Paper-Thin Everything

Writers: Avery, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 11th July 2016

Characters: Yusanis, Nohria
Description: Yusanis talks to Nohria, unaware of how closely the conversation is scrutinized.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 6, day 18 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Goulan (NPC), Zathris

That morning, Nohria had been given a last-minute mission by her boss:
Clean Yusanis' office,
and look for documents bearing the seal of Lord Zathris' father. It
didn't really matter what it was as long as she could get two or
three, but anything that expressed concern for Hold matters was
preferable. So Nohria had traded the assignment with another drudge
who hadn't been feeling well, positioned her cart in front of the
door, and started searching Yusanis' desk very carefully.

Yusanis had been going to lunch, and then he remembered that he'd
forgotten a note he wanted to pick up. It was from his mother, letting
him know how things were going at the home. Her letters were always
long and detailed, full of tibits of information, and she expected his
reaction to many of them. If he didn't bring it with him, he wouldn't
remember enough of what it said to write his own response. And so it
was that he headed back towards his office, opening the door. It
thumped loudly into something and wouldn't move.

Nohria jumped in surprise; no one was supposed to be here yet. The
motion made her accidentally knock over a stack of papers. Stifling
a curse, she tried to play the part of the subservient, almost
frightened drudge. "I'm so sorry! Just a moment, please!" she called,
and hastily picked up the papers, putting them on the desk, and
swiping two to hide among the washclothes among the cleaning supplies.
She did so, grabbed one of the cloths, then pulled the cart away from
the door. Oh, Ancients, it
was Yusanis. Her luck was not with her lately. "My apologies, sir. I
didn't mean to leave the cart in front of the door." Which was a lie,
of course, but oh well.

Yusanis head a startled sound and then some noises from inside the
room. He tried the door again but nothing changed. He frowned
slightly, wondering what could be going on in there.

He looked at the drudge when she opened the door. "I wasn't aware
anyone was supposed to be cleaning at this time."

"You're right, it was supposed to be even earlier," Nohria said. "But
the drudge who was supposed to take care of it is feeling ill, so I
traded with her. I could only start now, however."

"Not a problem," he said automatically, with the politeness trained
into him, even though in truth it was a problem, because she'd been in
his way. "I'm Yusanis. And you are?"

"Nohria, sir. Formerly of Amethyst Cliffs," she said automatically,
giving him a curtsy that was a hair too fast and caused her bust to
shake. (She figured at this point, doing anything that would distract
Yusanis from suspecting something was up was a good idea. The speed of
the curtsy could just be attributed to nervousness.) "If I may get
back to work, I'll be out of your way very soon."

"I was there only once before the diaster," he said reflectively, as
though he hadn't heard her last comment. "I was last at Malachite
Gulch, though."

Nohria almost dropped her dustrag in shock. Before the assault on
Amber Hills had begun, the bandits had split from one large group into
two mid-sized bunches. Nohria had gone with one; her best friend and
former lover Ardihan had gone with another. Shortly after she had
started her tenure as a drudge, she had been passed a message from
him: He and his new lover Inyarmi had wound up at Malachite Gulch,
where their comrades had taken over an abandoned building close to the
border. They had been discovered, and to avoid capital punishment,
they had offered their services to the Lord Holder. And amazingly, it
had worked. That meant the Lord was an unscrupulous sort.

If Yusanis had been part of Malachite Gulch's staff, that could be a
huge blow to his credibility, especially if he had _known_ the Lord
was a criminal sort and _done nothing_. She had to tell this to Goulan
as soon as possible! To hide her excitement, she bent her head over
the desk, moving papers so she could dust it. "Is Malachite Gulch a
nice place? I've never been there," she said conversationally.

He wrinkled his nose, not wanting to badmouth the place to the poor
drudge. He'd been happy for a few Turns, he reminded himself. But he'd
wanted to leave and find a better posting.

"It was a pretty place, reminded me somewhat of my home. Even colder
than here in the winter. There was a lot of mining work done there. I
know the Lord had had hopes of luring top Miners away from Garnet
Valley."

The tone of his voice was very telling. He was leaving something out.
That didn't bode well for him. Nohria just nodded, finished dusting
the desk, and moved on to dusting off Yusanis' chair. "So there is
work to be found in that area. That's good. Stable jobs mean happy
people." She completed work on the chair and moved on to other things
that needed dusting. Next would come a sweep, and anything else
Yusanis would want done.

"There's plenty of manual work to be found for men with strong backs.
Not that field work isn't hard, but in a different way. I imagine it
differs much less for women since the work of hold and hearth is so
similar. But if you dislike the climate here, it's not a bad change,"
he said.

Was that a general "you", or was he referring to her specifically?
Nohria decided to pretend he meant her. "Why would I want a change?
There's enough work to do here," she said, shaking the dustrag onto
the floor and going to claim her broom.

He laughed at that. "There is indeed. Some tasks never change, I suppose."

"Never," Nohria agreed. **Not unless people _make_ them change,** she
thought. "Will there be anything else you'd like done here when I
finish sweeping, sir?"

"Empty the wastebasket, but that's all," he said. "I'm sorry I've
taken up your time, it was just nice to say hello to someone new."

"It was no trouble at all, sir," Nohria said sweetly, and turned away to
start sweeping, and so the Steward couldn't see her wicked grin. Just wait
until Goulan got this information!

Last updated on the July 15th 2016

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Paper-Thin Everything