After speaking to his sister Lilou for a further few minutes Amondo bid her farewell and she headed off to start getting ready for the trip to the funeral that would begin the following morning. Waiting outside the door when she left was a page who then went off to inform Amondo's ward Rachana that he was ready to see her. While waiting for her to arrive Amondo pondered over the best way to inform her of the reality behind dungeons.
He would first have to somehow separate her from her maid who would for proprieties sake have to accompany them to the Dungeon. Hopefully, the voice of the so-called dungeon would somehow help him in this endeavour. Once that task was accomplished, he then had to pick the best moment to tell her the truth and find the right words to do so. Again, he hoped the voice would play a role in this, it should at least provide her with proof that what he said was true. He wasn't sure how his ward would react to this, he hoped that she wouldn't faint or get hysterical and realise that it must remain a secret. To tell the truth he would be happy if she was able to accept the truth of it especially since he wasn't entirely sure he did so himself.
Before that, he had to inform her of the change in plans and hope she didn't object to them too stringently not that he thought she would. He didn't have too long to wait for her to show up with her maid Elean in tow.
"Milord why have you summoned me, I hope no one has found fault in me I try so hard to act as a lady should. It isn't always easy but I do try, was it, Daphne, I didn't mean to shout at Hala but she was being such a baby."
"Calm down Rachana as far as I am aware you have done nothing wrong; I have summoned you for another reason. As you may have noticed I also summoned my sister not so long ago and it was for the same reason."
"I must apologise for my outburst just now I do so worry that others think bad of me, it has as you are no doubt aware always been thus.����
"Apology accepted, now I have to inform you that my plans for you in the next while have been changed by factors out of my control."
"Oh, bother what is it now I was so looking forward to the last tournament of the season and the grand ball that proceeds it. And then your brother died, and we had to come here, it's much better than I imagined it would be but still. Sorry, I'm sure you don't wish to hear me complaining all the time, so unladylike, now what has changed this time and how exactly does it affect me?"
"It's another death I'm afraid, this time it's my great aunt Milonia, I don't imagine I ever mentioned her to you. She married someone from the other side of the Empire in the kingdom of Kushum and I only ever met her the once. Her husband had just died, and she wanted to get away for a while and a visit home must have seemed the best way to do so. Well once her son died a few years ago she moved back here permanently. I won't go into why she did so but suffices to say she had her reasons."
"My condolences milord on your loss."
"Much obliged anyway she is now dead and the funeral is in three days. I wish for you to accompany my sister Lilou to her funeral in my stead what say you are you willing?"
"I suppose it doesn't sound too bad, what side of the family did she belong to, since Lilou is coming along it must be either your late mother's fathers' side or her mother's one?"
"She was my mother's father's youngest sister."
"So, what size of a funeral can I expect?"
"Hard to say exactly even without her late husband's family attending, being so far away and having said their goodbyes long ago, it should be well attended I imagine. However, with there being only six days between her death and the funeral attendance will not be what it might otherwise be, so between one and two hundred at the least."
"Will Eugene Haas be attending."
"Now that you mention it, he will almost certainly be attending unless he just sends his wife or some other representative along in his stead. I should have realised it earlier now If he does attend you be sure to remain polite to him at all times won't you. We may be at war with him soon enough but that is no excuse to forget your manners."
"Don't worry about me I will be sure to at all times treat him the same as everyone else. Now, what about the dungeon I suppose it'll have to wait until I return."
"Not necessarily you won't have to head out for the funeral until tomorrow. If you don't mind, we could still pay it a quick visit before nightfall, what do you say?"
"That's fine with me if you could have my horse saddled and a pony for my maid, we could be ready to head out in fifteen minutes or so, couldn't we Elean?"
"Begging pardon milady but better make it twenty minutes just to be on the safe side."