Of Lords, Ladies and Unknown Lands

Lord Aldous Vasant was not what most would call an attractive man. His hair, what was left of it, was the grey of a dreary day. Eyes were a dull brown as if taken from a tree stump. The shape of his body sided on portly and not evenly portioned as the man’s weight mostly resided in his belly. Even at the height of six feet, one would definitely consider him plump.

The Lord’s most prominent feature however was likely the long pointed nose that protruded from his face and his elongated chin. There was also the issue of his arms which seemed disproportionately short compared to the rest of him. There was much debate over the man’s actual age but most figured in his thirties somewhere.

It wasn’t however the man’s looks that truly made him unattractive, it was his personality. He tended to be nasty to the household staff in general but more so to the slaves. Islana wasn’t the only slave there but the rest, being adults, seemed to not be treated as badly as she tended to be.

Each evening, there was the matter of the Lord’s bed and which female he would order to grace it. No one thought much of this with the female slaves because they were slaves. None of the women ever seemed to get pregnant but he wasn’t looking for that by any of them. The man had definitive criteria when it came to such things.

Lady Elydis Vasant was younger than her husband by several years or so people assumed. According to all accounts, the woman with chestnut-colored hair and eyes the color of the deepest seas had been quite the beauty when her body had still been healthy. While it was difficult to tell any longer, the Lady stood about 5’7" and had once had a body on the slimmer side but not so much as to be skinny. She now was just thin due to the ravages of the illness that had invaded her body for years.

Unlike her husband, the staff that had been there long enough spoke of Lady Vasant as a wonderful woman with a kind heart. She was the first person in the household to warn Islana of Vasant’s true intentions. Elydis quickly gained a soft spot for the young slave and did what she could for her even if was never enough to keep her husband away from the redhead.

The doctors would come and go, sometimes the woman would see several over the course of a few days. The doctors would get paid a hefty sum for their travels and time only to say that Lady Vasant had a wasting disease or that they didn’t know what was wrong with her. The ones that Elydis thought were the worst were those that would bring the Pillars into the conversation. Zin just wasn’t ready for her was a popular expression to use around the ill woman.

Elydis knew about her husband's transgressions as did the entire household and some outside of the household but did not think much of it. Those women were simply giving him what she could no longer provide herself, and though she did not like that they were ordered to do such things, there was little she could do about it. The marriage had never been one of love as it had been arranged. so there was no slight.

It was the age of the redheaded slave along with Aldous’s almost obsession with Islana that made Elydis want to do more for the girl. It seemed obvious he wanted the girl to have children with him. Her looks made her a prize, but she was also of a lower class which meant his real intention was to keep her like breeding stock. Likely, he would actually marry someone of the correct lineage, once Elydis was dead, and then pass off the children he had with Islana as that of his and his new wife.

The Lady was also aware Islana had little recourse and once she was dead, the girl’s role would change significantly. Aldous had no intention of letting the redhead ever go. So, Elydis planted seeds in the girl’s mind. One time mentioning the money that was stashed away. Another time having a conversation and finding out that Islana knew how to use a bow, she then mentioned that Lord Vasant had an old bow in his office. There would be more discussions of the grounds, the nearby woods, the guards, and other such topics over the years. The conversations were done in such a way as to not draw suspicion if overheard. It was such a concern that the older woman never told Islana of her husband’s plans just hoping the girl figured it out eventually.

—-
A few days after the party.

Islana stepped into the Lord’s office quietly and carefully, almost as if she was entering a sacred area. This was an awful task to have been given, cleaning this room. Everything had its place here. Something the slightest bit off and the man would know.

Dusting the shelves which held a few books and many trinkets which put the Vasant’s wealth on display was the worst part and the one Islana took to first. It would take a long time to get through the shelves due to the meticulous way the girl went about it.

Then the windows were cleaned of the dust which tended to accumulate on them. Cleaned until the sun showed and lit up the room.

Right before the floors came the oak desk with the decorative swirling carvings. A letter lay open on the top of the desk, Vasant left letters open all the time in here. He was under the assumption that Islana could not read. His assumption was wrong but who was she to correct him?

Most of the time, the letters were a dull business that held little interest to the slave but this time something caught her eye. This particular letter was from some high officials in Salos. Regarding the prospects of shipping building materials to some new land, in the future.

Arcadia, the word had crossed Islana’s ear at the party but really she had no idea what it meant. Now she knew. A new land, one that would eventually, or might anyway, be an expansion of Helias. The word made its way into her mind, locked away for the moment as the girl went back to cleaning.