Market Day
Ever since the day at the Maid Directorate, Mistress Maevin Maer's expectation of Henry Patton staying close had lessened. He wasn't sure if that was because she was trusting him more or she realized that having such a tight leash on him wasn't really helping. Either way, that was how he found himself in Belentine with only the maids Nish, Minda, and a new one he hadn't met named Teemai.
Of course, he was familiar with Nish. She was the Arch Maid for the Estate legion. She was quiet and reserved, more than he had seen of others but very strict. Her bob cut blond hair moved with the gentle breeze sweeping through Belentine as her sky blue eyes roamed over the crowd.
The other maid the young Terran was familiar with was Minda. That woman was an inventory maid if he remembered correctly so fell under Arch Maid Nish's authority. The red head with long, curly hair was quite memorable and not just because of a impressive chest which she never covered but how sweet she had been to him awhile ago.
The last maid present was someone new which wasn't a surprise. There were over four thousand people working on the massive Blue Blossom Estate so to think he knew them all would have been stupid.
From the quick explanation from Nish, Teemai was a higher ranking Stockpile Maid who handled a lot of the logistics for the estate. She was tagging along as she wanted to personally handle orders of the bespoke items that were going to be provided. In full transparency, it had been Henry that requested to tag along.
So, that was how he found himself walking down a street of gray cobblestone among the crowds and stalls of all different shapes and sizes thronged on both sides of him. I reminded Henry of the community marketplaces at home where people were selling their crafts and produce from their gardens. From what Nish had told him, a lot of these stalls were extensions of major shops as the Dovaela Market was meant to harked back to the ancient era of community. He definitely felt like we was among an old market square.
The strangest thing for him though was actually being among regular Xaltean citizens. It was a weird thing to say but they looked normal. T-shirts, jackets, clothing Henry would have expected at home but they had a distinct Xaltean cut to them. A lot of the shirts had the distinct asymmetric cut to them, the jeans riding lower on the hips for some. Henry did not realize how traditional the clothing on the estate was until he saw them.
They even have jeans! the young man thought to himself as a small, gaggle of people went by talking and laughing, their arms laden with shopping bags. Henry didn't feel quite so conspicuous anymore as he was wearing a simple tunic and slacks. In this marketplace, his maids stood out as strange though nobody gave them but a passing glance.
“Are you enjoying your outing?” Nish asked quietly on his left. Henry almost jumped forgetting how silent that woman moved.
“Yes!” Henry said with an emphatic nod. “I've never really been among citizens and it's fascinating to see the other side of the culture.”
“Did you not visit Belentine on your own a month ago?” Minda asked on his other side.
Oh, yeah. That was the time he sneaked out and didn't tell Maevin, then wound up running into a hostile houses' battle maid.
That was a fun day, Henry thought sarcastically. “Yeah but I was at the tourist spots so I saw more of my own people than yours.”
Minda nodded emphatically making her hair (and other things) bounce.
“Well, you are welcome to mingle,” Nish said with a rather stunning smile. “This area is pretty secure with cameras and there are no other houses visiting today. You are free to explore.”
“Thank you!”
“Though if my master will be considerate,” Nish continued. “to remain on this street until his maids are with him again. The other streets are more dense and I worry for you getting lost.”
She was probably worried about him being murdered by a rival but being polite about it.
“Sure. The street is pretty big. I got to look at.”
“You have access to your credit account if you wish to buy something,” Teemai said as she pulled out her computer pad to do her own shopping.
“And please refrain from buying another maid,” Nish added the humor in her voice. “I don't think the Mistress would be pleased if you did.”
So they heard about him just randomly purchase a maid contract. A flush of embarrassment covered his face. The woman was assigned to his third floor library as a attendant. Something close but not too close per Maevin.
“I'll try to behave. Promise.”
With the gentle reminders, the three women broke apart and vanished into the crowd on their individual missions leaving Henry to look at the sea of people, the sounds, and the delicious smell of food.
Food. That was a good idea. Looking around, his eyes landed on a stall that had what appeared to be a sausage like food in their glass display cases. His stomach growled in eagerness. Henry jingled the few credit chips he had in his pocket making sure they were there. He wanted to avoid using his credit account as much as feasible. The young man didn't want to give away who he was.
Striding over, the older man with gray hair and a thick mustache saw him coming and lit up.
“Hello! Thank you for coming to my stall,” the man said in a very accented English. He must have assumed he was a tourist.
“eta lusheeba mi xalta,” Henry said with a smile letting the man know he could speak Xaltean.
“Oh!” the main said with a big grin. “You speak it well!”
Henry smiled and nodded not wanting to give too much away. For the next few minutes they discussed the food and the young man let him think he was a tourist. It was easier that way as Henry didn't know how they would react if they found out he was the Lord of the Estate.
With a large sausage in hand in a butter bun, the Terran grinned. “This is delicious.”
“My friend works down the third street,” the man said pointing in the direction of a smaller and more densely packed street that broke off from the main one. “He serves a wonderful iced kaeva. It's much like the Terran coffee but with a very sweet spice to it.”
“I shall check that out!” And Henry meant it.
Making his way through the crowd, he found that the people were closer together due to the street being smaller. Everyone was still happily talking and Henry did not mind. It was nice to blend in for once than stand out. He had just located the kaeva stand that the sausage seller had told him about when he heard it.
