I was young when the Duchess of Woda hired me as an assistant footman at her summer palace. My experience with the ways of the titled aristocracy was very limited before that day. There were wealthy merchants, traders, diplomats, and officials who had large operations in Eldenroot, and ostentatious palaces for entertaining, but my relatives were all far from those social circles. “Are you also going to Moliva?” asked Prolyssa, one of the Breton women, after we had made our introductions. “I don't know what that is,” I replied. “I'm seeking a domestic position with the Duchess of Woda.”