Stepping past the gates, Penelope looked around the castle grounds, trying to act curious rather than giving away that she was taking in the various aspects. It wasn’t much different than the Brerra castle, though the placement of certain things did vary. The barracks laid to the right alongside the castle. She noticed that there was an old, wooden door that seemed to lead under the castle placed besides the barracks. She didn’t pay much mind to it and continued to look around elsewhere. To the left, she spotted the stables alongside a rather peaceful looking garden. Beautiful plants and trees made their home there. 

“Dotty, go ahead and finish watering the plants. Take Farah with you and show her around so she knows where everything’s at.” Matilda instructed. The old woman turned her head to look over at Penelope and Dotty. “Meet me in the servant’s quarters when you’re done.” 

“Yes ma’am!” Dotty dipped her head to Matilda and watched as the older servant walked on towards the front entrance of the great building. She turned to Penelope and gave a large smile. “Come on then! We’ve got quite a bit to cover and I’m not even showing you the whole castle.”

Dotty too the lead and headed off the main path as she made her way over to the garden. Penelope followed her, admittedly relieved that Matilda had left her alone with the bubbly servant. Dotty seemed much more trusting than Matilda and the knight hoped to use that to her advantage in finding out as much as she could about the castle. As they neared the garden, Penelope was a bit impressed by how well looked after it was. The garden back home was mainly for herbs or other small crops and wasn’t usually looked after very well since often didn’t use the crops that grew there. However, this garden’s main purpose seemed to purely be enjoyment. A couple shady trees stood tall amongst the various plants and beautiful flowers bloomed all over. 

“It’s so pretty here..” Penelope mused softly as she looked around. Dotty was already spreading the water over the plants and gave a soft chuckle. 

“Well, the queen really loves this spot! She comes out here often to admire the flowers.. Sometimes she even sneaks out here through the pantry’s back door but don’t let his highness know that.” She grinned and winked at her. 

Penelope gave a small smile of amusement and nodded her head. While Dotty's words were amusing, she was quick to find a bit of interest in the mention of the pantry having a back door. She eyed the wall of the castle and sure enough she spotted a narrow door nearby. It was hard to spot and nearly hidden amongst the side of the castle. “Right.” She said with a small laugh. “I’m surprised the pantry is so close to the garden..”

“It makes it easy to grab the herbs from the garden.” Dotty explained with a small shrug. “Alright! I’m done watering so let’s begin the tour!”

“Are we starting with the pantry?” Penelope asked. 

“No. Unfortunately, they usually lock it up tight so the only way to open that door is from the inside. But that’s a boring place to start anyways! Come!” Dotty hurried off towards the main entrance, swinging the empty bucket in her hand as she walked. As they stepped up a couple small staircases, Penelope could already make out what lied beyond the main doors. She noted that it wasn’t as grand or luxurious as the inside of the Brerratic castle. It was decorated nicely and still told of great wealth though it lacked the gold and silver touches she had grown used to seeing in the castle back home. [i]It’s almost.. humble...[/i] She thought to herself as she stepped inside, passing a couple of guards on the way. 

“Welcome to the great castle of Younis!” Dotty said with a grand gesture. The guards glanced over at her, seeming to flinch with annoyance at her loud voice. 

Penelope smiled at Dotty and placed a hand on the servant’s shoulder. “We should probably keep moving.” She said softly as she noticed the guard’s irritation. 

Dotty blushed a little and nodded her head as she continued to walk further inside. “Ok well, that’s the main staircase,” She gestured to the large staircase that took up most of the entrance. “It only leads up to the third floor though. You probably won’t ever go higher than the second floor though. Unless you become a servant of one of the royal family. We’ll go up to the second floor so I can show you the great hall and the library.” She took the lead and hurried up the stairs. Penelope quickly followed. 

The great hall was located right upon the left of the stair case on the second floor. They pushed opened the doors and Dotty let her have a brief look around. There really wasn’t anything of much interest, as it was currently empty. What Penelope paid more attention to was the knights that passed on their regular patrol. [i]If I could just get a feel for their routine and route...[/i] She followed behind Dotty as they left the great hall and moved onto the library. 

So far it seemed that the layout wasn’t too different from the castle back in Brerra. Though things were in slightly different places, both the Brerratic and Younisian castle managed to have similar things on the same floors. Penelope hoped she was right in guessing that the rest of the castle would be the same and continued to follow Dotty as the servant briefly showed her the library and walked on through the hallway of the second floor.