Story Hub: [link]
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V //~~~//
Serena and Astor careened down the hill, so disoriented from the fall that they didn’t have a chance to save themselves before crashing into the water. Beneath the river’s rapid flow, the situation worsened as Serena couldn’t even tell which direction was up anymore. The maid fought to stay conscious until an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her to the surface. She took in a much-needed gulp of fresh air as Astor pulled her onto dry land. The maid gratefully (read: with the desperation of a cat in a bathtub) threw herself onto her savior, awkwardly grabbing onto Astor as she tried to claw onto solid ground. However, Serena paused as she felt something on Astor’s chest.
‘Huh? What am I touching?’ Serena wondered as she regained full awareness of her surroundings and realized she was practically groping Astor’s exposed chest. The coachman’s shirt had been torn open by Bellero’s lance, revealing a very conspicuous pair of breasts partially wrapped in a now-broken binding. ‘Oh…oh…ooooohhhh,’ Serena cringed.
“Are you going to let go now?” Astor said flatly, causing Serena to jump.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Serena spun around. ‘Just great, just great, real smooth, Serena. In the last ten minutes, you’ve managed to turn a pleasant conversation into almost dying, an awkward moment, and sexual harassment. I don’t know what’s going on with Astor, and frankly it’s none of my business.’
“Serena,” Astor began, their voice uncertain. “I guess you know my secret now…”
“Listen, I didn’t see anything,” Serena said in a panic. “It’s your life, and how you live it is none of my business. And frankly, I don’t need to invite more drama into my life by making a big deal of anything going on in yours.”
“Serena?” Astor went from concerned to a little confused.
“Frankly, I’m not one to judge,” Serena exclaimed. “I mean, I met plenty of varied people at school, and I never gave them a hard time, not that people in general gave me the time of day, but that has nothing to do with now. In the here and now, nothing happened, because I saw nothing. I didn’t do that uncalled for action either. So, let’s agree that I saw nothing and did nothing…”
“Serena!” Astor was getting a little annoyed.
“Unless you’re not cool with that, but what do we even do then? I mean, you did save my life, and I tried to save yours, but I screwed up. Let’s just go back to pretending tonight didn’t happen.” Serena completely lost the plot.
“Serena,” Astor was half amused and half exasperated.
“I mean, we could make it even…no, that’s even worse, isn’t it?” Serena was lost in her own little world.
“Serena!” Astor grabbed Serena’s shoulders and spun her back around. “It’s fine. Just focus on what’s important. Are you hurt?”
“Uh,” Serena realized how she was acting. Looks like the madness had finally spread to her. “I’m fine, nothing bruised but my pride, and nothing wrong except for the sheer embarrassment.”
“Good, can you stand up?” Astor moved to their feet and offered their hand.
“Yep,” Serena took their hand and was pulled to her feet. For some reason unknown to her, she was still frazzled.
“You continue to surprise me, Serena,” Astor laughed. “Isn’t it my job to be panicking right now?”
“Force of habit. I guess I’m just used to every little problem becoming my responsibility these days,” Serena sighed. “I’m sorry for stealing away your panic.”
“Heh, funny,” Astor chuckled. “But don’t worry about me, I’d be more worried about you.”
“Huh?” Serena looked down at herself. Her uniform was fine, if a little muddy, it was sturdy and reinforced, after all. The same could not be said for her hair. “Gah, what even is this? It’s not mud! Oh Lord, it’s sticky! I’m going to be scrubbing at this all night!”
“Come on, let’s get out of here before that stuff hardens,” Astor suggested.
“What?” Serena was already trying to stick her head back into the river to wash off the gunk. “Um, right, I should probably get some shampoo for this.” The maid sheepishly got back to her feet.
“After you,” Astor offered.
