Jamison Lionel Forthwaite III settled back in his easy chair, propping his feet on the velvet-covered ottoman as he picked up the news hologram and began reading. The chair automatically adjusted to his body for ultimate support and comfort, while the room gently warmed around him according to his specified preferences. The stately room was his office, but he rarely used it as such. Instead, it was his sanctuary, his place to relax and unwind after a long day's work.

"DA-DDY!"

Jamison flinched at the shrill pitch of his daughter's voice as she flung the door open with such force it banged into the bookshelf behind it. Oh, blazing gyros, what's she about now? he wondered, but forced himself to set the hologram aside with a kind, fatherly smile. "What is it, Princess?"

"I need you to make a law!"

Jamison eyed Angie, his pride and joy. She was wearing a tafetta party dress and her normally perfectly-coifed hair was disheveled. It looked like she had a smudge of chocolate on her cheek. Was she going to a party or coming from one? It was so hard to keep track these days. "I'm sorry, Pumpkin, but the laws are decided by the whole council, not just by me."

Angie's eyes immediately filled with tears and she dropped to the floor, sitting with her legs splayed out in front of her. Her lower lip began to quiver.

"Now, now, Princess," Jamison said hastily, crossing to her side. He put his arms around her and helped her to the couch. "There's a good girl, no need to cry. Tell Daddy what's got his little princess in such a fuss?"

She sniffled a few times, but did not answer.

"Come now, love," Jamison coaxed. "Aren't you excited about going to a party?"

Angie looked up at him in horror. "Daddy! This is a daytime party dress!"

Of course it was. He'd forgotten that tafetta was only worn to daytime parties. But then, all the little rules were a bit hard to keep track of. "You're right, of course, I forgot," he backpedaled. He looked at her disheveled hair again and the lightbulb went on. "Dearest, did something happen at the party?"

Lip quiver. Sniffle. "YES!" she wailed, throwing herself into his arms and breaking into full-fledged sobs.

Jamison knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was mostly a show put on to manipulate him. Sadly, there wasn't much he could do about it. He couldn't stand to see her cry, and she knew it. "There, there, Princess, calm down. Tell Daddy all about it."

~~~

Shari and Kendra walked together to the city well, pulling a cart loaded down with several large pots. The sound of the wheels rattling on the cobblestone bounced off of the tightly packed houses around them. Most of the windows were shut tightly against the cold autumn morning, but a few were open to let rooms air out. A couple of servants waved a greeting from one of those windows as the two women passed.

"Hey, it's Shari!" a voice called from the well up ahaed.

Shari looked up and smiled as a group of servants turned toward her. The well, as usual, was quite busy with servants gathering their cleaning water. The speaker, Nika, waved eagerly to them.

"Good morning," Shari said as she and Kendra stopped beside the well. "Any news?"

"You don't know?" Nika asked, her eyes wide with eagerness.

"Come on, Nika," Kendra pressed. "We can't all work in the council chambers, like you."

Nika's face glowed with pleasure at her secret and she lowered her voice. "Master Jamison strode into the council chambers like a bulldozer today. He declared, completely out of turn, that he wished to propose a new law in regards to public decency and behaviors."

Shari's breath caught. "What happened?"

The other servants were listening attentively, too, even though their expressions made it clear they had already heard the news. Nika smiled and continued. "He talked all about how young men should make their intentions toward young women clear from the very start instead of playing romance in secret and leading other young women on. And you should've seen his eyes when he started talking about how personal discussions of relationships should be kept private, whether accepting someone or rejecting them. I could've sworn his expression would burn the buiding to the ground!"

"So what did they do?" Kendra pressed, the pots forgotten. "Did they make a law?"

Nika paused cruelly, then beamed. "Yes! Most of the council members have daughters, and they'd all heard about what happened. It passed unanimously!"

Kendra let out a whoop in delight as Shari took a step backward, pressing a hand against her chest. She had done it. She really had.

"So it's true, then?" Alissa, the servant of another council member, asked. "You convinced Miss Angie to get her father to make that law?"

Grinning, Kendra clapped Shari on the back. "She really did! I heard the whole thing myself."

As Kendra proceeded to describe the event in hyperbolic detail, Shari began filling the pots in a robotic manner, her mind nowhere near the task at hand. They, the humble servant class, had influenced law. A small law, true, but a law nonetheless. All of their hopes were turning into reality right before her eyes.

"So what law should you make her do next?" Alissa asked. "Get her to outlaw these horrid shirts, will ya?"

"No!" Shari said, startled from her thoughts. She gave all of the other servants a severe look. "We must take the greatest caution here. I know Miss Angie, and she will not agree unless it's a law that benefits her - at least to start with."

"So get her to make a new law about party dresses, then," Nika said. "That shouldn't be too hard."

"No, not that, either," Shari replied, loading a full pot onto the cart and grabbing the next one. "If we have her make frivolous, silly laws, her father will stop listening to her. We must keep it in balance."

"So what is the plan, then?" Kendra asked, either not realizing or not caring that Shari was doing all the work by herself.

"We bide our time. We've waited decades for this moment. Giving it another week or so won't kill us. We wait for something else to happen that upsets Miss Angie." She looked around with a smile. "And if you know Miss Angie, that won't take long at all."

The other servants chuckled, nodding their agreement.

Alissa looked less than pleased. "So we're just going to sit back and wait?"

Shari nodded firmly. "Waiting brought us this far, Alissa. We can't let a little impatience ruin everything."

