1.14 KMAS: Magnus Estate

The next morning, Tilly was fully prepared to meet her doom. She had worn her best clothes. In her hand she clutched the apology speech she had spent all night writing. And she had practiced bowing and kowtowing. She had tried to cover up the dark circles around her eyes with makeup, but there was not much she could do about her bloodshot eyes. Tilly had not gotten much sleep last night. She was plagued by incessant nightmares.

At first, Lord Kyros, still as handsome as ever, and Lady Liriel, ever radiant, had chased her with a stick, while her neighbors laughed and watched. She managed to escape them by reaching the palace, where the Queen offered her protection. But that guarantee soon proved false when it turned out that the Queen was actually Tobias the perverted dwarf, who was leering at Tilly. When she finally escaped the palace wearing the worst mistakes she had ever sewn, she found a group of Kyros fans. Finally safe, Tilly sat down to relax, only for all fans to turn into Princess Lyra, who began performing a lengthy analysis of every mistake Tilly had ever made in life. Tilly had then woken up, sweating and shaking. She had tossed around for two more hours while sleep eluded her like stable relationships did. She finally fell asleep at five, only to wake up at six to get ready for the meeting.

The carriage arrived precisely at ten. It was a beautiful and sleek vehicle with the Magnus coat-of-arms prominently emblazoned on its body. The driver gave Tilly a respectful bow but did not speak much. The two horses in the front looked bored. As soon as Tilly got in, the carriage dashed towards the Magnus estate.

As the vehicle entered the estate, Tilly caught glimpses of the stoic guards and busy workers going about their duties, and she saw deer, rabbits, and peacocks frolicking in the lawns and gardens. Despite her nervousness and fear, Tilly could not help herself from taking in as much detail of the place as possible. After all, it was where her hero lived and breathed every day. They passed the famous Anti-gravity fountain, where water perpetually seemed to flow in directions that contradicted all natural law, a testament to the ingenuity and power of the Great Mage. Tilly got flustered when they crossed the Path of Waving Willows, and one of the ancient trees literally waved at her. The Ever shifting Dimensional Maze was visible only in the distance, but she did see some girls casually walking in and out of it while carrying hedge shears and being tethered to the outside by a sturdy rope.

When the carriage stopped and the driver opened the door for Tilly, she found herself in front of the Magnus Mansion for the first time in her life. For a moment, Tilly's breath almost caught in her throat. The mansion was grand and beautifully designed, but that was not the reason for Tilly's reaction. It looked exactly like it did in the comic books and the paintings. Many a time Tilly had daydreamed of walking its halls, but she would never have guessed that one day she would actually get the opportunity, even though it was under what she believed were very dire circumstances.

She was soon greeted by a cheerful maid who looked a little older than Tilly, perhaps in her mid to late twenties.

"Ms. Butterfield, it's lovely to meet you. I am Emily," the maid said. "If you would please follow me, I will take you to Lady Magnus."

"Yes...please lead the way."

The inside of the mansion was just as wonderful as the exterior. There were numerous paintings, some of them very popular works by famous artists, beautifully crafted statues, soft, luxurious rugs, and exquisite furniture. The style of the pieces varied a lot. Many were clearly of human make, but there were quite a few imported pieces of high elven provenance. Works from other regions were not forgotten either, as there were interesting examples of dark elven, dwarven, and even orc art and many others that Tilly could not even identify.

On the way, Tilly met a few other maids, all of whom gave her polite smiles. But if they were in groups, they would start gossiping, with Tilly clearly the topic of conversation.

"Ignore them, Ms. Butterfield," Emily said. "They just heard from Mimi about the incident that happened yesterday. They don't mean any harm. They are just a gossipy bunch."

Tilly's face flushed red as she remembered her breakdown yesterday. "Umm...it's okay, Ms. Emily. I...I just got a little emotional, that's all." She thought it best not to add that she was still panicking just as much.

"I understand. A sudden invitation can be overwhelming, especially when it comes from Lady Magnus. But you have nothing to worry about. She is the sweetest and kindest person I have ever met."

"I...I see," Tilly said, clearly not convinced.

As they kept moving through the mansion, Tilly heard something that no one ever wants to hear, especially before an important meeting. "Your zip is down," a high-pitched voice yelled from behind.

A panicked Tilly immediately tried checking the back of her dress while twisting and turning around.

"It's not Ms. Butterfield. You are completely fine," Emily assured her. "Ignore the voice. It's just one of the paintings yelling out random stuff."

Emily saw that one of the paintings on the wall, that of a small boy and a goat, had come alive, and the boy was making faces at Emily and Tilly.