“Sure,” Serena coughed as she took the lead. ‘Astor sure recovered quickly. It helps when I’m the nervous wreck. I don’t know the what or the why of their circumstances,’ Serena watched as Astor adjusted what remained of their bindings, ‘but it’s still not my business.’ The maid pretended she didn’t notice herself blush. ‘I guess they were worried about my connection to Apros and Aré. Maybe they thought I was the type to blab about this kind of thing. Well, no need to worry about that. Astor has their reasons, and I don’t need to know them. Maybe it has to do with money issues, or maybe it has to do with their authentic self – who knows? Not me. But would anyone really have a problem with this? I know Aphros would kill for the deets on this soap opera plot come to life, and I don’t think Aré, Ze, or Herme would care, or even register it. Maybe there’s someone in the palace who’d have a problem with it, but I wouldn’t know who. Forget it, all that matters now is getting back to the formal and forgetting this night ever happened. Then I can go back to my usual kind of suffering, and Astor can go back to being a person I only see in my fantasies…I mean another pretty face in the crowd…I mean…What is up with me today?’
\\~~~\\
VI //~~~//
Serena and Astor trudged along the edge of the river, navigating through the darkness with the moonlight as their only aid. Serena’s first instinct had been to use her communicator to call for help, but she soon realized she had dropped it at some point in the scuffle with Bellero. Astor commented that it might have been before that, as they had noticed something fall off of Serena’s arm back at the stables when Bellero arrived (Serena knew that strap was bad and cursed herself for being lazy about replacing it). There hadn’t been any time to comment on it since the noble immediately began attacking them. On that same note, Astor had also left their phone back at the stables, so they were without communication.
“This is just my luck. Can you believe this isn’t the first time I’ve been stranded without any means of communication?” Serena lamented.
“Can you believe this isn’t the first time some blockhead noble has gotten me into trouble?” Astor asked back.
“In a heartbeat,” Serena sighed. “If it’s not nobles, it’s other workers, if it’s not them, it’s crazy extremists, and if it’s not them, it’s monsters or giant animals or something equally ridiculous.” The maid contemplated her painful past few months.
“I can relate to the first two, at least.” Astor was amused by Serena’s rant.
“You always find yourself thrown into harm’s way to save someone or another,” Serena continued, “but with me, I just manage to screw it up and put us in an even worse position. I mean it’s not like you…could have…” The maid paused. ‘Why didn’t Astor save themselves? The way they move, it should have been easy.’
“Don’t blame yourself. It was my own weakness that put me in that situation in the first place.” Astor looked at their hands, which twitched involuntarily.
‘Sore spot alert, divert course, self-deprecation protocol is a go,’ Serena thought. “Haha, I really hate my life sometimes. I’d hate it less if I wasn’t almost dying every other day. I wouldn’t hate it at all if I could just go back to being a normal girl.”
“Don’t we all,” Astor said, looking aside.
“Huh?” The last comment caught Serena’s attention.
“What I wouldn’t do to make things normal again,” Astor muttered. “Then maybe I could stop pretending to be…” They snapped out of their stupor as they realized Serena could hear them.
“I… I’m sorry, I wasn’t supposed to hear that.” Serena turned away.
“Don’t worry about it.” Astor shook their head.
‘Don’t push the subject, don’t say anything. You do not need to make a remark,’ Serena tried to control her impulse. “Do you want to talk about it?” She said despite herself. ‘Why did you say that? Obviously, they don’t.’
“I…” Astor paused.
‘Stupid mouth, just apologize and say never mind,’ Serena urged herself.
“It’s like I said,” Astor found their voice, “I’ve always been a little jealous of you, Serena. You, Caenia, and those other maids you two hang out with. I miss being…like you guys…”
“Um, I don’t understand.” The maid had no idea where this conversation was going now.
“Let me ask you something,” Astor pivoted. “Do you remember who you were before the world told you who to be?”
“I…of course I do. I was just a normal girl,” Serena replied. “I liked cheesy adventure stories, I hated those gossipy “news” shows, my hair was my life, that sort of stuff. I had friends and relationships, and I went to school and learned things. You know, low noble stuff.”
“And no one told you who to be? No one shaped you? Ordered you around? Tried to influence you?” Astor asked.
“Obviously I…” Serena stopped herself before she told a blatant lie. “Some people did. A few people who I’ll be glad to never see again.”
“And did they affect you?” Astor pressed the subject.
“More than I’m willing to admit, more than I should have let them,” Serena stated. “But despite appearances, I’m not like that now. I’m only here to do a job because I have to.”
