Galen Vesa
“Is that your doing? Brilliant. One more fart and I would smoother her in her sleep.”
A pale newcomer barged into the room. Heavy black shadows hung beneath her amber eyes. She watched the barrier Erta made as her feeble hands fumbled with golden buttons of her emerald suit. Wining the fight, she let the leather jacket fall and address me again.
“I am Vittoria and I'm madly in need of that bucket.”
She pointed her trembling finger at a simple wooden bucket hidden under my desk. I fetched it for her and watched as she greedily grabbed it.
“Gods be grateful…”
The woman whispered and shoved her head in and… got sick. Very sick. Holding her under one arm and balancing the bucket in the other, I set her on the floor. Her brown hairs were neatly formed into a bun held in place by a pair of lacquered chopsticks. A neat skill worth investigating.
“You’re a new one I take, A?”
Her smile resurfaced for a moment after she spat out remaining bile and soot like blood.
“Welcome to the VIP club. As in, Very Inconvenient People. That’s us. And you are… wow. Just wow.”
She gave me a hearty smile then put her face back in the bucket.
“Are you alright? What is going on here? Should I call anyone?”
“Don’t trouble yourself. I overspent my mana. Nothing some rest can’t fix…”
Another round of retching silenced her. The pain pushed tears out of her eyes while her body hung limp in my arms. She won’t ‘kick the bucket’ on me, won’t she?
Is she alright?
*Given that she is conscious and coherent at this stage? I had seen worse. Let her rest. You might put her in bed when the nausea subsides. By the way, congratulations on getting us into a new mess. Dolt. *
“So… sorry… “
The dreamland kidnapped her before I learned whatever else she wished to say. I cleaned her face, stripped her of her leather skirt and her silk blouse then put her in bed in Safe Airway Position for good measure. They do get that right when they teach you. You never know when those obligatory first aid drills will come in handy. I do hope she won’t try to murder me when she awakes half naked with no recollection of how that happened.
Now to deal with the sloshing bucket. I picked it up and left the room, just in time to meet another beauty. Red flaming hair almost smashed her forehead into my chin. Thankfully my pillows, bra or not, created a natural buffer zone. Her face bounced off that bumper and a pair of shining emeralds accented by a line of pronounced freckles found my face then went down and saw the bucket.
“Ugh… Give it here. I’ll take care of it.”
A teenage maid or perhaps one in her very early twenties, took over the package.
“Which one is it?”
She asked, eyeing the room behind my back.
“Vittoria.”
I said picking up and straightening the jacket. Leather shouldn’t be tossed around like that, it crinkles too easily.
*I would never imagine a bucket of bile could make anyone so happy. *
The girl smiled like the Cheshire Cat from wonderland.
“Thank heavens. No one here wants to clean up after Zee.”
The bridge of her nose wrinkled in a sneer. Whatever her thoughts were, the smell reminded her of what she held.
“Just give me a moment and I'll be back.”
And there she went. Faster than I could ask why they avoided Zee. Who was Zee or what the heck? First, they want to kill me. Then they hire me and now this? What on earth did I step into?
A long hiss came from behind me.
If Zee was the one fuming in my room, then I could smell a reason or two to avoid her but…
“Li, wait up! The guards say there's an elf inside! Is it true? Altina really hired one? Did you see her?”
This hall had remarkably good acoustic. It sounded as if they stood by my arm. I leaned against the jamb and listened.
“Shure I did. Just talked with her. She does look like one. Though if I were to bet my money then I’d say she’s a ferru.”
“And since when you can tell?”
“Since I saw her. She’s humongous. And smells nice too. Like Chuko but more, dunno, suggestive?”
Well, if they say so. Good job pillows.
*Dolt. These. Are. Not. Pillows. *
Shh. We’re eavesdropping. No talking roomie.
I listened on as they quarreled about elven dimensions. Flat this, pointy that. I could correct some of their misconceptions, but I abstained.
“You think she’s going to replace Zee?”
The voice I now recognized as Pina whispered after a moment of silence. A question ripe with hope.
“Why else would she got hired? With a face like that? People still remember. That was years ago and yet… animals.”
More brooding silence followed.
Roomie, you recall anything of importance? If I remember correctly you said something similar about my ears.
*Yes dolt. The war. Pointy ears developed a taste for hanging flayed human corpses alongside the roads of empire. Men. Women. Children. They were trying to send a message. It got to the point when humans would set fire to any forest whenever someone ~saw something~ between the trees. *
Oh.
“As long as we get rid of that sloth, she can be a damn squirrel for all I care. “
The others vigorously confirmed that sentiment.
Yup. We are so going to be BFFS Zee. I can see that already.
*Not bad. Your sarcastic tone is improving dolt. I could almost guess you were not serious. Were you practicing? *
Not really. I just know the type. Too damn well for my own good.
“I’m back and, oh.”
She made a rushed curtsey.
“It’s nice to meet you. I am Lilala and you must be the new face Beatrice told me about. Karin, right?
You can call me Li if you want. Like everybody else does. Chuko and I are responsible for this wing so if you need anything let us know. Also,”
She bit her lower lip.
“There are three more people in the room across. Daria, Ann and Lea. The middle room belongs to Beatrice.”
Hence the VIP club, huh. We're under tight surveillance. As if reading my mind, Li changed the subject.
