Chapter 2: Young Love
It didn't take long before Vivian's efforts started to pay off. Kyrie's interest in Isaac was growing with each passing day, especially because Vivian wasn't the only one trying to get them together: Dessi had also picked up on what a good match Isaac and Kyrie would be. As a result, both women were pulling subtle machinations with Kyrie, nothing particularly forceful, just enough to get Kyrie to look at him a bit more. And look at him she did... Her eyes lingered on Isaac more and more when she thought he wasn't looking, and she was also starting to get more comfortable talking to him at dinners. Any interaction with him left her feeling fluttery, and so it was as she sat at the entrance to the stables, waiting for Isaac to come back from the marketplace.
Dessi had asked her to come out here and get the goods from Isaac as soon as he came back, and she just couldn't seem to sit still. This came out in the form of her slowly twirling a blade of grass in her fingers, chipping it apart with her nails as her eyes kept darting towards the gates. Not only was she nervous about the fact that it was Isaac that she was meeting alone out here, but she was also fidgety because she wasn't actively working at the moment.
It had been a few months since she'd entered the house at this point, and she had enough of a grasp at reading to be able to decipher Mae's notebook. She hadn't been kicked out and sold yet, and that gave her quite a bit of hope that she was here to stay. Even if she had that hope though, there was still that worry in the back of her mind that if she didn't do her work well then she'd be sold to someone else, which was a part of why she was so nervous sitting idly like this; life in the Dandridge household was the best she'd ever experienced, quite frankly, and she didn't want anything to jeopardize that. All things considered, Kyrie's slave life hadn't been that bad compared to some of the others, but there's no denying that life as a slave in the Terra Kingdom was oppressive. There were constant reminders through daily living that she was little more than property to most nobles, property that is to be seen and heard as little as possible.
Living under Mae though... This manor made her feel like she actually had her own life instead of solely a life serving others. Sure, she worked hard during the day, but once the evening rolled around it wasn't just a straight shot to a bed; they actually had time for leisure and talking with the other slaves. They could also own things! It wasn't completely out of the question to bring requests and questions to the lady. She never got mad at them for asking, and she usually granted whatever item was requested of her. They could even chat with the other slaves during the day if their duties found themselves in the presence of one another! Mae didn't mind chatter at all so long as they still did their work, even if she was in the same room as them! The lady pretty much never contributed to the chatter, but she didn't tell them off for talking either. As long as Kyrie kept doing her very best in both learning the menagerie and doing the chores around the house then she was sure that she'd be able to stay for as long as the lady lived!
To that end, Kyrie was obediently following Dessi's request, hoping to be as helpful as she could be with whatever task she was given. Now that she was out here though, she couldn't help but think that it was a little bit of a strange request: usually Isaac just brought in the supplies himself, she wasn't sure why she was needed. Perhaps it was a bigger load than usual? The longer she sat pondering though, the more uncomfortable she got. She kept thinking that she should be doing something.
Her hands were itching for her sketchbook in her idleness, but at the same time, she was quite glad she didn't have it; she was rather shy when it came to other people knowing that she drew. It was only after a month of being here that Kyrie had finally worked up the courage to take Lady Dandridge up on her offer of reasonable recreation items. Though, what was reasonable for Lady Dandridge was quite a different standard from what Kyrie thought reasonable; it was clear from the manor that she lived in that the lady was quite wealthy. Mae wasn't one for garish finery, but everything furnishing the house was extremely high quality and anyone looking at it would be able to tell that the lady was well off. Also, just the fact that she was able to have an elaborate menagerie inside her house spoke volumes to the lady's wealth. Still, not wanting to try her luck, Kyrie had asked the lady for charcoal and a notebook of her own. She had the cover excuse of taking notes on the animals ready for the lady, but when Kyrie had asked Mae for these things they had been given to her then and there, no questions asked. Kyrie had been overjoyed to be given her own book, and now there were all manner of sketches in there in addition to the drawings and notes on the lady's animals.
To try and keep her mind off how much she wanted to draw, Kyrie began mentally reciting information about the menagerie instead. The lady's menagerie was not a small one by any stretch of the word, and since the inhabitants weren't kept in cages it was crucial to know everything about them. Mae had carefully studied how they interacted with one another and had settled them into specific rooms of the menagerie so that they wouldn't end up killing each other. She was occasionally bringing in new creatures as well, but it never took long for her to find a place for it. Mae herself was an expert at moving through the rooms of the menagerie without generating the ire of any of the animals, and since she'd raised a lot of them herself they had a certain fondness for her. They were still learning with Kyrie, but clearly Kyrie was showing enough of an aptitude for it that Mae hadn't replaced her.
