We head back to Eryk's office where I ask, "So what was that all about? The hand thing, and the curtsy, and the other thing you did?" I vaguely mimic the gestures I saw when I mention them.
"Those are just proper etiquette."
"You never taught me anything like that," I complain. He didn't even warn me.
"Sorry, it went the way of the tailor visit since you needed more sleep," he says with disappointed shrug.
"What do 'etiquette' and 'tailor' mean exactly?"
"Etiquette is the proper way you should act in specific social situations. It's how you show respect and avoid issues with people in the higher social classes." I think I understand what he means there. "Peasants don't really do anything beyond basic handshakes sometimes, but you definitely need to know them to act as a vulgant."
"More things I should know..." I moan. "Can you teach me about that so I know how to do it right?"
He scratches his cheek a bit, looking kind of embarrassed for some reason. "Normally a mother would teach her daughter these things." He gives a small cough and recovers. "I'll have to have one of my servants teach you. But for now, I think you should sit down."
"Sit down?" I question the sudden change of topic, but move to sit back in the chair I normally take anyway.
"I think you're too wound up to notice, but you look really tired," Eryk points out after I take my seat.
"I... can't really tell," I think aloud.
"You've had a really long day. Even if you had a few naps, you're still injured, and you've done a lot today. And you missed lunch. John will be here soon with a change of clothes and food. Here, just rest for a while." He hands me a pair of coins, which makes me realize I never got mine back after my bath. Actually, where did my clothes go anyway? When I ask about it, Eryk says that he had his servants wash them.
"What are servants?" I ask while resting my chin on the edge of the table.
"Workers you hire to do housework for you, like cooking and cleaning."
"Oh, so that's who they were." I think I'm starting to feel tired, like Eryk said, like my nervous energy is quickly draining away. But thinking about his servants, it reminds me of earlier. "Hey Eryk, who is Selena?"
"Selena? Just one of my servants." He clearly doesn't know why I'm asking about her.
"What do you know about her?"
"Not much," he shrugs. "I hardly see her, she always stays out of the way. Irene has never mentioned any issue with her work though, so she must be a hard worker. Today is probably the most I've seen of her since I hired her." He rubs his chin a little. "She does seem extremely faint-hearted though. Why the sudden interest in my servant?"
"Because..." I turn away slightly and say, "she reminds me of myself."
"Ahh..." he responds awkwardly when he finally understands what I mean. "Thanks for letting me know, I'll try to keep an eye out for her."
"Thanks, Eryk." I close my eyes and just go back to resting. Now I know what Eryk meant. I'm starting to relax, and all of my fatigue from the day is rushing back, hitting me like a heavy weight on my back.
"As for the tailor, I told you I had your dress sized for you. I was going to take you to the tailor's to have them modify the dress, but since you were too tired, I had Selena take your measurements so the tailor could modify the dress based on them. It wasn't ideal, so I'm glad the size still came out right."
"Oh, so a tailor modifies clothing," I mumble. And I was supposed to go to one today, but that didn't work out. My breaths come deeper and I feel like I might fall asleep soon if I continue to sit here like this. But there's no reason not to now, so I just keep resting.
"Still, you really surprised me, I never imagined that you'd already met the instructor I found..." Eryk picks up the conversation again after a bit. "How do you two know each other anyway?"
"She stands next to me at church. She's always seemed nice, and she even taught me how to pray the the first time I went there."
"Is that so..." Looking sideways at him, he rubs his chin while continuing, "I thought we were totally screwed when she knew you were a peasant, but she's surprisingly open-minded. How does she know Fredricson anyway?"
"I'm not sure, I guess just because he always brings me in and out of the church..."
"What do you mean?" Eryk asks.
"Well, I'm always causing trouble at home, so when we go to church, he keeps a hand on me the whole time to make sure I don't do anything wrong." I sigh and rub my neck a little when I remember how he practically crushed it last time.
"That sounds... difficult..." Eryk responds stiffly. Then his tone softens. “You did a great job today, Aria. You really did. You seized the opportunity, all on your own.”
I smile sleepily. I… I really did, didn’t I?
We sit for a while longer after that. I'm half asleep, and really starting to feel just how hungry I am after missing lunch. To think that I used to only eat breakfast and dinner... Why am I eating so much food now anyway? I have no idea, so I just keep resting and endure my hunger, even as my stomach starts to gurgle loudly.
