Vitae Memorandum

44-Voluntary Handmaiden

After the three girls had returned to Sxeiva to share their decision, things had suddenly felt like it had shifted from their control. Sxeiva had taken full control over the situation, somehow leaving them with fewer answers then they had expected.

Thanrie still could not believe she was wearing this outfit. Matching both Qheria and Mhyl, all three of them were wearing what they could swear were maid outfits, detailed in simple black and white. The colors felt normal for her at least, though it felt less fitting when the others were also wearing the same colors. For her, it felt akin to a uniform.

Sxeiva had quickly established that in order for her to be able to ensure their stay was protected, they would have to be able to fully grasp the role they were being given. What didn't exactly occur to them quick enough was the types of responsibilities that this would entail. Thanrie was sweeping the floors while Qheria was cleaning the mirror and Mhyl was brushing Sxeiva's hair. Thanrie was certain that this was the kind of thing she had seen her staff do, back when she lived at the palace. Somehow, she had fallen to such a servile role, simply in order to keep up illusions. At least none of them had been given laundry duty.

Ten days had passed, and in that time, they had learned nothing new. Nothing about Lwyn, nothing they could use about their enemy, nothing even about their memories. Sxeiva had instead insisted that they need to be brought up to speed with their current role, in order for them to remain safe. Thanrie would have preferred patrol duty at this rate herself personally. At least Sxeiva was a very patient woman, their mistakes were easily forgiven. If nothing else, over the following ten days, they had somehow learned their sudden role very quickly.

Thanrie in fact couldn't help but compare her situation to how Lwyn's was when they had first met. It had seemed like this was the lifestyle she had endured in the many years before, while they were held in greater luxury. Qheria might have been exposed to some work as well, but she had an established authority from her job, not something as low in society as this. In fact, Lwyn had still had things worse because, like Qheria, she was highly disrespected in her position and had been treated exceptionally harsh. Sxeiva's forgiveness was a light of radiance compared to how things had gone in the Citadel Inn.

One thing that had been useful was having Mhyl's language lessons resume. According to Sxeiva, staff here were all expected to speak Izhaethyx, even if they were elven. Unlike Lwyn's lessons, the learning was a lot more professional, which made Mhyl feel a bit more stressed. Sxeiva was still forgiving, but left a stronger feeling of expectation that made Mhyl struggle to push ahead. However, since then, Mhyl had started making a lot of progress in her studies. She could better predict the translation of many phrases, and could construct a wide assortment of broken sentences. It's not that she could be considered good at all, but she was still getting better at it impressively quickly. They had all been expected to also try to exclusively use Izhaethyx around her while working. For them, this meant keeping sentences simple, so that the meaning would be a lot more clear for Mhyl. Mhyl in return kept to very simple replies.

Qheria had been expected to pass off the shard she had been given, so that Sxeiva could use that record to build them a case for belonging there. It was a witness who had seen them recruited for the role initially. Because Sxeiva had a fairly high position in the Fortress, there would be no questions raised by anyone else about her choice of staff. Thanrie herself was still questioning however exactly why someone of such high position would be supporting people aiming to tear everything down. To a degree, she wondered if Sxeiva was just that desperate for having staff sweep her floors, brush her hair, provide her outfits, bring her breakfast up the spire.. how in the world did Lwyn do this sort of thing for years without end?

Thanrie felt it especially strange to no longer carry around anything for supplies. Even her weapon and boots were set into storage. She had been told their stuff would be safe there, because only them three were given the responsibility to tend to things in that spire. It seemed that they were in a place called the fourth spire, which according to her book was actually placed in the same spot in a circle that the number would be for an analog clock. There were even twelve spires in total, though she knew very little what each spire was being used for. As far as she could tell, each spire was used for the fortress's upper society, like Lady Sxeiva.