Earning your pay, or at least the pay that'll go to your chosen target, feels like a great idea. "Let's get to work." Also, you're feeling awfully spry. Youth restored, vigor replenished, you want to get busy. "What's first?"

What is first is tidying and cleaning. It is not as glamorous as you were hoping, even if you are doing it in a fantasy castle place. You're still mopping and dusting and doing other things a maid might do. One perk, you have magic. You're not holding any brooms or dustpans. You're just imagining them move where they need to, and they are. That part is pretty great.

You clean out rooms large and small, working away dust and dirt to return them to sparkling. "Who are you?" asks a voice behind you, at the door of the room you're working on. You spin to face them and see a huge and towering figure, arms crossed. "Don't recognize you." He is a dark blue from top to bottom, where his armor didn't grant other colors. He has two curved horns.

A new kind of fae? "Sorry to bother you. I'm Sally, and I was asked to help clean."

"Oh." He tosses a sword, an actual sword. It thunks into the ground as if it was meant to be there. "Nice to meet you then. Have you a title?"

Um. "Besides the name, not really?" You consider the new man(?) as he moves to sit in a chair, still toweringly tall even in it. "What's your name?"

"You stand in the bedroom of Sir Leon." He folds his arms across his front. "Knight of the same lady you serve." He extends a finger at you. "Which means, when you aren't performing a task specific for her, you obey me." He snorts softly. "Don't get too worked up about it. That's just the order of things. I don't plan on making use of that unless it's needed."

You glance towards his sword. "You use that then?" You lift a hoof to point at the sharp instrument.

"When things work well, I don't have to." He claps a hand down on either knee. "But things don't always work so well, and when they don't, I'm ready. You were told about defending the hold, weren't you?"

Ah, right. "Yes! I will help by healing." Your horn glows in sympathy, ready to dispense magic. "I don't know much about fighting, nor really want to get into that."

"I'd feel bad, knowing I let a little horse like you fight when I could have instead. No. If you're good at balming hurts, you stay back, and keep me ready to fight. I'll take care of that." Leon nods firmly, quite comfortable with that arrangement. "Have you any other talents? Though that first is considerable."

On some level, it's nice knowing that you can do something so many people recognize as helpful in a significant way. "I'm still learning magic, and suddenly I'm cleaning, a lot." You wave around at what you've done to... it has to be his room, right?

"I appreciate it. I don't have the time to keep things in order myself." He pushes back to his feet. "My break's already over. I have a question, and pray don't take offense, but are you a chimera?"

"I am!" Oops, there was your dragon, slipping out of nowhere when called upon. "Hiya!"

"Hello. I was asking her." He levels a thick finger at you.

"Oh, no." He shakes his head quickly. "She's a human, or a pony, or both? Now she's a maid! She's a lot of things, but my friend she's always."

You smile awkwardly at your chimeric friend's explanation. "I've been going through a lot of changes recently, including this." You raise a hoof to waggle it at him. A new part that certainly counted as. "But, no, not a chimera."

"Hm. I haven't heard of that manner of prodigal before..." There was that word again. "Still, if the viscountess hired you, she is doubtless aware of it. You're not exactly being subtle about it." Clip-clopping about was not super sneaky. "Regardless, I would ask you accompany me. You may help brave souls perform their duties and live to see the next sunrise."

That sounded serious... "How can I help with that?"

"You just said it." He grabs his sword and shoves it over his back in a sheath there. "A healer could make all the difference. I gather you are not kith or kin... So what are the limits of your abilities? I can't presume to think they work as others I have seen."

"I honestly don't know... But there isn't an immediate limit on how often I can do it, other than a person generally not overexerting themselves." You look up and down the dwarfing pillar of a... "Sorry, but what are you?"

"You really are new." He sounds more amused than insulted. "I am a troll." He hikes a thumb at himself. "And we don't live under bridges, just to cut that question off before it's asked."

You hadn't been thinking that... honest... At least that you'll admit. "Nice to meet you, Leon."

"Sir Leon. Not to be rude, but it's impolite to not include titles, especially in a hold." He grabs the doorknob and draws the door open. "Come. There's a strategy meeting, and you're invited."

And by invited, that clearly meant attendance was mandatory. He had already claimed control of you when the viscountess' orders weren't being overridden. Well, fine. You're a little curious what this was all about, so you follow after him to find out.

Through the hallways of the... castle? He called it a Hold. He knocks thickly on a door. "Coming in," he bellows, opening it without further waiting. "Viscountess." He stops to give a formal bow. He wanted respect from you, and gave it to the viscountess without delay.

"Sir Leon, on time." Her eyes darted to a ticking clock. "Right on time. You are reliable for that." Her eyes fell to you. "And you've brought company. I hadn't asked for her right now."

