Chapter 38: All Together Again
The atmosphere at the dinner table was fantastic, quite frankly, or at least it would be if Dessi wasn't quite so reticent. The rest of the table was excited to be home, excited to see the people that were now home, or were excited to be in a new place. Dessi was relatively quiet amidst this good cheer and Kyrie was positive that it had something to do with the fact that Jiera and her children were staying here for the indeterminate future. This wasn't exactly the best time to be visiting the Terra Kingdom what with the ever louder clamorings of revolution, especially if the person she was visiting was at all associated with the royal family! Still, here they were, seemingly perfectly happy to be here despite the circumstances. Jiera had even gotten Mae in the sleep over mood, so to speak, because their master had agreed to let Raine sleep in her own room for the duration of Jiera's stay! That was something that Raine hadn't done since her infancy...
While most of the slaves were too happy seeing their loved ones to be that preoccupied with thoughts of the lady's situation, Dessi evidently had no other outlet for her attention, and this became quite clear when Vivian turned a question her way.
The sound of Dessi's name startled her into looking up from serving the food to her fellows, and she found that all 6 pairs of eyes were on her. The surprise on her features soon melted into an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention. What was the question?"
Vivian didn't seem too concerned with Dessi's lack of attention, because she was soon poking fun at it with a soft laugh.
"My my, Dessi, have you been taking lessons from Kyrie? She's lost in her own head pretty much all the time."
Kyrie blushed to be the butt of this joke, but it was clear that there was no particular malice from the other woman. Perhaps it was a bit of a jab towards Dessi, but it certainly wasn't one towards Kyrie. Even if it was though, Isaac was holding her hand underneath the table and the feeling of that could easily help comfort her from any embarrassment or unhappiness. Kyrie's thumb gently rubbed against his hand, and her body was leaning towards him just slightly, as if she was going to rest her head on his shoulder at any second.
Vivian presumably decided that her question was more important than watching Dessi squirm though, so she went to explain the context again.
"I was just commenting on how Markus and Raine seem to be getting along quite well. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up married to each other in the future."
It took a brief moment for the statement to really sink in for Dessi, but she was soon giving the younger girl an easy smile.
"Oh? Personally I think it's a little too early to be able to tell, but they certainly were all smiles when I served them at dinner."
"They're so cute together! I can't help but want to push them towards each other."
It was Jiera's slave girl, Neri, that piped in here, and the table once again devolved into smiles and general good cheer. As Dessi sat down at her spot, the table took this as a clear indication to start digging in. Once Dessi sat down any evidence of her sulking disappeared because she now switched to engaging in conversation.
"Enough about Raine and Markus, tell me about the Dominion. How was the visit? Did anything exciting happen?"
"Well of course something exciting happened: it's the Dominion! Lady Dandridge was invited to so many different things; she was quite the hot commodity! I feel like Lady Deveris has made our lady a bit of a celebrity over there, and all the ladies of the court clamored to see what a woman with as much power as Lady Dandridge was like. Even the men in the Dominion were a bit more open to a woman in charge, and a lot of the council members extended invites to the lady as well. At Lady Deveris's insistence Mae attended a good number of them, but I think all of us here can safely say she didn't like having to do it."
Vivian let out a soft chuckle at that which was echoed around the table by the slaves who worked in the Dandridge manor. Mae went to social functions even at home in the Terra Kingdom, but they all got the impression that she didn't enjoy them much. She always came back fairly early and she barely ever hosted her own events. There was a certain number she had to go to just to keep her face in society, but beyond that Mae rather pointedly avoided them.
In the Terra Kingdom, nobles only hosted functions for major events. There were some nobles that hosted purely recreational things on a monthly basis, but that was not the norm. The Dominion though, that was a whole different environment. In the Dominion of the Sea, everyone who was anyone was out and about mingling amongst each other pretty much all the time. It was much more common for families to host events once a week at least. There were very intricate webs of who went to what function at what time and it was a delicate political game to be able to balance it all. It was people like Jiera who thrived in this sort of environment; the people that could easily move between every invitation without being out of place and who seemed to know just the right amount of time to give to respect all parties involved.
These kinds of parties were a horrible draw on the Dominion's resources though. Rumor had it that the Dominion wasn't doing so hot financially; there were still parties and events, of course, but they weren't nearly as much of the spectacle that they used to be. Trade had been slowing down for them recently, and of course this meant that the royal family of Terra was watching the Dominion's decline with predatory eyes. All in all, it was really no surprise that the Dominion wanted to try and curry favor with one of the more influential members of the Kingdom upon hearing that she would be visiting. Mae might not be looked upon that fondly by her peers in the Kingdom, but they also couldn't deny that she had power that was not easily ousted; if she had an opinion on something, her words had to be heeded even if the other nobles didn't like it.
Mae was always steeped in politics wherever she went, even though to Kyrie, she seemed like the kind of woman who wanted to stay in her corner and never emerge.
"What about Markus and Raine, did they go on any of the outings?"
"Only one, though it wasn't exactly an outing. It was a nice little evening soiree in Lady Deveris's own house. From what we could gather it was something for just the council members and their families; Lady Dandridge was the odd one out in that gathering. Though, I honestly think that's because she was the subject of the party more than a guest. So many people wanted to talk to her during dinner, and after dinner when the men separated from the ladies for after dinner chatting Lady Dandridge actually went with the men! The men in the Dominion may be more accepting of a woman in power, but it was clear how uncomfortable they were to have our lady in their area."
