My sleep was disrupted by a glaring stream of sunlight. Someone had moved my curtains aside. I blinked away the sleep in my eyes and focused on Elaine. "Don't you knock?"

"I don't know if you have gathered this from your tour of the washroom, but we don't get stuck up on privacy the way you humans do."

I groaned, pulling the sheets over my head. "What time is it?"

"Morning," she responded cheerfully.

I pulled up the sheets and glared. "Very funny."

"I don't know your system of time very well. Kero might though, he studies some arcane measurements."

"Arcane?"

"Yes, we shifted to something more general."

"How do you set meetings, then?" I asked, starting to move out of bed.

"We let each other know the time of day, then the leader of the group sends out a summon for the others."

"Summon?" Hopefully this was more of a magical pager than a demon-calling thing.

"It's a strong pull you feel toward a specific place. Nevra will probably have you charmed soon."

I snorted at her phrasing. He wished. "Joy. I love being called like a dog."

"If you say so. Although you volunteered for this." I groaned again. "I'll set up a charm on your curtains to open after HQ wakes up each morning. And you'll probably need a bag under your pillow, if this morning is any indication of your usual disposition."

I looked up from getting dress. "Bag for what?"

"A charm bag, dear. For a good night's rest. Feels like getting a full night of sleep, even when you only get half. And some of the bath soaps I showed you yesterday are designed to wake you up. Take advantage of those."

"Magic is sweet."

"I've heard from your people that coffee is nice, too."

"Meh." Hopefully the charm bags weren't addictive. Or an acquired taste.

After Elaine left, I noticed she had brought up my underclothes. I picked through them for something to bring to the bathroom. There was no uniform.

Bathing was awkward. Elaine said I would "grow accustomed to it." The soap was definitely magic. I rubbed some onto my shoulders, loosening them up almost instantly upon contact. Everywhere my rag went, there was a subtle relief of soreness. I lathered some onto my scalp and felt the fuzziness of the early morning wash away. "Oh, wow," I sighed, letting go some of the tension from getting stuck here then captured.

I had been instructed to visit the pantry after my shower and ask for the resident cook. The bounty I had seen earlier was not for the housekeepers. It was systematically rationed and distributed. Our food was bread and oatmeal. However, even that tasted wonderful. Maybe it was because my usual breakfast was a protein bar that pretended to taste good or a snack bar that pretended to be healthy, but the food was warm and flavorful and sat well in my stomach. "This is fantastic," I moaned, to no one in general. The cook seemed pleased.

Elaine walked in as I was rinsing off my dishes. "Here's your itinerary for the week, dear." She handed me a piece of parchment.

"I can't read this," I said.

"Kero is waiting for you in the Library. He will help you translate."

Kero welcomed me in once I entered the Library. "How's Nevra treating you?"

I shrugged. "About the same as he treats everyone, I hear."

Learning a new script wasn't as hard as I had expected. There was still a struggle when one letter looked too close to another from my language that it didn't correspond with. And I guess keeping track of them all was difficult, too. But they used the same words and phonemes that I did, so it was merely a matter of translating between one set to another. Using a simple fill-in-the-blank method, I was able to decipher my schedule. "What the hell is Odin's Day?"

Kero looked over my shoulder at the original paper. "I believe you call it Wednesday in your culture?"

I nodded and scribbled in the annotation. "Well that explains 'Thor's Day' then. Why are your names Norse?"

"Only some of them are. And it may come as a shock to you."

"Juicy. Do tell."

He looked at the floor. "Well, we used to share realms. Early on. We believe that's why our language is mostly similar and we share some basic oral legends."

I thought back to something Nevra had said the day before. "Do we have legends from when some of us cross over?"

"Such as?" I sang part of a ballad. "Ah, Scarborough Fair. Yes, although he is no longer around. His descendants are the only ones left to seduce young maidens. Of which I'm told he had many."

"Lovely." I looked over the translation of my schedule: reading and writing lessons in the morning, cleaning in the afternoon, training in the late afternoon, culture lessons in the evening, and 'Nevra Duty' at night. "What's Nevra Duty?"

"You attend to his needs. And then some. He can be… demanding in some ways. You'll probably have to draw him a bath if he had a particularly rough mission, take down his laundry. Fluff his pillows."

"Excuse me!?"

Kero looked surprised at my outburst. "Pardon?"

"Sorry." I shook my head. "Mistaken idiom."

