I quickly learnt how to call Emilda and Baldwin, 'Mother' and 'Father'.

"My daughter," Emilda said. "I am aware of the problems you've faced in life, they may have been even harsher than ours. We just lost a daughter, but you...You lost your whole life, your whole identity. You had to go through such pain...I can't even begin to imagine all that. I am so glad we got you."

And I...I was also thankful.

Mother and Father both were extremely kind and caring towards me. They got me properly treated for my arm and other small bruises I'd gotten from dancing. I got my shaggy silver hair cut into a neat, styled bob. Mother got me lovely, new dresses and Father bought me toys and books to use. I got my own bedroom as well, designed to my needs. It was a life only I could've dreamt of before.

With this new life came new questions.

I often found myself wondering, "Do I even deserve such unconditional love?" or "Am I even worth the price they paid for me?" or rather, "They aren't even my real parents. Why do I have to follow their rules?" or "If I start acting up or against their preferences, will I be sold off once again?

All of these thoughts scared me. Everyday I felt anxious while hanging around with Mother and Father, the thought of abandonment consistently lingering in my mind.. I tried to be on my best behavior, and my looks were what I started to care for for the first time ever. "If I become ugly again, will Mother and Father leave me?" I thought.

No, I can't let that happen.

I decided to be a perfect daughter, the best anyone could ever ask for.

I made sure to always be there when Mother was in the kitchen. I helped her put the laundry out. Sometimes, when Mother was tired, I'd dust the house down for her so that she wouldn't have to. I even started to cook meals for them. When mother realized I was there to do all the work, she gradually got indolent and refused to do any housework.

Before I knew it, I had practically become a maid to them.

"Emery, clean this spill."

"Emery, steam my clothes."

"Emery, do the dishes."

"Emery, cook dinner."

It was always Emery this or Emery that. I was quickly getting quite sick of it.

✿

"Alright Emery, your Father and I will come back home soon. Before we do, I want the house spotless, you hear me?"

"Yes, Mother," I mumbled.

"Good. Come on, Baldwin."

Thud.

And they were gone.

I walked around the house, noting if anything needed cleaning. The living room? Quite clean. My room? Fine. Mother and Father's room? Spotless. Ohhh, the kitchen. That wasn't fine at all.

I rolled up my sleeves and approached the sink to start cleaning all the dishes. Mother and Father had had a few guests over a while ago, so there were more dishes than usual. I blankly reached for the soapy rag but when my hand touched a dry one, I looked over and realized that we had run out of soap.

I sighed. Whatever shall I do now?

I rolled down my sleeves and went over to Mother's room. I checked under her pillow and found a few coins. Enough to buy a bar of dish soap. I sat down by the door as I put on my shoes. These were black, heavy walking boots Father had bought me a few months ago. "Last a long time," he had said.

With the coins clinking inside my coat pocket, I too left the house for the local store. Who knew this small trip would bring a new hope to my life?

✿

"Hey, Mister? What's everybody lookin' at?"

The man turned around and looked down at my small body and smiled.

"What's everybody cheerin' at?" I asked.

"Don't you know, girl?" The man said. "It's Priscilla. Everybody here knows her."

"Who's that?"

"Look here." The man suddenly picked me up by the waist.

Startled, I started to protest but then the sight I saw from where I was raised up in the air shut me up real quick. It was a prepossessing sight.

The whole crowd had gathered around a girl in her early twenties. To me, she was the most fetching girl I had ever seen. A goddess. And she was dancing in the most enchanted way. My eyes filled her as she twirled and she jumped. Her graceful moves made my whole body twitch.

This wasn't the kind of dance I had been taught when I was one of the Gladiators. When I was there, I did all sorts of bold, funny moves. But this...this was like magic. This woman was an actual magic girl.

"Mister," I whispered. "Mister, how does she do that?"

"I don't know, kid. But a true fancy, that one is."

I looked again, my eyes glowing with awe and wonder. I wonder if Mother would allow me to do that. Would she allow me to dance so gracefully?

"Absolutely not!" she shouted upon hearing my request. "I won't let you dance like those vile prostitutes just so that men could ogle you."

"But, Mother-"

"No 'buts' young lady. All you need to do right now, at this age, is to go clean all those dishes you left in the sink. That's what you've got to do, not go learn how to do that disgusting twirling and hopping. Now go, before I get any angrier."

I glanced at Mother's face, disheartened, and ambled over to the kitchen to resume with my chores.

Seriously! How could Mother just do that? I was greatly offended that she had referred to Priscilla as a 'prostitute' when she really wasn't one. All she did was dance and let everyone in town admire her talent. I didn't see what was so wrong with doing so myself. If one possessed such talent, why not show it off to the world?

That night I secretly tried to imitate Priscilla's movements by my bed. To my utter dismay, I found that it was much harder than I had expected. Looking in the mirror, I discovered that my arms weren't how they were supposed to look like and at times, my back didn't bend all the way. It was very tiresome.

I plopped on my bed, frustrated with my inability to imitate Priscilla's graceful steps. It didn't look so hard when I was watching upon her from the crowd. Or maybe was it because she made it look so effortless? Was that just the dancer's illusion? If so, I…

Day and night, when Mother wasn't around, I'd go to my room and practice dancing. Yet I had no idea what this dance was called, but to me it was that of a goddess'.

"Whatever have you been doing these days, locked up in your room? " Mother demanded one day. "You know I won't tolerate any funny business, Emery. I've already got so much on my hands with your Father's troubling debts recently, so I wish you not to bring up any more inconveniences."

"Yes, Mother. I'll make sure of it," I smiled, feigning innocence, "though I've only been reading."

"As you should. But I need you around the house as well, so make sure to attend to me every now and then." I sighed with relief as Mother went away, asking no more questions.

5 years of my life went away just like that.

Then one day, when I was about to secretly go watch a dance performance nearby, my Mother came home calling for me excitedly.

"Emery, my darling," she sang. "You won't believe what I received just now!"

"What might it be, Mother?" I asked, expeditiously taking off my coat in the other room.

Mother laughed joyfully. "Will you believe it if I say that it's a letter from the palace?"

"From the palace?" I asked unbelievably. "Why ever would they send us a letter?"

My mother glanced at me sneakily. "A month or so ago, the palace put up a note on the public bulletin board that they were looking for more maids and servants. I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to work at the palace, so I had your name written in the list. And guess what," she squealed, "they wrote back to us. And it says that you were hired! Oh joy, Emery. From next week onwards, you'll be working at the palace."

My hopes, my dreams...all came crashing down in front of my very eyes. My heart sank as I realized what Mother had done.

"B-but Mother..." My voice trailed off. "I-"

"Enough of that, my daughter," she stopped me. "I say you will work there and my word is final, got that?"

I sighed. "Yes."

And that's how I ended up at the palace.