The parlor room was crowded.

It hadn’t been designed to hold so many occupants, and there were so many house staff in attendance that the crowd spilled out into the hallway. The whispered chatter, while soft on an individual basis, was aggregately loud enough to create a steady din. Maids and servants clumped together in clusters, elbowing each other as they chafed and rubbed shoulders. An eclectic mixture of animal ears and human heads could been seen above the sea of faces.

The final roster for the entourage was thirty-one individuals:

—One chamberlain and three handmaidens.

—One valet, two footmen, and one parlor maid.

—One guard captain and eight guardsmen.

—Six housemaids or manservants.

—Two porters, one stable boy, and one coachman.

—Three kitchen maids and one chef.

Of these, only Mariella (handmaiden), Iseria (footman), and Tristan (coachman) were holdovers from the Telleste household. Most of the guards had been subcontracted from the security branch of Master Caron’s business, so they were not entirely unfamiliar to us. However, the rest of the staff were generally new hires.

I scanned across the crowd to see if I could spot any faces I recognized from the past month. The number of candidates that had interviewed and auditioned was more than double this amount, so it had been a daunting list of names that I frankly had not attempted to memorize.  Recently, I had been spending my days at the Magistrate’s Office, so there had not been many opportunities for me to interact with them all. Now that the roster was finalized, it was a priority of mine to get to know each of them as soon as possible.

A few of them nodded and moved aside as I squeezed through the hallway. Clearly, most of them recognized me as Susella vi Telleste’s personal beastkin,  which naturally placed me on an elevated position as their mistress’s companion. Nonetheless, it was a strange feeling for me to be greeted by people whose names I couldn’t remember. I was never quite sure if I hadn't met them before or if I had merely forgotten their introduction. It was an ill time to kick off small talk as well, as the chamberlain was surely about to start the morning assembly at any moment.

There was a loud clap as a tall figure stood on top of a chair to draw everyone’s notice.

“Attention all, we will now begin the morning assembly.” The man’s voice sang out crisp and clear.

“The date is Diluna 20th of Sola 901 of our lord. As scheduled, today we depart Edelhemn on a caravan bound for the Royal Capital. The total anticipated travel time is eighteen days according to a light pace on land, with intermediate stops in Barther and Engelford. Our escort is the 17th division of Duke Cornelius’s Wanderguard, with a rendez-vous with the Royal Guard scheduled to take place in Engelford on Triluna 1st.”

I nodded slightly as the chamberlain briefly summarized the itinerary I was already familiar with.

“We will travel in eight wagons. The chartered coaches have just arrived this morning, and house staff assigned in Group B will proceed with loading Lady Telleste’s baggage after the conclusion of this meeting. Please listen carefully as I read out of the roster of names…...”

The impeccably dressed human continued without a single uneven kink to his speech, almost as if he were reciting from an invisible document of prepared remarks. It was perfectly concise without the slightest bit of superfluous commentary, and the swift yet punctual pace of his language compelled his audience to concentrate their focus intently on each of his words. The staff could not afford even a second’s worth of distraction, and no employee wanted to be the straggler always asking for something to be repeated.

This was my first time listening to the new chamberlain conduct morning assembly, and I was already impressed. Even the nuances of his body language attested to the obvious professional experience noted in his resume. Even though I was technically not part of his staff, I couldn’t help but feel myself drawn into the magnetic quality of his voice.

However, a slight scratching feeling on my tail caused my attention to waver slightly from the meeting on hand.

At first, I thought it was just a little itch and I tried to ignore the sensation.

But a few seconds later, the obnoxious feeling came again and elicited a reflexive twitch from my tail. The feeling was a little bit like ants crawling over my skin, and it sent a shivering tingle up my spine. Soon, I couldn’t bear it anymore.

—Was someone touching my tail?

If so, that was completely rude and uncalled for.