~~~

Miss Angie hummed as she swept around her room, dancing with an invisible partner. She caught sight of Shari out of the corner of her eye and spun a couple more times before stopping, her eyes shining with delight. "Oh, Shari, you'll never believe it!"

"What is it, Miss Angie?" Shari asked politely as she began dusting the shelves of nicknacks beside the door.

"He did it! Father got those stuffy old council members to make it a law!" Miss Angie laughed and spun around again. "Not only that, but I hear he's going to go have a long talk with Phillip and his parents! I do believe I can expect a formal, public apology by this evening."

"I'm so glad things have turned out so well for you," Shari replied. "That was an excellent idea you had, to ask your father to make it a law."

Miss Angie beamed. "Well, I can't take all the credit, I suppose. The idea was inspired by something you said." She hummed again and did another dance as Shari coughed to cover the laugh that had tried to escape.

"Miss Angie," Frederick, the butler, declared from the other side of the door, "a Miss Julia is here to see you."

"Oh, yay!" Miss Angie giggled. "Send her in, Frederick!"

Shari kept her focus on dusting. If Miss Julia was here, there was no doubt that Alissa would be with her. And if she lookd at Alissa while the two highbornes giggled about manipulating fathers into making laws, there was no way either of them would be able to keep a straight face.

The door slid open after a brief minute and Miss Julia slid into the room with the grace of a beauty queen. "Why, Angie, you look just lovely!"

"Oh, and so do you, Julia!" Miss Angie replied. "And you brought Alissa. Having any more trouble with her, are you? I can't imagine what a pain that must be, having servants who don't behave. My Shari is always on her best behavior."

Alissa and Shari both coughed.

"Oh, don't be silly," Miss Julia said. "Alissa's never been a bother. Oh, are you referring to her little trouble - how long ago was it? A year? My goodness, Angie, I thought you were more caught up on the times than that."

Miss Angie conceded the traditional one-upmanship with a graceful wave of her hand. "I must have been thinking of someone else's servant. I never can keep them straight, you know."

"Of course," Miss Julia cooed. "Now, aren't you going to invite me to sit down? I've had quite a fright today."

Miss Angie looked less than pleased at the prospect of a conversation that didn't revolve around her, but sat on the couch and motioned for Miss Julia to join her anyway. "What happened?"

"On the way to your house, riding down that bumpy road, we had to stop to allow one of the council members to pass by," Miss Julia said as she sat down, spreading her skirt neatly around her. "Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark shadow coming straight toward me!"

"Oh, goodness!" Miss Angie gasped.

Miss Julia nodded severely. "I was too frightened even to cry out for help! I was certain that one of those peasants from the outer villages had come to try to rob me - or worse, kidnap me!"

"What did you do?"

"I told Alissa to stand in front of me, but then it turned out it was just another one of those servants. I hadn't been able to see his shirt because he was walking in the space between two houses. You know how that space is too narrow to really see what's going on in there." Julia shook her head. "Someone should do something about that. It's frightfully unsafe."

Alissa caught Shari's eye and Shari felt her heart quicken its pace. She took a deep breath, then gave her friend a tiny nod.

"Yes, frightfully unsafe," Alissa murmured. "If only someone could make a law about that."

"There's no call for you to speak," Miss Julia barked out, eyeing Alissa, but it was too late. An eager gleam had already entered Miss Angie's eyes.