-- Lilith POV --

  Her first day at work in service to Queen Zabeth had been a bit disappointing. Not that it was bad work. It was the work that she used to enjoy, but working at the forge with John had felt better. This here was just work. She worked the bellows, Bernard forged the blades, she inscribed the runes. Again and again. Barely a moment when she could admire the coal fire and not a single chance to practice forging by herself. She barely got to watch how Bernard did it, so she couldn't even try to learn his methods this way.

  Right now she was alone in the workshop, tidying up from today's work and preparing a few things that she wanted to work on by her own once she got a chance to do so.

  Strictly seen it was against Sir Frederik's order to have no guard around, but it seemed to be a good sign to her. They were not that afraid anymore and had some trust that she'd not try to break out the next chance she had. How many doors from here to the entrance? Nine or so. Very little actual chance to break out, even if the door to the workshop didn't seem to be locked right now.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Sam entered the workshop, "Hey Lilith, I heard you want to practice forging, and Sir Frederik asked for volunteers to look over you after the official hours. Got nothing better to do today, so I'm here."

  "Thanks Sam, that's nice of you", she smiled at him. He'd been the first one to guard her cell after her arrival, and he always had been pleasant to have around.

  "Bernard refuses to spend time and teach me forging, he says that's his job and if I can assist him, that's good enough already", she voiced her misery.

  He came to her side to watch what she was doing, "Sir Frederik told us that you want to learn more about forging, but none of us know the trade. We're all from soldier families. I can tell you how to fight with a spear and a shield, how to use a sword. Well I could tell you how to crush someones skull with a hammer, but forging ...", he shrugged, "Nope, no chance."

  "Don't worry Sam, you're already helping just by spending your time here", she smiled at him before she fired up the forge once more. It had become her favorite method to start a fire. Inscribe a fire rune into a piece of coal and infuse it with power, watch it burn. Coal burned so prettily if freshly infused this way. She held it up for a while to watch, before she put the burning piece coal back into the forge to ignite the rest of the coal.

  Sam was at her side and chuckled, "That looks so easy how you do it, but I don't even want to think what a burning coal would do to my fingers."

  She watched the other coals slowly catch fire, too, "They are pretty, aren't they? I could watch a coal fire for hours."

  She received a nudge to her side, "Don't get carried away too much Lilith. You wanted to practice forging and we don't have all the evening. They won't keep dinner warm for us if we are late."

  She nodded, still watching the glow spreading through the heap of coal, "Right. What's for dinner today?"

  "Sir Frederik got something special for you, since it was your first day working at the forge. Fried pig leg with potatoes and sour cabbage. Took a while to convince the cook. I think Sir Frederik will join you for dinner", he let her know and nudged her side again, "Lilith, if you want to get something done, get the bellows going. I have too little of an idea of all this to be useful."

  It took her some effort to tear her look from the growing coal fire, but Sam was right. The coal needed air now and she got to work. Once she was sure enough coal had caught fire and was burning hot enough, she selected an about finger thick iron rod to heat it in the forge and went back to the bellows.

  Sam was watching, leaning onto his spear as support, "What are you going to try?"

  "An old idea. Never got to try it. I want to see if I can forge petals and leaves to make an iron flower. One of the lessons that John gave me was how to hammer metal into evenly flat shapes", she had to laugh for a moment, "Most of my tries became bend and round though, curly. But that should be just fine for the petals if I get it right."

  Sam nodded, "Sounds quite like the challenge. Wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do that, though. Only thing I know is that our helmets are all shaped from a single piece of steel, so there are no seams. Seams are weak."

  She took the rod from the forge, placed it on the anvil and began to hammer the end into a leaf like shape, "John knew how to make helmets. Cuirasses too."

  She frowned, the leaf refused to end with a pointy tip. She wanted pointy leaves. But as a petal this one would do, so she tried to shape a nice oval, heated it up again in the forge, thinned the part that was meant to link the petal to the center of the flower and eventually chiseled it off the rod.

  Sam grinned, "That's going to be alot of work till you have all the leaves and petals for a flower."

  She laughed, "The alternative is sitting in my cell and watch city streets from the window. Can be nice too, but I had enough of that. Better to spend some evenings on forging leaves and petals."

  For the next attempt she thinned out the end of the rod till it was pointy, then the area which she wanted to become the stem of the leaf. Then she hammered that shape flat. Not quite pointy, but a better leaf shape.

  "Number two", Sam concluded, "How many do you need for a flower?"

  She thought about it for a moment, "I was thinking of six petals for the flower and four leaves for the stem. Problem is I don't know how to weld them properly. I just know that one can put two pieces of glowing steel together so they become like one, but John never taught me how. I just saw some items in his workshop and John told me they are welded from two or more parts. Maybe I must give Bernard a kick with a hoof to tell me how to weld."

  Sam shook his head lightly, "Wouldn't recommend that. Might work of course, but if he complains about you all the comfort and benefits that you earned are gone."

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  She nodded and chiseled the leaf off as well, then tried to shape a second one. Which of course chose to develop its very own distinct shape. She looked at the thing angrily for a moment.

  "Hey Sam, does the town have a library? One that you or Sir Frederik have access too?" She looked at the shorter man.

  Sam scratched the short beard on his cheek, "I think. I never was one big in books though. Why?"

