With dark clouds, cold rain came down across the entire region. It was as if the pleasant day from before were only a dream. Most of the town's folk did their best to stay indoors, though not everyone was so lucky. Looking outside the window, Zen, Torie's maid turned secretary, saw a few of those unlucky few on the streets. Guards out on their regular patrol. Though she felt sorry for them there was nothing she could do. They were doing their job and she did hers.

Though she thought that, there wasn't much work today. Most of today's work would have involved going out for town inspections, however the rain delayed that. That being said, there was still the odd report that she had to deal with. Looking at the rather small stack of papers, she decided that now was the time for a break. Exiting the office, Zen walked down the empty hall. Her destination was none other than her master's room. Along the way, she spotted the infamous duo, Ethan and Reindl. The two were in their usual clothing, consisting of nothing more than white shirts, black vests and brown pants. In most circumstances, such clothing was far from what one should wear in a regional lord's manor, however as old friends to the lord, such dress codes didn't exactly apply to them. Seeing her, the two waved.

 

"Nice to see you outside the office for once." Ethan said.

"Taking a break?" Reindl asked.

"I think even I deserve a break every now and then." Zen said. "What of you two?"

"I'm not going out in this rain." Ethan said.

"Besides, we're Lord Haywood's guards." Reindl said. "There's no use going out when she's locked up in her room."

"What do you think she's doing anyway?" Ethan asked.

"We received mail earlier today, so she's likely reading a letter from her sweetheart." Zen said.

"You mean that Washington fellow?" Ethan asked.

"That is likely, yes." Zen nodded.

"Why not just go out and talk to him directly?" Reindl asked. "What's the point in trying to hide it? It's not like she's even trying."

"I'm sure she has her reasons." Zen said.

"Probably trying to hide it from her folks." Ethan said.

"You mean the ones who never stray from the capital and haven't contacted their only daughter since she arrived?" Reindl asked.

"The very same." Ethan nodded. "It's probably easier for her to play it off as some friend rather than admit it."

"So much so that she even uses a fake name." Zen added. "Whatever the case, it's nothing that we need to worry about. We are servants of the Haywood family, not advisors."

"Right." Ethan agreed.

"If she needs us, we'll be here." Reindl said.

"As is our job." Zen said. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll be on my way."

"Have fun with the lady." Ethan said.

 

Before she could continue, she spotted the familiar figure of Torie approaching from the hall.

 

"Zen, is that you?" Torie asked, not wearing her glasses.

"Yes, I'm here." Zen said. "I was just talking to Ethan and Reindl."

"Yo." Ethan said.

"Going back to the office?" Reindl asked.

"Not at the moment, no." Torie said. "I was writing a letter and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to spell gorgeous. Could any of you help me with that?"

"G-o-r-g-i-u-s-e?" Ethan said, not too sure of himself.

"G-o-r-i-j-u-s?" Reindl said. "No, that doesn't sound right."

"G-o-r-g-e-o-u-s." Zen said.

"Are you sure?" Torie asked.

"Yes." Zen said.

"Okay, thank you." Torie smiled.

"Who are you writing to anyway?" Ethan asked.

"That's not our place to know." Zen pointed out.

"There's no need to worry about it." Torie said. "It's to…"

"You don't need to tell us if you don't want to." Reindl said.

"It's to your sweetheart, ain't it?" Ethan teased.

"Ethan!" Zen said.

"Oh, so you already know?" Torie said. "Yes, it is to Etrius."

"You just admitted it!?" Zen said.

"Well you three already know, so there's no helping it." She shrugged. "Though I would prefer if you were to keep it to yourselves."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want your parents finding out." Ethan said.

"Lord and Lady Haywood don't need to be bothered with something such as this." She said.

"Right…" Ethan said.

"Besides, some people may think of this as some sort of scandal with him getting favorable treatment. I don't want to deal with something like that." She said.

"I suppose it's lucky that when they sent a ranger, it was her that got assigned here." Ethan said.

"I certainly was hopeful that he would, however I never thought that he would." She admitted. "After all, we haven't had a ranger here for so long. I haven't even gotten around to sending them a request."

"You were going to send a request for a ranger?" Zen asked.

"Only when the paperwork lightened up." She said. "To be honest I was a bit worried. Given how the king acts I thought he may be suspicious if a border region didn't have any oversight."

"He's cautious, not paranoid." Zen pointed out.

