It took several days before Altair could stand being before Donel. During that time, Altair would wake up before Donel even got into the room. She couldn't stop herself from being overly wary and sensitive to his presence. She couldn't even keep herself from moving away from him. It was very vexing to her as she couldn't study their language like this.
Her studies had stalled until she was able to stop herself from retreating.
She didn't explore much because she didn't want to leave her room. Rather, she couldn't bring herself to leave. She knew that Donel could turn invisible and that stopped her from taking a single step outside. At least in her room she would know if someone came in because the door would make a noise. So, she was cooped up in her own room by her instincts.
When they finally resumed studying, a commotion occurred outside her room. From outside, a familiar boy's voice, that seemed to be screaming in anger, came in, "Let me in right now!"
Altair's mood plummeted because she knew exactly who that voice belonged to. She also half wished that they would let him in so she could return the debt she owed him. The other half didn't want that because she should be cautious of the God's power, even if they were a child.
The person who was blocking Joshua seemed to have said something that he didn't like because his voice screeched in again, "It's just a stupid servant girl! Who cares if I beat her to death!?"
Altair felt Donel's frown before she turned to see him frowning at the door. It sent a chill down her spine to see it and she felt herself tremble slightly due to his proximity. She slinked out of her chair and took a few steps away from him, even knowing that she probably shouldn't.
Donel didn't seem to notice as, at the same time, more screeching came into the room, "You can't stop me from going in there! I'll have my father execute you for being disobedient along with that stupid servant girl!"
Donel stood from his chair and gave Altair a warm smile that didn't meet his dark eyes while telling her, "I'll be right back." He then walked to the door and opened it.
Sure enough, on the other side was Joshua who was red faced and shouting at the guards that Altair had grown familiar with. Upon seeing Donel open the door he immediately smiled and said, "Donel, discipline these guards for me while I deal with that unruly servant girl."
Donel hit him with a vicious slap that echoed into the room, down the hall, and through the Servants Quarters. It also knocked Joshua down from the force of it.
Joshua looked up at Donel in disbelief. He had never been hit by a servant before. He was struggling to comprehend what just happened.
Donel didn't have the patience for him to wait as he stood respectfully in place and put his hands behind his back. He then stated, "Young Master, I do believe that Master told you not to come to the Servants Quarters. Why are you here, kicking up a fuss, despite not being allowed to be here?"
Joshua gave Donel an aggrieved look while trying to defend himself, "That servant girl needs to be punished. It's far more important to punish her than it is for me to not punish her. Since she's always hiding in here then I obviously have to come to deal with her myself!"
Donel sighed lightly before he asked, "Not that it is your job to discipline servants of the house, may I ask what she did wrong in the first place?"
Joshua looked into the room and saw Altair. His face twisted into a menacing glare as he stood to his feet, pointed at Altair, and said, "That stupid servant girl won't even kneel to me! How's she supposed to be a good personal servant when she can't even follow basic commands from her Master?"
Donel shook his head before stating, "Who put that thought inside your head, Young Master?"
Joshua gave him a baffled look while uttering a "Huh?"
Donel looked down at him and clarified, "She is not your private servant, Young Master. She has not even been assigned a position yet. For all we know, she could become your adopted sister and you almost beat her to death." He fixed an angry look at him before asking, "So, which moron told you that she was a servant?"
A look of complete confusion came to Joshua's face as she desperately shouted, "There's no way that Father would adopt her! That's why she's in the Servant's Quarters! She's obviously a servant because of where she is!"
Stone-faced Donel slowly explained, "It is common among noble families to keep new adopted members of their family in the Servants Quarters until they learn enough to be allowed out. This practice extends even to people who have been adopted into the main family tree." He motioned towards Altair behind him, "Naturally, that extends to her as well. She can easily become adopted into the main family." He put his hand back behind his back before asking again, "So, which idiot told you that she was a servant, Young Master?"
Donel didn't really believe that Altair would be adopted into the main family. She was just too lacking in the intelligence department. She would very likely end up as a servant or, at best, a bodyguard. Still, he was telling the Joshua that for the effect. Judging by the growing worry that was creeping on Joshua's face, it seemed to be working.
Joshua defiantly said, "There's no way I'll believe that!"
"You are free to ask the Master if it is possible on your own."
As soon as he finished saying that, Joshua quickly shouted, "Then I'll go ask now!" while attempting to flee.
Donel grabbed his armed before he got even a step away however, and stated, "You can go after you tell me which moron told you she was a servant, Young Master."
Joshua looked back at Donel with a pleading gaze. He had just come to deal with that stupid servant girl. How did things spiral so far out of his control? Donel wasn't even supposed to be here. He should have been responding to that fake distress call that his friend had cooked up for him. It worked last time so why didn't it work now?
He couldn't tell Donel that he got the idea from his friends. He didn't want them to be blocked from visiting him for a while and for him to be grounded.
He also couldn't accept that such an uncute girl would become his sister.
