Late that night, Alice managed to sneak herself and Prim back to her cubicle without being seen by any Guards. But not before she stole a final half loaf of bread and a fist-sized piece of beef for breakfast in the morning. It had become a habit, and she rearranged the shelves so hopefully the gap wouldn’t be noticed.
Dolly still wasn’t in her bed when she returned.
With a sigh, Alice only hoped her friend had sense enough to be careful. Alice had warned her time and time again, but Dolly insisted on playing a dangerous game with the Earl’s son.
More dangerous than sneaking around at night to steal from your employer? she thought.
Guilt might have swamped her… except that the thefts had been for Prim’s sake. Not her own.
And the image of the food bin for the General Laborers being nearly indistinguishable from the pig slop bin erased the last bit of her guilt. She felt stabs of rage every time she cast an eye on it in the kitchens.
As usual after the meal, Prim was all but passed out from over-eating. Alice carried her in the crook of her arm. Prim’s rose-gold tail hanging loosely down like a lady’s ribbon. She had grown over the last few days. Now she was nearly the size of a cat.
Pulling the curtain shut tight, Alice tucked herself and her dragon into bed.
Though she kept an ear out for Dolly, her roommate failed to return again during the night.
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The next week passed in the same way.
In the morning, Alice would wake to the sound of the morning gong which was struck at the first light of dawn to rouse the low-class servants. She would quickly dress and lay out Prim’s breakfast, which consisted of the food she’d taken from the kitchens the night before.
Making the dragon promise once more to stay in the cubicle and keep out of sight, she’d nervously head to the outdoor tables that was the General Laborers eating area. Being the lowest of the low classers, they weren’t allowed in the main estate. Rain, shine, or snow, food would be served at the outdoor tables.
Occasionally one of the wives of the estate’s Nobles would take pity and perhaps send one of their staff to put up a tarp to give cover to the outdoor diners. Any covering lasted a few months at maximum before it was torn to shreds by wind and rain.
Alice was used to eating in the cold and the wet, but now that he had tasted finer food, she was quickly tiring of the bowls of slop.
Everything in the kitchen bin not given to the pigs was dumped into a large pot with water and boiled for an entire day. The result was a gray mass with an occasional meat or vegetable chunk. It never much mattered to Alice before. Food was food and there had never been enough of it.
Now that she spent the late evenings gorging herself with Prim, Alice found it harder to finish the disgusting meal in front of her. Being out in the open air made it cold on top of everything else. Whereas she used to bolt it down, now she struggled to finish her breakfast.
So she took scraps to the kennel to feed Junebug and her growing puppies.
But she knew she couldn’t possibly get away with the kitchen theft much longer. She was amazed – and a little consternated – that she hadn’t been caught by a Guard yet.
She tried to pick up after herself and Prim in the kitchens, but with her Cleaning skill gone she knew she must have left some evidence behind. Yet there had been no outcry from the Cooks or Bakers.
Part of her which still believed in the order of society insisted that this was all due to luck. Luck, which would surely run out soon.
Another part of her… One she felt was slowly waking inside of her ever since Prim had arrived in her life, told her to look around and really see. The Kennel Manager was a drunk who rarely came out of his office and let the General Laborers do the work that his specific class should take care of.
The Guards hadn’t caught her because they weren’t on patrol. Likely, the night shift were tucked in their warm beds, or out on the town and were dependent on rumors to keep would-be thieves or Dark Classers away.
As for the Cooks and Bakers… It was entirely possible that they stole food, too. Perhaps they figured it was one of their own who left crumbs behind.
These thoughts were distinctly uncomfortable because it meant… Well, it meant her life and all the stringent rules that she had lived by, was a lie.
And more and more often, Alice found herself resentful of work she had once taken pride in. She had always looked forward to working in the kennels, even if it meant cleaning out the soiled bedding, feeding some of the pit dogs which weren’t as nice as Junebug and the other hounds, and all the other things that the Kennel Manager should be doing. Just for the hope of being rewarded with a higher class.
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Now she wondered why Roy the Kennel Manager didn’t get off his fat ass and do it himself.
