Dancing In Light Beams - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The slave girl and Hotaru had been friends since they first saw each other when Hotaru arrived at the palace five years ago. The slave girl had been comforting Hotaru who was distraught from the loss of her parents and showing her around the palace. They'd formed an instant friendship and loved to be together. Occasionally they'd try to steal some extra food, like bread, to go with their meagre amounts of rice and vegetables. They were pretty experienced after five years and it had become a regular habit.
Today was no exception. Master Rin's meal had been pork and rice with lots of delicious extras. The slave girl and Hotaru, who had been helping prepare the meal, had rescued some nice, meaty pieces from the bin which, They believed, shouldn't have been in there in the first place.
Master Rin had one of the other slaves employed to be his personal assistant. His name was Takehiko and one of his main jobs was to spy on the other servants and checking if they were being troublesome or disobeying rules which the master often enjoyed seeing them do as he delighted at the chance of releasing one of the miserable servants. While Hotaru had been busy hiding and protecting her precious meat, Takehiko had been hiding in the shadowy doorway and watching. Once he had confirmed to himself that Hotaru was indeed stealing the meat, he raced up to the master's chamber to report the recent theft.