The next morning, after a restless night, Kellina arose early. While they had tried to make her comfortable, the sleeping arrangements would have to be addressed early on. She wondered idly if Adelaide was up and about yet. Looking around for her slippers proved fruitless and she inadvertently woke one of the maids.
“Ma’am? Can I help you with something?” was the sleepy question.
“It’s all right, child,” She responded in a soft whisper, “I’m just looking for my slippers. Go back to sleep dear, I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”
The girl reached over from her mat and handed the Kellina two soft pink slippers, “Here, Milady, if you please, use mine.”
She smiled as she slipped them on, “Thank you so much! Now, go back to sleep!”
The girl nodded as she laid back down, murmuring sleepily, “Yes, Ma’am.”
Clad now in robe and slippers, Kellina made her way to the kitchen area. Her dark brown hair hung loosely tousled over her shoulders, her hazel eyes watchful as she stepped around and between the sleeping forms around her.
In the kitchen, she was both surprised and not … Adelaide was up and fussing about, which was nothing new, but Kellina was surprised to find Ahren up and dressed already. Ahren bowed as the Lady came in.
“Good morning, Milady,” the boi said with a smile, “Did you sleep well?”
“Alas, no. Far too much excitement in one day, and then a bed that was not my own. And you?”
“I didn’t sleep much, Ma’am. Like you say, too much excitement and much to think about. Can I get you some breakfast?”
Kellina looked over the kitchen in wonderment. Thoroughly cleaned, there were boards covering broken panes in the windows, and warmth from the stove indicated a fire going, “There’s food? I would have thought the stove out of commission with all the other deterioration around.”
Adelaide came over, laughing, and put her arm around Ahren, “This boi is a wonder, girl! She was up all night, cleaning and scrubbing this place, and would not let anyone else lose sleep to help her. She found one crack in the stove chimney, repaired it, and cleaned it so I could use it.”
“She got the chickens we brought along to part with some eggs, made some biscuits, and even found a hive with honey in it. The bees were not as cooperative as the chickens, though. Then she managed to locate potatoes and coffee in the food wagon, and a goat found wandering outside shared some of her milk. The well is apparently in working order, and so between us two we pulled it together.”
The Lady blinked in amazement, “Honey? Now, so late in the year?”
Ahren smiled, “There was a bit left in a hive, Milady … oh, and the village is not entirely deserted. There are those who stayed here or returned after whatever happened to leave the castle in such a state. I have some chores to do for a villager later in exchange for the goat milk, if it pleases you.”
She nodded, “People stayed? I shall have to look about then. Of course, you may fulfill your barter agreement. And, have you always been so … resourceful, Ahren?”
Blushing brightly as she handed Kellina a cup of coffee, Ahren nodded, “I’ve been on my own since I was very young, Milady. I had to be resourceful. Lord Michon’s shire was actually the first place I’d stayed for any length of time. How do you like your eggs, Ma’am?”
Smiling at the redirection, she responded, “Over easy, please. Now, you were saying? How long had you been at Shire of the East?”
“Six months.”
“Why come here?”
“Lord Michon summoned me and asked if I would like to accompany you here, and I said I would. I thought perhaps I’d find a home … and …” her voice trailed off as she handed Adelaide some biscuits from the oven. She then handed the Lady a plate with two eggs, flawlessly done, golden hash-browns, and a biscuit smothered in honey.
“And…” came the prompt.
Ahren looked up at her, blue eyes glistening, “And a reason to serve … a purpose, Milady.”
The Lady regarded Ahren quietly as she ate. Hungrier than she had realized, the food was delicious and gone before Ahren had cleared the dishes.
Busying hirself with tidying, helping Adelaide with food for the staff, and making sure the Lady’s coffee cup was full, she was already pouring when Kellina’s hand went out after the third cup. She cried out as the scalding liquid flowed over her hand and fingers.
“Owwwww!”
Ahren, horrified at hir carelessness, ran for a cold cloth which Adelaide already had waiting when she got to the sink. As she did so, one of the male guards came in, “Are you all right, Ma’am? What happened?”
The Lady allowed Ahren to wrap her fingers gently in the cool towel, “It’s all right, just an accident is all.”
The guard, a bit overzealous in his desire to prove himself in the new setting, saw the spilled coffee and the pot on Ahren’s side of the table. Putting the picture together, he came over and slapped Ahren hard across the face, “You idiot! Look what you’ve done! My Lady, what shall be done with such carelessness?”
Ahren froze in offense and rage, then turned and walked slowly and silently over to the other side of the table where the Kellina stood and knelt at her feet.
The Lady glared at the guard, “That will be enough!” Her voice was like ice, “This was an accident and I’m not seriously hurt. You will apologize to my boi immediately for striking hir.”
The guard blinked, genuinely surprised, “Your …. Your … “
“Boi: a female submissive who follows a more masculine demeanor and dress, who you’ve struck without my consent. Now apologize.”
