"We don't have much time." Spesavia said. "Is there anything else you needed to say?"
The mist moved between the two women. With a bit of ground covered and a little bit of a plan, they were in a slightly more stable position.
"I want you to explain what your connection is to Mors and Maledic," Aureum said.
"That's no secret," Spesavia said. "We fought together against Nix, though we didn't know who we fought against at first. They remember it, of course. Since you finally have an interest in my time from the future, I'll tell you later. For now, it's better to stay on task."
The mist dispersed back out the window. Aureum went to sit on the bed, and Spesavia went to take care of Gemmo's soiled clothes.
The door opened.
Aureum jumped, expecting Mors, but it was a servant.
"I've come to inform you about dinner," she said.
"We'll be down in a minute," Spesavia said.
"Of course."
She gave a half bow and left.
"Dinner?" Aureum said.
"Why not? We are his guests."
But Maledic didn't eat with them. Neither did Mors.
Aureum could actually eat in peace, in theory.
It was good, but she mostly picked at it. The dining room they were led to was a refined but small place, more comfortable than grand. She couldn't imagine it as the main hall but was happy to be separated from the head of the manor. But she couldn't find herself at ease just from the interior decoration and lack of a host.
After dinner, they slept. The next morning Spesavia had left a note. It read:
Went to cause trouble and get our accessories back. Gemmo is in your hands. Either hide or explore as you see fit. Here is a map of the grounds. Places Mors and Maledic might be are marked off. Avoid them.
You can't leave the outer walls. —S
Aureum read and then crumpled it.
"So, they'll just let me wander around?"
The confidence of Maledic was… a relief if Aureum was being honest. She hadn't been looking forward to being imprisoned.
Seems I'm spoiled for choices. Not.
For now it seemed like she would have to settle for pseudo-imprisonment.
She studied the map for a bit and thought about staying inside. It lasted maybe a second. She was drowning in her feelings of suffocation.
It wouldn't be bad to get the lay of the land, either.
Gemmo had taken his breakfast with joy. At least, that's how Aureum took him trying to chew on the spoon so many times.
The first goal and excuse was food for herself. Seeing as she'd slept in, she went to the kitchen first. Asking around a bit, she found it.
"You just want a bit of food? And you came directly to us?"
The woman working on something seemed surprised.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Aureum asked.
"No, just thought you'd get one of the serving gals to do it for you. Yeah, of course I've got a bit of something."
It was easy. Aureum left with a full stomach and a few fresh buns. Gemmo pawed at them.
"Well," she said, "I guess you already have teeth. Sick of the liquid diet? Still, wait for me to tear it into something small! You just get a small bit at first. Not the whole thing. Not the whole thing!"
The struggle over the roll continued as Aureum followed the halls and the paths of the manor. She was ultimately victorious in forcing Gemmo to wait.
The grounds of the manor had a number of buildings that belonged directly to it besides the main residence, which is where she had started. Aureum had no interest in things like the library or the music room at the moment. She just wanted to see where the gates were.
Three gates, all as far apart as they could be from one another. Aureum had set herself up for a bit of a stroll through everything.
The outside breeze helped Aureum. Even if it was a small and subtle movement, it was the difference between smelling grass and smelling dust at times.
"Forgive us, my lady, but we've been told not to let you through."
The guards at the first gate crossed their spears from a distance. Aureum didn't waste time arguing. She just nodded. As she left, she looked up.
They had men watching the walls too.
It didn't mean that she couldn't make a rushed exit. It just meant that it would be difficult. And maybe impossible to leave without being noticed.
Aureum swallowed. As much as she wanted to leave now, this instant, she would have to wait until it was her only option to risk it.
She briskly walked away. Trying to distract herself by looking at the pretty views.
"Buh! Buhreee!" Gemmo said.
"Yes, birdies!" Aureum said.
It was cute to see his little arm grasping in the birds' direction.
The manor had numerous servants. All of those who worked inside the buildings had their own uniform of yellow. Those outside of it wore either a much more prudent black or were without a uniform.
In between trying to spot the subtle differences in the uniforms, Aureum saw a familiar-looking back.
Thinking she was imagining things, she looked past it.
"Hiems! Stop slacking off!"
"Yes!"
One word, halfway behind a stable, and across a few yards, but Aureum recognized it.
She stood on her toes and tried to see the man's face. Once he half turned, she got her confirmation. That face was recognizable even at a distance.
Mendax.
She hoisted Gemmo upon her hip and hurried onward.
It felt like wind blowing wet droplets off leaves onto her shoulders on a sunny day. Quite the shock.
Even as she doubted what she had seen and heard, she rationalized it. If she were a traitor running from Nix, Lapis, another major city-state on the other side of the map, would be the perfect place to go. They were even politically opposed.
How he found his way to the Maledic's hidden manor was less important. She could vaguely guess he just needed a place to shelter from his own storms, and this seemed as good a place as any. But she didn't know what his reaction would be for her to be here.
Which is why she hurried away.
The whole situation was a mess. Why throw a wild card in?
Sure, he might help her out. Or he could sell out anything he knows to Maledic.
Still, it's surprising to see a familiar face.
It got her mind turning after weeks of being frozen in terror. There should be another person she knows in the house of Maledic. Maybe that could help.
