Servienne (LGBT)

5-Named [revised]

      Several weeks passed without a visitor to his room beside Gertrude, and even then, the woman emerged from the prince's room with a sullen, worried face. Rumors spread quickly with all sorts of with assumptions on those servant's tongues--from illness to heartbreak to him falling into a deep depression. At least the one about depression was the most accurate. In reality, Prince Aaron had been shaken horribly by the events of that day, taking those hours and days and weeks of solitude to clear his head. More than anything, it was to avoid seeing that servant again. After acting so petrified, an utter poltroon, he was not eager to show his face again in the danger of encountering that scullion again. He despised that feeling of helplessness, of submission, but looking back, he had fallen victim to helplessness as easily as blinking.

   One morning, a wave went through the halls, whisperings by servants intensified as Prince Aaron finally emerged from his room after nearly a month of confinement. Yes, he had left occasionally, but this time, he'd headed straight to the gardens, sitting on the bench at the edge of the property where the castle grounds kissed the woodlands. And for an hour straight, Aaron sat, looking up at the sky through the trees or over the lake beyond the garden, admiring the honeysuckles and how they swayed at the water's edge. Waves softly swept over the bank of the lake, undoubtedly turning the sun-baked sand cool and damp. The warm winter was coming along, and Aaron dreaded it. He preferred starkly cold winters where he could enjoy the snowfall where he would see not a flake on the ground for another year, but on those warm winters, he found it exceptionally boring and the summers to follow excruciatingly hot compared to cold-wintered years. Still, closing his eyes, he allowed himself to enjoy it, soaking in the cool breezes that flowed across the castle grounds, tickling his face.

   Despite all his efforts, his mind slowly wandered back to the servant he had met so horridly. The man had not an ounce of fear, but how? How had he done such a thing to Aaron and made such threats without not even a flash of doubt on his expression? Was he just that willing to die? Or was he just that ingenious? Aaron could not tell, and it frustrated him deeply. He wanted to know; Aaron needed to know. Rising to his feet, he disrupted his thoughts and his relaxation to reach his conclusion to his next destination: the kitchens. Even from where he was, as he had so many times before, Aaron could smell the fresh bread's scent wafting across the yard, and he gravitated towards it, entering through a side door into the kitchen.

   Immediately, a familiar voice rang out, and it quelled some of the anxiety Aaron hadn't even realized had been welling up in his chest. "Aaron! You lousy brat, where have you been? Last time I saw you was last week! You're such a shut-in, ain't ya?" Gertrude forced her way through the crowd to him, face filled with this combination between utter joy and a sarcastic, witty playfulness as she often held in her spirit. "My apologies, auntie," Aaron said, offering a warm smile. "I've been awfully busy. I came to say hello."

   "Well, I know you're really apologetic when you pull out the 'auntie' card on me. You said it was 'ridiculous' because Finchum mocked you for it... That stings, kiddo," Gertrude said. They both chuckled before Aaron apologized for that too. She quickly brushed it all off though, and the two of them talked a tad before Aaron's eyes began to wander around the kitchen, and despite his reservations, his eyes came upon the sinks in the back of the space. Like the last time, the man from before worked, but unlike, he worked diligently today. Had he taken what Aaron said to heart? It was more likely that when Aaron had caught him being lazy, it had been an off day, but the prior was more appealing. Regardless, off-day or not, the scullion had no excuses to be insufficient in work. A servant was meant to serve always, bay day or not. They didn't get free passes just because the taxes were straining.