The second time Olivia awoke that day, she felt a lot more comfortable and well rested. She was obviously attributing it to the soft bed she had fallen asleep on. Despite the nap she had taken, she didn't feel like getting up, letting her eyes remain closed in hopes she'd fall back asleep eventually. It didn't work, and at the sound of a door creaking open she began cracking her eyes open. There was a fairly dim amount of light coming in through the window, and Olivia wondered if she'd slept through the afternoon.
She sat up in bed, and stretched out her arms. Her back felt a tad stiff, but after a good stretch and a yawn, her spine loosened up a bit. Olivia looked to the left of her, and noticed Elena laying down a platter of food and a glass. She felt bad for falling asleep without returning the dress. It was rude of her, and after all of the snarky remarks from everyone, she had began to feel bad for her. Elena turned around, probably preparing to wake Olivia up, but was startled when she noticed her sitting up in bed watching her prepare her food.
"My lady!" Elena exclaimed, holding a hand over her heart, "I didn't notice you were awake. How was your sleep?"
"I didn't mean to startle you," Olivia smiled, standing up and walking over to the table, "I slept alright, I'm feeling a bit better. What time is it? Did I sleep through the afternoon?" Elena shook her head, and Olivia gave her a questioning stare.
"You slept through yesterday." Elena explained casually, "I was going to wake you, but the Queen stopped by with a few dresses and told me to let you sleep." Olivia blinked. The queen dropped off dresses? She looked around, and spotted a couple chests sitting against the wall, both overflowing with silk garments.
"A few dresses?" Olivia asked. Elena followed her gaze, pulling out the chair in front of her to allow Olivia to sit. She laughed.
"The Queen wanted to make you comfortable." Elena said, "Also, you have to meet the other ladies in the castle today. Which is why it's so early in the morning, you'll need time to eat, clean up, and get dressed." Olivia sighed. She wasn't in any mood to meet anyone new, she'd already swallowed quite a mouthful of information the day before. Olivia picked up her fork, and began digging into the porridge. It didn't taste like much, but Olivia was hungry and so she ate it anyways. Elena stood to the side awkwardly, holding a pitcher of water to refill Olivia's cup whenever she had needed. Olivia decided to fill the silence.
"I'm sorry I haven't returned your dress," Olivia said, "I hope you didn't have anything important planned yesterday that you would have needed it?"
"No, my lady." Elena replied, "It's quite alright that you weren't able to return it, you must have been exhausted." Olivia hummed, finishing her porridge and taking quite a large sip of her drink. There was a small bowl of berries left, but Olivia wasn't hungry enough to finish it. She looked up at Elena.
"Have you eaten today?" Olivia asked, picking up the bowl.
"No, my lady." Olivia hummed again, and passed the bowl to her. Elena didn't take it and gave her a confused expression.
"Take it. I'm not hungry, and I don't want to waste it. Consider it payment for lending me your dress." Olivia smiled at her. Elena sat the pitcher down and took the bowl from her tentatively. Pleased, Olivia stood up and walked over to the chests filled with clothing and threw them both open. She stared down at the intimidating amount of garments, and decided she didn't know what she was doing. She reached in and grabbed whatever she thought would be comfortable. However, as she pulled it from the great mass of silk and cotton, she realized it must have been some sort of undergarment. It was made of linen mostly, though there were a few small patches of silk here and there. The bottom half looked like a shortly cut pair of pants, and the top a shirt. Both halves were combined at the waist, which was lined with a red threading. Elena appeared next to her and took the undergarment.
"A romper," She said, laying it across her arm, "I ran a bath for you before I left to get you something to eat. It should have cooled down enough by now, I'll handle deciding your outfit and clean up the table." Olivia bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted to argue and do it herself, but she realized it probably would have gotten the girl in trouble. Everyone might have thought that Elena was just slacking off, or taking advantage of Olivia. She sighed and nodded, disappearing behind the room divider. It took her a minute to undo all of her straps, but she managed and slipped it off of herself. She stepped out of it and approached the bath, nervously testing it with her finger. Deciding the temperature was alright, she climbed into the bath and relaxed into the water. Elena appeared around the divider, holding the romper she had picked out, a blue gown, and what Olivia assumed was a corset. She hung the clothes over the room divider, and then walked over to Olivia.
