The screeching of a seagull. It was so loud, it was as if it was screeching directly into her ear.

Meia woke up. Half asleep, she pulled the blanket from her face.

Dim morning light gave the walls a pale tone. The smell of the sea came into the room through the tilted window. Grumbling, Meia rolled onto her other side and looked for the alarm clock on the table. As expected, it was early. In fact, it was still too early. Unfortunately, the family of seagulls that had taken up residence on the ledge below her window did not respect the quiet hours. Meia would tell someone, and she was about to, but they would surely solve the problem by throwing the nest down.

Meia stared into the void. The seagulls remained silent. They were probably already hunting again

Meia pulled the blanket back up. She wanted to sleep some more.

But now it was no longer possible. The clicking of the clockwork echoed through the room, right under the blanket, right into her ear, right into her head. It was unbearable. Time passed only by the second. It was like a reminder to get up anready, although she wanted to sleep. But it was no use. She could no longer sleep.

Defiantly, Meia threw the blanket off her as if it was all it's fault, then she stood up.

Three steps from the bed and she was at her desk chair. After all, her room was a room with short walking distances.

In general, it was rather modest. It reminded one of a castle room. The oppressive feeling was also similar. On one side, an unnecessary wall corner protruded into the room. The window was barred and could only be tilted. A bowl-shaped gas lamp with a bronze socket hung from the ceiling. It had burnt a shadow into the plaster all around, that's how long it had been hanging. By the door was an antique wardrobe, then came the corner of the wall, and squeezed between the corner and the window was a bunk bed. With the bunk bed, she effectively had two beds in the space of one, which were both not good. The mattresses were too thin. The bed was half in front of the window so she could look out to count sheep and get clean when it was windy and raining. That was one wall side of the room. On the other she had a desk with a chair, above it a shelf with her books and a young ivy plant. Meia called her table a desk, but it was actually hardly any bigger than the chair in front of it. When she opened a book, it was already well filled. Finally, by the door was a longcase clock that looked and sounded like it was the first one ever made. That was all the inventory she had at her disposal.

Meia switched off the alarm clock using a small switch and pushed it to the back of the table against the wall. The ringing was the last thing she wanted to hear right now.

Next, Meia grabbed her wash bag from the chair, slipped on in her slippers and left the room through the heavy door into a corridor. She hurried. With every step, cold stone penetrated through the soft soles to her feet. Once across the corridor, she went straight through the door opposite her room and entered a bathroom.

If you thought of a royal bath, then you had an idea of what it looked like. In contrast to her room, it was incredibly lavish and even had more space. The bathtub at the back was big enough for four people, built into the floor and with a panoramic window behind it. The washbasin was made of beautiful white stone with silver-grey veins. The taps on the washbasins were alloyed with real silver. It was obvious where the budget from her room had been used instead. Meia wouldn't have minded if it wasn't a shared bathroom. Important people might possibly use it if they strayed into the tower for some reason, so it had to be expensive. For Meia, this meant that she had to share it with her colleagues and always hope that they didn't block it. After all, it was the nicest room available to them. However, at this time of day they were still in the land of dreams and Meia had the bathroom all to herself. In fact, it was like that every morning. They always got up much later. But one should not misunderstand, the bathroom was definitely meant for the use of several people at the same time. The two of them also had no problem using it together, but they did not let Meia in with them. They always locked the door. At least the key was permanently installed in the door, otherwise they would probably take it with them. Meia's only advantage was that the bathroom was in front of her room. And that was a good thing. Walking up the cold stairs at night was not a pleasant experience.

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After meia had finished in the bathroom, she went back to her room. Once there, she sat down on the bed and dozed for a while.

She would next have to put on a dress, get her food from the canteen, have breakfast, then help in the canteen until late afternoon and only in the evening would she have free time for a few hours. After supper she would go to sleep and the next day would be the same again. The monotony was a little frustrating.

Meia grabbed a juice bottle that was by her bed. Bending down, she noticed black-grey clouds in the sky.

Rain would be bad. Meia heaved herself to the window to check the weather, but kept her knee on the mattress.

It did not look like it would rain, but the sun would not shine for a while either. It was half-baked weather.

It had been similar for the last few days. The rainy season was approaching. But in principle it did not really matter. The difference between rain and sun only determined how much work it would take to mop the floor in the canteen. The soldiers simply carried any dirt in with their shoes. If it was wet outside, they left their prints everywhere. The palace was covered with paving slabs all around. It was a mystery to Meia where they were getting the dirt from.

Meia took her arm for support and put the bottle to her mouth, but did not really drink. Mostly she nibbled on the neck of the bottle.

That the window did not open was a shame, because the view was the highlight of the room. The room was halfway up the back right clock tower of the palace. Directly below the window was a steep drop. Below were many many warehouses, then came a high wall with cannons, beyond that was the harbour with ships of all shapes and sizes and then came the vast sea. The mist stood between the cliffs on the horizon. The workers had been at it for some time. When did they have to get up? Meia continued to stare out of the window and watched the hustle and bustle for a while. The workers operated cranes, carriages drove from A to B, ships were loaded. Then suddenly the tower bell rang.

Meia was so startled that she dropped the bottle. Her first impulse was still to look at the alarm clock. Had she slept through the time?

The clock was only half past? Was it a mistake?

Meia gathered up her bottle and the bell rang again. Meia did not know what it meant. Normally it rang only once every hour.

Another bell rang out, then another and then it was all four. The bells never rang all at once.

Meia went to the door and poked her head into the hallway. At first glance, there was no one to be seen. There was no one on the stairs either. Meia listened and heard a few voices from downstairs, but the noise of the bells was too loud for her to be able to find out anything. Hastily she closed the door and ran back to the window.

Down on the city wall, there were soldiers running. The cannons were moving.

Meia looked for their target on the sea. At first glance she found nothing, but then she spotted something.

Black sails broke out of the fog and dragged white veils onto the sea.

~Pirates?~

.../ End Part