"Be quiet, or I will turn you around," Emily warned the painting.

"Emily doesn't bathe every day," the boy in the painting cried out before jumping on the back of the goat and speeding away out of frame.

Emily, who had remained composed throughout, now looked a bit startled. But her polite smile reappeared very quickly, and she was back to being her cheerful self. "Sorry Ms. Butterfield," she said. "It's some residual magic, that's all. Please don't mind it. And I bathe every day, twice in fact."

"Yes, yes, of course," Tilly managed to say while making sure that all the zips and buttons on her dress were in the proper place.

As they went further and further in Tilly had the eerie feeling that the mansion, which was already massive from outside, was even bigger on the inside. But she said nothing lest she be taken for a madwoman.

The pair came to a halt before a large, intricately carved red door.

"Please sit here for a moment." Emily pointed at the comfortable chairs lined up outside the door. "Let me go in and check if Lady Magnus is ready to receive you."

"Of course...please...thank you," Tilly said before plopping down on one of the chairs.

A minute passed and Emily did not return. Tilly's fears and anxieties, which had taken a backseat to the wonder and weirdness of the Magnus estate, now returned in full force. Tilly tried to recall her apology speech, forgot a few lines in the middle, and looked it up in the cheat sheet she was holding. She was feeling more and more restless as the seconds passed by. She stood up and watched the decorative armor standing guard next to the door for a little while before turning away to practice her bow.

Was it enough to bow just a little? Or should she bend fully until her back was nearly horizontal? In her mother's copy of Practical Guide for Proper Ladies she had once read that bending your back by about thirty degrees for three seconds was considered a courteous and refined bow. But the book had not explained how much to bow when you had insinuated that a woman's husband had unrequited feelings for his best friend. Tilly tried both. They both felt unsatisfactory. Perhaps kowtowing would be better. Tilly was about to try that when she sensed that someone was standing behind her.

When she turned around, she saw one of the most bizarre things she had ever witnessed in her twenty-two years of life. The armor that was closest to her was bowing to Tilly, accurately mimicking her own posture and demeanor. It slowly stood upright once more and waved at Tilly.

Tilly screamed.

The armor's visor opened and the armor screamed.

Tilly screamed louder.

While this screaming match was going in front of Liriel's office, another maid came running down the hallway with a broom in her hand and started wailing on the armor. The armor made a rude gesture with its hands at the maid and ran away. The new maid put her broom aside and took out a small rectangular device that was resting against her belt.

"Code yellow, code yellow," she spoke into the device.

"Penny, what's the issue?" came a slightly distorted voice from inside the device.

"Armor outside the main door of mistress's office ran away. It's heading towards the west wing."

"Copy that. We will try to head it off."

"Make sure that it doesn't escape through the laundry room. There is no telling what it will do if it gets out into the grounds."

"Got it. None of us want a rerun of the sheep sheering incident. Don't worry, we will handle the situation."

"Good luck to you ladies. Penny out."

Once she had finished dealing with the situation, Penny turned to Tilly and asked, "Are you alright, miss? It didn't do anything to you, did it?"

"No...it...he...it just bowed to me."

"That's good. I apologize if it startled you. The armors, they sometimes do that. But they are harmless, I assure you."

"I...I understand."

"You are Ms. Butterfield, aren't you?" the maid asked.

"Yes, I...Lady Magnus told me to come."

"Of course, of course. I am a member of the Appreciation Society myself. Even subscribe to the newsletter. I should say, your articles and speculations are always fun to read."

"Ohh...they are nothing, just silly thoughts." Tilly tried to downplay her Appreciation Society activities, which, in her mind, had already gotten her in serious trouble.

"No, no, I think you write quite well," Penny said. "To be honest, I prefer your articles to Princess Lyra's; they are too technical and dry for my taste."

"Ahh...umm...thank you."

Before the conversation could get any more awkward, Emily returned.

"Ms. Butterfield... Penny, why are you here?"

"Em, the armor ran away," Penny told Emily.

"Another one?! Even when he isn't here, he is a menace."

Penny gave Emily a covert sign to indicate that they were not alone and in the presence of a guest.

Emily quickly composed herself and said, "Right. Ms. Butterfield, sorry to keep you waiting. Lady Magnus will meet you in the drawing room balcony. Please follow me."

Tilly dutifully did as she was told.

"Do you prefer tea or coffee, Ms. Butterfield?" Emily asked as they walked.

"What?!"

"Perhaps something stronger?"

"No, no, tea is fine, thank you."