Surprising Meeting

Writers: Avery, Len
Date Posted: 21st December 2014

Characters: Zelah, L'fael
Description: Xeladrie meets Lafael and thinks maybe she could have an actual friend.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 10, day 6 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Yriadha, Bryvin

Zelah

Lafael was taking too much time getting the Lady's room ready, that he
knew. In fact, he was wondering why anyone would have been foolish enough
to have given him this duty when it was pretty well established that he was
one of the worse drudges in this Hold. But he had seen the girl who the
woman in charge that told to do this pass the role to another drudge, who
passed it to another drudge, who had...well, passed it on to him.

Trying hard to focus, Lafael finished up last of the dusting and did a
quick tidy of the flowers he had picked on his way over and had placed in a
lovely little glass vase. He'd hope she would like them.

Xeladrie stormed back into the room, muttering aggressively to herself the
whole time. She slammed the door and was halfway through the room before
she saw someone else was in there.

"And the weather and the - oh." She started visibly.

Lafael mirrored her jump with one of his own. The girl--no, Lady--had
entered and crossed the room so fast he hadn't had time to get out of her
way and fade into the background, like a good drudge should. Instead, he
fumbled backwards, only stopping when he clattered into a delicate little
chair, one suited to a Lady like the one before him, one that
was_not_suited to a young boy falling over it.

Chair--and boy--fell to the floor with a wood breaking snap.

"Oh!" Lafael clamped his hand over his mouth when he looked under him at
the sorry remains of the chair. Faranth only knew just how much it had
cost. He turned his large, pale eyes to the Lady.

The strange boy who was suddenly in her rooms stumbled over a chair and
broke it. She felt the urge to swear at him as a way of expressing all the
anger she was feeling, but then she caught herself before a sharp word
could leave her lips. She could play this in a way useful to her perhaps.
Was this boy the kind to talk truth to power?

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I...uh...huh?" Did she just ask him if he was okay? Him? Lafael shook
his head and sat up, staring open mouthed at her. She was an
aberration, the first kind person he had met in this horrible place.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Xeladrie asked, slowly enough even a dimwit
should be able to understand it.

"Er..." Lafael looked down at the sorry remains of the chair. "I'm fine,
but I'm not sure I can say the same for this chair. Bloody shards, how
delicate do they make these things for your types?" Once he realized he had
actually_said_what had been going through his mind, Lafael clamped his hand
over his mouth and looked horrified. "I beg your pardon, my Lady..." He
scrambled to his feet.

Xeladrie giggled when he said that.

"Can I at least have your name?"

Lafael bit his lower lip to stop from smiling, then it seemed as though she
wasn't going to hit him for what he had done. "Lafael, my Lady." He dared
glance at her under lowered eyes.

"And I'm Xeladrie." Though surely he must have known that already. "You
can sit down on a better chair - we can get that dealt with later."

He nodded to her as though he didn't know who she was. And he didn't,
really, as she had only been married to the Lord for a short while and the
young drudge had never laid eyes on her before. He gave the broken chair a
guilty glance, wishing he had been good at some sort of Craft, the kind that
fixed wooden things. Quickly he looked around and spotted a better place to
sit, one that was far sturdier.

It wasn't until he had st down and looked back up to his Lady that he
realized he was sitting on her bed.

Her opinion of him revised to totally politically naive. That was alright.
Compared to master plotters like Yriadha and Bryvin, she could take that.
"I guess you weren't expecting me to be back early?" she guessed.

His face flushed when she--again--didn't seem to mind that he had made
a mistake. Pointing to the flowers he had placed in a glass vase, he
said, "Sorry, I wasn't really expecting you at all. I was just making
sure those flowers looked okay, and well...I guess I sorta lost track
of time." He didn't add that this was a common occurrence with him.

She followed his gesture. "They look fine to me." Offering another
sympathetic smile. She wanted him to like and trust her.

"How long have you been here?"

He scrunched his face up in thought. just how long ago was it? "About a
turn? Maybe just over." He sighed heavily, his expression saying more than
words about how he felt about living in the Hold. "Where did you come from?"

Again he was plain as day to read, and she found she liked it. Better
honesty than scheming and it gave Xeladrie a place to start. "Turquoise
Bay. I miss home already." A calculated bit of sadness leaked in.

Ah, the poor girl looked as unhappy as he felt. Lafael remembered that a
good drudge would get his Lady her handkerchief to dab her eyes on. So he
stood up to do just that. "Hang on a moment, my Lady." He went over to her
drawers, to fetch her just such a thing.

If only he hadn't accidentally opened the drawer that contained her
undergarments.

She squeaked, an undignified sound although a feminine one, when she saw
what door he was going for. "Wait, not tha-"

Too late.

Lafael's face turned as red as the flowers in the vase and the pair of..oh,
never mind. He slammed the drawer shut as fast as he could. Should he look
at her? What would she say? It'd be okay, right? Maybe he should just tell
her the truth. "I'm sorry, my Lady, but don't worry, they weren't any sort
of a turn on or anything like that. In fact, girls don't..." He clamped his
hand over his mouth when he realized just what he was saying. Oh, why
couldn't the ground just open up and swallow him right up?

She laughed slightly at his nerves and stammered. "It's alright," she told
him. "It's not exactly proper but - oh, it doesn't matter. Really."

He breathed out the air he was holding into his lungs. She said it was
alright...what was alright? Lafael pulled a face as he tried to think that
one over for a moment. When the thought refused to stay in his head, the
boy shrugged his shoulders and gave Xeladrie a shy smile. Maybe they could
be friends...maybe. "I...I really should go. Kelli's going to be wondering
where I've gone."

"I see." She was obscurely disappointed. It had been nice to talk to
someone who wasn't wanting something.

"Is she the one who assigns you to tasks? Let her know that it's okay if
you assign to me again. Are assigned to."

"Okay." His smile deepened and a soft blush crept up his cheeks. She really
was so nice, much nicer than anyone else he had met here so far. He gave
her a little wave of his hand. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I see you
soon?"

She responded with a smile, glad that he'd broken her out of her furious
rage. "I'll see you when I see you," she replied.

With a wave, Lafael was out the door.

Last updated on the December 26th 2014

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Surprising Meeting