Chapter 3: Tragedy (Part I)
Lyvia's POV
I consider myself very fortunate with regards to my upbringing. I was an only child; my mother had difficulties conceiving and I was something of a miracle child. Perhaps as a result they lavished on me all the love and attention that they would have given three or four children had they had more. If truth be told, I was at risk of growing up utterly spoiled, and it is perhaps only thanks to my family's somewhat diminished circumstances that I did not; financial necessity ensured that I was not doted on extravagantly in a material sense. From as young as I can remember, my father taught me what true value was. "Too expensive is too cheap," he'd say, or, "Seek not what you can't afford, but what can't be bought," or a dozen other little saying he was fond of, all teaching the same lesson that you shouldn't chase expensive trinkets and that the best things in life couldn't be bought for coin anyway.
House Conrad had never been an especially prosperous house, stuck as it was with meager and unproductive holdings in the backwaters of the Western Dominance, and that didn't look likely to change. But we had what we needed and should be happy with that.
One of the ways that our modest circumstances manifested itself was that the three of us were the only nobles in the household, and the staff, from the butler to the nursery staff to the head of the house guard, were all skaa. In more affluent families, minor nobles would fill in these positions of trust, but for us there were no other nobles more minor that could be expected to fill those roles. As a result I grew up surrounded by skaa, and none more so that Yute.
Yulteau, whom everyone, myself included, called Yute, was the youngest of my nurses, but obviously still a number of years older than I. She was like a big sister to me. I was something of a late developer physically… At the time most children would be running around chasing each other, I was still unsteady on my feet and would tire quickly when walking. Yute would go with me everywhere, holding my hand to steady me. If I got tired, Yute would pick me up and let me ride on her shoulders. I loved being so tall, I'd stretch out my arms like I was flying as she ran, feeling secure because I knew she had safe hold of me… I thought Yute was the most amazing, most beautiful girl ever, I wanted to be just like her… one time I stole one of the younger maids uniforms so I could dress like Yute. I wanted to be a nursemaid like her, I told her one day we would go to Luthadel and become nursemaids together for one of the great houses.
I loved spending time with Yute. Every morning she would wake me up and help me downstairs to breakfast, holding my hand as I took one careful step at a time. She'd let me watch as she cooked my breakfast in the big kitchen. My favorite days were when we got to spend the entire day together, and would end with her helping me to bed, often carrying me up the stairs if I'd had a tiring day.
One evening I was put to bed unusually early. A group of nobility traveling from Luthadel arrived unexpectedly. It turned out that there had been a fire at the manor where they'd planned on staying, and ours was the closest alternative for them to spend the night before continuing their journey. While it was a great imposition on my parents, they were anxious to make a good impression on these guests, and did their best to be hospitable at such short notice. I was introduced briefly to the strangers, but then sent to bed so as to free my parents and the servants to attend to the guests.
The next morning I was awoken by the sound of slamming doors. I wouldn't normally have been awake so early, but with the early night I had already had my fill of sleep. I climbed out of bed and saw my parents escorting the visiting nobles out to where their carriages were being prepared for the next leg of their journey.
I was struck by a thought. Since Yute had not come to wake me yet, perhaps she was still asleep! I decided that I would surprise Yute by sneaking downstairs and preparing breakfast for her for a change. I had watched her enough times I was sure I would be able to figure it out.
I descended the stairs, one careful step at a time, giggling to myself at how surprised Yute would be when I woke her up with her breakfast ready. But I was the one who would be surprised when I entered the kitchen to find Yute there already.
On the floor. In the corner, the tiled section with the drain in the floor the cook used when slaughtering livestock. Curled up with her back to me. Not moving.
I think I knew, deep inside, I already knew what I would find. And yet I still wanted to believe that she was just unconscious, like she had fallen and hit her head. I crossed the room like I was a puppet, my body moving out of my control. I knelt down next to her and hesitated before reaching out to try and shake her awake.
My touch caused her to roll onto her back, her head falling back and tearing open anew the blood crusted gash across her throat. Most of her blood had already drained from her, soaking her clothes and making a trail down to the drain… staining my hands… Her dress was torn, her body abused and… well…
And that was how my mother found me, blood soaked and cradling Yute, crying hysterically. She had been only moments too slow to save me from my grisly discovery.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone