John is standing just outside the orphanage, shifting from one foot to another, but not leaning against the building. It's really that dirty, he doesn't even want to touch it...? He turns as I approach with the six women all around me. I notice his eyes go not just to Marrianne, but Zoe and Ami as well. Does John know them somehow?
"Good evening, ladies," he greets them all with a small salute. One look at his clothes, and they all return deep, respectful curtsies. After the greeting, I catch the way his eyes are moving back to Marrianne, and something finally clicks. He doesn't know we're trying to hide the connection between us.
Dashing forward, I brush his wrist with a hand as I turn back to the caretakers. "Everyone, this is John, he's the one I was talking about, he's been delivering my meals for me."
Even as I speak, I simultaneously form a telepathic connection as fast as I can. Shaping it correctly to avoid hurting him takes a moment, especially with my attention split, but I get it, and express how we're hiding the connection between me and Marrianne at the orphanage so she can help me out without Karl Liffan getting suspicious. I'm still unsure whether that really means we should hide it from the other caretakers, but we probably can't be too careful since we're dealing with a noble...
I can't see him to tell if he succeeds at hiding any reaction to the information, but when he speaks, at least he doesn't sound nervous or anything. "Aria mentioned earlier that you are the new caretakers here, it's nice to meet you all."
Then, Ami unexpectedly throws an arm over the shorter Zoe's shoulders and drags her a couple steps forward. Zoe immediately looks somewhere between reluctant and resigned as Ami addresses the other caretakers. "So, we actually talked to him earlier. During our little... departure, before," she only stumbles awkwardly a little when she reaches that part, and I blink.
So that's what happened? After Zoe ran off and Ami followed, they ended up meeting John and talking to him? That's why it took so long?
With clear reluctance in her voice, Zoe joins in, confirming Ami's words quietly, while making a few small struggles to pull away from Ami.
"Yeah," John says, though he sounds a bit awkward himself this time. "Ami mentioned something about a change in Aria's meal plans. I think I need some clarification though..." They talked about it, but he doesn't understand?
For the first time, I see an amused look cross Kerra's face as she steps forward. "Talked your ear off without really telling you anything?" she asks John, while grabbing and separating the two women without even looking at them.
I look back to see John's strange grin in the face of the older woman. More... young, and boyish than I've ever seen from John before. "Kind of, yeah."
Kerra shakes her head, still with that same amused look, then waves and says, "Marrianne."
Stepping up at the call, Marrianne gives a quick, easy explanation. How Karl Liffan has ordered me to eat high-quality food they prepare, and that it would be a big help if he could come get it to deliver to the refinery when I'm there. As she speaks, I note that she avoids mentioning me working there.
Right, the other women probably think I'm younger, and even if we corrected them, me actually working at my age is... pretty exploitative, isn't it...? Eryk said so too. Even though I'm doing it because I want to help him...
Another thing I'll keep in mind to not mention to people carelessly...
The way she talks, together with the tiny flicks of emotion on John's face, tell me he's picking up on the same thing. When she finishes, he gives a few considering nods. "If those are the orders of a noble, it's not like any of us can question them," he chuckles and throws out a shrug. "I'll talk to my boss, I'm sure he'll give the ok. So, I should be seeing you ladies tomorrow, around fourth bell, to pick up her lunch, alright?"
There's a round of agreement all around, then with another salute, and curtsies in return, John heads on his way. Once he's gone, Kerra turns and addresses me. "Now, little one, it's late. Let's get you fed and in bed."
Just the way she speaks to me... "Ok, but umm, you should know I'm seven." There are a few moments while that starts to sink in, so I add, as usual, "I didn't eat well when I was younger, so I'm too small for my age." Then I turn and head back inside. The less I need to see the shock and pity, the better. Maybe noble food will finally help me grow more...
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"Mmm..." I mumble sleepily while making my way downstairs. It's a while before first bell, and I think it's going to take some time to get used to waking up so early again. When I make it into the kitchen, Marrianne is at the counter, making my breakfast. If it's anything like last night, it will be amazing. Despite just being a bunch stuff chopped up because the caretakers didn't know how to prepare the unfamiliar ingredients, whatever weird plants the nobles eat, they're all on a completely different level than anything I've tasted before.
