I guess putting your bully in their place makes you feel better because Dahlia woke up the next morning after having the most peaceful sleep she'd had in a while. The fact that she could work at the king's stable probably also added an extra layer of joy to her. Or maybe it was the new spacious room she was in and the comfortable bed she slept on that contributed to the pleasant night she had.
Dahlia excitedly got up early which was an advantage because she was one of the first to take her bath. It wasn't the most efficient to have to wait in line to shower and possibly end up not having breakfast due to lack of time but today Dahlia didn't have to worry about that.
She had more than enough time to shower without waiting for others before her and she got a comfortable seat at the dining hall to eat at. Her day had already started on a wonderful note.
"Just look at her smiling like she owns the world…"
"Just because she got a better room she thinks she's special…"
"I wonder what sort of spell she cast on Analice to make her favor her this much..."
"What a witch…"
Dahlia could hear the girls gossiping about her as they all had breakfast but she refused to let them be a dampener to her mood. Dealing with Jacinda the previous day gave her an added boost of confidence, exactly what she needed to survive in that place.
Speaking of Jacinda, Dahlia noticed she was rather quiet that morning. She wasn't complaining about the pleasant silence from her but it was a bit out of character for the chatterbox Jacinda who was always the first to throw sticks at her at every given opportunity.
It was obvious that Jacinda was still shaken up from the confrontation they had and was too scared to say anything against Dahlia while she was around. It was also clear that she was too embarrassed to tell anyone about what happened between them and how much Dahlia humiliated her.
Smiling, Dahlia carried her empty tray and walked passed the hissing trio. She made sure to give Jacinda a silent glare as she walked by and chuckled when she saw her visibly tense up.
"What's wrong with you today Jacinda?" One of the girls asked seeing the look of terror in Jacinda's eyes.
"I wanted to ask the same thing, you don't seem like yourself." Another chimed in.
Jacinda dismissed their concerns and ended the conversation with a simple, "I didn't get enough sleep."
Dahlia smirked as she heard those words. She was always the one losing sleep because of how horribly she was treated at least this time while she slept like a baby Jacinda was restless.
'There's no sleep for the wicked after all.' She said to herself.
After eating, Dahlia excitedly rushed to the stables, reay to start work at a new place with new horses but she met a rather confusing sight.
There were some workers cleaning up an empty stall and adding shelves to it to make it look like the other stalls.
"What's going on here?" She asked one of the men who wasn't too busy to notice her.
"We're getting the stall ready for a new horse." The man answered while wiping the glistening sweat beads off his face.
"Really? A new horse? When was this arranged for?" Dahlia excitedly asked question after question to the exhausted man who was still trying to catch his breath.
"We were just called for this morning miss and had no prior knowledge of this." He answered, "Tssk!" The man hissed out of frustration on realizing his water pouch was empty.
Despite being morning, it was a rather hot day, and paired with the hard labor they were going through, Dahlia felt bad for the workers.
"I'll help you go refill that." She stretched her hand and pointed at the leather water pouch the man was holding.
"Thank you so much miss." The man beamed despite it being just water she offered to get. It just showed how exhausted he really was.
Taking the pouch from his dirt-painted and dusty hands, Dahlia went to the back to get some water for him.
"I wonder what type of horse they're bringing in?" She asked no one in particular as the tap was running. "It must be an important horse since this was last minute."
Being a horse enthusiast, Dahlia was already going through what breed the horse would be, its gender, and even the color of its coat. She was even happier to know there might be a chance she could groom whatever horse they were bringing in since she was now working at the king's stable.
Dahlia quickened pace so as not to miss the entrance of the horse, and luckily she made in in time.
"Here you go." She handed the pouch to the man who was waiting for her.
"Thank you." He quickly collected the pouch and emptied its contents within a few seconds before letting out a refreshed sigh after words.
Dahlia chuckled at his behavior but her attention was drawn to the commotion at the entrance.
"We're bringing her in." A man called out to rest who immediately began making way for the horse.
Dahlia held her breath in anticipation as a man dragged the reigns of the horse and slowly lured her into the stable. Everything moved in slow motion as each part of the horse was revealed bit by bit until…
"Darcy?!" Dahlia confusedly exclaimed.
"You know her?" The man next to Dahlia asked.
"Y-yes, she was at the other stables- I though you said they were bringing in a new horse?" She asked in confusion without taking her eyes off Darcy who was now already inside her new stall.
"Oh, I'm sorry for the confusion, we received word early this morning that the king wanted us to prepare a new stall for one of the horses that were being brought in from the other stable." The man explained the situation calmer this time now that he'd had his fill of water.
"Oh…" Dahlia muttered she had more questions than answers now.
While she was still wrapping her head around what was going on the workers finished what they were doing and left the stable before Dahlia could notice.
"Let's get to work."
A loud voice pulled Dahlia out of her train of thought. She looked around to find those around already grooming a horse of their own so she hopped straight to work.
Since someone was already tending to Darcy, the next best option Dahlia had was Storm. She just hoped he would let her near him like the last time.