Laura kept an alert pace as she climbed the steps to the first floor, raising her dress a few inches above the floor, and at the end of the stairs, she turned her gaze to the long corridor with rows of doors on both sides.
Several maids coming in and out of the rooms constantly, some carrying in their arms what could be seen were blankets and bedsheets, cleaning windows changing the candles on the chandeliers, and the lanterns in front of each door taking the old candles leaving untouched ones in their place.
Laura had long been accustomed to the scene, her household held parties several times a year, almost every month.
She went to the foremost servant who was shining one of the bronze lamps with an olive-colored cloth.
Hearing her footsteps he turned around to see who was behind him making brief eye contact lowering his head to the ground and putting his hands behind his back to the young woman with the face of snow, eyes like sapphire, and golden hair.
"Do you want to help me with something, Young Lady?"
"No, thank you, Konrad hasn't left the studio yet?"
"I've been here since lunch passed and I didn't see a face coming out."
The answer leaves a grimace on Laura's face, she hoped she'll hear a distinct response even if she didn't expect it, she bowed her head slightly in gratitude and continued to the end of the corridor.
From behind she heard a teenage voice in a green tone.
Thomas was the youngest in the family dressed in an orange jacket, like amber, with silver ornamental stitching, a white shirt with a simple collar, and shiny black shoes.
Approaching his sister, he took a deep breath, adjusting his jacket and shaking his trousers, looking up at her, who was taller than him but was not he who said the first word, but Laura.
"Why are you racing like that? Where you are in such a hurry, if you were looking for me I am here. You don't have to run"
She tried to keep a serene demeanor, but she let escape a candid smile looking at him.
In front of her brother, she couldn't help herself. Seeing his central incisors stand out and his cheeks rounding up with every word that left his mouth always with an innocent smile it was the face.
Thomas inadvertently brings out the smile of the other members of the family, especially his mother and sister.
"No...no...mother told me to bring Konrad upstairs to prepare now to be ready when the guests will come. She said it would be nice if we would be together in the Guest Receiving Hall.
Someone was sent after him and sent word back that he would be coming soon but hours have passed since then.
Mother has been waiting for him in his room since then and when she saw me, told me to bring him at any cost as otherwise she's mad at me and so I ran if mother gets upset she'll cry and I don't want to see her cry."
The words came out of his mouth at an astonishing rate, relatives and close family friends got used to the way he spoke at a brisk pace saying that it made him more adorable.
"Then let's go together. I, too have something to talk with him also."
"Did older brother do anything wrong?"
Laura was always unhappy with the way her older brother acted, seeing him as irresponsible with the thought of family, always keeping things to himself.
"Not yet, I've heard that the Meyer family will attend tonight. If things go wrong tonight... I don't even want to think about it.
At least at the party, he should make a good impression and show that the relationship between our families is stronger than ever."
Konrad against his eccentrics was well seen by those around him as a man of culture. He loved the arts and books and could consistently get into a discussion with anyone.
The Meyer family, one of the influential families in the region known for its vast network of trade that stretched far beyond the region, leaving the country's borders, the trade is the tradition that feeds the lives of many generations of the family.
Now the 4th generation had only one heir Julia, and her parents tried unsuccessfully to produce other heirs.
"Is Juli coming too?" But in the morning, my mother said that they had not confirmed and that they will probably not come, and everybody that after Julia would be 14 years old in a month, they would start talking about Julia's marriage to Konrad and their naturally their visits will be more often."
"My mother said that the wedding is decided. At best in the autumn before the weather cools down, if not in the spring after the trees blossom."
"In the fall so early but I didn't hear anywhere, neither Konrad nor Juli said anything! Do you think they don't know either?"
"I heard mother talking to her friends one of the other days, but I understood that everything was being decided."
"And they don't know anything. They have been promised to each other for a long time, but my father should not say anything and do everything behind anyone's back."
"They must know, they just kept it for themselves, and since Konrad isn't going to tell anyone anyway."
"I don't believe they know, I'm going to ask them myself, if that was the case Juli didn't say anything the last time she was here, Juli would have told me."
