Penny and Dahlia
Sing with me a tiny autumn song
With the melodies of the days gone by
Dress my body all in flowers white
So no mortal eye can see
Where have all my memories gone?
Should I roam again up yonder hill?
I can never rest my soul until
You call my name, you call my name from the heart
Yuki Kajiura and Emily Bindiger - My long forgotten cloistered sleep
The Lowell family are known for their great influence, wealth and significance. They hold many extensive estates, participate in business endeavours, and use their power to protect people living in surrounding towns and villages from potential dangers. Penelope Lowell is the youngest daughter of the House of Lowell. She is a dreamer and an introvert by nature, preferring sitting in her room and reading novels to participating in activities that her family deems worthy. As such, her parents decided it was high time for her to start acting like a proper aristocrat should, and what better way than to send her away to one of their many estates? This way she has to become a responsible lady and take care of the small land assigned to her and the nearby town of Ravenhill.
Dahlia lived in a small and quaint village south of Ravenhill. Her life there was quite ordinary — she was a diligent child, never caused any trouble and listened to her parents. As she was close to becoming a legal adult, she realised she would need to start fending for herself sooner or later, so she started to look for potential jobs. She could’ve stayed in the village, but she decided she wanted to find a job in the town. After all, people there were paid more and there were more things to do. One day Dahlia’s friend, a frequent visitor to Ravenhill, mentioned spotting an advertisement that one of the noble families was looking for a junior maid. The family was generous and said to treat their servants well, making the prospect of serving them very appealing. It was a perfect opportunity for Dahlia, so she bid her parents and friends farewell and travelled to Ravenhill without a second thought. As soon as she got to the town she snatched the advert from the notice board and asked around for the way to the nobles’ house. She ended up getting lost in the labyrinth of streets a few times, but she did manage to find the grand mansion after all. She took a deep breath and banged on the door with the ornate iron knocker…
art by Gabriel
Edith, the estate’s housekeeper opened the door to a young woman. She wasn’t surprised seeing her there as she recently requested a maid around Lady Lowell’s age, she thought that her mistress could use spending some time with others, and a peer would be the perfect solution. The stranger introduced herself and said that she came here because of the job offer for a maid, Edith assumed that meant she must be the maid sent from the main house. After all, she fitted the bill - a young woman and also not a human.
And thus Dahlia started working for a noble family, but not any family, the most important of them - the Lowells. To her complete surprise, the position she was given was not one of a mere maid but a lady’s maid. Adding to the weird situation was the fact that the servants were all kind to her but also… they seemed slightly off. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but there was something weird going on. And she was right something was going on, but “weird” was the mildest way of putting it.
The first time Dahlia met Lady Lowell, she was very welcoming, however, there was something else attracting the maid’s attention — a pair of tail-like appendages with sharp teeth. To make things worse Edith would request Dahlia to keep an eye on Penny during meal time and make sure eats her vegetables instead of feeding them to her “tails”. And at least once while brushing Penelope’s hair, Dahlia saw some little critters trying to hide in her mistress’ locks. During the day she would see the other servants transform, use unnatural powers and grow limbs similar to Penny’s “tails”. At night she would hear strange sounds, and see shadows skulking around the manor and the gardens. Dahlia felt as if she was being watched. Still, she tried to work diligently and ignore all the fear she felt.
And then, one day Edith got a letter, its contents were shocking to her. The letter stated that the maid who was meant to arrive from the main house could not be assigned to Penny at this time and that a replacement maid would be dispatched within the following week or two. If such was the case, who was the woman who looked after her mistress? Edith immediately ran up the stairs to Lady Penny’s bedroom, they had to discuss what to do now and figure out who the outsider was.
After the situation was explained to her, Dahlia was shocked. She knew it all seemed too good! But then, she realized she saw a lot of weird things going on in the manor. Possibly also heard some secrets she wasn’t supposed to know about! She remembered she heard the servants talking a lot about shadows. Dahlia was freaked out, she was honestly certain they would silence her.
To Dahlia’s surprise, Penny said she would like to keep her. She said she got attached to Dahlia and liked the slightly awkward maid. Edith only let out a sigh and stated she would write to the main house to request that a new maid not be sent. And just before she left the room she asked if Dahlia was aware that there were no humans in the manor except Penny, including Dahlia herself.