Donel was ignorant of his thoughts. The silence between them grew into a minute and Donel sighed heavily. He then said, "If you won't tell me, then fine." He fixed his other hand on Joshua's shoulder. "We can go and talk with Master about this issue together." He then started to push Joshua ahead of himself while saying, "Let us go, along with the guards, to see the Master and find out what he thinks about all of this."
Joshua then grew completely scared and started to mouth of excuse after excuse. Donel ignored all of it while pushing him forcefully ahead with the two guards following him, leaving Altair alone in her room.
She went over to the door after they left and watched them round the corner in the distance. She then sighed in relief as she realized that Donel would be gone for now. She was seriously having trouble dealing with him in close proximity.
Since Donel was taking that brat somewhere for a while, it would be a good time to explore the area. If her body let her, that is.
She took a tentative step out of her room and found… that she didn't suffer any of the problems of fear as before. She assumed it was because she just saw Donel hauling the brat away and started to walk down the hallway herself.
Once she reached the corner, she cautiously looked around it. She didn't want to run into any of the other servants. They would probably stop her and talk to her like Noel or Stacey would. They would also probably be just as strange as those two and she didn't want to deal with them. She just wanted to explore the area in peace and quiet, to get an idea of how the rooms were arranged.
Seeing no one in the immediately area, Altair walked down the hallway and into the courtyard. She looked around again and saw no one in the area, so she went to her left this time and started exploring.
She went down every hallway she came across. As she did so, she quickly found out that the layout of every hallway was very similar to the hallway outside of her room. The main difference being that the hallway outside of her room was a corner hallway, while most of the others had a T sectional entrance to theirs instead.
She didn't try any of the doors as she assumed they would lead to private rooms. She also didn't want to randomly run into someone. So she walked around, using her corners to keep herself concealed and prevent herself from bumping into people.
After an unknown amount of time, Altair had found a hallway different from the others on the left side of the courtyard. There were no doors that were evenly spaced like they were in all of the other hallways she came to. Instead, there was a strange pattern in the center of the hallway that faced the outer wall of the mansion. It had engravings in it and it had protuberances that went to the middle of it before turning down towards the ground and winding around back to the normal wall. There was also a strange green light on the two top corners and a blue light on the bottom two corners of the strange wall.
Altair had no idea what to make of it. She leaned forward to examine it and couldn't figure out anything with just her eyes other than the fact that it was probably an extremely smooth surface, like the material her walls were made of. She reached out to touch it but the wall slid apart right before her hand touched it. This caused Altair to freeze in place as the contents of the room before her were revealed to her.
It took several days before Altair could stand being before Donel. During that time, Altair would wake up before Donel even got into the room. She couldn't stop herself from being overly wary and sensitive to his presence. She couldn't even keep herself from moving away from him. It was very vexing to her as she couldn't study their language like this.
Her studies had stalled until she was able to stop herself from retreating.
She didn't explore much because she didn't want to leave her room. Rather, she couldn't bring herself to leave. She knew that Donel could turn invisible and that stopped her from taking a single step outside. At least in her room she would know if someone came in because the door would make a noise. So, she was cooped up in her own room by her instincts.
When they finally resumed studying, a commotion occurred outside her room. From outside, a familiar boy's voice, that seemed to be screaming in anger, came in, "Let me in right now!"
Altair's mood plummeted because she knew exactly who that voice belonged to. She also half wished that they would let him in so she could return the debt she owed him. The other half didn't want that because she should be cautious of the God's power, even if they were a child.
The person who was blocking Joshua seemed to have said something that he didn't like because his voice screeched in again, "It's just a stupid servant girl! Who cares if I beat her to death!?"
Altair felt Donel's frown before she turned to see him frowning at the door. It sent a chill down her spine to see it and she felt herself tremble slightly due to his proximity. She slinked out of her chair and took a few steps away from him, even knowing that she probably shouldn't.
Donel didn't seem to notice as, at the same time, more screeching came into the room, "You can't stop me from going in there! I'll have my father execute you for being disobedient along with that stupid servant girl!"
Donel stood from his chair and gave Altair a warm smile that didn't meet his dark eyes while telling her, "I'll be right back." He then walked to the door and opened it.
Sure enough, on the other side was Joshua who was red faced and shouting at the guards that Altair had grown familiar with. Upon seeing Donel open the door he immediately smiled and said, "Donel, discipline these guards for me while I deal with that unruly servant girl."
Donel hit him with a vicious slap that echoed into the room, down the hall, and through the Servants Quarters. It also knocked Joshua down from the force of it.
Joshua looked up at Donel in disbelief. He had never been hit by a servant before. He was struggling to comprehend what just happened.
Donel didn't have the patience for him to wait as he stood respectfully in place and put his hands behind his back. He then stated, "Young Master, I do believe that Master told you not to come to the Servants Quarters. Why are you here, kicking up a fuss, despite not being allowed to be here?"
Joshua gave Donel an aggrieved look while trying to defend himself, "That servant girl needs to be punished. It's far more important to punish her than it is for me to not punish her. Since she's always hiding in here then I obviously have to come to deal with her myself!"