"Think nothing of it. I am also to inform you that you should go to the Alchemy Room after this lesson to receive your summoning charm. Ezarel and Nevra will assist you."

The rest of the lesson involved practicing writing the script so I could communicate with others in their own hand. Since most of the guard never learned my written language, I could easily taunt Nevra by leaving notes with gibberish around his room.

Ezarel and Nevra were in the Alchemy Room, as promised. They were arguing about something as I approached, but quickly stopped once I walked in. "Hello? Everything okay?"

Ezarel grimaced. "Just as expected. Nothing special." I couldn't help but feel that his comment was directed at me rather than a comment on their conversation.

"Come here." Nevra guided me to a seat next to the table they were working at. He took a strip of soft ribbon, binding our hands together. Ezarel sprinkled some light green bits onto it.

"What's that?" I asked.

Nevra answered without humor, "Mistletoe leaves." I tried to pull my hands away. Ezarel slapped them and Nevra pulled me closer to him. "You can't break away while the charm is being set."

"Fucking mistletoe? Really?! Is this some sick joke?"

"It's for binding, you coxcomb," Ezarel said, adding more to our intertwined hands.

"It causes you to feel drawn to a location when I need you."

"Perfect. Maid service, on demand."

"Don't worry, love. You can resist. It just lets you know that I want you."

Ezarel brought over a lit candle. "This next part will involve fire. You won't be harmed."

I rolled my eyes. "Here," Nevra said. He held my hands in his while Ezarel lit the ribbon. I closed my eyes, but too late. My retinas imprinted white with the sudden flash of light tracing the ribbon. "You can let go now, sweetheart."

I hesitantly opened my eyes. My hands were still squeezing his. "Sorry," I said, dropping them.

"Shall we test it out?" Ezarel wiped his hands on his trousers. Nevra stood, then exited the room. A moment later, I felt a pinch near my left lung. I tried to control my breathing, but it came out in gasps. "Follow it," he commanded.

I focused on the tug in my chest, trying to discern which way it was directed. "Outside." I ran out of the room, into the hallway. The tug shifted, pulling me down the stairs, then toward the pantry. Ezarel was quick to follow, but Nevra was nowhere in sight. "What now?" Suddenly, another tug. "Back in the hallway." This time past the stairs, into the Forge. I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to poke around in there, but I guess I could claim it was on my master's orders.

Ezarel caught up, then pushed me inside. "Go on."

I followed a pull toward the large chimney, still red with hot coal. "Tell me you didn't crawl up there."

"I didn't."

I screamed, stepping backward into Nevra. "Damn you!" I swatted at him before he managed to grab my wrist.

"Assaulting your bedmaster warrants a steep reprimand."

I panted out, "Housemaster," as he bent me over his knee.

Ezarel walked in. "Later, Nev." He pulled me up.

"How could he draw me to somewhere he wasn't?"

"It's part of the charm. This way you can meet him somewhere. We updated the method a while back to save time." Ezarel exited the room.

I tried to regain composure, but was still flustered from… the running. "Don't worry. I'll let this one slide," Nevra said, then slipped out.

"Goody." I was relieved, I swear.

After another meal in the pantry, I waited in my room to begin training. Which was extremely boring. It was all about how to correctly fold shirts and make the bed and where to locate the cleaning supplies. I guess I should have expected that. I mean, I chose to be Nevra's maid because I expected it to be a bore. But apparently I had higher expectation for a fairy-land lady-in-waiting. Not that I had any magical powers.

"So," Elaine began, after she had spent an hour or so showing me how to care for the room. "How is Nevra?"

I shrugged. "He's fine, I guess. I haven't actually heard anything about his current mission."

She sighed. "No, how is he? How do you find him?"

"With the summoning – Oh!" I caught onto her meaning. "Ugh, what kind of question is that? You sound like my mother."

"I know he can be…"

"Flirty? A tease?"

"Perhaps. But he is a sweet boy."

"Yeah? You gonna tell me he has a 'nice personality'. Or give me some sob story that will make me pity him?"

"No, dear. He just acts this way." She smiled mischievously. "Seems to work for him, though."

"How so?"

"Well, he appears to have gotten under your skin!" She giggled. I groaned. "See Kero in the Library for your next lesson."

Kero explained some of the customs I'd be expected to know as Nevra's help. I kept trying to steer him back to when our realms were the same, but he could stand his ground when he set his mind to it. Eventually, I settled for learning the history behind housekeepers.

