Hey peepz!

THANX very much for your reviews, I live for these! ::dances around::

@Ella: Good point! I didn't think about that.You're probably right; I'll
use "damn" or "bloody" instead of f***in' in future chappies. update: I
changed it in my correcting

@Whizzo: Actually I haven't. I recently read a biography about Chaucer and
there I found this interesting fact. Normally I would have overlooked it
but instead I noted it because in one of my favourite books (a historical
novel) Katheryne and John of Gaunt (and Chaucer) appear and so I knew a bit
'bout them before.

@all: I've seen the DVD! YEAH!! The scene with Geoffrey's wife was
wonderful - the more I pity that I have cut her out of my story, too.

Feel free to review again (or the first time.).

Enjoy.

~*~

*"NO" Maureen cried from inside the bathing room "There's nothing wrong
with my clothes!"

"NOTHING WRONG?" Elana cried from outside the bathing room "They're ragged
and dirty. It was very nice of Bob to give some of his clothes away. So
please be kind and take them!"

"Bob's much taller than me. They'll be too large - I'd look stupid."
Maureen tried a new tactic but failed miserably.

"Your current things are too large, too. So what's your point?"

Maureen cursed quietly but didn't reply.

"FINE!" Elana suddenly yelled "Let's see what Geoffrey" in his absence
Elana always related to him with his first name "will say about your
pigheadedness!" With that she hurried away muttering curses under her
breath.

Maureen didn't know what she should feel like: relieved because Ela had
left her or concerned because her new master wouldn't be too pleased.

The quarrel had begun right after Maureen had finished her washing. She had
wiped long enough and the water had begun to feel cold on her skin. She had
stepped out of it as a knock at the door had made her stop short in the
middle of her movements. It had been Elana who had wanted to give her some
new clothes, borrowed from Bob until Maureen would have own new clothes.
But Maureen didn't want to have new gear. She was very pleased with her
current clothes. Jane had bought them for her. It didn't matter that Pete
had taken the money for them off Maureen's wage. For Maureen it still had
been a present from Jane as had been the neck scarf. This had been a New
Year's Day present of Jane. It matched to Jane's favourite shoulder shawl.
That's why and because it was useful to hide that she hadn't even a sign of
an Adam's apple Maureen wore it all the time. And she didn't intend to
break that habit.

She heard approaching footsteps and then a knock at the door. It was
Geoffrey (Maureen had decided to call him Geoffrey in her mind and in his
absence, too).

"Listen. Elana has told me you do not want to part with your clothing.
Would you please tell me why?" he didn't sound angry but very calm and
matter-of-factly.

Maureen decided to feel relieved.

"It's mine! I don't want to wear anything different from it."

"But it's dirty. Your clothes need a good wash just as you did."

"All right, then let it wash, I'll be waiting here."

All of a sudden Ela butted in.

"FINE! STAY IN THERE AND FREEZE YOUR ARSE OFF! I WON'T."

"SHHHH, ELA!!!" Geoffrey admonished her, Maureen grinned "And you STOP
grinning, Ryan!" Her grin froze, how did he know????*

~After some short time of thinking Geoff spoke again.

"I have an idea. Wait a moment." he hurried away. Directly to his room.
There he opened his chest with the clothes he had worn during the
tournament. Smiling he took out a shirt and trousers then got back to the
washing room.

"Hey Ryan. Here I have some old clothes of mine. They are much like yours.
Would you wear them until Ela has washed yours?"

Elana wanted to protest but a gesture of Geoffrey made her silent. She
folded her arms across the chest and gave him a glare but obeyed. After
quite a long while a quiet "Promised?" came out of the room. Geoffrey
beamed.

"Of course. I promise. You will get your clothes back when they are washed
and mended. Ela will take care for everything" Geoffrey was sure that
Elana's protest and anger had been mere fake. He could see right through
her masquerade. She liked Ryan and would do anything to draw his attention
to her, no matter if in a positive or negative way.

Slowly the door was unlocked and even more slowly a small hand with Ryan's
clothes - shirt, jacket, trousers and underpants made its way out of it.
Geoffry noticed that the neck scarf was missing but did not say a word.
Instead he shoved his clothes into the hand while preventing Ela from
having a look through the door crack. The door was closed again with a
muffled "Thanx.". Ela looked disappointed but took the clothes and bustled
away to the kitchen to give them a good wash immediatly.

