A Day is a Year in the King's Court -2-

Here is #2 of my story....

A Day is a Year in the King's Court: Ungracious Arrival at Court

The following days had gone by only too quickly, and before she knew it, her carriage was drawing near the Castle. It was HUGE! She had always thought of her father's castle as being immense, which it was. Sir. Michael had the largest castle within thirty miles. Many of the villagers houses were shielded within the fortress walls, and their cottages spilled out, surrounding the castle. The town within the castles walls spanned a quarter mile deep, and an eighth wide, and the town surrounding the castle was a mile wide and a half deep, and there were mile, and miles of farmland, and pastures around the town. Truly, her father's fief WAS large..... but THIS. The city outside of the fortress spanned miles, they traveled two miles before reaching the fortress gates, and within the castle was an expansion of the city. Not a small town, but a busy, thriving city. It was another mile and a half before they reached the castle gate, and Catherine's head was beginning to ache from the stink and noise of the city. When her carriage came to a stop, Catherine was helped down and steadied out of the carriage by Nicholas, one of the guards who had escorted her to the palace. Catherine took a deep breath- the air was not so offensive her in the inner courtyard, thanked Nicholas for his help, and looked around her. She could not, and did not want to take it all in so instead, focused her attention on the young pageboy who had stationed himself in front of her waiting for her to give him her attention.
"Are you to show me to my room, young man?"
The boy blushed at the kindly smile and form of address the pretty young country lady gave him, and could only nod. At a gesture from Catherine, the pageboy started off through the maze of corridors that were so familiar to him, but which were quite overwhelming to Catherine.
They soon arrived at what Catherine assumed to be her mother's apartment. Upon entering, Catherine's spirits fell. It was only one medium-sized room, and though Catherine admired the elegance and size of the couch, she could not see a bed anywhere!
"This is a rather small apartment, is it not?" Catherine would not have made the remark except that she was tired, and disappointed.
"But my lady!", the pageboy was quite genuinely astonished, "You have one of the largest apartments in the castle!" The young man had thought that this country lady would be pleased and overwhelmed by the size of her rooms.
Catherine merely sighed, sat down on the sofa, and gave the a tired, please-explain-what-you-mean look.
He went to a door on the side of the room and explained.
"Your chamber is through this door, separate from this room, which is for entertaining guests and any other activities you might want to engage in during the day." He moved across to the other side of the room and continued, "And your library is through this door, and your study through the door within the library."
There was a moment of silence and then Catherine quickly stood and went into the library, admiring the books. As she ran her hand along a shelf of books, the pageboy, feeling awkward, and not knowing what else to say stated, "No one else not even the king has a private library in their room. Although I heard that it is because this was once a small dining room that one of your ancestors turned into a library because they enjoyed reading so much."
And then then poor boy, having felt he said too much and had behaved inappropriately, fell into a miserable silence. Catherine sensed his feelings and asked, "What is your name, young man?"
The boy blushed, and answered, "My name is Mark , milady."
"And where do you come from, Mark? Does your family live in the castle?"
"No milady. My father is a blacksmith in the city, and my mother works as a seamstress whenever my father's business gets slow.... but that is not often."
"How nice. I am very glad to meet you, Mark. And I am happy to have you as my pageboy. That is, I am assuming that you have been assigned as my pageboy for the length of my stay... Am I correct?"
"Yes milady."
Catherine picked a copper out of her bag and gave it to Mark.
"This is in gratitude for your assistance, Mark. And if you would be so good as to give me a short tour of the most important places in the castle, I shale have more for you."
Mark stood awkwardly, and nearly had found his voice when Catherine decided a further explanation of her request was needed.
"Not today, of course. I imagine that you have other things to do, and I certainly have. However, how would tomorrow morning do for you? You might knock about eight tomorrow morning?"
Mark was startled and responded without thinking, "You will be up by eight, milady!?"
Catherine laughed, and the poor boy blushed yet again.
"Indeed I shall be up, well before then. I trust that you will also?"
"Oh yes, milady! Well before. Only.... it is only that, most ladies...."
Catherine understood and said, "That suits me well. If most ladies are not up, then we shall be left alone while you show me the castle."
Catherine heard laughing coming from her chamber and commented, "Who is that in my chamber?", but did not wait for an answer before going to investigate. Poor Mark wanted to be helpful and tell her, but unfortunately was flustered by the question, and was left standing alone in the library. By the time he caught up with Catherine she had already discovered the source of the noise, and was standing, seething in quite the most dignified yet indignant silence that Mark had ever seen. The source of the commotion, was three maids who were unpacking Catherine's bags. Catherine had never seen maids treat a lady's things in a less reverent manner. They had been holding up one of her dresses, laughing at it when she walked in, and others of her dresses were strewn on the floor. Only two of her ten dresses were hung in the closet. After what Catherine considered to be the appropriate amount of silence, she demanded, "Who do you think you are, treating my things like this? Did you believe me to be no better than a wench? Did you think that because I am not from court that I would not notice that my dresses were wrinkled and dusty!? I do not care if you find my clothing to be quaint and out of fashion. You have no right to treat them as you have. And if you had been taught manners properly, you would not treat clothes thus, whether they belong to a Duchess or a chambermaid."
The maids were mortified, and frightened. And Catherine did not notice, but someone had entered the room behind her while she was scolding the young women.