Then John finally arrives. My eyes shoot to the bowl of food in his hands, but Eryk says, "Alright, let's get you out of those clothes before you eat. My sister would kill me if anything happened to them."
"Fine," I tiredly get off my my chair and take off the dress. It's a lot easier than putting it on, since I can just grab it by the bottom and pull the whole thing up over my head. It does turn the whole dress inside out, but I don't think that's a big deal. I hand it to Eryk, then take my clothes from John and begin to put them on. He sets down a bag on the table, making me realize I completely forgot about my bag of stuff. I guess I left it at Eryk's house? At least I have it back now.
As I'm tying on my skirt, I slowly realize just how different my clothes feel compared to that dress. Even if they're clean right now, they're totally different. While the fabric of the dress was soft and smooth against my skin, my clothes are noticeably rough and a little scratchy when I move. I'm probably exaggerating since the fifteen or so percent earth mana I'm still holding onto should make my sense of touch better, but now that I've actually felt the difference, it's definitely there. Still, it's not like it really bothers me, this is what I'm already used to.
After putting my clothes back on, I look down at myself and see that I'm a peasant again. I'm clean, but still a peasant. I go back to my chair and sit down, where John already set my food. After a glance at Eryk, I start eating. It's the same as always, but it tastes really good because I'm so hungry. Before I know it, I've finished the whole bowl. At least it was pretty filling.
"Wow, you really can eat... I'll let Selena know you liked it," Eryk says with a grin.
"Selena made this?"
"Yup, she cooks most of the meals at my house." He gives a small chuckle. "Now, let's get you home. It's getting late and you need your sleep. I want to talk to you about what you figured out, so John will be back first thing in the morning tomorrow to pick you up, alright?" he asks.
"Yeah," I agree. Then I remember how things went today, and say, "We'll need more tin and copper, could you have them work on that first?" It took them a while to get some melted today, so maybe it'll be quicker if Eryk has them start on that right away.
"Sure." He nods. "John, can you take Aria back? I have more work to catch up on."
"Yes, sir." He walks over and picks me up from my chair, grabbing my bag from the table and setting that down on top of me.
"Thanks, John." I give him a small smile. I'm really grateful that he's always carrying me, since I'm way too tired to walk all the way back across town right now. I'm... probably too tired to walk more than a few blocks from here...
"No problem."
He starts toward the door, so I wave at Eryk and sleepily say, "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, Aria." With our short farewell, John carries me outside. He starts to head south, but the eleventh bell rings before we've made it very far at all. Hearing it reminds me that with everything that happened today, I never had a chance to count the length of the bells. So I just let that run in the back of my mind while I rest my head in John's arms.
"You have curfew at the twelfth bell, right?" he asks, so I nod. "Then I'll be going quickly."
"Sure." I feel him pick up his pace, since it usually takes him longer than one bell to make it all the way from my house to the refinery.
It's a quiet trip. John is content to just walk, no conversation needed. It feels really nice after such a hectic day. The only interruption is Emily showing up at the forest to pick up the animals from Maven and the others. I was so focused on work today, I wasn't even aware of most of what they were doing, but it looks like they caught about as much as usual, so that's good.
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At John's fast pace, we make it back home before the last bell, barely. When we approach the orphanage, I'm at four hundred twenty out of about four hundred sixty ticks per bell. He sets me down at the door, then with a small nod, he heads off again. I go inside, slowly walking up to my room. The rest on the way helped, but I'm totally done for the day. I fall into bed, swinging my bag to drop it underneath while clutching my coins and generating earth mana because I feel like I'm going to fall asleep at any moment. I don't know how I'm going to take those nightmares again when I'm done healing...
Emily gets home just a little after I do, coming into the room and petting my head a little when she sees me lying in bed already.
"Looks like you had a busy day."
"Nn."
"Tell me about it tomorrow, ok?"
"Nn." She giggles a little at my response before lying down with me. At this point, the last bell of the day rings. Four hundred fifty six ticks this time. So it went down by one again. Well, I can think about that tomorrow. I snuggle up against Emily and let myself relax, drifting off to sleep.
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The next morning, I'm sitting up on my bed while Emily does my hair.
"Hey, what's the difference between peasants and vulgants?" I ask for some reason in my drowsy state.
"Mm, vulgants have more money," Emily gives a simple answer.
"Then why is it so hard to talk to them?" I'm still really sleepy. That isn't really the question I want to ask, is it?
"Well, having more money means they have more power."
