It was a miserable day, she had to say goodbye to her maid. The woman was now lost in the tides as she'd gotten up early and tossed what remained off a cliff into the water. The betrayal was brutal, to see that her favorite maid thus far had been planning to leave and go to Liverpool of all places!

Nisa wore an unusual black dress as if in mourning as she went to put in an advertisement to get a new maid. Even the creaking of the door had her sigh. She wasn't even angry at how much it needed to be oiled to quiet it's incessant whine. "Sorry to bother you. I'm in need of a maid...again. Lily had been perfect. I can't believe she decided to move away." She said softly as she walked inside.

The older woman behind the counter fixed Briar with an unsympathetic frown.

"I'm sorry, but I'm simply unable to hire you," she stated for the second time, looking down at her from above her upturned nose.

Your husband said differently, thought Briar, but she kept that part to herself. Taking an eloquently-written advertisement from one of the many pockets she'd sewn into her skirts, Briar set it down and pushed it closer to the woman.

"Please run this then. I can..."

Briar's head turned when the door opened behind her. In walked a woman clothed in black, her footsteps followed with sighs. As she lamented the loss of her maid, and her subsequent need for a new one... Briar retracted the written ad and slipped it back into her pocket. Rather convenient this all was.

"Pardon me, miss," she greeted, with a respectfully deep bow to the other woman. Without fully raising her head, Briar continued, "I don't mean to impose, but if it's a maid you're looking for, I'm experienced and in need of employment."

Nisa was surprised that a woman needing work would fall into her lap. She looked her over and glanced at the other in a silent way to say she might be back. A small dmile came to her face as natural as the day turned to night.

"Well, no time like the present then. Do you mind coming to my home now so I might ask you questions? I am not the highest paying but you get a free room and meals. I cook on occasion so you are not expected to do it all of the time, of that is alright?" She already gestured towards the door to walk with her. "Unless you have a home you'd rather stay at? Then your hours will not be so long and you can do other things. But I may require you to come in suddenly for ...guests."

Was this woman some sort of mourning miracle, walking in here in her nice black dress and bearing good news?

Briar lifted her head enough to get a proper look at her. Still kept it angled so as to keep her gaze pointed up at the woman, rather than down at her, in case she was one of those ladies that insisted on such things. Her smile at least looked real, and that was more than could be said for plenty others.

"I don't mind," Briar answered with haste. She'd been passed over for too many other jobs to let much of anything deter her.

"Meals and a room are more than enough for me, miss, so I could stay with you as much as you'd prefer, should you decide to hire me."

The woman gestured to the door, and Briar was in motion. Carefully stepping out of her way, she pushed open the door and held it for the lady to walk out.

"My name is Briar Godfrey," she said. "What should I call you, miss?"

Nisa watched this woman and wondered if she was a gift from Allah. She required little more than a room and food? Her head returned forward so that they could walk "You are my maid, not an indentured servant but it is nice to know you will not complain if your payment is a little late." She spoke with some shame. "I am Nisa Koç. You may call me madam, miss, mistress, or whatever you are used to if I feel it is appropriate."

"I live with my brother but he is hardly home so it'll be just the two of us usually. Most of the time your work will be easy but there can be hard days. " She stopped and looked at the woman carefully looking at her in such a way to not look down at her. Nisa frowned and tapped her chin delicately. "I know I'm small statured and proud of my height. If you give me your loyalty no matter what, and you are as well versed in etiquette as you appear, you will find me very agreeable. Do not risk straining your neck for me."

She continued to walk, "are you from Whitby? Do you have family?"

Oh, a kind lady she was, or at least thought herself to be. Briar suppressed a look when the lady commented on the possibility of late payment. She was happy enough with what she'd said, but that shameful air about this woman when she spoke about it was rather odd.

Money problems? Or maybe this Nisa Koç had a husband or a father that wasn't great about getting her allowance on time.

Or, as Nisa continued -- a brother. Briar nodded knowingly.

She paused when the lady stopped, casting her an openly curious glance. Called out for her posturing, Briar bowed her head almost sheepishly and offered a nod to show she understood.

"You are very kind, miss," she said, and gave a small smile to prove she meant it. Not the kind of lady that needed her to act like some pitiful dog at her beck and call, then. When Nisa resumed her walk, Briar fell into quick step beside her again.

"Oh, yes, miss. Never left Whitby in all my life, so I know it well. As for my family - all dead, miss, buried them myself."

She didn't sound that broken up about it. In fact, for how casually she'd said it, one might've thought she'd said something as plain as "I folded the clothes."

Oh, she hoped that wasn't why she'd been so quickly turned down for all the other jobs...

Nisa nodded as she walked towards her home. "Yet you seem so hard to find work. No friends to assist in your pursuit? Any idea why you've had such trouble? I've yet to see your skills but you seem more than polite enough."

Of course being polite and knowing how to act was not enough to earn money, but it mattered so much to Nosa. She could teach the rest. She knew how to struggle on her own when she was between maids.

At the mention of burial, Nisa looked over sympathetically and nodded. "So sorry to hear. How did they die?" It was complete innocently curious. "My father died sadly, and I was not able to bury him. It is a shame." She supposed she didn't earn the right to bury her father because she didn't get to kill him, the foolish city did it because they believed him. It was all their faults, not hers.

Was she supposed to answer that honestly? It didn't seem like a good idea to tell a potential employer that she had no friends and no work for the same reason: people found her a bit odd. Without good reason, she thought.

"I've had troubles since my father died, miss. Not many opportunities for a woman on her own."

Everyone's relatives had to die at some point, hers had just kicked it a little sooner than some. As for the ones that might have hired her regardless, they tended to be the types that treated her like the dirt she was meant to tidy up. Had her mother been an upper class, snooty English girl, had she not left her life on a small island in the Caribbean to come here and serve the locals, would those uppity ladies have hired her daughter then?

Briar didn't have much in the ways of what rich folks wanted, but she was pretty sure she could do a better job than anyone else they hired.

"My mother was killed," she said, in that unaffected tone. "Father got sick a few years after, and my brother drowned."

He'd been in the water when she'd found him, anyway.

"I'm sorry about your father, miss. That is a shame. A daughter should have the right to bury her own."

Nisa seemed in deep consideration. "I suppose do, I am grateful my brother works so hard."

She was in no rush to get home, instead she studied her possible new maid. Any signs she was meek or fearful had to be taken into consideration.

"Truly, your fortune has been miserable. Thank you for your sympathy. Perhaps this is a change in fate. We will find out." She stopped as they got to her front door and she smiled at the woman. "You have a lovely name, Miss Godfrey. I do hope you work out, but you may need a strong stomach." Was the last thing she said as she opened the door and the faintest scent of iron hit her nose but she already knew it was there.

Briar was a courteous girl, quick to bow her head to those above her. If her potential employer studied her for meekness, or fear, however, there was none to be found. In fact, she seemed more likely to have been bound into her diminutive form by a cage of quiet confidence, never reaching past itself to morph to vanity.

She wasn't afraid of the world. Didn't fear the people in it, either, but she still wasn't a fool. Anyone could be taken down, and she was comfortable with the fact that when her time came, she'd return to the earth like all else.

Nisa's sympathies were received with a polite nod. As they reached a door, Briar's gaze returned to her.

"Thank you, miss," she said as Nisa opened the door.

Hm. Smelled like... what was that? The faintest whiff of it caught her nose, but the outside air carried it off.

"Oh, I've a very strong stomach, miss," said Briar as she waited for Nisa to lead the way, and then stepped inside with a small look around the immediate area. "What sort of work would you be needing me for?"