The First Crusade and Consequences of Rebellion

[bendmeover360]

"That'd be great!" Aida responded almost too enthusiastically. She wasn't ready to become Miriam's best friend yet, but she wasn't about to turn down some relief for her poor bum from anyone. "I mean, yes, that sounds alright." Aida noticed that Miriam was involved in many facets of running the house. Perhaps this Miriam was not simply the spoiled Jewess who had been handed everything in life as Aida had previously thought.

[Fenrir13]

"Then come with me.", Miriam said chuckling a bit at Aida´s enthusiam, alltough not in a spiteful way. She even briefly touched the girl´s shoulder in an almost fond gesture. It seemed as if Miriam´s anger was mostly gone now that she had punished Aida with the rod. She brought the Saracen girl to a room where some supplies were stored and gave her a small casket filled with balm. "Here you go, don´t use everything at once! You never know.", she said in an almost cheery fashion.

[bendmeover360]

Aida simply nodded and accepted the balm. She lifted her dress up above her waste in the back and began to apply some of the balm again. She almost made a hissing sound when she first felt the cool balm on her still hot bottom, but then she happily started to rub it in. She could still hardly believe that she had been spanked twice in one day by two people who she'd never met before this day, but life was funny like that sometimes. At least she was now far away from that dishonorable tribe where she had grown up.

[Fenrir13]

Miriam smiled a bit and left the girl alone for some time, allowing her to rub in the balm in peace. Meanwhile a rather opulent meal had been prepared and brought to the large table in the dining room. Everyone in the household was allowed to sit at the table, alltough mere servants like Aida had to Content themselves with sitting at the very end, far sepperated from Sir Tancred and his friends. Curiously Miriam had a place very close besides him. While making conversations with her beloved master she watched for Aida, wondering when the girl would come.

[bendmeover360]

After finally putting out the fire in her bottom again (mostly), Aida slowly trudged through the halls toward the dining hall. She remembered how people of her village had spoken so violently of the Franks, and she worried that perhaps they were just putting on a show and she would soon be violently attacked, but they had shown no signs of wanting to do this yet. She took a deep breath and entered the dining hall.

As she looked around, she didn't know anyone there yet except for Miriam and Sir Tancred, but she still wasn't sure if she loathed them or not, so in an unusual moment of timidness, she went and sat with some servants who did not appear to be too talkative. Her butt felt sore again as she sat down, but she tried to ignore that, and kept her face down toward the table and made sure that only her eyes were visible through the hijab. She did not desire to speak with anyone.

[Fenrir13]

After a while Miriam got up and slowly moved towards Aida, whispering in her ear. "I´ve heard Sir Tancred might take you with him when he rides out to defend the City against the army they send from Egypt. After that he might permanently make you his cupbearer or something. How do you feel about that?", she asked in a low voice. She sounded pretty unemotional while saying that.

[bendmeover360]

Aida had been intent on minding her own business so she wasn't thrilled when Miriam came over to speak with her, but she wasn't about to resist her either.

"Cupbearer?" she asked in surprise. "Isn't the cupbearer supposed to be someone he... trusts?" She didn't know whether she ought to feel honored or horrified at this proposition. She liked the idea of being in a more dignified position (and as things currently stood she didn't know if Miriam would send her to tend to pigs), but a cupbearer would also have to be in his presence much of the time, and she had been avoiding being in anyone's presence for long.

[Fenrir13]

"Yes, he seems to be convinced that you would not dare hurt him when he gives you such an honorable Office.", Miriam said and chuckled lightly. "I suggest you don´t dissapoint him, otherwise I´ll make you sleep with the pigs in the mud.", she threatened and then departed again, probably leaving the Young Saracen confused and even a bit frightened. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful, even boringly so.

[bendmeover360]

Aida sat there mulling things over. A cup bearer... She always had dreamed of one day gaining a higher position, but she was unsure how such a thing would be possible. Economic and social mobility were virtually unheard of for peasants in a goat farming community. Why did he seem to think he should trust her so much for this position? Obviously she did not intend to kill him right now, at least not unless she thought she had a really good chance at getting away with it, but the explanation of him choosing a cup bearer because it would make her more loyal seemed odd. She wasn't that important in the eyes of most people, why was her loyalty in particular seen as being so important?

She continued to spend the rest of the night mostly avoiding people, and it seemed that most of the other servants were content to avoid her, especially after a few of them had over heard Miriam telling Aida about her becoming cup bearers. It seemed that those in more humble positions resented Aida for ascending through the ranks so quickly, but Aida wasn't there to make friends, at least not until she got a better feel for this place and who the other good loyal Saracens were. Until then, the whole sequence of events around here was fascinating enough for her to be content to watch.