As she showered again, Sharna reluctantly decided that another scan of the house using her mana was out of the question. She hadn’t worked out how she had triggered Myra’s wards yet, but Myra would definitely demand an explanation if it happened again. Sharna absolutely did NOT want to discuss this morning’s events with anyone.
Quinn had left immediately after Sharna had finished with the sauna, to go and check out the surrounding neighbourhood further.
Sharna looked at herself in the mirror before she went out, pleased that the outfit she had grabbed as she snuck out of her room was a little less skin-revealing than her nightie. While her clothing choices didn't lean toward modest or unassuming, some days she liked to use her clothing as a shield.
Sharna's tastes tended towards bright colours and interesting textures, and today she was in a pink blouse with sheer organza sleeves and a long red silk wrap skirt. Her red cheeks had faded to their normal pink, and she had put her strawberry blonde hair into a loose bun to keep it out of her face ready for work.
She had already placed her toiletries into the cupboard that Gogo had indicated the night before, and bundled her dirty clothes to take back upstairs.
Marjorie waved good morning to Sharna as she headed upstairs, she had already started laying out their breakfast on the sideboard for everyone to dish up whenever they were ready. Breakfast was anytime between 8 and 9:30, but Gogo had told her that the kitchen was always available if they got desperately hungry.
As Sharna headed up the stairs, she was greeted by Eliza on her way down to the shower. She let her know that Gogo and Gabby were still asleep so Sharna just dumped her clothes outside her bedroom door and went and dished herself up some breakfast.
Marjorie was reading while eating her breakfast when Sharna arrived, and put her book away briefly as Sharna joined her. They chatted inconsequentially about the weather and the food, and Marjorie returned to her book. Sharna leaned back with her coffee and looked out the window, enjoying the quiet of the morning.
Eventually Myra and Eliza joined them and Marjorie returned to the kitchen.
After Myra had eaten and grabbed herself a coffee, she turned her attention to Sharna, “I think it’s probably a good idea if you just watch the work we do for the palace first up this morning. We have a workshop in the front garden, connected to the house, that we specifically use for palace work. There's a locked compartment by the door that we leave the finished image-work in, so that they can collect it any time they have staff in the area without having to disturb us.”
“That’s very thoughtful of them,” said Sharna, raising her eyebrows in surprise. The royal family were not well known for their consideration.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Myra smiled, “yes, very. As you may be aware, they are extremely well known for the excellent functions they hold to entertain other visiting royals and the wealthy. The fashionable and well-remarked linen supplies for these functions are regularly updated through our efforts.”
Sharna nodded, understanding immediately, that made a lot more sense. They lived in an unusually picturesque kingdom, much of the taxes gathered were spent on beautification projects rather than healthcare, basic infrastructure, or governance.
Myra continued, “they also leave all the new fabric for us in the compartment when they take the finished pieces, along with a list of basic requirements for their upcoming events. While we work together to create our own designs here, we are given some guidance about their preferred artistic direction.” She shrugged, “and the event planner takes all credit for any designs we come up with.”
Sharna found this last point maddening, but not surprising. There was a long history of Masters taking credit for their apprentice’s work, and those that commissioned the work taking credit for the Master’s final products.
“However,” said Myra, leaning forward, suddenly serious, “I really want to stress that this is the only area of our work where we let this happen.”
“Where you let what happen?” asked Sharna, confused.
“Where we let anyone take credit for anyone else's work.”
Eliza cut in, “it's true. Myra and Anna help us get set up, source materials, link with purchasers and then let us go. The place I started at, before I came here, took half of my earnings before paying for materials, and all of the credit.. Working here is the best!”
“Please don't be misled,” said Myra, appearing embarrassed by Eliza's enthusiasm, “Anna and I are not doing this entirely out of the kindness of our hearts. We are paid well by the palace for training image-manifestation apprentices, as well as a third of the money earned for each of your finished pieces. They also cover the pay for Marjorie and our cleaner, Beau. So you can see that we don't have the need to steal from our apprentices.”
“No one NEEDS to steal from apprentices,” said Gogo cheekily, appearing suddenly with Gabby and Anna in tow and tangling her arms around Myra’s neck in an awkward hug. Her sudden arrival startled Myra, causing her to spill her coffee on her pants.
Myra shot Gogo a dark look. Looking completely unrepentant, Gogo said “it's no wonder that we love you and Anna so much.”
Myra couldn’t entirely keep the smile off her face as she gently untangled herself from Gogo, patting her on the head as she excused herself to go upstairs and change.
“Made it!” Said Gogo gleefully, dishing herself up a large breakfast, “I had to wake up Gabby but Anna has already had a bath!” She looked at Anna slyly, “so decadent for so early in the day.”
Anna rolled her eyes and served herself some coffee, clearly used to Gogo's antics, Gabby sat beside her with just a piece of toast.
“How long have you two been up?” Gogo asked Sharna and Eliza.
“I've been up for an hour, but Sharna was already showered and dressed when I was heading to the shower.” Eliza turned to Sharna, “did you have a sauna this morning too?”
“Yes, it was so amazing. I'm glad there's one here, my grandmother had one too and I used to use it every morning.”
Eliza smiled “I might join you tomorrow morning then if that's okay? I just lay awake in bed this morning thinking about getting up.”
“Well I will be using that time in the morning to get more beauty sleep” Gogo said, flourishing grandly.
“Well, you could certainly use the extra help,” Eliza dodged grinning, as Gogo reached across the table to swat at her.
“Girls, girls, can’t we just enjoy our breakfast in peace?” asked Anna gently, waving her coffee at them. “And Gogo, we’re all heading to the workshop in about two minutes so you had better get a move on if you’re planning on eating all of that.”
Looking mildly panicked at the amount of food she had left, Gogo started hurriedly eating, and Anna chuckled and went to get herself another coffee.