"Good morning, sweetie," she greets me, kneeling down for a hug. This is so nice... After a few moments, she releases me, then makes a little gesture and asks, "what's that you have?"
Holding up the stack of papers in my hand, I answer, "Homework." She leans closer to peer at the papers in the dim early morning light.
"Oh my, those are some awfully big words, what is it about?" she asks, only turning part of her attention back to the food she's preparing.
"History. It's an overview of The Bromunst Expansion," I answer, then start to yawn, another wave of sleepiness hitting me even as I try to wake up while talking.
"You're learning about things like that already?" She sounds amazed for some reason. Is it that surprising? "I'd love to meet this Claire Eryk mentioned..."
Then a surprised sound draws both of our attention toward the dining room, where Zoe is standing right in the entrance, with a mop and a bucket, staring at us, her head cocked to the side. I totally missed her footsteps while I was yawning. And why is she staring at us anyway?
A tense look briefly crosses Marrianne's face, but then she asks, "Have you finished up with the back hall?"
"Yes, but..." Zoe hesitates, then shakes her head. "Never mind. Almost done with her breakfast?"
Marrianne turns back to the counter in front of her. "Getting there. It's a little unreasonable to expect us to cook with all these foods we've never seen before, isn't it?"
Zoe's lips quirk up a little. "Yeah, really..." The women chat for a little longer, discussing the filthy house, complaining both about the state Mister Fredricson left it in, and about Karl Liffan for being stingy only hiring six of them to take care of so much work.
Marrianne even points out that one time, she was at the home of a divant that had at least twice as many servants working there, for a family of three or four people. Six people taking care of a hundred is stretching things way too thin.
I wonder when Marrianne wound up at such a high class person's house? I don't know all that much about her past, now that I think about it...
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A short while later, she finishes up and serves my breakfast, then both women split off to continue cleaning different sections of the house. It sounds like they're going through, getting the whole disgusting place clean, bit by bit. I sit at the table and eat, savoring every bite of the food. Since Marrianne doesn't know anything about them, all she did was cut them up and heat them a little to soften them, but they still taste so good. What would it be like if someone as good at cooking as Selena made something with food like this? Or, I guess someone who actually knew about all these weird noble foods?
The only issue is something I had started to think about, only to have yesterday's dinner confirm. Noble food is... possibly an issue for me. A handful of times, I put a piece of something in my mouth, and now that I know what I'm looking for, the different sensations they bring act as immediate warnings. From the buzz of one, to the odd... sort of like muted chill, of another. Today, there are two different types of foods mixed into my bowl that have effects on my mana.
One, bright red in color, feels like it would energize it, like ceeat does. The other is like that food I had at Kathy's. After some testing while staying at Eryk's house last week, I found that the food which caused my mana to stop obeying my will was the ale-bread used in the dish she served.
Apparently it's made by mixing some ale into bread dough to make it way more fluffy than normal bread. I wanted to know if it was the ale mixed into the bread that actually caused the effect on my mana, but Eryk said I'm too young to drink it, and that it cooks out of the food anyway, so I'm not sure what to think.
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So, this new thing, a kind of yellow, crunchy vegetable with flecks of red and a rich, sort of bitter taste, feels like it would have a similar effect, I think. I don't want to risk it, so I spit any pieces of those two foods out into my bowl and eat around them.
When I finish up and Zoe comes to take my bowl, she frowns down at the food left over. She looks uncomfortable as she puts on an... only sort of scolding tone. "You can't be so picky with your food."
"U-uhh..." I don't know how to respond. Last night, I ate the food they gave me because it felt like it wouldn't have a bad effect on my mana. It made it sort of... smooth moving around inside me, in a way that's kind of hard to describe. I can still feel it, I ate a good bit, so the effect hasn't fully worn off yet. These ones though... "I'm sorry, I, uhh, have some food issues," I try. "There are some foods I have bad reactions to."
Despite her discomfort, Zoe frowns at my response. "These are noble foods, you've never had them before."
Oh. Right. How do I explain that one...? My eyes dart around, some part of me wanting Marrianne to help, but when I listen, I can hear her mopping in another part of the house. "I-I'm sorry, I just... I can kind of tell those are foods I'll react badly to. Like, when I put them in my mouth, they give this... kind of bad feeling...?" Wait, that just sounds like I think they taste bad...
"Mmm..." she considers my words, looking away a few times, like she really doesn't want to continue this conversation, but keeps glancing nervously back at the bowl. I didn't think about it before, but... they won't get in trouble if I don't eat all the food I'm supposed to eat, will they...?
"Umm... Is it a problem if I don't eat it? I-I mean, a problem for you? You won't get in trouble, will you?" When she doesn't immediately answer, I grab the bowl and pull it close again. "I'll... try." Again, Zoe doesn't say anything, and just continues to look uncomfortable. I don't get it, is it me? The food? The work? I totally can't pin things down with her, and she's so unwilling to speak that I have nothing to go on...
Nervously spooning up one of the vegetables, I go for the red one that I think will excite my mana, rather than the yellow one that will make it harder to control. Since I don't have any absolute mana and I used up the special fire, even if it goes crazy, none of it can actually get out of my body and cause problems.
Staring at it, I gulp, then put it in my mouth. As I chew carefully, I can feel Zoe watching me. Then I swallow. My whole body cringes when the effect hits me. It's... different than ceeat. My mana definitely becomes more active, but doesn't rush around inside me like the other time.
What it does do though... I'm immediately wincing when the sounds around me boom in my ears. Zoe's breathing, the beat of her heart and shuffle of her feet against the wooden floor as she shifts her weight, the sound of dripping water and Marrianne's mop in the other room. The creak of wooden beds above us, the squeaking and skittering of a mouse moving on the second floor. The house cat hiding in the cellar.
I can even hear the wings of a bird coming to land atop a building across the street, and when it gets snapped up by something in a faint swish of fur and teeth. It's even more than Riko's hearing, but without her cat ears that can move around to actually focus. It all hits me at once instead.
My hands come up to clamp over my ears as I frantically dump all my water mana into my well. Even after I do that, I'm left dizzy and sick, wobbling in my seat. But it does the trick. Without the ridiculously strengthened water mana, my hearing seems to return to normal. I still have a few bits of other colored mana, and just those feel like they've multiplied everything inside me, from my heart to my lungs to muscles. Like, pushing right through the momentary sickness, I feel powerful. And totally full of energy. It's incredible, and weird. Incredibly weird. But surprisingly, apart from the initial burst of noise, I feel great now.
When I manage to right myself in my seat, I take a few slow breaths, then look up at Zoe. "Wow, that wasn't too bad, I think-" That's as far as I get before she snaps up the bowl from in front of me.
Her voice comes fast and shaky. "A-alright, I believe you. We'll work something out about the food. Marrianne!" she calls, surprisingly loud, since she's always so quiet. Marrianne comes over quickly.
"Yes, Zoe?"
"It seems Aria has some sort of- of food problem."
"Oh!" Marrianne gasps, picking up her pace as she crosses the room. "Are you alright?" she asks as she approaches me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I wave my hands. "I was trying to say, the red one isn't actually bad. I'm not sure of the yellow one though, that one could be more of a problem."
With a disbelieving expression, Zoe adds, "She took one bite and looked like she had a seizure."
As Marrianne's mouth falls open, I hastily stammer, "N-no, I didn't, it was actually something completely different! I feel good now!"
After a couple moments to overcome her shock, Marrianne brings a hand up her forehead. "It's fine, it's fine," she pats my head, stroking through my hair with a hand. "There's no need to put yourself through anything unpleasant, Aria. We have plenty of food for you, avoiding the ones you have bad reactions to isn't a problem."
The way she says it, gently, but with a little force, tells me I shouldn't argue. She's doing it for me after all.
"Now, it's probably about time you get going, isn't it? You have a long way to travel across town, don't you?"
"Oh, no, I still have a while," I answer, "John won't be here until around first bell."
"John?" both women ask, clearly confused. They don't say it, but the real question is obvious. 'Why is he coming here?' is what they actually mean.
"He, uhh, picks me up and takes me to- to the refinery in the morning," I trip momentarily when I'm going to call it 'work' before catching myself.
"That's... nice of him," Zoe says somewhat stiffly. Just the tone of her voice tells me what she really means is 'strange.'
"Umm..." I mumble a little, feeling really awkward in front of the two women, "I'm going to... go get Emily..." Then I stand up, moving a few steps, before turning back and bowing deeply. "Thank you for breakfast."
It takes a moment before they respond, Marrianne finally cracking a small smile. "You're welcome," she answers, throwing a glance at Zoe for some reason.
After I go upstairs and wake up a yawning, drowsy Emily, we return to the dining room to sit for a bit. She does my hair, her hands moving automatically. Then I meditate until she's awake enough, before teaching her a few more letters, as the first bell approaches. I can feel Marrianne and Zoe hovering behind us a number of times as we work, but they keep their distance and just watch.
Eventually, the first bell rings, and John arrives right around the same time. He shares a brief greeting with the two women, then asks a question that I... totally missed, somehow.
"Just you two today?" That's right, wasn't it supposed to be Ami and Zoe working today?
"Ami will be in later," Marrianne says. But it's Zoe, glancing off to the side with an odd, stiff expression that I notice. For someone so timid, she's weirdly standoffish with Ami, isn't she? Well, from what I saw yesterday, Ami does seem kind of overbearing, like Eve can be, so I guess it's understandable...
I'm still wondering about that as they finish up the short conversation, and John starts on his way through the streets.
"So, how are things now?" he asks after we've gone a little ways through the northeast district.
"Huh?" What does he mean?
"At home? You have all those caretakers now. How are things with them?"
"Oh, that's what you mean. Hmm..." I purse my lips, staring into the distance for a bit as I consider the question. "Definitely better..." That much is obvious. "It's... I'm not really sure. It's really different. Adults." I'm probably not being clear enough. "What I mean is, having adults around. I'm sort of more used to it now, I think, after staying at Eryk's with his servants, but it's, like... different," I keep thinking aloud. "It's strange having adults at home to take care of me. They..." I wave my hands a bit, searching for the words.
"They're always watching. Considering me, and thinking about me, judging what I'm doing. I got scolded for not eating all my food this morning. I had a reaction to it, so I just didn't eat it, but Zoe scolded me, and I had no idea what to do." As I ramble through all my thoughts, John just listens intently, making a few small sounds, but not interrupting.
"It's nice, but also kind of stressful? I already had to worry about what the other kids thought and try not to stand out, but they weren't really watching me that closely. The new caretakers are going to be a lot more difficult to keep things from because I have to interact with them more. You know, for breakfast and stuff, since they have to make meals just for me, and adults notice things a lot more than other kids do. And I have to do what they say, which makes everything harder. I can't just refuse them or they'll get mad at me, you know?"
Staring up at the sky, I throw my hands up a little. "It's one thing with adults like you and Eryk. You guys know about me, you know that when I do something, it's for a reason, even if you don't understand it because I'm weird with all the... the stuff." I mumble out the last bit more quietly, since I know he'll understand.
"But with them, I have to hide all of that. They have to think I'm a normal kid, but I'm not and it's really hard to hide that from adults I actually talk to. Marrianne can maybe help, but we also have to hide that we know each other, which makes things even worse because she can't just jump in to help me if I say something wrong or it might make them suspicious and we don't know what they're telling Karl Liffan about me."
I let out a long, tired sigh, then John finally speaks up. "You sure are talkative today," he chuckles, and I blush a bit. I've really been babbling for a while, haven't I? "That does sound pretty tough. They're there to take care of you, but you have so much to hide that it makes things hard with people if you don't know if you can trust them." Looking down at me, John has a small smile, with this look in his eyes that's both sad and amused. "Sorry, can't really help you there. I'm good with a blade, not so much with people."
I smile back and let out a breath. "It's fine. You help me out so much already." This is something I'll have to deal with myself. Or maybe Reena can help out, or Marrianne, when I have a chance to talk to her alone. Claire maybe? To put it like John, they're more 'people people.' Or... something like that, I think...?