Hermia unlocked the door to allow everyone into the house.

A maid visibly younger than Oenone looked up hastily from tending to one of the courtyard plants; her smile flashed bright, then turned uncertain. “Milady.”

“The plants are looking lovely, Megaira,” Narcissa said gently. “Would you do me a favour? Go ask everyone else to come to the courtyard? It will only take a moment. I just want to do introductions.”

The young maid ducked her head. She wore the usual white and green, without a mantle or shoes since she was indoors; her only jewellery consisted of a copper band studded with striped green malachite and shimmery pale moonstone that held the front of her black hair back from her face, with the rest of it in a single long braid currently forward over her narrow shoulder. She was thin enough that it was hard to judge her age, but Kaveri doubted she was older than fourteen.

“Yes, milady.” She hastened away, deeper into the house.

Narcissa began to unwind her mantle, with assistance from Iole. Narcissa had decided to check on her injured guards before leaving the hospital; the moonblood quartet had waited outside, but Kaveri had heard the real joy in the voice of the eagle-wounded guard when she’d seen her princess. Iole had insisted on coming home with them.

Iole crossed her wrists, the mantle draped over them, her basket still hanging from her arm.

“You’ve met Iole, Hermia, and Melanippe,” Narcissa said. “We can arrange introductions to Thaleia and Phaidra at a better moment, perhaps in a day or two. You should meet the rest of the household, and they should know who you are.”

“That makes sense,” Mirren said.

“I trust them absolutely not to gossip. I think it would be a good idea to tell them what you are.”

Tyrel spread his hands. “We normally try to pass for human, but at this point, I doubt it’s going to be very practical to do that while in relatively close quarters. It would be better to keep it within your household, though.”

Narcissa nodded. “Anyone in my household is discreet and loyal to Evander and I, I give you my word.”

It didn’t take long at all for the young maid to return, with five others, all of them in the same white and green dresses, but there the similarity ended. Narcissa apparently did not demand conformity among her household.

Two were mature women. Both had green ribbons wrapped crisscross under and between their breasts, which made sense since Mirren had confirmed that they were useful for extra support.

One was one of the largest human women Kaveri had ever seen, tall and powerfully-built with a healthy layer of fat softening it all. Her greying hair was drawn up into a practical bun, secured with pins that might be tortoiseshell; creases showed strongly at the corners of her eyes and mouth. Copper discs dangled from her ears, and the wide green and white band she wore as a belt had larger copper discs spaced along it.

The other was of a more average height, and on the stocky side for the local population, wide-hipped and large-breasted with scant narrowing between. Her hair had little black remaining in it, and had been largely contained in a green and white hairnet adorned with silver beads; a finger-length scar, long-healed, cut through the deep lines at the edge of her left eye, another showed on her right cheek down to her jaw, and at least two more marked her arms.

With them were a quartet of much younger maids, including the two they’d already encountered.

“Consider this an informal introduction,” Narcissa said. “Our new friends are acting as my bodyguards, but there will be some substantial differences that are not yet entirely clear. Please do what you can to make them feel welcome. They are foreigners and are not entirely familiar with Enodia, so I’d ask you to be patient and if necessary help them. They’re here to keep us all safe, so while we do not expect any danger here in our own home, please listen if they tell you there is danger. Beyond that, there is something important that I would prefer that you know, but it is essential that it does not go past these walls. I know I can trust you, as you’ve always guarded my privacy so well.”

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Kaveri, watching them, saw tiny shifts in expressions and postures, in response to Narcissa’s faith in them. She didn’t think it was faked, either. As near as she could tell, Narcissa’s household were genuinely devoted to her, and not in some impersonal duty-to-the-royal-family sense.

“The bear and eagle that attacked us,” Narcissa said carefully, “were indeed spirit-creatures, but they were the children of the moons. They come from a bloodline that has lost their way and no longer listens to their mothers. Our new friends, and one more who will return when Talir is full, are also the children of the moons, but they’re from a different bloodline, one that rejected the values of the ones that went astray. I realize that it’s a lot to ask of you, to accept not only men into the household but spirit-creatures as well.”

