[center][color=82ca9d][b]Lyra[/b][/color][/center]

A blur of red hair rushed through the crowd. She was easy to spot. Not many people in the capitol had such vibrant red hair. She mumbled excuses and apologies as she rushed past people, pushing her way through. There were far too many people in the capitol. Lyra missed the quiet of Hyland Keep. She had wanted to travel and now she was learning what that meant.
And to top it off she was late. But that was not her fault. It was the horse master's fault. Her cheek stung, reminding her of the last fifteen minutes.

[i]"Disrespectful chit! I've told you to stay away from my horses-"
[color=a2d39c]"They're not [b]your[/b] horses! They belong to the Hyland family and I can see them as I wish!"[/color]
"You forget your betters you little whor-"[/i]

He hadn't gotten the word out before she had slapped him as hard as she could. But of course him being a man meant he could hit harder. The discoloration of her cheek was proof of that. When was she going to learn to keep her mouth shut? If she had just demurely agreed, apologized and left until another time her face would still be intact and she wouldn't be late. Lyra was a servant of the Hyland family. She had to be there when they presented themselves to the royal family. She didn't want to think about what kind of punishment she would receive if she failed to be where she was supposed to be there.

Spotting the Hyland children she skidded to a stop near them, out of breath and wisps of her hair falling out of the braid she had put it in. She kept her head down. There was no way she was going to let them see her face. She couldn't disrespect the Hylands by looking so disgraceful. Thankfully no one really looked at servants, unless they were wanting to place blame or desired a bedmate. Lyra had avoided the latter fate, but the former had happened on several occasions with other servants in the house.

Lyra did what all servants did, she stared at the stones under her feet and listened carefully to what went on around her. If you wanted any kind of information about people, you asked the servants. Servants were invisible and considered stupid. Because of this many powerful men, and women, revealed their true selves and their plans before their servants, not realizing what they were doing.
Lyra may have been just a girl, but there was much she knew that no one realized she knew...