Mary's Path

The days that Mary spent working in the kitchen always seemed to disappear quickly. It was the daily routines that divided the days into breakfast, lunch and dinner that made them float together into a formless memory.

Wednesday seemed to appear out of nowhere and before Mary knew it, she stood outside the kitchen waiting for Zerden. She was wearing her grey cloak and in the pocket of her dress she had put her purse with some of the money she had saved.

She was hoping Zerden wanted to go with her to the seamstress. Mrs. Karrots had told her where to go. There was apparently a seamstress who used to sew up clothes for the servants in the castle. If Mary only told her that Mary worked in the kitchen, the seamstress would choose the fabric and the model that was standard.

Zerden came running, Mary saw that he was happy. He came up to her and gave her a big smile and his eyes was full of anticipation.

“Mary, you’ll never believe what dad told me today,” he said before she had time to say hello.

“I’m going to go hunting with the prince, I’m going to be part of the hunting drive and help the other men with the dogs and horses. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning, so I must help this afternoon getting everything in ready. I don’t think I have the time to spend the afternoon with you. Is that okay?” he asked, looking at her. Mary smiled at him.

“Of course it is” she said. “I’m really happy for you, I hope you’ll have a successful hunt” she said.

“We probably will, everyone says the prince is the best hunter in the whole country,” Zerden said, looking like this was the happiest day of his life.

“I have to go now, but I’ll see you next Wednesday?”

“Absolutely, just be careful, Zerden,” Mary said.

“Of course, see you!” he shouted as he ran away.

Mary was happy for Zerden, she knew how much he had longed to come along. But at the same time, she was a little disappointed that she would be spending the afternoon alone.

She wondered if she should postpone going to the seamstress until next Wednesday. But then she changed her mind, she didn’t need company to go out into the city. She had never been afraid to walk in the city during daytime before, if you avoided certain parts of it, it was safe.

She took a deep breath and began to walk towards the gate, the seamstress had her shop near the artisan quarters. Mary took to the left and stayed on the smaller streets.

As usual, there were people everywhere on the streets. As she walked through the wealthier neighborhoods, she saw a mix of people in beautiful costumes and servants rushing to do their errands.

As Mary moved on, the houses and people on the streets changed. She began to approach the artisan quarters and the houses here were not as lavish and the people were no longer dressed in beautiful and expensive clothes.

In this part of the city, it was quality and usability that ruled fashion. The few people that looked well of, was most likely customers for one of the shops in the neighborhood.

Mary soon found her way to the seamstress and went in. When she came out again, she had ordered two new dresses to wear in the kitchen with aprons. She had even wasted some money on a new dress to wear when she went to church, a green dress she thought happily.

She also ordered a new winter cloak. She realized she couldn’t walk around in her grey cloak anymore, no matter how much she loved it. It made her stand out wherever she went, and she didn’t want to wear it out. It would be put in the chest along with the green dress she had been given by the Lady as a memento.

She realized that it had not taken as long with the seamstress as she had thought. She had plenty of time before night fall, and now that she was out in the city, she didn’t want to return to the castle quite yet.

She thought about going down to the square, maybe there would be something tasty she could buy and eat. But then she changed her mind, she had already spent a lot of money today.

She hesitated for a while. It wasn’t far from Erik’s house, but she didn’t know if she dared to go there. She started walking that way. She stopped and looked at the shop windows and dragged her feet behind her.

When there was only a block left, she changed her mind and turned around to go back. Maybe she could go and sit in the church for a while instead.

“Mary?”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere and Mary stopped and turned around. There was Mrs. Korpi, Erik’s mother.

Mary considered for a moment to escape, turn around and run away. It felt like she had been caught doing something forbidden. Like the time her father had caught her and Erik stealing apples from a neighbor.

“I am so glad to see you, my friend. Erik told me he had met you,” Mrs. Korpi said. Mary was so surprised that she couldn’t come up with anything to reply. She just stood there and looked at the woman.

“Do you have the afternoon off?” Mary nodded. “Then I think you should come home with me. Erik would be so happy to meet you and the old man has missed you too. We’re going to have dinner and there’s enough for you,” Mrs. Korpi continued, putting her arm around Mary and pushing her with her before Mary had a chance to protest.

At the Korpi family’s home, not much had changed since Mary was last there. Erik seemed to have grown and seemed to be more grown up and his little sister had learned to talk without the toddler’s lost consonants. But she seemed as attached to Mary as before and still followed her wherever Mary went.

Erik’s father was as cheerful as ever and gave Mary a big hug when he saw her. Then there was an interrogation about what she was doing now, whether she enjoyed living at the castle and whether she had made any new friends.

Mary answered as best she could and tried to settle down. She helped Mrs. Korpi cook and was praised for how good she was and when they sat down to eat it almost felt like before.

But Mary couldn’t just be happy that she had come home to her friend and that all the bad blood seemed to be forgotten. She was constantly aware that just a few houses further away was the house she had once called home.

She still thought of it as her home sometimes when she forgot. The scrub in the castle was not a home, she had no family there, she didn’t feel safe there. The scrub was a room where she slept, nothing more.

Right now, sitting in the middle of her friends around a table where everyone was happy and content, Mary felt homeless and for the first time she became aware that she was an orphan.

But she tried to pretend to be happy and she laughed when Erik’s father told her how Erik had broken almost every single one of the combs his father had tried to teach him to make. Erik protested, saying it was only because his father had tried to interfere and disturbed him.

The meal was basically a happy event with a lot of laughter and many funny stories from the daily life.

After dinner, Mary wanted to help with the dishes, but Mrs. Korpi didn’t want to hear about it. Instead, Mary went out into the courtyard with Erik and sat under the apple tree that grew there.