Chapter 229: Future Duties

Chapter 229: Future Duties

Tala didnt really know how to feel about the following two weeks.

First of all, after seeing the ending-grove, Thron had informed her that shed somehow missed sleeping for the past few days, mostly due to her running around so much.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

Shed been understandably shocked, but when she and Alat had checked her memory, it seemed that he was correct.

That means that I havent actually slept since the gate-breaking.

-Thats probably not very good for you, honestly.-

Her expanded flowrate was supercharging her inscriptions to the point that it seemed to be nearly negating her need to sleep. Even so, as soon as the wondrous act was mentioned, Tala felt her entire body sag in anticipated relief.

That was how she found herself sleeping for nearly twenty-four hours.

When she awoke, she felt renewed and invigorated like never before.

From there, she dove into her duties as an Eskau of the House of Blood.

As a new Eskau, most of her time was spent training or eating as more and more of the crops and other products of her sanctum were ready for harvest.

Thron had to slaughter the animals when they were ready and prepare anything that required more than simply picking free hanging harvests from a plant. Even so, overall, between Kit and Thron, it was trivially simple to keep Tala supplied with food.

Beyond that, Tala was required to settle a few disputes between servants too high ranking to be ignored or diverted to Thron, but not of quite enough importance to take time from Be-thric. Blessedly, there were only about a hundred such servants in all of Platoiri. Even so, they seemed to be quite competitive as often as not, leading to the disagreements requiring mediation.

After listening to the first two, an owl beast-man and a gray hue-folk male, argue for nearly three hours, Tala refused to offer judgment and informed them that they had ten minutes to settle it themselves before she cut off a finger from each of them.

Theyd joined together to rail against her after that.

Then, the fingers had been taken.

They settled their own dispute less than five minutes later.

Thron was oddly approving of her method in solving that issue, and Tala really didnt know how to feel about that. It didnt help that Tala felt like Tali would likely have handled it similarly, though Tali would likely have taken a hand rather than a finger.

The second pair shed had to mediate between had each calmly explained their position in brief sentences, and the answer had been utterly obvious to Tala.

No, it is not reasonable for Heart-Servant Vanlin to take over part of your duties, Arnor, even if he is faster than you. If you wish to forgo some of your duties, you must also give over some of your rewards, but you have refused to do this.

Vanlin had steadfastly refused to assist Arnor at the end of each workday, even though Vanlin had finished his own duties and more, and Arnor had still not met minimum requirements.

The two were apparently friends, and Vanlin had helped Arnor a couple of times, but when the latter came to expect the help, Vanlin had begun refusing.

Honestly, it was a case of Vanlin still wanting to be friends, while not being taken advantage of, and Arnor not really thinking of it from his friends perspective.

Idiocy

Talas word was law in this case, and the two were able to depart her sanctum as friends, because neither had had to give ground on their own.

The Eskau was an Eskau. Who were they to argue?

That second mediation set the tone for most of the others. At least, she didnt have to actually take any other fingers.

In each other case, Tala simply had to tell them what they both already knew was the right course of action. The very fact that she spoke took the responsibility from the parties involved and allowed relationships to function more smoothly.

This is really, really weird. Just tell them no.

-But then youre telling your colleague no. This way, they can both maintain the fiction that the asked might have been willing, but a higher power said not to.-

Tala sighed. I suppose.

Around training and seemingly unnecessary mediation, Tala occasionally attended Be-thric when he met with those either outside the house, or only loosely affiliated.

Those meetings were filled with negotiations, trade discussions, and the building of relationships.

No one engaged with her directly, as she was simply meant to be a symbol of the power of the House of Blood. That was more than fine with her.

She always wore her iron paint, with the through-spike suppressed, while at these events, and no one ever gave Be-thric any trouble.

I kind of wish they would Part of that was to give her something to do, and part was so that someone would make Be-thrics life worse.

Her final duty was every three days or so. At that time, she simply walked with a servant of the House of Blood to each of their affiliated businesses and lesser houses to collect the portion of the profits which were owed to the major House supporting them.

Tala quickly realized that she had three roles in such circuits.

The first was similar to her task when accompanying Be-thric: to show the power of the House of Blood to those in partnership or subservience to them.

The second was as a guard to the servant collecting the payments.

Finally, she was to ensure that that same servant didnt skim any off the top.

Why Tala, herself, couldnt be the collector baffled her, until Thron explained.

An Eskau lowering themselves to speaking with the merchants and nobles not actually a part of the House, would be unseemly. And you having to handle the payments yourself?He shook his head."No major House is that tight on funds or that lacking in servants loyal to them. Even my performance of that duty would imply that we were short on servants that we trust.

The explanation did make a modicum of sense, Tala had to admit.

All in all, those two weeks passed in an oddly mundane fashion, very similarly to how she would have spent her time if she were in the human lands, though her job was obviously different.

And, you know, Im a slave.

-I agree, but your slavery is mainly in the involuntary nature of your hiring, rather than how you are treated or what you are asked to do.-

Yeah Which is why she was so conflicted. For the most part, her job wasnt objectionable, except when she was around Be-thricor when she actually gave a moment to consider the many, many founts around herself.

Yes, this is a wonderful place except, of course, the uncounted souls in eternal enslavement and torment.

-Yes, its practically a paradise.- The sarcasm was thick in the sentiment, and Tala heartily agreed.

Even so, time passed, and she fulfilled her duties and improved.

Finally, the morning dawned on the day of her first duty shift as Guard of the City Lord.

