My Servant System

After revealing something so important to us, the Empress leaned closer and appraised the flower we were making before nodding and turning away, leaving us standing there in the forge completely confused and reviewing everything she had said, only to look towards one another and curse softly at how swiftly she had escaped from us.

"Lilith is going to be coming in a month, and she wants us here?! Isn't that a bit demanding for a woman who could have showed up whenever she wanted?"

Jahi seemed the most irritated, especially since she added "This means we have to cut the trip to the Sultanate somewhat short, doesn't it? We have only a certain amount of time to be there before we need to return to meet her!"

Anput - the one who should have been the most irate - just shrugged as she replied "I guess we will, but who knows what she's coming back to the Empire for. We could just be back for a few days before returning to the Sultanate to tie up loose ends? Or we could be told something drastically important and necessary to our future plans that requires an incredible amount of plotting and understanding to put into motion? Either way, we're still going to the Sultanate in a week, but it just seems we'll need to be efficient with our time there too."

"That..! That's exactly why I'm so irritated! It feels like we're constantly needing to manage our time down to each second in each minute, of every hour for each and every single damn day! I was hoping we could be in the Sultanate for however long we wanted doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted! But now..!"

Jahi growled softly as she clenched her fist on the edge of the table, the outburst of irritation surprising me for a moment as the Demoness expressed her frustrations verbally and put that slight exhaustion that we all felt into words, before she took a few deep breaths and calmed herself.

"Besides, this was supposed to be a trip for you in particular, Anput. To let you spend a lot of time with your parents, your siblings, back at your birth home doing as you pleased without needing to worry. We could head out and hunt, simply train, walk around the city, partake in your homelands culture and cuisine as you show us the things you enjoyed... and now we need to make sure we plan everything yet again..."

The Demoness was staring at the table for a few moments before glancing at Anput, who was smiling softly as she shrugged again, even as Jahi muttered "I'm getting sick of it..." when she looked back at the table with the flower ornaments on it.

"Well... it seems like it's something we just need to get used to for now, Jahi. We aren't exactly in a period of time that allows for us to live peacefully and leisurely, nor are we in a position to go ahead and just ignore everything happening to do so."

Laying my hand on Jahi's forearm, I smiled gently at the Demoness and managed to get her to sigh again, her amethyst eyes filled with myriad emotions that usually never graced them; as if sensing that, she closed them and took another deep breath, muttering "I know that, Kat... I do."

When she opened her eyes again they were as clear and confident as ever, and she pushed herself off of the table to stand straight, saying "Let's finish this up now, yeah? We should probably take a few hours to get a plan written down for everything; things we want to see or do, things Anput wants to prioritize whilst she's home..."

Nodding, I turned to my mate and smiled at her as I said "This'll get you completely out of that slump you were in, won't it? Being back with your parents, seeing your siblings... Back in a place where everything is familiar?"

Her smile stiffened for a moment before she looked away, causing me to frown as I instantly began to review what I said and tried to find what had caused her mood to drop suddenly, though as she picked up the last flower and resumed working on it, I wondered if I had just imagined it.

"Yeah, it'll be nice being back home. Different, since I've gotten so accustomed to so much over here, but it'll be nostalgic and comforting being back in a place that is so familiar to me, someplace that just can't be replicated anywhere else."

The way she spoke normally and seemed to be reminiscing about her home made me even more confused as I stared at her, wondering what I had just seen and if I was going crazy, or if she had actually gotten stiff there.

And considering both Leone and Jahi were staring at her closely, I was more inclined to believe I hadn't been imagining things, but I don't know which would have been more comforting to me; me being crazy, or me being right.

"Kat, this one is almost done and ready for a bath; that means we'll have three waiting for enchantments. Might want to get a move on there..."

She smirked at me like nothing had happened, poking fun and reminding me instantly in the same breath that I needed to get back to work as well, leaving me to puzzle over my thoughts as I tried to figure out if I should just shake this off and leave it be, or if I should worry about it...

But for now, I did need to get the enchanting done quicker, even if the angle that I had to enchant from was really awkward and required me to take slower, more deliberate strokes as I ensured that the Magic Pen put out the correct runes for the flowers.

"It is turning out quite well; we just need to get it finished and covered so that they don't see it when we return. Think they'll still be asleep?"

Jahi brought the conversation around to a new talking point, deciding to leave Anput alone regarding that and instead making small talk as we worked, which certainly helped make the time pass by quicker as we finished assembling the lily of the valley replica.

Red, pink, yellow, orange, blue and purple flowers on an emerald green stem, with each of the flowers glimmering beautifully as the mana within them made itself known to the world visually, emitting a soft glow and working wonderfully as a centerpiece on a mantle or something.

Each flower was also engraved with the full name of each of us - or at least, the full name that we would eventually have, which was just 'First Name' Asmodia for Anput, Leone and I, whilst it was the current name of the other three.

I was really happy with the outcome of this project of ours, and if they didn't like it I was certain that Mother Ria would love to have it back at the manor, so at least I knew it wouldn't be for naught.

Though the Empress' casual mention that Grandpa liked flowers made me hopeful about what we had made, but we wouldn't know until we had given it to them, and to do so we needed to return to our room.

Covering it with a cloth, we cleaned up after ourselves and made our way back to the room, a few minutes behind the allotted time that Mother Ria gave us, but considering what we were carrying, I think she would forgive us.

Just in case they were still asleep, we softly opened the door and crept inside, and upon doing so we saw Mother, Mother Ria, and Mom sitting at the table sipping on coffee and looking towards the spots that the two older Elves had occupied, which... were still occupied.

Noticing that we had entered, the three of them turned and gave us a look, so we walked even quieter over to the table and sat down with them, glancing at the still asleep Elves and the twins, who were also out like a light still; it made me briefly wonder if I had done too good of a job with their tea, though when I saw them both move slightly in their sleep to get comfortable, I let out a sigh of relief.

"They've been asleep this entire time... with no sign of waking anytime soon. Oh, I can't wait to hold this over them~!"

Mom snickered quietly as she stared at the two Elves smugly, before she gave me a small nod when I erected a dome of wind around us to keep sound in and allow us to speak without waking them up.

"The Empress came by and told us that Lilith would be late, and that you lot were working on something special. Let's see it then."

Where Jahi had expressed her irritation for Lilith's changing plans, Mom seemed indifferent to it as she just gestured at the cloth covered ornament, showing the maturity that she sometimes exuded.