"When HQ was built, about six hundred years ago –"

"Six hundred?! This place looks new!"

"Yes, well, we use charms to–"

"Ugh, is that your answer for everything? Magic this! Magic that!"

Kero looked flustered.

"I'm sorry. Please continued," I said, trying to calm myself down.

"We used children as bedkeepers, seeing as there were so many orphans. They worked for food and rooms. After a couple of decades, revisions were made to the building. By this time, the bedkeepers were young adults–"

"After two decades?"

Kero sighed, then perked up. "Oh, right! We age slower than you. Both physically and developmentally.

"Oh. How much slower?"

He looked proud. "I am forty-six."

I had not expected that much of a difference. He looked close to Elaine's age. Although I guess she would be almost fifty, then, also. "How old is Nevra?"

Kero scoffed. "He will always act thirty."

"That's not so bad…" Thirty wasn't much older than me. He definitely wasn't a child.

Kero cocked his head to the side. "That's fifteen by your years."

I squirmed. "That explains a lot." He agreed. "So why the switch? Elaine says no one has personal maids anymore."

Kero shrugged. "The children grew. We hired adults, who could take on more duties. Eventually, we hired a handful of adults to serve all guard members, although the heads reserve the option to request personal service.

He explained more about the timeline for housekeeping and when the headquarters was built until it was time to eat.

I had my first 'Nevra Duty' shift after dinner. I was reminded by a strong pull in my chest while I was finishing up a cornmeal muffin. I was cherishing it. The next day, I would be expected to dine with Nevra and the guard. You know, the ones that wanted to use me as bait during missions.

I knocked before entering, hoping to encourage the same behavior from him. First, he handed me a list. He gave me a couple of minutes to translate it. After returning his quill, I read my annotations aloud. " 'Bedkeeper duties.' Can we please not call me that?"

"Alright. I'll call you my trystkeeper."

"Worse."

"Chambermaid," he said with a smile and lewd glance.

"In your dreams!"

"Indeed." There was a twinkle in his eye, from something other than the candlelight on the bedside table. I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Housekeeper duties: 'make bed, clean room, send and receive laundry, draw bath when necessary, accompany to dinner,'" That one Elaine had mentioned earlier. " 'Accompany to washroom each evening–m' Really?"

"I get lonely."

I continued. " ' Tuck in, tell bedtime story, give goodnight kiss.' You can't be serious."

"You're right. A bedtime story is a lot to ask for."

"How about I do what I've been trained for and nothing else."

"Elaine will train you on the rest. I'll also be giving you other responsibilities for special occasions."

"Yeah, Elaine had mentioned traveling?"

Nevra nodded, then sat on his bed. He gestured for me to join him. I sat firmly on a sofa, before realizing it was a loveseat. "Certain events may require your presence."

"Am I going to be your guide or translator or something?"

He smirked. "More like my companion."

Damn it. "You mean escort."

He shrugged. "Maybe. Either way, you asked for this job. We can always find you something else to do."

"I don't want to join a guard."

"You don't have to. We could set you up with a position in the pantry. Or with the seamstress. If boring is what you're really after. I hear the launderers have a tedious life."

I shifted in my seat. "This is fine."

"Alright then. Off to the washroom we go." I groaned, but followed.

His shower wasn't so bad. He encouraged me to join, but I insisted I liked bathing in the morning. I got to keep my eyes down and sit near the doorway as he chattered on about his day. He left out the argument with Ezarel, but it didn't seem too interesting at the time, anyway. Before I knew it, he was finished – and dripping at my feet. "Dry me!" He held his arms out and smiled. I grabbed a towel from a cupboard and gave him a quick pat-down.

"Happy?"

"Can't you tell?" He nodded his head down. I didn't look.

I do have pretty good peripheral vision, though.

He left the bathroom in his towel and walked back to his room with me in tow. He dressed himself, for which I was grateful, and squirmed into bed.

I brought the covers up to his chin, then tucked the sheets close to his sides. "Time for my kiss!" I sighed and rolled my eyes, then pecked him on the forehead. "Come on! On the lips, heart-breaker."

"Your list does not specify where I must kiss you. I can do it anywhere I want!" He grinned mischievously. "I mean– wherever!" But he was still smirking.

"Tomorrow I'll just have to fix that."

"Wonderful. May I go now?"

"If you wish."

"Goody." I walked through our shared door, bumping my head on the low frame.

Thanks to Elaine's charm bag, sleep came immediately.