As A Stranger Or A Friend?

Mariel - 10 Frost Fall, 1244 A.D.

"Miss Frère the door if you would. Whoever is there is certainly incessant to see me..." Lady Price said in an uninterested fashion.

"Yes, my lady."

I glanced into her sitting room and saw her flipping through her gossip column as she sipped her afternoon tea. Her schedule was clear today, so she wasted no time in spending it exactly how she wanted: doing nothing. Given her age and spinster status, she didn't have to spend her free time working with charities or other such 'bleeding heart organizations' as she put it. Most married women were expected to do such things in addition to running the home and raising children. I suppose that's why they seemed so exhausted all the time.

I sighed quietly as another knock came at the door, removed my apron, and then wiped my hands clean of pollen from my flower-arranging escapades. My skill had greatly improved at the task now that I had been doing it for a few years. I hadn't forgotten how the first arrangement I put together was tossed straight out the window by Lady Price, claiming it was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. She took it upon herself to instruct me how to do it to her liking, and I paid close attention so I wouldn't displease her again.

"Miss Frère, the door!" She complained once more.

I hurried down the corridor. "Just a moment!"

"Miss Frère, where are your manners?!" I heard her very distant voice call out though this time, I ignored her.

I thought it was clear that I wasn't speaking to her but rather the person at the door, but even still, she managed to take offense to it. She was such a peculiar and, at times, cantankerous woman, treating every decision she made as some high courtesy. Though this time, I was indeed grateful for her latest decree: wearing skirts just below knee length. A reprieve from the awfully fluffy floor-length pieces she usually dressed me in. It seemed that as the years passed, the skirts only got bigger and bigger. I wondered if one day I would be swallowed whole by them. Though the lack of skirts meant I got cold more easily, so I wore stockings to keep my legs warm and low-heeled shoes to look presentable should company happen to pass by as it did now. Another impatient knock came as I finally reached the door, carefully opening it to avoid damaging the newly applied green paint.

"My apologies—"

The words tangled in my throat as the open door revealed the lavender lizard pirate standing there, bandaged and supporting himself on a cane. I clutched my hand to my chest and nearly bit my tongue to avoid screaming. Of all the guests I might have expected, he was not one of them. But I suppose I should speak, shouldn't I? I couldn't simply stand there looking at him.

"W-What can I do for you, sir?" I managed in a fearful whisper.

He stared at me, but I couldn't read his expression, if there was one to be read at all. Was he angry? Should I have curtsied to him? He was a guest, but that felt wrong to do. And what was he doing here? What could he possibly want?

"Sir?" I probed again.

His stillness was unsettling. It almost seemed like he was merely here for the purpose of standing in front of the door. But there were plenty of other doors to stand in front of, so why this one?

"Who be ye?"

"P-Pardon?" I asked shakily.

"Who be ye? Why been ye here?" He asked with some frustration.

Who was he to be asking me such a thing? If anyone was out of place here, it was he, arriving at our doorstep in such a state! More than that, he seemed to forget that he was a pirate and that this was the house of an esteemed lady! My stomach twisted. I couldn't let him be seen here. It would jeopardize Lady Price's reputation and, by extension, mine and the other servants'. But I'd let him linger too long already! I needed him to leave now!