The sound of wheels clunking along the ground broke Kyrie out of her mental recitations, and she stood up from her spot next to the stable. Dropping the torn up blade of grass in her hands, she wiped at her skirt a little to brush off any excess dirt before turning her attention to the cart.
Her eyes locked briefly with those of Isaac, and while Kyrie promptly looked down, Isaac's face lit up with a glowing smile.
"Kyrie! I can't say I was expecting to see your face greeting me! Did you need something?"
Pulling back the reins on the horses once he'd gotten the cart into the proper place, he hopped down from the top of it to land right next to her.
"Sort of. Dessi asked me to come out and bring in the supplies you had."
He tilted his head a little at that as his eyebrows furrowed just slightly.
"Huh. I guess she desperately needed something I'm bringing back? Any idea what she's looking for?"
The question caused Kyrie to scrunch her brow as she thought about it. Dessi hadn't told her to bring back anything in particular, but if she had to guess it'd probably be one of the staples like flour or sugar.
"She didn't say what she was looking for... I suppose the sugar or flour, maybe?"
"Well feel free to have a go at the goods, see if you can deduce what she wants. I'll just be a few minutes unharnessing the horses."
Kyrie nodded and moved around to pull open the back of the cart, but she couldn't help it when her eyes followed Isaac. He was so gentle with the horses, murmuring softly to them as he released them from their bonds. One of the horses snuffed in his face and the result was that Isaac let out a soft laugh and pat the horse on the cheek. Perhaps there was something to be learned about animal handling from Isaac, and Kyrie watched him with a mix of admiration and just her own desire to watch him. Her eyes had always been drawn to those that were genuinely happy, and Isaac had always struck her as one of those people.
It was also interesting to see the differences between how Isaac handled the animals and Mae did. Isaac was a lot friendlier with them: there was a much more relaxed atmosphere, as if he was a friend more than a master. With Mae, there was a clear line between master and pet: while Kyrie was sure that Mae loved the inhabitants of her menagerie, she was also sure that Mae fixed clear values to her pets. It was an odd impression since Kyrie wasn't really sure what kind of value could be assigned to them, but that's certainly what it felt like.
The other big difference between Mae and Isaac was that Mae was not... happy. Or at least, she certainly wasn't happy like Isaac was. In all the time that Kyrie had spent learning from her and waiting on her, not once had she seen the woman smile. She'd never seen Mae get upset either though. Her words, her entire demeanor, all of it was always completely blank. It was as if she refused to show emotion to anyone. Surely she must have some, no one could possibly exist without emotions, but to tell what the lady was feeling at any given time... It was an impossibility. Kyrie couldn't say for sure that Mae wasn't happy, but it was what her gut told her: no person that had meticulously trained themselves to withhold their emotions could have a truly good and content life.
Kyrie wasn't aware that she had switched from covertly watching Isaac to obviously watching him, so when he caught sight of her as he was turning into the stalls, he rose an eyebrow.
Before he could say anything, Kyrie immediately realized her folly and dove into the contents of the cart, pointedly avoiding his gaze as her cheeks burned. How could she have just been staring at him like that? She brought her hands up to cover her face as she tried to get the heat to cool. Why couldn't she just interact normally? If only she were more like Vivian or Dessi, then she could interact with people without being so strange!
Letting out a soft sigh, Kyrie got started organizing all the different things in the cart. Isaac didn't just take runs for the kitchen, he did all the shopping once a week; this meant that a lot of things needed to be hauled off and divvied up. To that end, she was organizing the goods by type so she could more easily identify what it was that Dessi wanted.
By the time Kyrie separated all the kitchen items, Isaac had finished putting the horses away. So when Kyrie turned in the cart to find Isaac staring straight at her, she let out a soft sound of surprise and jumped a little, her eyes going wide. The reaction prompted a laugh out of Isaac, and Kyrie couldn't help but like the sound of his laugh; it felt more genuine and less teasing than Renard's did.
"So the lady can stare but she can't handle a bit of staring herself?"
Even if it felt less teasing, the teasing definitely was still there. Isaac was a friend of Renard's, after all, and Renard seemed to live on light teasing; it was hard to imagine that none of it had rubbed off on Isaac. Kyrie blushed at his question, and as she started to stutter out an apology, he held up his arms to her.
"Don't you apologize, there's no harm done, really. Honestly, I should be the one apologizing to you for scaring you like that. Will you forgive me if I help you down?"
