Before dawn, Susan left home and went to the palace gate to line up.
Shadow said the court seamstress's salary is good, and there will be a lot of tailors from all over the country to apply. He suggested she arrive as early as possible. Susan thought that if she didn't want to wait all day outside the palace gate on an empty stomach, she had better get there early.
But by the time Susan reached the square street, she could already see the line outside the palace gate, where at least thirty seamstresses were already waiting.
From the back gate of the palace, the long line along the outer wall painted white went all the way to the street. It would be funny to look down from the tower of the palace. The seamstresses, dressed in shabby grey gowns, stood like a stain stream leaking from the back of the kitchen on the white flagstone sidewalk.
Susan sighed quietly, tightened her scarf around her shoulders, and lined up at the end of the line.
