The Guest In Room 4649

"It's the third time with this guest! Do you understand? The third time!"

As the maid's palms strike down onto the concierge's desk to both emphasis her words and her current frustrations, does the concierge finally raise his head to acknowledge her.

"It's not my job!" She continues. "I don't want to risk being drowned or frozen, do you hear!? It's not my job to deal with that!"

She finished her tirade and was offered a patient, ever-knowing nod in return.

"Yes, yes." Came the concierge's placating tone. "You are quite right... Not your purview at all."

His drawl was much too slow for the maid's taste, but finally hearing someone agree with her was all it took for her to regain a modicum of her prior composure.

She immediately sought to correct her appearance and look as polished as the job required.
Loose hairs were smoothed flat, her apron was straightened, and the deer mask that covered her entire face, properly righted.

"Let's see… Who to send. Who, indeed."

The concierge ponderously pat around the front desk for his ledger, at a loss for both its location, and most things in general.

"Hold please…"

The concierge was not made of the same stuff as the maids and other clerks of the hotel.

He was a little slower than the others. His thoughts deliberated, and demands acquiesced in much the same delayed manner.
That he was assigned this position, almost felt a purposeful commentary on bureaucratic help and how unhelpful they actually were...

The vague nothingness that he was slowly and ponderously searched the desk.
He was a scribble that lacked definition. If pressed further, you might admit that you could vaguely make out the shape of a straw-man within the void.

A scarecrow of shadows.

After a few minutes of patient labour, his efforts were rewarded.
He pat the ledger free of dust and cracked it open, his shadowy finger tracing a line down all the names carefully curated within.

"Ah yes. That will do, that will do."

The concierge seemed to crack a lopsided smile somewhere amidst the void of his being.

"We'll send Bird Keeper."

**

Bird Keeper stood before room 4649, as the head maid patiently explained the intricacies of the situation.

He wasn't listening. Nor was he paying attention.
How could he?

He bit his lip, he shook his head, and his posture sunk. All definitive clues to a remarkable point. He didn't want to be here.

The head maid was seemingly catching onto this fact also.

"Bird Keeper? Did you hear me?"

"Just hatched…" He muttered under his breath. "Those beautiful chicks, so beautiful…! Their tiny little beaks, and their tiny-"

"Bird Keeper!"

He lived up to his name after all.

Keeper muttered repentant words as he removed his low brimmed hat and bowed his head, a gesture when offered in tandem with his wiry body and disorganized attire, feeling less like an apology and more like the beginning of a comedian's slapstick routine.

He somehow managed to look both unkempt and well dressed at the same time, like a gentleman awakening 20 minutes late for an appointment.

"Look, I know you're busy with those chicks of yours, but your assistant will take care of them. In the meantime, it's time for you to earn your keep, hm?"

Keeper muttered his agreement as he nodded dolefully along with her words, his hat flat upon his chest.

"Do you need me to repeat myself?"

For the first time since being summoned, Keeper put aside his newborn chicks and instead focused on the maid before him.

And how had he missed this?
His jaw fell open at the sight before him.

"My goodness…" He began. "What a figure… And that coat of yours!" His eyes lit up as he continued to contemplate and admire the beauty before him. "How exquisite, Madam… Simply radiant! You must have changed your routine… After all, those streaks of white… Why, they are the brightest my eyes have ever laid upon!"

Effusive and over-the-top praise such as Keeper's was usually sure to draw out ire and disgust in equal measure. But Keeper's behaviour was a well noted phenomenon in the hotel, and it merely caused the maid to tilt her head.

"You never change, do you?"

She sighed, before reaching a delicate paw up towards her furry snout. The badger maid couldn't help but be a little bashful under all that praise.

After all, she had in fact, changed her routine…

"… I'll just leave the details to you then." She said waving a dismissive paw at him. "I'm sure you'll figure out the best method for helping the guest on her way."

Keeper followed the maid's gaze, and once more turned to face room 4649, his foot sinking deeply into the soaked carpet as he did so.

"Quite soggy here…" He mumbled aloud.

The badger maid placed two thick paws upon her waist. "You weren't listening!"

"No, no! I was." He said hastily placing his hat upon his head in order to block eye contact with her. "Assuredly, Madam. Assuredly!"

With a shake of her head, she forced a closed umbrella into his hand, before both shooing him to his task and leaving to go attend to her own. The other masked maid's in the hallway giggled at the display as Keeper watched her leave.

To stay any longer would only embolden the snickering maids.
The sooner the better he thought to himself. Sooner done, sooner back.

Keeper took two steps in order to stand before the door and was subjected to a disgusting squelch as he did so, boots sinking an inch into the wet carpet with each step.

Knock
knock
knock

"Madam, may I enter?"

