She pushed the bone needle through the fabric of her bodice, in case any small rips or tears turned up on her first pick ups of the morning. A tiny spindle of thread nestled into her apron pocket.
There was some small time for a delivery during the breakfast hour, before the maids had pulled the new washing from the dormitories. Taking the rags, she added them atop a larger stack of neatly folded kitchen aprons. With steady arms layered high with fabric, she left the laundries.
The first blush of dawn spread across the floor as she reached the primary corridors. She kept to the side to avoid the uncomfortable fields of those few galdori that already strode about importantly. Their numbers would soon increase and Lenore would much prefer to be in the kitchens before then.
The hallways warmed as she got nearer to the kitchens, and the pleasant scents of fresh bread and currants met passersby. Slipping into the buzzing kitchen as unobtrusively as she could, the laundress headed straight for their clean linens to add her stack. Before she could make an exit however she was pulled into helping with breakfast preparation.
On her own, she had never in her life prepared an entire meal. To add, she was rarely assigned to the kitchens though it did happen. There wasn’t a single complete recipe she could name from memory but she was proficient enough at assisting the more skilled in their craft. This particular morning, she’d only been pulled to fill in jars of cream, sugar, preserves, and the like. There was time enough still; it was the slow hours for the laundry, not until the tenth hour did their busy hours begin. Either way, brief task or not, an order was an order and she would see it through.
As she levied a mashed berry glob into a small serving jar, her eyes landed on a rag. A rag of striking similarity; a towel with a hole burned directly through it. Even with well disciplined and diligent servants, the dry heat and raucous nature of the kitchen made her head spin. The laundry could be fast paced as well but it lacked the urgency and deadline of the kitchens on most occasions. Still as she filled more jars with breakfast garnishes, her eyes tried to track down the culprit who was adding to her mending.