"I don't know, Thomas, they didn't send anyone to confirm that they will be coming, but they are, especially today when father is not here. I assume they want to announce something while he is away. "
"Do you think they want to withdraw the marriage if Konrad fails to awaken his powers this time too?"
"We can only wait and see, but I hope that if they don't want to do this behind father's back. If war comes, I don't even want to think about it."
„Father has been a good friend of Uncle Michel's since they were like us. They are old friends. Isn't that what he always says?
Father has us and Uncle Michel has only Juli and Konrad being the eldest of us he will lead the family in the future, mother told so."
At the end of the hallway was a set of double doors. The studio was set up years ago at Konrad's request to have a place to express himself he was not satisfied with the lack of light and space in his room. Here he did countless works, spending his days drawing, painting, and reading from sunrise to sunset, drawing on religious paintings, landscapes, portraits, and purely fictional creations.
"Now that I realize you're not allowed in this room, you should wait at the door. I'm going to ask him to come out."
Thomas straightened his jacket, put his hands on his hips, looked up, smiled, baring his teeth, and said.
"My mother said I am allowed in this time if I brought Konrad with me. And why can't I enter? Everybody says I am not old enough but all he does is paint and read."
Laura smiled as she saw the blind courage in Thomas's fiery eyes, she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle trying to hold back by raising her hand to her mouth.
"Okay, then I'll come in first, you'll follow me!"
*****
The largest room on the first floor of the residence was a library that became a warehouse, and now Konrad's studio, located at the end of the corridor where the guest rooms were, as opposed to the commotion behind the door, was the perfect place for him.
His father's office is located in the opposite direction at the end of the opposite corridor and the library and the archive of the house were moved around his father's office, upstairs being the bedrooms and other auxiliary rooms.
He had built a den over the years, here he had beyond everything he needed to draw and paint, the light being excellent with wide windows in three directions had his library which he filled with books collected over the years, received as gifts or bought from bookstores on family vacations, his own office and nevertheless a fireplace which allowed him to be comfortable into the cold winters.
Konrad was working on a bench in the left corner of the room, to his right an easel with his latest drawing.
The paint still fresh of a young woman with long black hair, night-looking eyes holding an umbrella with both hands, palm-sized flowers falling from the tree behind her on the grass, which is barely noticeable by the reddish carpet that formed.
He had his hands in a gray liquid with a dizzying odor, lightly massaging the bristles of a brush and then rinsing it in the bucket of water for a few seconds, shaking it in front of the bucket and leaving it in a horizontal position on a ceramic gray plaque, repeating the process with each brush.
The noise and the constant sound of footsteps did not bother him, it was a sacrifice that he understood, and with which he got used.
He loved when some guests visited his small exhibition, some visitors buying some of them, commissioning specific paintings, and coming with their families for several days just for a freshly painted portrait.
But this time no guests arrived and still a couple of steps were approaching, the pace was not alert whoever appeared to be in no hurry to come like they were having a conversation, however, the steps were getting closer.
He thought he recognized the voices, listening to the footsteps leaving him with a small sigh and a fad smile. Turned face in the direction of the door to anticipate them.
After a couple of seconds, a double knock pierced thru the door then the left door opened slowly, being more dragged to the floor than opened the terrible sound flooding the whole room.
Thomas opened the door on his own, but Laura did not wait for him to open it wide, she rushed in, heading straight for Konrad, skipping the formalities.
"You look terrible, you lost the last part of you that was whole! Today of all days. You decided to look like you stayed in the stables all day, and I don't want to say anything about that smell... Did you leave a dead animal rot in here, how can you stay a whole day in a place like this?!"
Thomas, after opening the door, lets his head be seen beyond the door, greeting his brother.
"Hello, Konrad, happy birthday!"
"Thank you, but I know you're not allowed here, do you want to get us both in trouble? And what are you doing with that door, don't you see what marks you left on the floor? "
Konrad said with a wide smile, opening one of the windows and waving the white shirt that clung to his chest.
Thomas stared at the floor and saw the trace on the floor, not noticing that the other door had made the same traces, even though it was closed.
Now in front of them, he rolled up his sleeves, puts his shirt in his pants, rubbed his unshaven beard with both hands, and puts his hands on his chest, still with the same wide smile that leaves his teeth visible.
