Chapter 2 : First Day
Out of a sudden during my sleeping, I felt something rubbing my body…Somehow the rubbing became more intense and I jolted awake, focusing my vision…It was just Noa, who tried to wake me up…
As I opened my eyes, Noa immediately said, "You shall get up, and wash your face…"
I got up and sat at the edge of the bed, I asked, "Where can I wash my face?"
"Behind the quarter, you will find a hand pump…You may use it…"
"May you guide me?" I replied,
Noa just nodded, and after she nodded, I said, "Lovely and thank you…"
I stood up from the bed. Noa started to guide me to behind the quarter as I followed her through the hallway of the quarter. I could see that everyone was walking around to get ready. I saw some of them helping each other, like grooming their hair and taking turns. As I looked closer, there were not enough combs—wood combs, precisely. Looking at all of that, it felt like I was the last person to get ready…
When we arrived at the behind of the quarter, I could see a hand pump and a bucket of water. Noa motioned for me to wash my hands and face. I could feel the cool water refreshing my skin as I splashed it on my face…
~~~
We went back into my room, and I tried to change my clothes…I opened the wardrobe…
Suddenly, "May I see your clothes in your wardrobe?" Asked Noa…
"Why?"
Suddenly, Noa dashed into the front of my wardrobe and swept me…I found it irritating. "Hei!! What are you doing?"
She was rummaging through my clothes without any explanation…She not only rummaged my clothes; she even threw some of my clothes on the floor… I felt a mix of confusion and frustration as she continued to rummage through my clothes, not caring about the mess she was creating…
Finally, she stopped and turned her face towards me…She said, "There is status among us, and norms among us…The clothes that are on the floor aren't suitable for you right now, you are prohibited from wearing those clothes, and the clothes that are in the wardrobe right now are suitable for you…"
"Why? Why couldn't I wear those clothes?" As I pointed at the mess of my clothes from what she was doing…
"As I said, there is status among us and norms among us…You are from the lowest status among the servants…You may wear the clothes in the wardrobe; rather, wear the clothes on the floor…" After she said that, she just walked into the door, and left me. As she was at the door, she said, "Remember, it is important to adhere to the rules and expectations of our status and norms among us…Hope you can follow these norms and our status system!!" Suddenly she took a small glance towards me and said, "Your clothes that you wear right now, don't wear them again, and thrash them among the clothes on the floor…" With that, she closed the door…
What were the norms and the status, she had talked about? I didn't know there was a norm and status among maids…Yet, somehow I sensed Noa was more experienced in how she behaved and spoke. Calm and steady, as how I looked at her…However, what had she done to me, was it harassment or bullying towards me?
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As we left the quarter, I looked closer at Noa. How she was walking, and compared it with others around the quarter, they were walking like common people, yet her walking seemed to have a pace of rhythm as if she had been trained in a particular style or had a natural grace. It was different than the other servants that lived in the quarter with her…
The path she was guiding it, surrounded a lot of these wall plants…We kept walking, which made me wonder how vast this house was…
After all of her path guidance, I could see a door from a distance…Noa opened the door, and we went into the door. As I took my first step inside, I could hear a lot of smell. The smell was overwhelming, a mix of various scents that seemed to linger in the air. I didn't know what all of these smells were.
I kept following Noa, as we lingered and walked through the hallway inside. I kept seeing a lot of other servants walking around with their own tasks; some were carrying a basin of water and a basin of clothes, I guessed they would do the laundry, some were carrying sacks, and even one woman pushed the rolling barrel. The bustling activity in the hallway made it clear that this was a busy and noble household, of how many servants there were.
I looked at Noa, who guided me to the place, and I was surprised. As I followed her, stepping down the stairs, slowly the air became heavy, and I could smell a lot of scent. Somehow the smell could be sweet, yet somehow I could smell a bad or rotten smell.
