Although, as she thought about leaving early, she suddenly remembered what she'd promised her stand-ins the night before. That she'd take one of them with her. Nor could she remember which one was supposed to go with her or if that hadn't yet been decided. It felt like a jumble in her head that she knew needed to get sorted out quickly, as she doubted her advisors would like it if she delayed her departure for something that they likely wouldn't consider important.
Which naturally would likely mean they'd be more in favor of a regent for her, something Jenn was still determined to avoid.
"When will we leave? I want to discuss things with my brother as soon as possible," Shirley said, sounding like 'discuss' was a euphemism for something Jenn wasn't sure she wanted to know what for.
"Well, I'd like to get something to eat, but otherwise we'll be heading out shortly," Jenn answered, turning to head back to her room to wake her stand-ins up.
Even though she'd wanted to let them sleep in as late as they wanted, since they also wanted to go with her on this trip, or have at least one of them accompany her, she needed to wake them all up so they could figure out who it was. If they had already decided this, Jenn knew that she wouldn't need to worry about waking all of them up, just whoever it was that was supposed to join her, but since she hadn't thought of this very issue, she knew that she needed them to figure out who would be going with her.
Unless they already had decided and Jenn just couldn't remember. She didn't think that it was likely, but at the same time, she didn't want to take any chances. After all, she needed to keep her stand-ins trusting her, and if she failed to bring one of them this time, at least without a good reason, then she'd be damaging that very trust that she relies on to keep them willing to work with her.
While she had a feeling they'd help her anyway, even if they didn't trust her, it was likely that they wouldn't go beyond the letter of what they were supposed to do. Making Jenn need to fill in the gaps.
"If you want to get something to eat, where're you going?"
"Just getting something that I forgot," Jenn replied, hoping that she wouldn't be as long as she was afraid she'd be. Especially with the hunger pangs that were telling her it was well past time to eat. Something she was well aware of even without the constant reminder.
"Should I accompany you? You're not going to leave through a different way, are you?" Shirley asked, sounding like she was joking, but Jenn had a feeling she was all to serious about Jenn possibly having another exit she'd be going out of.
"I won't be long and I don't think they built this place with fire safety in mind," Jenn remarked, suddenly realizing that if the building did catch on fire, the only way down for those in her room would be the stairs, which were all made of wood. Something she had a feeling she should get rectified as quickly as she could. If only so that her stand-ins wouldn't be in as much danger if a fire did strike the settlement.
Especially since she didn't know if this area was prone to wildfires or if it was something that she'd be able to find a way to mitigate before it became a real problem. After all, these mountains could get plenty of rain during the summer, meaning that any fire that did start would be easier for her people to take care of.
Besides, she had a feeling if a wildfire did take down the settlement, that the Forest of the Lost would be in danger if the fire got close enough to the gate. As if weather can pass through the gates, like when she and her friends were by that tropical island before they came to this world, then embers from a fire certainly can pass through as well.
"You better not be," Shirley said, sounding more like the Shirley she knew, \if only a little more abrasive than Jenn recalled her being. Though, she supposed that being a slave would have an effect on anyone, and Shirley would certainly be no exception.
As Jenn entered her room, she was happy to see that her stand-ins were waking up. Although, judging by the behavior of Roesadra and Oleania, they were about to get intimate, which would also explain why Saelea was getting dressed quickly.
"Um, before you go any further, I wanted to make sure I knew who was going with me to visit the duchess," Jenn said, hating to interrupt what was going on between Roesadra and Oleania. Mostly because she'd rather pretend she didn't know what was going on between them. As it felt very similar to when she'd walked in on her cousin Ruthie and Emily in bed together intimately.
"Oh, sorry, but we'd already decided to have Saelea go with you," Roesadra said, not pausing on what she was doing to Oleania under the blankets, which was more than she wanted to know of what they were doing.
"Okay, I'll leave then," Jenn said quickly, feeling like her face was starting to burn up.
Jenn knew that those two cared deeply for each other, but she wished that they'd sometimes tone it down a little. While it was clear that Oleania had started showing signs of carrying a child, Jenn wondered if maybe she should try suggesting that they get their own room. Even if Jenn had to put in a divider or something in that room so they'd be able to have the privacy that would not only ensure that they were able to be intimate as often as they wanted to, but that their intimacy wouldn't make Jenn or Saelea uncomfortable. Though, Jenn couldn't rule out the possibility that she might choose someone else to be a stand-in for her at some point in the future. As it was possible that necessity would require it, if Oleania having a child would make it so that she'd have trouble fulfilling her duties as Jenn's stand-in.
