September 1863, Melbourne
Rose
It was time for me to update my wardrobe for the upcoming summer season. I was one of the more unusual clients my local dressmaker had on her books. Most people followed the colours set by society, where as I preferred the darker jewel tones.
Evie quickly helped me with my fabrics, the moment I walked into her shop. I could see the struggle to keep a wide smile from overtaking her face. “Good afternoon, Miss Halliwell.”
She guided me to her private workroom, glancing at her desk I could see Evie was prepared for my three monthly appointment.
No other dressmaker used her method of checking the face for any weight gain or losses, before taking any measurements. The process didn’t take too long and was so relaxing I nearly fell asleep.
{Phew, she has gained weight}, hearing this from her woke me up. My housemate Lydia was always worried about my weight, it fluctuated due to the curse’s effect on my health. I didn’t react to her thought as we moved on to choosing the trims.
Contrasting trims and layers were the upcoming summer trends, which didn’t suit my personal style. We paused to think over a cup of tea and Evie’s face lit up. “What about monotone colour?”, she asked me.
“Let’s try it” and we pinned different combos to my undergarments. We found a few colours which gave me an middle class appearance. I stood up and the world started to spin, reaching out for the chair to steady myself.
Instead I caught the arm of Evie, helping me to the fainting couch. Once I was stable she assisted with me with my outer layers and into the main shop. I tightly gripped the counter while she processed my payment.
She opened her mouth but my brain didn’t register any of her words as I was too busy trying to fight the darkness taking over my encroaching my vision. Giving up, I let the darkness come, while a muffed “fetch the smelling salts” in the background.
Lydia
Bruce and I had nearly finished our weekly training session. We were interrupted by pounding on the door. A boy in his late teens came up to me with a pink slip of paper.
Quickly reading the message and passing to Bruce’s waiting hand, dashing out the room with his “Go to her” echoing behind me.
Two days later
The clip-clop of hooves, heavy rumbling from passing by carriages and the distant train whistles from Flinders Street station, entered from the open 1st floor window. Sunbeams in the corner of my eye, directed me to Rose’s heavily sleeping form.
She looked paler than normal, her curse had been stable for the past 25 years. My gut feeling made me worried for any further complications with her health.
My eyes started to close, a pair of hands stopped me from failing off the chair. “Miss Lovegood, I can take over”, Jane Parker, Rose’s lady said in an early Australian accent. A cherry blossomed gentle warm wind surrounded and followed me into my rooms.
Charlotte, my own lady’s maid had laid out my nightclothes and helped me undress. The curtains were closed, along with the lights being extinguished. Her footsteps got further away, as I drifted off to sleep.
Jane Parker Rose’s Lady maid
Four Days earlier
I was mending pieces from my lady’s summer wardrobe in our shared attic space, my sister Charlotte entered via the servant’s door. “Stop your mending, we need to get Lady Roseia’s bed turned down.” Glancing at the clock, her bed time wasn’t for a few hours. She explained the important details as we prepared her room.
One of the house bells brought me back to the present. Finishing up with the silver polishing and putting it away, Mrs Chambers walked towards me with a tray in a horizontal position. Placing it down vertical on my left side, “Jane, take this to Miss Lydia and make sure she finishes it.“
The household we served was different in more ways than one, with both mistresses being unmarried and demons along with us.
A key location to our primary function as bodyguards was the training room. It was hidden on the second basement level, with access from the top floor.
Elizabeth knew a sparring session was needed, after the news of my mistress’s shattered constitution. We started with swords, which was her strength then moved on to hand to hand combat, which was my strength. As we sparred she mentioned an increase in training sessions to further protect both of our mistresses.
4 weeks later
Good news came to our household, with my mistress coming to one week later. We faced an internal battle of keeping her in her bed for a week, I was a front line soldier as her lady’s maid. My gut feeling told there would be more moments like this in the future, unless we planned ahead.
Evie the seamstress favoured by the household came to stay with us for two weeks. This allowed her to finish the summer wardrobes for both Mistresses, along with our summer combat gear and uniforms. Five weeks after the original planned date for my lady’s visit to Coranderrk, I was packing her trunk for our departure in five days. This period had tested everyone, especially myself and changed the meaning of normal.