Geoff told Ryan to come down to the business room next to the entrance when
he would have finished. Then Geoffrey went down the stairs, passed the
kitchen with a nonstop angry muttering Ela in it and grinning entered the
study where Bob was busy with copying a poem for Sir Aimhurst's bride - it
was not an order of Sir Aimhurst but neither Geoffrey nor Bob did care for
that. This was one more reason for the Lords and Ladies to trust Master
Chaucer - he was discreet. What they did not know was that Geoff retained
everything and used it for his own purposes (mainly parodistic short
stories about the life on court for his very special friends).

Geoffrey sent Bob away with the daily correspondence. He was sure that Bob
would stay away for a while - the last letter was for Sir Pokes whose house
maiden Bob had a crush on. Shortly after Bob was away Ryan entered the
room. Geoffrey had to stifle a laugh, his clothes really were much too
large for the skinny boy, considering the fact that Geoffrey was about a
feet taller than Ryan who now glowered at him.

"Well, at least the trousers go down to the ground." Geoffrey managed to
chuckle out between his efforts. The boy had rolled up the trouser legs.
But it still was better than his normal trousers which had ended almost one
foot above the ground. Geoff's shirt now ended some inches above the knees.
He could see that Ryan had washed the neck scarf for himself (was it blue-
green, perhaps?). Still wet it was around his neck again as was the small
pouch - what might have been in it? His feet were still bare but hardly to
be seen for the trouser legs lay on them. Geoffrey gestured Ryan to sit
next to him. The boy scrambled into the seat and curled up to a ball. Did
he feel uncomfortable?~

*Maureen wasn't feeling too well. She placed her chin on her knees and
tried to find out why she felt so very uncomfortable. She had a feeling
that it was because Geoff had laughed at her. Why did that upset her? Many
people had laughed at her before including Jane who had done that in an
affectionate way though. Had Geoff done it in an affectionate sort of way,
too? Why did she care about that?

Or was her awkward feeling caused by his insistent blue eyes? How was she
expected to face this stare? She couldn't bear looking at him longer than
half a minute.

"Stupid" she said to herself.

"What?" Geoffrey looked puzzled. Oh, had she thought aloud?

"Nothing."

"All right." he still looked puzzled but now seemed eager to get the talk
to a beginning "Well, Ryan, let us speak about your upcoming time in my
house. I think it best when you do not leave the building the next weeks,
all right?"

Maureen nodded silently. Pete or one of "his men" (she wasn't quite sure
what this expression actually meant but it couldn't be a good thing) would
be waiting for her. The mere thought of him made her shiver.

"Good. You have seen your chamber already. I do not have a key for it but
everyone will knock before entering, I give you my word. In my house it is
not custom to enter a private room without permission. It is your space and
everyone will respect this."

Why was he so eager to make sure she understood this privacy point?

"And of course, the same behaviour is expected from you, too." Maureen
nodded again "Fine. Tomorrow we will start the reading lessons. How much do
you know about figures and calculating?"

Maureen ashamedly looked at her hands. She felt so uneducated. She never
had cared about that point. But now, being in this fine house, sitting next
to this friendly and obviously educated man who still was quite a stranger
to her, Maureen felt quite different. She didn't say anything.

"Well, I see. You do not have to be ashamed, Ryan. Nobody ever showed you,
I guess, so it is not your fault. You cannot know what nobody has taught
you. I will teach you, do not worry. You will see that it is not that
difficult. Presumed you work for it."

Maureen hurried to nod. She was not sure if she should try a word of
thanks, too afraid that her voice could creak. She tried it though.

"Th.thank you very much, Master Chaucer, sir." Her voice was only a little
bit hoarse.

"No problem. With the time you will help Bob with his duties. Of course you
will not do the official copies in the beginning, your writing will still
be too bad. But you will be able to do the second copies for archive. That
will help Bob a lot. And with the time you will learn how to write and draw
neatly. Then I will give you some official tasks, too."

Maureen's ears burnt. That would be wonderful - to produce something
somebody will read over and over again. She had a feeling that she would
never be good enough for that. But it was a good feeling though. She merely
nodded again.

"Good. Now the paying. Right now at the beginning I will not pay you.
Finally you do not leave the house and you do not work, yet. I hope you
understand. I do not have the money to pay a second assistant, yet."

Oh, was this the real reason why he had saved her? To save money???

"But as soon as you take over some tasks you will get some money of course.
What about 2 pence a week? With this you could buy some things for your
own. Room and board (A/N: Did they already say that in medieval times??)
are for free, of course. And you can keep my clothes if you want. You will
need some alternate clothes. Just give the trousers to Elana. She can make
them shorter, suiting to your height."