“The guild enforces strict curfew. After last evening bell no one is allowed in or out of the dormitory. Um, don’t take it the wrong way. It’s for our protection. The Guild is providing services for many influential individuals and on occasions to the government. Because of that, sometimes… things happen.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Her face lost the bubbly shine it had just a moment ago and her fists closed around the rim of her apron.
“Just stay inside. There are guards on each floor and one of us maids always work on night shift. That’s Chuko, mostly. She tends to prefer working late. Just don’t get put off by her grumpy nature. “
Li hands kept on working as she spoke. With speed only hard practice could explain, she made my bed and checked on Vittoria.
“A slight fever… Thank you for helping her. Vi is always so nice to be around. She has great stamina, but it takes awfully long time for her to regain it. What others shake off in a day or two of rest, takes her a week to recover.”
“Oh, right. If you ever exhaust yourself too much, please tell us right away. Don’t go pretending all is well. It never is. Don’t play tough, just tell us. You promise?”
She put her hands on her hips in a challenge.
“I will.”
I promised although, I may pass out from pain rather than lack of mana.
“Good. I really hate finding collapsed people on the floor. There’s so much cleaning involved. And if nobody finds you before something happens… Just don’t go on your own. When you’re feeling woozy just grab a maid and tell her. We’ll do the rest.”
“Ah, right. Mrs. Adelbert will come by tomorrow for your fitting and guild dress maker might come by later today or early tomorrow. That I think is it. Would you like me to help you unpack?”
The helpfulness dripped off her slender frame.
“I have nothing to unpack.”
Her face turned into a ripe tomato when she noticed I had nothing except the robe on my back. Cute little tomato.
“Then I, um, well… Would you mind keeping Vi company while I fetch something for that fever?”
I nod my head and let the girl excuse herself. Zee snored ungracefully in her corner while Vi drooled into her pillow. Soft pillow.
The room, even though shared, had an air of comfort and slight luxury. The beds were large, well made and spaced wide apart. The heavy bed curtains in matching guild colors gave some additional privacy.
The lacquered wooden floor did not creak and each of us had a fluffy rag of animal fur placed by the bed to keep our feet warm in the morning.
The bay windows even though barred, were tall and offered a pleasant view at the small garden on the guild's ground and invited me with plethora of dark, green cushions.
I sat down and listened to Vittoria's calm breath interrupted by Zee's snoring. A pair of peacocks strolled idly through the grass, ignoring the nearby people.
*I think you better help her before she causes a commotion. *
Huh?
*The door dolt. Get the door. *
Whether she was intending to open it with her mouth or her foot, I don’t know. When I pulled the handle all I had were precious seconds to grab the silver tray and steady it before the contents fell.
“I am so terribly sorry! I will make sure it won’t happen again!”
She kept on bowing and apologizing. And I did not even care whether she would drop that tray or not.
*Well, I do care. Having the whole place alarmed of your arrival is not the best first impression. It is enough that we look like treehugger. *
Dully noted. Still, I see no point of stressing her out even more. You caught that tray anyway. And the tea pot. And the spoons. And the boiling water that stopped in midair and obediently floated back into the pot.
“Be more careful next time.”
My voice came out soulless anyway. Eh.
“Can you tell me what a clerk does?”
I sat by the table sipping the tea she brought and changed the subject.
“Or, right. You will be one. Hmm, in the beginning you will probably stamp documents and seal contracts. Not much of a clerk job. You’ll sit in the backroom and wait for a call and when one comes, you’ll go to the given desk, smile and put the stamp where they tell you. Boring but draining job. Then, depending on how your training goes, you will sit with clients and process their requests from start to finish. Compiling the agreements or auditing books. It all depends. Anyway, the girls are rotating. You get one day of stamping and a day for recovery. Then a day of less taxing jobs and after that back to stamping.”
“What exactly is that stamping you speak of?”
“Mrs. Adelbert will prepare you a special seal. It is an artifact custom fitted for each girl. You press it against the sealing parchment that drains a portion of your mana. The mana is used to secure documents against counterfeiting and to easily recognize parties bound under a contract. The more mana used, the safer the document. The guild is offering protection levels from one to nine where the nine will put the bound parties under geas and the document itself won’t burn, fade, rot or crumble for up to five hundred years.”
Was there a little bit of sadness in her voice?
“I came here hoping to become a clerk myself but I do not have the required stamina and I made too many mistakes with bookkeeping jobs. I did not meet the bar.”
She straightened herself up and smiled gently.
“Miss Beatrice allowed me to stay as a maid. I am very grateful to her. She is very kind.”
Not the vibe I got from her, but I tried not to judge people. Most of the time I got it so wrong it defied laws of agreeable physics. Like the sniffling lizard…
I felt mana left me and a thwack sound echoed through the room as a certain dragon lady mentally slapped me. Li looked around, quite troubled. I pretended to smile as if nothing happened. We talked about the town until evening, somewhat clumsily sidestepping difficult topics.
When the dressmaker arrived with some basic clothing for me, I excused myself when she finished taking measurements and went to scrub dirt of my legs before going to bed. My guild ensemble won’t be ready for a week at least. Apparently my dimensions called for custom made clothing. That or the dressmaker aimed for a fat commission fee.
I pulled the curtains around my bed and laid down quietly. I felt no need to sleep but I coaxed my body to rest and sunk to where Erta brooded about.
I had a lot to learn.