My grey ears flicked with intense annoyance as I spun my neck around to glare at the person standing behind me. My irritable gaze landed on a tiny mousekin who seem genuinely surprised by my sudden abrupt behavior, and she shriveled up nearly instantly in deep confusion and perplexity. Pure bewilderment exuded from the distressed expression on her face.

It didn’t seem like this poor mouse was the culprit.

Another tug on my tail sent my eyes darting towards the ground.

My eyes went wide with mortification when I realized who it was.

My hateful tormentor was squeezed underneath a small coffee table decorated with a flower vase. It was a girl still in her pajamas. Her arms tightly hugged her retracted knees, and she waved at me with a cheerful smile on her face. Her mischievous hands continued to tug on the end of my tail playfully.

—Susy. What the heck!

What in the world was she doing underneath the table?

 

+ + +

 

A few minutes later, Susy and I managed to extricate ourselves from the parlor room.

Naturally, we received a few odd looks, but Susella vi Telleste seemed to care frighteningly little about the opinion of her new entourage. It took all of my restraint to dodge her clingy hands and usher her quietly out of the middle of the room without raising too much of a disturbance. The assembly halted for a few minutes as our lovers’ spat briefly became the center of attention.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted Mariella giggling uncontrollably as I ducked another grab-grabby lunge by my troublesome teenage companion. I mentally noted to myself to remember to exact revenge on that quirky watermaid later. This was definitely not funny. Laughing was absolutely not allowed.

By the time Susy and I sluggishly made it to the main staircase in our awkward waltz, I was unable to hold off my owner’s assaults any longer. My defense collapsed. Susy sprung onto my neck and soon her arms latched around my upper chest. The momentum of her pounce kept her spinning slowly around me. Meanwhile, she pressed her forehead against the crown of my head.

“I found you!” She announced triumphantly.

—You mean, ‘I caught you.’

My brain automatically disputed the technical inaccuracy of Susy’s statement. We weren’t playing ‘Hide and Seek’. Even if we had been, Susy was the one hiding underneath the table, and she had clearly spotted me five minutes ago. No matter how one looked at it, it was far too belated to make this sort of declaration now.

The glow on Susy’s face quickly transformed into a pout.

“You weren’t there when I woke up this morning,” she accused. “You don’t even have work at the Magistrate’s Office today, yet you still got up early!”

“There’s still a lot of things to do, and the house staff can use as much help as they can get,” I responded defensively.

The freckled brown-haired girl squished me even tighter in her arms. “That’s not even your job! Everything will work out fine even if you’re not there. It’s rare that neither of us have work or school, so at least sleep in with me, alright?”

“...Okay. Next time.”

“Good! I’ll hold you to it then.” She smiled sweetly.

I hesitated for a moment.

The spectacle from the parlor room was still fresh on my mind, and I had a lot of things I wanted to say about the way the two of us had made our exit from that situation. Although some people might have seen it as harmless fun and games, honestly, this entire incident bothered me tremendously. From my perspective, a whole lot of people had been assembled and put together for the sole sake of defending Susy’s public image as a young adult in aristocratic society. The way she had acted this morning felt deliberately counter to those efforts.

Frankly, I was a little upset with with Susy.

Normally, I could put up just fine with her playful antics, but today was different than normal. Couldn’t she tell that this was a really important time in her life? We couldn't always be floating in a cloud of frivolous merrymaking. There weren't many days remaining until her official debut in Royal Court, and her periodic lapses of maturity were beginning to concern me deeply.

“Susy, can we talk about something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little too childish? What were you even thinking this morning? We’re not kids anymore. You haven’t even changed out of your nightgown. Things like this… just aren’t okay anymore.”

“Kiel, I disagree. I’m in my own house. Why can’t I act the way I want?”

“It’s just… your image. The maids will gossip.”

“Gossip? I love gossip. Bring on the gossip. I want more of it. I want everyone to know how much I love you.”

My face flushed at Susy’s ridiculously whimsical statement of her feelings.

