◇Houghtow City—Flio's House◇
It was late in the evening. The members of Flio's house had finished
dinner for the night and were gathered for a meeting.
"Now then," said Rys. "It's time for our regular household assembly."
Hiya and Tanya nodded sternly as they sat in their seats. "First, the division
of housework. I see no reason not to carry on as we were this past month,
with myself and Byleri in charge of preparing meals for the house."
At this, Tanya and Hiya both raised their hands simultaneously. "Forgive
my interruption, wife of the Exalted One," said Hiya. "However, you have
claimed responsibility for meal preparation every single month for as long
as we have been holding these meetings. Perhaps your humble servant Hiya
might be allowed to take on this task."
"That wouldn't do at all!" objected Tanya. "You should leave it to
Master Flio's faithful maid, Tanya, instead! After all, I doubt whether a
djinn could ever truly understand the true depths of housework."
"Oh?" The corners of Hiya's mouth crept up in a cold smile. "Resorting
to cheap provocation, I see..."
"Provocation? I meant no such thing." Tanya said, her mismatched eyes
glinting as she looked defiantly back at Hiya. "I merely spoke the truth."
"In the first place, it was you alone who presumptuously declared
herself to be the Exalted One's maid," Hiya pointed out. "Do you not find
this to be an act of insolence worthy of death?"
"It would be far worse for an esteemed personage like Lord Flio not to
have even a single maid under his employ, would it not?" Tanya countered.
"But even this simple idea seems to be beyond you, I'm afraid..."
The two were smiling at each other with aching politeness, but judging
from the contents of their conversation, it didn't seem impossible that they
might come to blows at any moment.
Bang! Rys slammed her fist down on the table, interrupting Hiya and
Tanya's spat. "I'm very glad the two of you want to help, of course," she
said, smiling cheerfully as she glanced between the angel and the djinn.
"But I'm afraid there is no force on Klyrode that will get me to relinquish
the duty of preparing meals for my lord husband."
"Your humble servant can but yield to your wishes, o wife of the Exalted
One..." said Hiya, bowing deeply.
"If that is your will, Mistress Rys, I will humbly agree," concurred
Tanya, following suit.
"Now that we've safely resolved the matter of food preparation duties
for another month, perhaps you would like to take a break and have a cup of
tea?" offered Tia, stepping up to the table and placing a cup of her famous
tea in front of everyone present. "I hope, Lady Rys, that it is not
presumptuous of me to request the responsibility of brewing tea for the
house next month as well?"
"Of course not!" Rys said as she happily sipped from her own cup.
"Nobody can match you when it comes to tea, after all, Tia!"
Hiya and Tanya's smiles grew somewhat strained as they watched Tia
and Rys's exchange.
"She secured tea duties last month using an identical stratagem, didn't
she...?" Hiya whispered.
"For a former magic doll, she certainly doesn't seem to have any trouble
with negotiation..." Tanya agreed, whispering back