A/N: For many months now, I've been watching a lot of operas on Youtube, because I just happened to have a sudden interest in opera. It's true that they can sometimes be a little overdramatic, but the storyline is usually pretty good, and I enjoy them. The first one I ever watched (and one of my favorites) was Mozart's Don Giovanni, and in this story, I've kind of based the Lady Floor on Don Giovanni's character.
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"Hurry up, Olzon, will you?" Lady Floor called. "I don't want to be late."
Anette sighed as she picked up her pace to catch up with her mistress. The Lady Floor wasn't a completely terrible person to work for. She was friendly, and didn't get angry too often, not to mention she paid her servants fairly. But being a lady-in-waiting to her wasn't the easiest thing.
Lady Floor had never married. She also had no brothers, and her parents were both dead, so she handled her family's lands and fortune all on her own. No one could say she did a bad job of it, either. Her various friends and acquaintances did sometimes wonder if she would ever marry, but it was not very likely. She had a very wandering eye, you could say, for men and women alike.
"Well, come along, then," she said in an impatient tone. "I want to get to this ball on time, or at least fashionably late."
"I believe it is more of a garden party," Anette corrected her.
"Yes, of course." She waved a hand in dismissal. "Doesn't really matter what sort of party it is, anyway. I'm sure dressed appropriately, anyway."
"It should be suitable, my lady." Anette knew it was, because she had picked out the dress that morning, knowing her mistress wouldn't be paying attention to what sort of party it was. She knew what it was her lady was interested in.
"Do you have any idea who's going to be there, Olzon?" Floor asked.
"I'm afraid I don't know. People you are at least acquainted with, I should think."
She nodded. "I suppose so. Ah. Here we are now. Wait." She held her arm. "Stop there. Now, look over there."
Floor was gesturing to a black-haired woman Anette had never seen before. "Who is she, my lady?"
"That, my dear Olzon, is the Countess Tarja Cabuli, nee Turunen. The Count's an absolute bore, but the Countess...well, she is something different. Now, I want you to wait over there with the carriage. Wait for a signal from me."
As Floor went off towards the party, Anette returned to the carriage and got up on the seat. Most wealthy people in those days had a coachman to drive them around, but Floor could often get very skeptical and suspicious of people, and there were some things she only trusted Anette with, such as driving her here and there, just in case she ever had to make a hasty retreat.
She craned her neck to see her mistress talking with this Countess Cabuli, but she couldn't tell whether the woman was interested in Floor. She supposed this was Floor's new interest. Her lover changed so often that Anette had simply given up trying to remember who they all were. But Floor did keep a book, a book with many names in it, men and women alike.
Anette wasn't there waiting for much longer before Floor returned.
"Might I ask how it went?" she asked.
Floor huffed. "She laughed at me. Unbelievable. She told me she knew exactly who I am and that she'll have none to do with me. And then she said she was going to find her husband."
"But perhaps she was only nervous," Anette pointed. "She may fancy you."
Floor paused at the thought. "Perhaps. It could just take a little convincing." She sighed and got into the carriage. "Drive on, Olzon. I'd like to just go home."
Anette wasn't sure if the Countess Cabuli actually was interested in becoming the next lover of the Lady Floor; she really only said it to make her feel a little better. The idea of the woman telling her mistress off like that at party made her smile and chuckle. Sometimes Floor was just a little too full of herself.
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