The next day, Rai had gotten up bright and early, much earlier than some of the others. She had begun by starting to prepare the kitchen for breakfast to be cooked; she wiped down the dining room table and began to set out a place for the boy as soon as Mey-rin, Finny, Bard, and Tanaka poked their heads in through the door. "Good morning everyone!" Rai smiled and closed her eyes. They couldn't believe it, she was getting almost everything done! "Could you guys tell me what hasn't been done in a while around the manor?" She asked them as she finished the setting. And of course everyone was set off to work. "Finny, make sure that all the garden is watered, soil treated and weeds pulled." She told the boy. "Bard, make sure that the kitchen wear, pots, and pans stay clean and ready for use. I have already cleaned and prepped everything, so just be ready to clean once something gets dirty." She told the blonde haired man as he saluted and rushed off to his destination. "Tanaka," She just stared at him as he took a sip of his tea, "Good work! And Mey-rin, you and I are going to do some serious cleaning around the manor." Rai winked at Mey-rin with a smile.
Sebastian went downstairs to see everyone busy doing something. However, what shocked him the most was that the kitchen was prepared for use. Everything was within reach or slight walking distance and Bard was sitting by the sink, waiting for a dirty pot or pan to clean. It was just a simple task, but it kept him busy and out of trouble. He brought the master tea and was surprised to see his place already set. This started to get on his nerves a little.
Mey-rin and Rai were in the galley by the entrance of the manor. Rai was up on a tall ladder cleaning the dusty cobwebs off the chandelier, while gripping the ladder until her hand cramped and knuckles turned white. Oh, how she hated heights. Mey-rin just stood there at the base of the ladder, making sure she didn't fall. Next were the columns, followed by the doors, windows, floors, and railings. The pictures would be taken care of later. They cleaned the entire galley just before lunch time.
"Oh, wow, Rai-sama, you're amazing!" Mey-rin said happily.
"Awe, it was nothing," Rai said, scratching the back of her neck. Suddenly the door opened and it was Finny who was about to step in with muddy boots.
"Ah, I'm so hungry," Finny said. Rai glared at him. He was about to put one foot down onto the clean floor when Rai swooped in quickly and placed her right index finger on his forehead, stopping him before he could ruin the sparkling floor. He opened his eyes in surprise and saw Rai standing there with a slight glare of annoyance on her face, her right arm extended to his forehead and her left hand on her hip.
"Ahem," Rai coughed slightly and motioned with her eyes down to his muddy boots. Finnian looked down before forcing his weight backwards and onto the porch outside.
"Ah, sorry about that," Finny stated.
"Go clean them off outside and before you come in, take them off, or I'll have you cleaning up your mess that you dragged in here." Rai said sternly as she turned and looked at him over her right shoulder.
"Yes, ma'm, right away ma'm." Finny quickly bowed and rushed to hose his boots off.
"Whew, that was a close one, that was," Mey-rin sighed as she leaned against the broom handle before it slid and she fell flat on her face. Rai looked at Mey-rin on the floor and sighed. Finny came back and took his boots off before entering the household. Bard came in with something he was eating and Tanaka in toe.
"Wow, this place looks amazing, guys!" Bard was in awe at how clean everything was.
"Oh, ho, ho," Tanaka approved with his chuckle before sipping his tea.
Rai glared at Bard, "You best make sure no crumbs get on this floor, Bard or you'll be cleaning this entire floor again." Bard gulped and quickly forced down the last of his, what appeared to be, pastry. Ciel was talking to Sebastian about something as they came down the left flight of stairs before turning to the front and opening his eye. He stopped and gasped in awe.
"My lord?" Sebastian asked, looking at Ciel then looking up. His jaw dropped slightly. The entire galley was spotless. Everyone was looking to Ciel and Sebastian on the stair way. Everyone bowed except Rai.
"Good afternoon, master," They chimed, only Tanaka did his famous soft chuckle. Ciel quickly regained his composure before descending the last of the stairs. Sebastian looked around and gave a slight glare to the brown haired woman who had her arms crossed. She returned the glare as he, too, descended the stairs behind Ciel.