He was still smiling at her, and she tentatively reached out to hold onto his shoulders.
"O-of course. But... I would've forgiven you even without that..."
A blush once again started sneaking onto her face, and without further ado Isaac lifted her up. She was a little surprised by the relative ease with which he plucked her off the cart and she felt like she couldn't get her face to calm down even a little.
All she could seem to think about was how much she wanted to draw Isaac's face right now as he smiled down at her.
There were a number of sketches of him in her blank notebook, sometimes with Renard and sometimes without. He wasn't as handsome as Renard, Kyrie supposed: Isaac's hair framed his face with soft mousy brown colored curls, and he always had a bit of stubble. While Isaac came across looking rough and more worn, Renard was clean shaven and almost pristine in his appearance. Even with his blonde hair going down to his shoulders, everything about Renard just looked well groomed. It made Renard look like he was younger than Isaac when he was actually older by two years. Still, what Isaac had to him that was vastly superior to Renard was warmth and liveliness. So often when Kyrie was in Renard's presence she felt like he was presenting a very practiced persona; with Isaac, it felt like she was actually interacting with Isaac.
Isaac's hands lingered on her body where he'd helped to hoist her up; long enough for her to start to get a little nervous at the fact that he was still holding her. Looking down and away from his smiling face, she mumbled softly.
"T-Thank you..."
Her voice came out soft, and he jumped a little to be taken out of his reverie. Immediately his hands moved off her waist, and Kyrie felt the loss more than she ever would've expected.
"And thank you for forgiving me."
The smile that he gave her now was laced with a bit more fondness, and once again Kyrie could feel the heat rising to her cheeks while she turned away to face the goods.
"L-Let's get this stuff in to Dessi."
Isaac made a hum of agreement and the two of them pulled out rather sizable piles to take in before hoisting them up and walking off to the kitchens.
"So how do you like the Dandridge household? You've been here for what... 3 months now?"
Her eyes lifted from her feet to look at him, though when their eyes locked briefly she found that she couldn't hold his gaze for very long.
"Yes, about 3 months... and it's... the best place I've ever been. Lady Dandridge holds me to high standards, but as long as I meet them then life is really good. Better than I ever would've thought possible for someone like me."
"I can definitely echo that sentiment."
Isaac looked up at the house for a moment with fondness in his eyes.
"I can't imagine where I'd be now if the lady hadn't taken notice of me all those years ago. Well... I guess that's not entirely true. I can imagine it, it's just not pretty. I'd probably be just some no name slave in one of the many poorly regulated mines in the country: I will admit I was not the most compliant youth."
Turning her eyes towards him with a bit of a furrowed brow, Kyrie found it rather hard to believe that he had been a hellion. He was just so mild-tempered now; she didn't think she'd ever seen him without a smile on his face. Seeing the doubt in her eyes, he let out a soft chuckle.
"It's true! I'm reformed now, but trust me when I say I wasn't always like this!"
A soft smile rose to her features then, and before she could really say anything in response, another voice was cutting in.
"Ah, Kyrie! There you are. I really need that flour, if you'd please."
Thankfully, Kyrie guessed right in what it was that Dessi wanted, and she quickened her step to get over to Dessi and deposit the flour in its rightful place.
"Perfect! Isaac, you kept us waiting much too long for this!"
The buxom cook waved a finger at Isaac, though it was clear by her light tone that he had hardly offended her. Knowing this, Isaac just gave a light shrug.
"I came as fast as I could. Good thing Kyrie was with me or it would've taken even longer for me to get you your things."
"Oh...? I would've thought it'd be just the opposite with her company."
There was an almost sly smile rising to the older woman's features, and almost immediately a bit of color rose to Isaac's cheeks. Thankfully for him, Kyrie seemed to be completely oblivious as to why it might've taken longer, plus she was busy sorting the goods out. Isaac gently punched at Dessi's arm, giving her a bit of a look which just caused her to laugh.
Anytime the cook laughed, one just had to forget whatever grievance they had against her. Dessi's voice had an almost musical quality to it that demanded the attention of anyone in the same room as her. It didn't matter if she was speaking softly or loudly, all eyes still got drawn to her. They tended to stick to her as well, considering she was a woman that had a pleasingly full figure. It was strange to see, but every movement of hers was tantalizing in its own right. This was something that had been done purposely in the previous houses that she'd lived in; Dessi had learned fairly early on to use her looks and sex appeal to her advantage. Even though she didn't need it in the Dandridge household, those habits had been so ingrained into her that they permeated her everyday actions. Despite being a solid thirty two, her looks had not faded in the least, and she still gained attention from the two males in the house from time to time.