  She heated the rod again and worked on a third leaf, "A book about forging might help. Won't help as much as having a teacher, but if no one is willing to teach me, a book might help anyway. I've learned the runes from a book too. But that was a really exceptional book."

  He nodded, "I'll ask around. Make sure to ask Sir Frederik as well. He might have access to books that we commoners won't get to see."

  A bell rang up three times.

  "A quarter hour till dinner time", Sam let her know. "We better tidy up and get ready."

  She nodded and chiseled off the third leaf, then cooled the rod in a bucket with water before she put it back to other iron rods and bars, "Yep. Can't let that fried pig leg wait. Been a while that I had something like that."

  She collected the leaves and the one petal that she had forged earlier when her shoulders slumped at a thought, "Sam, if Sir Frederik wants to dine with me, does that mean I have to get dressed all noble lady like again?"

  He nodded with a very serious expression, "If you dine with a knight, you sure have to be all noble lady."

  "Tell the chef to keep the dinner warm, Sam. This will take a while." She already dreaded the idea of the delicate textiles, her horns and her claws all entangled in a hopeless mess. At least she had a proper bathroom corner in her cell now, so getting nicely fresh and clean would be the least problem.

  "Don't forget your jewelry", Sam added helpfully.

  -- Princess Lisa POV --

  She was getting dressed for another walk with Lilith, her handmaid assisting her.

  Her mother had Lilith brought into the kingdom for only one purpose, rune crafting. Lilith was good at it, and more important, the only one who could do high quality rune crafting with metal items. So, not only did Lilith now work for their kingdom, but also no longer for anyone else which was a double advantage.

  But Lilith had more talents than just this one, talents which she wanted for her own benefit. With her physical strength and resilience, Lilith would make a terrific bodyguard. But unlike the brutes that usually became bodyguards, Lilith was also a pleasant conversation partner. Admitted, she lacked education, but that was something that could be helped. And even past that, Lilith was a good comforter.

  She wanted Lilith to perform for her in all three roles.

  But there were two problems. Once her mother was against it, and Lilith didn't seem to be too happy about any of these ideas either, at least if it was true what Sir Frederik had told her.

  Quite certainly she could find a compromise of sorts with her mother. Have Lilith work eight hours at the forge, and the rest of the day for her. Something like that, give or take some hours. Lilith could sleep in her quarters, so she could have her around from getting up to going to bed except for those hours that she had to work at the forge.

  She'd even assign her personal handmaids to have Lilith freshened and dressed right after work.

  The actual problem was, to perform well in the roles as conversation partner and comforter, there had to be a certain willingness to do just that.

  What could she offer to make Lilith not only superficially interested, but actually want to do that?

  On one hand, Lilith usually easily agreed to small deals, do something, receive something. Even their walks were based on such. And surprisingly it had neither been the promise of exclusive dresses nor expensive jewelry to to convince Lilith, it had been better food and heating for winter. Which, she had to admit, influenced Lilith quality of life quite directly.

  She had to find more of such offers which were valuable to Lilith.

  "Margareth, if you were poor and someone wants you to work for them, what would you ask for?" She addressed her handmaid.

  "Money of course, mylady", came the answer quick and succinct.

  Of course. But money was useless to Lilith, she had no way to spend money ...

  She thought about it for a while. Maybe the idea was not as useless at it had seemed at first. She could take Lilith shopping with her, let her see all the things one could buy with money, and then offer money for her service?

  The idea felt as promising as it felt wrong. It might work, but it wouldn't work for the right reasons.

  "Margareth, if I want Lilith work for me but with more motivation than money alone, what would you suggest?"

  "Mylady, this is a very difficult question. But think of what a prince might do to gain your favor?" Margareth offered.

  She sighed and showed a sour expression, "I've already tried some of that. Lilith isn't particularly interested in jewelry, nor was she interested in the outfits I had made for her, even if those were of the highest quality. Also, I already spend time with her and it's rather that I have to offer something just for that, not like a prince who'd give their right arm to spend time with me."

  Margareth seemed to think about something.

  "Margareth if you have some idea, let me know. Anything."

  Her handmaid blushed, "I don't think I can say that out loud."

  "Out with it, Margareth!", she ordered.

  "It pains me to say it, mylady, but you'll have to make yourself more attractive to her."

  She looked at her handmaid incredulously, "I am attractive!" She was almost shouting.

  "Undoubtedly you have the appearance, Princess Lisa, but think of showing an attractive personality, too."

  She took a breath, then another. She had asked for it, she had gotten the answer. A slap in the face would have felt about as good.

  Another breath. Certainly there was some truth in it. Some day she'd have to chose a noble as consort, and she definitely wanted one not only looking good but with a charming personality too. If there was someone like that among the nobles at all. Thinking more about it, maybe charming personality should even be first.

  And another breath.

  "That hurt a lot, Margareth", she fought to remove the anger from her face and voice, "But I think that actually matters."

  Her handmaid bowed, "I am sorry mylady, it was your request to hear."

  "It is fine Margareth. It was important", she tried to console Margareth.

  She was the queens daughter, heir of the throne. She could just order, and anyone had to follow.

  But to win a talented comforter, she had to learn to be charming. Of course it made sense. Who wanted to comfort a person whom they didn't like.