The pace and tempo of our conversation was gradually accelerating, and the heat started to rise in my voice.

“You can’t control gossip like that,” I argued. “You’re betrothed to a prince. You can’t have bad rumors painted all around you. It’ll completely backfire! There is nothing more damaging to a corporation than having a brand name that’s ruined.”

Susy pulled away from me and she placed her hands directly on my shoulders. There was a serious glint to her eyes as a few strands of loose hair slid down in front of her lashes.

“Kiel, slow down.” She spoke abruptly, her tone of voice suddenly frosty.

I went silent in an instant.

Her frivolous attitude had vanished all of a sudden.

In the blink of an eye, her aura was oppressive and overpowering.

“Do you trust me?” She asked, her voice perfectly calm and steady.

Her sudden question carried a sincere gravity to it that caught me completely off guard. I wasn’t prepared to handle such a heavy topic after wrestling playfully with her less than fifteen minutes ago in the hallway. The atmosphere to this conversation had flipped too quickly.

I hesitated for a moment before I nodded my head once.

“If you trust me, then close your eyes.”

My emerald pupils met with her hazel eyes for a protracted moment.

Slowly, I shut my eyes tightly.

 

+ + +

 

“Kiel, what did you have planned for this morning?” She asked while my eyes were closed.

“I have a few packages to pick up from the gatehouse, a message to send by courier pigeon, some introductions to share with the escort, Master Caron asked to see me, and I wanted to help the new staff load the wagons to get to know them better,” I answered honestly.

“Okay. You’re no longer doing any of those.” Susy spoke firmly. “We’ll get Leana to send somebody else.”

“But Master Caron asked—”

“My dad isn’t your owner,” Susy interrupted me. “Let me take care of him.”

I went completely silent again, having nothing else to say.

A swirling pith of blackness occupied the entire span of my deprived sight. Susy did not continue the conversation, and silence filled the blind space between us. Eventually, I nearly started quivering from restless agitation. I didn’t understand why I continued to keep my eyes shut. I had the capacity to open my eyelids at any moment, but the girl whom I served had merely compelled me not to. I couldn’t think of a convincing reason to obey. Still, my vision remained pitch black. Since when did such trivial words hold so much power over me?

She hadn’t even framed it as a command.

I didn't understand myself.

Amidst this darkness, I felt a small yet hesitant hand touch my brow. The palm stopped for a moment — as if to measure my temperature of my forehead and absorb the heat — and then it moved on to travel behind my ear and then the nape of my neck. Delicate fingers combed through the curls of my hair and rubbed the fluffy rims of my ears. They danced with a caress so gentle it felt like the kiss of air. The long nuzzling strokes of her hand on my cheeks were tender.

Not a word passed between us.

However, I knew from the sensation alone that this was Susy.

Only Susy ever touched me in such a way.

Even in my dreams, I could recognize those hands and fingers. A million years could pass and I would never mistake them. I could be blind, deaf, anosmic, and ageusic. I didn’t need all my senses to know who my partner was. I knew her, and she knew me.

For us, that was worth a thousand words.

“Do you feel better now, Kiel?” She whispered into my ear.

I didn’t respond to her as her hands continued to pet my head.

Gradually, I felt my body loosen. Muscles relaxed. Tension disappeared. I felt emptier. Vacant. The tea cup of my mind drained itself, and my spirit became a pool of still water that lacked a single ripple. There were no anxieties or thoughts or worries or realities or fantasies. Neither the past nor the future existed and all that flowed through my body was a painful awareness of the present.

There was only one other person in my present.

It was only her touch, her heartbeat, and the soft inhales and exhales of her quiet breath.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

I blinked several times as the light came back to me and I found myself faced with a dazzling world of color.

The most important girl in my life was inches away from me, her brilliant eyes peering deep into my face.

Her hands were clasped over mine.

“I want to go somewhere with you,” she said. “Just you and me. Before we leave.”

I looked back at her in the eye.

“Where are we going?”

 

∎