“So, you can still be you?” Astor asked.
“Yeah, what’s your…? Oh, now I get it,” Serena nodded. ‘Okay, so it’s not exactly being outed that’s Astor’s problem. I’m starting to think that the whole desperate Vassos story was understated. Or at least there’s more at stake for them than money or deception. Astor has a whole secret life or something, and it’s clearly not by choice. And I know all about living a life not by choice. But I don’t even really know them, so can I really assume who they are or what they want? For all I know, Astor’s just like that guy from the power station who turned on us…No, I definitely can’t make rash judgments like that. I’m sure Astor would be happy if I dropped this and we never spoke of it again…but is that really the neat and clean solution I want it to be? Will ignoring it just make more problems? And why do I care, what’s wrong with me today?’
“You okay in there? I didn’t mean to send you for a loop,” Astor patted Serena’s arm.
“Agh,” Serena jumped. “I’m fine just…thinking…about…um…a little of everything…”
“And here you were being all worried about me,” Astor chuckled. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” Serena made a difficult face. “I’ve been so used to being either in constant peril, I never had time to think about things, or so tired I didn’t want to. I guess I’m in a bit of a middle ground right now, and all those thoughts are leaking out.”
“How about we focus on something else then?” Astor suggested.
‘Yeah, you,’ Serena’s brain immediately suggested, much to her mortification. ‘Do I need a cold shower or something?’ The maid swallowed her wild emotions and answered, “Sure, what do you have in mind?”
“Hmm,” Astor hummed as they walked along and began to idly chat.
\\~~~\\
VII //~~~//
As their walk along the river’s edge exceeded half an hour, and the gunk in Serena’s hair began to harden, the maid found that her patience was rapidly wearing thin. She looked around, having realized how far they’d gone and how little the area seemed to change. Serena stopped as a headache formed.
“What are we even looking for at this point?” She asked. “I’m just about ready to start scaling that hill with my bare hands if I have to.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it. That thing is way too steep,” Astor shook their head. “One wrong step and you’re going back into the river. That’s assuming you can make it across the river in the first place, and even if you’ve got a long enough jump, the landing is what’s going to matter.”
“Can’t you fly or something?” Serena recalled.
“It’s more falling with style,” Astor explained. “It’d help me cross the river, but it would only help me scale that hill safer, not faster. Even then, it could take all night. It’s no exaggeration to say that walking all the way around would probably be faster, or at least safer and a better use of energy.”
“There’s got to be a less sheer part of this hill somewhere,” Serena surmised. “There’s probably a staircase or ramp or something built into the hill for…tourism? Maintenance? Because someone was bored?”
“That would be convenient.” Astor turned around. “But it’s not like things will appear out of nowhere just because you mention them.” That’s when Serena noticed something reflective in the distance. A shiny metal staircase built right into the hillside, stopping at a disused patio resting above the river. It seemed that at some point, the owners of this land regularly swam in the river, but now the patio furniture was wrapped in aging covers, likely untouched since Serena was a toddler.
“You’d be surprised,” Serena smirked as she ran ahead.
“What are you-? Oh, ask, and you shall receive.” Astor finally noticed the patio. “Does this happen to you often?” They raced after the maid.
“Usually only bad things,” Serena admitted as she prepared to leap across the river. Despite the rushing, rapid water serving as an intimidating obstacle, Serena was more than capable of making the jump, even with her weighted heels dragging her down. “Things are finally looking up…and I just jinxed us,” Serena smacked herself as her danger sense went off.
“Hi ho, Alexander!” Bellero announced his presence from above as he charged at them from the darkness.
“How did he possibly find us in the dark?” Astor wondered as they dodged Bellero’s now-dented lance.
“A healthy diet of carrots! The ultimate eyesight enhancer!” Bellero answered as he turned his steed to block their path to the patio.
‘That sounds like total nonsense, but I’ve given up arguing with him,’ Serena thought. “Bellero, if you come at us again, I will break your ribs this time. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise!”
“Jokes on you, my ribs are already broken–Gak!” Bellero coughed harshly. Serena could barely see a trickle of blood coming out of his mouth.
