Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Vesperia, Nor any of it's characters, they are the property of Namco-Bandai.

This story takes place 1 year after the events of Scattered Flowers (About 2 years before the Game)

TALES OF VESPERIA: A MAID'S LAMENT

(The Castle, A hallway overlooking the parade grounds)

(Standard Point Of View)

Francine Nichols, a housemaid, was about to clean the windows looking out on the parade ground. Nearby Jeanne Coriander, a fellow maid started dusting the vases and the pedestals they rested on.

As Francine was cleaning the windows to a mirror shine, she looked out onto the parade grounds and saw a squad of knights doing drills. These knights wore the red and black of the Royal Guard.

She used to be Royal Guard, a bishop, a female knight trained in support artes. And now she is a house maid, doing menial tasks.

All because of her former commander, Gradana.

She remembered the terrible things he did to her. Essentially ruining her career as a knight. She shook her head to try to banish those terrible memories.

She looked out at the royal guardsmen again. Then she looked at herself in her maid uniform in the window's faint reflection, her gloved hands examining the ruffles on her hairband and her apron's shoulder straps. The large bow with its wide loops and tails in the back of her waist sash. Then she looked down at her calf length full skirt and lower apron, puffed out slightly with a couple layers of tulle, and finally she looked at her black mid-heel Mary-Jane shoes and white silk stockings that now cover her feet.

It's been one year to the day since she began wearing this uniform. It's been one year to the day since she became a housemaid, working at the castle. Quite a step down from being a knight bishop. She let out a soft melancholic sigh.

Suddenly she felt a pair of arms wrap around her midriff, followed by another body pressing on her back and rump. She gasped in surprise as…

"FRANCINE!" Jeanne happily squeed as she cuddled Francine.

"KYAAH!" Francine yelped in surprise as both she and Jeanne wriggled and squirmed. Jeanne keeping a tight grip on Francine's squirming body as their skirts rustled and their shoes shuffled on the polished smooth marble floor.

After a moment, Jeanne let Francine go. "Hah hah hah… Jeanne, you startled me!" Francine gasped as she turned around to face Jeanne. "Grabbing me like that! Honestly."

"Sorry 'bout that…" Jeanne mischievously grinned, rubbing the back of her head. "You were looking kinda down, I wanted to cheer you up. Aheh heh heh."

"By glomping me from behind? Honestly…" Francine shook her head. "I swear. If I didn't know you any better..."

"Hey, You know me." Jeanne replied.

"Anyhoo, changing the subject…" Jeanne looked out the window. "What were you looking at out there that's got you all melancholic enough to make me wanna cheer you up?"

That's when Jeanne saw the knights doing their parade drills and noticed the color of their armor. "Seriously, Francine? The Royal Guard?" She sighed and shook her head. "Have you forgotten what those jerks did to us?"

Jeanne unbuttoned her collar and opened it, revealing her neck and the two faint scars on either side of her larynx. "I know I haven't."

"I have them too, you know." Francine unbuttoned her collar and showed Jeanne the same scars on her neck."

"Yeah, and so does Charlene and Gabrielle." Jeanne replied as they re-buttoned their collars. "All reminders of what that damn monster Gradana did to us. I still remember the pain of it all."

"Me too." Francine agreed. "First our purity, then our voices. Forced to suffer the constant violations of our bodies in stifling silence until… until…"

"Yeah, until Julia got cured of that drug and the whole thing blew up in Gradana's face." Jeanne finished. "Man, I knew she was a victor of the gods games, killed eight others, I didn't know how vicious she can get when she went to rescue Natalie and Hannah."

"Yes, that was horrifying what she did to those men." Francine said. "Even though they clearly deserved it, seeing the aftermath of it all made both me and Gabrielle faint in shock. So much blood."

"Yeah that was a fringing mess." Jeanne agreed as she leaned on the window sill.

"Um, Jeanne, are you sure you want to be leaning on that?" Francine said.

"Why?" Jeanne asked back.