"I see everything is going well, is it not?" Ciel asked his servants. "It seems to me, that all you needed was an extra stern hand to whip you into shape." Ciel commented as he continued past them and to the dining room. As Sebastian followed Ciel, he kept his eyes forward and on his master, but as he passed Rai, they both shot each other glares, before quickly returning to where they were previously looking. "Since you are all have caught up with the schedule, you may take a lunch break until 1, then it is back to your duties." Ciel and Sebastian kept walking.
"Yes, sir!" The trio said enthusiastically.
"Come along, M'lady! Let's go eat!" Mey-rin grabbed Rai by the hand and went to take off, but Rai's hand slipped easily out of hers. Mey-rin stopped and turned to see what was wrong.
"That's alright, you guys go ahead." Rai stated, placing her hands on her hips. "I haven't had much of an appetite lately, so I'll continue with the chores."
"Are you sure, Rai-sama?" Finny asked. Rai nodded with a smile and turned around to head to the library.
"I'll be in the library and start heading towards the front of the manor if I get done before break is over." She stated over her shoulder. She began to walk to the back of the manor and disappearing down the hall.
"She's kinda weird, isn't she." Bard stated, hands behind his head. Tanaka just chuckled a bit.
Rai made her way back to the library and opened the door. She could smell a hint of dust. She closed the door as she leaned against it, hearing it click. She sighed, dropping her head. "Now, I can really get to work." She stood up from the door and flung out her right hand and the windows blew open, allowing fresh air in and the dust a way out. Several rags she had in her back pockets floated up and began to take a life of their own.
The three went separate ways, one when to the very top of the shelves and got in the tightest crevices up against the ceiling while one went along the spines and tops of books and the last was taking a thin layer of dust off all the top surfaces near the floor.
The furniture floated up as the rug pulled itself free and went outside to flap itself out, ridding itself of dust and debris. It came back in and floated slightly as a broom and dust pan took a quick sweep along the floor followed by a mop and dry towel. The rug laid down where it used to be and the furniture was slowly set back into place.
The toppings on the furniture still floated as more rags came around and wiped them down and rid them of any finger prints.
The rags went outside and shook violently to rid themselves of the dust they collected before returning to dust some more.
Rai just stood there and monitored the entire process.
The dust pan and broom went outside to the very edge of the tree line and deposited dust outside while the dirty mop and bucket followed them, wringing and dumping themselves dry before all returning to the room.
Everything began to settle down as the broom, pan, mop, and bucket came back and placed themselves in the closet and closing the door.
Rai sighed as the last vase set itself down gently on the end table. She turned to the door and opened it, she glanced at the grandfather clock, it only took her fifteen minutes to clean that entire room. Rai gave a slight shrug as she exited the room, closing the windows and the door at the same time.
The next was the study. This one was much quicker, less surfaces to clean, but slightly challenging because she had to organize some papers that were scattered across the desk. Again, her rags came alive as she opened the windows.
The papers floated into a neatly organized pile and stacked themselves neatly on the center of the desk. Quills, excess papers, miscellaneous things filed themselves away. Drawers opened and closed. Books floated across the room to set themselves on the shelves where they belonged. Brooms and dust pans moved across the floor to rid the wood of debris and dumped it back outside where it came from.
Rai was done with this room in roughly five minutes. She continued room to room. She finally had roughly twenty minutes to waste, which she found herself snooping around the cleaned music room. She looked around at the shelves full of composition. She ran her fingers along the files, ranging from Mozart to Bach to Chopin to Beethoven and more. However, what she was mostly interested in were the instruments that were in the room. There was a violin case, a cello case, a bass case, and several other cases.
But Rai was mostly interested in the large black grand piano by the outer wall lined with windows. She glanced into the open panel, it was clean. She ran her hand along it as she moved to the front of it. She ran her hand along the keyboard protector before opening it. She hit middle C and held it, letting it ring. She then hit C,E,G chord. It was in tune. She pulled out the bench to sit down and rested her hands on the keys. She began to fiddle around, getting used to the keys before she sighed. She took as breath and placed her right foot over the peddles and began to play a beautiful soft tune of Mozart's. Of course, her solo didn't go unnoticed. The four nosey servants finally found where she was after checking all the clean rooms. They spied on her through the crack in the door. Her fingers glided across the keyboard creating such a beautiful melody and sound.
