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edenfallingSummary: In which Sunbright unexpectedly acquires a body-servant. (525 words)
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Cast a Shadow
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"Your body-servant will start her service tomorrow," Sunbright's mother said as they sat at supper, alone under the fading sunset that slanted down through the skylight of the small antechamber to her parents' main room.
Sunbright set her spoon back into her half-emptied bowl of lentil soup and tried to come up with a way of asking for an explanation that wouldn't sound like a disguised complaint.
Apparently her struggle was clear on her face, because her mother smiled and added, of her own accord, "I apologize for springing this on you so suddenly, but there have already been six assassination attempts this year. It's no longer safe for you to be in any chamber alone, and I think it will be both more efficient and less intrusive to have a single person constantly in your presence than to trust a handful of people to traipse in and out of your limited hours of privacy."
As usual, her mother's words were sensible and left nothing for Sunbright to fight against. She sighed. "Thank you for your concern. May I ask who you've chosen as my guard?"
"Oh, the girl isn't a guard," her mother said. "Not hardly. She's simply a warm body for you to use as a distraction while your true guards reach your side. I had her taken from the kitchens where she was doing menial labor, and no doubt she'll be grateful for the increase in her wages. She's being cleaned now, and given proper clothing so she won't disgrace you by wearing rags. But you can use her to light your lamps and tidy your rooms if you like. She should pick up those tasks quickly enough."
"Oh," Sunbright said, and carefully folded aside any other response for later, when she had a bow or sword in hand and could use the calming focus of target and drill to put her thoughts in order and decide whether they were worth pursuing. "Still, I'd like to know her name."
"Something dark, I believe -- soot, ashes, shadows, that sort of thing," her mother said. "Make her tell you in the morning, if you wish."
A shadow. And one who doubtless had little love for her new position, whether she knew its true nature or had simply been told she was now Sunbright's personal maid and attendant. Ordering a human around like a dog was no way to earn loyalty.
If it was more efficient to have a single trusted person constantly in her presence, would it not be equally efficient to suborn that single trusted person? And there were so many, many ways to kill a person in her sleep.
"I'll think about it," Sunbright told her mother.
She'd ask instead.
No loyalty worth having came by decree or salary. No. It had to be won, and paid for with trust and respect in return.
What influence she had among her father's soldiers was inherited, or based on superstitious hope. This would be her first chance to see if she could make someone follow her instead of her father's daughter or the ghost of a promised Queen.
Sunbright looked forward to the challenge.
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Inspired by the 1/24/16![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
15_minute_ficlets word #238: spring
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I really need to write their actual first meeting sometime, and maybe also the explanation of why Shadowfall was working in the fortress kitchens in the first place. ...Or I could just finish outlining the novel and start work on that. That is also a possibility. *sigh*
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Cast a Shadow
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"Your body-servant will start her service tomorrow," Sunbright's mother said as they sat at supper, alone under the fading sunset that slanted down through the skylight of the small antechamber to her parents' main room.
Sunbright set her spoon back into her half-emptied bowl of lentil soup and tried to come up with a way of asking for an explanation that wouldn't sound like a disguised complaint.
Apparently her struggle was clear on her face, because her mother smiled and added, of her own accord, "I apologize for springing this on you so suddenly, but there have already been six assassination attempts this year. It's no longer safe for you to be in any chamber alone, and I think it will be both more efficient and less intrusive to have a single person constantly in your presence than to trust a handful of people to traipse in and out of your limited hours of privacy."
As usual, her mother's words were sensible and left nothing for Sunbright to fight against. She sighed. "Thank you for your concern. May I ask who you've chosen as my guard?"
"Oh, the girl isn't a guard," her mother said. "Not hardly. She's simply a warm body for you to use as a distraction while your true guards reach your side. I had her taken from the kitchens where she was doing menial labor, and no doubt she'll be grateful for the increase in her wages. She's being cleaned now, and given proper clothing so she won't disgrace you by wearing rags. But you can use her to light your lamps and tidy your rooms if you like. She should pick up those tasks quickly enough."
"Oh," Sunbright said, and carefully folded aside any other response for later, when she had a bow or sword in hand and could use the calming focus of target and drill to put her thoughts in order and decide whether they were worth pursuing. "Still, I'd like to know her name."
"Something dark, I believe -- soot, ashes, shadows, that sort of thing," her mother said. "Make her tell you in the morning, if you wish."
A shadow. And one who doubtless had little love for her new position, whether she knew its true nature or had simply been told she was now Sunbright's personal maid and attendant. Ordering a human around like a dog was no way to earn loyalty.
If it was more efficient to have a single trusted person constantly in her presence, would it not be equally efficient to suborn that single trusted person? And there were so many, many ways to kill a person in her sleep.
"I'll think about it," Sunbright told her mother.
She'd ask instead.
No loyalty worth having came by decree or salary. No. It had to be won, and paid for with trust and respect in return.
What influence she had among her father's soldiers was inherited, or based on superstitious hope. This would be her first chance to see if she could make someone follow her instead of her father's daughter or the ghost of a promised Queen.
Sunbright looked forward to the challenge.
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Inspired by the 1/24/16
15_minute_ficlets word #238: spring---------------------------------------------
I really need to write their actual first meeting sometime, and maybe also the explanation of why Shadowfall was working in the fortress kitchens in the first place. ...Or I could just finish outlining the novel and start work on that. That is also a possibility. *sigh*
(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-17 01:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-02-17 03:35 am (UTC)