"Yes, well I would rather not give him a reason to get paranoid." She said.

"I suppose that's true." Zen nodded.

"I'm sure all of those requests to improve the roads aren't helping." Ethan said.

"Why don't we ask the Erunians for roads?" Reindl joked.

"That's…" Torie hesitated. "That's not actually a terrible idea."

"That was a joke, please don't actually do that." Reindl said.

"Why don't we tell the king that Reindl wants to improve the roads for trade?" Torie asked. "It sounds obvious when you think about it, but if the crown doesn't improve the roads, some foreign merchant might finance it. And who knows where their allegiance lies?"

"Are you suggesting we lie to the king?" Ethan asked.

"That was merely a hypothetical situation." Torie said. "It may happen, and it may not. Who's to say?"

"You're a bold one I'll give you that." Ethan shook his head.

"If your parents hear about this it'll be much worse than them hearing about your girlfriend." Reindl sighed.

"We aren't dating." Torie said. "And should I be dismissed by the lord and lady, I can just stay with Etrius."

"You aren't dating, but your first reaction to getting kicked out would be to move in with him?" Zen asked.

"It never hurts to be prepared." She shrugged.

"And I presume that Ranger Washington is also prepared for this?" Zen asked.

"Eh…" Torie shrugged. "He won't complain… Probably…"

 

Ethan, Reindl, and Zen looked at Torie with a mix of disappointment, and awe. Though they wished that she wouldn't do anything foolish, they weren't so sure she could.

 

Across the city, Etrius sighed. The bed it got for its bedroom was not against the wall like it had planned. Pushing it once more against the wall, an exoskeleton covered limb reached through the open window and pushed it away. Bringing its hands together as if it was praying, Etrius took a deep breath. Looking out the window, it saw the long legs of the behemoth like Deacon which was causing it anguish. When Etrius pushed the bed against the wall, it pushed it back. When it closed the window and pushed the bed against the wall, the Deacon opened it and pushed it back. When the window was closed and locked, it phased its leg through the wall, slapped Etrius and then pushed the bed away.

Not all Deacons were like this, but all of them found this funny. Did Etrius blame them? No, if this were happening to anyone else, Etrius would laugh with them. But it wasn't happening to someone else, it was happening to Etrius, and boy was it annoying. Very calmly, Etrius walked outside, through the rain, and into the shed. After receiving its scythe, Etrius walked to the legs of the giant creature. One of the creature's eyes moved to be level with Etrius, parting its shell as it did. Then, innocently as a child, it moved one of its legs in a motion similar to that of waving. Taking a deep breath, Etrius looked it in it's eye.

 

"Look." Etrius said. "I'm going to ask this as nicely as I possibly can. Can you please go bother someone else. Someone that might acknowledge your existence, but will honestly just think you're a ghost."

"…" The eye looked at it.

"Better yet, why don't you bother the ghosts?" Etrius asked. "They're typically lonely. Yeah, that's an idea. Go talk to the ghosts."

 

As if answering, the eye looked at something next to Etrius. Whatever was there, Etrius didn't want to know. Turning around, Etrius walked back into its house and leaned it's scythe against the wall. Lowering its hood, it once more entered the bedroom. Closing the window and blinds, Etrius pushed the bed back in place. Waiting for a moment, Etrius watched the window, and much to its relief, nothing had happened. Sighing in relief, Etrius threw off its cloak and hung it on the door.

Luckily since it had an early warning, it was able to move what remained of its furniture inside, along with blankets, curtains, and some rugs. Slowly but surely this house was becoming a home. With most everything done, Etrius set a pot of coffee by the flames in its fireplace as it had yet to get a stove. Fortunately Aaron, the general store owner, had one in stock, though he did need to retrieve it from storage. With this rain however Etrius was in no mood to have Maul pull a cart in the sure to be mud path that was the road to town. Part of Etrius wanted to do something about that, but part of it wanted to keep the road as it was for aesthetic reasons.

Once the coffee was hot, Etrius poured itself a cup and leaned back in its chair, not a care in the world. Work? What was that? That was something that people with jobs did, and currently Etrius was in the middle of a relocation. It's job wouldn't start until the beginning of the new year. Listening to the rain hitting the roof, Etrius let out a satisfied sigh. From its bedroom, the familiar sound of wood scraping on stone sounded out.

 

"You little shit!" Etrius said, putting down its coffee and running into the room.