Snippet #851320

Lillian waited patiently for Zahra to compose herself, discretely looking away and taking a sudden interest in the dirt floor below them. When she had accomplished this, and took the strawberries, Lillian was glad to see she seemed to be enjoying the fruit, but even more so, she was surprised by Zahra’s sudden willingness to open up to her. Lillian had always had the impression that the Arab noblewoman had greatly disliked her, and yet here she was, talking about something that was most assuredly painful to her.

“I never knew my own father, so perhaps I cannot fully understand yer grief.” Lillian said quietly before she could stop herself. “But I do understand what it’s like to feel a stranger in land no one feels ye have business being in, more than I think ye know. I’m a bastard ye see, and people are rarely kind to a landless, lordless, peasant woman with a bastard child, especially when they’re not from yer province, and barely speak yer language.” Lillian confided.

“The way I see it milady, ye can spend yer time bemoaning yer loss, or direct ye focus to yer future. Yer smarter than most milady, if ye wish to avoid a future not of yer own making, uses yer witts, and work to change it.” Lillian advised kindly.