The house was bustling with activity this last of day of the tenth month. The new master was arriving with his daughter, so the last of the preparations were being made.
Outside the wind was howling and a winter storm was brewing. This made it difficult for the gardeners to trim their beautiful bushes into works of art. The air was cooler than any of them could remember. Definitely not a good omen for a new beginning. The gardeners had to content themselves with shoveling a pathway through the knee-deep snow for the carriage that would arrive in little less than an hour.
Throughout the rooms of the mansion, busy housemaids changed bed sheets and did last minute dusting, hoping that they'd manage to get everything cleaned up in time. Of course, they had a lot of rooms to go through. There were many more rooms than there were maids.
In the kitchen, the Cook and his assistants were conjuring up a feast that would honor any king. This due mostly to the fact that no one knew exactly what would please the new master, so they were making a little bit of everything.
The stern-faced butler and his grim, homely wife surveyed the entire scene, lazily dusting the main entrance. They had served the last master, and were none too thrilled that a new one was arriving so soon after Master Harshin's death. They had received a stipend of money from Master Harshin in his will, so they really had no intention of staying on with the new master. They even had their bags packed near the entrance. They would greet the new owner, then hand him the keys. That was all that Master Harshin had asked of them in his will. He'd known that they would refuse to serve anyone else.
Besides, the lawyer had told them that the new master had his own butler. They weren't really needed anyway. Not that it hurt their feelings at all. Still, this old house had been their home for nigh on forty years. They were more than a little sad to be leaving it.
A large carriage was headed up the drive, far earlier than the time stated in the notice that they'd received that morning. The carriage was pulled by four oversized white horses with black manes and tails.
The carriage plowed through the unshoveled snow, getting stuck midway up the drive. Rattled stable hands rushed to help the gardeners shovel the carriage out. A tall, black-haired young man leaped from the top of the carriage, his long hands covered with black leather gloves.
Clearly irritated, the young man railed at the stable hands and the gardeners. The old butler and his wife glanced at each other and grabbed their coats from beside the door. "Master Urienne?" The old butler inquired of the young man as he stepped awkwardly through the snow to reach the carriage.
Clear, silver eyes darted to the old man's face. "No. I'm Aeosti Enshuel. The butler." He snapped. "What the hell is going on here?!" He demanded. "The letter clearly stated that we would be arriving today. Why is the drive still halfway unshoveled and the bushes untrimmed. This is unsightly!"
"We had very little notice of your arrival, and you're earlier than expected. If you had arrived when you said, all this would have been taken care of." The old butler didn't like this young man. Arrogant and self-assured, the young brat certainly thought too much of his position. A butler wasn't much more than a slave. A high-ranking and well-paid slave, but a slave nonetheless. "Where is Master Urienne? In the carriage?"
"The master is not coming today." Aeosti told him. "He's away on business, but his daughter is here." He indicated the door of the carriage. "If you like, I'll let you speak to her." Something in his expression was amused, but the old butler didn't understand what it was.
"Fine. I'll just hand the keys over to the young mistress then." The old butler decided, his hand reaching for the handle of the door. Before he could turn it, someone on the other side pushed the door open violently. The old butler was so startled that he backed up against his wife and they both lost their footing in the slick snow. The old butler and his wife fell flat on their backs, nearly suffocated by the weight of the fluffy inconvenience.
Then they heard the shriek of a shrewish girl as she berated the young man. "What are you doing, Aeosti?!" A little girl dressed in a pink and white frilly dress demanded as she looked up and down the drive, then at the old couple buried in the snow. "This isn't the house! Hurry up and get us there! It's cold out here!"
The little girl couldn't be more than eight or nine years old, her curly, hip-length hair was swept up in complicated knots and braids. Despite someone's attempt to tame the curls, they rebelled and cascaded wildly over her back and shoulders.
"My lady Churin...please." Aeosti sighed. "Wait patiently in the carriage, and--"
"Stop talking!" The little girl railed. "I'll tell you when I want you to say something! I want to get to the house now! This stupid heating seat has stopped working. I told you to buy the more expensive one!"
"I did, my lady." He told her. "If I'd gotten the cheaper one, it probably wouldn't have broken down already."
