Viekar came quietly into the room a few minutes after Bavarthos fell asleep.
"Master is asleep. Good. My lady." He gestures for me to follow him out of the room. I look to Bavarthos and shrug.
'My lady? Who is he talking to?' I internally roll my eyes at that.
'I'm not doing anything but sitting around waiting otherwise. Why not?'
I shrug getting up and follow him out, walking down a stone hallway, lit by more filigree, iron lanterns and pockmarked with more halls or doors.
"So where are we going?" I ask Viekar, the Satyr that's leading me through this maze like system of halls and doors, that so far I've not seen any way to differentiate directions of where we are going.
"Apologies, my lady. I felt that you would become bored while Master Bavarthos sleeps. He needs his rest desperately. So I am taking you to the kitchens. I'm sure he'll be famished when he wakes up and if you wish, you may help me cook his meal. Otherwise, I shall try to keep you company the best I can." He pauses briefly to stick one hoofed leg behind the other, giving me a light bow.
'There's with the 'my lady' again.'
He starts leading me back down another hallway and I know with out help, I'd never find my way back.
"I'm sure your company will be just fine, Viekar. How long do you think B will be asleep?" I ask as he stops in front of a door, opening it for me to go through first.
Inside is a huge kitchen with pans, prep tables, cabinets, a brick oven, a fireplace with hooks and a pot hanging over it. I'm greeted by an elderly, female Satyr who curtsies, lifting her apron as she went down.
"My Mother, Anana, lady Lacroix." Viekar introduces me and her and motions for me to sit at the large prep table in the center that has stools next to it. He goes and grabs a basket out of a cabinet and begins putting items into it.
Anana, his mother, goes to a cabinet and pulls out some things on a tray before turning to set it at the table.
"Tea or something else for the Lady?" Anana asks, her voice an octave higher than I was expecting.
"Tea is fine."
"I'm sorry what did you say my lady?"
'She's hard of hearing....'
As I realize this, Viekar comes over with a basket of items and sets them down.
"I apologize my lady, she can not hear as well as she used to." He clutches his mothers shoulders and talks loud and directly into her ear. "TEA MOTHER. THANK YOU."
'Again with this lady title....'
She smiles at me again, bowing her head and walks over to the fire.
"Apologies, lady Lacroix. Now to answer your question about Master Bavarthos...." He begins pulling some different vegetables and fruits out of the basket. "he'll sleep most likely an hour, two if he's lucky enough."
Viekar sighs saddened and concerned about his statement but shakes his head as he grabs a knife and begins to chop up the produce.
"Two hours, if he's lucky? Is this a reoccurring thing for him, insomnia?" I ask curious, grabbing an orange and peeling off the rind for him.
"Thank you." He places the chopped items onto a plate and begins peeling with me. "Yes, unfortunately. Master is haunted by the past. He works or reads until he can't go on anymore and he just passes out. Never for long though. He is awoken by his dreams and gets right back to work."
He sighs heavily and begins pulling out some wrapped items. His mother sets the tea next to us and goes back to the kettle over the fire.
"You seem very fond of him, he doesn't frighten you like how I imagined he would. At least with how his brothers and sisters go about when he comes up in conversation, I imagined he'd be terrifying just to be around."
I let my thoughts wander out of my head and this makes Viekar due a deep, bleating laugh.
"His brothers and sisters are terrified of him! GOOD, they deserve to tremble in fright at the thought of Master! Cowards the lot of them!" He exclaims, indignantly, spitting away at the thought of them.
'Cowards? Interesting.'
His mother comes back over with bowls of stew and sets them down on the table. "Quiet, Viekar. Or you will end up waking up Master Bavarthos. If I can hear you, he might be able to." She raps him on the head with her knuckles.
"He isn't wrong though, my lady. Masters siblings are all cowards for letting the king tear him apart like that.... They could have stopped it, but refused his pleas for help. My heart aches for him." Anana clutches her apron to her chest, tears forming in the corner of her wrinkled eyes.
My lips thin at another my lady but also the thought that his brothers and sisters doing that to him too.