"Well because I just noticed…" Francine pointed at Jeanne's hand. Jeanne looked down at her white gloved hand and saw crawling next to it a small spider no bigger that her fingernail. Her expression went from curiosity to fright.

"KYAAAAAAAAH! SPIDER! SPIDER! SPIDER! SPIDER!" Jeanne yelled in panic as she frantically cowered away from the window back first into the wall across the hallway almost knocking a nearby vase over. "KEEPITAWAYFROMME! EEEEEK!"

"This little guy." Francine calmly placed her hand next to the spider and allowed it to crawl onto her palm. "It's just a common garden spider. Perfectly harmless." She smiled.

"I don't care if it's small and harmless, Francine!" Jeanne looked at the spider in Francine's hand. Her violet eyes wide with fright. Her body shivering. "It's a disgusting gross icky creepy spider! And I don't like them! And I can't believe you're letting it crawl about on your hand! EWWWW! How the hell are you so calm around that thing!?"

"I'm wearing gloves, you know!" Francine reminded, Still looking perfectly calm as the garden spider moved about her palm.

"That's besides the point!" Jeanne replied, still cowering and shivering, back to the wall. She shook her head left and right, her gloved fist just under her chin."EWWW! It's so gwoss! Fwancine, get that cweepy-cwawlie thing away fwom meeee!"

"Oh alright." Francine opened up the window and let the spider crawl off her hand and outside wall. "Off you go now, Mr. spider. Don't go scaring my friend anymore." And closed the window. "Okay Jeanne you can unstick yourself from the wall now. The spider's gone."

"Whew." Jeanne relaxed and walked back up to Francine. "Thanks for getting rid of it *shudder*. Spiders just get me all bugged out. Just what is up with those things? I mean all those googly-ooogly eyes. The way they eat, EWWW GROSS! Those big-ass hairy gross butts of theirs. And all those hairy creepy legs!" She wriggled her fingers for emphasis. "Even the way they move around on those legs is so creepy *shiver shiver shiver*!"

"Would you rather they use roller-skates to move around?" Francine asked.

"Are you nuts, Francine!? That'll make 'em EVEN more creepy! Just thinking about it *shudder shudder shudder*." She slumped her shoulders and hung her head. "I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight. Sheesh."

Francine giggled.

"Well I'm glad someone's finding this amusing." Jeanne sarcastically replied, arms folded across her chest.

"Sorry." Francine giggled some more. Her hand up to her chin.

Jeanne found herself giggling and doing the same effeminate gesture. "Where were we?" She asked.

"I think we were up to where Julia and that long haired boy beat up Gradana." Francine answered. "What was his name?"

"Yuri Lowell." Jeanne answered. "He was in the same class as us at Imperial Knight Academy, remember?"

"Oh." Francine replied.

"So I know it's been a year now since we became royal maids Francine." Jeanne said. "How do you feel about it?"

"It still feels like a rather large step down from being knights." Francine answered.

"Yeah, I kinda agree." Jeanne nodded. "But hey, better to be the maids of master Ioder and lady Estellise than being Gradana's maids last year."

"Oh, How is being maids here any different from serving that awful Gradana?" Francine asked.

"Well for one, we're talking to each other, in our own voices." Jeanne answered. "And we're not getting screwed in the mouth." Pointed at her and Francine's mouth. "And our two openings down there every second or third day." Pointed at both her and Francine's crotch. "And don't get me started on the Cumores when they drop in to visit. ESPECIALLY Mimula*!Shudder* That tongue of hers!"

Both maids shuddered from the icky perverse things Mimula did to them.

"Jeanne! Honestly! We don't talk about Mimula, no no no! We all agreed on that remember?" Francine reminded, wagging her right forefinger.

"My bad." Jeanne apologized. "Now where was I? And finally our uniforms, They're way better than those skimpy outfits Granada a made us wear. I kinda like wearing this!" Jeanne does a graceful twirl. "I feel a lot better wearing this."

"I guess I can agree, Jeanne. We do look quite cute, girly and a bit more professional looking in these uniforms." Francine nodded. "But still, as nobles, this is just so beneath us."

