The rest of the training for the afternoon went on without too much trouble for Ellessea, besides the nagging feeling of impending doom on her back. She was far from mastering any of the new mana pathways inside of her, but that was expected, her instructor telling her it would take months of constant effort to try to retrain herself. Unfortunately for Ellessea, the word constant was more literal than she would have liked, she was given exercises to meditate on at all hours of the day, before bed, after she woke up, in between meals, any free time she had she was expected to be working on her new pathways. Entire blocks of her day had been set aside for just this before any further training in the mage arts. Ellessea wondered where on earth she would find the patience to stand around doing nothing for months on end. She was a farmer, working hard all the time was in her blood, the idea of inactivity was anathema to her.

The worst part was that the instructor said that no cool spells would be taught to her until she had finished redoing her mana channels.

At least it made sense to her why they started this exercise so soon after she arrived.

Rylie had left soon after the Lady Adrea had departed, apparently in too ill of a mood to finish his afternoon tea. He had sauntered off, letting his servants clean up the tea set and leaving Rylie alone with the instructor and Perinely.

Perinely was a young eunuch of about fourteen years of age who had been assigned, officially, as her manservant. He had shoulder length black hair with dark piercing eyes, Ellessea had no doubt that the young boy was there to watch and control her, rather than help her with anything. Still, the boy had acted like a manservant, carrying her bags, escorting her around the compound, and answering all her questions with bored ease. She hadn’t seen him smile yet, or show much emotion, the young boy showing more professionalism than half the city guards.

She had heard of the noble houses training eunuch servants from a young age, but she had never met one before. Despite herself, she enjoyed having the little boy around, answering to her beck and call. She tried her best not to abuse it.

Perinely had stood off to the side the entire time, watching her training with a blank stare. Nobody in the yard had given him much attention, and the whole thing was a little unnerving.

When the third bell for the day timed, marking the end of the afternoon, the instructor ended the practice. “That’s enough for the day, Ellessea,” the Instructor weezed out, leaning on her cane, looking exhausted from the glaring sun of the afternoon. “At least, that’s as much as I can do today, I’m going to need a nap after this.” She added with a chuckle.

“Are you feeling okay?” Ellessea asked, looking over at the instructor's tired form.

The instructor just waved her off, “Bah, just feeling my age. Let me tell you, Ellessea. Don’t grow old, it's hell.”

Ellessea didn’t like the way the woman wavered on her feet, but the lady wouldn’t take any assistance.

“What about you?” the instructor asked, giving Ellessea a pointed look. “You’ve been channeling mana for hours now, even charging up Lady Adrea’s sword. Aren’t you feeling tired from mana exhaustion?”

Ellessea could only shrug. “Ever since I awakened as a mana spring, I haven't felt any mana exhaustion, no matter how much I output.”

“Remarkable,” the old lady replied with a shake of her head, “It's a shame you didn’t grow up as part of the house, you would have made the most incredible battle mage, with a spring like yours. I am afraid now, despite your seemingly endless supply of mana, you’ll only ever be mediocre at best. Some things are nearly impossible to overcome.”

Ellessea shrugged again. Unlike many of her friends in the farming community, she hadn’t dreamed of becoming a famous delver or house mage, slinging massive fireballs at her enemies and saving the beautiful princes of the kingdom. She knew she would never become a mage like that, that kind of spell casting took brains beyond what a farmer could produce. Some of the highest tiered spells were so complicated they were really only academic in nature.

Enchanted items were a shortcut around those limitations, but despite the apparent ease at which those items were appearing around her these days, enchanted items were few and far between.

Ellessea was dismissed from the training yard, and given instructions to continue to practice the meditations she learned today. She would meet up again with the instructor next week to check up on her progress, but there was little she could learn until she mastered her new pathways.

Ellessea was escorted back to her room for a change of clothes and a quick bath by Perinelly, cleanliness was apparently one of the things she was expected to maintain to a seemingly absurd degree.

Back at home, she was lucky to get a bath once a week, cleaning off in the cold creek that ran through the farming community. A little eddy had been dug out, made for just that purpose, the women and men having alternating days to use it. She had never been the most clean, but she never felt like she was especially dirty or smelly, like some of the older women in the community who would refuse to take baths for months. It was just normal.

At the Yilner estate though, she was expected to always be clean, taking a bath every morning and after everytime she even sweated in a task. And the baths were filled with hot water, something she had never experienced before. Her first bath the night before was absolutely heavenly, the aromatic soaps something she had only heard about before.

The luxury of the whole experience astounded her, she couldn’t even figure out how to operate the damn facility. Thankfully, Perinely had already been assigned to her and had taken the task of washing her without hesitation. At first Ellessea was shocked to see the boy step into the bath with her, Ellessea feeling scared and strangely excited, but that feeling went away quickly when she realized he was a eunuch.

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The boy had washed her quickly and efficiently, and she had come out smelling like a man, some flowery sense coming off of her. She had never felt so clean in her life, some of the scrubbing that Perinelly had done rubbing her skin raw.

The fresh clothes she had been given were of the finest quality too, fabrics she couldn't identify, but felt smooth and clean on her skin. Wearing them and stepping back into her room, she felt the oddest sense of surreality, the opulent bed, the sheets, the drapes, the flooring, her clothes, her smell. It was all so alien to her, she could hardly believe where she was, and what she was doing. Preinelly had to practically pull her around as he combed her hair and seated her on a bench in the corner, next to a dresser. She had been turned into a dress up doll. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was her new life.

