Skaia was just beginning to come into view on their side of the moon, and with it, the starting of a new day. The tired girl yawned shuffled down from her room, one hand on her gown and the other on the railing. True, she was used to being up hours earlier than most of the other girls her age and older, but that didn't mean she was fully functional first thing after washing her face.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she let out another yawn and disappeared down a hallway. What did she have to do? Morning prayers, political studies, tutelage from the Head Priestess. She counted off her duties on her fingers, once by one. She could have sworn she was forgetting something however. But what was it? She couldn't for the life of her place it.
Instead of dwelling on it for too much longer, she figured that having a bite to eat would wake her up enough to give her back the idea that continued to escape her sleep-addled mind.
She turned a corner and pressed a hand against the wall. Some of the maidens knew of the secret passages, Jane being one of them. She knew when they built, why, and where they led. Most of them turned to one large tunnel that connected to the cellar in the Palace, and was to be used in states of emergencies, in case something were to happen to the King and Queen and they needed to escape.
But this was years ago. Nothing had happened yet to their Monarchs, so these weren't really in use, and she was pretty sure that the ones leading right to the castle were blocked off so no one could enter through them.
She knew a couple of them, shortcuts really, and used them to her advantage if the occasion called for it. She'd sometimes be able to sneak Jake and John in, or for herself to sneak out and meet up with them. But this was also years ago. She hadn't spoken to either of them much recently. She wondered how they were doing...
She shook her head. Enough dilly-dallying. She walked through the corridors and into the hallway leading to the kitchen. There should be some fruit in there. As she approached, she heard shuffling around inside. Shuffling that sounded very suspicious. She slowly crept up to the door, lifting her dress and tiptoeing to the slightly ajar door, her curiosity and love of mystery piqued.