[Continued from here]
Beranwen
rose and curtsied. Everyone had told her not to let it go to her head, but her
sudden return to reality felt like being kicked down stairs. She had been an
advisor today. She had done a good job, too, regardless of what Master Nereus
thought. After all, she couldn't have let Stan be taken away to be badly
treated by Derryl and his heartless advisor...
Stan. She supposed
there was no restriction on her going to see him. Maybe he could pass on her
goodbyes to...
Her
throat caught. Damn it, what was she thinking of? How could she have grown that
fond of a naive young boy and a mechanical man in just a few hours?
Her
feet were already taking her through the house towards the kitchens. She
wondered if Stan would stay here for long. Quinton might go off him in a day or
so - Mad Men were particularly fickle, and Nereus would be sure to try and put
some distance between the two men. It was hardly fair to leave Stan here on his
own, with only Quinton to stand up for him. But on the other hand, it wouldn't
be fair to Quinton if she were to take Stan with her.
They're not your
lives to arrange.
She reminded herself. Let Stan make his
own mind up.
But
this wasn't the moment to find out what Stan wanted to do. As Beranwen let herself
into the kitchen, the cook bustled up to her and waved a cleaver idly in the
direction of the large table in the centre of the room.
"What
am I supposed to do with this?"
She asked grumpily. 'This', once Beranwen had looked along the length of the
cleaver, turned out to be Stan, fast asleep on his hands, and the remains of a
meal scattered around him. Properly scattered. He had clearly upset a plate of
food.
"I
can't wake him up." The cook continued as Beranwen smiled. "I've
tried shaking him, and shouting, and I've jabbed him with the fire iron too.
Nothing works. I need that table if I want to have dinner ready on time. What
am I supposed to do, eh?"
"If
there's any help going, I'll take him outside and find him somewhere to
sleep." Beranwen offered. "I don't know why he's so tired - he's
slept a lot today already."
The
cook didn't seem impressed with the offer, but then she was rarely impressed
with anything. Beranwen flagged a gardener down and persuaded him to carry Stan
out into the kitchen garden. After settling him down on some empty potato
sacks, there wasn't much else to do, so she slipped off to the stables.
"What
trouble have you got yourself into, Winnie?" Beranwen's father didn't
believe in small talk - it only took a single look for him to assume the worst.
"I
had a really good day." Beranwen replied, in complete seriousness.
"Lord Quinton found an object for his quest, and he made a new
friend."
"But...?"
"But..."
She took a breath. Come on, Beranwen.
There isn't an easy way to say it, so just say it. "But I've been
dismissed. I've got to leave the house by morning."
She
had expected shouting. She had expected anger, and stamping around, and turning
the air blue. The silence that greeted her statement made her feel frightened.
"Not
while I am stablemaster." He said finally, and turned to leave. In the
moments it took for Beranwen to realised what he had said, he was almost to the
door.
"Pa,
wait!" She dashed over to him, pulling him back. "Don't go making
trouble, please. Master Nereus has said he'd give me a good reference, but not
if I cause trouble."
"He
said that, did he? Gods damn privileged bastards think they can make you do
their job then punish you when it goes wrong? Not in this house, not with my
daughter. This family holds up this
house. Not just the stables, either. We work everywhere, and without us, the
entire place would fall down. Let's just see if Master Nereus knows how to care for his own horses, or hang his own
meat, or keep weevils out of the grain."
"Pa!"
Beranwen was almost shouting, and all her weight couldn't stop the man moving
inexorably towards the house. "It's just a job. I can find another. Don't
put everyone out of work for one stupid thing!"
"We
can find work wherever we want, girl. That's what skill means. It's something
that everybody wants. Master Nereus wouldn't know skill if it smacked him
between the eyes, and if you don't stop
trying to drag me down Beranwen Tuple I will bury you head first in the
manure heap."
"I
won't let go, not until you stop and listen to me. Please, Pa!"
"What's
going on?"
The
new voice came from the stable door. It wasn't loud, and it wasn't angry, but
the sound of it silenced everything else.
Quinton
stood, still clutching his red scarf, looking at Beranwen and her father
in frightened confusion.
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