"Is that where they get their confidence?" No, Eryk already told me. They get their confidence from self-esteem. I'm asking questions I already have answers to, as if I'm going to get different answers now.
"Huh, I wonder..." She just mutters. I guess she doesn't really know either.
"It's called a birthright." We both jump when Jannette speaks up suddenly. Like last time, it's so unexpected when she talks about these things, like she knows exactly what she's talking about. "From when they were born, they're treated like they're above others, so that's what they learn to expect." I wonder, was Jannette from a higher class before becoming an orphan?
No, if she was, her relatives would have the money to afford taking her in. I remember how the other girls all mentioned their relatives not being able to take care of them, an issue the upper classes wouldn't have. No matter how I think about her or what explanations I try coming up with, I just can't understand Jannette.
But she's just glaring at me after she answers the question I didn't mean to ask her. "Is... that so..." is the only response I can come up with. Then her words finally sink in. "So it has to do with where they're born? How they're raised?"
"Yes, that's why even if peasants find a way to make money, they generally can't move up. They don't have the right mindset to fit in with the upper classes." It feels like Jannette's gaze is going to bore a hole straight through me.
"Mindset, huh..." I murmur, trying not to meet her eyes.
"Did something happen yesterday, Aria?" Emily asks, sounding worried. She keeps working on my hair as she speaks though.
"Well, I met my instructor yesterday. It was the lady from church, so she knew I was a peasant even though Eryk got me all dressed up." Emily gasps, but I quickly continue to calm her down. "It's alright. She agreed to teach me anyway."
"Really? That's a relief," Emily sighs. Even though Jannette is lying back down in bed again, I can still feel her staring at me, though I have no idea why. "Then what's wrong? You sound kind of down."
"Mm, I guess it's what Jannette said. It's hard to talk to her and I need to force myself into a different mindset to make it work, but it's really hard to do. Eryk said I need more confidence and self-esteem because I don't have a strong sense of self-worth. But, well... you know." I say it vaguely, but I know she'll understand.
"Aah," I can hear the worry in her voice. "I see your point. That's a hard one, isn't it...?"
"Yeah, I don't know what to do."
"I don't know if I can really help, sorry." She rubs my shoulders a little as she apologizes.
"It's fine, it's just hard to get it off my mind. I'll have to think about it more." I quickly try to switch to a happier topic. "Uhh, anyway, work is going well."
"Is it? That's good." I can even hear her smiling.
"Yeah, I think I figured something out, I'm supposed to meet Eryk early again today to do some more work. If it goes well, we'll make more progress today."
"I'm glad it's going well so far," she responds. Shortly after, she finishes with my hair and slides around to sit next to me on my bed. "Well, I have today off work, so I'm not really sure what to do. Originally he offered for me to go three days a week so I could keep going hunting with you, but now you have a job too."
"Oh! That reminds me!" I speak up when that reminds me of what Claire said. "I'll have classes Arcaday to Firoday starting next week, so I definitely won't have time to go to the forest except on the weekends."
"Aww..." Emily pouts a little.
"I'm sorry, but I have a ton of things to study. Though I still don't know exactly when it will be... Maybe before or after work? I'm not really sure." Only now I realize she never gave me an exact time each day. Maybe that's part of what she's working on coming up with? I'll have to ask her on Shanaday to clarify things. "But that also means I'll only be able to go to the forest on Nuvodays, I won't have much time, so things are going to be really hard," I sigh. "I'll probably work on things on Shanadays too, since I'll have so little time..."
"Good point, I'll try to help however I can."
"Thanks a lot, Emily." I don't know what she can help with though... No, there's that. I perk up when I think of something. Something she could totally help me with. Though I'm worried that I might be taking advantage of her a little, and I could do it myself... Wait, we can both work on it! "I've got it!"
"Got what?" she asks with a worried chuckle.
So I lean close and cup my hands around to whisper in her ear. "You can help me test water mana and figure out what changes it causes. It comes from azrium, so I'll get some before I come home today."
"Azrium?" Her eyes light up. "I forgot to show you this!" With the rest of the girls watching us sleepily, she drags me over to the side of her bed. She digs into the pile of bags and cloth underneath and pulls one out. She carefully reaches inside and draws out a knife. When she removes the dark hide-like thing covering the blade, I see that it's smaller and a lot lighter looking than the knife she usually uses. "I had the blacksmith make a good azrium cooking knife for me."
"Wow, that's really cool."
