Chapter 102 Naturally
“Mar, don’t eat with your fingers!” Madeline snapped in a whisper at her sister who was happily digging into her dinner. The family of three and the V’Nova Wexler duo were sitting at one of the tables in the corner of Celeste’s dining hall. Martha looked up at her sister, while she still held a piece of meat in one hand and a spoon loaded with rice in the other, and blinked owlishly at her. Madeline sighed and rubbed her temples as if she was trying to smoothen out stress wrinkles.
“She’s fine.” Lenna told the girls warmly. “By the time she is your age, if you decide to accept the job, we will expect her to know proper table etiquette. For now though, she is just a child, and a hungry one at that.” Lenna’s warmth was able to properly come out, unlike the night they met, because she was in a place that she was comfortable in and wearing clothes that she was used to.
Madeline bowed towards Lenna in her seat. “As you say.” She replied.
“Tell us your story.” Isaac directed Margaret. His words were not harsh nor were they soft. It was the same tone and cadence that he would have used giving Shamesh an order. A statement that was expected to be followed but with absolutely no hostility or arrogance.
Margaret hesitated a moment before she nodded to Isaac. “Would it be alright if I left some of the more specific information out?” She asked him.
Isaac nodded. “That’s fine.” He told her.
Margaret took a deep calming breath before she was ready to begin. “Six years ago my husband was killed while trying to protect someone of relatively high importance in our home country. It was his job and his duty but, in the end, his charge was still slain. Because of that, some people began gossiping and defiling my husband’s honor.” She began. “My story starts a little further back. I was a lady-in-waiting to a young but prominent noblewoman. I had met and quickly fallen in love with her cousin’s personal guard. We courted for a time and then came a wedding and our two wonderful daughters. After his death, and the rumors wouldn’t stop no matter what I said to the contrary, I sold everything that I could and packed up the girls with only the barest of heirlooms and a few changes of clothes.”
Margaret took a moment to wet her throat and collect herself as everyone, even her own children, listened intently. Isaac wasn’t leaning in but he also wasn’t making a show of being bored. He and Lenna were simply listening attentively but it was clear that neither of them had any personal stakes in the story. “Then what happened?” Martha asked her mom with wide eyes.
“You were there, silly.” Madeline told her and ruffled her hair. “Don’t you remember?”
Martha shook her head, half to say no and half to finish messing up her hair. Her dark brown curls hung over her face to the point where she could hardly see. Madeline watched in horror as Martha used her hand, that had just been holding a piece of meat, to brush her hair out of her eyes. “Nope.” Martha replied to her sister’s question and then stuffed a spoonful of food into her mouth.
“It took us a week via carriage to reach a port city and we stayed in an inn there until I found a ship heading to a country that I had barely ever heard about. Altia and my homeland had almost no diplomatic relations so I was positive that no one here would have known of my husband or what those back home were saying about him.” Margaret continued where she had left off. “The trip was long and the weather was like flipping a coin with an awful summer storm on one side and a clear sunny day on the other. Eventually we arrived in Port Vespera where I made the unfortunate mistake of finding a cheap inn. The inn that we used was a front for mortal trafficking. They stole us away, took all of our belongings, and then shipped us off to Sapphirestone. Once there, we were handed off to someone else who then smuggled us out of the city and into this one. After that we were kept underground for a little while until the day of the auction. You were there for the rest.”
Isaac nodded once Margaret finished her story. It wasn’t a very uncommon one and a story that Altia was trying to stop from repeating. Slavery in and of itself was not something that the country disagreed with on an economic level and most often not on a moral level either. As with most things, there was a line that once crossed would lead into depravity. Altia had outlawed slavery because there were too many cases of those not physically able to defend themselves being kidnapped and sold off. Criminals and debtors were on the list of people that most residents of Altia had no problems with being slaves. What they did have problems with were the stories of lone women being abducted and sold to whorehouses or disgusting nobles. Eventually the crown got tired of the backlash whenever a story would surface and they just outright outlawed the practice. People who were slaves were still kept as slaves but no one could be born into slavery and no new slaves could be bought or sold. That was two kings ago.
