BELLRAM V01 - Ambivalence of Light and Shadow I

BP001-P22 - Orange Juice 2

While Meia was still admiring the tree, she heard the sound of wheels and hooves. It sounded as if a large carriage was arriving.

Meia walked away from the tree, through two tables again, up a small flight of stairs to one of the windows.

As expected, a carriage was just stopping in front of the house. It was pompously painted in red and silver.

The doors opened. Several people got out one after the other.

Because the balcony of the lower floor was in the way, Meia could hardly see anything and only saw their hair. To get higher, she therefore propped her arms on the window sill. Only with the tips of her toes did she remain on the ground. In this way she recognised four people. It was probably a couple with their son. Mrs Monet was also there. With that hair, she was unmistakable. She greeted the couple with kisses on the cheeks. Even now she was still wearing her bathrobe. But it seemed that she had at least tied it. The mood of the people was good. They were chatting in a boisterous manner. Mrs Monet even laughed once and teasingly pushed the man away from her with her hand. At the same moment, his wife also pushed him, but for different reasons. It seemed he had made a joke about whether he could not exchange his wife for Mrs Monet or something like that. Meia had not quite grasped everything. In any case, Mrs Monet was seemingly in high spirits. So the maid had certainly lied.

While the adults talked, the son stood waiting. His shoulders sagged and his gaze went somewhere towards the house. Meia knew this posture out of personal experience. During a first pause in the conversation, Mrs Monet probably noticed that the boy was not necessarily happy about his presence in the group. But instead of finally going into the house, as he surely wanted, she bent down to him and pinched his cheek to wind him up. As low as she bent down, perhaps it did not matter that the bathrobe was closed. After the brief humiliation, they continued their conversation standing. Meanwhile, the boy contorted his face in annoyance and rubbed his cheek. Unfortunately, Meia also knew this procedure from her own experience. It was only when the carriage drove off that the group took it as an opportunity to go inside. They disappeared under the balcony.

The view of the fountain became clear. There was also krystafei in its basin. Some of the tiles were made of it. The streams of water were already glowing faintly. Now that Meia saw the statue again, she noticed that the female figure looked very much like Mrs Monet in some ways. The hair was almost as long and as wavy. It was seemingly a depiction of herself. It seems that modesty was not one of her virtues.

Meia also noticed the meadows again. From this higher position, it was even more impressive. It was completely over the top, but in a good way.

Just as Meia was lowering herself back down, she heard someone come into the room.

"Miss Arvis, I brought you a drink," said a voice from the doorway.

It was the maid. No, actually it was not. It was just the butler again. Only now he had a frilly apron on and his gloves were gone.

"Yes, I'm coming."

What else could Meia say? A thank you was not allowed, after all.

Meia went to meet the butler and they both arrived at one of the tables.

"I'm sorry, it was forgotten to ask them what kind of drink you would like. What I have with me is orange juice from Blenas." He held out a silver tray with a full carafe and a glass. "Would that be within the scope of your request?"

"Yes, absolutely. You can just leave the decanter here."

Unlike the maid, Meia found it surprisingly easy to be rude to the butler. He had more of an air about him like the housemaid.