Arturia tumbled into the room, through out the entire day she had felt her ankle throb; but she pretended that she was fine. Upon closing the door behind her, she noted that Jeanne was sitting quietly on the seat next to her bed. "Hello." She greeted.
"You ran off this morning. When I returned you were no longer in the room, instead you were gone and I was not able to treat your wound; how did you go about without it getting treated?" Jeanne crossed her arms over her chest a little bit impatiently. "Why on earth would you go to school without your leg —at least —bandaged?" Arturia could see the worry in her eyes. "I came here to take care of you and you run off with a horrible leg."
Arturia felt a chill run down her spine. "What?" She mumbled lightly, her hands almost trembling and her eyes blinking more than a few times. "What do you mean when you returned?"
"I mean, milord, that I left, went to get a bandage and when I returned; you were not in the room. Instead, you were being escorted to the school by another maid." She leaned back on the chair. "You were already late for class, but you rushed out of here faster than a cheetah."
"Another maid?"
Jeanne nodded. "Yes, another maid, I saw you from the window here." She explained. "Why could you not wait?"
"Wait; what? When you returned I was not in the room?" She kept her distance from the Frenchwoman, eying her a couple of times over.
"No. Did you see me or what?"
"I—" Arturia stopped, alright; whatever was going on was better kept hidden. "—I was already really late and it was not good that I was even more late; so I rushed off. I treated my wound during the free period at the Nurse's office. See," She lifted her pant leg to show that she had a bandage —that was rather bloody and certainly needed changing (not too much blood though).
Jeanne stood from the chair and walked to the wardrobe to take out the bandages that she had brought that morning and placed them on the top drawer. "Sit down; I'll fetch some warm water."
"No!" Arturia stopped the female from leaving. "No..." She said much calmer and quieter. "It does not have to be warm water."
"Oh," Jeanne nodded, "I almost forgot that you dislike getting wet. Alright then, how about I help you bathe? Is that better? That blood needs to be cleaned off and since you dislike getting only parts of your body wet, then why not your entire body?"
The water ran and began to fill the tub as Arturia removed her clothes and Jeanne checked the water to make sure that it was not boiling hot. After it passed the test, Arturia removed the bandage and slipped into the tub. The warm water was a change to the chilly air that she had felt that morning and the previous evening. This feeling melted through her skin and made her feel a million times better. She groaned and fell back into the water, taking a deep breath before she submerged herself underneath. She let the water kiss her body with loving warmth, letting the air slip from her lungs to form into bubbles and escape the warmth. Arturia's eyes fluttered open and she looked at the outside world from under the water. It was soothing; the water, the warmth, the familiar company. After deeming it time to resurface to make her lungs rest, she sat up slowly and let the air refill her lungs. "You saw me with a maid, right?" She asked the other female that sat on a stool next to the tub.
Jeanne took a cloth from the basket beside her. "Yes." She nodded and dipped the cloth into the water next to Arturia after rubbing it with soap.
"Do you—" She took a deep breath, knowing much too well that what had occurred was a little more than creepy and the the girl that began to clean her back could not actually have been Jeanne, "—perhaps know how she looked like? Maybe you recognized her as well?"
Jeanne rubbed circles on Arturia's back with the cloth, "Well," she began, "I barely got a glimpse her, milord, in fact I am not even sure if I recognize her as another maid —from what I saw."
"Jeanne, can I see your wrist?" Arturia remembered the scar that she had from when they were little, if she was an imposter; she would surely not have the scar.
Jeanne nodded and placed the wet red cloth on the edge of the tub and showed her right wrist to the other female.
"And how did you get this?" If it was possible to duplicate the cross-shaped scar, it was impossible to duplicate memories.
"Did you forget?" Jeanne looked a little troubled. "Does that injury have anything to do with you acting weird lately?"
"Tell me how you got it." Arturia was starting to worry. Why was Jeanne not answering her question? It was not a hard one either.
"We were ten —so it was six years ago —I jumped off from a tree because you promised to catch me. You barely did because on my way down, I hit some branches and when I crashed into you, we both fell to the floor. You had broken your leg for somehow it twisted under you and I broke my wrist. I remember your father was furious, saying that it was what you deserved for playing around with the servants, and there was so much blood; your mother almost fainted when she found us. Apparently we had scared her to death, she thought we had died! You had a brace on your leg for six months, and you could not even leave your room for another two months because your father was still horribly mad. It was priceless. The look on his face and yours. You even talked back and defended me; saying that we would not have a house if my mother was not working for you. That made him extremely furious but he did not show it." She smiled as she remembered the memory. "It was a fun time."
"Good." Arturia smiled and let go a the other female's hand. "The truth is, last night, someone touched me." Her voice had lowered and she sank deeper into the tub.
"Touched you? Oh goodness! Were you molested?" Jeanne brought a had to her mouth rapidly.
