"Is everything in order?" I ask a member of my kitchen staff as I tightly clutch the scroll that came to me recently. A declaration from the Senate that I am now being investigated over claims of ill health... It's that Burspharosa bastard without a doubt, it's always him. Forever and always!
"Yes, My Lady Bosphama." the chef answers as he continues to beat something within a bowl with his whisk.
"Excuse me, My Lady Bosphama." another one says as he comes by with an assistant as they trolly out what has been prepared for this inexplicit visit. So long as the scroll arrives before them, I have to accept their visit. I nod at my kitchen staff before leaving, rejoining Oorika with a scowl on my face.
"The cleaners are on schedule with the main hall now ready to accommodate the Senate members once they have arrived." she explains as she starts to walk alongside me. One of my attendees pats me down with a quick make-up lookover before bowing off. Dismissing another, she goes off to help whoever she can during this tense build-up.
As I requested, the keep's temple bell is sounded once the state coach comes into view. Stopping cold in my tracks, I glare up at the hidden, ringing lump of fine bronze. The scroll crunches further in my grip before I simply drop it on the floor. Loudly and firmly, I move out onto the walls of my home, receiving bows and salutes as I do so.
"My Lady Bosphama." Joastelan greets with a thump of his ornate armour as the three of us look off into the distance. As if the gods and goddesses are mocking me, the weather is concisely clear on the road the senators are travelling on. Its banners and flags, gilding and bejewellment all glitter under the light of the Orbital-Halo.
"Is there much point in resisting what we know they are here for?" I ask with a low tone as my grief overcomes my spite towards the actions of a particular, cruel man.
"Luck may yet be on our side, My Lady Bosphama." Oorika comments, though, I do not understand her sense of optimism. I cannot grasp or comprehend it, it's foreign, it makes me angry. Like I want to shout at her because of how stupid and wrong such an idea is.
"All we need is for but one of them to act out of line. I have already instructed the men of your keep to give no headway to our upcoming guests. They will behave or I will have them locked away." Joastelan explains and I find myself being able to smile, however brief it is.
"That would be wonderful, thank you." I tell him as I lean forward in order to catch a glance of one of my guards. Keeping his gaze on the farms surrounding us, he pays me no mind as his ready mind awaits the correct command.
"If you would allow me, My Lady Bosphama, I shall keep our guests confined as well as we can." Oorika assures me as she starts to present a briefly noted plan of how she wants to try and handle it.
"We already know why they are here, they are coming with the right of the Senate. Denying them too much will only justify their attainder should they so choose." I say as I shiver slightly to get my clothes back into order.
"If they could just take you away, then he would have already done so, My Lady Bosphama. Do not worry, you are protected under the law by your name, status and people." Joastelan assures me before he sets off to go and speak to some of his men. Turning to Oorika, I look her in the eye as her unyielding professional gaze meets me.
"How do you wish to meet them?" she asks as I look off towards the steps back down the wall.
"I should meet them at the gates, ideally..." I mutter as my housekeeper takes my hand.
"We shall greet them within the confines of the main keep. Let them bask in the majesty of your home and its withheld might. Let the Castellans men frighten them as they climb the road and steps." she explains as she offers me her hand so I have someone to support me on the way down.
"Terrifying that bastard's puppets will certainly do my mood some good." I answer as I give one more glance out towards the distant coach. It still has some time to go before it gets here, but one cannot help but stare at oncoming problems.
"Let the Castellan have his fun and my members of staff shall have ours." Oorika says with a professionally flat tone. The insidious nature of it, though, makes me shiver as my housekeeper knows her way around. Every secret passage, everything within the gardens and on the animals. She certainly has the kind of wealth needed to evoke nothing but misery in my visitors.
"I do hope you have my food and drink carefully marked or memorised before you are let loose." I tell her as she keeps her head facing forward.
"Of course, My Lady Bosphama." she assures me without looking me in the eye.
"As it was just mentioned, however, I am feeling a nervous feeding tick. Can you go and grab me something while I look for something within my office?" I ask the Housekeeper to which she bows and hurries off. Raising my kimono up on my own, I step into my home and swap out my sandals for my near-bare feet. All around me, my staff are getting the keep ready for when the senators arrive. Sometimes they bicker as they cross paths, but my presence calms all issues down back to a simmer.
A maid opens my office door for me and I have them wait there so they can close it again once I leave. Glancing down at my desk, my cheeks flush a little as I spot the lingering stain of the ink spill from a few nights before. Remembering that night further, I turn to the box Joastelan so skillfully tossed back onto the shelf. Opening it up, I sneak a sweet into my mouth and suck on it as I get back to it.
Pulling open one drawer, I take a key out and open several others, building up a cascade of small keys. Groaning very quietly in anticipation, I put all the keys together in an extensive, tedious process. Finally completing the new greater key, I inspect its fine brass craftsmanship and the strange, mesmerising shape it has. When I first took Einervaene to see snow for the first time...
A very expensive import, all the way from the chilled mountaintops of the Jhermonikra. She loved that day and the shape of that crystallised water stuck with me. So I made it a key to something even more special. Revealing the hidden lock, I slot the key in and turn the little stick that shoots out.
Woodwork and masonry shifts to the demands of its mechanical design and a safe slides into view. Kneeling down, I apply my magic carefully and sing a song under my breath to recall the sequence. A song about my little girl when she was so young, when our lives were so very devoid of our current problems. A better time I will never be able to have back.
A loud snap brings me back to the real world. Pulling open the heavy metal door with a grunt, grand treasure that only has any worth for me is revealed. Smiling, I pick up the seemingly crude necklace and undo the top of my kimono. The magic within the item shines bright and a small blue volt travels along the metal and silk chain.
Placing it around my neck, the familiar feel of my daughter only partially returns to me. I glance at what else is in here and ponder the small, mechanical, bird-like device. Only to shake my head as I close it back up. Enacting the room's return to normalcy and the ejection of the snowflake key.
It falls apart in my hands and I carefully drop the pile onto my desk.
Walking back out to the maid as I adjust my kimono's neck area, "The key is on my desk, please put it back into the places it belongs, please."
"Of course, My Lady Bosphama." she answers as she closes the door behind her as I walk back out into the hallway. Turning to the outdoors slightly, the sky flashes with the might of Thurnmourer and I hold up my hand. A paler, uglier colour comes out, but it is still proof of my decendence from his might.
My daughter is the daughter of true-blooded noble and that Bastard shall not have her or me!