Lorna was a maid who had been working at the Arquix castle for a little over a year now. Before Tilda had arrived, Lorna was the most liked among her colleagues. But Tilda had a way of working hard and being 'humble' about it, as if hard work was normal and needed no complaint. Her general 'good attitude' had won over everyone else. Luckily, Lorna hadn't lost all her ranking as she still considered herself the most beautiful. It was no trivial matter that her beauty far out matched the other maids.
Lorna was pondering on her misfortunes when she passed by Delrik and Felux in the castle hall.
It had not been many days since Cosaria's shopping trip, and Delrik was going about his usual Dukely duties. As they walked, Delrik instructed Felux on his plans.
He said, "Have the knights collected at the east wing for a special training."
Delrik glanced at Lorna as he passed and noticed a sparkling necklace decorating her physique. It had a green emerald inlay with gold lining. He felt he had seen the parcel before...
Delrik stopped dead in his tracks.
"Where did you get that?" Delrik demanded.
Lorna stopped and flipped her hair as she touched her necklace. She said, "This? Oh. The Duchess's personal maid, Tilda, was her name? She gave it to me."
Delrik said, "You are aware that the necklace belongs to the Duchess, correct?"
Lorna gasped and bowed deeply. She said, "Forgive me! I had no idea."
Delrik narrowed his eyes in sharp scrutinization of the maid.
Is this maid an idiot? Delrik wondered, Where else would that commoner Tilda have gotten a pendant like that?
Lorna continued speaking, "Perhaps the Duchess gave it to Tilda. I'd hate to think..."
Lorna gasped.
"That she stole it!"
Delrik looked unimpressed. Somehow, he doubted this small person's words but if it were true, such would be a serious accusation. He turned to Felux and said, "Find out what's going on."
"Aye," Said Felux, who was as curious as Delrik was suspicious.
Delrik continued glaring at Lorna.
Lorna tried to look meek as she said, "What is it, my Lord?"
Delrik flared his cape and walked away saying, "Nothing."
She's still wearing the necklace, He thought, One would have thought they'd take it off after mentioning it was the Duchesses. This maid has too much arrogance to be a proper maid.
He didn't want to admit that it irked him to see Cosaria's jewelry on other women.
༻✧༺
Between the castle and the food pantry in the servant's wing, there was a small outdoor alcove, hidden mostly from the rest of the castle. It was a common spot for secret rendezvous between forbidden lovers. Loads of gossip had been started there.
Felux happened to catch Tilda at the spot just as she was carrying an empty basket soon to be filled with dirty laundry.
He asked her, "Have you given one of the Lady's necklaces to another maid?"
Tilda replied, "Not a chance. Why? Did something happen?"
"Aye, there's a maid claiming you did. I'm here verifying her story." Felux said.
Tilda was quick to catch on, she said, "Well that's highly suspicious."
"Aye," Felux said, "So either she's the one lyin, or it's you."
"Oooo, which one do you think it is?" Tilda asked coyly. If he truthfully thought Tilda was guilty, Tilda did not think he would have so honestly told her about it.
Felux grinned, "I'm not at liberty to say. It'd mess with the investigation."
Tilda decided to call his bluff saying, "You believe me."
"I can't let personal biases cloud my judgment. My impartial judgment," Felux said but his face said the exact opposite, "You could be guilty as much as she is."
Tilda said, "Yeah, but also, you've seen me with Lady Cosaria and I've never given you a reason to doubt my word."
Felux said, "Yer argument will be taken into account."
Tilda said, "You want to lay a trap for her?"
Felux said, "What'd you have in mind?"
༻✧༺
Cosaria's jewelry lay temptingly on the dresser's vanity. Too temptingly. The Lady was reading in the library and the other maids were out of sight. Just a quick peak wouldn't hurt. Nobody would miss a pair of earrings or two. Or three.
Lorna's feet snuck across the room, tapping soundlessly upon the wood floors. Her hand reached greedily for the jewelry.