“Those might be said to cancel each other out, milady,” the grey-haired woman observed. All six eyed the moonblood quartet with curiosity, but no particular alarm.

Evander smiled. “That’s as valid a way to see it as any.”

“It is,” Narcissa agreed. “They can see some threats that human eyes cannot, and can fight some threats no human could stand against. It will take a little time, I’m sure, for all of us to become more familiar and comfortable with one another, but I’m sure we can all do so. Otherwise, I fear for my life and Evander’s and those of any of you who might be in the way, and for the hospitals and for the safety of many of our friends. Help me with this new challenge? Please?”

“Of course, milady!” one maid burst out, then quickly covered her mouth with both hands. The two older women exchanged glances, but Kaveri saw more affectionate exasperation than anger.

Narcissa wasn’t angry, either; she only smiled, and said, “Thank you, Clytie. Now. This is Kaveri, and this is Mirren. That is Tyrel, and that is Madoc.”

The grey-haired woman was Acantha, the cook, responsible for keeping the entire household fed, and the big woman was Pherusa, the housekeeper, who was in charge of virtually everything else domestic.

The four maids who assisted both at need ranged from the young one with her copper headband, up through a gently-curvy one who was probably just edging into her twenties.

The youngest was Megaira, and she scarcely raised her eyes from the floor, her fingers twisting into each other; Kaveri thought the eldest, Zenais, was trying her best to echo Narcissa’s calm and gracious manners, and while she did fall short, it was quite a creditable effort. Her skin was the darkest of the quartet, though not as dark as Iole’s; she had her hair in twin braids coiled neatly around her head and secured with silver pins that had jade decoration on the heads.

The one who had spoken impulsively, Clytie, Kaveri guessed as being around sixteen or so. Tendrils of hair were escaping from her braid, and she had a green and white scarf wrapped around to contain them at least somewhat—although a bit had slipped out past even that. She’d wrapped a green ribbon around and across her chest the same way the guards did. She looked the newcomers over boldly.

They’d already met Oenone playing with the cats, with her fringed scarf belt and ribbon-braided hair with ringlets, the only one visibly using any cosmetics—she was probably older than Clytie but younger than Zenais, despite being the tallest by the width of something like three fingers.

“And two cats as well,” Narcissa added. “A pair of sisters. They’re from a breed that originates in one of our trading partners, and their appearance is rather striking, pale bodies with dark extremities. They’re quite friendly to people they’ve accepted. Both have white and green collars, in case they escape. Agape has the red pattern over it, Arete has the blue.”

“We encountered them this morning,” Kaveri said. “They’re very energetic. And beautiful.” Oenone smiled.

“They’re very good at hunting mice,” Narcissa said, “but they get bored when there are none, and then they’re unhappy and get into mischief. That is the entire household.” Well, with two exceptions, but best not to bring that up again with Iole still so distressed. “Acantha, we’ll eat up in my sitting room, but there’s no hurry, and a light meal is fine.”

“Yes, milady,” Acantha said.

Narcissa turned her gaze to the moonblood quartet. “Feel free to take your time about getting cleaned up or anything else you wish, but if you could come join me in my sitting room when you’re ready, I think we have things to talk about. It’s in the corner there, above,” she gestured in the direction of the double doors and curtained windows Kaveri had noticed that morning.

Kaveri saw several small starts, a few quick looks exchanged with wide eyes, but no one said anything.

“We’ll do that,” Tyrel said.

“Thank you,” Narcissa added, to her household. “Stay alert if you’re outside, but there is no reason to believe that you are targets, and no reason to believe we’re in danger at home with the doors locked. Just go ahead with life as usual, with a few new friends.”

There was a lot of respectful bobbing of heads, then maids, cook, and housekeeper scattered back to their respective duties.