Book 1 Chapter 4: Ulrikan Breakfast

Vero padded in front of the mistress. She hadn’t wandered far, in fact it was like she had been waiting for him. It was morning, so he assumed she was hungry.

“Would you care for something to eat milady?” he asked, hoping to keep her in a good mood.

“Hmm,” she hummed. Before he could prod further to get a definitive answer from her, there was a scuffling noise up ahead and both of them looked forwards, though both of their responses were very different.

Ylva daggers in hand, was poised for an attack. Vero, however, in stark contrast, was calm as could be and more curious then defensive, let alone even preparing to strike for that matter. His mistress was definitely a strange one, and he had no clue what the master saw in her.

The noise turned out to be another servant pulling a heavy load of laundry through the underbrush. The mistress ignored it and Vero sighed, lending a hand to the poor Yowlumne who was struggling.

“Allow me,” Vero said, picking up the handles of the basket.

“I could never impose, sir,” the lad replied.

“Nonsense. As fellow servants, we must help each other out,” Vero responded, shifting the weight.

“Then let me help as well,” the lad quickly said as he reached into the basket and procured a portion of the load.

“Certainly,” Vero said, smiling. They quickly crossed the courtyard and over to a doorway that led to the laundry spring. He could feel Ylva’s gaze boring into him with each step. He tried to keep his head erect, though felt a slight pang of disappointment within himself. As soon as the lad was seen off, he ran back to his mistress. Leaning against a tree, running her fingers across the edge of a blade of a simple short sword. She paused as he approached, heaving for air as he bent over, supporting himself with his hands on his knees.

“My apologies, mistress,” he said, bowing.

“Hmm,” she hummed. This irked him. Would he ever get another response out of her? He sighed and began to take the lead and guided her to the great hall.

Once inside, he wished he hadn’t. He spotted some servants bringing out trays for the master, for his breakfast, meaning that unless they were quick, he would hear it from the female servants. Too late, he heard his name called.

“Vero lad? What…” the voice trailed off and Vero ducked his shoulders as he looked at the owner of the voice, his master.

His mistress’s eyes and the gaze of his master met. Without another word, the master’s expressions flew through a myriad of different expressions before settling on terror and a lovely paled color, as if all the blood in his face had left. He quickly turned with full intention to leave.

“Hold or you’re dead,” Ylva’s commanding and authoritative voice barked. The master froze, all intentions leaving. Ylva sighed, Vero taking a step back, allowed her to handle this since he wouldn’t have to take the brunt of the female servant’s complaints with this.

“Yes?” the master asked. His voice was calm, unusually calm with how his countenance was a moment ago.

“Hmm…” Ylva hummed and Vero could feel the chilling intent from it, despite it was directed towards someone else.

“My dear, you should know that unless you speak your mind, I cannot do anything for you,” the master said. Ylva rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Hmph. You force me to come here at your bidding and hide from me, you’re no Ulrikan,” she said, cutting to the chase.

“Were it not for other reasons, you would already find that this would not be the case,” the master said. Vero nodded. Even he was a bit annoyed by the protocol and requirements the lady servants had ‘enforced’.

“You’re the master of this place. You make the rules here,” she said, and Vero felt that she also wanted to discuss the training and protocol issues in her heart. He tilted his head down. While her comment was indeed in the core of this issue, he was certain that she would find that tradition and other issues of the past would rule over the Master’s wishes. In a way, it was how they kept order. Already the master was on the loose end, and had gone against several protocols already, just so he could marry her.

“My dear, you will find that is true in some matters, but a wise ruler and leader also knows how to keep order so that their subjects can feel secure and have a measure of peace.”

“Peace. Hmph. In what world do you fantasize in?” she grumbled before striding to the table.

The master sighed but there was still love and affection on his face. He was clearly besotted, and Vero was completely at a loss. He could only imagine this was the look that those on cloud nine could display.

“Vero, have the servants bring her some breakfast. She won’t leave now, and I doubt I could leave at this point either,” the master whispered. Vero nodded and turned to the hall where food would be brought. He signaled to some of the servants who had seen the exchange and they quickly set to work.

Food was timely and Vero silently bit into an apple that one of the servant girls had brought him. His ears perked and twitched with each noise from the eating couple that sat before him.

Before when he had envisioned what it would be like to be ‘in love’ he certainly had a different picture in his head. The two before him sat stoic, his master constantly eyeing his mistress as if wanting to say something, but daring not to. His mistress on the other hand seemed only interested in biting into the food brought before her. At one moment she paused then placed her utensils down and glared at the Ulrikan.

“Speak already,” she barked out. The master sighed, also setting his utensils down and bringing his hands together at his chin.

“My dear Ylva, I wish you were happier with this arrangement,” he said in a serious tone.

“Why should I be?” she grumbled. Vero paused and listened. Perhaps he could gleam more insights on his new mistress from this, but he still felt that this was eavesdropping, even if he had good motives.

“There are many things that have been set in place to make your life here more comfortable,” the master began and she scoffed.

“Comfort is for fools,” she said with disdain. The master paused then sighed.

“You did read the letter did you not?”

“I did. Despite my better judgements,” she said as she began to resume eating. The master stopped and did not speak further.

Vero looked at the pair in confusion, but tried to mask it. If the master came back, telling him that she had consented to the marriage… why was she so blatantly against it? Why did she seem to hate nobility, and anything to do with life here. Sure she was a warrior, but even they enjoy some comforts from time to time. Just what was her life before this that drove her to be such an intimidating, unresponsive, and frustrating individual. And on that note, how could the master see anything in her, let alone make this seem like this wasn’t some sort of arranged marriage.

As the food was cleared from her space, Ylva rose and quietly left. Vero paused as he heard the master sigh before placing his head agains the back of his hand. Vero watched as he mouthed a few words before saying something quietly.

“If only she knew,” Vero guessed. Ylva? What did she not know?