The old butler and his wife rose from the snow with as much dignity as they could muster. "My lady, these are--" The old butler began, but the girl's snapping blue eyes made him hesitate.
"And you are?" She asked imperiously.
"I'm the old butler. Marshelle, my lady. My wife and I--"
"Are you staying on? Are you more reliable than this piece of wasted flesh here?" She palmed some snow and threw the ball at Aeosti's shoulder. There was a wet thump, and the young man's eyes flared. He bit his lower lip, not saying a word. However, his expression spoke of wanting to murder the little girl.
"My wife and I are leaving." Marshelle told her. "I just wanted to give you the keys to the house. I--"
"Leaving?! What for?"
"Well, I--"
"Don't be silly! You're staying on. I insist. You can take his place, and I can fire him. Daddy won't be pleased, but I will be."
"No, thank you." Marshelle said. "My wife and I have other plans. We--"
"You're refusing me?!" She snarled. "Aeosti, beat him up."
"If you're firing me, I don't see the point." Aeosti replied wryly. He grabbed a shovel from one of the stable hands and began clearing the snow away from the metal wheels.
The little girl snatched the keys from Marshelle's hand and stuffed them into the pocket stitched inside her dress. She then hopped down from the carriage and strolled in the snow, watching Aeosti and the other men work. Once in a while, she'd make a snowball and aim it at Aeosti's head or back.
When she got bored of him not rising to the bait, she started throwing snowballs at the stable hands or the gardeners. Despite complaining about being cold, she didn't seem to mind that her little slippers were getting wet. Or the fact that she wasn't wearing a coat over her thin dress.
Finally, she stopped and sat in the driver's seat of the carriage, looking down at them. "Hurry it up, will you?" She huffed. "I wanna see daddy's new house!"
Marshelle and his wife decided to make their getaway with the new mistress distracted by her games. They grabbed their bags and got into their own small carriage, never looking back. That little girl had made Marshelle nervous, although he couldn't explain why. Even worse was that young butler. Something about that young man chilled Marshelle down to his old bones.
Maybe it was his eyes, Marshelle thought. They had seemed to glow when the little girl had irritated him. Oh well...it's none of my business now.

Churin clung to Aeosti's neck and back, her little legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her into the house. "I don't wanna get my feet wet." She'd told him. "It's cold out here, you know."
"That didn't stop you from playing in the snow a little while ago." He'd replied, but he stolidly trekked through the high doorframe and pried her hands from around his neck. He plunked her down onto the hardwood floor, neatly tossing her on her behind.
Glaring at him, she rubbed her sore butt. "That's rude! I'm telling daddy!"
"Go ahead!" He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And shall I tell him how you gobbled down sweet cakes last night after refusing your dinner?"
She pursed her lips, not saying a word. She muttered something under her breath and headed up the stairs. "Tell the maids that I want a bath!" She called down to him halfway up without turning to look at him.
Aeosti noticed the household servants staring at him. "Don't you have work to do?" He snapped.
With an audible gasp, the servants resumed their duties. "So...you want a bath, you little brat?" He said softly. "I shall draw you one myself."
He headed up the stairs after her, and entered one of the bathrooms. Whistling, he drew Churin's bath, laying a fresh towel and change of clothes across the vanity.
He found her in a large bedroom, passed out on the bed. "Your bath is ready, my Princess." He said gently, shaking her shoulder lightly until she opened her big blue eyes. "You'd better hurry before it gets chilled."
Suspiciously, she stared at him. "What'd you do?" She demanded.
"Me?" He asked innocently. "I'm just a lowly butler, my lady. I would never do anything to make my position questionable."
"I don't think I want a bath now." She said.
"No? After I went through all that trouble? I think you do, Princess." He picked her up, carrying her wriggling form into the bathroom. He dumped her into the tub, filled with cold, wet snow clothes and all. "Enjoy your bath, Princess." He said, slamming the door behind him as she shrieked in rage.
Aeosti wandered down the stairs, lured by the scents coming from the kitchen. He suddenly realized how famished he was. He peered through the door at the heaping table of food. The Cook and his assistants were busily preparing mounds of dishes. "Mind if I sample some of your cooking?" Aeosti asked the large, overweight man who was bellowing orders.
The Cook turned to look at him. "You the new master?"
"No. Just the butler. Aeosti Enshuel."
