"GET BACK HERE YOU THIEF!" Berglund yelled.

Deirdrie slid down the rails of the stairs lightning fast and ran down the hall, barely managing to skid past a maid without knocking over the tray she was carrying. Suddenly an arm reached out and pulled Deirdrie behind a wall.

"Did you get it?" Sandy asked quietly.

"Sure did. Here," Deirdrie answered pulling a small token box out of her pocket.

"Thanks. Here's the money."

Deirdrie quickly stuffed the coins in her pocket not bothering to count them.

"I hope I didn't get you in too much trouble," Sandy told her.

"Oh no. No trouble at all. Technically it wasn't stealing because it belonged to you."

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE BRAT?" Berglund's voice carried down the hall.

"Gotta go!" 

Deirdrie quickly dashed down the other hallway and out the front door leaping onto the back of her horse and gallivanting away. She rode across the cobblestone path leading down to the village and did not even wait for her horse to stop before jumping off and running into the bakery.

"Here you go Miss Jones. Gotta run!" Deirdrie called, tossing the coins on the counter and running back outside.

She jumped right back on Rose (Her horse) and they rode up to the large stone building at the other end of town. Deirdrie made sure that Rose was comfortable in her stable before running in through the back door and up to her room. 

"Oh Dierdrie! Good. You have ten minutes to get ready!" Jenny said, hurriedly shoving Deirdrie into the dressing room.

"Here put this on."

Deirdrie caught the flowing gown Jenny tossed at her and ran behind the screen quickly changing.

"What about my hair?" 

"It looks fine right now. We don't have time to fix it. Just brush the bottom out."

Deirdrie stepped out from behind the screen in a floor length yellow plaid gown and Jenny nodded in satisfaction.

"It'll do. Now get these shoes on. Miss Lester is not going to wait forever," she said handing Deirdrie a pair of matching yellow heels.

"Heels? You know I can barely stand in these."

"I picked the smallest ones I could find. You have to wear some sort even if you don't like it."

"Why? Its not like they can see my feet anyway."

Jenny shrugged and pulled Deirdrie's hair back with a yellow ribbon, deciding that she would look more put together that way. 

"Alright, let's go."

The two ladies ran down the wooden stairs as fast as they could and Deirdrie quickly squared her shoulders and held her head high before walking through the large carved doors.

"Lesson number one," Miss Lester said softly, not even turning toward Deirdrie.

"A lady is never late."

Deirdrie sighed and quickly hurried to her cushioned chair sitting down and crossing one leg over the other.

"Lesson number two. A lady does not rush. Number three, she does not cross her legs."

Jenny chuckled slightly and Deirdrie rolled her eyes, uncrossing her legs and laying her hands on her lap.

"Better," Miss Lester approved.

"Lesson number four, never slouch. You must have your shoulders back and chin high at all times."

"All times?" Deirdrie groaned, immediately slouching.

This was not what her parents had intended and she knew it, but Miss Lester was now her guardian and there was nothing Deirdrie could do about it. She would just have to cooperate until she could find her own place and her own job...Next to 'borrowing'. The only other person that knew about her current job was Jenny and Deirdrie liked to keep it that way. Someone had to pay for the food that was feeding the staff and it certainly was not going to be Miss Lester. She had grown up rich and had always been rich. Miss Lester had never had a real job unless you consider etiquette training a job. Deirdrie liked to think of her as 'the terror for all young girls'. Miss Lester seemed to think they were all brought up in a pig sty, even the royal ones, and that they needed to be, in her own words, 'freed from the bonds of childish behavior'. Which of course meant 'freed from a good life'. Deirdrie did not consider her training lessons of etiguette but lessons of boredom. She could not think of anything that was more boring than sitting around all day sipping tea and chatting about completely useless and random things with a bunch of rich people. But Deirdrie could not do anything about it for Miss Lester kept her alive. She put a roof over her head and gave her food. Technically Deirdrie was the one who provided the food but Miss Lester provided the stove and materials to cook the food with.  So Deirdrie simply did as she was told but nothing more.

"I told you, a lady must suffer to keep her reputation," Miss Lester told Deirdrie.

Well to heck with reputation, Deirdrie thought. 

"Yes ma'am."

"Now, pour some tea and we'll get started."

Deirdrie leaned over to the coffee table and poured two cups of steaming tea. The cups and saucers had intricate flowers painted on them and Deirdrie hated to think how long that must have taken. Yes it looked pretty, but it was useless and the time was better spent elsewhere.

Miss Lester gave a grunt of satisfaction as she sipped the tea and leaned back in her seat while Deirdrie just stared at hers in distaste. She did not care much for tea of any kind.