Tala had slept again the night before, but only for a couple of hours. She was down to only needing those couple of hours of sleep every second or third night since her day of rest allowed her to reset and acclimatize to her increased flowrate.

The rest of the night, after her short sleep, she had trained, finally mastering her aura enough to hold it within the boundary of her skin full time, without the need of the iron paint.

As the false sun mirrored the real one, Tala finished her training and began her preparations for the day before it began to light her sanctum.

She bathed, painted herself in iron, and reshaped her elk-leathers to match their formal form, which shed worn to the feasts before and after her battle to become an Eskau.

She picked up her pace just a bit. After all, she was supposed to check in and assume her duties at first light, and she was still quite a ways from the structure.

As she approached, she noticed various workers doing repairs or cleaning, or performing other tasks around the structure. Some were up on the roof, and one or two even seemed to be working on the tower itself.

She came to the main doors, and she was met by a beast-folk woman who looked like nothing so much as a pigeon person.

The being was odd to say the least, but Tala didnt stare too much.

Eskau Tali? Her voice was surprisingly deep and melodic, indeed sounding a bit like a pigeons coo.

Yes.

Right this way, please.

Tala followed the pigeon-woman inside, not really taking in the dcor as she was directed to a stairway a short distance within the house.

Tala jogged up the stairs, coming to the top rather quickly.

She hesitated before the doors on the landing at the top, taking a deep breath to slow her heart before she knocked.

Come. The very air vibrated with the single word.

The door seemingly unlatched itself. That was not an analogy. Without any exterior magics acting upon it, nor any power acting within that Tala could see, the door unlatched and swung open.

What?

Before her was another section of stairs that let up and out into the center of the room above.

Tala climbed them quickly, the last few allowing her gaze to sweep most of the room as she reached the top.

A man sat at a reading desk off to one side, a large tome open before him.

His aura was, indeed, more than halfway between blue and indigo, and power practically hummed around him, though he did not appear to be using magics at the moment.

You are a bit late, though Ill grant that you arrived at my gate at the appointed time.

Tala gave a hesitant bow, not excessively deep but a bow, nonetheless. My apologies, City Lord.

Arrive on time to fulfill your future duties, and all will be forgiven. He still hadnt turned around.

As you say.

Now. He finally moved to face her, giving her her first good look at him.

To Talas eyes, he looked to be in his mid-twenties, though she knew that wasnt correct. His skin was a deep crimson, his hair was shockingly white, and his eyes were a burnt orange, no pupil in evidence.

Tala almost expected to see horns on his head, to match him to the mythos of demons put forward in some plays back in the human lands.

He might actually be the origin of those myths. The City Lord was old, and she would not doubt for an instant that he was around before the large section of humanity had broken away to achieve their modicum of freedom.

His build was lean, like a sprinter, and his clothing was simple but obviously well made. At the moment, that meant a plain shirt and pants, hanging loosely around his well-muscled frame. He wore no obvious weapon, but with the power at his disposal, she doubted he needed any.

All this, she took in as he spun around. She felt his eyes move across her, the pressure of his gaze greater than the power behind Cerdais magical scans.

You really are human, and gated at that, fascinating.

Tala felt the through-spike being suppressed by an outside power, even while it still lay solidly inside her aura and control.

The illusion faded, and she was rewarded by a slight widening of the mans eyes. Incredible density and resonance. Were you of proper, unbroken stock, you might signal a long-looked-for uplifting of your race.

He shook his head sadly.

Alas, you are of the broken ones, a vestige of mistakes made long ago.

Tala didnt know what to say. So, she stayed silent.

-Wise choice, in my estimation. Well done.-

Tala held in a smile as she fought to not roll her eyes at Alat.

The City Lord didnt seem to mind the lack of a response, as he continued, Now, to business. There is an assassin climbing my tower, bent on slaying me.

Tala frowned. What?

Look down over that balcony, there. He pointed to one of the doors out of the tower room, out onto an outdoor space.

Tala walked out and looked down. All I see is a window washer.

Ahh, he is clever in his disguises. Please slay him, that we may get on with the day. The tone was light, but the City Lord seemed utterly serious.

Tala cocked an eyebrow. Are you sure he is your would-be assassin?

Of course! You doubt the word of your City Lord? Should I kill you and him, myself? There was no heat in the voice, just seemingly genuine curiosity.

No doubt or disrespect intended, but your window washer is decidedly female.

The City Lord blinked at her a few times, then burst out laughing. Oh, that is a horrid mistake on my part isnt it.

He continued to laugh, Tala standing awkwardly on the balcony, not sure what to do. The laughter caused the air to visibly shudder as it reverberated with the mans power. Blessedly, the tower seemed to be magically reinforced, because it didnt move or sway in the least.

Finally, he got himself at least a bit under control. To think, I set up a silly test to see if you were a thoughtless killer, or an easily cowed sycophant, and I get the sex of the target wrong.

He started laughing again, shaking his head.

A test? What sort of nonsense is this?

-Pallaun did say that the City Lord would want to see who you were and get to know you.-

But who tells a warrior to kill a servant as a test?

-He could have saved the woman, likely, but maybe he doesnt care? There are a few dozen founts in this room alone. He isnt exactly a beacon of morality.-

The City Lord finally stopped laughing completely and was nodding to himself. Well, if nothing else, youre observant. Ill give you that.

Thank you?

Oh, youre more than welcome, Eskau Tali. Now, let us be about the business of the morning.

Tala could already tell; it was going to be an interesting day.