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“You did well to make it this far in one piece.” Lenna praised them. “I know that taking the offered position feels like moving from slavery to slavery with terms and conditions. I assure you that is not the case. My husband is just very keen on returns from investments.”
Margaret nodded along with Lenna. “What would happen to us if I refused?” She questioned the duo directly.
“Like I said before, the slums are always looking for new residents.” Isaac told her. “We will let you go but we will no longer be paying for your stay here in the Dawn. That room and your meals are costing me gold coins per day.” He explained.
Margaret nodded in understanding. She had to make a decision before Celeste closed the Dawn for the night. “Fifteen gold per week of our pay will go to paying off what we owe you, for now.” She declared. With food and clothing covered directly by Isaac and Lenna as household expenses they didn’t have any expenses to worry about for themselves.
“Are you sure?” Isaac questioned. “Not about taking the job but about using all of your available money immediately? What about if something happens to one of you, or us?”
“At fifteen gold per week, what we owe you will be paid off entirely before Madeline’s eighteenth birthday.” Margaret explained. “I want her to be able to choose her own future and find her own path. The last thing I want is to tie her down with me until half of her life has gone by.”
“Mom, I-” Madeline began but a look from her mother silenced her with a promise to discuss it further at a later time.
“If that is what you are after then I am willing to make a change to the contract. It is going to cost me fifty gold for each of you to be trained at Duke Arbencroft’s manor by his maids. I was originally planning to just cover it but everything must come with a tradeoff.” Isaac began. “We can segment what you owe into three sections of one thousand and fifty gold. Once each segment is paid off then the corresponding individual will be released from the contract. At that point if they still wish to be employed by us then we can draft up a more conventional contract for employment.”
Margaret blinked at him in stunned silence for a long moment. “Really? Just like that?” She questioned.
“Yes.” Isaac replied simply. “There will be the expectation that a replacement is trained before they leave but finding the replacement will be on us. If no replacement can be found in a reasonable time, say three months, then that expectation will be voided.”
Margaret nodded along with Isaac. “I, uh, thank you.” She told him. “This means more to me than you can imagine.” She seemed to remember something at that moment and her eyes widened a bit. “You never planned for us to just leave once the contract was up, did you?”
Isaac smirked. “What made you think of that?” He wondered.
“Near the bottom of the page it stated that for every year of service we would each receive a one silver per week increase in wage. That was you laying the groundwork for future employment contracts. Yearly raises without stipulations are unheard of. If that would become negotiable after the original contract was concluded then a simple live-in maid could potentially be earning a dozen or more gold per week without any expenses of her own by the time she is my age.” She looked over at her youngest daughter. “How far into the future do you see?” She asked Isaac as she turned back to him. “I apologize, as my employer and the Lord of the house, I was disrespectful.” She added quickly with a seated bow.
“I hope that our shared futures will be mutually beneficial and your daughters grow up to be as sharp as you are.” Isaac told her. “As to the question and perceived disrespect, the answer is far yet as near as closed eyelids, it was no disrespect but a breach of decorum that will be trained and practiced out of you. The duchess’s maids trained my retainer quite well and I have high hopes for you.”
It was at that moment that Isaac’s previous mentioning of the duke’s manor seemed to slot into place in Margaret’s mind. “The Duchess?” Margaret repeated with wide eyes. “We are to be trained under a high-noble’s supervision?”
“Yes and no.” Isaac replied. “Sera does not have the time nor the patience to oversee your training herself. Her head maid will not even be doing it but rather the woman who is set to take the head maid’s position when she retires.”
Margaret nodded in understanding. “Of course.” She all but whispered. “If I may ask, why is the assistant to the head maid of a ducal house training us?”
“Because Duchess Serentia Von Arbencroft is a wonderful woman who promised to train our manor staff after her husband, Duke Izen Von Arbencroft built us a manor in the city.” Isaac explained. “Their titles aside, those two are very important friends of ours and your attitudes will be directly reflected onto us. Mistakes are fine but bad attitudes are not.”
Margaret nodded rapidly. “Of course, my Lord, we will be on our best behavior.” She promised him. “Once our contract has been revised and signed.”
“Naturally.” Isaac replied with a smirk.