A child's glee.

The soft beams of moonlight drifted in through the window and danced across the floor in their usual mysterious patterns. It was early morning and peacefully quiet; the day's events not yet awake and alive to the world. In the luxurious bed, a girl slowly stretched and pushed the many blankets just slightly away from her.

She was awake before the maids had come; a rare occurrence in her stay at Larkin's castle that she valued. Each morning had proven to be much the same for her, as had each day and each night. Indeed, the monotony of each day had begun to leave her both rather bored and antsy.

Stelon opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling above her with it's intricate murals of beauty one could scarcely imagine. She breathed gently and smiled. She no longer looked forward to the maids' arrival, for they never did anything differently, never held any surprises.

When Stelon had first arrived, she had hoped and tried in vain to converse with the many servants. Yet it seemed as though they could never hear her, and when one of them would respond to her, the words held no significance, nor any news of the Shrike they served. This no longer surprised her, and she stopped trying to hold any intelligent conversation with them.

The girl sighed deeply and buried herself beneath the covers. She hated the way her only "visitors" ignored her, while clearly knowing things she did not. Stelon peeked out from her cave of warmth and glanced at the window. She knew from the way the morning beams hit the room that she had a decent amount of time to herself before she would be subjected to the empty words of the servants once more. In fact...

Stelon giggled and leapt from the bed, her mind now made up. Still smiling, she made her way to the bath and carefully turned the lever she knew would give out warm water and let the bath begin to fill. The maids would not be needed today.

As the water continued to spill into the bath, she sprinkled one of the many sweet scented bath salts into the water and stripped her nightclothes off delicately. When the tub had finally filled, she stopped the water.

Stelon took a moment to admire her "work" and then, with childlike glee, slipped into the warmth of the water. Slowly, she leaned back and closed her eyes, enjoying the relaxing aroma of the salts.

Never before had she been able to simply soak and relax peacefully in the water. For the maids, bathing was not a luxury, but a necessary task to be done both thoroughly and quickly at the same time, to make her presentable should the tempermental Shrike wish her in his prescence.

Stelon leaned back farther and allowed herself to enjoy what was normally so tedious, and embarrassing the first few times. When she was finally content, she sat up again and began to work the expensive shampoos and conditioners into her thick hair, laughing as she let the water rinse it clean and little bubbles floated across the gentle waves made by her body's movements.

When she was finally satisfied that her body had been scrubbed clean and she had enjoyed the process, she stood up and wrapped a fluffy towel around herself before stepping from the bath. Carefully, she dried the pale skin of her body as well as her hair until she was sure she would not drip any water across the floor to the wardrobe.

Today, she chose to wear a simple yet elegant gown. It was different from the other dresses she had to choose from; not quite as full or gaudy. It did not require her to wear an obscene amount of undergarments, and the material was soft and soothing against her skin. It had a moderate neckline, not conservative, but not low enough to jeapordize modesty either. The gown fit very well and securely, a necessity to accomodate the off the shoulder design of it.

The gown was also white.

Stelon had noticed upon reaching the wardrobe that /all/ of the dresses were white. Personally, she did not feel white was a very good color on her, yet that was all there was. She found herself slightly annoyed by this, but it was not like she could do much about it.

Once she had finished dressing, she sat at the vanity and began to run the brush through her now damp hair. Usually, the maids put it up for her in such intricate styles that she knew she would never be able to duplicate them. She stared into the mirror and finally braided a thin strand of hair on either side of her face and secured them together in the back, creating a braided circlet to crown her head. Satisfied now with her hair, she crossed to the bigger mirror in the room to see the total effect.

While she was definitely not as elegant as when she had help, the look held it's own beauty the other did not. Stelon smile and---

She sharp sound of knuckles rapping at the door startled her and then she grinned.

"Come in."

The servants filed in and automatically went to the bed before realizing she was already up. When they saw Stelon, they froze, surprised.

"I won't be needing your assistance today.

There was silence.

"Oh, I was also curious...not that I am complaining but...why is it all of the gowns are white? It seems unusual, I though there might be some variety of color."

The maids' silence shattered and they began murmuring amongst themselves, unsure of what to do or say; all of them more than unhappy about explaining to Larkin why they had not done their job for the day.

Finally, it was decided they would tell the Shrike all together what had happened. The women left the room hurriedly.

Not a word was said to Stelon.

She smiled triumphantly, and went back about her business.