The tension in the air was palpable as Alder and I exchanged pleasantries over a delicious afternoon tea. The beverage itself was of excellent quality, the robustness of the black tea revealing the care with which it was processed, and the hint of nutmeg combined with a splash of milk was an excellent pairing for biscuits. The drink itself was a bit warm for the season, yet warmed parts of myself that I didn’t know were chilled. I let out a long, deep and beleaguered sigh as I settled back into my chair, and let myself relax for the first time in a long while.

“Enjoying your tea, Master Matthew?”

My embarrassment at the title manifested in a slight flush to my cheeks, and I shook my head. “Yes, but erm… please just call me Matthew. Being called ‘Master’ feels-”

“Inappropriate? As expected of a true servant. I admire your loyalty and passion.” Alder complimented before taking another sip of his tea.

I felt my posture straighten on reflex from his words, and a rush of pride swelled in my chest. A part of me knew that all of this was by design, to lower my guard, and make me more amenable to spill my secrets.

To be honest, I was ready to do it. My objective was close, and while I couldn’t be sure of Alder’s motivations, my instincts told me that I could trust him. I leaned forward in my seat, and gave him my most serious expression, while his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“Well Mister Alder, I’m sure we could verbally dance with each other for hours, and I would greatly enjoy that some day.” I pushed my glasses up. “But I’d really like to discuss the reason why I am here.”

For several awkward moments, Alder continued to stare at me, his grey eyes boring into my own. I returned his stare with one equally hard, motivated by my desire to find Lukas, and after that…

His stare was lightened by a smile, and he leaned back in his chair, relaxing his posture as he elegantly sipped from his cup of tea.

“Indeed. I suppose you would be quite anxious to know the whereabouts of your Master.”

My back straightened even further, were such a thing possible, and without fully intending to, my eyes narrowed once more.

“So you do know what happened to him. Where are you keeping him?”

Alder was about to open his mouth, but was interrupted by a melodiously feminine voice.

“I can help answer that question, though it might take some time.”

I spun around to lock eyes with a beautiful elven woman, dressed up in maid attire. She was carrying a tray with more refreshments, and a pitcher of lemonade.

“So glad you could make it, Lilia. How is she doing?”

The maid’s eyes softened as she set the tray down. “She’s nervous of course, our Lady is tending to her right now.”

I glanced between the two of them, while suspicions whirled behind my eyes. Lilia turned her gaze to me, while her pointed ears twitched in a way that I couldn’t help but find endearing.

“I realize you probably have many questions right now Matthew, but I ask that you please keep an open mind.”

My insides tightened up at her insinuation, but reluctantly I let out a sigh and leaned back in my chair once more. It was incredibly hard to stay guarded against such a cute woman.

“Good~ You seem like a bright young man, and I’d love it if we could get along as friends.”

A smile, the first genuine one I’d felt in many weeks crept onto my face at the maid’s exuberance. Where Alder was like a steadfast wall blocking my path, Lilia was the counter-offensive, meant to make me drop my own guard.

And it was working all too well.

“All right, I’ll ‘keep an open mind’ as it were. Just answer me this. Is Lukas safe?”

Lilia smiled to me and sat down across from Alder and myself.

“You are a loyal servant to still be so concerned about him, but yes, Lukas is safe. Though, no longer the same.”

I raised an eyebrow in response, asking her to continue. She took a sip of the lemonade, while I watched the gears turn in her brain.

“I take it you are aware of Lukas’ hidden desire?”

Silently I nodded my head, as the regret kept hidden in my chest began to tighten.

“Lukas came to me during his last visit home, and told me everything. About how he wanted to… to be a girl. How ever since he was a child, he longed to wear the embroidered dresses of other noble born ladies, and raise children.”

My head turned to the side, and the earlier guilt began to pile up inside of me.

“I was ready to support his… her, decision with all of my being. But Lord Grey didn’t want it to go public, for fear of the scandal that it might cause. He thought that simply giving her space to play with it at home would eventually make it… go away, as it were.”