"Kyrie, I can take care of that from here. If you would be so kind, I do believe that Isaac could use a little more of your help toting the rest of the goods around the house."
Sending a questioning look between both Isaac and Dessi, Kyrie caught Isaac briefly looking at Dessi in a bit of surprise before he quickly snapped his gaze to meet hers.
"You'd certainly be welcome. It's nice to have company for my chores."
Kyrie felt strangely abandoned by Dessi, but the older woman, seeming to expect this, sidled up behind her. Placing two hands on Kyrie's shoulders, Dessi stuck close to her for a moment.
"Oh don't make a face like that. Isaac won't bite. Well. Not unless you want him to."
This entire bit was said softly into Kyrie's ear, and despite the fact that she was inexperienced in such matters, the implications behind Dessi's words were very clear. Dessi lightly pushed Kyrie forward towards Isaac after saying her piece, which certainly didn't help. In fact, it just made things a bit worse by the fact that Dessi had pushed her enough for her to knock into Isaac. Stumbling through an apology, Kyrie quickly darted out the door, silently wringing her hands in her skirt.
Isaac's heavier footsteps could be heard behind her, and soon he was matching her stride. She was certainly adorable, and Isaac had to admit that he was a bit thankful to Dessi for picking up on his interest in Kyrie. She had felt... so warm and soft in his hands when he'd helped her down from the cart, and he couldn't help wishing that he could touch her body like he'd touched Dessi's not too long ago. He didn't... He didn't go to Dessi because he loved her, he went to Dessi because he had no one else. But if he had Kyrie...
Lightly chiding himself for getting ahead of himself with these thoughts, he instead strove to make Kyrie comfortable once more.
"Sorry that you got roped into this. I hope you don't mind helping me out a bit more."
Kyrie looked up at him then, and when she saw the sincerity in his eyes, she found herself looking down again. It was so easy to stare when she knew he wasn't looking, but when he was looking it was made all the harder.
"I don't mind at all. It's rare that I get out of the manor so it's a nice change of pace when something brings me here."
"Hmm... Perhaps we should rectify that? One of these days when you can spare some time you should join me in the stables. It might be useful for your training to deal with some animals slightly less exotic."
This idea clearly held some appeal to her as she stared off in the direction of the stables. She would like to try interacting with the horses, they seemed like a delight to be around whenever she saw them with Isaac.
"Thank you, it's really nice of you to think of my training like that."
She fidgeted slightly, realizing that she hadn't given him much of an answer at all. Quickly catching her hands, she instead clenched her skirt to get them to stop moving.
"I will try to join you when I can squeeze in some time out here. I'm afraid I can't be much more specific than that; I don't really know when next I'll feel caught up enough to come out."
"That's perfectly fine! I'll look forward to seeing your face outside the stable again in the future. Just try not to leave me waiting too long."
He gave her a soft chuckle, and she returned his good humor with a shy smile of her own. That look of hers sent an almost uncontrollable urge through Isaac to gather her up in his arms. He resisted though. Just barely.
Despite being Renard's friend, Isaac was nothing like the other man when it came to relationship matters: he didn't move quickly, and he certainly wasn't prone to sleeping with every female that moved. Kyrie herself was also radically different from the other women in the house; she was a type that Isaac was much more likely to be interested in. Instead of the vocal confidence of the other two, she had a softer confidence, one that didn't show up unless you were really looking. He was already starting to see her open up with him and he found it even more rewarding than slowly earning the trust of a new horse. It was a feeling unlike any other. To make everything all the better, Kyrie was sweet, pretty, and he'd never heard her tease. At least certainly not like Dessi and Vivian did. Isaac liked her for her differences, and he was eager to spend more time with her in the future.
With this "date" settled, Isaac's spirits were high, and the two of them continued lugging the goods back and forth from the house. It was hard work, but they hardly felt it because they kept rather comfortable conversations going. Both Kyrie and Isaac left that encounter in a good mood, and Kyrie's hands knew exactly what she was going to be drawing that evening.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
WhiteMoonlitRose
WhiteMoonlitRose These first two chapters I wanted to do a decent job getting across who the main cast was going to be. Renard, Kyrie, Vivian and Isaac are the main people. Dessi is present, definitely more than Mae is, but primarily this story is about the first four. Hopefully you're getting a sense of who's who and what kind of society they live in!
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