“Because he has people like me to do it for him,” she muttered to herself, sinking down on a turned over bucket to sit next to Junebug. The puppies were doing well. It would still be a couple of weeks until their eyes opened, but each one showed vigor for nursing, and was visibly gaining weight.
“You’re a good mother, Junebug,” Alice said, scratching one of the hound’s ears.
“Will I be a good mother someday?”
Alice shot up from the bucket so fast that it tipped behind her. She looked around, but couldn’t see her dragon. “Prim?”
She caught movement from one of the shadows. Alice squinted — she only could pick out that Prim was there because she knew her shape.
The little dragon had grown much faster than Junebug’s puppies. She was now as long as Alice’s arm, excluding the tail. It made sense for the sheer amount she ate.
Alice swung around to make sure no one was working close enough to hear. The rest of the General Laborers got done with their kennel chores as fast as they could and went off to go do something else. Alice was usually the only one who lingered.
And Roy, the drunk of a Kennel Manager was, of course, nowhere to be found.
“What are you doing here?” Alice asked, fear tightening her throat. “Has something happened?”
She hated leaving Prim alone all day, but the dragon usually slept in the box of uniforms Alice used as a storage chest.
“Some girl came into your room. She went through your things. She is a thief.”
Alice was taken aback by the vicious anger she heard in Prim’s voice. “What girl? Wait, did she have dark hair?”
“Yes. And sneaky eyes.”
“It must be Dolly, then.” Her roommate had been in and out of the cubicle only infrequently — just long enough to dress. “And she’s always been nosy. Did she see you?”
“No, she is a sneaky, magicless worm. She had no chance of seeing me.”
“Prim, that’s not very nice.”
“She was looking through your things. Your things,” she repeated as if unsure Alice understood.
“Yes, she is very disorganized and loses bits and bobs all over the place. I’m not surprised. She didn’t take anything, did she? My clothes?”
“No,” Prim grumbled. Her barely visible form shifted in place from where she clung from the kennel’s rafters. She wasn’t happy.
Alice sighed. “It’s not safe for you here. Can you go back to the barn? Dolly should be gone.”
The truth was, Dolly should have been on shift like the rest of the General Laborers but Breydon the Earl’s son had likely given her special leave to… attend to him.
If there had been any action from Alice telling the other noble about her, she hadn’t seen it.
“I’m awake now, I want to be here with you,” Prim said.
Alice hesitated, but Prim was very hard to see. Junebug, with a dog's acute senses, didn’t seem to notice the dragon yet. And she would be expected to be on high alert, considering the puppies.
Alice had given up her class skills to Prim which made her days cleaning and general maintenance around the estate harder, and every task took longer… But she couldn’t be sorry for it.
Nor could she be sorry for the dragon’s company.
“Can you keep your Concealment skill up?
“Yes.”
“Then you can stay.”
Alice smiled to herself and quietly stepped out of Junebug’s whelping box. She was looking forward to working with a little company, for once.
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Prim was as good as her word and kept out of sight using her Concealment skill. By the end of the day, they received a message.
Primordialis’s Concealment Skill has reached level 5!
Your class, She of Many Dragons, has reached level 2!
For reaching an even level in your class, you are awarded 1 Aspect Token.
“Aspect token?” Alice wondered. She looked toward Prim who was resting on the low branch of a nearby tree while Alice weeded the garden. Though she couldn’t see the dragon, she heard Prim rustle her wings in a shrug.
“I think we leveled up because I’ve been using my skill all day,” Prim said, which… didn’t answer Alice’s question at all. Odd. Prim was usually perceptive.
Alice decided to look carefully at her class’s stats tonight to see if there was a hint as to what an ‘aspect token’ could be used for. Meanwhile, it was nearly dusk which meant it was nearly the end of her shift.
She could go to the barn early. Just this once.
She had nearly forgotten Prim’s warning about Dolly. Walking into the cubicle, she pulled the curtain and used a small bowl and stale water to clean up from her day of hard work.
Prim landed on her bed and finally let go of the Concealment skill with a happy sigh, spreading out her wings in a stretch of relief.
Of course that was the exact moment Dolly shoved the curtain back and strode in. “Alice! You would never believe the day I had–”
Her eyes landed on Prim.
Dolly screamed.