It took about fifteen minutes for Elena to finish thoroughly scrubbing Olivia clean. Another thirty was spent on drying Olivia's hair and body, then other five on combing her hair out. Olivia was handing the romper while Elena sorted out undoing the straps on the corset to pull over her. Olivia stepped into the undergarment, dragging it over her body, and pulling the straps onto her shoulders. She pulled her hair out from underneath the fabric and looked over in the standing mirror placed in the corner. She hadn't noticed it when she first came in, as it was hidden behind the screen, and she realized quickly this had been the first time she'd really looked at herself. Everyone was right about her hair, it was quite red. A maroon even, and it cascaded past her shoulders and hung around her waist. Her eyes were definitely either green or hazel, and her cheeks were pale and dusted with freckles. She felt weird taking in her own appearance, and decided to turn away from the mirror and allow Elena to wrap the corset around her and do up the straps.
It was probably another five minutes later before Olivia was completely dressed, and Elena was disappearing behind the screen again and cleaning up the table. Olivia looked back into the mirror briefly. The dress was silk, and most of it was transparent save the bodice which seemed to be lined with an extra layer. She looked away again, and at the gesturing of Elena walked over to her desk to allow the girl to slip on her shoes.
"I think we'll leave your hair down, I must bring these dishes back down to the kitchens." Elena said. She turned away from Olivia and collected the tray, stacking the glass cup and pitcher onto it.
"What about meeting the ladies?" Olivia asked, standing up hurriedly. Elena pushed open the door to her bedroom.
"The Queen should be here to escort you in about half an hour. I should be back by then, but if not, I'll meet you there." Elena said, and then disappeared into her room. Olivia sat back down and looked around. Thirty minutes? What was she supposed to do in that time? Stare at herself? She turned her chair and scooted closer into the desk. Olivia's bedroom window looked out over a garden, and she could see the high reaching walls of the throne room, as well as another unidentified room attached a little ways back. The garden was small, and it seemed the only way into it was from the other unidentified room. There was a table set up, and few maids were placing cups down and trays of small cakes and fruit. Olivia was concluding that this little meeting with the other ladies was going to be in the garden. After a few minutes of watching the maids prepare for the ladies, she decided it was time she stopped stalking them.
She sat back in her chair and tapped her desk. Leaning back, she looked along the underside and found a drawer. Maybe there was something to read inside? Pulling it open, she found nothing to read. Instead she found several blank pieces of parchment, an inkwell, and a quill. With nothing left to do for the remaining fifteen minutes, she decided to write. Maybe it would be a good idea to note everything she learned down anyways. She pulled out a piece of parchment, the inkwell and the quill. She dipped the quill into the ink, and began to write out everything she had learned.
It ended up distracting her quite a bit, as she didn't notice the knocking at her door until it was swung open swiftly. Olivia jumped in her seat, marking across a few sentences with a straight line of ink. She sighed, upset she'd have to rewrite it. She turned around in her seat and noticed the Queen staring impatiently at her. The Queen's eyes passed between Olivia and the writing supplies several times.
"You can write? Or are you just playing with it?" She asked. Olivia gave her a perplexed expression, a laugh bubbling in her throat. Was she joking?
"Yes, I can write." Olivia had no idea why she had this predetermined perplexity at the idea of it being a shock that she could write. She didn't know why she wanted to ask if everyone knew, but she did. The Queen stomped over and picked up the parchment. She read over it, and her mouth twitched into a small smile, before falling back into a cold scowl.
"It's a tad messy, but I'm impressed nevertheless." The Queen said, laying the paper back down, "Anyways, I'm afraid the two of us may be late if we continue to sit here, so we must get going." With that, she turned away from Olivia and headed out the door. Olivia stood quickly and followed after her. They followed the path back towards the throne room until they ended up in a dining hall. It was behind one of the doors in the throne room, and was filled with tables and chairs. It also held the kitchen, which the two had to walk through in order to end up in the garden. The table and chairs were sat up in the middle under a large white oak. A dark red hand print was painted in the middle of the trunk, and the leaves of the tree seemed to be blooming into a pink flower. Surrounding the path leading up to the table were bushes, flowers, and sculptures. Two women were already seated at the table, talking amongst themselves while two other girls stood at their sides. Olivia assumed they were handmaidens, and the women sitting down were the ladies.