The guard, now thoroughly humiliated by his error, was not going to add to it by offering an apology to a former slut and her ‘boi’ – whatever they called it, he knew Lord Michon ran a sexual mastery, and that said only one thing about the women in that castle: sluts there for his pleasure alone. He was not about to apologize, and stiffening, said, “No, Ma’am. I will not apologize. I did my duty as I saw it.”
Kellina nodded, “Ahren?”
“Yes, Ma’am?”
“Fetch Captain Payne, please, and return here to me.”
Ahren rose and bowed, “Right away, Ma’am.”
While Kellina waited, she noticed Adelaide was busy working on the other side of the room and, with a deft curtsy to which the Lady nodded her consent, exited the kitchen. The guard remained frozen where he stood, silence between them hanging like velvet drapes over a window.
Several minutes later, Ahren returned.
Kneeling by the Lady once more, she looked up, “The Captain is on her way, Milady.”
Nodding, the Lady’s eyes locked on the guard in icy fury. She saw now that she would have to act and act decisively … after the incident at her chamber the night before, an example needed to be set, and this guard had unwittingly stepped forward to volunteer for the honor.
Captain Payne entered, bowed, and saluted sharply, “Ma’am! Yes, Ma’am!”
Turning to the Captain, She spoke softly and evenly, hiding the ever so slight tremor of fury in her chest, “This guard has overstepped his authority and struck my boi, Ahren, and then refused an order to apologize.”
The Captain glanced at the guard, who stood facing forward without emotion, then back at the Lady and nodded, “What is your will, Ma’am?”
“I want him imprisoned until a platform can be built that will serve for public displays of discipline. On that platform, he is to be bound and flogged until he consents to apologize to Ahren.”
“And … if he does not consent, my Lady?”
The Lady walked over to the Captain, meeting her gaze evenly, “Then he will die of his wounds.”
Payne nodded slowly and bowed, turning to move toward the guard.
Suddenly unfrozen and lunging toward Kellina, he cried out, “You stinking bitch, I’ll kill you!”
The Captain’s swift movement blocked the attack, and the next floored the guard, who found the Captain’s sword at his throat. In spite of this, the guard managed to spit at Captain Payne, whose sword pressed in till a crimson bead showed around it, “You were saying?”
“Enough, Captain!” the Lady said, “Take him to the brig … no matter its condition. Never mind the flogging. The miscreant has earned himself a death sentence. He will remain in the brig until judgment can be made.”
Nodding, the Captain pulled the guard to his feet and shoved him toward the door.
“Oh, and Captain Payne…” the Lady called, to which the Captain turned. “I want all guards assembled outside within the hour. Let the call go out that this Shire will be a haven for women, for women who love women, and for women who desire to follow the path of Dominance and submission of their free will. A call for female soldiers and guards who will train and protect this Shire under the guidance of our guardian, Tambor shall also go out. If a male desires to reside here, he will do so by consent only so long as he lives in honor, and fulfills the obligations of any other citizen within these borders.”
The Captain smiled, saluted sharply, and said, “By Your will, my Lady, so it shall be so!” As she left with the guard, Kellina thought she saw a renewed enthusiasm in the Captain’s step.
Turning back to Ahren, Kellina smiled tenderly, “Are you all right, sweet one?”
Ahren was dizzy with all that had transpired, but managed a nod, “Yes, Ma’am, thank you.”
Laughing softly, the Lady nodded, “No problem, I take care of my own.”
Ahren ventured a glance upward, “Your … own … my Lady?
“If you wish it.”
“What does being yours entail, if one may ask?”
The Lady walked over and gazed down at Ahren, who was still kneeling, and whose blue eyes were clear and full, “It means what you want it to mean, Ahren. Let’s start there …”
Ahren gulped, “I …. I’m … I don’t know what to say …”
“When one does not know what to say, it is then it is a time for silence. For now, there is a Castle to get in order and a Shire to restore! And I … need a Chamber to sleep in by tonight!”
Ahren nodded, but waited.
“You may rise, Ahren.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Ahren stood and went back to cleaning up after the Lady.
The Lady turned to leave, nodding to an apprehensive Adelaide who stood just outside the door. As she moved to leave the room, Kellina noted the look of relief when Adelaide saw the kitchen remained intact, stopping as Ahren called to Her, “Ma’am?”
“What is it, Ahren?”
“The answer is yes, Ma’am.”
She looked at Ahren for a moment and nodded, understanding more than most what was being offered, “Then your first duty is to obtain a detail to help you move my things into my chamber upstairs, and prepare it for me to use by tonight, after you complete your bartering agreements with the people in the Shire.”
“Ma’am?”
“Yes, Ahren?”
“What are you going to name the Shire?”
Thinking for a moment, the Lady smiled as only one name came to her. “Dragonsheart,” She said, and left the room.
“Dragonsheart,” whispered Ahren, nodding in approval even as she headed for the door to obey hir Lady’s command.
Adelaide returned quietly and resumed her work on the kitchen, muttering softly, “Fine thing … I get a good helper, and off she goes … oh well, couldn’t be a better choice for the gir … I mean, Lady.”
She looked out one of the windows, out over the sleeping village and rolling hills beyond, toward the morning sun. She nodded in approval, “Dragonsheart!”