‘Wow, he’s literally a danger to himself and everyone around him. Now this whole situation is getting sad and concerning,’ Serena shook her head.
“Young lord Bellero, why don’t we take this fight to the top of the hill? Perhaps Her Highness can even watch the fight then?” Astor suggested.
“Nice try, you’d only attack me on the way up. That’s what I’d do,” Bellero admitted. Serena’s response was to smack herself in the head again.
“Alright, Serena, negotiations have broken down.” Astor turned to the maid. “Are you up for another fight?”
“A little tuckered out, but I’ve fought worse while injured, so I’ll be fine,” Serena assured. “The bigger problem will be our surroundings. With this river, the hill, and the woods, we don’t have much open space to fight him. Should we retreat into the tree line to take cover?”
“No, he strikes me as the kind who charge into the woods and still fight just fine,” Astor pointed out. Serena couldn’t disagree, Bellero’s skill on the back of his pegasus was terrifyingly good. It wouldn’t surprise her if he could fight in the woods just fine. “Let’s just take the direct approach. You trained with Lady Aré, right? Has she taught you any precise ranged attacks?”
“Not really, I figured those out on my own,” Serena explained.
“Could you hit a precise target without hurting an animal?” Astor gestured to Bellero.
“What, now you’re afraid of hurting him?” Serena joked.
“I meant the pegasus.” Astor looked at her incredulously. “Could you shoot off those ear covers and the blindfold?”
“That depends. Can you use wind magic to steer a crossbow bolt in midair?” Serena asked.
“I could do that much at least,” Astor nodded.
“Are you two done conversing? I’ve been very patient here waiting for our fight to resume,” Bellero huffed.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re done,” Serena shrugged dramatically to cover the fact that she was reaching into a hidden pocket. “And so are you.” She drew a small water gun, the same one Irene lent her during the power station crisis. With a quick burst of magic, the toy transformed into a hand crossbow, and Serena used it to fire a bolt of fire magic right at Bellero.
“Sneak attack!” Bellero took the reins of his mount and began to dodge, but misjudged the projectile’s target. The small shot of magic was course-corrected by a small puff of wind magic and struck true. It blew off Alexander’s ear covers and singed his blindfold without harming the animal. However, the animal was seriously spooked by the attack. “Egad! My specially fitted horse ear covers and blindfold! It took me a whole hour to find those online from a vendor with free shipping!”
“Hope you kept a receipt,” Astor joked as they prepared to issue a command to bring the steed to a halt.
“Alas, I did not,” Bellero admitted, “but the one advantage of acquisition on the line is that many products come in pairs!” The noble brandished a spare ear cover, which Serena quickly shot out of his hand.
“Not this time,” Serena quipped. ‘Should I be concerned I predicted he’d pull something like that? Is the crazy starting to affect me now? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course it is.’
“Hmm,” Bellero looked at his now empty hand quizzically. “We must put a hold on our conflict. I need to order another set online. The task should only take me a moment, for I have saved the link to the store page.”
“That is a moment you do not have.” Serena appeared beside the noble and began to dismantle his bolted-on spurs with liberal use of her magic.
“How underhanded! Alexander, retreat! Alexander?” Bellero ordered his mount, but the pegasus refused to heed his words. He looked back to see Astor had appeared on his other side and had already taken complete control of the animal. “Servant, I demand you release your hold on my steed, or I will be forced to take drastic action against you!” The noble brandished his lance, but Astor just kicked it out of his hand. “Now you’ve done it! After I best you in fisticuffs, I shall lodge a formal complaint against thee!”
“If you best us in fisticuffs,” Serena emerged from beneath Alexander, having just dismantled both sides of Bellero’s spurs. “But that’s a very big if.” Serena grabbed Bellero by the collar.
“Such nonsense, a worker threatening to strike a noble! It’s practically sacrilege,” Bellero spat. “You’re not supposed to fight back! How could you? I’m too amazing.”
“Don’t worry, you probably won’t remember much of this anyway,” Serena declared as she yanked him off his steed. Not wasting a second, Serena and Astor beat Bellero senseless. Once dismounted, the noble proved clumsy and barely capable of fighting back, but that didn’t mean he didn’t try.