"That's amazing," Finnian stated in hushed awe, so she didn't hear.
"It's beautiful," Mey-rin said dreamily as she clasped her hands together.
"She's good," was all Bard could say.
"Oh, ho, ho," Tanaka quietly laughed as he showed up in an orchestra conductor's uniform and waved a baton along with the music. They were there for a good minute, maybe more before Sebastian came up with his arms crossed, glaring at them.
"What are you four doing?" He sighed. The four quickly jumped up frightened and in shock.
"Se-se-Sebastian," Mey-rin stuttered, still trying to stay quiet.
"What's going on that you four are so enthralled?" He asked as he approached the door and was about to push it open. Yes he did hear the music, but it didn't faze him.
"I-I-it's Rai-sama," Finnian stuttered out.
"She's playing such lovely music, she is," Mey-rin said dreamily again. She clasped her hands together again. Sebastian's eyes widened slightly before he walked a little further and looked through the opening the four recently were looking through. He looked in and was slightly amazed, his eyes trained on the woman as her hands moved fluidly along the ivory keys. Sebastian straightened up a little and went to open the door. "No, wait!" Mey-rin tried to stop him, but he pushed open the door fully.
"I was wondering how long you guys were going to just stand there and listen." Rai's voice drifted over the sweet melody of Mozart's tune. Sebastian still had his hand on the door. He was staring at the girl who continued, without faltering, to play. The four peaked in around the frame of the door behind Sebastian and watched as Rai continued her song. Mey-rin leaned over so much that she lost her balance and fell on to Finnian who fell onto Tanaka. Rai glanced at the loud thud, still not faltering, and looked back at the keys. It was a good minute or two before she came to the ritardando in the piece, signaling the end, and slowly and gradually and smoothly hit the notes until she hit the bass notes and the last high chord and let it ring with the sustainer peddle she had pressed down with her right foot. As her right hand left the keys, her right foot released the peddle and she opened her eyes and looked over to Sebastian and the four snoopers. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"The master wishes to speak to you in the dining room." Sebastian stated.
"Alright," Rai sighed as she stood up, placing the keyboard protector down and tucking in the bench before exiting the music room. She closed the door behind her. Sebastian led the way as Rai followed and the four walked behind her, quite a considerable distance. "I'm not going to bite your heads off for listening, if that's what you're thinking." She said over her shoulder to the curious four, who jumped slightly at her statement. "However, it would have been nice to open the door and come in and not be so secretive and hide." They came to the dining room, Sebastian opened the door and ushered Rai in. He turned and glared at the four, signaling them not to listen before he himself, walked in and shut the door.
"You wished to speak with me?" Rai asked as she gave a slight bow. Sebastian walked around her and took up his place next the Ciel.
"Ah, yes I did," Ciel stated simply. "I was wondering how everything was coming along, since I began to hear Bach being played, I thought you might have finished all your chores already." Ciel placed his fork down and opened his blue eye to stare at Rai.
Rai chuckled a bit before bowing slightly, "I'm deeply flattered, but that wasn't Bach, Phantomhive. That was Mozart."
"You'll address him as 'My lord', 'Master Ciel' or-" Sebastian began to snap at her for being so informal to Ciel, when he saw Ciel raise his hand to silence him.
"Very well, then you must have completed your chores?" Ciel asked again.
"Yes, all the rooms have been dusted, aired out, swept, mopped, and organized. The rugs taken out and beaten, flowers in vases watered, books and papers and other miscellaneous things organized and placed in their proper places, and even the highest and tightest of places were dusted and cleaned." Rai stated. Ciel was not that impressed, seeing that Sebastian could have done the exact same thing with the same amount of time. "Even the front galley was cleaned top to bottom, all the low candles were replaced and the column heads dusted as well."
"Very good, it seems that you have done more than asked," He stated, folding his hands in front of his mouth.
"As I go along doing one chore, I see what would be easiest to do next or what needs to be done next." Rai stated, giving a slight bow.
Ciel nodded slightly before stating, "You might not have been told, but a little later on, one of my business associates will be coming by. I wish for you and the others to greet him," He opened his eye and looked dead straight at Rai. "And for you to be on the lookout for anything suspicious," Ciel only got a soft smile and slight bow from Rai.
"Of course," Rai stated.