Not that Jenn could think of how that would work, just that it was possible.
Jenn couldn't remember opening the door, just that when she closed it, she could feel her face burning up and her breathing was struggling to calm down. She wished that she hadn't just walked in on that but knew that it was pretty much inevitable seeing how it wasn't the first time that had happened.
When Saelea followed Jenn out a moment later, Jenn had to wonder if Saelea was as uncomfortable as Jenn was when it came to Roesadra and Oleania being intimate. Though, unless Saelea said something, Jenn doubted she'd be able to broach the subject. Especially with how embarrassed she felt just seeing what little she'd seen in the room just now.
"Are you going to just stand there all day?" Shirley demanded from the base of the stairs, where Jenn could barely see Shirley. Meaning that she could barely see Jenn as well.
However, she knew that Shirley had a point. If she didn't get moving now, she'd be at risk of missing breakfast and she didn't care to walk to the other settlement if she didn't get something to eat beforehand.
"No, I'm coming," Jenn said quickly, glancing at Saelea when she heard her stand-in snickering.
Jenn wasn't sure what that was about, but she doubted that it was complimentary towards her.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Jenn quickly introduced Saelea to Shirley, leaving out the fact that she was a stand-in for the Blue Rose. Mostly because she didn't want to answer any questions that information would bring up. Such as how Jenn knew that much about her. Even though Jenn supposed there could be other explanations other than the truth. Jenn just wasn't sure she'd be able to even think of one of those possibilities and actually be able to say it without giving anything away. As she had a feeling she'd have trouble hiding things from Shirley. Even though she didn't have any reason why she should be thinking that way.
As they left the building, Jenn wished she didn't have to leave so soon. She'd much rather stay and relax at least a few days, but she doubted that the duchess would be happy to let her do that.
Besides, Jenn hadn't been able to puzzle out how the duchess knew about Rick. As she did recall that she hadn't mentioned him to her when they'd last met. Meaning there was likely a spy among her people.
While she didn't think that it was a major danger right then, she wanted to see if it was possible to find out who the spy was. As she didn't need to have other details of what she was doing with the settlements get out before she was ready for that to. Nor did she care to have people coming here to round up escaped slaves.
As while she was confident she'd handled that matter with the Duchess, she couldn't say that it wouldn't come up again at all.
_
Embris was surprised when she saw Saelea leave with Jenn. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but that wasn't her assignment. All she was supposed to do was stand guard and help deal with any problems that came up when it revolved around the safety of the Blue Rose's stand-ins. What those stand-ins did wasn't any concern of hers.
Although, she did wonder briefly if she should follow Saelea or not. As she was accompanying Shirley, someone who Embris wasn't sure could be trusted, but she supposed that she should remain where she was stationed. She was at least confident that if Shirley did anything outside, that others would be quick to respond, making her presence pointless.
Though, Embris had to admit that standing guard here did get boring sometimes. Occasionally she and whoever she was stationed with would chance some conversation, but if one of the Blue Rose's advisors caught them, they'd get in trouble. Why the Blue Rose's stand-ins were different was beyond Embris. All she could think of was that they understood being bored.
Not that conversation topics came up very often. Especially when so much didn't happen while they were there.
"Did you hear what happened last night?" the other guards asked Embris quietly.
Embris felt a little surprised at the sudden question, but didn't feel too worried as no one else was near and the noises coming from the room where the two remaining stand-ins were made it clear that they weren't coming out any time soon.
"Didn't need to," she answered, confident she knew what event the other guard was talking about. "I was there when it happened. Saw the whole thing."
The other guard chuckled. "I head it almost ended up with swords being drawn."
Embris glanced at the guard. She wasn't sure if the woman was joking or not or if she merely heard an exaggerated tale of the incident, but Embris wasn't going to add to the 'legend' of what had happened. "If that happened that way, it was after I left," Embris remarked. "Though, I left when Tchisa showed up and things started to deescalate."
"Any idea how Tchisa was able to understand what that savage was saying? I heard it was an ancient language and the savage was trying to put a spell or something on someone."
Embris sighed. She knew she couldn't stop whoever was spreading such outlandish tales, but she was starting to suspect the woman she was talking to was the one exaggerating things to the point of not being able to be recognized. Although, Embris felt she should at least pretend she hadn't realize that fact. Not right now anyway.
"Actually, it's a language from another world," Embris said, holding her breath as the front door opened, but let it out when she saw that it wasn't one of the people who would have a problem with them talking with each other. "I know because I've met others who speak that same language."
"Really? How do you know that she wasn't trying to cast some spell?"
