Sharp clicks of heels hitting the stone echoed through the corridors as a human walked down the ancient halls, followed by another one whose steps fell one step behind.
"Are you sure it was a good idea to leave Lady Siri alone? I'm not doubting Miss Milliantel but..."
"Annette you don't have to speak diplomatic with me." The golden-haired noble stopped and shuffled the file of papers the maid had handed her.
"I don't think that Miss Milliantel has the right mindset to be left alone with the Firmusian. She has a sparkle in the eye whenever she is close to her, making me think she would rather join in rather than try to stop Lady Siri from hurting herself," The woman five years older than Sofia said her eyes watching how the noble she served would respond. "I think you should have been allowed to stay with them."
"I need you to help me with this," Sofia balanced the stack of paper in one hand as she pointed at it with the other. This assignment was given to the Junker by the Academy, a mountain of files to fill in, all about the cold-bodied mage from glancing at the text. "Lady Siri is basically my age and I don't go around causing chaos and mayhem."
The Junker looked forward before returning to her maid giving her a knowing look.
"First of all, I'm nowhere near as bad as my brothers. Secondly, I might have overreacted when retailing you that story. Lady Siri wasn't yet adjusted to the outside world," The heroic noble began to speak flustered about her maid's opinion of her. "If you were pulled suddenly into a strange world wouldn't you act out a little?"
"I didn't," The maid responded, her darker skin in clear contrast to Sofia's fair features. "I also wouldn't call almost killing a knight to be acting out."
"Ummm, well..." The noble's eyes darted across the hall trying to grasp at straws. "She is one of those people gifted by the System."
"That is even more reason why someone responsible should be looking at her."
"Yes, but I want to believe her and having someone only there to look over her shoulder feels wrong, feels like them," The enchantress lifted the papers she was holding. "You saw her yourself, she is like a statue when she has a book with her. I doubt that anything short of a feast teleporting in could move her from atop that couch."
"The icy princess," Annette replied as they turned a corner. "That is what I overheard from other servants."
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"She is the most talented person I have seen in keeping her noble mask up. Sometimes I feel she even forgets to breathe sometimes when we walk around in public," Sofia said before opening her mouth to change the topic. "Annette, did you get any letters from home?"
"From your Lord Father? No."
"I meant did your brother send you anything?"
"No, the price levied by the guild to send a letter is well out of the range of mine or my brother's finances." The maid said with as much composure as usual rivalling even the Firmusian with how emotionless she could sound.
"Are you not a little bit sad that you don't receive anything from him?" Sofia asked as they sat down in front of an office, ready to begin filling out the papers.
"I would have been angry at him for wasting money like that," Her attendant smoothed out her plain dress as she sat down a second after Sofia. She didn't detect any real anger from the voice of the Catalinan woman who spoke as if talking about the weather. "My lady, I and all of my family are terribly indebted to you and your kind father and we had swore our loyalty to your House. But I would like you to not delve further into this topic, please."
"Sorry Annette, I was just curious."
"No need to apologise," The maid replied quickly with a small shy smile as she collected half of the papers. "No need to waste time."
Sofia watched as the slightly older woman began to fill out papers. Spending time with the overly casual high noble seemed to have an effect on her. Junkers were not isolated from general labour as frontier nobles and viewed servants more like extended family. Not a hard task to achieve in their sparsely populated demesne. Yet the relationship between their liege and servant remained the same, with certain obligations and lines only one side couldn't cross.
"What strange questions." Sofia joined her maid in scratching her head as she was halfway through her pile.
The mages normally order her to write basic reports which could be summarised as Where and How. She deduced that the shock from Siri's sudden visit died down and they seemed only interested in keeping a record of her leaving the Academy's premises and the subjects she attended. These were a rather normal thing to keep track of for political figures, Annette explained to her the first time she had to put words on paper. The knowledge of what subject she took could be used in the future in countless ways. From knowing the interests of a person to the ability to pluck out a classmate in the far future and play on old sympathies. The where was more of an internal tool. Who knows maybe the Geni'i could find a hook on a Sophist who had been meeting with the high noble meeting with her suspiciously often.
Yet now the questions given to her were bizarre. Asking about the girl's favourite foods and colours. How satisfied she was with her accommodation and most perplexing were the questions regarding mentions of Siri's life before coming to Oriripol.
"How would we know this?" Sofia asked the silent servant in the corner of the room. The collared servant turned his head before shaking it in a rather unhelpful manner. "Tell the mage that Lady Siri doesn't speak about these things."
The Junker stood up, her maid following behind.
"Any ideas why they are asking such questions?" She asked after they got sufficiently far away.
"I can't think of any reason."
"Strange..." The blond human muttered before reaching a door from behind which a strong scent of tea was coming from.
Grabbing the bronze door handle the frontier noble stopped as she heard many voices coming from behind the door, the loudest of which didn't spark her with much joy.
"Subject?"