"You seem like a diligent worker," Lady Froya said, turning to look at me, pulling me from my thoughts. "Do not abuse this opportunity. You are to work and work hard. A hundred years ago, you would have been a slave, begging for your bread. Be grateful. Keep being sedulous and who knows, you might become a stunning Royal kitchens cook. It is an honor to serve the emperor and it comes with great rewards."
I did not reply, but I didn't think Lady Froya needed a reply. I was too busy anyways, reeling from the shock.
It seemed like all that had happened had been a dream and I would wake up anytime soon on my bunk bed in Lady Uma's workers' dormitory and heave a sigh and thank heavens that it had all been a dream.
I wouldn't see Lady Uma's Food Palace again or Sage...She would be so far away.
As a kid at the orphanage, I was only too familiar with the word: lonely. Being small and slight for my age, all the other children my age growing exponentially, their growth spurts having a field day, I was often undesirable; a sort of stand-by comparison to show the would-be parents who came to adopt children at the orphanage what the kids they wanted should not be like.
I must have been taken to an orphanage as soon as I was born because I did not have any other memories whatsoever except that of growing up in the orphanage. With only a hairpin and a name tag in my baby basket too; I didn't even know my parents. I grew up in an orphanage, bullied and detested. The only hope I saw was adoption, but even that was bleak because most of the adopters were poor or lower middle-class folk who needed strong children to work in their bakeries, stalls or butcheries for them. I did not look strong; in fact, I was weaker and shorter than most children my age and so I did not have much luck with adoption. I left the orphanage in search of work of my own accord some years ago.
Years after that, I bagged employment in the Imperial complex. That should be a step-up, I told myself. No matter what I told myself, I couldn't ignore the immense possibilities and potentials for rising up the economic ladder better than where I was while working with Lady Uma. I brightened the expression on my face. I was willing to work. I would work.
I stared outside the window again, removing wisps of my hair that the wind blew, from my face.
The Imperial complex was larger and more stunning than I imagined. I had only ever heard stories about the grand megastructure.
It was home to not only the Imperial Palace, but also the apartments of some of the most high ranking members of the rulership of the Capital city. Ranches of pure breed Pegasi and horses spread along long stretches of field and small towers dotted the huge walled enclosure. Other smaller buildings that boasted of crystal and Ivory surrounded and connected to the other structures, forming a star-shaped arrangement around the main Imperial Palace itself, domed roofs and spires rising in the air.
Ornamental trees spread across the enclosure and topiary art on the bushes and smaller trees dotted lawns of well-kept grass.
The gates were huge and made of strong bronze and were open but guarded. Around the walls, at the top were armed Fae arrow-men ready to shoot at an enemy or uninvited guest, but also, ready to shoot at any visitor that refused to make use of the gate and pass through proper clearance by the guards at the gate.
I would still remember how our Pegasi had been whipped into losing altitude and walking across the stone floors towards the great and massive gate where the guards had let us in without question after taking one look at Lady Froya.
It had been five days now and the Imperial complex is still too big-I keep getting lost each day; the Royal kitchens are still too formal; the royal family too wasteful- we cook piles and piles of dishes and many of them come back untouched or mildly touched: the exact kind of decadent and wasteful gesture you expect from the elite class. Everyone seemed to be too used to it.
I mostly joined in the cooking and helped out after meals to clean up just once, these past few days. This place was a far cry from Lady Uma's kitchen. There was so much order here. There was less frivolous chattering...but more competition. It seemed every cook, helper and kitchen worker wanted to prove they were capable of more; more responsibility, more respect.
Competition. Just what I needed at this stage of a career I only just started.
Lady Froya was not always at the Royal kitchens, instead, our commanding officer was another woman- Orla Spry. She was the deputy head of the Royal kitchens and she took her job very seriously. She would not tolerate incompetence and she wore the most scornful of countenances whenever she made her rounds in the kitchens, making allocations and giving tasks. Her condescension for the workers was evident. Even the elves who worked with us suffered the same condescension in her hands. To her, you were either elite class or nothing.
On the fifth day of work I was already getting used to her- that was all I could do at the end of the day. She punished with vehemence and her superior trusted her call which meant the workers had no ear to complain to. It wasn't like we could approach Lady Froya on our own anyways.
On the fifth day of work, we prepared meals till it grew thick with darkness. The emperor was hosting the family of the neighboring Elven kingdom- The Kingdom of Selene.
The family had arrived late in the evening and we had begun preparing the meals as the emperor hosted a feast in their honor. We were not to mess up the feast as the feast was quite important-a preclude to negotiations of the emperor towards marrying the Elven Princess Ostara Faust- only daughter to King Leon Faust and Queen Zelda Faust- at least that was what I heard.
The feast went on long into the night and we worked for that length of time, arranging food and wine to be supplied to the general dining hall.