"When in a large group of people you always try to converse with the most important people first. They will remember you and it could come in handy. Remember that when you eat you never fill your plate up. You can take several helpings but don't make it look like you're a pig. Be polite when eating and never ever put your elbows on the table."

Deirdrie nodded slowly but inside she was wished she were dead. Putting her elbows on the table was definitely one of her worst habits but in the groups of people she liked that was not really considered bad manners. At least no one noticed.

"In small groups be sure to converse with everyone. That's a simple one to remember. Always sit strait and don't concentrate too hard on anything. It makes people think you're angry and that's the last thing you want."

I doubt that, Deirdrie thought.

"Next, when in any group, never laugh out loud. You can smile and maybe let out a small laugh, but otherwise do not laugh."

"Don't laugh? How is that impolite?"

"Most ladies tend to have very loud laughs...Especially you. So its best to keep it contained."

Deirdrie let out another grumble and took a sip of the tea. I don't think anyone would mind if I laughed, she thought. It was really a ridiculous rule and Deirdrie had a slight suspicion that Miss Lester was making it worse on purpose. If this is high up life I don't want it, Deirdrie thought. It seems incredibly boring. 

"Don't roll your eyes Deirdrie," Miss Lester said quietly, sipping her tea.

Deirdrie straightened up slightly and lifted her chin. Even if she completely loathed those lessons she was not going to let go of her dignity.

"Miss Lester, there's someone at the door for you," Jenny said.

Miss Lester sighed and walked out of the room leaving Deirdrie and Jenny alone.

"How's it going?" Jenny asked.

Deirdrie slouched once more and sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Terribly. These are the moments in life when I wished I was an animal instead of a human."

"Why an animal? I don't have to take etiquette lessons and I'm human."

"Yes well I'm not you."

"Why don't you just wish you were someone else?"

Deirdrie rolled her eyes and chuckled a little.

"Never mind. This is a useless argument."

"Most are," Jenny answered wisely.

"So who was at the door?" Deirdrie asked, changing the subject.

"I da'no. Some guy. Probably an official."

Deirdrie nodded thoughtfully and stared off into space thinking of the last time she had had any fun. Suddenly she turned to Jenny and asked, "Do you wanna do something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do something! Go somewhere, get out of this house, have some fun!"

"Um, would that be a good idea? Miss Lester would probably be very angry with us."

"Oh don't worry about her. If she is angry with us then I will take the blame...Come on! I haven't done anything fun in forever."

Jenny looked from the door to Deirdrie's pleading face and sighed.

"I guess it has been a while since I did something fun as well...Alright we can. But you must promise me one thing!"

"Anything."

"We're back before dark. Remember I still am your maid and can't have you running around at night."

Deirdrie made a face but then nodded her agreement.

"Now lets go and do something! Before Miss Lester gets back." 

Jenny chuckled a little before Dierdrie grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her out the door and up the steps to her room.

"Right. Do you have any riding clothes?" Deirdrie asked.

"Not here."

"Well then you can wear some of mine."

Jenny looked skeptically from Deirdrie to herself.

"Um, I'm not sure if you haven't noticed but I'm considerably smaller than you. In shoulders and height."

"Well we'll make them fit. If you roll the pants up it shouldn't be too bad."

Deirdrie dug through her closet and tossed a brown woolen shirt at Jenny along with some pants, a jacket, and a belt.

"Now go into the other room and get changed quickly before Miss Lester comes."

While Jenny changed in the other room Deirdrie changed back into her previous attire, only this time she through on a warm mountain coat that was lined with sheep's wool. She pulled on her leather gloves and braided her hair into a large dark brown mass hanging from the back of her head. Then with a satisfied nod she knocked on the door to the other room.

"Jenny? You ready?"

"Coming!"

One split-second later Jenny walked out the door and together they ran down the back stairs to the stable.

"Here you take Ash...Don't blame me for the name. It was Miss Lester's idea," Deirdrie said gesturing towards a dapple grey.

"He's a good runner."

Deirdrie mounted her own pale buckskin quarter horse and they rode off down the street just as Miss Lester burst through the back door, light spilling across the cobblestones.

"GET BACK HERE IMMEDIATELY!" she shouted.

Jenny glanced back for a minute but Deirdrie was ready to have some freedom for the first time since she had hidden in a gypsy's wagon.

- Hey there peeps! I know this chapter is a bit shorter than the others and not quite as exciting but I hoped you liked it all the same. What did you think of Deirdrie and her wild ways? What about the gypsy's wagon? You wattpaders have been so good at feedback lately that I just want to keep the wheels rolling XD Thanks again :D - Anna