Diary or the Dead

Out In The Open

It turned out Tiana had completely forgotten about him. As he entered the kitchen a wave of heat emitted by the fireplace in the right hand corner hit his face. There were two busy people in the room. Tiana focused on cutting vegetables on the table in the center of the room. Opposite from the door stood a sink with the dishes left from noon piling on its side. A rather short man by the name of Frederick was standing on a chair to reach for various seasonings which he threw into a bowl below him. As he noticed Dew's arrival he enthusiastically clapped his hands together, pointed at the fireplace and commanded him to prepare a chicken to be boiled. He responded with a slight nod and walked over while a judging stare from Tiana followed him. Making dinner for the castle's important personas wasn't the most difficult task since only the king and his fifteen year old daughter were left of the royal family and most of the advisors preferred to dine alone. Rarely important guests visited or a feast was celebrated, so the absence of two or more cooks didn't make much of a difference. Still, one person never missed a single shift. Charles was a lanky young man with his curly dark hair tied into a tight knot above his head. When he came down the stairs with a full plate of various savory delicacies Dew couldn't tell whether his eye bags had gotten worse or if the extra amount of work he took upon himself had kept a steady negative effect on his health. Dew still hadn't figured out why he did it to himself, the man did his job so passionately that one could think his life depended on it.

As expected, the four of them finished their job right in time even though Josephine was laying in her bed due to a cold and Shawn had been called to visit his father to pay his respects to his recently deceased mother. Just in time the door opened and several men entered the kitchen to pick up the ready to be delivered plates. Once again, Dew's attention was drawn to their white shirts with a blue and gold striped vest on top. He himself didn't own any festive or slightly noble clothing and didn't see the point of dressing up for certain occasions, yet he still wondered how one would feel like in such an attire.

The gazes of the cooks followed the men outside but then the ringing of something hitting a glass had everyone turn around. Frederick was standing in the back with four wine glasses and an anticipating smile on his wrinkled face. "I urge everyone to go upstairs right now" he announced before adding: "You can come later if you want, Charles." The two followed their chef up the spiral staircase on the left hand back into the room above. On a table in the middle stood a set of candles to lighten up the room, the last rays of the setting sun would not have been enough, and a tall bottle. On one of the six chairs already sat a woman with a large shawl wrapped around her neck and shoulders and long curly hair falling onto her back. "Please, take a seat" she offered while giving the newcomers one of her heartwarming smiles. Frederick began to hand out the glasses. "Today, as some of you might know," he began to solemnly explain, "is a special date to be celebrated. Today, 34 years ago, a very hardworking woman took her first breath and, 20 years later, joined us on our table! Happy birthday, Tiana!" Everyone clapped and Tiana had laid her hand on her heart while on the verge of happy tears. She turned towards the other woman and asked: "Josephine, you got here even though you're sick? For me?" Josephine grabbed the bottle, opened it and began pouring out some of its red content. "It's your twentieth anniversary after all!" When it came to Dew she hesitated for a moment, he was the youngest one in the group after all and they couldn't know that he had been exposed to far worse toxins than alcohol before. He shrugged and also received a glass. They clinked glasses to celebrate their colleague before taking a sip. It wasn't as bad as Dew expected but the immediate warmth traveling through his chest up to his head startled him for a moment. As the second round was being poured out, Tiana started giving a little speech about how her mother had worked at the manor of a royal who spent all his money on parties and other pleasantries. Tiana had followed her footsteps and rose up in the ranks of servants and when the time came and the royal went broke, her mother had spent all her energy and money to get Tiana to the castle of the ruling royal family where she was now thriving as much as she could. "So what will you do in this new chapter of your life?" Frederick asked and picked up the bottle once again to give the last bit of wine to the birthday person. She took the glass and emptied it in one go. "I have accomplished so much, there is not much more to do, but there's still one thing any woman would want." Dew wanted to leave. He wanted to leave very badly. "To get married and start a family!" she exclaimed before adding: "And I'm sure Bota will bless me once again this year, am I right or am I right?" Tiana clumsily poked Dew with her elbow which almost had him falling off his chair. The others laughed drunkenly and he heard someone say: "She's still waiting for that ring, eh?" He hated everything about that idea yet nobody here would support him, especially not in this state. Dew didn't exactly know his age but just one look at him revealed that he couldn't be older than a young adult, even though the scars who stretched themselves across his cheek to his forehead and his ripped lip made him appear like someone with life experience. The idea of committing to a relationship with this woman for the rest of his life scared him to death even though it was expected of him to find a valuable partner in the next couple of years.

He faked a chuckle. "Come on, that would do the two of us a huge favor" Tiana continued. She was leaning uncomfortably close to his face and almost whispered: "Just think of what it would do to your reputation. The rumors would disappear faster than my father after my mom got pregnant!" The rumors. Yes, he had heard of them and noticed weird glances from strangers whenever he was walking through the halls and corridors of the castle but it never bothered him to a point he would agree to what she wanted from him. "Come on, make a move!" "I..." he started and frantically searched for a way he could get out of the situation without offending anyone. "I have to think about this" he finished his sentence and was about to stand up but she took his hand and pulled him back onto the chair. "Sure, just know that I won't be waiting forever."
The rest of the night felt like it was never ending. Luckily for him, they dropped the topic and as Charles entered the atmosphere took a calming turn. When the second bottle was finally empty he felt it to be the appropriate time to leave, it wasn't like the others were clear enough in the head to pay much attention to the absence of one of the less important members. He practically deflated as he let himself fall into the softness of the bed. The silver light of the moon barely spent any light through the winter clouds. It was probably freezing cold because of the thin windows and absence of a warm fire but the after effects of the red drink made him forget about that. He lay awake for less than an hour while blurry images rushed through his mind without a pause until they were interrupted by a clicking sound from the door. A pair of pink eyes looked at him through the newly opened door. "Not asleep yet?" Avery whispered and closed the door behind himself as quietly as possible. Dew nodded, unsure whether or not his roommate could actually see it. He heard as he walked towards the desk and put down the sword and hung the blue piece of clothing over the backrest of the chair. Then he laid down on Dew's left side as usual where he would not hinder him whenever Dew was standing up early every morning to prepare a breakfast he himself didn't get to even take a bite from. "Did something happen?" Avery asked with concern. There was a moment of silence until he replied with a sarcastic chuckle: "Tiana happened. And I couldn't leave." The other immediately understood. Avery always knew what that woman did and why. Dew was vulnerable. And he hated it. "Why? Did she lock the door?" Avery replied in a more serious manner. "No, but..." Dew didn't finish the sentence. They have had this conversation before: Just leave when it's too much to handle but for the young cook it wasn't so easy. In comparison to his friend, he was more or less dependent on a good relationship with his colleagues while the knight could just stare at others and make them tremble in fear.

"Since you won't, sorry, you can't listen to the advice given to you, how about this," his friend began, "I found a lake not too far from here. We could get there in about thirty minutes or less. In case there are some more social gatherings that prevent you from taking care of yourself..." "...you offer to take me to that lake but only if I leave earlier. Got it," Dew finished the sentence. On one hand he was excited. Since he started working in the kitchen he barely had gotten any chance to go swimming and his merling side was still craving a large body of water to explore. On the other hand he was annoyed at how well Avery managed to convince him to go against the social norm he tried so hard to fit in. "Is that a yes?" Avery didn't even try to hide his mischievousness. Dew groaned: "Fine. You win."