“Is that all you got-? OW!” “You hit like a girl, maid! GYACK!” “You call that breaking bones! My dear sweet grandmother could break bones faster than-! DAHDJJRGK!” “You act tough now…but I’m just lulling you-! BJEKRKSK!” “Mommy, my train is swimming in the bathtub again! PYJSK!”
“Lord, I got lucky knocking him out so fast last time, or maybe he was faking it,” Serena commented as Bellero finally passed out. “I started to feel a little bad there for a minute, then I remembered it was Bellero, and I got over it.”
“He is certainly as stubborn as they say.” Astor’s breath was haggard. “But now we have a means to get back atop the hill.” They looked at Alexander, who was not at all bothered by his master getting curb-stomped. It seemed their supposed bond was not mutual. “But how will we explain what happened to him?”
“He fell down the stairs,” Serena affirmed. “I saw it, didn’t you?”
“And if he contradicts us?” Astor pointed out.
“By the time he wakes up, he’ll have already come up with an explanation about how he actually won this fight,” Serena explained. “And even if he didn’t, he’d never admit to being beaten by us. His pride comes before his vindictive streak. Besides, Princess Atlanta would never let him retaliate against us. She hates him that much.”
“You have surprising insight into the thoughts of both the nobility and the royalty,” Astor was taken aback, “but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. That must be that ‘Diane Connection’ I hear so much about.”
“It’s really not all that glamorous.” Serena shook her head. “You spend a lot of time rolling around in mud and in the sewers, and fending off nutjobs like this guy.”
“What a life you lead,” Astor laughed as they mounted the pegasus.
\\~~~\\
VIII //~~~//
With the aid of Bellero’s pegasus, Serena and Astor ascended the steep hill in record time, arriving back at the mansion’s yard not far from where they initially fell. However, they decided to make a quick landing because Caenia waited for them at the hill’s edge. Serena dismounted the animal first, as she found the ride rather discomforting, mostly because she was forced to carry Bellero’s limp, unconscious body. She dropped the noble like a lead weight and went to greet her senior.
“I wondered what happened to you two.” Caenia looked down at Bellero. “I figured he was responsible. He wasn’t exactly quiet flying through the air tonight, but I’m still curious how he managed to chase you two down the hill.”
“The hill got us, not him,” Serena replied as she checked the now hardened gunk in her hair. It was going to be hell to get it out now.
“Whatever you say, Serena,” Caenia said in a mocking high pitch. Upon second glance, Serena realized the senior maid’s face was flushed. It looked like someone was enjoying themselves tonight. “And what about you, Astor?” Caenia walked past Serena and quickly spotted Astor’s hastily tied-up shirt.
“The only thing bruised is my pride,” Astor affirmed as they dismounted. Serena waited for Caenia to make a quip but instead…
“So,” Caenia made a knowing glance, which Astor responded to in kind. “Ah, but not the whole secret then?” Serena picked up on the obvious fact that Caenia also knew Astor’s secret, but also that the senior maid’s knowledge on the subject went far deeper.
‘Wait, so are they really close friends or something?’ Serena wondered. She knew Caenia respected Astor, but was it more than that? ‘Why does that make me upset? Like really upset in two different ways? It couldn’t be that I’m…? No brain, we’re not adding another layer to this fiasco.’
“Well, it all worked out at least. I’ll leave you two to sort out the rest.” Caenia turned around and grabbed Bellero off the ground and threw him over her shoulder. “You two get yourselves checked out once the adrenaline wears off. In the meantime, I’m going to take the jackass and leave him somewhere funny, maybe the garbage room.” Caenia laughed as she walked off.
‘No good job? No, I hope you’re alright? Come on, I’ve earned a little more respect from her than that, right?’ Serena huffed. ‘And I’m starting to sound like a crazed fangirl. What’s next? Notice me, Caenia-senpai? I certainly hope not…But I would appreciate a little more attention from certain people.’ Serena looked between Astor and Caenia. ‘And I’m back to crazed fangirl, just cutting off this train of thought right now.’
“This has been a surprisingly long night,” Astor commented as they led Alexander to the stables.
