"Wake up!" Said Lemar as he vigorously nudged Kreed's shoulder, "We have a problem."
Kreed slowly opened his eyelids as he looked over at his friend. He sat up in the bed before he stretched his arms and upper back while he let out a big yawn.
"What's wrong?" He asked the lad, barely awake.
"This!" Lemar threw a newspaper onto the bed and pointed to the headline. Kreed rubbed his eyes for a second before he looked at the front page and squinted his eyes a bit since his vision was still blurry. Once he read the large, bolded words on the page, he looked up at Lemar with a slightly surprised expression.
"So you can't go through with your plan anymore?" Asked Kreed as he scratched his head while his eyes were still squinting.
"Of course not, you plebeian! If I do, then I'll go to jail for sure and I can't risk that on my perfect record." Lemar plopped his butt on top of his bed, a couple feet across the room from Kreed's bed, and placed the bottom of his jaw in his palms while his elbows rested on top of his pale thighs, "What are we going to do now?"
Kreed rubbed his eyes again before they could widen. He shifted his body and pushed himself off of the bed, letting his bare feet touch the cold, wooden floor. He stood up and grabbed his clothes, which were hanging off the edge of the footboard, before putting them on. While he was getting dressed, he faced away from the lad and began to speak again, "Does this mean our little quest here is over and we can finally go home now? I'm aware that we can no longer try to get her back, but does that mean Lord Norswer will finally stop harassing my family?"
Lemar glared at his companion as he narrowed his eyes, "That's ridiculous!" He hopped off of the bed and walked over to Kreed, who was now fully dressed, "The deal was that father will leave your family alone once you help me get Moria back. I currently have not been able to obtain her again, which means the Seyons are not off the hook yet!"
Kreed looked down and placed his hand on his face. He sighed, "Alright, alright," he faced the lad, "Well then, what now? We can't try to buy her slave friend anymore or else we'll be arrested. What's your bright idea now?"
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"This is bollocks!" Ferdim slammed his fist into his dining table as he read the headline on his newspaper.
"What's wrong, m'lord?" Asked Hario as he turned off the stove and picked up the kettle with a thick cloth. He placed the freshly hot kettle on the metallic tray before taking the tray into the dining room.
Ferdim threw the paper onto the table and pointed to the front page, "This!"
Hario read the large, bolded words on the paper as he carefully placed the tray on the table. He gave Ferdim a gentle nod, indicating that he had read the title, as he began taking the individual items off of the tray and placing them on top of the white, lace doilies.
"Looks like parliament is finally freeing all the slaves." Said Hario, not seeming bothered by the news, "So what's the problem, m'lord?"
"The problem," Ferdim looked at his butler and clenched his fists as he spoke in a furious tone, "Is that if we don't get rid of our slave girl by the end of this month, we can get into serious legal trouble!"
"Well," the butler picked up the kettle and poured some of the steaming tea into the little cup, "Why don't you just sell her then?"
Ferdim then pointed to a small section on the front page, "It says here that, starting today, parliament has also banned the selling and purchasing of all slaves. Besides," Ferdim sighed as he slouched forward and placed his face in his hands as his elbows rested on the table, "Who the hell is going to purchase a slave? Especially now! Not even a peasant would buy her, even if we gave her away for free."
Hario set the kettle down on the table and grabbed the tiny pitcher before pouring a little bit of milk into Ferdim's cup. The tea changed from a mocha brown to a caramel brown color. He then scooped up a few teaspoons of sugar and poured it into the cup before stirring Ferdim's drink.
"Wait," said Ferdim as he lifted his face from his hands with a look of realization, "I have an idea!"
"Oh?" Asked the butler, "Do tell, m'lord."
The nobleman faced him, "I can keep her here as a servant. That way," he spoke with a smirk on his face, "She can still work for me and I don't have to pay her as much as I pay the rest of the staff."
Hario was struck with a sense of shock, Letting an elf work here as a regular servant?! The butler kept his cool and made sure he appeared calm.
"M'lord," he began in a soft, yet assertive tone, "I don't think that is a good idea. I mean, elves don't like to be paid."
Ferdim's smirk shifted into a look of confusion, "They don't?"
Hario shook his head, "I'm afraid they don't. In fact, the slave girl herself told me that she prefers not to be paid. As Charles Darwin would put it, evolution has made them perfect for these types of jobs and it is in their nature to do all sorts of labor without compensation."
"Oh," Ferdim frowned, "Well what am I supposed to do now?" He looked down and sighed, "I can't keep her here and have her work for free. I would be violating the law for doing so."
"What if we didn't need to give her away as a slave?" Suggested Hario.
"Huh?" Ferdim looked up at his butler with a clear look of confusion on his face, "How could we possibly do something like that?"
Hairo carefully placed the cup of tea with the saucer in front of Ferdim, "Why don't we give her to a convent? If the lovely ladies there are willing to take in refugees, then they will definitely take in freed slaves."
The nobleman shook his head, "No, no! Those places won't take a filthy knife ear. They only allow chaste women and we don't know anything about the slave girl's 'history'. We must not poison a place of purity by making the nuns take in an elvish slave."
"Hm. I see," Hario grabbed a large plate from the tray and placed it in front of the nobleman. The porcelain plate contained two fried eggs, four strips of crispy bacon, an inch thick slice of Cheshire cheese, a cup of baked beans, and two slices of buttered graham toast. "Well," Hario took a deep breath and moved a step back from the nobleman, "What about marriage?"
"Marriage?" Ferdim scratched his head while looking down at his breakfast, right before he grabbed his utensils and began cutting his eggs. He shoved a large piece of egg, drenched in runny yolk, into his mouth. He looked up at Hario while a couple drops of Tuscany yellow fluid rolled down his chin. "Please elaborate."
Hario sighed softly as he grabbed one of the white napkins and crouched down slightly before wiping the yolk off of Ferdim's face, "What I mean, m'lord, is that we should find a bachelor to marry the slave girl. That way, we can get rid of her legally and even get some sort of dowry out of it." Once he was done wiping, the butler straightened his posture.
"A dowry, eh?" The nobleman looked down at his plate as he scratched his chin, "I like that plan." He faced his butler again, "You're always full of great ideas, Hario." He smiled softly with a sense of sincerity, "What would I ever do without you?"
"Or where would you be without me?" Hario smirked.
"I don't really know much about the 'where' part. However, I definitely know that I would end up miserable and feeling very lonely without you."
Ferdim held out his hand before Hario grabbed it and leaned in close. He kissed the top of Ferdim's family ring. He looked deep into the nobleman's eyes as he moved his lips and kissed further up the man's arm. Once he got to Ferdim's face, he attempted to kiss the man on the lips before Ferdim held up his hand to stop him.
"Hairo, please," said the nobleman with a slight frown, "My wife and Lutiera could walk in at any time."
"Oh," replied Hario with a look of disappointment, "I understand. Word tends to get around pretty quickly around here, especially amongst the nosey maids." He took a step back from the man, "I'll go bring out their breakfast." He returned to the kitchen.