Eat!” another says. “You must keep your strength up.”
“I’m not the one eating for two,” I mutter, resisting the urge to eye the young woman’s belly.
She giggles loudly. “Oh yes, that’s true, but you never know when that can change.”
I cannot control the grimace that flashes across my face, and the whole room breaks out into laughter.
This is bizarre. And such a shift from the last week. They were generally friendly, but I was treated as a stranger.
Now, I am a welcomed guest with all attention pinned to me. Why? What has changed so drastically from even yesterday morning?
Last night, I was nearly thrown into the dungeons. Almost torn apart by rabid lizard beasts. They don’t know that, obviously, but the fear still clings to me.
“It is not so bad,” an older woman says with a click of her tongue. “It is a blessing to serve the Drak.”
Suddenly, I’m less inclined to eat breakfast.
“Did you come from the desert?” someone asks.
I blink and force my eyes up, searching for whoever asked the question, but each set of eyes is as eager as the next.
“Look at her stature! She’d have been eaten alive in a moment.”
“Don’t be rude, Lyana.” Helena nudges the girl standing beside her with an elbow.
“She does not have the complexion of a desert girl. Surely she is a farmer’s daughter.”
“Don’t assume, Runita. Folks travel all over. Besides, I saw the sand she dragged in when she first entered.”
A few girls chatter to each other, debating my origins.
“End the debate, Lina,” the pregnant girl says. “Are you from the desert or a farming village? Or the mountains or anywhere else?”