Leon gestures back at you, but is moving to take a seat at a round table with the Viscountess at the head. "She is a healer."

"Is she now?" The viscountess steepled her fingers. "I had wondered why she and her mate had been offered such a price. Toley is usually good at being conservative with my finances." Her eyes were locked on you. "Come here."

So you get over there. You stand before that elven ruler of the place. "Sorry?"

"You have little to be sorry for." She puts her hand on your head, fingers playing with your equine ears. "There's use to you besides my amusement. That's cause for celebration. Oh, you can stand up now. We're here to talk business." She curls her fingers under your chin and draws you up to standing, revealing your, relatively, aged human form to them.

Another elf whistles at the sight. "Is she a chimera?"

"I asked that." Leon crosses his arms. "She isn't. She does have one."

"Hi!" But he wasn't in the room. He was standing just outside the door. "That looks serious. I'll wait out here."

The viscountess chuckles softly. "She's a prodigal, baron." She points at you. "A prodigal that can heal, apparently. Good. Can you administer chimeric wounds? Banal ones?"

"You'd have to explain the difference." Not like you understood that. "I've helped with a vampire clawing."

"Cold and serious... You. Come in here." Bright Spark scampered in when called. "Bite me." She offers a hand. "A little nip, just enough to draw blood."

Bright inclined his head left and right rapidly. "Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you."

"That's an order." Her voice was steady, with no room for arguments.

Well, since it was an order. He lashes out with all the speed of a snake, chomping her and leaving several red marks, blood oozing from two of them in fine lines.

She thrusts the injured hand towards you. "Administer it. This is a chimeric wound, wholly clothed in the dreaming, given by a dreaming creature."

"Oh..." You take the hand in your own and you can feel the chill. It's not nearly as awful as the biting cold of the wounds the vampire had left. You gently wipe away the blood and imagine the warmth you have being lent, soothing that little chill.

"I'm really sorry." Poor Bright Spark seemed to still feel bad, despite having been asked to do it.

The Viscountess ignored him, waiting patiently for you to do your thing. "Marvelous." She drew her hand out of your grasp. "Behold it." She turned her hand left and right, no longer injured, no longer bleeding. It was as if she had never been hurt to start. "I had a good feeling about you. Alright, she's included. That you can treat chimeric and banal injuries, even the extra spicy ones, means a lot. That expands the field we can play in."

Oh, shoot. Were you signing up for bad things?

Leon seemed to notice you nervousness. "She is new here, your highness. Perhaps we should ease her in."

The Viscountess slapped down both hands. "Our enemies aren't giving us this kindness. Winter's grasp inches in all around us, and you want us to play it safe?" She swung an arm, finger pointed at you. "You won't butcher a field of what stands before us, but you can help keep the ones that do functioning. I like to put on airs, but this is no joking matter. This also isn't a waiting matter." She brings her hands together, fingers enmeshing. "This is a 'the house is already on fire, we should be doing something about it about ten minutes ago if possible,' situation."

The colorful dream world was loosing some of its sheen pretty quickly. "Can you explain a little of that?"

"No!" But she sighs right after that. "Sorry. That was uncalled for. You have sworn no oath of fealty to me. You have scarcely sworn to show up on a consistent basis as a maid." She rolled her eyes. "You deserve a little more knowledge... Let's keep this simple. There are forces that threaten the banal world. Were they to succeed, the whole thing would collapse, to destruction, or arguably worse. There are forces that threaten the dreaming world, without them, the spark that makes life worth living, gone." She snaps her fingers with that final word. "Not to mention all of us." She raises in almost a shout at that. "And, I know, you're not technically one of us, but that matters a lot to the rest of us here, hm? Either way... Losing scenarios. Do I claim to have a grand solution to either? No! What do I look like, a bloody queen? You got a viscountess, deal with that. But I do have ideas for at least tackling this locally..."

"Madame." Leon rises to his feet. "The situation is dire, but I would rather not scare our new ally away so quickly. Forgive my impertinence." Is that why it was supposed to be a secret? That hadn't lasted very long... "Sally, was it? I suggest, humbly, she be placed in the triage, to treat those who come to her there. She can witness what we deal with in safety, and make her decision."

The viscountess tapped at her chin. "Hm... That's not an awful idea..." She waves at you. "Get out of that outfit. Cute, love it, but not appropriate for where you'll be working."

The baron, whose name you haven't gotten, leans forward. "So she'll mend those who can at least return to the hold? That's better than nothing by far. Tell me, 'Sally', what loyalty do you feel?"

Everyone there's looking at you. You had to answer that question. What loyalty did you feel?

Author's Note

Help out and meet with the viscountess(and maybe other nobles). Let's do it! Hm, that went interestingly (now writing this after the chapter). To whom does your loyalty lie?

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