"Francine I don't know if anyone told you this, but we weren't the first nobles to serve as either maids or butlers in this castle." Jeanne stated.

"What!?" Francine gasped, her hands up to her chin in surprise. "There were nobles that worked as servants in this castle before? How can this be!? Surely they must have suffered scandals as bad as ours to end up being just mere servants!"

"Not quite, Francine." Jeanne replied. "Some noble houses often sent their children to serve as maids or butlers at higher ranked houses. Supposed to teach them humility. Matter of fact, My mom and dad once worked here as maid and butler respectively under the last emperor. Matter of fact that's how they met."

"Really!? I find that hard to believe." Francine replied.

"Yeah, kind of an old, not often used practice." Jeanne said. "Nowadays most houses send their kids to Knight school to get 'em in the Royal Guard. And, well, all five of us were no exception, that's for sure. That's how it is these days. All our families in the Noble Quarter want us to be royal guardsmen, destined to protect either Emperor Ioder Argylos Heurassein or Empress Estellise Sidos Heurassein. Once they come of age."

Francine let out a sigh. "And we were so close, Jeanne. So close."

"Ah, there you two are." A new voice interrupted.

Francine and Jeanne turned to see who was addressing them. They learn it was Julia.

"His excellency, commandant Alexei wishes to see you two…" Julia told them. "Along with Charlene and Gabrielle."

"Commandant Alexei wants to see us, Julia?" Jeanne asked, pointing at her own slightly confused face. "What does he want with us?"

"I'm nor sure myself, Jeanne." Julia answered. "I already told Charlene and Gabrielle earlier. They're already waiting for us outside his office."

"We're coming." Francine said as she and Jeanne joined up Julia. And they all went to Alexei's office.

(Alexei's Office, sometime later)

The five maids met up and then entered Alexei's office. After some time had passed, all five came back out. Julia closed the door behind them.

They all looked at each other. A moment of silence passed before...

"I don't believe this. I… I just don't." Jeanne said first as she pulled down her left cuff, revealing a bodhi blastia designed to be easily concealed under her cuff. She studied the low-cut ruby-colored core and the slender red and black leather strap it was attached to. "And, yet, here it is, on my wrist. A bodhi blastia! An actual bodhi blastia!"

"You can't believe it, Jeanne." Gabrielle replied. "What about the rest of us."

If you're wondering, yes, Alexei has given all five maids Royal Guard issue bodhi blastias.

"So let me get this straight…" Charlene said as she examined her own bodhi blastia. "Because we were Royal Guard, Commandant Alexei gave us these, and told us that we've been unofficially reinstated as Imperial Knights. And charged with the task of secretly guarding master Ioder and Lady Estellise. While continuing with our duties as housemaids."

"Quite the anniversary gift when you think about it." Gabrielle said.

"That would virtually make us all Royal Guard again." Francine said. "Only in maid uniforms instead of bishop uniforms.

"Or standard female combat armor." Julia added. "Hmmm. I believe we need to set aside some time for ourselves to practice our artes. We have been out of practice for quite a long time."

"You're one to talk, Julia. We know you're still practicing your martial arts off hours." Jeanne replied. "No doubt about it we got a lot of catching up to do."

Charlene, Francine and Gabrielle nodded in agreement.

"But wouldn't the rest of the staff and the knights notice us wearing these?" Francine asked. "What if they ask?"

"Well, Francine, We'll simply tell them we got these from Commandant Alexei because we used to be in the Royal Guard." Julia replied. "And If they ask if we've been reinstated back into the knights? Merely dismiss as mere rumor and nothing more. Understood?"

The other four maids nodded. "Understood." They replied.

"Right then, Let's get back to work. There's still a fair bit of day left and still much work to do."

"Right." The other four maids agreed and the all went their separate ways returning to their daily chores.

Fin

Author's notes:

Just a short story about the other maids in the castle

As well as how the rumors of them being reinstated back to the Royal Guard would get started.

That's it.