No answer greeted him in reply, and so Keeper turned the handle and opened the door wide.

The sight inside the "room" was that of mountainous cliffs, jutting out at all angles. Of melted snow that trickled delicately down those same sharp rock formations. And of endlessly pouring rain, that smothered the world below in a freezing eternal shower.

Indeed, the rain had seemingly gathered in such quantity, that it pooled like an almighty river in the land below, cutting through both the rocky terrain of the room, and the doorway through which the hallway still connected.

"Ah." Keeper said aloud, as the water traveled out excitedly around him like a curious explorer. The hallways luxurious patterned carpets darkened at an alarming rate and as the masked maids hissed their disapproval.

To hastily escape a scolding, Keeper stepped within room 4649 and closed the door behind him.

As was usual, the door vanished as soon as it was clicked shut, fading into a flurry of bright sparks before they too, vanished.

"Well, that explains that… And that explains this, I suppose…" Keeper said unfurling the umbrella.

As Keeper tried to determine which route might best lead to the guest he sought, did he suddenly become aware that he was being watched. It was a miracle he could detect anything, what with the constant pitter-patter of rain, and the glacial fog that obscured any distant feature.

He peered curiously upwards from underneath the folds of the umbrella to where he believed the presence to be.

"Who are you?" Came a voice from above.

A woman's voice.
Haughty and demanding.

"I'm known as Bird Keeper, Madam. Is it alright to enter your domain?"

Hearing no reply or rebuke, he proceeded onward.

There was no path as such in the room and travel was difficult thanks to the endless onset of both rain and river.

A river that only continued to grow as the rain continued to never cease.
A river that was starting to feel more like flooding.
What started as ankle high, was now calf high as Keeper continued to trudge forward.

Doing his best to keep the umbrella steady did he finally spot a path ahead that gently inclined upward. And crucially, a path free from water.

"Why have you come here?"

"Isn't it obvious? To see you, of course."

This time he does get a reply.
Although it is not words that greet him, but an even heavier outpouring of rain that thunders down onto the flimsy umbrella with an outrageous weight.

"It's no lie, Madam." He calls out to her.

He gamely continues toward the slope as the water begins to travel ever upward.

"You are quite determined for a lowly commoner." She calls down in that same haughty tone of hers.

Only this time he is able to catch a glimpse of her. Of a fluttering wing, so thoroughly soaked by the rain she continues to create that it clings to the side of her body like fabric.

"Did you hope to catch a glimpse of a Princess? …To gossip about the encounter to those that you know?"

He sees it as a novel question and thus delivers her a novel answer.

"Yes! To see a princess, gosh…! No lie, Madam, it would be quite the feat worth gossiping about!"

In response to such honesty, even the rain seems at a loss and loses its prior force. Pressing his advantage he calls out to her again.

"It's why I enjoy my job, Madam! Or er, Princess… If you'll permit it." He said beaming at the perch she stood atop. "After all, it allows me to meet a great many wonderful people with such wonderful stories."

"'Stories'"? She repeats.

As if everything she was could be boiled down to a mere word.

Stories. A novelty, a trivial. An amusement.
The offence in her tone is evident.

Or would be for most individuals. Bird Keeper obliviously pursues his doom.

"Absolutely! Although, I have to admit…" He calls out cheerfully. "Conversation would be much less bothersome without all this rain."

Even without clear vision of her, he feels her glare. One that perfectly embodied the hazardous temperament of the place.

In lieu of further words, the rain cascades down even harder.

Keeper's arm struggles to stay upright under the ever burgeoning weight from the thundering water above. In conjunction, the water that was previously at his waist now sloshed about at his elbows.

He eyed the rocky shore he'd been working his way towards, and something became abundantly clear to him. He was not going to make it there.

No, he was going to drown.

A tiny sigh escaped his mouth, inaudible under the buffeting rainfall.

He feared this might happen.
He somehow always manages to get on the bad side of guests.

It happens so frequently now too…

The water continues to rise as he tried to deduce what statement or question in particular got him into this mess. He shakes his head. He shouldn't have brought his hat here.
…And higher still.

Had the Badger maid mentioned something about water in that long explanation of hers?
He cocked his head.

Yes, yes, she definitely had. He does now recall with some clarity something about flooding or drowning. The water that now burbled beneath his chin buried his body in a freezing chill.

Bother all. And his poor hat too. It was pointless to even draw in breath. He simply shut his eyes and bowed his head in inevitable defeat as the water submerged him completely.

After a few minutes of thundering rain no trace of his existence remained at all.

Well…
Not entirely true.
The only remaining trace was the dark low brimmed hat that sailed delicately atop the turbulent waters.

Thank goodness for small mercies.
At least it was well made.