Terra in turn was a changed duchess. Though really, it was better to say that she was finally herself as the duchess. With the knowledge that her husband and her love were in fact the same person whom she knew loved her and the free spirited girl she had been in the forest, her daily working became much more like that. She stopped wearing the regal dresses and has much more casual dresses made for herself so much like him she could step in at any moment to get her hands dirty in some of the hard work her people did.
At first, the people were a little shocked by the change in her, but when they all realized they liked this change very much, they all simple accepted her cooking with them in the kitchens and grooming the horses in the stables, a smile always on his face at whatever task she did. They all started thinking what Arnold knew all along. Terra was indeed the perfect match for Nathan.
The most fun though she had during the time her husband was away was Arnold showing her the ropes of this place that not many others knew about. It took some begging and some smiling and a puppy dog face from both herself and from Bottom that would sit with them when they would talk on the matters of Nathans' other self. Finally, he agreed at first to show her the passageways. That was after all for her own safety in case there was a need to flee.
It took a few more days for her to talk him into teaching her some of the code in the messages that Nathan sent, for she yearned to be able to read the messages for herself. It turned out she learned that it was a terribly complex code. Actually, it was three codes. One code decoded the message into a second code which needed to be decoded into another code and only after another step would the true message be revealed. It really was smart on their part. No one would ever be able to read there messages. By the time he returned she had only been able to learn the first decoding.
That day had for some reason or another been even more tiring then most her other days. She took dinner that night with some of the ladies she would chat with while in the sewing room, may of them handmaidens or wives to servants that lived within the castle. They have become her friends. Towards the end of the meal, she turned to Sarah, "Would you mind terribly if I asked you to go on ahead to my room and have a nice hot bath drawn up Sarah? I'm rather sore tonight and a soothing soak would be lovely before bed."
"Of course your grace," the handmaiden said as she left the table they were all casually gathered around before first heading to the kitchen to order the hot water brought upstairs. After that, she went herself to Terra's quarters to prepare the bath with some oils that would help Terra to relax. Sarah was turning out to be far more attentive then Anya had ever been.
Since the alternate entrance for the servants to the bath chamber locked from the inside, Sarah had to entered through the bedroom to open it for them. Imagine her surprise when she opened the door and found the duke laid out on the mistresses bed. At first she had a slightly shocked look on her face as she dipped into a curtsy to greet him, "Milord..." then she got that knowing smile across her face. "Your lady has requested a hot bath. If you don't mind I shall prepare if for her. And if you would like to truly surprise her, I would think it best you hide yourself a little while longer out of sight until she arrives." Not waiting to see if he took her advise, she went into the bath chamber to prepare it for her.