"Garrick." The Cook told him. "Sure. Help yourself." He turned to shout more orders.
Where to start? Aeosti wondered.
Ten minutes later, Cook Garrick was sobbing into his chef's hat. "All gone? Already?!"
Aeosti wiped the corners of his mouth with a white cloth handkerchief. "Sorry. I guess I got carried away."
"But that was hours worth of work! Gone...in just ten minutes?!"
"If it's any consolation, it was very good." Aeosti told him. "So...do you have you deserts prepared? I'm still hungry."
Garrick bawled even louder. He motioned to his astonished assistants and they hurried to bring out the mountainous array of deserts that had been in the freezer. Meanwhile, Garrick did a quick calculation. He was going to need a lot more help and a bigger pantry and kitchen if this new butler always ate this much.
Aeosti finished off the deserts, then glanced up at Garrick. "Do you have anything else prepared?" He asked almost shyly.
"No." Garrick sobbed. "I wasn't--I didn't--"
"Well, don't worry about it. I'll go into town to get some more food. But make sure that you make larger meals in the future, okay? We didn't save anything for the Princess."

By the time Aeosti got back the mansion, most of the food that he'd bought for Churin was already gone and was ice cold. Ah well, he thought with a grim smile. Serves her right for acting like a spoiled brat most of the time.
He knocked on her door, balancing the tray on one hand. He didn't receive a reply. She was either sulking because of her snowy bath or had passed out after the fit of rage. Either way, she wasn't going to answer. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
A bucket was perched on the edge of the doorframe, filled with ice. It fell as he entered the room. He dodged, and the bucket fell with a loud clang onto the floor. Churin was giggling in her chair beside the fire, but pouted when she saw that her trick hadn't worked. "I've brought you some dinner." He told her, walking over to her. "I thought you might be hungry after the trip." He dumped the entire contents of the tray on her head and strode out of her room before she could react.
Aeosti walked through the mansion, examining the rooms. He'd encountered some of the maids, who had gotten a fit of giggles as soon as they'd seen him. He smiled and talked politely to them, despite feeling as though he would have to be wary of not finding himself in any dark places any time soon.
Some of the maids had been rather bold in their appraisal; eyeing him up and down and their gazes lingering just below his trim waist. One had actually 'accidentally' brushed against his long black hair while passing by. This had irritated him to no end, and he figured he was going to have to do a lot of firing in the near future.
Most of these maids were middle-aged and had too little appeal. Besides, fraternizing in the workplace was something that Aeosti wasn't going to allow. They were here to do a job; that was it. If the maids wanted a man, they'd have to find them elsewhere.
Churin was watching him from the banister when he completed his rounds. "You're not being very nice today, Aeosti." She sulked.
"Neither are you, Princess." He said. "The servants have gone home for the night. You'd better be off to bed yourself. I still have things I want to check on."
"You're going to work already?" She asked, her feet dangling over the rail, kicking slowly.
"Yeah...I don't like wasting any time."
"I rather hope you don't find anything interesting. At least for tonight. It's been a busy day."
"Dodging falling buckets isn't really all that problematic. There are other things that I'm worried about."
"I'm sorry about the snowballs and the bucket of ice."
He grinned. "And I'm sorry for dropping you on your butt and dumping you into a tub of snow. This house has a lot of negative energy flowing around it. I'll have to weed out the trouble so I can work unhindered."
"So you're going to be firing people already, eh?"
"Those who may cause us trouble, yeah. There's some very nosy people here, Churin. And some very dissatisfied ones. The old butler and his wife were at least honest about their feelings, but there's others who are not. I won't have you placed in any danger."
She pouted. "You're just like daddy. You won't let me have any fun!"
"Oh, I'm sure that you'll find many things to keep you occupied while we're here."
"When is Desmia supposed to arrive?"
"She didn't say. She wanted to check out the neighboring communities so I guess that depends on how long it takes her. She should be here in a day or two, I guess."
"Good. You're boring sometimes, Aeosti. I wanna have someone around I can have fun with. Good night. I'll see you in the morning." She hopped down off the railing and headed off to bed.
Aeosti watched her go, his expression troubled. He was getting the sense of something nearby. It's starting already. He went towards the front door, and walked into the cold, stormy night.