Egyptian Timewave

Chapter 33

Easing the heavy wooden door open, Abayomi slips through it and into the kitchen. The staff is bustling about, in full preparation for the meal later in the day. The sun is high in the sky, it's just before noon, and yet they're already preparing for dinner. With how they're moving so seamlessly, easily moving around and between each other despite how quickly they are moving - and carrying baskets and dishes and trays as well - she can easily believe that they do this on a daily basis.

It's a bit funny as well. She's used to helping her mother out with the cooking, she quite enjoys it, but it's only rarely that they actually spend the majority of the day cooking dinner. They don't have very many dishes that take that long to prepare, and they save such time-consuming dishes for occasions like Eid.

But every day here, they're working around the clock all day, every day. It must be exhausting. And it is, she can see the drawn lines on people's faces, the flyaway hairs, and the slight shakiness in some people's hands where they have been carrying heavy things all day. The door behind her swings open to someone's grumbling.

"Every day I bring the food up, every day he takes it! I make sure that the things he likes are on there. But today? No, the prince sends me back because the food disgusts him. Excuse me? I know he is the prince but still, it's a lot of work carrying things there! These trays are heavy. And he wants me to bring up- Oh!"

The girl stumbles to the side, almost into Abayomi, who quickly reaches out to steady her, balancing the tray between them. It's the servant girl who brings up breakfast for Anippe and, apparently, Abayomi every morning.

"You alright?"

The other girl gives her a sheepish smile. "Yes I'm fine now. Thank you for helping, I do not believe that I would have liked cleaning everything up if this tray had fallen."

"Of of course, I know the feeling. I've had to clean up plenty of messes before, and my lady often knocks things over when she's still waking up." Not entirely true, Anippe has only knocked things over twice, but the pattern is there and it does help keep her cover.

The other girl giggles. "Really? Like what?"

"She's knocked over an entire breakfast tray, some of her make-up, me one time." The time Abayomi was knocked over was more her fault than Anippe's, but the princess had still tried to apologize for it several times over.

The girl's eyes widen. "I remember bringing another tray up, is that what happened?" She pauses. "By the gods, how did it take this long to remember you?"

Abayomi laughs. "I don't know, you do see me every morning."

The other girl makes a face at her and moves to take the tray fully into her arms again. "I have to get a new tray for the prince, but we could take when I get back? Assuming the princess has no need of you, of course."

Abayomi shrugs. "She gave me the rest of the day off, so . . . I can wait for you."

The other girl beams. "Great! I'll be right back. There's a table at the back, if you'd prefer to sit down."

With that, she hurries away, the tray secure in her arms. Abayomi can see her deposit the tray full of food next to the counter where dinner is being prepared, and converse with someone kneading dough. The man nods and says something to those around him, hands flying into a series of motions, and several other members of the kitchen staff rush over to remove things from the tray and swap them out for new ones.

It's only been a few moments before every dish has been entirely replaced with something new and the girl picks up the tray again, muscles straining at the weight. When the girl passes by Abayomi, she catches a glimpse of the tray's contents and frowns slightly. Now, she may be biased.

She's only really been exposed to what is brought up for Anippe, and what she saw on this tray when it was initially brought back, but the contents of it now don't look like normal breakfast foods for this time, and lunch isn't as common. There's too much meat on the tray, and a wide variety of it too.

Why would the prince want so much meat? It's quite strange. Still, Abayomi doesn't comment on it, and she even holds the door open for the other girl. Once the door closes behind her, Abayomi heads over to the table that was mentioned to her and sinks into one of the seats. Someone comes over to sit across from her, an older woman with flour caked over her clothing and dusting her arms.

"You shouldn't be here."

Abayomi blinks. "What?"

"Princess, you have duties. You cannot come down to the kitchens in the middle of the day, no matter how much you might want your treats."

Abayomi blinks again. "I'm not the princess. I know we look quite alike, but really?"

The woman raises a hand to cover her mouth. "Oh! My apologies. You look almost exactly like her."

Abayomi laughs. "No harm done. On my first day of work here a medjay thought I was the princess as well."

"Really? That must be an interesting story."

"It truly was. He all but dragged me to her chambers. To be fair, that it where I needed to go, I came here to be a handmaiden for my cousin, but still."

"Your cousin?"

Abayomi shrugs, as if self-conscious. "I'm a distant cousin of the royal family, but nowhere near important. To tell the truth, lesser nobility isn't as far above the commoners as you might believe."

The difference between lesser nobility, higher nobility, and the common class still corresponds to classes in her own time. Middle-class in modern time isn't rich, they're far closer to those of lesser means than billionaires, even if people might look at them thinking otherwise, and it's the same in this time. Sure, they can support themselves, but they can't just drop cash for any purpose - especially medical expenses in her own country - and expect to be perfectly fine.

The woman nods like she understands, but Abayomi can see in her eyes that she doesn't. She's always looked at the nobility one way, and now Abayomi is telling her to look at it differently. "I see."

Abayomi shrugs. "It's alright if you don't. Do you want to hear the rest of the story?"

The woman smiles at her and motions for her to continue.

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Hmm, what do you think was going on with the Prince's breakfast? Why the change? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out