"Hehe," she giggles a bit. Continuing in a whisper, she says, "Honestly, I think it's excessive. But I had so much money piling up under my bed that I was worried someone would steal it. So I spent a lot of it on this before that could happen."
"Ahh..." I'm not sure how I feel about that, but as long as she got something she really wanted, I guess it's good?
"Here, take a look," she says quietly, but her eyes tell me to get my water mana. The other girls are all here, so I just take the knife she hands me, using the nuvrite coin I'm still holding to generate the mana while I also look over the knife. It's heavier than it appears. I wonder if that's because of the metal? I don't remember if Eryk mentioned azrium being particularly heavy or not. But the deep blue color of the knife is really pretty and the blade is obviously super sharp. It's a lot thinner and sharper than her other knife. I guess that makes it better for cooking, though I don't know much about it.
I hand it back, saying, "Wow, that's really nice."
"I know, it should last me a long time too." While she's carefully putting the knife away, I lean in close and whisper in her ear again.
"Careful with this, so far I know it increases sadness." As I gently pull her back to my bed, I use the contact to give her about ten percent water mana. It's a pretty small amount, because I don't want it to overwhelm her like it did to me yesterday. Adding that to her fire, which I think she has fifteen percent right now, and ten percent lightning... I think she can hold something like half of what I can, so I double those, to thirty percent fire, twenty percent lightning, and twenty percent water for her. Even though she doesn't have much colorless mana, I don't think she can hold much more. It does make me wonder though. Why can she hold about half of the mana I can, but her well is a tiny fraction of the size of mine? There's still so much I don't understand at all...
While my mind is wandering, there's a knock on our door. Mary is the first one up again since she's closest, and it's John again, just like yesterday. When she turns back to call me, I notice that she's not pale like yesterday, so I guess she's over whatever was wrong. I'm glad and silently thank Eve for taking care of her yesterday.
"I'm coming," I respond, getting up from the bed and grabbing my bag. But Emily's voice stops me for a moment.
"Since your schedule is different, I'll talk to Matthew about changing my work days too."
"Alright, tell me how it goes. I'll see you later."
"See you later, Aria." With a small wave, I go out to meet John in the hall. He's a little later than yesterday, it's already a third of the way between the first and second bells. Which is actually still really early in the morning now that I think about it. The sun hasn't even risen above the city walls yet.
Even so, he picks me up and carries me out of the house again. He lets Mister Fredricson know as usual before we leave. Then we're out on the street and he starts on his way south. He's not in a rush like yesterday at least, and we just go at a pleasant pace down the deserted road. Things really don't start to pick up until after the second bell, when it seems like everyone eats breakfast. So for now, it's just us.
As we travel, I notice the small buzz of activity as the city begins to come to life. Little sounds from near and far. Everything from the clanging of blacksmiths starting work early to the mumbles and groans of people drifting from their windows as they wake up, and the crackle of fire from hearths as they prepare breakfast. I only held onto about ten percent water mana myself, but this is probably an effect of that. Hearing was the only sense that none of the other elements covered. I tuck that information away for later.
Even at a normal pace, John's really fast. We make it all the way down to the middle of the city before the second bell rings. I have to adjust my count up by one to account for the travel time of the sound, which brings it to four hundred fifty five ticks. Again, a decrease of one. It definitely goes down by one tick per bell, per day. Well, the Summer Solstice is supposed to be the longest day of the year, so I guess it makes sense that the days should get shorter. But I wonder, is it just the days? Like, the time between the first and last bells? Or is it the entire day, including nights? If I wanted to figure that one out, I might need to stay up all night to count, which seems unreasonable. Maybe John would know?
"Hey John, I was wondering about something."
"Yeah? What is it?" He just raises and eyebrow.
"The days get shorter in the winter, right? Would you say the whole day gets shorter, or just the time that the sun is up? Are the nights longer?"
"Huh, weird question..." But he answers anyway. "The nights are definitely longer in the winter."
"Is that so..." I mutter.
"Why are you asking anyway?" he tilts his head just a little to show he doesn't understand why I'm asking about this.
"Ah, no reason really. Just something I've been wondering about lately. It's just a bit, but the time between bells is a little shorter every day."
"Huh, I guess they would be. Never really noticed before." He gives a little shrug of his shoulders as he walks. With nothing else to talk about, we pass the rest of the trip in a comfortable quiet, while I listen to the buzz of activity rapidly increase as everyone starts their days.