The lady sat at the right of the table had shoulder length black hair, and was adorned with some sort of jewelry. Her dress was as black as her hair, and along her shoulders were silver scales. The girl across from her was pretty much her polar opposite, with a white, lacy dress, and hat covered in flowers. Her hair was pinned up underneath the hat, but Olivia could see that it was a red color. Though, it was much lighter than Olivia's, and fell more into the ginger category. Olivia realized she was dressed a lot like the Queen, though the Queen's dress was red rather than blue, and her hair was much shorter and pulled up. The Queen cleared her throat, and the two ladies turned to her and stood up. They curtsied.
"Your majesty." They said in unison. The Queen gave the two a curt nod, and they straightened their posture. Their eyes immediately darted to Olivia. They were two different looks, but under both, Olivia still felt herself shrinking back behind the Queen as if she were her mother. The ginger's look was sinister, conniving. She seemed to be plotting something before Olivia had even said a word to her, or even learned her name. The small smile that was gracing her features didn't help to ease her nerves. The other didn't seem to be scheming much of anything, and was instead studying her. It was an intelligent gaze, and it seemed like it was hiding several more emotions underneath it.
"Lady Olivia," The Queen said, snapping everyone from their staring contest and back into reality, "This-" she pointed at the ginger, "is Lady Julia La Frey." Lady Julia stepped forward and curtsied. Olivia hastily followed her movement. The girl smiled, and Olivia's cheeks flushed. She needed to learn how to do that properly.
"It's nice to meet you Lady Olivia." Lady Julia said, her voice just as sinister as her gaze. It was laced with layers of sugary falsities, and Olivia was noting in her head to not trust a word the girl said to her.
"It's nice to meet you too, Lady Julia." Olivia replied. Nothing else was said between the two, to which Olivia was thankful for.
"This is Lady Diana," The Queen said, gesturing now to the other. She made the same curtsy, however her face made no notice at Olivia's hasty response.
"Well met, Lady Olivia." Lady Diana said. Olivia trusted her a lot more, despite the coldness to her tone. She knew the girl was hiding something, though it didn't seem like she'd be a frequent liar.
"You as well, Lady Diana." Olivia said. The girls sat back down, and the Queen walked around the table to take her seat. Olivia pulled out the only chair left and seated herself. Elena came rushing down the path, out of breath and standing next to Olivia.
"Elena, you are late." The Queen said.
"I'm sorry your Majesty." Elena said hurriedly, "I was putting away Lady Olivia's dishes and my dress."
"So it is Lady Olivia's fault?" Lady Diana cut in. Elena's eyes widened and she shook her head.
"Of course not, my lady." She said. Lady Diana was about to say something else, but Olivia cut in.
"I told her to meet me here. I wanted to be alone to sort myself before her Majesty arrived." Olivia lied, "Please do not blame her for her tardiness, as it was my fault. She's here now." Nothing else was said, and Elena's shoulders slumped in relief. She grabbed a serving fork and placed a couple cakes and some fruit on Olivia's plate. The other handmaiden's were doing the same, and another maid came from the kitchen to pour the four a small cup of tea.
"Sugar?" Elena asked, and Olivia nodded. Two cubes were dropped into her cup, and Olivia grabbed a small spoon and stirred. Olivia wasn't particularly hungry, but she still took a few bites of one of the cakes and ate a few of the grapes on her plate. Lady Julia was talking adamantly about some ball to the Queen, while Lady Diana seemed to be caught up in her own thoughts. Olivia looked over at the white oak, and at the glaring red hand print on it. She wondered what the hand print symbolized, or what the oak symbolized. There was no other tree like it from what she had seen the day before in the forest. She must've been staring at the tree for a long time, as Lady Diana cut into her own thoughts.
"Interesting isn't it?" She asked. Olivia nodded. "It's said Kim was born under this tree." Olivia whipped her head around to stare at Lady Diana. What was it about this Kim? Why was she this renowned? This legendary?
"This tree?" Olivia asked. Lady Diana smiled.
"Well, not this one here. But one if it's kind." Diana explained, "There are several dotted around the land. Kim was part elf, and so the tree in the Elven Grove is where she was presumably born. It's said to be a beautiful place, but has been closed off from anyone ever since Kim's birth."
"Why?" Olivia asked. Wouldn't they want such a legend born there?
"Well, the Elven Grove was tainted with her birth."
"Tainted?"
"Oh, don't regale us with the birth of Kim Hollow again Diana!" Lady Julia said, "The tale is too frightening for me to bare. I'm sure Olivia doesn't want to hear it." Olivia stared at the tree, and then back to Lady Diana.
"I want to hear it."