Out in the garden the next day, Renard couldn't help giving Isaac an almost knowing glance.
"You're looking better today."
Isaac looked up from the plants he was watering to settle his gaze on Renard with a raised eyebrow. He did feel better, he felt a lot better after that night he'd had with Kyrie, but had it really been so obvious that something was bothering him that Renard even managed to pick it up?
"Better?"
"Don't you try to elude me, you've been stressed out lately! Anyone who's even paying a small iota of attention to you would be able to notice!"
"Oh? And here I thought all of your attention was saved for the more feminine presences in this household."
It was light teasing on Isaac's part, and even though Renard smiled, his expression told Isaac that he wasn't going to get away from his subtle inquiry about the stress.
Letting out a sigh now that he saw that his friend wasn't letting this go, Isaac brought a hand up to lightly scratch his head.
"I take it you want to hear all about it, huh?"
Renard gave an of course to that question and Isaac briefly looked around the area to make sure they were alone. Jared was working with the animals in the stables for now, so Isaac didn't really have to worry about him being around to hear what insights he might have, but honestly it wouldn't have made a difference either way. Isaac didn't feel too much of a compulsion to hide his thoughts from the other men in the house, even if one of them was practically a stranger. It was a little strange that he did feel that compulsion with the women though... Maybe it was a weird way of trying to protect them...? Putting that out of his mind for now, he began to unload his thoughts to Renard.
"I'm just really tired of taking the ladies to the castle. Kyrie can help me feel better when I get back home but there isn't anything she can do while I'm away. I can't wait for these weekly visits to end but I'm not getting any kind of impression that Lady Dandridge is going to stop anytime soon."
"What's so bad about the lady going to the castle?"
Isaac rubbed the bridge of his nose from this question, letting out another soft sigh. He hadn't informed Kyrie of any conclusions that he made because he really didn't have anything valid, it was all just guessing on his part, but he might as well try speculating now that he was awake enough to think.
"It feels like something else is building, but I can't for the life of me figure out what that something is. There's discontent brewing around the castle, and it's impossible to tell if it's against Lady Dandridge, Lady Deveris, the entire Dominion, or just the entire structure of the Terra Kingdom."
Renard let out a whistle, pausing in his work to sit back on his heels and look up at Isaac.
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah... I know I should just put it out of sight out of mind, but I can't help thinking about the attack that happened on Lady Dandridge. If something like that was successful... There would be no way for us to not lose our entire livelihood."
The two men were silent as they thought on this on their own now, and Isaac seriously pondered whether he should mention his tentative plan to Renard. A brief glance at Renard told him that his fellow was just as frustrated by the inability to do anything as he was, so Isaac took a deep breath and spoke again.
"I've... I've been thinking. What if we looked around for our slave papers? If we could get a hold of those, we could be free instead of being split off and sold who knows where in a worst case scenario. I'm sure freedom would have its own difficulties, but at least we'd be able to stay together. I know that Lady Dandridge isn't really deserving of these antics we used to pull with our old master, but if things go wrong I just... I don't want to leave ourselves to fate."
The further Isaac got into his explanation the more Renard's own eyes sparkled with a bit of hope. This was actually something that he might be able to do then! He'd tried some of the methods that Kyrie and Vivian had suggested, and it had helped a little but it hadn't fully gotten rid of the bitter taste in his mouth. This was something proactive though, the kind of thing that he'd wanted to be able to do from the beginning! It wouldn't help ensure the safety of their masters (though Renard would like to contribute to that if he could) but at least it would help ensure their own security! Standing up from his crouched over position, Renard gave Isaac a healthy smack on the back followed by a soft laugh.
"I knew I kept you around for a reason! That's an excellent idea! Have you been able to make any progress?"
"No... I just don't find myself in the manor very often, and since the best time to look through her things is when she's gone that makes it difficult for me to find the time with confidence. There was once that I stepped into the lady's study for about 5 minutes, just browsing the papers on her desk, but unsurprisingly that yielded very little."
Renard looked a little thoughtful at this, because in all honesty, he didn't go into the manor much either unless he was seeking out one of the ladies for a surprise encounter. The people who probably would know where the lady was at all hours were the only ones not currently in on this plan: the slave women of the house.
"Do you think we should tell the women?"
There was a pregnant pause between them at Renard's question. They both knew that to have Kyrie and Vivian aware of this plan would make their lives a whole lot easier, and yet they both were reluctant to share it with them. The two women were both inherently closer to the lady, would they be offended at the prospect of going through her things and not trusting in her to protect them? Not only that, but should Renard and Isaac even bother to worry them with thoughts like these? Raising these concerns up with them would just be injecting more stress into their lives that they didn't really need. Knowing Mae, there was really no reason to worry about what would happen to them should she perish, but if they were able to actually get a contingency it would make both of the men feel a lot better.
"I... I don't think we should."
Renard gave a nod of understanding as he looked around the garden to make sure that they were still very much alone. Of course they were though, because even if Jared had finished his stable work he tended to avoid Renard like the plague for fear of having to garden.
"I'll tell you what, the next time you head into town with the two ladies I'll start looking through the papers. When you get back I'll be sure to fill you in on what kind of progress I've made."
Now that the two of them were on this case instead of it just being Isaac, Isaac felt so much better about it. It wasn't long before an easy smile made it's way to his features.
"I'm glad to finally have you in on this. It's been difficult trying to work on this problem alone for the past few weeks."
"What?! You'd been thinking about it for so long? You should've told me sooner! We might actually have the slave papers by now!"
Renard threw his hands up in the air in mock outrage as he said this, and Isaac just laughed.
With that the two men returned to the plants, both just a little more optimistic about the future.