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"I shall do it"

As No&039;One spoke up, the group of doggen she had sneaked in behind turned like a flock of birds, all at once In theirthe assembled, each dressed properly for his or her role whether it was cook or cleaner, baker or butler She had found theone for an idle stroll, and as she not to take advantage of an opportunity

The one as in charge, Fritz Perlain, he had been her father&039;s doggen all those years ago, and had had particular struggles with her defining herself in a servile role "My fine lady - "

"No&039;One My name is No&039;One now Please address me as that and that alone And as I said, I shall take care of the washing down in the training center"

Wherever that was

Indeed, last night with that dress had been a benediction of sorts, the task busying her hands and giving her a focus that passed the hours with alacrity It had once been the sa that calmed her and imparted structure to her existence

How she hada purpose

For truth, she had come here to serve Payne, but the female wanted none of that She had cohter, but the female was newly mated, with vital distractions And she had come here in search of some kind of peace, only to be driven mad with inactivity since her arrival

And that was prior to her near run-in with Tohr

At least he had taken the dress, though It was gone fro it when he had answered her knock with such gruff -

Abruptly, she noted that the butler was looking at her expectantly, as if he had just said so that required a response

"Please take me down there," she said, "and show me the duties"

Given the way his old, wrinkled face fell even further, she gathered that was not the reply he had been hoping for

"Mistress - "

"No&039;One And you, or one of your staff, can show me now"

The assembled masses all looked worried, as ifhad suddenly become reality

"Thank you," she said to the butler "For your facilitation"

Clearly recognizing that he was not going to win, the head doggen bowed low "But of course I shall, mist - Ah, No - Er"

When he couldn&039;t get out her proper name, as if the appropriate title of "mistress" was required to blaze the trail up his windpipe, she took pity on him

"You are most helpful," shethe others, he took her out of the staff rooh the kitchen, and into the foyer by virtue of yet another door that was new to her As they proceeded, she recalled her previous, younger self, the haughty daughter of a bloodline of means who had refused to cut up her own meat, or brush her own hair, or dress herself What a waste At least now that she was no one and had nothing, she was clear on how to pass the hours o through herein," the butler pronounced as he held wide a hidden door beneath the grand staircase "Allow me to provide you the codes"

"Thank you," she replied, en into the long, thin tube of an underground tunnel, she thought, yes, if she was going to stay on this side, she needed to busy herself with chores, even if it offended the doggen, the Brotherhood, the shellans Better that than the prison of her own thoughts

They exited the tunnel by stepping through the back of a closet and passing into a squat roolass door

The doggen cleared his throat "This is the training center and ht room, physical therapy area, and a pool, as well as many other a of each section" - this was said sternly, as if he did not care that she was the guest of the king; she was not en who took care of the laundry has gone upon bed rest, as she is er safe for her to be on her feet Please, we are this way"

As he held open the glass portal, they went out into the corridor and headed to a double-doored room that was kitted up identically to the laundry she had used the night before in the main house Over the next twenty minutes, she received a refresher on how to operate the machines, and then the butler revieith her a map of the facilities so she knehere to collect the bins and where to return what she had tended to

And then, after a stiff silence, and stiffer adieu, she was blissfully alone

Standing in themachines and dryers and tables to fold upon, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath

Oh, the lovely solitude, and the fortunate weight of duty settling upon her shoulders For the next six hours, she had nothing to think of but white towels and sheets: finding the them to their proper places

There was no roorets here Just the work

Gripping a rolling bin, she wheeled the blue fabric receptacle out into the corridor and beganto the laundry when there was no ot the first load into a deep-bellied washer, she went out again, passing into the locker rooet all those towels, and she made a pile of theray concrete floor

Her final stop took her to the very far left, all the way down the corridor to the pool As she went along, the wheels on her cartnoise, and her feet shuffled unevenly, her grip on the bin&039;s lip giving her soo faster

