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Arinza
Arinza sighed again and continued on into the laundry. Her parents didn’t believe children, even those of the Blood, should be left idle, so there were very few drudges in the Hold and all the foster children had chores to do. Oddly, this made Pillok Hold very popular with other holders as a place to foster their children. Her parents didn’t know but she’d eavesdropped on many conversations between them and other Lord Holders asking them to foster Arinza with them in exchange for one of their children. Her reputation was also well known and many a Lord Holder would love to have her as a “stabilizing influence” on his own children. What none of them seemed to realize was that her parents would never let her go, and even if they did she was not outgoing enough to be any sort of influence on anyone. Why did they think she’d remained so well behaved? She was not forward enough to make friends and could honestly say she’d never had a friend in her life. Arinza sighed yet again and lifted a tall stack of clean linens from the counter they’d been left on. She grunted as she struggled to heft them comfortably and when they were finally situated she headed upstairs. Her chores for the day involved putting things away. The laundry had been done earlier by one of the fosterlings and now it was her job to put it away. Later, after the evening meal one of the fosterlings would be doing the dishes and she would have to assist by putting them away once they’d been dried. She frowned, trying to remember what name she’d seen on the list next to dish duty. She called up the list in her photographic memory and frowned even harder. Kirfon was not a name she recognized, but then she remembered that Robton, one of the older foster boys had returned home to care for his ailing father and begin taking over the duties of the Hold. Her older brother Danhin had then been switched to a different hold so they could keep their “ranks” full here at Pillok. Arinza sighed as she put the linens in the appropriate cabinet. The new boy had no doubt arrived just today and would be quite against washing dishes. Which of course would mean she’d end up doing them for him. Arinza rolled her eyes and headed to the evening meal, at least she would be allowed to enjoy her meal first. As always Arinza sat at her mother’s side at one end of a long table, and her father, Lord Danza, sat at the other end. Her father smiled and raised his wineglass to her as she seated herself and she smiled back, nodding a hello to both him and her mother. Before long the fosterlings came to the table and seated themselves. Arinza noted the face she did not recognize and was surprised to see that he seemed to have already made friends with the other fosterlings. He went right to Robton’s old seat and sat, shoving the young man next to him, who laughed and shoved back. Then they both looked up sheepishly as they noticed Lady Arinda and Lord Danza watching them. They settled down and as soon as everyone was seated the meal began. There were platters of food in the center of the table and everyone took turns passing them around. It was all quite civilized and visitors were always shocked how well controlled the youth were in Pillok Hold. But none of them ever seemed to chafe under the restrictions either. Arinza smiled softly; proud that her parents were so good at raising the fosterlings that came to them. Part of the trick was that the fosterlings that had been there longer initiated the newer ones into the way of things. Arinza watched the new boy, Kirfon as he interacted with those around him. He seemed perfectly at ease and yet now and then he’d start to say something and one of the boys across from him would apparently kick him under the table for he would jerk in his seat and close his mouth, suddenly pretending he had nothing at all to add to the conversation. After the meal he jumped up and gathered as many plates and platters as he could carry, heading to the kitchen with them. Lady Arinda smiled approvingly then arched an eyebrow at Arinza. She sighed then nodded to her mother’s silent order and gathered as many of the remaining plates and such as she could manage and followed Kirfon into the kitchen. She placed the plates by the sink and nodded to him. He seemed to know what he was doing, filling one of the large sinks with water so she turned and went back into the hall to gather more dishes. When the rest of the dishes had been brought in she sat down on a stool not far from the sink and watched Kirfon work. She smiled slightly as she realized she wouldn’t have to help him, he scrubbed each dish thoroughly, inspecting it for caked on food before rinsing it and placing it in the drying rack. He turned to look her way and flashed a smile when he caught her smiling as she watched him. Arinza blushed and looked away, ashamed to have been caught staring. “I don’t suppose I can talk you into giving me a hand with these?” he asked, a lock of reddish blonde hair falling in his face. His green eyes twinkled as he tried to shake it away and only succeeded in shaking more into his eyes. He shrugged as if to say, “oh well,” and smiled at her. “Okay,” she said shyly, hopping down off her stool and grabbing a nearby towel. She started drying the dishes he put in the rack and stacking them neatly so they would be easy to put away when they were done. “You’re Arinza, right?” he asked, looking sideways at her as he put one of the larger dishes in the drying rack. “Yes,” she replied, keeping her eyes on the dish she was drying. “I’m Kirfon,” he replied, flashing her a grin. “I know,” she said and blushed as his eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I saw your name on the list for dish duty tonight and yours was the only face I didn’t already know at dinner.” He grinned, “Well, what do you know, beauty and brains!” Arinza’s eyes widened in surprise and she turned away to put the now dry dish on the appropriate stack. She smiled softly to herself, trying to keep her head turned away from him as much as possible. She’d never considered herself pretty and had assumed no one else did either since they never told her so. The boys that came as fosterlings never seemed to look at her twice, with her straight black hair that had just enough wave in it to look frizzy, but not enough that she could make it curl and her plain almond brown eyes. Plus she was on the short side, probably the shortest person in her entire family. She’d seen the looks her older, much taller sister had gotten from the fosterlings before she got fostered herself. She knew the guys liked taller girls. “So, what exactly is your job in here tonight?” asked Kirfon, pulling her away from her thoughts. She turned to answer him but a head poked through the kitchen door just as she was opening her mouth. She frowned at the fosterling, Lirtlo, who hissed at Kirfon and grinned as he walked into the kitchen. “Hey, Kirfon,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets and sauntering over, “aren’t you done with those dishes yet?” “Patience, Lirtlo,” replied Kirfon, smiling, “I just want to make sure they’re clean.” “Who cares?” responded the other fosterling, grinning mischievously. “We’re just going to get them dirty again in the morning!” “Get out of here, I’ll be done soon.” Lirtlo snickered then saw Arinza frowning at him and looked at Kirfon in surprise. “Hey, you’re not making friends with Arinz are you? She won’t talk to us, thinks she’s too good for us!” Arinza frowned even harder and turned away from them, turning her attention back to drying the dishes in the drying rack. “Haha! You see!” crowed Lirtlo. “Turned her back on the likes of us she did.” “Shard it, Lirtlo, grow up,” replied Kirfon and Arinza smiled softly to herself. “Oh, come on, hurry up with that last dish, we’ve got the rest of the evening to ourselves!” “I’m coming, I’m coming, hang on,” said Kirfon, washing bits of grease off the last dirty pan. “It’s not like there’s much to do here.” “Aw, come on, the back corridors can be pretty exciting,” said Lirtlo, grinning like a fool. Then Kirfon put the pan in the drying rack and flashed her a smile before drying his hands on an extra rag and dashing off behind the other fosterling. Arinza sighed as she watched them go, wondering why he’d bothered to talk to her, but hoping it wouldn’t be the last time. Continue... |