"Come in."
A parade of servants entered the room. Firstly were two large men carrying a ceramic tub. Steam flowed through the room carrying a sweet scent of rosemary, citrus, and cinnamon. Behind them were two women with folded towels in their arms and scissors. The tub was set next to the bed a few paces from the door, then the men left and a middle aged man entered with some clothes over his arm and a pair of fine leather boots in his hand at his side.
"We'll have to continue this conversation later. Perhaps after dinner you can come to my room." She had more questions for him but thanks to the interruption she didn't have a chance to ask him for proof.
He needed this disguise in order to find Urs without any trouble. They were less likely to give her over to him easily any other way. "Tonight." He nodded agreement and she bound for the door as elegantly as she had entered, soundlessly. "What's the deal with the scissors."
"Neither of us are very deft with glow. It is for your hair." One of the women that brought in the towels with short brown hair and a homely face answered.
The man with the clothes on his shoulder followed behind her. "It is also for the clothes should they not fit. I have a sewing kit in my pocket, as well." He had a strictness to his features though he was short and very stalky. Rounded around the waist and boxy in the shoulders.
"You're not touching my hair." Nero placed his hands onto the edges of his meticulously manicured head hedges.
"No, sir we wouldn't dare. It is to trim your eyebrows, mustache, nose hairs, and any other hairs you wish for us to trim." The girls eyes slid down his body.
He followed her eyes and grunted. "Well that's thorough. What are your names?" The question startled them. Though he didn't know why.
A girl with dark short hair stepped forward. Her eyes were rested quietly not giving much away for what she was thinking. Setting an air of passivity. He could see she would complete her task with no fuss at all. "It is Amira."
The other girl stepped forward fiercely. She held her gaze at the ground not willing or able to make eye contact. "I am called Trishna but some call me the wayfarer. You can call me the wayfarer."
"Why do they call you the wayfarer?" Nero had remembered the term but wasn't sure what it meant.
Amira dutifully answered the question for her, "Servants that come from another town to work in main houses are called wayfarers. It denotes their status in the house. Some families have served their houses for generations."
"Is it a trust thing?" He asked.
"Mostly, those of us that are proven in the house or have been here for generations, receive important tasks and are relied on for more personal matters."
"Is bathing not a trusted task?"
"I'm sorry. We will allow you to bath yourself, if you do not trust us to do it."
"I mean, I do prefer it." He lied he was anticipating it but didn't want to come off too excited. "Will you be in trouble if I deny you?"
"Yes." Trishna the wayfarer spoke up lifting her head. Amira's shoulders tensed at Trishna's outburst. "If we are not able to win your trust we will be reprimanded. Myself especially."
"Trishna!" Amira turned and slapped the girl. Amira was not strong by any means but her status held her in a position of power over the broad shouldered girl. She turned back to Nero. "I apologize. We have no right to burden you with our failures. As I said Trishna is new to serving this house."
"Wait. Trishna please explain yourself." She looked to Amira. "Please. I am asking you to explain yourself."
"You had asked for our names and that is uncommon. I thought maybe you would be more sympathetic if you knew more." Nero's wasn't sure with what she meant. "I didn't mean to insult the House I just meant that you seemed different. I'm sorry I've spoken too much." A frown crossed Amira's face and she quickly turned it down again, It was quicker than when she slapped Trishna but now it was back to a blank screen of passivity.
"You didn't do anything wrong, I requested it. What has been said in this room will not leave here." He thought for a second. What he did here would effect more here than he intended. He wanted to get out of here and find Urs as quickly as possible. He looked over to the stern man in the corner. He was still hanging around in the corner. Nero had forgot he was there, without a presence to notice. He had heard his ragged breathing that gave his age away. "Understood." It wasn't a question. "I will comply with everything you were commanded to accomplish in here. You will not be reprimanded in anyway."
"I was wrong. You are great and clever, befitting you to wear your House Crest." Trishna announced with great adulation. Nero wasn't sure if he could accept it as a compliment.
Nero had been cleaned and washed thoroughly by Amira and Trishna in ways he had never been handled. Even the earliest memories he had, he didn't remember being bathed as a child. There was something surprisingly nurturing about the girls that he didn't expect, especially Amira. After the bath, they continued with drying him off and grooming him. Before they left, Nero noticed Trishna's face was reddening where she was berated. He commanded Amira to see that she was treated, but to not draw to much attention to it to avoid too many questions. They lowered their heads and exited his room like a pair of shadows.
The older man stepped forward and immediately started measuring Nero with a linen tape measure.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" The mans hands were grabby and were brisk and rough. After being treated so tenderly by Amira and Trishna, he found the stark difference to be jarring and dizzying.
"You gave your word, my lord. You would allow us to complete our tasks in order to keep your secret." When had this become his secret. The mans words were sharp against Nero's ears.
"I did not say I would allow you to complete them in any way that you'd like!"
"This is the task I was given and how I know to accomplish it. I know no other way."
"You are tricky." The man's insults amused him and he had to hear more of his sharp words. "What is your name? You can talk and work can't you." He wasn't leaving the man the option to decline.
"What a foolish question." He grumbled out in between his crotch, measuring the girth between Nero's legs, down to his ankle. "I've worked for the Addidel family since I was old enough to Glow a sewing needle. Never have they asked for my name." He roughly pulled Nero straight. "I have always been there when they needed me. Never needing to call my name once. If they need me they would call on me by my purpose."
"They don't know your name? You do have a name?" He was appalled that someone could work and live with someone for as many years as this man and never divulge his name. He had never been called by his name. His understanding was that they weren't slaves and did work for a wage.
"What goes on in that head of yours." He quibbled.
Thank goodness they were alone so he didn't have to swear a new pledge of secrecy. "Is it common to be so rude to your lord."
"My my, you seemed so tough just earlier. Don't play coy with me child." The man stepped over to the chair that Daisy was sitting at and grabbed the dark grey pants he had slung over it. He forced them on Nero and he put them on. "My name is Jaxon. And it is my pleasure to serve the Addidel House nameless." He Glowed a pair of scissors and began eyeing the alterations. Next he glowed a needle and pulled a string of thread from his picket and guided the thread between the eye and hemmed them. In no time at all he had done the same to the other leg. Jaxon handed Nero a blouse for him to wear underneath the blazer he was altering. The coat was the same grey as the sheets and had the Addidel House crest of a gold webbed-tiger paw on the breast. He handed the coat over to Nero and he couldn't believe how soft it was. The jacket was different from the pants now he saw it up close. It was the same color as the pants but it was a suede fabric. It hung over his shoulders tapering down by his waste. He couldn't recall a time where he had wore something so fine.
He had seen wealthy people who were traveling North to New Oania or south to sail past Robin's Bend. The one's heading through the three roads from and to Zurah always wore the most decorated attire. With gold and silver around their necks and vibrant colored outfits and floral colored hair. He wasn't dressed to that degree, though he felt as if he was shrouded in a regal aura.
When he left his room behind Jaxon, Amira was waiting outside his room.
"I will lead you to the dining hall. If you would give me the honor." Her hands were clasped behind her and her tone was puffed up making the words sound more formal. She stood and let the words hang in the air. He knew there must have been a phrase or something that he was supposed to say to that but he hadn't been trained in such a high form of courtesy so he just nodded.
"I do not mean to over step but the phrase would be something along the lines of being grateful."
"Oh yes. It would be my pleasure if you would." The words came to him unwittingly. He must have read it in a book of his fathers at one point. It even came off more chivalrous than he expected, presumptuously the tone of the text.
She seemed to be impressed as she slipped her hand under his arm and matched his gate, her warmth against him made him blush a bit. He wasn't sure if it was an act but she seemed almost gitty to be with him. One of the many charms a woman holds, often used to calm the savageness of men. More potent than any poison.
She lead him into the spacious dining hall. The ceilings were vaulted deep into the ceiling, and drawing it's own shadows with beams crossing from one end to the other. The candles hanging from the walls only aided the massive fireplace bowl at the end of the hall at the end of the dining table. The table was made of the same woods that crossed the ceiling and laid across the floor. It was wide and filled with an assortment of fruits, roasted vegetables, boiled shellfish, and roasted chickens sitting on top of a bed of rice. Nero hadn't remembered being hungry with all that had transpired. The aroma of the herbs on the chicken and the garlic and onions swiftly filled his nose and widened his eyes. His stomach gave out an unprompted grumble.
Daisy gestured for him to come and take an empty seat next to her and her brother. He loosed his eyes from her and his eyes fell onto her brother. He stormed across the room a gasp leaving the lips of everyone in the room.
"Where is my Domaku?" He pulled the boy up from his seat onto his feet. He couldn't have been no more than a couple of years younger than Nero but on his feet he stood at least half a head taller and had to look down into the enraged glare burning into him.
"Dylan! Nero let go of him." Daisy jumped out of her seat sending it tipping over behind her.
Dylan looked down at Nero, "Be civil when you are a guest in my home. It is unbecoming." He motioned to the room of faces turning disgusted looks at Nero. "Don't admit to being the savage that we have all presumed you to be so willingly. Or is it you cant help but submit to your filthy blood."
Nero looked around at them. He always turned into the villain. This man had something of his and he wouldn't give in an inch. This unfair fog that he could never escape. The shame deep in his skin, running through his veins, he just couldn't escape it. No matter how in the right he saw himself, it was never the common justice. He let go of the grey collared blouse. He lowered his tone as quietly as he could muster without letting go of any of the animosity. "Where is my Domaku."
"How would I know?" His broad chin and deep voice only making his tone seem all the more dismissive.
"She was there with you when I left you on the road." He had expected a simple answer but Dylan had no intentions of going easy on him.
"I don't recall seeing a Domaku on the road. What does it matter, I'm sure the Green Book is around here somewhere. There must be a few in there. You could get a fully grown one that can do tricks and fly to the highest mountain. After dinner I'm sure one of our servants can fetch the book..."
"I want MY friend!" His voice boomed through the room. "When I returned Urs was not there."
"You even named it. Sure I will ask my men if they have seen your pet after dinner. Will that be enough, or will you die if you do not have it now." His tone had graded down to mocking Nero.
"Please Nero. It is enough now. He will help you find the Domaku after dinner. My father should be here any minute, now. Don't have this be his impression of you." Daisy's words were soft and soothing, another one of the charms. It did well to snap him back into his skin. She was right, it was over. Dylan had successfully given him what he wanted by not giving him anything. He had lost and had no choice but to play this game just a bit longer and hopefully he could get out of here without causing too much noise.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Thanks for reading!