The Grey Tower

Abandoning the impractical white dress sounded like a wonderful idea to Ekaitza. Much less exciting was the thought of proceeding through the door the Dedicated had opened, one that apparently led to a cellar beneath an inn. Ekaitza feared that the space would be in use by any number of servants, who would surely notice that none of their group belonged there. She moved slowly, keeping the Dedicated in her sight as she took her first look at the large, open space, noticing with relief that there were no other people down here besides their group. Shelving that ran along one wall held a variety of fruits, vegetables, sacks, and jars Ekaitza could not identify, and meat hung from hooks along another wall, waiting to be cooked. What caught the novice’s attention the most was the third, lined with pegs from which hung some sort of clothing. The clothes might be nothing more than aprons for the kitchen this place was clearly a storeroom for, but the only way for Ekaitza to know for sure was to get closer.

Nervously, the novice glanced around the room, her gaze lingering on the stairs that led into the space not far from the shelves.When she was as sure as she could be that nobody was coming down them, Ekaitza dared to walk slowly across the room to see whether the clothing on the pegs was anything useful. Some of them only held aprons, which made sense to her, but others held some plain, deep brown dresses and others in varying colors Ekaitza guessed belonged to servants who were currently working.She reached for a dark purple one that looked like it might fit, but a creak from the staircase made her freeze just as soon as she’d pulled it down.

The novice hardly dared to even breathe as footsteps echoed down the stairs, sounding as if the person they belonged to was in quite a hurry. She crept beneath the hanging clothing, hiding most of her body behind a large apron and using the dress she had grabbed to cover her legs. Unable to see the stairs, Ekaitza waited impatiently for the footsteps to recede back up the stairs, hoping that the rest of the group had found places to hide.

She waited a few moments after the footsteps stopped, just to be sure, then poked her head out to find the room empty again. Ekaitza laid the dress she held down on the floor, then rushed to rid herself of the white dress she was currently wearing. Allowing it to slide down her legs, the young woman stepped out of it, giving the novice dress a kick that wasn’t strictly necessary. A short time later, she was redressed in the purple, which was a little too long, but Ekaitza reasoned that it at least hid the white of her slippers. With that done, she stepped out and studied the room, searching for the Dedicated who seemed to have a better idea of what they should do than she had.