Chapter 31
The morning of the day that the messenger returned, Alistar was busy making up his bed and folding his freshly laundered clothes. The last part didn’t take too long, seeing as how he only had two sets. He’d had three, but one was ruined when Anice emptied an inkwell down his front.
Once he finished, he stood back and admired his work. The house servants had taught him how to perform some of their daily duties, but only after he’d insisted past the point of politeness. The two women that he interacted with the most, who were around his mother’s age, had said that he was the first little lordling they had met that desired to learn the ways of their work. Apparently it was unheard of, but to Alistar, it was simply natural to look after himself.
Once he’d gotten the hang of using the washing board and hanging clothes up to dry, he had quickly tackled the challenge of making up a bed. Anice had dragged him into Caedmon’s chambers on more than one occasion, and one thing that always caught his notice was the neatness of his bed, which was always made up in an orderly fashion. Her room, on the other hand, was usually a mess of discarded bedding and scattered clothing, and it was here that he’d practiced his skills at tidying up under the delighted tutelage of the two women.
After making his bed, he quickly cleaned his room and headed to the dining hall where Caedmon and Anice were waiting for him. As always, they sat at the same end of the table. The food was already laid out before them, a place set for him opposite from his cousin.
"About time!" Anice grunted, her tone and mannerisms crushing any illusions that her pleasant appearance gave off. "I’m starving." She was dressed in a simple pink dress, a sleeveless piece from her unnecessarily large collection. She had shown off her wardrobe to Alistar a few days earlier, and had taken his hanging jaw as a sign of awe. What he’d felt was a shocked sort of disapproval that one person might hoard so many clothes all for themselves.
"Good morrow, Alistar." Caedmon smiled at him. "I was beginning to think that you would skip out on breakfast."
"Never," he said happily, jumping onto his seat with enthusiasm. He was in good spirits knowing that his mother would arrive any day now.
"With how much time you spend in the library, I wouldn’t be surprised if you forgot about mealtime."
Today’s breakfast consisted of fried eggs, thin slices of roasted ham, warm, buttered bread, and a few little wheels of cheese. As soon as he took his seat, a house servant that he didn’t know brought out a variety of fruits and some milk to drink. As the other two began helping themselves, Alistar portioned his food sparingly. He never took more than he needed.
"It’s been years since that room saw so much use," his uncle went on.
"Somebody has to read those books," Alistar shrugged. "And I doubt Anice will be doing it."