Lorna jumped back as Tilda moved out of her hiding spot behind the window curtains. Seeing it was just Tilda, Lorna relaxed. Lorna rolled her eyes at Tilda's hard stare. Sure, she caught her in the middle of trying to steal the Lady's necklace. So what?
"Oh please," Lorna said, "Don't act so prudish. Like you've never even thought about it."
Tilda folded her arms, saying, "There's a difference between thinking about it and acting on it."
Lorna said, "You can't tell me you didn't take that beaded bracelet from her collection. You're the same as me."
Tilda's eyebrows shot up. She said, "So you see me with a bracelet and that makes you think it's okay to take the Duchess's jewelry? You could be hung for that."
Lorna felt no weight to Tilda's threat, especially not when there were such easy ways out. She said, "Or you could just tell her she gave it to you. You know how much of a pushover she is."
"I know that better than anyone," Tilda said.
"There you have it. I won't tell, you won't tell. It's mutually beneficial."
Tilda sighed, "You have me all figured out, don't you?"
"You're a maid, a commoner, just like the rest of us. I know things about you that you can't even admit to yourself," Lorna said. She prided herself on being able to read people and quickly find the core center of their personality. Tilda's was simple. At her core was greed; That disgusting 'pretending to be a good person while actually just meeting my own needs' greed. And she was too goody-two shoes to be able to admit it.
"Wow," Tilda said, "You're stuck up."
"You say that because you know I'm right."
Tilda turned to a shadow in the corner and asked, "Felux, do you think that's enough of a witness to incriminate her?"
Felux stepped out of the shadowy corner. He had completely camouflaged into the wall but now that he was present in the light, it was impossible to miss him.
"Aye, I'll take her to the cells fer questioning. We'll make sure she's none spy or assassin."
Lorna spat, "What is this!"
Tilda said, "It's a trap."
"No. No, I know what this is. This is denial. Classic denial. Tilda, stop betraying yourself. Stop denying yourself what you really want."
Tilda said, "You stop. Stop doing bad things."
"Aren't you tired of always playing second fiddle? Don't you want to wear the pretty dresses and have the fancy jewelry? Doesn't it get annoying having people look down on you all the time?" Lorna pleaded.
Tilda turned to Felux as she asked, "Do you get what she's talking about?"
Felux shrugged. He said, "I'm never happier than when I'm in service fer my Lord."
Tilda said, "I feel quite the same."
Lorna could see she was losing foothold. She looked around frantically for a way out. She found it as she pointed at Tilda's bracelet, saying, "That bracelet. Sir Felux, it's evidence that I'm right."
Felux said to Tilda, "Present it here."
Tilda held out her arm as Felux inspected the wooden-beaded butterfly-painted bracelet.
Lorna said, "It's much too nice of a bracelet for a commoner like her to afford."
Felux nodded, "Aye. And I've seen her wear it anywhere and everywhere."
"Tell him," Lorna hissed, "Tell him who gave it to you. It was Lady Cosaria, I know it."
Felux said, "Now you've me curious. Who was it givin you this fine accessory?"
Tilda was thoroughly enjoying this little game Felux was playing. She said, "It was a gift from my best friend here at the castle."
Felux asked, "And who'd that be? Lady Cosaria?"
Tilda said, "Now don't be jealous, but it was a knight."
"She's lying," Lorna said. Lorna knew all the gossip between the maids and the knights. (She was often in the middle of it.) Tilda was grasping at straws with that red herring. There was no way a knight would have found the plain Tilda attractive, and if one had, Lorna would have known (and promptly stolen him away.) But how could Lorna prove that Tilda was lying?
Felux had a twinkle in his eye as he asked, "And what would've this knight say to yer story?"
Tilda felt that rush again. As if something wonderful and unexpected was about to happen.
Tilda said, "I don't know. You'd have to ask him to find out."
"She's lying," Lorna said, "I know because she started wearing it the day after the shopping trip." The timeline all matched up. Tilda was trapped now.
Tilda felt disappointed as Felux broke their connection and turned to Lorna.
