The Knowledge I Live With

We arrived to the tea house exactly at 12pm. From outside it looked like all the other noble shops. This whole street was filled with noble shops, tea- and coffee houses and noble homes as well. I could see all the looks our family was getting from all the nobles around us. It wasn't normal for commoners to go to the noble district and even if we were dressed in our best clothes we still stood out.

"Filthy sc.u.m." I heard one man say as he passed us. My mother was a little scared. She held me in her arms and as we entered the Rose-tea house she started shivering a little.

"How can I help you?" Asked a man at the door. He was dressed as a butler so I assumed he worked here.

"We received an invitation to come here by Lady Isabella De Rowetta." My father said and handed the letter we got to the man. The man took the letter and read it.

"I shall take you to Lady Rowetta." He said and turned around. As we walked through the tea house I peeked into every room I could. They were filled with nobles having tea parties or just passing time. The room we were lead to was at the very back of the house. As we entered the room all I could see was flowers. Flowers everywhere. The whole room was beautiful.

"The family has arrived." The man announced. I turned my head to see Lady Rowetta reading a book in the middle of the room. She was sitting by a table that had four chairs on it and a beautiful tea set. Both of my parents bowed down as she placed her book on the table.

"Please sit down." She said and pointed to the chairs. My parents looked at each other. "No need to be afraid." Lady Rowetta said. My parents finally went and sat down on the chairs. "As I said in my invitation, I wished to meet you. I've already met your daughter and from what I've seen, she is unexpectedly smart for her age. You have raised her well"

"We are honored to meet you. We thank you for the compliment." My father said.

"I wanted to give you a little reward for the help your daughter gave me." Lady Rowetta said and asked the butler to get it to her. "Please accept this!" She said and gave my father as little sack. My father opened it and gaspt.

"10 Gold coins! We cannot accept this! This is far too much!" Father said. 10 gold coins? Father makes about one silver coin a year! If we take this all our money problems would just go away. We could even go and try to find a better life for us at the countryside. I thought as I stared at the sack of money.

"If you don't want to take it then can I give you something else?" Lady Rowetta said. "Even tho my other reward would be a little selfish."

"What do you mean?" My mother asked.

"I was thinking I could give your daughter a job. She would get paid 10 silver a month and the work she would have to do is easy." Lady Rowetta said.

"What kind of work would it be?" My mother asked.

"She would attend parties with me as my daughter." Lady Rowetta said. Wait. Her daughter? But she is four years old and I look nothing like her. I don't even think that taking me instead of her actual daughter would be any better.

"As your daughter..? What do you mean by that?" Father asked.

"I will tell you a little secret that only the Rowetta household knows." Lady Rowetta said. A noble secret… This is no good. Now if we don't accept the job we might get killed! "I have a second daughter who is the same age as your daughter. She is unfortunately sick and thus can't leave her bed. We have been able to keep this a secret, because she isn't 'human' yet, but we can no longer keep this a secret. At the age of tree, noble children make their first appearance. It doesn't make them 'human', but it makes the world know that another noble was born. Our daughter will hopefully get better before the age of five and hen she can finally become a human and your job would be done." Lady Rowetta says. I look at mother and father. They both seem really confused.

"I think we have to think about this for a little. Father says.

"Linette, would you please go to that room for a moment. I have another surprise for you waiting in there." Lady Rowetta suddenly says. She wants to talk to my parents alone? I leave the room a little scared. Let's hope that everything will be fine.