"Okay, you came, you saw me, but you didn't come for no reason so let me hear what you want. Firstly you Toothless."
Toothless was the nickname for Thomas given by Konrad when the first set of teeth fell out, the front ones falling first and growing the last.
"I'm not kidding, don't call me that way anymore, even mother sometimes calls me that way because of you. Mother told me to call you upstairs to get ready to be together when the guests come."
"I don't think I'm going to attend tonight's party at least the first part of it, of course."
"Are you crazy? Everyone will ask for you!" shouted Laura
"Mother said she will be mad at me if you didn't come, so you have to come."
„Alright alright, I will come, don't get upset."
"Let's go then." Thomas motioned for him to follow
"Not yet, Laura, why did you come? I don't remember any reason for you to come or just accompanying Toothy."
Laura just watched the two talk, finding the right time to intervene so that Konrad would pay attention to her, it wasn't the first time he had ignored her talking to him, she didn't anticipate him to ask her directly.
"Julia will come tonight, they didn't confirm but I heard that in the morning they were preparing to leave, you should make a good impression, wear something purple, I heard that she likes it, whatever you do, try to have a conversation with her like a normal person. She's your fiancée and you barely talk to her. And the way you talk?!"
"I already know they are coming, Dad told me."
"Dad told you, one more reason to make a good impression, it means that as long as you do everything in the book no matter how bad the ceremony will be, nothing will change. I don't want to repeat myself but wear something purple."
„You always think of the worst possible outcome."
Thomas listened intently to the conversation of his older siblings, trying to understand things better."
"Julia doesn't like violet." said Thomas.
Laura, slightly surprised, asks him "How do you know Toothless?"
"She told me, she told me she likes--"
Konrad's smile had slowly evaporated, leaving a serious look, stealing the words from Thomas's mouth without hesitation.
"Orange."
"Did father tell you?"
Konrad bowed his head a little, saying in a bleak grave voice.
"All you need to know is that everything is planned. Whatever happens tonight won't matter much. Doesn't matter what I wear or how I behave, her dad will be there for the support he said. They did not announce they are coming this time just to show continuous support or something of some sort."
"Don't talk like that if he gets to him and you'll argue, not a week has passed since the last quarrel between the two of you."
"He commands, I oppose, we argue and in the end, everyone has to do as he commands, the endless cycle."
Laura couldn't contradict him. She didn't agree with her father's way of making decisions for the whole family.
"Stefan is coming? I prepared something for him, I said I would give it to him last time, but I did not finish it in time."
"Yes. He is coming, Frederick too. What did you prepare for him?"
"A painting."
"Can I see it? "
"No."
"I don't trust you, you're going to give him something weird, worse than what you put on these walls."
"Maybe you don't like it but Toothy is overly fascinated, now I understand exactly why our parents didn't let him come here."
"Thomas, come here and stop looking"
"Sister, why doesn't this girl is not wearing clothes and why doesn't she have hair in between…"
"You! Don't look anymore, Konrad tell him not to look, KONRAAAD!"
Meanwhile, Konrad has already left the room, leaving the two behind, Laura standing in the doorway when Konrad turned his head saying in a carefree demeanor.
"The key is on the table, stay as long as you want, lock up behind when you leave. I'm going to meet mum and prepare for tonight but remember, no promises anyway. No good things will happen anyway tonight."
„HAPPY BIRTHDAY KOONRAAD, I love you!"
„Pretty random, but looks like something good did happen."
Laura didn't try to stop him, letting him go, watching him walk away, and later leaving the corridor reaching the stair.
Returning to Thomas, who was staring at one of the paintings on the walls, and asked her with unbelievable innocence.
"Why do the people in the drawing hug without clothes, the water of the river took away their clothes and now it's cold?"
Laura didn't know how to explain to the young man what was going on in the painting, so she did the only thing that crossed her mind.
"Thomas, we're leaving, help me pull the door, I have other places where I am needed to be."
„I will ask mom later if you don't want to tell me"
Laura grabbed the key closed the left open window and exited the room, Thomas pulled the door shut, giving the key to Thomas.
„Put the key in your pocket and give it to Konrad when you meet again later I don't have where to keep it."