The mood had been broken when Rylie and her manservants showed up, Ellessea realizing she had been prepared just for this meeting. The man stepped into the room and looked over at her like she was a prized horse.

“Ah, you can be cleaned up,” The man had said with a sultry smile on his face, inspecting her all over. “A little on the thin side I see, I’m a little surprised for a farmer like yourself to be so weak looking.”

Scowling, Ellessea looked away from the probing eyes, feeling distinctly uncomfortable at the gaze. “Well, my sibling and I take after our dad. My sister and I have always been a little scrawny, God knows I've tried to bulk up the last few years, but nothing either of us could do could really fix it. It really hasn’t affected our work on the farm though.”

“A pity,” Rylie had said, his white face still looking up and down her body. “We’ll see what our instructors can do to help fix that, I'm sure we can get a little more meat on your bones.”

Rylie continued to inspect her, making Ellessea feel more uncomfortable by the minute. Eventually, he pulled open her shirt and stared down at her breasts for a second, before reaching in and feeling one of them up.

Ellessea didn’t particularly care about being touched by the man. Normally she would have been excited to have such a beautiful man interested in her body, but the atmosphere had put a huge wet blanket over the affair. She just sat still as Rylie felt down her side too.

“Her breasts are a little on the small side,” Rylie commented to one of his manservants. Ellessea felt a stab of annoyance at the remark, but didn’t say anything. “Is that going to be a problem at all for nursing?”

“It shouldn't be,” the older man said next to him, “They swell up some during pregnancy and during the nursing period. If the worst comes to worse, we can always have a nursemaid step in to help feed, but I don’t think it will be an issue.”

Satisfied with her inspection, Rylie left soon afterwards. Ellessea felt vaguely violated at the probing, but knew that it was to be expected. She was thankful that the man hadn’t asked to look at her lower half at least. His order for her to have her armpits shaved was annoying though. Why would he care about that?

She had slept uneasily that night, alone in the giant bedroom with the giant bed. Perinely had a servant’s room attached to hers, apparently there if she needed him at all times of the day. She had trouble wrapping her head around the idea and couldn’t bring herself to actually trouble the boy with any requests.

The next morning had led her to another bath, and despite her enjoyment of it, she felt that she would quickly grow weary of the constant washing. One of the spells available to the house mages was a cleaning one, and she resolved to have that one be the first she would learn when she was able.

And now, she was being led by Perinelly to the dinning hall, the estate feeding ground for all the people on the campus. She had been there for brunch that early morning and the idea that they needed an entire building dedicated to cooking and feeding all the servants and workers on the estate had shocked her. She supposed it made sense.

Her position on the estate was a gray area, in many ways she was just as much a servant as Perinely, in other ways her position as consort put her up in status like a family branch cousin of the house. She didn’t know how she fit in, and neither did anybody else. The servants avoided her for being above them and the higher statused residents avoided her for being below them.

So she ate alone in the cafeteria, sitting with Perinely who ate calmly beside her, the same meal as her. A delicious meal to be sure, but the stark difference between the warm table of her home and the cold halls here depressed her.

She looked over at Perinely, who eyed her back stoically.

“So,” she asked, fishing around for a topic, “how long have you been a servant here?”

“I was sold as a servant here as an infant, I am told,” He answered steadily.

Ellessea winced at the response, but plowed forward. “And what did you do here before you were assigned to me?”

Perinely chewed on the sandwich he was eating, before he replied. “I was part of the Matriarch's personal staff.”

“Ah,” She replied, looking over at him. “I suppose that means she’s the one you are reporting to. I’m glad it’s not Rylie or Lady Adrea, at least. I guess babysitting me is a step down from your previous duties.” She added a little sadly, chewing on her own meal.

It didn’t look like Perinely would reply, but after a few moments, he responded, “you are as tactful as a brick. But it could be worse. It was an honor to get picked for the special assignment, and if all goes well, I can look at getting assigned a more senior position later on.”

“Well, that’s good,” Ellessea said thoughtfully. Then she looked around and leaned in close to talk softly to him. “I think that means we can work together on this, friend. I want things to go just as smoothly as you do. I admit, being here is not my first option, and it doesn’t sound like it's your first pick either. But that doesn't mean we can’t make the most out of what we got. We both want this to go well, for each of our sakes, so let’s think of each other as allies of convenience. I admit, I am a lost and confused here and could use all the help I can get. You help me out, and I’ll help you out as best as I can too, and, together, we can make it through this little trail and come out the other end the better for it. What do you say?”

Perinely just gave her an incredulous look.

“I’m serious,” Ellessea added with a broad smile. “We can totally make this work out for both of us. You get your promotion, and I get to not be treated as a fool.”

The boy’s lips twitched as if fighting off a smile. “Too late for that.” She heard him mumble, but she just laughed.

“Fine,” he eventually said, finishing off his meal, “you have a deal. First thing you need to learn, don’t trust any of the servants. They all have their own agendas and people they work for.” He ended his words with a wicked smile.

Ellessea grinned back. It looks like for now, she had at least one person she would work with at the estate. Maybe even a friend later on. Who knows.

If nothing else, she could trust him to look out for his own interests.