Chapter 14 - Maybe violence is the answer
Scarlett moved through the mansion's carpeted hallways towards the reception hall. This specific part of the mansion was starting to become familiar for her so she'd told Molly to return to whatever business it was that the servant usually performed and gone on her own. She descended a flight of stairs to the mansion's foyer and opened one of the side doors—she was starting to feel a little bit ridiculous over having worried about that earlier—that led directly to the reception hall. It was a large room lit up by several chandeliers—using magical candles instead of normal candles, just like the rest of the mansion—with beautiful white tapestries and dark red flooring. When she'd first seen the room there had been several round tables in it as well as a slightly elevated platform at one end but those things had been removed by the servants to make room for the children and their temporary living arrangements. Now there were just two long rectangular wooden tables in the middle of the room and some beds lining the walls. There weren't enough of the beds for all the children, even though most of them were small enough to share beds, so some of the older kids had to make do with sleeping on a layer of blankets for now.
Some of the children appeared to be sleeping on the beds right now, but the majority of them were gathered close to Kat who sat on a chair at the side of the room. The kids sat in a half-circle on the floor in front of the Shielder, their eyes captivated by the woman as she performed tricks with her magic. Scarlett's eyes narrowed as she saw Kat conjure a ball of fire above herself that immediately morphed into the shape of a roaring dragon that started flying around in the air, leaving a trailing blaze of fire behind. That had to be [Pyrokinesis], although probably at a higher level than Scarlett's.
She began walking over to Kat, passing by a young servant woman that rested in a chair by the reception hall's main entrance. It seemed to take a moment for the girl to notice her, but when she did she rushed to stand up and greet her. Scarlett merely waved for the servant to go back to what she was doing. Poor girl looked as if she had barely slept.
That made Scarlett think. Did these servants get paid something like overtime? All of the mansion's servants had been working like mad since yesterday morning to follow Scarlett's order to take care of the children. It was honestly impressive how much they had accomplished. Most of the children even looked to have been given new clothes already. But this wasn't a daycare. The mansion wasn't ready to house over thirty kids, and the servants were the ones who had to work extra to make up for that. That was a lot of work to do in addition to their original duties. If Scarlett's guess was right there were only about ten different servants in the entire mansion, if you discounted the hired guards she'd seen guarding the estates' gates. Though there were probably a few more hires that didn't live around here. She hadn't seen whoever it was that took care of the gardens yet, for example.
She put a reminder to discreetly ask Garside about the matter at the back of her mind as she neared the group of children that were marveling over Kat's little pyrotechnics act. Kat paused her performance and looked at Scarlett.
"How'd the meeting with your sister go?" the blonde-haired woman asked. Most of the kids glanced at Scarlett.
"I...updated her on the current situation," Scarlett answered as she looked at the watchful faces of the children. "I am sorry to disturb your display. However, I wanted to inform you that I am going to the training ground and was curious if you had any interest in accompanying me. I would not mind some advice on pyromancy."
Kat smiled and scratched the side of her head. "Ah, I wouldn't mind giving you some pointers." She gestured towards the children. "But I already promised them I'd show them some more magic."
Scarlett raised an eyebrow. "I did not think you spoke Voneian."
"I don't. But that dark-haired woman translated some for me."
Scarlett nodded her head. "I see," she mumbled as she studied the kids. They'd all been cleaned up and, with the new clothes, they looked completely different from when she and Kat had first found them. However, although none of them looked starved, it was clear they did not usually get to eat too much. If that was from before or after their abduction she didn't know.
They did not seem dangerously traumatized by the current situation, at least, so that was something. When they had been watching Kat's performance they had all made sounds and chattered away with each other. Though now that they were looking at her it was completely quiet. Was it because of how she acted? Or did Scarlett just have an inherent quality that made these kids watchful?