Ildri knocked on the door gently.  A woman a few years older than Anya opened it.  "Is Lady Theresa awake?" Ildri asked quietly.

"She is," agreed the woman.

"Have you met Hanna yet?" Ildri asked Anya.

"Not yet."

"Are you Anya?" Hanna wondered.  Anya looked for any sign of resentment on the other woman's face, and was surprised to find none.  She was partially replacing her, yet she seemed quite unbothered by it.  Anya felt worse.

"Yes, I am.  Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too, Anya.  Here, I'll take that tray, Ildri."  Ildri passed the tray to the maid.

"I'd better get back to the kitchen.  Chef'll have my head.  See you later," Ildri said with a little wave.

Hanna smiled at Anya.  "Please, bring the tray in here.  Lady Theresa, we've got your food."  Anya followed Hanna into the bedroom.

Lady Waldwick was already dressed and seated at a small table, flipping through a book.  Hanna set down one tray and then took the other from Anya.  It seemed that all the food was for Lady Waldwick.  She was not a large woman, and Anya would have suspected that such a woman would eat like a bird.

Hanna bustled off into a connecting room.

"Hanna's organizing the wardrobe," Lady Waldwick explained as she piled food onto a small plate.  "Why don't you sit down?" she asked.

Anya sat down in a second chair at an angle to the lady.  Lady Waldwick glanced at her.  "Are you hungry?" she enquired.

"No thanks, I've already eaten," Anya said awkwardly.

Lady Waldwick did not seem bothered by her response.  "So, what do you think that we should do with my appearance for the wedding?  Of course, my outfit is ready, but I suppose there is much more that I cannot even imagine.  Honestly, I'm tired of making decisions.  I only want to look nice."

"That won't be hard," Anya said honestly.

Lady Waldwick smiled wryly.  "I never really had time to be concerned how I looked in the past.  But now...  Now I find that I do care quite a lot."

Anya was not sure what to say.  There was an awkward silence and Lady Waldwick went back to eating.  Anya cleared her throat.  "Do you have any idea what you would like done with your hair?"

Lady Waldwick swallowed and said, "Not really.  I normally leave it down.  I suppose it should be put up.  Of course, I've been given all of the Wildwood family jewels and there are probably some pieces for hair.  We could look, I suppose."  She turned around in her chair and called, "Hanna?"

Hanna appeared quickly.  "Yes, my lady?"

"Could you go to Missus White and fetch Lord Wildwood's mother's jewelry?  And the ones brought over from Waldrick?  We'd like to take a look at them."

"Yes, of course, my lady," Hanna said quickly and left at once.

After Hanna was well gone, Lady Waldwick turned to Anya.  "While Hanna is not here, I would like to speak with you briefly on your duties.  As I'm sure you are aware, most ladies only have one maid to serve them.  I have no wish to replace Hanna, but there are some tasks that she is not suitable for.  Hanna will continue to care for my clothing and other day to day tasks.  Your job will be to deal with other aspects, such as my hair and helping Hanna as she sees fit."

"Yes, my lady," agreed Anya.  It did not sound like it left her much to do.  Perhaps her position was only temporary for the wedding.  She hoped not.  If it was, she would have even more pressure on her.  Perhaps she could convince the lady to keep her on indefinitely.

Indefinitely, at least until she succeeded at the unthinkable.

"Normally, this will leave you with much free time.  That is acceptable.  My Lord Wildwood encourages wizards in his household to expand their interests, and I shall do the same.  So, feel free to use the library or to carefully experiment with magic.  There are a wide range of texts."

Anya nodded, thankful that she would at least have time to figure out how to proceed.  It was also the perfect time to introduce an excuse to visit Sabin in the woods.  "Lady Waldwick?  Might I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"There are a few herbal salves I am able to make, but I need a supply of certain herbs.  May I have permission to look for them in the forest?"

Lady Waldwick nodded.  "Yes.  Wildwood actually runs quite far in all directions.  If you cannot find the proper herbs, speak with Missus White about obtaining them.  If she balks at reasonable requests, come to me and I shall talk to her."

"Thank you, my lady."

"I'm curious about what those salves do.  I've been spending my time studying magic lately, and I find myself curious," Lady Waldwick said and she took another bite of food.

Anya forced herself not to squirm.  It was an innocent enough question, but the wrong answer might highlight the differences in her style of magic.

She had to stop acting suspiciously.  "They're not magic, just herbal.  They're actually rather common ones.  I can make a cream for preventing wrinkles, or for making one's hair shiny, or other such things."

"Do I need those?" Lady Waldwick asked with a wry smile.

"No, of course not!  You look beautiful without any help from me, Lady Waldwick.  But I think it is wise to have such things on hand," Anya said earnestly.  She should have researched some other innocent mixes beforehand.

"Well, thank you," Lady Waldwick agreed gently.  "You can simply call me Lady Theresa.  I'm not used to being called by my title, and Waldwick will just be a lesser title in a couple of day anyway."

"I'll do that, then, Lady Wald—Lady Theresa."

Lady Theresa smiled a bit.  "So that brings us back to the question of what to do with my hair."

Anya took a deep breath.  "Because I'm new to here, I thought that the best idea would be to try several different styles and you can pick which you would prefer.  That is, if you have time," Anya said tentatively.

It would also give Anya a chance to practice. Tension knitted her throat.