Maureen was overwhelmed. Everything seemed so easy as Geoffrey talked about
it.

"Well, what more? Oh, yes. I have a question and I do hope that you will
answer it."

With that he shot a strange and intense look over to Maureen. She couldn't
bear it. What will be coming next?

"That man who was chasing you, I think Pete you called him, that was not
your uncle, was he?"

What should she say??? Well, the truth maybe.

"Um, no, he wasn't."

"You had not been on your way to your uncle, had you?"

".no."

"You do not have an uncle in London at all, do you?"

"No, I haven't." Maureen muttered.

"Now it is really important that you tell me the truth: did you run away
from your lord? To find a better life in the city?"

How was she supposed to answer that? Now the truth was not very helpful at
all.

"Well, yes. I."

"No problem. I just had to know. You are in a city now, nobody will care
too much. But to go one the save path I can make you an "official"
confirmation that you are a free man and not anybody's peasant. Ryan Pickle
is not your real name is it?"

"No." well, at least that was true.

"Good, so I do not have to make up a new one." Then a curious grin spread
over his face "Would you give away your real name to me?"

Well, "Maureen Pears" wouldn't do it, would it? So:

"Sorry, no, that's a secret I'd like to keep to myself." she just couldn't
think of any other name now.

"Well, fine, no problem. Um, may I be curious again?"

Maureen looked suspiciously at him - hell, what would it be this time?

"What did you experience ever since we met the first time?"

First Maureen gave him a flabbergasted glance. Then, without herself
actually wanting it, everything blurted out of her. She told him everything
- about the two guards, her first impressions of London, Jane, Pete, even
Jaques (for some reason Geoffrey smirked at her mention of the tournament).
She told the complete truth, except that she had changed the perspective.
It was the perspective of Ryan. Geoffrey didn't interrupt very often. In
fact he only did to ask some questions or to give her a little help when
she became unsure. A simple word could help her continue her report. It
took very long. Geoffrey really was interested and it was good to speak
about everything without any glossing over. She felt relieved.

While she still had been reporting Bob had come home but Geoffrey had sent
him away, not without a "Happy Valentine's Eve!" and a grin.

Now he sat silently in his chair. The fire place was lit and a cosy warmth
was spreading out from it. Maureen felt a bit dazed and much lighter.
Geoffrey didn't say a word but for some reason it didn't make her nervous
anymore. Then he spoke again.

"You miss Jane."

It were merely three words but everything was said with this. Maureen dared
a short look into his blue eyes which now had a dark shade because of the
semi-darkness in the room. Although she couldn't see them properly she
noticed the pity in them. And the grief Geoffrey felt for her, with her.

He was so . she couldn't find a word for him. She only could imagine the
real warmth of his heart. She suddenly felt not only not nervous but even
very well being so near to him.

The sound of a bell intruded the room. It was 11pm.

"You must be tired." Geoffrey smiled warmly.

Maureen nodded, also smiling.

"Then have a good night. And do not forget: whatever you dream during the
first night in a new bed will come true." Maureen didn't know that yet. But
it sounded nice. "So I wish you nice dreams either."

She smiled, then bowed.

"I wish you the same, Master Chaucer."

And with that she left the room and went down the floor towards the stairs.
When she passed the kitchen she saw Ela still sitting in it and sewing. She
wished her a good night and swiftly went on before Ela could embroil her
into a talk.

All Maureen now wanted to do was sleep. Sleep and have a nice dream which
would come true. So she ignored the slightly angry babbling of Elana behind
her and hurried off to her small chamber.

She slipped out of Geoffrey's clothes and instead of them took the huge
night shirt she had got from Bob. Then she suspiciously took the small
earthenware pot with a mixture of vinegar and honey in it. Geoff had said
that it would be for cleaning the teeth. In Corton she had used salt for
that. She couldn't really believe that this mixture would do a good job on
cleaning teeth but she decided to give it a try.

She scrubbed until her fingers hurt.

Then she scrambled into the bed and huddled under the comfortable blanket.

Maureen closed her eyes and began her silent evening prayer. She thanked
god to let her bump into Geoffrey.

She had lost a motherly friend but also gained a fatherly one. At least her
feeling told that to her.

It was the first night ever since she had entered London that she didn't
wish to be back home in Corton again. Strangely she felt home where she
currently was.*

~*~

So, did you like it? Please let me know what you think.