When Maela entered the hallway, she was greeted by a young woman dressed in fine wool that wouldn't have looked out of place on any of the modestly successful merchants of Blackwell city. Her bearing, however, from her proud, straight spine to the polished curtsy she offered, marked her as someone of more aristocratic origins, even though she displayed none of the wealth that Maela was accustomed to from ladies in the Kingdom of Gaal's interior.
"Countess Maela," the young woman said as she straightened. "My name is Eira Wyndan. For as long as you have need of me, it's my pleasure to serve as your handmaiden," she said politely.
"That's a very thankless job, you know," Maela said with a wry twist to her lips as she compared this bold-looking woman from the frontier to her considerably more mild-mannered attendant in Blackwell.