"That sounds good," agreed Lady Theresa.

Hanna came back into the room.  Missus White followed her, carrying a large wooden box.

"Silly me.  Of course White wouldn't simply give the jewels to Hanna," Anya heard Lady Theresa mutter under her breath, and felt mildly surprised.

"Thank you, Missus White," Lady Theresa said aloud.  "I'll take them from here."

Missus White left the room, but not before shooting a disapproving look at Anya.  She probably was displeased that Anya had been sitting at the table with Lady Theresa.

Anya sighed.  What did the old haranguer want her to do instead?  Ignore a direct request from her lady?

"Bring them here, please," Lady Theresa told Hanna.  Hanna brought the box over and opened it.

Anya had never seen such riches before.  If she had just one of these pieces, she could have paid their entire debt with it. It seemed dreadfully unfair that some people had so much more than others.  She had known that the world was often an unfair place, but normally it did not literally shine into her eyes.

"Oh, my lady," Hanna gasped as Lady Theresa took out a particularly exquisite piece.

"It's nice looking, but it's heavy.  I suspect it would become quite uncomfortable," Lady Theresa said.

"That's true, my lady."

Anya peered into the box.  "What about that one?" she asked, pointing to a purple flower shaped pin.  Lady Theresa picked it up.  It was a pin embedded with an array of amethyst and diamonds in the shape of a flower.

Hanna exhaled deeply.  "Oh, my lady.  It would look lovely on you!"

"But it's a pin."

Anya spoke up.  "If you wish I can likely secure it in your hair."

They fished out a couple of other pieces, and Lady Theresa said, "Very well.  Can you take this back to Missus White, please, Hanna?"

Hanna looked concerned, but took the box out into the hall.

"So, shall we get practicing over with now, or should we wait until the afternoon?  I think that every day after this will probably become increasingly busy for me."

"Whatever is better for you, my lady," Anya said.

"Let's do it now and get it over with," Lady Theresa replied.  "Perhaps then I can squeeze in a ride this afternoon."

"I'll just get my bag," agreed Anya, hoping that she would not mess up Lady Theresa's hair too badly.  She hurried to her room and grabbed the bag with all her instruments.  She hauled them back to where Lady Theresa waited.

Anya tried a number of styles with Lady Theresa's hair and showed them to the lady.  She was pleased at the ease which the hair did what she wanted, guided by small amounts of magic.  Really, wizard's magic was very much like her own style, she thought.  She used the magic in the lady's own hair, and in a couple of products she had concocted to make the strands of hair do whatever she needed.

If she came out of the whole messy situation somehow free, perhaps she really could work as a lady's maid.  Surely she could make enough to support her brother and sister until they grew up.

"Do you have a preference?" Anya asked, trying to sound professional.  Lady Theresa's hair was in an intricate knot.

"This is very nice," Lady Theresa said.

"Which do you prefer?  Or would you like me to attempt another style?"

Lady Theresa smiled.  "I'm sorry.  I liked them all.  I'm simply exhausted at having to make so many decisions so quickly.  My sister was fortunate.  The queen rather took over for her.  Perhaps I should have done the same.  I feel terribly nervous about the whole thing and I really did not think I would," Lady Theresa confessed, with a wry smile.

Anya shrugged, wondering if the sister she mentioned was the one who killed Gage.  "I'd say feeling nervous sounds normal."

"One would think so.  But I don't have any doubts.  I think I should be feeling certain, rather than apprehensive."

"It's a big decision," Anya pointed out noncommittally.

"It is.  But I thought that I had lost him.  My aunt's hired man stabbed him through the heart, and I thought that he died.  When I thought he was dead, I simply did not want to live any longer."

Anya could feel raw guilt wrap its hands around her heart.  She did not want to know how much people would grieve when she completed her mission.

It was hard enough to think of a nameless, faceless victim, but this lady would be a victim as well even though Anya would never need to lay her hands upon her.

Lady Theresa smiled a bit, but it did not look happy.  "Almost losing someone has a wonderful way of clarifying emotions.  I know what I want, but I'm still oddly nervous."

"It's probably because you want everything to go perfectly," Anya suggested, hoping the lady would steer the conversation away from such uncomfortable territory.

"No doubt you're correct.  And I must apologize.  I don't usually go on and on like this.  It seems I've become a scatterbrain due to my impending marriage.  Just imagine what ten or twenty years married to Wildwood will do to me," Lady Theresa said in a self effacing way.

Anya wished that Lady Theresa could have a hundred years with her future husband, but it was not to be.  "We'll just have to see," Anya managed to choke out.

"Yes," agreed Theresa thoughtfully.  "Well, I must decide.  I suppose that I should use the Wildwood jewels in my hair.  Let us go with one of the styles that used them.  That pin is rather nice."

"Why don't you think about which you preferred and let me know?" Anya asked absently.  She needed to get away from this woman who lit up every time she spoke of Wildwood.  Each of Lady Theresa's happy smiles was like a dagger stabbed in Anya's heart.

Every time she thought of Damani and Kallie being hurt by the reprehensible Thorne, the daggers twisted in deeper.  She wondered how much more she could take before her heart simply bled out and she was left with a dried shell in place of it.  Could a person be pushed so far that they no longer would care?

She felt that Thorne would be pleased in his sadistic way if he had that affect on her soul.

She could not allow him to win, at least in that one small way.