Chambermaids Alternate Ending

Women like me, chambermaids, cannot get close to a knight, not in a meaningful way. Our purpose is to scrub, wash, and empty pots, nothing more. We are invisible to nobles, as we are trained to be. I had capitulated to that concept long ago.

However, there had been that one time I was not invisible.

I had been tasked with scrubbing the floor in the castle corridor near Sir Leon’s chamber. Down on my knees, I worked fast, scrubbing with vigor until my hands cracked and bled. What if Sir Leon walked by me? What if he spoke to me? I would not know what to say. From a distance, I had admired him for a good long while, but the thought of interacting with him terrified me.

I scrubbed a final stubborn spot of grime from the stone floor; I was almost done when Sir Leon strode down the corridor. As he wandered by, he muttered a polite greeting, and I nodded my head in acknowledgement. He entered his chamber and I breathed a long sigh of relief. Yet moments later, Sir Leon appeared one again, this time, holding a mug.
“That looks like hard work and you must be parched.”

I remained on my knees and stared at him, unable to answer, unable to think. Somehow, I croaked a barely audible “Thank you.” I accepted the mug and drank, while he spoke of the weather and King Arthur’s new horse. I must have also spoken, but I was so overwhelmed by Sir Leon’s gesture of kindness and by the way his eyes shone a beautiful shade of sky blue that I do not recall a word I said.

Moments after I finished my drink, he was gone, but not from my