Viekar pats his mothers back, "Mother, that's enough for you right now. Go sit down and take a rest before dinner needs to be started." He leads her in the right direction as she merely nods and hums in agreement. She walks out through the door by the oven and Viekar has my attention once again.
"I'm sorry my lady, my mother's the head cook here, but age is not her friend." His smile didn't reach his sad, dewy eyes.
'I can't take it anymore....'
'Viekar. You don't have to apologize for things like that to me. Now, I would like to say that I know you mean it out of respect, but please stop referring me to as 'my lady'. Just call me Sin. Please." I sigh, giving him a pleading smile.
"Alright, Sin. I will do my best to remember that." He returns my smile, making me satisfied.
"Good, now, where were we? Oh yeah, you were telling me about his brothers and sisters being cowards. I really want to know something else though. Why are you working for him, he's a dark magic user, are you not afraid?" I dig my heels against the stools supports, hoping he'll be more giving on information on Bavarthos than Bavarthos himself is.
Viekar looks at me amusement evident in his eyes, as his lips form a tight, scrunched smile.
"Sin. I'm well aware of what you're trying to do." He pauses as his smile widens.
'Damn it.'
"I see no harm in telling you, though." he adds.
'well that's a surprise.' I lean forward on an elbow and let him speak.
"I do not fear for my life, never have with Master Bavarthos. My family line has been serving him for the past Millennium and will continue to do so until his death or until he throws us out. He is a dark magic use and quite terrifying to behold sometimes, especially if he's been awake for days. I know though that he would never intentionally harm me and my family or any of his servants or friends...."
"It's not in his nature to harm others really. Which I know sounds absurd, practicing dark magic... but one must do, what one must do sometimes. I know I would not want to be his enemy though." He begins to prep the tray with the food he's prepared, handing me some skewers and the chopped vegetables.
I'm thinking about what he's just told me, running some against what I've been told myself.
"You make it out that B is really not a bad guy. Just that his reputation has been tarnished and he's misunderstood. Yet, you know he's powerful and wouldn't want to be one of his enemies. Why is that?" Inquiring, as I shove a piece of bell pepper onto a skewer.
Viekar chuckles, "You have fought next to him yes?"
"Yes." I say bluntly, picking up another skewer.
"Would you want to unknowingly step into one of those circles? Or feel the pain from his whip?" He picks up the skewers and takes them to the fire pit, placing them on a grate.
I follow him over as he roasts the vegetables.
"Well, no. However, I didn't see what everyone is always so terrified of either." I say rather arrogantly, lifting my nose slightly as I take and turn a few skewers with him.
This makes Viekar look at me sideways, shocked disbelief catches his mouth and leaves his jaw hanging open.
"Are you serious?" After a few seconds of silence while I rotate skewers he continues. "Please tell me you are not that ignorant, my...Sin. Have you never seen him angry?!" Incredulously he waves his arms in big circles before bringing his hands down with his fingers mimicking claws.
'That's right the transformation... at Temples place.'
"So when he gets angry he turns into that tree looking beast?" I start pulling a few skewers off before they are burnt.
Viekar quickly remembers what task he is doing and pulls off the skewers quickly.
"That tree beast is but one form. When he's truly angry, it looks like the very world around you is fading into darkness, you can't trust your eyes or any of your senses. You can't be sure whether you're losing your mind or if you've entered a nightmare. If you can think straight enough to pray, you pray you wake up." He says all this with a straight face that fills with terror. He closes his eyes and shudders visibly.
I'm taken aback at first. "I guess I should be grateful that he made me immune to his magic."
Viekars eyes snap open at me, something in his eyes made me second guess what he said.
"Wait... now are you serious? Is he really that terrifying when he's angry?"
Viekar finishes the assembly of the platter and places a bottle and glasses on the tray as he laughs it off, his sound reverberating with the bleating of a goat. "No, of course not." His face relaxes and gets serious. "It's actually worse than that."
I'm stunned, I can't figure out if Viekar is still messing with me or if he is serious.
I'm opening my mouth when a loud whistle rings through the room.
"Oh looks like an hour is it for today." He picks up the tray. "Master Bavarthos is up now, Sin. Follow me or you will get lost, dear."