———————————————————
Seeing as she was recognized at one of the gates, she decided not to try the other two. It would be the same result, and she would announce her intentions to anyone paying attention. Sure, they could guess at it, but once could easily be explained as an accident or coincidence.
She knew from her personal experiences with home imprisonment that things could get worse. Better to use the freedom she had wisely.
So she spent an hour or two playing with Gemmo in the gardens. She sat him down, and he crawled around. He picked at this and that. Anything his large round eyes could spot, he reached for. Anything he could hold, he tried putting in his mouth.
All the flowers, bugs, and dirt.
Aureum was mostly successful in keeping him from eating random things. She tried to entice him with more of the buns, and he did eat that. He just also kept trying to eat dirt.
As the sand in the hourglass sifted down, the back of her mind kept working on the problem. She needed people to talk to that would speak with her and know the answers to her questions.
So come midday, she pushed herself again into the kitchens. The same woman from before was working, this time with three more women beside her. They all worked to make the main meal of the day.
Aureum had walked into a hive of activity.
"You want food again?" The cook said. "Just wait a bit. We'll get ye a serving when we have time."
Aureum stood to the side, embarrassed a little by crashing in on them during their busy time. But she waited, and they served her. She eventually sat in a corner, out of their way.
Aureum was uncomfortable, holding Gemmo and the plate of food. In practice, she couldn't eat in this position, but she waited it out.
Out of everyone in the manor, the kitchen and the servants for mealtimes would hear the most about the affairs of the house. She couldn't recognize the servants for the dining room, but she could find the kitchen.
Additionally, the cook had been open enough to her earlier.
A few others came to grab a meal from the kitchen as she waited. It looked mostly like the young men who would serve the warriors of Maledic directly, but she was making assumptions. Aureum saw that they were mostly single portions. The serving girls in yellow came and whisked away any the young men didn't take. The loud banging and sizzling of the kitchen slowly wound down.
"You can sit at the main table now. I can hold 'em."
"Oh, thank you," Aureum said.
She was caught by surprise. She came for a few tidbits of information, not kindness. But she couldn't refuse it. After resituating herself and tenderly handing Gemmo to the cook, she dug into the stew. It was delicious.
No wonder the woman was on the bulkier end. If Aureum could cook like this, she wouldn't mind rolling around. Though the woman still had a defined figure and a bit of bulk besides fat.
"It's difficult the first few months," one of the other women said. "You'll get better."
She was cleaning dishes.
Aureum felt herself twinge at being called a mother. It wasn't that she didn't like Gemmo. But liking Gemmo and being responsible enough to have the title of his mother were two different things.
Their relationship had an odd start, but there weren't many to claim such a role for him.
Spesavia?
Aureum shook her head.
"Was it that obvious?" She said.
"No. You're calmer than I was," the woman cleaning said. "I panicked about every little thing. I was constantly asking my mother about everything. Was it okay if he was sleeping so much? Is the drool normal?"
She laughed, and the other woman chuckled along with her. Aureum felt her mouth thin into a line, but she tried to smile.
She couldn't talk to her mother so easily about this. Not to anyone.
One bridge at a time.
"It's okay not to be perfect," the cook said. "No mother is."
"I—
I don't even want to be perfect.
"I have no idea what I'm doing," Aureum said instead.
She couldn't even bring the conversation around to what she wanted to know.
Should I tell them about "the father?"
But it felt off, telling these women who met with kindness a bag of lies just to ease more sympathy from them.
If I really had been abandoned by the father, it's not like I would want to talk about it anyways. It's more believable to avoid it and only imply things.
Better that way, too. Me and Spesavia won't get tripped up over the details of "Ursus."
"Thank you for holding him," Aureum said. "I call him Gemmo… His name is Gemmo."
The women all stared at her a bit oddly. It was an odd name.
"It's a good name," Aureum said, defending it in an imperious manner.
Nobody in the room was going to tell a woman what to call her son without a bit more depth to the relationship. They looked away.
That decided it. Aureum would just go for it and leave if it didn't work.
"I don't know much about this place," Aureum said. "Can we talk about it? I heard something about a Vitreum?"
Nobody wondered at this awkward transition in topic. Luckily for Aureum, it was normal for her to be awkward.
"Is everyone in the Manor talking about it?!"
The cook took the rag over her shoulders and slapped it across the table as she stood up.
"Is it that bad?" Aureum said. "I thought Vitreum would be treated well here."
"They probably just wanted to reassure a new mother that Maledic is kind to kids," one woman said to the cook. She'd been the one watching and stirring three pots at once. "Vitreum's been loved by everyone in the estate."
"'Been loved'?" Aureum asked, panic rising.
"She's fine!" The cook said. "Her mother kept begging and begging Maledic to bring her back to her home, despite how poorly she treated the girl to begin with—!" She shook her head. "Maledic was going to wait it out, but she got the other members of the bloodline involved. So instead he granted her wish. Except Aes is her bodyguard."
The woman scoffed.
"Whatever plans that she-banshee has, they'll be blocked and used as ample evidence to never allow her to touch Vitreum again. Should just be a few weeks more now."
The cook had a moment of triumph before her gusto flagged. It seemed like the issue of Vitreum's displacement was a sore spot for the people in the manor.
And like that, Aureum's two best leads for improving her lot at the manor evaporated.