He clarified, "Seeing how I'm that knight, I'll verify Tilda's story." He paused for half a second, "Verdict in, she's tellin the truth."
Lorna's entire stampede of inner thoughts ran themselves off a cliff. All that was left was blankness.
"What?" Lorna said.
Tilda said, "And that's the face of someone who has just realized they made a grave error."
Lorna tried to gain some traction back. She asked, "You, Sir Felux," The man Lorna had assumed to be head-over-heals for Delrik, "Gave a gift to a woman," and not just any woman, "To Tilda?" A second rate, plain, workaholic, common maid?
Felux sighed, "I hope she's not a spy fer her own sake. She'd make a better windbag than an informer."
Tilda nodded, saying, "I'd make a much better spy." She was quite confident in her intel gathering skills.
"Aye," Felux agreed.
Then he tied Lorna up and led her out of the room. Lorna was weeping, having finally grasped the severity of her situation too late.
༻✧༺
Not too soon later, Tilda stood in front of Delrik's desk in his office.
She was saying, "To conclude my report, the woman was a lying, psycho snake who thought she could get away with stealing Lady Cosaria's treasured gifts."
Delrik paused. He was used to insubordination, assassination attempts, thieves, bandits, and a host of other crimes, but something in what Tilda said caught his attention. He asked, "Treasured gifts? The jewelry?"
Tilda explained, "Lady Cosaria treasures all the items you bought her. The jewelry, the dresses. Honestly, I think you could have bought her a handful of grain and she would have been just as happy."
Tilda thought of the moments she had watched Cosaria stop and caress her fingers over the fabric of one of her dresses or hold a piece of jewelry up to the light just to see it sparkle. She would always blush afterwards too, as if she was thinking of something -or someone- else.
"I don't understand," Delrik said, "Why would that matter?"
Tilda was surprised she had to spell it out for him as she said, "It all came from you. That's why it matters. At least, to her, that's why it matters."
"I see," Delrik said, though he clearly did not see. He turned to Felux, "Do you have anything to add, Felux?"
"Naw. She's spoken the truth."
"I see, very well. You're both dismissed."
Tilda and Felux bowed and left as Delrik went to his window for his usual session of intense brooding. He felt he needed to understand the meaning behind the maid, Tilda's words, but he simply could not understand it. He would be at the window all night.
༻✧༺
Felux and Tilda stopped by a big window that looked out upon the front gate.
Tilda asked about Lorna's fate saying, "So what? Is he going to kill her or something?"
"Not sure," Felux replied, "His good mood might spare her but she'll be just as likely to lose a limb if he doesn't imprison her for life."
That was him in a good mood? Tilda wondered.
She sighed and said, "He's not known for mercy is he?"
Felux said, "Not to his enemies. Though he's an extremely loyal friend."
Tilda said, "Did you see his blank face when I mentioned Lady Cosaria. I bet that's what turned his focus."
"Aye," Felux agreed, "But I'll doubt he'd recognize it fer himself."
Tilda nodded, "I get the feeling that when Lord Delrik says, 'I see', he actually means that he needs to think about it some more cause he doesn't actually get it."
Felux laughed as the description was so perfectly accurate. He said, "That'd be likely very true."
Tilda smiled. She loved hearing Felux laugh and it excited her to know that she was the instigator.
Then Felux cleared his throat and a serious atmosphere fell on him as he said, "Tilda, you know I said I'm never happier than when I'm servin?"
"Yes."
"Don't think it weird, but that wasn't completely true," He watched Tilda's face carefully as he said, "The times I'm happiest are the times I've spent with you."
As Felux scrutinized Tilda's reaction, trying to find out if he crossed a line, Tilda tilted her head.
She said, "That's odd. We haven't even spent that much time together."
Felux said slowly, "Oddly true."
Tilda shifted her weight to her heels and with a sly smile she said, "I guess we'll have to spend more time together. We can't have you become unhappy."
A smile broke out on Felux's face as he said, "That'll be good to me."