Chapter 5: An Old Story of a Witch (1)

Being attended by a maid was not an uncommon occurrence for Naavah. However, having to be naked in front of a stranger, was definitely embarrassing. Her cheeks became so red, that the maid asked her if she caught a cold.

“Oh, no. I, uh,” said Naavah, rubbing her palms, and biting her lower lip.

“My lady, please don’t by shy. From this day forward, I will be your personal maid. I hope that you will take good care of me.”

Taking notice of Naavah’s uneasiness, she said something to reassure her, while preparing the water and testing it with her elbow to make sure it was of a specific likeable temperature for her new master.

“Of course. Can you, perhaps, uh, tell me your name?”

“It’s Linda, my lady. But you don’t need to concern yourself with such trivial matters like my name,” said the maid, avoiding Naavah’s gaze.

“It’s not like that,” said Naavah, pressing her lips together.

Even before arriving at Fyodor’s manor, Naavah wished to have a close relationship with her maid. It was not something that any of the other noble ladies considered, yet she believed that servants deserve to be treated with respect as well; maybe it was due to the harsh and bad treatment she had received up to that moment, or maybe it was her different opinion, but either way, she didn’t want to treat Linda poorly. And the first step to accomplish this was to know and address her by her name. Thereby, she tried to think of a way to express herself without being misunderstood, but before she could make up her mind, Linda had already led her to the metal bathtub and began to wash her body with excessive care. The maid had a light and gentle touch, in an attempt to make her lady comfortable. The soap emitted a strong sweet scent and lather began to gather around Naavah’s body. She felt engulfed in a sea of white, letting her hair float in the warm water. She felt wonderful. It was different from the way others acted toward her in Dargan’s household; she remembered that the only product the maids used to clean her was of poor quality, and always irritated her sensitive skin, along with the harshness of the maids gestures while washing her. After she got out of the bathtub, her skin was always red and unpleasant to the touch, and she couldn’t sleep all night because of it, but no one was even remotely interested.

“How are you feeling, my lady? Is it to your liking?”

“Oh, yes! Of course. What is the soap made of? It is so pleasant and smells divine.”

“It’s made out of roses, oranges and vanilla. It was bought from a prestigious apothecary from the Hocklend’s land. They specialized themselves in making flower-scented soaps.”

“It would be nice if we could go buy more someday. And maybe try other varieties as well,” said Naavah with a slight smile, approaching the lather with her nose.

“I believe that the lord will give his approval for a departure there. He also has some business with them, and it wouldn’t be a problem if he will take you with him.”

Running her hands through the lather, Naavah bit her lip and made the courage to ask about what interested her the most.

“Perhaps do you know if the lord mentioned anything about, uh, the marriage?”

“Oh, yes! He was thrilled and couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful, intelligent, and confident you are, and how many things you will accomplish once you get here,” said Linda, smiling with all her heart.

“Confident.”

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Naavah smiled bitterly at the idea. She was never confident in her own abilities, nor her looks; every time when a party or a ball was around the corner, she would make up excuses not to attend because of the fear of not being liked by others, or being the main subject for gossips and even harassment. It was a quality that always interfered with her future actions and her own perspective on society. The fact that Fyodor thought of her being confident, was disillusional in her mind. She was afraid of disappointing him, though it was inevitable, she thought. Hence, in the end, this had brought a feeling of sorrow in her heart.

“I truly hope that he will be gentle with you tonight,” said Linda while stirring into a bowl full of herbs and some rose water that was good for Naavah’s possible irritations.

“Gentle? With what?” asked Naavah with wide eyes and curiosity.

“With your first night. Me and the other staff members had many conversations with him about this, and we hope it wasn’t in vain.”

“Our first night?” asked Naavah frowning without a clue about what her maid was talking about.

“Don’t you... I mean, the first night is crucial for a marriage. It involves having an intimate relationship with your spouse, that will determine the way the marriage will be like in the future,” explained Linda, trying not to show her bewilderment.

She was surprised that her lady did not know about the first night between a newly married couple. It was a tradition and a necessity in every social hierarchy, and people often told their children about the importance of this act and its prospective for what was to come in the future regarding the couple’s type of relationship. However, she still explained all this to Naavah with the utmost care. It was, after all, her duty to inform, stand by and help the lady of the house about and with everything. Although she could not feel lighthearted about the effect this new finding may have on her lady. She also did her best to explain how two people have intercourse with each other, so that Naavah would know what to expect.

And indeed, Linda was right; for Naavah, this was something completely unknown and terrifying. She began to feel dizzy and her breathing became shorter than usual. She cupped her cheeks with both hands and endeavored to calm the heartbeats that were ringing so loudly in her ears. Ubertina never said such things to her, and with trembling hands, she tried to caress her own shoulders.

“I read about this. Yes, it was a book with dark brown covers. It is something every couple does, for procreation. It has been written that it is also pleasing. It will be fine, it will be fine. Fyodor is sweet and he was considerate when we first met and, uh, he will be the same now. It is good. I can do this,” she thought, attempting to compose herself.

“My lady, hold your head like this so I can wash your hair.”

While adopting the exact position her personal maid showed her, Naavah tried to think of anything else to get rid of the scary feeling that started to spread within her. It was something she always did when needed, yet sometimes it didn’t worked as expected; this was one of those times.

Coming out of the bathtub, Naavah hold her chest with both hands and looked at her own feet. Linda gasped and remained silent, watching her trembling lady. She closed her eyes tightly and hoped for the best. She dried her black hair, combed it, and wiped her body with a towel, then helped her to put on the white lingerie that had been prepared in advance for tonight’s event. It was a terrible sight for Linda to see how badly Naavah’s hands were shaking, and she began to think that her lady was going to have a heart attack soon. She tried to talk about the village, what their most famous apothecaries were, some nice shops she’d seen, how she couldn’t wait for her lady to make a name for herself, but Naavah didn’t responded with anything more than “Yes”, “Really?”, “Thank you!”.

After all the preparations were done, Naavah was sitting on the bed with a hazy look in her eyes. She was detaching herself from everything. The last thing she heard as if in a dream before Fyodor’s arrival was Linda wishing her luck and assuring her that things will be going well. Her hands were sweaty and her body numb. Then, she heard a low-pitched and welcoming voice from the doorway.

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