Finally, I took my step on the ground floor of this room. I looked around, as the scents' question had been answered, they were the scents of herbs and flowers. Shelves lined the walls, laden with jars and bottles of various shapes and sizes. I noticed there was a wooden desk and chair with some candles above it.
Noa walked to the desk, in front of it, she took something out of her apron. In a moment, she lit the candle with fire. The flickering flame illuminated the room, casting a warm glow on the shelves filled with herbs and flowers. Somehow all the rotten smell had been gone, changed with sweet scents.
I could see Noa waving to me, as she wanted me to get closer to her… As I approached her, I saw some sheets of paper with a lot of words and drawings on the table.
She said, "For now, you will start to work in this room…"
I asked, "May I know what this room is?"
"This is still room…Your main job is to make herbs, perfumes, even a jam…" She pointed stack of papers on the table, "These sheet papers can guide you, which flower and with the scent that is useful or dangerous to make it an herb or perfume."
"Yet, I don't know anything about herbs, perfumes, or anything else."
"Ms Petra has assigned me to look over you for a week…So I will always be by your side for a week…Guide you and teach you which flowers and scents are beneficial for making herbs, perfumes, and jams."
"What do I need to do first?"
"Now, you need to train your nose to recognise different scents and their properties. This will be crucial in determining the right combination of flowers and scents for your creations."
She began to take some stalks of flowers that hung from the ceiling and handed them to me. There were various flowers with different colours…Some of them I immediately recognised, as I already knew the flowers…
She started to explain the scent in words and brought the flower to me for me to smell the scent. As I inhaled the fragrant aroma of each flower, she described its unique properties… After some minutes of inhaling some of the scent, she told me to take a scent test already, which I just inhaled some of the flowers twice or maybe thrice…
Out of a sudden, she took a bundle full of various flowers from all the hanging bundles with her right hand, and held it…
I saw it as weird because all the stalk flowers were on the table, why did she take another bundle…I asked, "For what, you need another bundle?"
She ignored it, and just said with a calm tone, "Closed your eyes!!"
I closed my eyes as she instructed me… As I closed my eyes, a scent started to kiss and touch my nose. It was a sweet scent that made me calm and relaxed, and it was a little bit fresh…
"You may tell me, what is the flower?" Asked Noa…
I said without hesitation, "It's a lavender…"
Yet, Noa didn't say anything after my answer. However, immediately, another scent started to hug my nose. It had a strong woody aroma, made me remember when she explained one flower that had an aroma like pine wood…
"Again, what is the flower?" Asked Noa…
Woody aroma, it should be "It's a rosemary…"
Again, she didn't say anything about whether my answer was right or not. Another scent quickly kissed my touch. The scent confused me; it had a strong citrus aroma; however, some of the flowers that Noa explained had a citrus aroma…I didn't know what this flower was.
"You may tell me the answer…" Asked Noa.
I paused and was hesitant to answer…
"May you tell me the answer?"
I answered, "Lemon Balm…" With quick, I heard the sound of *smack*.
Out of the blue, I didn't know what had happened. What I knew was that I felt a pain in my cheeks…I opened my eyes, and as I reached up to touch my cheeks, I realised that Noa had slapped me with the bundle of flowers in her right hand. I looked at the bundle of flowers that she held. There were some stalks of flowers that had some thorns.
"Ar-are you just slapped me with that bundle?" I asked with stammered and shocked, "Why you did do that?"
She just stared at me and said "Like I said before, there is a norm among us… and a status among us…So may we continue?" Her tone was so calm, yet somehow I felt her dominance, even worse as she said, "It's not that hurt…May we continue? Or may I report your behaviour?"
Surely, the slap wasn't particularly painful, like a sting, but it was enough to catch me off guard…Luckily, the stalks of roses didn't touch my skin when I was slapped.
I found she had just bullied me and with the reason of the norm among us…Yet I couldn't do anything. I quickly closed my eyes as she had instructed, feeling a mix of confusion and slight fear of the wrong answer…