Donel sighed lightly before he asked, "Not that it is your job to discipline servants of the house, may I ask what she did wrong in the first place?"
Joshua looked into the room and saw Altair. His face twisted into a menacing glare as he stood to his feet, pointed at Altair, and said, "That stupid servant girl won't even kneel to me! How's she supposed to be a good personal servant when she can't even follow basic commands from her Master?"
Donel shook his head before stating, "Who put that thought inside your head, Young Master?"
Joshua gave him a baffled look while uttering a "Huh?"
Donel looked down at him and clarified, "She is not your private servant, Young Master. She has not even been assigned a position yet. For all we know, she could become your adopted sister and you almost beat her to death." He fixed an angry look at him before asking, "So, which moron told you that she was a servant?"
A look of complete confusion came to Joshua's face as she desperately shouted, "There's no way that Father would adopt her! That's why she's in the Servant's Quarters! She's obviously a servant because of where she is!"
Stone-faced Donel slowly explained, "It is common among noble families to keep new adopted members of their family in the Servants Quarters until they learn enough to be allowed out. This practice extends even to people who have been adopted into the main family tree." He motioned towards Altair behind him, "Naturally, that extends to her as well. She can easily become adopted into the main family." He put his hand back behind his back before asking again, "So, which idiot told you that she was a servant, Young Master?"
Donel didn't really believe that Altair would be adopted into the main family. She was just too lacking in the intelligence department. She would very likely end up as a servant or, at best, a bodyguard. Still, he was telling the Joshua that for the effect. Judging by the growing worry that was creeping on Joshua's face, it seemed to be working.
Joshua defiantly said, "There's no way I'll believe that!"
"You are free to ask the Master if it is possible on your own."
As soon as he finished saying that, Joshua quickly shouted, "Then I'll go ask now!" while attempting to flee.
Donel grabbed his armed before he got even a step away however, and stated, "You can go after you tell me which moron told you she was a servant, Young Master."
Joshua looked back at Donel with a pleading gaze. He had just come to deal with that stupid servant girl. How did things spiral so far out of his control? Donel wasn't even supposed to be here. He should have been responding to that fake distress call that his friend had cooked up for him. It worked last time so why didn't it work now?
He couldn't tell Donel that he got the idea from his friends. He didn't want them to be blocked from visiting him for a while and for him to be grounded.
He also couldn't accept that such an uncute girl would become his sister.
Donel was ignorant of his thoughts. The silence between them grew into a minute and Donel sighed heavily. He then said, "If you won't tell me, then fine." He fixed his other hand on Joshua's shoulder. "We can go and talk with Master about this issue together." He then started to push Joshua ahead of himself while saying, "Let us go, along with the guards, to see the Master and find out what he thinks about all of this."
Joshua then grew completely scared and started to mouth of excuse after excuse. Donel ignored all of it while pushing him forcefully ahead with the two guards following him, leaving Altair alone in her room.
She went over to the door after they left and watched them round the corner in the distance. She then sighed in relief as she realized that Donel would be gone for now. She was seriously having trouble dealing with him in close proximity.
Since Donel was taking that brat somewhere for a while, it would be a good time to explore the area. If her body let her, that is.
She took a tentative step out of her room and found… that she didn't suffer any of the problems of fear as before. She assumed it was because she just saw Donel hauling the brat away and started to walk down the hallway herself.
Once she reached the corner, she cautiously looked around it. She didn't want to run into any of the other servants. They would probably stop her and talk to her like Noel or Stacey would. They would also probably be just as strange as those two and she didn't want to deal with them. She just wanted to explore the area in peace and quiet, to get an idea of how the rooms were arranged.
Seeing no one in the immediately area, Altair walked down the hallway and into the courtyard. She looked around again and saw no one in the area, so she went to her left this time and started exploring.
She went down every hallway she came across. As she did so, she quickly found out that the layout of every hallway was very similar to the hallway outside of her room. The main difference being that the hallway outside of her room was a corner hallway, while most of the others had a T sectional entrance to theirs instead.
She didn't try any of the doors as she assumed they would lead to private rooms. She also didn't want to randomly run into someone. So she walked around, using her corners to keep herself concealed and prevent herself from bumping into people.
After an unknown amount of time, Altair had found a hallway different from the others on the left side of the courtyard. There were no doors that were evenly spaced like they were in all of the other hallways she came to. Instead, there was a strange pattern in the center of the hallway that faced the outer wall of the mansion. It had engravings in it and it had protuberances that went to the middle of it before turning down towards the ground and winding around back to the normal wall. There was also a strange green light on the two top corners and a blue light on the bottom two corners of the strange wall.
Altair had no idea what to make of it. She leaned forward to examine it and couldn't figure out anything with just her eyes other than the fact that it was probably an extremely smooth surface, like the material her walls were made of. She reached out to touch it but the wall slid apart right before her hand touched it. This caused Altair to freeze in place as the contents of the room before her were revealed to her.