“Oh, um… don’t worry about your secret. I’m not planning on telling a soul.” Serena turned to Astor. “I’m not so close to Aphros or Lady Aré that I’ll confide secrets in them, despite what the former may think.”
“Thank you, but I figured you wouldn’t,” Astor nodded. “I’m glad to find out all those rumors about you were nonsense. I always figured people were exaggerating, but now I think most of them were made up whole cloth.”
“That’s goo…Wait, what rumors? Are people still talking about me behind my back!” Serena exclaimed.
“Well, some are nice, but most aren’t exactly flattering,” Astor explained.
“Just tell me,” Serena urged.
“Okay,” Astor complied. What followed was a startlingly accurate, yet slightly nonsensical (more so than usual) retelling of Serena’s previous adventures. The assassination attempts, the graviton incident, the tractor, the pancake baking competition, all the nonsense leading up to the fire moon festival, the fire at the fire moon festival, the sewer incident, her first quarrel with Bellero, and of course the recent attack on the power station. The only story that didn’t make it was yesterday’s interview that Aré had censored.
“And that’s enough, I get it,” Serena pleaded. It wasn’t that they were all nasty stories about her...well, some were. What sucked was that a few of the nasty ones were true, and the positive ones exaggerated her actions to make her sound more competent and in control of the situation than she actually was. It was frustrating because now people might expect even more from her, or have a legitimate reason to hate her. ‘What did I do to deserve this?’
“I’m sorry, but I realize all the nasty bits are nonsense now,” Astor affirmed.
‘Oh, if only,’ Serena cringed.
“People make you out to be this uber-elitist. Some prideful girl ecstatic to replace Caenia, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You two even get along great,” Astor commented.
‘Yeah, because I have no self-esteem and I’d be crazy to want to be in her position,’ Serena thought, ‘oh wait, I am in her position!’
“It was good to meet you, Serena. I look forward to working with you again if we ever get the chance,” Astor held out their hand, unknowingly framing themselves with the moon behind them. Serena’s heart jumped.
“S-sure thing.” Serena held out her hand to shake, but instead Astor clutched it and…
“You’re the girl I wish I could be, Serena,” Astor said, but Serena didn’t hear it, her brain had short-circuited when they kissed the back of her hand.
“Asto…” Serena muttered, but then the other servant put a finger to their lips to shush her.
“…” They mouthed something before stepping past the flustered maid. “It’s funny, Serena. You have this comforting gravity about you. I almost want to tell you everything about myself right now. I bet you have a lot of friends and you don’t even know it.” With that, the stable hand disappeared into the night, leaving the maid alone with her scattered thoughts.
“Deuces,” Serena repeated to herself. That’s what h…she said…right?
May This Fantasy Continue A Little Longer…
>>>~~~~<<<
Regardless of status or position, teamwork is the most important thing between you and your coworkers. With unity and cooperation you can solve any problem quickly and effectively. Especially when it comes to solving issues with difficult clients.
Author's Note: And we're done with another chapter, and this one only took 2-3 months to come out after the previous one instead of almost a year. Hard to believe the epilogue chapter of the last volume is a year old now. As for the chapter itself, the main focus was introducing Astor as a new reoccurring character. They stand as kind of peer to Caenia ability wise while coming from a much lower economic class, a sort of soft "Hard Work vs Talent" theme, but I'll touch on that in later chapters. This chapter is more about getting them acquainted to Serena and putting Serena in a difficult position where she is aware of secrets Astor's is trying to keep close to their chest (pun not intended).
As for what Astor's full deal is, well let's watch as it plays out in the future, as the question of "Who is Astor?" has a few different answers and complications. And where would the fun be in telling you all the answers now?
Today's adventure wasn't meant to be too harrowing and more of Serena's usual rotten luck, that's why Bellero returned as their foe. He's a problem, but not an entirely life or death problem (although he has definitely almost killed Serena at least twice now, which is why she has no qualms about putting him in the hospital). Makes him great fodder to introduce and establish a new character.
On that note, tonight was certainly a full night for Serena, but one might wonder what else is going on? Quite a few faces were missing today and they're off having their own adventures. So tune in next time to see what's happening on the other side of this night as we witness The Wonderful World of Tele Markis.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
