…

          Now, as a rule, it was very much against the unwritten rules of slave hood that you didn’t smile at the misfortunes of your master. But here was Aisling, smiling away in her own little room, telling her minor spirits that she had made pacts with about her day.

          It was common knowledge among the other slaves that Aisling was a spirit beastkin, and because of that, the master liked her a lot more than the others. Some looked at her with jealousy, others with puppy dog eyes. Those people’s gaze’s seemed to stem from the fact that they thought she had a more, let’s just say intimate relationship with the master.

          She often had to tell the others that she wasn’t a sex slave, she was really a muse for him to paint. But that was rather hard for her to do, as the other slaves often didn’t believe her. The reason that they didn’t was quite simple, she was a mutated beastkin.

          Spirit beastkin could mutate if a major spirit of any element stayed in them for too long, this often happened because they got too greedy and wanted to stay that strong forever. But the drawbacks were quite potent.

          If they kept the spirit in them for far too long, their minds would break, and they would shift into broken things. This is what a broken one was. Well, that is what would happen if a human did so. But if a spirit beastkin did so, they would shift into spirit beasts.

          Spirit beasts were exactly what they sounded like, a beast that was tied to a pact with a spirit. It was something that was quite common in the bogs of Doggor, the large selection of bogs, swamps, and glades that made up the land in between England and France.

          But, back to today, she was still confused as to why he was here. Why he, of all the people she hated, wanted to burn and kill, was here. She had heard nor seen news from the outside world since she was taken in as a slave.

          In the past, people had summoned others form different Earths, and other worlds that contained the touch of man. It was a strange thing they did, the simple fact of the matter was that it was always used in emergencies. As far as she knows, there was no other emergency that the crown of Francia needed to worry over.

          That being said, what did him being here mean for her? Was he here because of a magic incident? Or was he here because of a science experiment gone wrong? That was the real thing she needed to worry over. Would he be able to tell the she was in fact, someone from his past? That part was unlikely, so delving more into that worry would only make her mind more cluttered.

          She lay back down on her bed, sighing as she did so. It was so confusing, the simple fact that he was here was a detriment to her psyche. She then got up from her bed, and looked at her dresser. It was a simple thing, only enough space for 5 pairs of clothes each.

          Overall, it was small. The only clothes she had were maids’ uniforms. She cracked her neck and began to take off her clothes, at least, she was about to so she could sleep without overheating, buy the bell in her room dinged.

          This bell was connected to another bell in the master’s room. Each bell was for a specific bell for each of his favorite slaves in his room. What was strange though, was the fact that it was like 12:30 in the morning, her master should be asleep.

          She fitted her overshirt back on her body and as she made her way to the door. Just then, her own door opened and on the other side was a servant. He himself wasn’t a slave, but the servants and the slaves were treated about the same sometimes.

          She was basically treated the same as a low paid servant. But that being said, she did see a lot of glares directed her way from the non-slave staff. This man was one of them, he was a personal servant of the master and one of his most loyal confidants.

          It was rather strange to see him in front of her room like this. Sure, they lived on the same floor, but other than that, he and her barely interacted with each other. In fact, it was going to be rather awkward to walk with him to the master’s room.

          “The lord wishes for us to go to his room. shall we go together?” he asked, and she nodded in response.

          The two of them left the room and she noticed something right away, he wasn’t looking straight ahead. The man usually stared straight ahead all the time, so as to best show his dedication to his lord. His back was usually ramrod straight, as her back was right now, but it wasn’t.

          What was even stranger was the fact that he seemed out of it right now. To her knowledge, he was the type of person to be on their best behavior and such at all times. But his arched back and saggy gaze said otherwise. It was all rather silly in her honest opinion, that a man such as this was like this.

          So, something had to be wrong. She decided to ask that right away, as soon as they got into the normal hallway. She followed him up the stairs and to the secret-but-not-really-a-secret passageway. At the top of the stairs, he turned back and looked at her.

          The look plastered on his face said something to her, it was tiredness. He was simply tired; he had been woken up rather early in his sleep cycle. That must be the reason he seemed so out of himself right now. But as he continued to not move from his spot at the top of the stairs, he sighed.

          “You know, it is rather stressful. This job, I mean…” He took in another sigh, “the simple fact that he wants us to go up to his room in the middle of the night says a lot about him.”

          He looked down onto her, as if thinking about something deep, like the intrusive thoughts at the back of his head were winning. At that point, she saw him nearly drop onto the floor due to his exhaustion.

          “May I speak sir?” Aisling asked, and he nodded in turn, “I was simply thinking about how nice it is to get paid, how nice it is to not be painted nude. I know it was selfish of me; I am not taken advantage of all too much, I have a good relationship with the master,” it was now her turn to sigh.

          “But you are paid for your labor, my good sir. Sure, you have to work till 10 o’clock in the afternoon, but I just finished my work thirty minutes ago. I only sleep for four hours. I clean the lord’s office at 4:30, I stay in place of the lord to paint for hours at a time. Yet I only an aloud to eat breakfast after that. And may I remind you that this schedule is not fixed,” she reiterated.

          “The painting usually starts at six o’clock. The painting only ends when he is finished. That may be at a completely odd time, or when he decides to stick to the schedule, he has made up in his mind that only he can see and use. The cooks do not make food at any time like for you, my good sir. The cooks do not care if I am favored by the master.”

          “They only make food at the normal eating times, but I am his favored slave, I must use his timetable, or he gets angered and threatens to hit me, my good sir,” she told him much to his shock.

          He was simply a servant that used the same timetable as everyone else. Sure, he was good friends with the duke, but he didn’t follow the lord’s schedule. He only started work at nine o’clock, and only ended it at ten o’clock. He got to eat whatever leftovers the cooks had, and they would heat it up for him.

          Sure, he was a well-paid worker, but that was overshadowed by his master’s absolute whims. This girl however, worked for twenty-one and a half hours a day. That was cruel, even to his noble person’s eyes.

          “So my good sir, what is the matter?”

Zogsalken

what should be the next chapters plot? just so you all know, my brain is spaghetti right now