When she heardarea, she slowed Then stopped

The strains of notes and voices made no sense as all one for the night Unless someone had left the music on after they had finished their ti her way into a squat anterooot hit with a wall of warainst a velvet drape And all around, there was a strange, chemical smell in the air, one that made her wonder what they treated the water with - on the Other Side, everything had stayed permanently fresh and clean, but she knew that was not the case on earth

Leaving the bin to wait in the lobby, she walked forward toward a vast, cavelike space Reaching out, she touched the warers over the blue skies and rolling green fields, but skipping any of the loinclothedstaffs, and their running poses

She loved the water The floating buoyancy, the easing of the aches in her bad leg, the sense of brief freedoasped as she turned the corner

The pool was four tiest bath on the Other Side, and its water was a shi pale blue - likely because of the tiles that skinned its deep belly Black lines ran lengthwise, denoting lanes, and there were nu depth Up above, the ceiling was doainst the walls, providing places to sit Echoing around, the music was louder, but not overly so, and theresonance

Given that she was alone, she couldn&039;t resist going over and testing the te So very te in, she refocused on her duties, going back to her bin, rolling it over to a large wicker basket, and then transferring her body weight in dao, she paused and stared at the water again

There was no way the first round of sheeting had finished its washing cycle It had at least forty-fiveto what the machine had reported

She checked the clock that was mounted on the wall

Perhaps just a few minutes in the pool, she decided She could use the relief fro she could do relative to her job for the next little bit

Grabbing one of the fresh, folded towels, she double-checked the anteroom Went farther down and looked out into the corridor

Nobody was about And noas the ti the second floor of the et that work done between First and Last Meals And there was no one getting treated at the clinic, at least for the moment

She had toback to the shallow end, she unfastened her robe and drew off the hood, stripping down to her undersheath After a brief hesitation, she removed the sheer liner as well - she would have to reain Better to res, she deliberately stared at her twisted calf, tracing the roping scars that forly reliefhad worked perfectly and been as lovely as many an artist could have drawn Noas a syrace that had made her a lesser person and, over time, a better one

Fortunately, there was a chroripped it for balance as she slowly entered the ater Upon the descent, she recalled her braid and wound the heavy length around and around the top of her head, tucking in the loose end so that the beehive held in place

And then she glided

Closing her eyes in bliss, she gave herself over to weightlessness, the water a te across her flesh, her body held kindly in the pool&039;s peaceable palms As she stroked out into the center, she threay her resolve not to get her hair wet, and rolled over onto her back, sweeping her hands in circles to keep herself afloat

For a brief ti the door to her senses

And it was good

Left behind at the ht, Tohr was off-roster, stuck inside and hungover: a bad-ood neas that withabout their business, he didn&039;t have to inflict the toxicity on anybody else

On that note, he headed for the training center, dressed in nothing but his swiovers were caused by dehydration, he&039;d decided not only to go to the pool and sub some liquid refreshment with hirabbed? Oh, good, vodka - he liked that straight up, and hey, it looked like water

Pausing in the tunnel, he took a swig of V&039;s Goose, and sed -

Fuck The sound of John&039;s shitkicker hitting the floor, like so to forget Just like the kid&039;s finger pointing at him

Time for another s and hey, how about one more

As he resu party, he recognized that he was a walking cliche: He&039;d seen his brothers in this shape fro around with a sour, fuzzy head, a bad attitude, and a bottle of knockout juice grafted to their palms Back before Wellsie had been taken from him, he&039;d never really understood the whys

Now? Duh

You did what you had to do to get yourself through the hours And the nights when you couldn&039;t go out and fight were the worst - unless, of course, you were facing off against all the day&039;s bright, glowing no-go That was even more wretched

As he calad he didn&039;t have to fake the expression on his face, or watch his language, or chill his te open the door to the anteroo wave of humidity came over him The music helped, too: Fro the air, old-school The Joshua Tree echoing around

His first clue that sos at the shallow end And ht have put two and two together before he -

Floating in the center of the pool, a felistening, her nipples tight in the warm air, her head back

"Fuck"

Hard to knohatthe tile floor or the splash out in theherself while she tried to keep her head above water

Tohr spun around and put his hands over his eyes -