Diary or the Dead

It turned out Tiana had completely forgotten about him. As he entered the kitchen a wave of heat emitted by the fireplace on the right hand corner hit his face. There were two busy people in the room. Tiana focused on cutting vegetables on the table in the center of the room. Opposite from the door stood a sink with the dishes left from noon piling on its side. A rather short man by the name of Frederick was standing on a chair to reach for various seasonings which he threw into a bowl below him. As he noticed Dew's arrival he enthusiastically clapped his hands together, pointed at the fireplace and commanded him to prepare a chicken to be boiled. He responded with a slight nod and walked over while a judging stare from Tiana followed him.
Making dinner for the castle's important personas wasn't the most difficult task since only the king and his fifteen year old daughter were left of the royal family and most of the advisors preferred to dine alone and therefore had no room to complain what exactly was being served. Rarely important guests visited or a feast was celebrated, so the absence of two or more cooks didn't make much of a difference. Still, one person never missed a single shift. Charles was a lanky young man with his curly dark hair tied into a tight knot above his head. When he came down the stairs with a full plate of various savory delicacies Dew couldn't tell whether his eye bags had gotten worse or if the extra amount of work had permanently engraved itself into his almost starved face. Dew still hadn't figured out why he did it to himself, the man did his job so passionately that one could think his life depended on it.

As expected, the four of them finished their job right in time even though Josephine was laying in her bed due to a cold and Shawn had been called to visit his father to pay his respects to his recently deceased mother.
Just in time the door opened and several men entered the kitchen to pick up the ready to be delivered plates. Like so often, Dew's attention was drawn to their white shirts with a blue and silver striped vest on top. He himself didn't own any festive or slightly noble clothing and didn't see the point of dressing up for certain occasions, yet he still wondered how one would feel like in such an attire. He imagined it to be rather ridiculous, forcing an uninterested demeanor seemed tiring.

The gazes of the cooks followed the men outside but then the ringing of something hitting a glass had everyone turn around. Frederick was standing in the back with four wine glasses and an anticipating smile on his wrinkled face. "I urge everyone to go upstairs right now," he announced before adding: "You can come later if you want, Charles."
The other two followed their chef up the spiral staircase on the left hand back into the room above, not knowing what exactly to expect. usually everyone would scurry away as soon as possible and leave Charles to do the rest. On a table in the middle stood a set of candles to lighten up the room, the last rays of the setting sun would not have been enough, and a tall bottle. On one of the six chairs already sat a woman with a large shawl wrapped around her neck and shoulders and long curly hair falling onto her back. "Please, take a seat," she offered in a welcoming but sickly voice while giving the newcomers one of her heartwarming smiles. Frederick began to hand out the glasses.
"Today, as some of you might know," he began to solemnly explain, "is a special date to be celebrated. Today, thirty four years ago, a very hardworking woman took her first breath and, twenty years later, joined us on our table! Happy birthday, Tiana!" Everyone but Dew clapped, who then noticed it would be appropriate to do the same and Tiana laid her hand on her heart while on the verge of happy tears. She turned towards the other woman and asked: "Josephine, you got here even though you're sick? For me?" Josephine grabbed the bottle, opened it and began pouring out some of its red content. "It's your twentieth anniversary after all!"
When it came to Dew she hesitated for a moment, he was the youngest one in the group after all and they couldn't know that he had been exposed to far worse toxins than alcohol before. He shrugged and also received a glass. They clinked them to celebrate their colleague before taking a sip.
It wasn't as bad as Dew had expected but the immediate warmth traveling through his chest up to his head startled him for a moment. As the second round was being poured out, Tiana started giving a little speech about how her mother had worked at the manor of a royal who spent all his money on parties and other pleasantries. Tiana had followed her footsteps and rose up in the ranks of servants and when the time came and the royal went broke, her mother had spent all her energy and money to get Tiana to the castle of the ruling royal family where she was now thriving as much as she could.