Embris rolled her eyes, though she doubted the other guard would get the full effect since they weren't looking at each other as they spoke. "I'm sure Tchisa would have said something if that was what was going on. Instead, she was calm about the whole thing, just asking the woman what a 'cougar' or 'MILF' was. Not that I could understand what those even were."
"How do you know those weren't parts of a spell?"
Embris sighed. She had a feeling she wasn't going to dissuade the other guard from staying with that thought. Especially when it was clear she was determined to hold onto the possibility that some arcane attempt had been made when Shirley had lost it. Embris wondered how bored the other guard was to be coming up with such things while she stood guard. It was entirely possible that she was just making things up to pass the time, but Embris had a feeling it went a little deeper. To the point where she wouldn't be surprised if those stories started circulating around the settlement.
"All I can say is that there wasn't any other signs of magic being used," Embris said, losing interest in the topic. "At least nothing flashy. Not that I'd probably be able to tell anyway."
"Ah ha!" the guard said, as if she caught Embris in an admission of some sort. "I knew it! You really don't know what that woman was really trying, don't you?"
"Not really," Embris admitted, though she felt that her admission wasn't as significant of an issue as she was certain that the other woman thought. "But did you know that the woman who was waiting downstairs before Saelea left was actually the woman who was the center of the problems last night?"
Embris could feel the surprise from the other woman. She didn't need to look to see the surprised expression on her face, but it did feel good to know that there were details the woman didn't know. Important ones, such as what the woman at the center of the incident looked like.
Embris waited for a minute, but when the woman didn't say anything else, Embris felt satisfied that she'd gotten the guard to stop talking about the incident as if she knew everything that there was to know about the incident.
The quiet lasted for a while. Long enough that Embris started to think that the conversation about that topic was over. Yet, out of nowhere, the woman said, "Well, maybe she's convinced Tchisa that she didn't mean anything by it. You know, that's why she was allowed to roam around with that stand-in who also works as one of the Silverthorns."
Embris knew the woman was talking about Jenn, but felt a little surprised that she didn't know what Jenn's name was. Not that she cared enough to say anything about that point herself.
"If you're that interested, you could always ask to see if you could travel with her," Embris remarked, partly teasing. "Maybe you'd be able to see an incident like that first hand if something happens again."
Embris felt the woman looking at her and she couldn't help but smirk at the feeling. She doubted the woman was impressed with Embris' comment, but she didn't really care. She heard the woman take a breath, clearly about to say something more when the front door of the building opened again, this time admitting Tchisa, silencing both of them as they didn't want Tchisa to know that they had been talking, even though Embris was certain Tchisa suspected that they'd have been talking before she came in.
She walked directly towards them without pausing, clearly looking for at least one of them, if not both. Embris wasn't sure what this was about, but she hoped it wasn't about Shirley and what she'd been doing with the woman before the incident they'd been talking about had occurred.
"Do either of you want to go on the trip to Pleonths?" Tchisa asked, startling Embris. She hadn't expected that question to have been asked. Nor had she thought about going there again as she'd applied to be one of the guards here.
"I'm not interested," Embris replied as professionally as she could. "I've been there before and don't need to go there again."
"Alright, how about you, Jeliup?" Tchisa asked, turning to face the other woman.
Embris wanted to look to see what her expression was, but didn't because she had a feeling Tchisa would come down on her as if she'd been caught conversing with the woman she'd been standing guard with.
"But I thought we were supposed to guard the Blue Rose's stand-ins," she protested, clearly not connecting what Saelea leaving with Jenn meant with Tchisa asking this question.
"And you will be," Tchisa answered, confirming Embris' suspicion. "Saelea is going on that trip as well, so you'll be her bodyguard for the entire trip. Where she goes, you'll go and if something happens, you better put her safety above your own."
While Embris had suspected the reason for Tchisa to be asking them if they wanted to go to Pleonths, she couldn't say that she expected the bodyguard role. She wasn't sure if she'd have been happy to learn that she was getting that role if she had agreed, but she could feel the excitement coming from the other woman when she heard about that part.
"Understood," she said, her movements indicating she was snapping a salute, making Embris chuckle a little at her excitement. "But, uh, aren't they supposed to leave today?"
Tchisa nodded. "Correct, your replacement will be here shortly and you should go now so you'll have everything you need packed for the trip. I'll stay here until your replacement arrives."
Embris wasn't sure which was worse. That she was going to have to stand guard, even for a short bit, with Tchisa or that Jeliup was going to get a chance to spread her tales of what had happened the night before earlier than Embris had expected. Though, she supposed that she shouldn't worry too much, as it was likely inevitable to occur, making it pointless for her to worry too much about it in the end.