Laying the Law

Sara worked fast.

The night before, Lydia had given her a list of info to get. After getting Lorelei's approval, Sara compiled a list of issues including, but certainly not limited to, how long each maid had been working there, what their home lives were like and, most importantly, who Sara knew had talked trash about Lorelei. Lydia didn't normally like to get this deep to solve a problem, but she was glad she did. This stuff went deep.

The rumors about Lorelei stretched far. Other than her being a coward for hating the dark, the maids seemed to consider her to be a freaking demon. They thought that Lorelei lived to make them suffer. Every splinter, every late shift was all because Lorelei hated them. Lydia hadn't seen a rumor mill this bad since high school.

Looking closer, she noticed that many of the maids were commoners. More than half the staff was guilty of talking bad about Lorelei. No wonder Lorelei didn't want to fire everyone. She'd have almost no one left! Of course, Lydia was going to fix that, though she may have to adjust her plan a little.

After spending a good twenty minutes reading about the staff, Lydia told Sara the plan. After a quick detour to check on the finer details of her plan, Lydia and Sara found their way into the maids' common area.

This place was basically the break room, but it looked like the room needed a break, too. The color on the walls was faded, and the wooden chairs looked like a one-way ticket to splinters. The table didn't look too bad, though. Other than some indents in the dark wood, it looked perfectly fine. The whole place just seemed run-down. That could be fixed, though.

For the first stage of her plan, Sara got a good portion of the staff. If Lydia had demanded everyone then it would be harder to control the room. As such, Lydia prioritized having a mix of good and bad staff. She did make sure to include the three maids she had overheard the night before.

The maids all shuffled in, whispering their theories about what was going on. The theories ranged from mass firing to mass punishment. Lydia knew from Sara that Lorelei had never gone that far with them. The worst thing that had happened was when Anna was fired.

Lydia tried to get the girls' attention. That only got some people to listen, which was fine. She'd actually expected something like this. Like an unruly class, they wouldn't be easy to talk to. Grabbing a bell from Sara, who had also seen this coming, Lydia rang for their attention. Immediately, the ladies all stopped talking. Conditioning at its finest.

"Good eve to you all," Lydia said. She made sure to look everyone in the eye, one by one. "To start, you will need to separate." She then motioned to Sara to call everyone by name.

It took a few minutes but, by the end, Lydia had two lines of maids at either end of the room. The left side had Daisy and Rose, the girls that Lydia had overheard. The right had people like Ashley, who never chose to disrespect Lorelei, and was smaller than the left side. Let the show begin.

Looking around the room, Lydia addressed the crowd. "How long has the room been in this state?" Lydia asked the left side.

Daisy was the one who answered. "For as long as I have worked here, my lady."

"Why has it never been fixed?" Lydia asked, looking at Daisy.

"We have never been given the funds to do so," another voice on the left said bitterly. Lydia thought her name was Coral?

Turning to the woman, Lydia held a look of shock. "Why would you not have them?" Lydia paused for a bit. "You do not think that I withheld them from you, do you?"

The maids shuffled uneasily, but Lydia wasn't quite done with this issue. "I was curious why the funds for such repairs were untouched," she said. The maids looked up, eyes wide.

This had been the first of the rumors around Lorelei. Upon investigation, Lydia found out that those funds were held until the maids themselves asked for repairs. Since no one had stepped forward, the room continued to look worse. 

Moving on, Lydia looked at Ashley on the right. "It is quite wasteful to leave resources without using them," she said thoughtfully. "Of course, Sara tells me that this is an issue with food, as well. Is that correct, Ashley?"

Ashley didn't falter under Lydia's gaze. "Yes, my lady," she said. "We often have a lot of food waste." Ashley would care about this, given that she came from a family that did not always have such luxuries.

"That does not seem fair," Lydia said with a frown. "Perhaps some of you could take leftovers after you finish your work." Incentives were a great way to keep people going, hence why the maids looked so happy.