Vivian laughed a bit at that, and Kyrie couldn't help but think that Vivian really was the right person to ask about events. She had a reputation for being chatty and that meant that all of these stories got plenty of detail added to them. Even now Vivian wasn't quite done.
"Later in the evening though she appeared in the ladies' room, and I remember hearing snippets of all kinds of questions about the men's room. As I tended to them I couldn't help but think how much the ladies of the Dominion made me think of a flock of colorful birds. They constantly talked and tried to draw attention to themselves with their appearance. It's funny, really, comparing them to Lady Dandridge. Our lady tends to have a more sleek and refined style, one that isn't so flamboyant and eye catching; to see her in the middle of all the Dominion ladies just made it look like she was a different species entirely. Or perhaps it made it seem like she was standing in the middle of her menagerie with all her pets vying for her attention."
For a moment Vivian seemed a little lost in her own thoughts, but then she ended up shrugging a little.
"Well, Raine and Markus seemed to have a good time at least. Or rather, I should say that Raine quite enjoyed herself; she was absolutely dazzled by everything that was going on and she adored the compliments that were thrown her way. It was an amazing new adventure for her. Markus didn't seem to enjoy it quite so much though. Right, Neri?"
Neri startled a little to be addressed directly by Vivian, who had so clearly taken the floor, that she seemed unsure of whether she should really step in. Vivian made an inviting gesture towards her that ended up coaxing a smile from the maid though.
"That's definitely right. Markus has never liked the clothes that his mother gets him to wear to the parties. He doesn't mind talking to people and interacting with others, but he's grown up in the Dominion... The compliments and bright words are a norm for him, something that he's been rather desensitized to. I think he gets bored at events where he doesn't have the option to play his own games."
Now that Vivian wasn't the one doing all the talking, she was getting nice and close to Renard. This prompted a soft chuckle from Renard when she laced one of her arms with his, making it much more difficult for him to eat his food. He quietly threatened to stuff food in Vivian's face if she kept getting in his way but she just grinned defiantly at him.
By the time that Neri had finished with her view of things, Vivian turned her attention away from Renard to pipe up once more.
"How does Lady Deveris take that? Surely she wouldn't want her son to grow to resent being a part of these social gatherings?"
"Oh... She's been trying to think up ways to get him more engaged. One of her most recent attempts has been trying to get him to think of them as massive word games, see how often he can out flatter people, in effect. It entertains him for a time, but I hope as he grows older he comes to adjust to the atmosphere a bit better. It'd make his life in the Dominion a whole lot easier, that's for sure."
Dessi eyed Jiera's other slave, Jared, and Isaac now that there was a bit of a lull in the conversation, and both of them shifted a little uncomfortably to be under Dessi's scrutiny.
"And what about you two? I haven't heard a peep from either of you yet."
Jared looked at Isaac with a bit of desperation of desperation in his eyes, and Isaac let out a soft huff as he scratched the back of his head. He probably shouldn't bring up his idle suspicions about Lord Deveris, especially not with Neri and Jared at the table. Besides, he didn't really have any evidence on it anyway. In the end he went more general.
"I'm not sure we've really got as much to say as the ladies. Jared and I spent our time out and about but not really in the presence of the nobles. I took the lady to these events that she went to and Jared took his lady. While we waited for our nobles to finish up with their parties we all would sit in the stables and play some cards or something. Other than that it was just rowdy chatter about stuff that I really don't have much to say on. Dominion news, for the most part. I guess I got asked plenty of questions about Lady Dandridge, but I feel like the answers I gave were never wholly satisfactory to whoever was listening."
"Ah, my friend... You never were any good at telling stories. If I'd have been there we'd have a bit more substance than your vague summary."
A slow smile spread across Isaac's face from Renard's statement.
"Would we really? I think perhaps you'd have spent all your time admiring the scenery rather than listening to and trying to entertain your fellows."
The two men laughed at that, though Vivian didn't exactly like this line of dialogue. She wasted no time at all in changing the direction of the conversation.
"Can you imagine slaves playing cards in the Kingdom while waiting for their masters? That would just be... Completely unheard of in every other household. I'm glad that Lady Dandridge takes care of us as much as she does, especially because we really didn't feel too out of place in the Dominion."
Here Neri opened her mouth as if to say something, but it was clear that she was hesitating. Dessi gave her a bit of an inviting smile and that relaxed her enough to be able to speak.
"I... I mean no offense, but I have to admit that when Lady Dandridge first came to visit the Deveris household, I expected her help to be so much worse off. The stories I hear about the slaves in then Terra Kingdom... They aren't pretty. Surely they must be exaggerated though, right?"
The atmosphere at the table turned a bit more solemn at this, and Vivian gave Neri a bit of a sad smile.
"No... No they're not exaggerations. I'm sure that everything you've heard and more is true. It's just Lady Dandridge... We all owe so much to her for taking us in."
Effectively awed into silence by the silent love and respect they all held for their lady, Neri just nodded her understanding. If Lady Dandridge demanded this much adoration from her slaves, then it was easy to see how it could extend beyond them. Surely she was as influential as she was because her subjects genuinely liked her, not just because she was rich. She didn't rule with fear, and that put her a leg up over her competition.
Feeling like she had to restore the mood of this dinner, Neri picked up her own glass and lifted it up.
"A toast then, to Lady Dandridge and our own Lady Deveris."
The smiles returned to the table as each of the slaves picked up their glasses.
"Here here!"
Leaning over the table to clink their glasses together, the rest of the dinner resumed in relative merriment until the food was eaten and everyone retired for the evening.
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