Beyond the Tower

The house is huge. Enormous. Perhaps, probably, bigger than Liliana's house even. Had I not been inside two palaces, I would have thought this manner the most majestic dwelling I'd ever seen.

Kind of insane that I have such high standards when three months past I was squatting in the desert next to a disgusting tree, but a guess a girl can change.

"It's big," says Liliana out loud, apparently having the same thoughts as I. Putting it into perspective, we really shouldn't be so surprised, so shocked. It's not as though we've never seen large buildings before. But something about Kamella's secrecy, her being forbidden to the ball, her skill in cooking, and her simple garb made me, apparently Liliana as well, think that she was a mere peasant living in a small home.

"No really?" I ask, somewhat sarcastically. "What a great investigator you are!"

She gives me a dirty look. "Perhaps she's part of the hired help? And her employer forbid her from attending Charnell's ball?"

I merely shrug my shoulders. "It's not wise to start making assumptions that might offend. I suppose we should just go in, and we'll find out soon enough. We ought to be happy that we have a place to get ready for the ball, at the least."

"The ball that has already started."

I shoot her a look and ascend the stairs leading to the front door. Raising my fist, I prepare to knock when to my surprise, the great wooden door swings open revealing Kamella on the other side. She's still dressed in the same simple brown frock from earlier, but from the pink, raw looking cleaner appearance on her light skin, I can tell she's bathed.

"Oh, good," she says. "You're here. Come in." She opens the door wider, and the Liliana and I follow her into the foyer, every bit as grand and intricate as the exterior of this vast manor.

She doesn't leave us much time to gawk though, instead leading us up a ornate spiraling staircase to an upstairs corridor. "Here's the washroom," she says, gesturing. "There's only one so you'll have to take turns bathing. Some rooms, here. You can just step inside to get dressed, but make sure that you don't touch anything, don't leave anything out of place. I mean, you two are my guests and it should be common courtesy to leave no sign that you were here, to leave everything as is. Take your time, take as much time as you'd like. Don't go looking for me; I'll be around. Come downstairs when you're done, and we'll be off to the palace. Okay? Okay wonderful."

With that, she pivots on heel and walks back down the hall we came from, leaving no time for a response. I'm about to ask her where she will be, but she's rounded the corner and is out of sight before my mouth is fully opened to speak. Instead, I turn to Liliana, whose face mirrors the confused expression I'm sure is plastered across my own features.

"For your sake, I'll give the benefit of doubt," says Liliana, shrugging her shoulders, "But even you cannot deny that that was suspicious. I'll bathe first; I take longer than you to get ready and despite what that peculiar girl said, I really would like to get to the ball as quickly as possible." And like Kamella, she slips away, this time into the washroom, leaving me there gawking in surprise.

I don't feel like trying our host's patience, so I don't snoop despite what I may want to do. Instead, I take to pacing the hall. When that gets boring, I sit down and lean against the wall. I reach into my bag and finger the dark blue ballgown I have prepared. It wasn't mine, it was a gift from Liliana, when she went to get her own. I've looked at it and it's thankfully a world better than that skies-awful fluorescent thing that she gave me my first day in Dawsburg. It will be by far the grandest thing I have ever worn.

After a moment, I remember that I have no shoes to wear. The only ones I've brought are the riding boots I'm currently wearing, the dusty, beat up, brown footwear that I've had on for weeks, ever since leaving the house of the dwarfs. Somehow, I don't think these qualify as appropriate ball wear, but there's nothing that can be done. Hopefully, my enormous skirt will conceal my feet. And I don't really expect to be out and dancing for most of the time. I'm really only going to see Snow, and Aysela. And I was going for Leon, but I really don't know anymore.