Someone was humming outside my room. Three notes. A pause. The same three notes again, quieter.
I had been sitting on the bed with one boot off, trying to decide whether removing the other was worth bending down. The sound stopped when I shifted my foot against the floor.
A knock followed.
"Enter."
The door opened just far enough for a young man to come through with a tray. He wore the plain clothes of the residence staff, with a small academy mark at his collar. His eyes found me, dropped to the half-removed boot, and moved away at once.
"Lord Cedric. My name is Ren Lockwood. I've been assigned to your rooms."
He lowered his head without tilting the tray. Practice, apparently.
"By the residence office?"
"Yes, young master. The assignment is here."
He indicated a folded paper beneath the edge of a plate. I pointed toward the sitting-room table, then finished taking off the boot while he moved the tray. Standing over an attendant in one boot wasn't the sort of intimidation Cedric's reputation needed.
The paper confirmed the assignment. Duties, meal service, correspondence collection, ordinary care of the rooms. A second section listed requests that had to go through the residence office. I read that part twice.
Ren waited with both hands loosely joined in front of him. One thumb rubbed against the side of the other.
"You've worked in this wing before?" I asked.
"Other rooms, young master. Not these."
"Then you know where things are."
"Most things. If I don't, I'll ask."
He added the last sentence quickly, as though he had claimed too much by saying most. I set the paper down.
In the game, an attendant would have supplied directions when I selected the right dialogue choice. The actual version had a name, a schedule, and an obvious fear of choosing the wrong answer. That might make information harder to obtain.
I needed to know which parts of the arrangement were already decided before I changed any of them.
"Meals?"
"Breakfast can be brought here. The Great Hall serves the main evening meal. A private tray is available if ordered before the kitchen closes the list."
"The Great Hall tonight."
"Yes, young master."
"Breakfast here. Seven."
He nodded and took a small notebook from his pocket. He wrote the time without making me repeat it. I watched the pencil move.
Useful. Someone who wrote instructions down was less likely to arrive with the answer he thought I wanted yesterday.
"Knock before entering," I said. "If I don't answer, wait."
His pencil paused.
"For cleaning as well?"
"Arrange a time while I'm out."
"Yes."
"An emergency is different. Smoke doesn't need an appointment."
Ren looked up, uncertain whether the last part required a response. I left him alone with it and picked up the residence instructions.
The staff key allowed entry to the sitting room and bedroom. The study's inner drawer had a separate lock. I checked that the little key provided for it actually worked before putting it in my pocket.
The lock looked ordinary enough. I could keep the notes out of sight, but I still needed to put them away before leaving. A key wouldn't help if the pages were spread across my desk. Ren approached the travel case.
"Shall I unpack, young master?"
"The clothes. Leave the papers and the primer."
He opened the lid carefully. The repaired inner fittings held the shirts in place despite the journey. I was briefly grateful for an instruction Cedric had given before I arrived.
Ren set each folded item aside and checked the wardrobe before deciding where to put it. When he reached the primer, he moved it by the edges of its wrapping and left the written side down. I sat at the table and poured water from the pitcher.
The tray moved when my wrist touched it.
Ren turned at once.
"The corner," he said.
I looked down.
One leg beneath the tray had been repaired with a narrow strip of metal. The tray itself was sound, but the repair left it slightly higher on that side. He had placed the pitcher away from it.
"It's been recorded," he added. "The repair was already there."
I looked at him instead of the tray.
He went still.
"I meant the stores record, young master. If you'd prefer another, I'll request one."
He wanted to make sure I knew he hadn't damaged it. I had spent enough time with household accounts to understand why.
"It holds the water?"
"Yes. The corner only catches if it's lifted from beneath."
"Then put it where I won't lift it from beneath."
He shifted it nearer the wall, leaving the cups within reach. The pitcher stopped rocking.
Problem solved.
Ren returned to the case, though his shoulders remained tight for several minutes afterward. I drank and went through the map from registration.