Alder’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, while the maid across from me balled her hands up into fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

“Not that it mattered in the end. Her Uncle died under my watch, and she was left without a family, or a home.”

Sorrowful regret welled up in me, as I realized that I was talking about myself, just as much as I was Lukas. Our fates were intertwined, it seemed. A hand rested on my shoulder in a simple, but comforting gesture, and I looked up to see Alder standing over me.

“It’s not your fault that it happened, Matthew. Nor is it your fault that she had to remain hidden for so long. If any blame exists there, it is with the people that look with disfavor upon us, and the lies that are spread about people like us from the Imperial Church.”

The bait left wide open in his statement was not lost on me, and I glanced up to him, and then to Lilia. “So then, you’re both like Her?”

Lilia was the one to nod her head, and smile. “We’ve done what we can to help her, and her condition has substantially improved since she first arrived.”

I jolted up, completely out of my seat, as a rush of energy returned that I hadn’t felt in a long while. Not only was my Lor-Lady safe, but she was finally allowed to be her true self?

“Where is she? I have to speak to her-”

The maid raised a hand, and the flatness of her expression told me that she was about to relay news that I was not prepared to hear.

“I realize how eager you are to see her again, but I must ask that you be patient. She wasn’t expecting your sudden arrival, and having a person from her past appear on our doorstep was quite the shock to her.”

I felt my fists ball up on reflex, as the urge to protect Lukas overwhelmed any remaining semblance of guardedness I might have pretended to hold onto. After coming all this way, and finally finding her again, I didn’t want to wait any longer.

“How do I know that’s true? What if you’re a threat?”

It wasn’t the brightest thing I could have said, but with my training cast aside in favor of my raw emotions, I didn’t really care either. I felt the room we were in heat up as my temper took control, a part of me that I’d worked so hard to restrain under my layers of training, finally breaking loose.

“Matthew, calm yourself. That is no way for a Butler to behave.”

I turned to glare at him, but the expression that stared back at me was deathly serious. Whatever threats I might bring, he could answer back tenfold. A part of me was tempted to try it anyways, to risk it all, and rescue my old Master. It’s what I’d been thinking about on the trip over.

Then I let out a panicked yelp as I realized that my nose had caught fire. I reached out to try and put it out, only to realize that my arm was caught in the same fire.

“Wh-What in the hells-”

The same reassuring hand brushed my shoulder, and the voice I’d found so calming rung in my ears once more.

“Breathe Matthew. Remember your training.”

The words of my old instructor began to flood over me in a wave of nostalgia, and I remembered the ragged, scrawny young boy that had first come to the Grey Manor all those years ago. Flashes of my father being shipped off to a border skirmish, only to never return home. My Mother breathing her last as she expired from an illness we could not afford to treat. My first meeting in the village with Lukas, and being whisked away to train as a butler in the manor I’d been looking up at since my birth. At the time, it felt like I was being taken up to the heavens to reunite with my parents.

I opened my eyes once again as a solitary tear dripped down the side of my face, and Alder dabbed it away with a cloth. His face was filled with compassion, not anger, and his other hand brushed away a loose strand of hair that had fallen into my eyes.

“Why don’t you take a seat Matthew? We can talk more, while Lukas sorts out her own feelings.”

Thoroughly drained of my motivation to fight any longer, I simply nodded my head and returned to my seat. Lilia and Alder looked to me expectantly, and I considered what I wanted to ask first. Only one question came to mind though.

“Well, to start off… why was I on fire?”

Violet_Velvet

Thank you for reading Chapter 23 of Getting Comfortable!

I apologize for the delay it took with writing this chapter, I got sick with Covid last week and had to skip out on making a post. I'm doing a lot better now thankfully.

Anyway, Matthew! He seems like an upstanding guy, and hopefully his arrival will be a good thing for Iris and not a source of pain.