A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 138: Cold Koraco

"It's snowing already..."

"Magaris! Come inside before you catch a cold!"

The maid turned. The bottom of her dark gray uniform swept white flakes off the tops of stones piled around the garden. Her cheeks were red, and when looking at her face in the cold window panes of the manor next to her, she could see it wasn't just there. Every place a flake from the sky had fallen and bitten her had left a mark, from the tips of her nose to her earlobes. A white bonnet holding her hair up didn't do much to cover her ears or provide any shelter from the southern winds at all, where the cold weather still reached from the sparsely populated far north where it was bound to be far more intense.

It was likely only a few days' worth of snow before it would cease altogether, leaving for the rest of the winter months only wind and cloudy skies. The eventual sunny day would grace Koraco, giving the farmers some time to make their predictions about the spring season awaiting on the other side of tomorrow, but overall it would remain blustery and monotonous.

"Coming," she called back. Ahead was the main door of the manor, left open by a fellow maid that had anticipated Magaris not taking too long in joining her.

But she still took a while. The edge of the garden where she stood was covered in snow, along with the plants underneath that had been sealed into burlap sacks for the colder seasons. They'd lost their beauty a while ago, however, even long before they'd lost their petals. Surroundings appeared dull even when life was present.

A bucket in hand and a scraper in the other. The window panes were so frozen over that someone had to clear them, for anyone to be able to look out. Opening a door to see outside when windows were there to do their jobs was ridiculous. So, she was out there, scraping windows for the morning.

Though I'll be right back out here tomorrow.

It didn't make sense to keep scraping the windows when there were likely other more important things to be doing. They were just going to freeze over again in a few hours anyway. Cleaning out fireplaces, putting more wood in the rooms, sweeping around, washing from the inside, checking on the horses in the stables to make sure they were fed. Yes, the thought encroached upon the jobs of other maids and servants, but what was Magaris to do when her main job of being a nanny was gone? She hadn't been much of a nanny in the first place, following after the children she was supposed to look after more than having them follow her - but perhaps that was what it was supposed to be, due to social status - but it still felt empty for there to not have been any children around at all. The children of the lord were all away, off doing their own things, off to someday come back.

Or not. It depended on the child.

Well, then there was Anthem, but sometimes it was easy to forget that he was technically a noble and technically a son to the lord. The age difference was only that of ten or so years, so perhaps it was a bit awkward to call him a "son." Either way, he was one of the only children that seemed to always have a location known to everyone, being the only that remained on the estate. With the status that the littlest lady had forced into his lap, he could've gone off to schooling while still young - a proposal that he quickly shot down, from what Magaris had heard. She'd been in the room when the conversation was had.

"No," he answered. "I'd rather stay and...and just try to build a life here, if that's possible."

So Anthem Claiborne de Libellule was there to stay.

"Magaris!"

"I'm coming!"

Her reflection didn't change no matter how long she stared at it. Nor did the rocks piled up by children that had visited only once earlier in the year, then never again, as if protesting the idea of home. Nor did the bare branches of dead flowers hidden under tied-up burlap sacks. Nor did the cloudy gray sky and the wind that pushed those clouds away only to push others into their place.