//------------------------------// // Idle Chattel // Story: Dire Vale: Say Goodbye // by SymphonicSync //------------------------------// Flurry Heart walked down the hallway to her suite alone with her thoughts. Her escorts, which may or may not have caused half of the injuries that now ailed her sore body, followed just a few paces behind her. This had become her routine ever since the Warden took over as her tutor. Training would push her limits and she would return to her chambers bruised, with no other option than to recuperate until her next lesson or assignment to an inquiry. She had long since given up the thought that her bodyguards might feel any sort of remorse for their actions during the sparring sessions; as soon as she left the arena they would cease their autonomous behavior. As she approached the door, curiously shut when she had not bothered to close it before, she paused as her escorts assumed their normal vigil to either side of the entrance. The events from the night before bothered her. She knew with certainty that one of the guards had moved after she buried its comrade in the pit. Her memory of the moment was hazy, due to her exhaustion and the myriad of spells collapsing at the same time but she could swear by at least that detail. Its movements were uncharacteristic of the elite guards. It had paused in its step, barely shifted its head to look others that it passed, and approached her not as a combatant but as an observer. Stepping closer to one of the guards and peering closely at its visor, Flurry Heart recounted all that she had done previously to see if the elites held any awareness of a self. Under tutelage by the Grand Sorceress, she had learned countless spells of detection and persuasion, intuition and affliction. Under tutelage by the Warden and her work as an Assessor, she had learned how to apply those spells in vicious ways. Those spells had yet to work on one of the elite guards. She would not consider it beyond the machinations of the Warden to have ordered them not to interact with her. Shining Armor knew how much the solitude chipped away at her psyche. Their armor and sorcerous imbuement made her unable to affect them physically, and their orders must have made them impervious psychologically. However, she now knew that at least one was actually capable of something akin to sentience. Could it be the guard in front of her? Or possibly the other across the threshold? Or could it be somewhere else within the Empire, carrying out its duties as an elite? At the very least, she knew that it was not the guard still buried under the sparring ring. She cast aside the train of thought and reserved her questions for another day. It was unlikely that any of the elites would slip in their facade after years of lacking such nature. Approaching the door, she paused and examined the guards out of the corner of her eyes. Just then, had one of them moved? Her mind had found an all-new way to play tricks on her perception, and at this point, it was unlikely that she would be able to completely ignore her reservations in their presence. She thrust open the door and trotted through it. The sound of water rushing reached her ears as the door behind her sealed itself, animated by magic. Someone was inside her chambers, without her authority. As the early morning sunlight fell across her face a cockney accent reached her ears. "She leaves dishes about in the chuffin' sink," Flurry Heart did not need to look into the kitchen to know that she would see a white and brown patched stallion standing there, "Can't be bovvered to wash them herself, some of these 'ave been left about for a week, right, maybe more." He muttered more comments as he ran a rag over a hoofful of spoons before dropping them on a towel next to the sick. "Th' Warden, wakes me up in the dead of night, ordering me t'come up here, an' act like a maid." "What are you doing here, Pipinto?" Flurry Heart grumbled as she entered the kitchen behind the stallion. Pipinto Squeak shut off the water and pulled the damp, russet bangs away from his eye as he turned towards her. His thick accent dropped from his speech as he spoke to her directly "I am following my orders, Ma'am." Flurry stiffened her pose and snarked "My orders were for you not to come here unless I called for you." "I am afraid those orders are no longer standing, Ma'am." He rung his hooves with a dry towel and hung it from a hook on the side of the counter. "The Warden has taken back authority over me. My orders are to now remain here and perform my duties an normal." He walked past her into the main room and begun rearranging the cushions on the funiture in the lounge. He addressed her with his back turned, "My duties are now to clean, to carry out chores, and make sure you stay where you need to be." Flurry Heart felt a jab of contempt strike her heart at the idea that Pipinto, and moreso Shining Armor, thought he could control her excursions. She would not stand to have a pony of his caste having any oversight in her activities. "I am going to talk to Shining Armor, I want you gone by the time I return." she commanded as she cast a teleportation spell, and flames swept about her body. A few moments crept past and Flurry Heart still stood where she was before. A few cinders blinked out of existence as they fell to the ground. Turning to glare at her, Pipinto approached her and slipped back into his accent "O'course, since I'm an earth pony I wouldn't know right but I think yer just tried ter teleport." As he stepped closer to her, she noticed that an amulet wrapped around his neck glowed with an arcane light. "Don't bovver," he looked up to met her gaze and continued, "th' Warden also may 'ave setup some overly complicated spells or wotnot like that. This room cann't be left through a spell, and the door won't open eever." A few seconds of tense silence was shared between the two before Pipinto spoke again. "Not wivout th' Warden's allowance or my own discretion." "I will not stand for this." "That's right ma'am, toss up a bovver ter the Warden," he spoke in a curt tone, "Ge' yerself and I in a tighter noose." Flurry Heart unclasped the various belts and fastening's on her training gear and shed the marred robes. Scooping them up and shoving them into Pipinto's grasp, she growled "You are to carry out my chores and errands, yes? Then take these to a tailor's and get out of my suite." Tossing the gear over his withers, he walked over to the door and fit them in to a saddlebag. Looking back at her, he said "I'll be back within the 'our, Ma'am," he paused as he walked through the door and added "Oh, and don't forget; this suite is the Warden's property." The door shut behind him and locked as a swirl of symbols swept across it and faded again. Flurry walked over to one of the couches and laid down on it. Turning her head to look through the window and over the balcony, she saw pegasi standing on the same tower as the day before. It seemed that with each passing day, her life became less and less her own. She rolled over and turned her back to the onlooker. Her mouth hidden, she raised her voice loud enough to spread throughout the entire suite. "I know you're there."