“What? Oh, h-hello,” the servant said, her eyes widening when she got a good look at the handsome knight.
“Greetings, fair lady. It is great fortune that has brought you, maiden with eyes of morning dew, across my path,” Lancelot said.
The young woman grappled with her sack of flour and stared wide-eyed at Lancelot. “Thank you,” she said.
Behind Lancelot, Britt rolled her eyes. “I apologize for my companion’s lack of decorum. It is entirely rude of us to speak with you while you carry such a burden. Please, allow me,” she said, taking the sack from the maid. She slung it over her shoulder and offered the maid a full smile.
The young woman’s arms went slack as she stared at Britt, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
“Where shall I carry it to?” Britt asked.
“This way,” the maid said, tottering off to a side door of the castle keep.
Britt and Lancelot followed in her wake, slipping into the bustling kitchens. The maid led them to a pantry, where Britt placed the flour on a shelf.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I am pleased to have been able to help you,” Britt said. “I ask that you forgive our ignorance, but my friend and I are looking for a storage room. We’ve been told to fetch a spare table for some outdoor business, but as we are servants for our visiting master we are not versed with the castle Camelgrance,” Britt said.
“I think the storage rooms are on the second floor. I’m a kitchen girl, so I don’t properly know. Sorry,” the young woman said.
“There is no need to apologize. You have sent us down the right path. Thank you,” Britt said, offering the girl another smile before she bent forward in a slight but stately bow.
“We are in your debt,” Lancelot added.
The girl turned bright red and attempted a curtsey.
“Come, friend. We should find a table,” Britt said, grabbing Lancelot by the shoulders and steered him from the pantry.
Britt and Lancelot slunk from the kitchens, wandering until they found a servants’ stairway to the second floor.
“Great, we’ll need to find more detailed instructions. This corridor alone has twenty doors. If someone sees us going through all of them they’re going to notify a guard,” Britt said.
“Let us peer beyond the corner and see if there is someone who might be able to help us,” Lancelot suggested.
Britt shrugged and followed the younger man. They rounded a corner and found a girl jumping up and down, grabbing at a ledge. A white cat was perched on the ledge, watching the bouncing girl with feline interest and a twitching tail.
“Wyne, come down here you foolish cat. If My Lady finds out you’ve run off again she won’t be happy,” the girl pleaded with the cat.
“I beg your leave, My Lady, but if we could speak to you for a moment?” Lancelot called.
The girl whirled around. She was young, probably 15 or 16, and wore markedly better clothes than the kitchen girl. She was probably a lady in waiting based on her braided hair and clean face.
“Good afternoon,” she said, bobbing in a curtsey as she smiled at Lancelot.
“Good afternoon to you, beautiful maiden,” Lancelot said.
“What did you want to discuss?” the girl asked, shyly clasping her arms behind her back.
“I find myself in the gravest need of your sage advice and knowledge, My Lady,” Lancelot said, batting his long eyelashes.
The girl held a hand to her mouth to cover her grin. “Oh?”
“Indeed. The stars have aligned to bring us together, so that you may have mercy upon me, your lowly servant, and help me in my time of need.”
Britt heaved her eyes to the ceiling as Lancelot beat around the bush. “What he means to say is that we are in need of some direction,” Britt said, walking around Lancelot to draw closer to the ledge. She extended her hand and reached the cat on the ledge. She let it sniff her hand before she picked it off the ledge and held it against her chest. Britt briefly rubbed under its chin, getting a purr from it, before she offered the cat to the girl.
“We have been sent to gather a table from a storage room for our master, who is visiting. Sadly we are not familiar with Camelgrance, and have been woefully unable to find such a room,” Britt said as the girl took the cat.
When the ladies maid looked up at her, Britt flashed the girl with her most charming smile.
“Oh,” the girl said.
Britt waited patiently for several moments. When a reply was not forthcoming she ventured, “Do you know, perhaps, where a table may be stored?”
The girl shook herself. “For certain. This way, if you would,” she said, holding the cat with one arm as she led the way. She stopped in front of a plain looking door and opened it. Light from the hallway pierced the darkness of the room, letting Britt see stacks of wooden furniture.
There were roughly cut benches, square tables, chests, wall hangings, and stools. There was not one circular or round table.