Headed by a Snake

Maeva accompanied Doe, catching her up on the craziness that was going on in House Vanzano.

Apparently, Maeva's boss was another Alizeaun woman named Sorina Capulet... which was a really Alizeaun name, if there was one. She and her guard had been quite busy going around Silva and the surrounding cities to House Vanzano's businesses and... correcting things.

In Doe's previous profession... 'correction' tended to be a dangerous and violent task. The two of them sounded really scary.

When Doe had last been to the estate, there was never anyone around. As of recent, it had turned into a bustling hub of adventurers looking to join the adventuring company sponsored by the East Charm Trading Company... as well as business-persons looking for Lady Capulet.

Maeva admitted that she was taking her time because she was tired of the wandering eyes of those rude people... more the business-persons than the adventurers, though. Maeva said something like: if they want something from me, then they will wait for me, not the other way around.

Doe liked Maeva a lot. She had never met a woman so strong or confident. Were there more people in the East Charm Trading Company like her?

She was introduced to Lady Athena... who was so much nicer than Doe had imagined.

They had met briefly before, but it didn't look like the young Mistress recognized her. Doe had changed a bit since then-- mostly because she was literally homeless and looked the part. And her hair was moss.

Doe could tell how kind Athena was by the way she treated the adventurers in the training area-- there were lots of them, too. She returned every greeting with a radiant smile and struck up random conversations with anyone, no matter their social status and no matter how rough they looked.

...There were a lot of really rough-looking men. And high-level adventurer women. Scary. If House Vanzano had these kinds of adventurers a few moons ago, House Galanis would have never, not in a million years, tried to challenge them.

From everything Doe knew about nobles, how Athena acted really didn't seem... noble-ish... She asked Maeva about it, who told her about... the 'Pride of Nobles.' The nobles exist to protect and serve the people. Otherwise, they wouldn't be nobles.

It sounded like it made sense, even if it was a bit simple. Doe had heard far too many stories of corrupt nobles than not, but the thought of it was nice. At least Athena seemed to have that pride. That was enough.

Before Doe started her duties, she was given two last pieces of advice.

The first was to stay away from Lord Greer.

Doe already knew that one. The lecherous Lord Greer had a piss-poor reputation in Silva and was even banned entry from Madame Virgil's Massage Parlor. They called it the 'Square Peg incident.' Kleio had offered to give her the details. Back then, Doe had declined because she'd just eaten.

The second thing Maeva advised was... that if anything was to ever go wrong, if she was ever unhappy with how she was treated... she could look for a green-haired man named Baron Tycondrius of Charm.

It made sense... her pay was coming from the East Charm Trading Company. If she had a problem, she could complain to Maeva... or her boss, Lady Capulet... or her boss, Lord...

...Tychon?

Baron Tychon? A Baron? As in a noble title from the Kingdom?

Tycondrius of Charm?

As in the East Charm Trading Company?

Whew. Doe had dodged a lethal arrow.

She was actually planning on looking for Sir Tychon to thank him. But with their new change in status, he was now her boss's boss's boss. That would just be awkward.

There were lots of things to clean in the Vanzano Estate. It looked like whoever was doing it before wasn't really thorough... with a lot of dirt and grime in the corners and behind empty shelves and furniture.

There was also an inconceivable amount of dust. There were so many adventurers that walked through the manor to the kitchens or to the training area... and even the stables. There was dust, dirt, bits of hay, and too-often, blood on the floors (and it was really suspicious finding blood in the stables!) Doe had to sweep, mop, scrub harder and faster than she ever had in her life.

On the bright side, she'd always have something to do.

After a few bells of doing maid-ly duties, she was dismissed to her own time. Dead-tired... but satisfied from a hard sun's work, she skipped dinner, fully intending to head straight to bed.

According to Athena, it had been over a year since their last maid left, so she had the maid quarters all to herself. In particular, there was a single-person room that was supposed to belong to the Head Maid... or the only maid. That was her.

She had a room all to herself! Muhuahaha!

Doe took a look at it earlier in the sun. The bedding looked so soft and everything was so tidy, like they kept it clean just for her. There was some adventuring stuff in there, too, neatly on display, or for storage purposes.

Before she got to bed though, footman Victorius mentioned that the servants had access to a heated bath. Her muscles were probably going to be a bit sore from her cleaning, so that sounded perfect.

Hot bath. Bed after.

...

Doe poured a bit of a cute-looking bottle into the bathwater. Ooohhhh. It smelled so nice...

The bath was everything Doe ever wanted... and more.

Was that a bottle of wine? Oh. There wasn't a cup.

...No one was around, though.

That meant no one could judge her negatively for naked-wine-drinking! Straight from the bottle! It reminded her of her younger suns...

And now... Doe was living the life of her dreams... not that she was creative enough to imagine such a high-class life, bathing with scented oils and drinking sweet, top-shelf wine without a cup.

She relaxed in the tub, idly tracing the old scars on her inner arms.

She had come... such a long way...