The direct route to the main board crossed two bridges and passed a court with several entrances. A longer route stayed inside the residence passages before joining the teaching wing.
"Which is quicker in the morning?" I asked, pointing when Ren came near.
He studied the map before answering.
"The covered passage, unless the hall doors are closed for an assembly. The bridge fills when the first classes begin."
"Then why mark the bridge?"
"It's easier to follow."
I couldn't argue with that after needing directions to a second desk in the same hall. He marked the turning with a small pencil line after asking permission to write on the map.
I nearly told him he didn't need permission for something so minor. Then I considered how often minor things became the reason someone was blamed.
"Mark the Great Hall too."
That was simpler.
Once the case was empty, Ren laid the unused packing cloth neatly over the closed lid. He returned the primer to the table without putting it beneath the water pitcher, which improved my opinion of him further. I asked where a student could borrow practice equipment.
He gave me the stores location and the hours posted for the following morning. When I asked whether they would accept my arrival card before full assessment, he didn't guess.
"I'll check before dinner."
"Do that."
He wrote it down.
By then, the room looked less like a place I had only just entered. Clothes in the wardrobe. Water beside the chair. The heavy case finally out of the walking space.
"The travel coat needs cleaning as well," I said. "And the laundry should be back before morning."
Ren looked at the coat, then at his notes.
"Will you need it this evening?"
"If it's cold."
He waited. I looked up from the map.
"What?"
"The ordinary collection has already gone. I can ask them to take it separately, but it may not dry in time."
"Then leave it."
His pencil moved toward the next item.
"The coat," I added. "Send the rest."
"Yes, young master."
I glanced at the list. He had written both instructions before crossing one out. No wonder he kept the notebook. I had almost given him two different versions of the same order while looking at something else.
"Check the stores first," I said. "The rest can wait until you've eaten."
"I've eaten."
"Then until the stores answer."
He nodded, leaving me to wonder which of us had made that harder than it needed to be. The coat still smelled faintly of the carriage. I hung it near the open window and decided I could tolerate it for another evening.
Ren had put the empty case beneath the bench while I worried about the coat. I could reach the bedroom without stepping around it now.
Ren closed his notebook but didn't put it away.
"There is one matter about the duty hours, young master."
I waited.
The humming started beneath his breath, stopped, and was followed by a swallow.
"The residence office allows a scheduled half-day away from duty. My previous arrangement was for the fourth afternoon. If your requirements allow it, I'd like to keep that time."
The fourth day. I counted from today and found nothing I needed him for, apart from being available in case I discovered I did. That was a poor reason to keep him sitting outside a door.
Also, time without an attendant nearby made private practice easier.
"What happens to the rooms?"
"I'll finish the necessary work before leaving. The floor attendant handles urgent requests. Evening service resumes when I return."
He had the arrangement ready. He wasn't asking me to invent one.
"Keep it," I said. "Leave the times on the desk so I don't send someone looking for you."
His fingers tightened around the notebook.
"Yes, young master."
"And when the times change, tell me before you go."
"Of course."
I pointed toward the assignment paper.
"Put the breakfast hour there as well."
Ren copied the schedule in a small, careful hand. When he finished, he checked it against his own notes, set the pencil aside, and folded his copy into the notebook.
He gathered the empty plate from the tray and moved toward the door. A corner of folded paper showed from his inner pocket as he bent to lift the tray. He pressed it back into place before straightening.
Quickly, but without taking his eyes off the cups. I didn't ask about it.
"Dinner directions before you leave," I reminded him.
"I'll return with the equipment answer as well."
The door closed quietly.
For a few seconds, I heard the same three notes in the corridor. Then footsteps carried them away. I put my own papers in the study drawer and tested the lock again.
Ren knew the grounds, kept useful records, and preferred not to give an answer he hadn't checked. That was enough to work with. I lay down with both boots off this time and left the breakfast schedule where I could find it.