Lydia smiled. "It is a relief to be able to take care of such waste," she said. "I would hate if anyone considered me to be wasteful simply because I did not know this was an issue." She looked straight at Rose for this, smiling sweetly.

This was the dumbest of the rumors. Apparently, nobles liked to have big meals. Back when Lorelei had hosted tea parties, there'd been a lot of leftovers that just got tossed. Somehow, that meant that Lorelei was a wasteful jerk.

Looking around, Lydia dropped her smile with a tired sigh. "I have heard recently that some of you do not like serving me personally," she looked at the left side. "As such, I have chosen a list of people who will rotate serving me instead."

She rattled off a list of about eight people other than Sara, not all of whom were present. She made sure that Ashley was on that list. Housework was one thing, but serving Lorelei herself was a whole other issue. Lydia refused to have some Gossiping Gabbies at either of their backs. 

"It would be dreadful if I forced someone to attend me against their will," Lydia said, smile back in place. She looked from Daisy to Rose to Coral. "Spirits forbid that you have to serve someone who cannot even handle the dark!"

Everyone in the room froze. Lydia turned to address both sides. "Contrary you what many of you seem to believe, I do hear what is said at this manor. Every time I am called a coward, every time I am considered a demon to be around, I hear it. I am sure many of you remember Anna."

Coral chose to open her mouth then. "Of course we remember Anna! She called out your treatment of us and was ruined for it!"

"Anna openly called me a coward and a snake," Lydia said, recounting what Sara had told her. "I do not know what she told you, but I only fired her. Given the things she said to me, and the number of warnings I gave her, that seemed more than fair. What she did with herself afterwards is none of my concern."

Lydia looked hard around the room. "I have tried my hardest to prevent what happened with Anna from happening again. From this, I have sometimes let the stress push me into saying unsavory things to many of you. This will not happen again."

"How can we be sure you speak the truth?" That voice actually came from the right.

Lydia regarded the woman. "So long as you treat me with respect, I will have no reason to be upset with you," she said. She narrowed her eyes. "Regardless, never forget that I am your employer. I am the one who provides your salary."

"From the count's money," Coral said. 

"Step out," Lydia snapped. She had Coral stand in the back of the middle portion of the room. Lydia went back to her speech. "Let it be clear that gossip like what I have heard before will not be tolerated. If there is an issue, tell Sara so it can be resolved. Gossip does nothing but spread ridiculous rumors. I am not a demon. I did not mean to waste food. If any of you are unable to muster the will to properly face such issues, you will be fired. Nothing more. I will not 'ruin you' or beat you for your disrespect."

Lydia turned to Coral. "You have caused me many headaches since Anna left. Since you seem unable to hold your gossip inside, you will gossip elsewhere. You are fired." Man, that kind of lost some of the punch without the contraction.

Coral sputtered for a bit but left without a coherent word. Lydia turned her attention back to the others. She put that beaming smile back on her face. "Now that that is settled, I found some leftover desserts in the kitchen. You may share them with each other. Sara can handle the repairs issue tomorrow. You are all dismissed." Lydia left the room with Sara in tow.

Hopefully, word would spread of tonight. With time, the gossip would stop, especially with Lorelei being surrounded by good people. It sucked that many of the jerks wouldn't get punished, but doing that would only make more rumors.

"How was that?" Lydia asked.

"Not very typical of a noble," Sara said. "Though, perhaps that is what made it work."

The next morning, Lorelei awoke as herself. Calling Sara in, she immediately inquired about Lydia's plan. With a smile, Sara nodded. Lorelei was surprised. It had worked?

Still cautious, she rang for more maids to help her get ready for the day. The people who walked in lacked the distain that Lorelei had grown accustomed to from her staff. In fact, she saw respect in these gazes. What had Lydia done?

It took a few days for Lorelei to truly believe that it was over. During those days, she saw those who had been loyal to her at her side, and those who had not lowering their heads in respect. Staring straight ahead, Lorelei allowed herself a smile. Finally, she was free.