"Good heavens no! I would have —okay let us leave it at that. In a way I was, but I was not able to see who had even touched me." She explained. "It was frightening really, I woke up deep into the night and then I noticed I had kicked off the covers... but—" she was shaking and Jeanne could tell because the water around her was vibrating, "—but I felt the tight grip on my ankle and it would not shake off, it only became tighter...then..." She breathed. "Then I do not know. I simply woke up the next morning. I do not even know what happened, and then you came and left, but you returned and I left with you. You left with me, or at least I think it was you." Arturia ran a hand through her wet hair. "It was you, I swear, and we were walking past the courtyard and I saw this lady, but when I turned to you —or you to me —it wasn't you for the slightest of seconds. I didn't remember that boy's name, and now you tell me that it was not you who walked me to the school this morning. I am so confused."
Jeanne was bewildered and definitely did not expect the long and not really thought out explanation. She too was confused with all the information. "Okay, from the top; you were in your room and someone —or something —took a hold of your ankle, you don't remember what happened after that but the evidence remains. Someone was in your room, without a doubt. Moving on, I came in and left to get you bandages, but you said I returned and then 'we' left together?" That was when things had gotten confusing.
"Well," Arturia shook her head, "I have not been entirely honest with you. This 'Jeanne' is the one who changed my bandages in my dormitory room. I did not do it in the Nurse's office."
"I know because I was waiting for you at the Nurse's office throughout your break and spare period." Jeanne blinked. "You said that the maid I saw you leaving with looked exactly like me in your perspective, non?"
"Yes."
"Then you do not remember who's name?" Jeanne tilted her head.
"The boy who's room is next to mine." She sighed. "It's something along the lines of Dia... I do not know why I forgot his name..."
"I do not know what to say to you, mon amiee." Jeanne scratched her head. "I am also confused by it."
"I think that I am going to agree to his bargain." Arturia stated, blinking a couple of times.
The French maid furrowed her brows. "Bargain?"
"Not exactly. More of a partnership. Two creepy occurrences, in less than twenty-four hours, is one too many." She said as she ran a hand over her injury, to clear it of any blood that lingered. Jeanne had not made any further inquiries, knowing that the female was feeling stressed and freaked out.
After a while of cleaning, the warm water had cooled and turned pink as well. They deemed it time for Arturia to change back to her clothes and rebind both her chest and the wound.
It was a pretty decent knock, not too hard but still rather confident. She had begun getting impatient when the door had finally creaked open. Her short hair still remained wet from the bath she had taken; water dripping down her cheek and onto the floor. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she blinked up at a very tall male —except it was not the male she expected to see.
Strong muscular arms were lifted as long blue hair was being tied back with an elastic or ribbon, Arturia could not exactly tell and she was not paying attention to the small detail either. "There's a short boy at your door." The tall boy smirked and looked down at Arutia, making her a little irritated by how he viewed her.
"Short boy?" The young man that she was looking for peeked out behind the other male. "Ah, Arthur." He gave a smile so wide that it wrinkled the beauty mark on his cheek.
Arturia nodded and then turned her attention to the male right in front of her, blinking her green eyes and trying to figure out who he was.
"My older brother; Cú."
"I prefer Hound of Ulster." Red eyes looked her over.
"Stop flirting with him, he is here to talk to me anyways. Unless..." The male with the spot below his eye drifted, not really thinking anything but possibly having an idea.
"Well," Cú smirked, "I was not flirting, or was I?" He winked down at Arturia, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "I do not like short boys." He then looked at her as if he thought she was offended, pity in his eyes.
"I am not that short." She hissed, still trying to keep her voice low.
"Really?" The male in front of her laughed.
The younger of the two sighed and shook his head. "Leave the poor child alone, Cú."
Arturia scoffed out. "I am no child."
Cú let out another laugh and then ruffled her hair, making it messy and tangled; the water that remained in her hair sprung out around them. He then squeezed past her and left, leaving her at the door of the boy's room —still unsure of what his name was.
"I dislike him; he's a bother." She rolled her eyes.
Dia laughed and allowed her in. "And what of me?"
"I can see who you take after." She spoke and he chuckled in return, sitting upon his bed after he had offered her a seat.
"So," he smiled brightly, "what brings you this far away from your room?"
Arturia rolled her eyes again. "I had to walk five steps to get here, it is not the slightest bit far." She crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance.
"I was making a joke, Arthur, but really; why have you come?"
She sat up straighter, still trying to keep a male-ish appeal —even though it was hard with her petite form. "I've come to say yes. I will join you; but it is not because you have persuaded me, rather I am doing it out of the kindness of my own heart." It was blurted out, in a way, rushed and messily said. Truth be told, she was a bit intimidated by the male that sat before her; what if he were to judge her? She did not liked to be judged, and thus she tried not to show the slightest opening —not even if it slipped into her eyes.