“Hey, babe. Where you going?”
There was no accent and the inflection was correct. Henry's ears perked up immediately at the sound of his own mother tongue. Whoever was speaking, their voice carried. Henry began looking. There was a quieter voice speaking but the young lord couldn't make it out.
“Don't run away, my friends an I are just trying to get to know you better.” There was a bit of laughter and instantly the hair on Henry's neck stood on end. There was something predatory in that sound.
Shit, he thought to himself as he began pushing his way through the crowd. As a collective, said crowd was shifting away from the disturbance and he could see the nervous and concerned looks on their faces.
When he broke through the crowd, Henry Patton saw the layout of an open air cafe. A lot of the customers were getting up and moving away from the problem out front. Four men who seemed to be ranging between their early to mid 20s had a young woman in a blue shirt and matching shorts in the middle. The one with a buzz-cut had his arm around her pulling her close. The discomfort and fear was written all over her face.
“Let's go have a drink,” the one was saying while the other was elbowing his friend. They were nudging the scared woman down the street.
The anger that burst through Henry was palpable. It started in his gut and burned up through his chest. It was a fury that he could never remember experience before. The world seemed to narrow and sharpen, his heart beating harder in his chest as she balled his fists together until his knuckles were white.
“Hey!” Henry yelled in English forcing his way towards them. “Get the fuck away from her.”
Where was this coming from? Back home or even at the estate he would have never acted like this but seeing the fear in her eyes just made something snap inside. The four turned to look with a mixture of irritation and anger but still not having let go of the the woman.
“Mind your own business,” The one who appeared to be the leader said. “This has got nothing to do with you.”
Nothing to do with him? These people were under the protection of Blue Blossom Estate and House Patton-Avernell. It had everything to do with him. In the haze of fury and Adrenalin, Henry realized that understanding that made him angry.
“I said get the fuck away from her,” Henry growled again now only six feet from them. Two of the larger ones blocked his way and immediately his brain went into overdrive.
There were four total, two large and two small. Like any male in the Holy Innocentia, he did two years of mandatory service in the military so he had some basic self defense. Thanks to Tox also teaching him a bit, Henry knew he wasn't going to go down without a fight. Yes, he could have backed off but the fury inside him wouldn't let him. She was a citizen of his planet.
Henry did not wait but stepped in and threw a punch straight at the largest stomach. He was not expecting it as he doubled over and found Henry's knee coming up to connect with his face. That one dropped to the ground clutching his broken nose that was gushing blood.
The young lord did not have a chance to move as the other's fist connected with the side of his head. Stars exploded into his vision and he stumbled back but fighting his brothers on the farm had taught him to keep going. He lowered his head and rammed the other lifting him up and over his shoulder to slam hard on the ground.
Another blow landed in his back and the others joined forcing Henry. He spun to face them, his face screaming in pain. That was going to swell.
The three were standing there seething angry squaring up on him while the other was holding his face as blood poured out.
It was the movement to his left that he turned to see racing through the crowd the three maids. There was a mixture of fear and determination on them. Before Henry even thought about it, he pointed directly at them causing them to stop.
“No.” Henry said with uncharacteristic commanding voice. The trio looked at each other and he could see the war in their eyes of listening or disobeying him.
“I don't know who you think you are,” the leader said stepping forward having shoved the girl away. She had escaped into the crowd and was now watching. “but you made a mistake.”
Henry grinned (which hurt). “You have no idea the mistake you've made.”
They came at him and Henry did not hesitate to fly forward and ram into them. He swung hard remembering everything that Tox and the military taught him. Only one of them seemed to have any training and that was the leader. The attack was so abrupt that another went down with a hard kick to the groin and the third backed off raising his hands in surrender.
Henry threw himself at the last and they went down in a cloud of fists and kicks. All Henry could think of was making this person pay for the way he acted against his people. It felt like forever but probably only a few minutes but the Terran Lord found himself on top of the bloodied body of his opponent and he kept raining punches down on him.
“Don't every touch my people again,” Henry shouted, punctuating each word with a blow.
There was a whistle and through bleary eyes he could make the uniforms of police officers rushing forward. One went to rip Henry off and tackle him but he did not succeed. As he reached out, two forms blurred close, re-directed his hand and then shoved the officer back just enough to stop his movement.
Nish was at his side, hand outstretched while Teemai was pulling him up and Minda was shielding him.
“Do not touch, your Lord,” Nish warned without raising her voice.
The officer glanced at Henry and the realization sunk in. He bowed awkwardly and ran over to an older officer. He must have told him who he was as that older man came over and gave a much more formal bow.
“My lord,” he said his words not as quiet as Henry had hoped. A ripple shot through the crowd as the realization swept over them. Henry wiped the blood from his split lip looking at the men restrained by the police.
“Since they assaulted you, shall we hand them over to your security?” The officer asked.
Henry shook his head, the pain started hitting as the Adrenalin wore off.
“No. Get them off my planet.”
When the shuttle landed back at Blue Blossom and the hatch opened, Henry knew the story had gotten back.
Of course it did.
Mistress Maevin Maer was standing there in her summer outfit of white cloth, emotions ranging from rage and worry on her face. Doctor Torbet, their estate's physician, was there along with Tox and a few other high ranking maids.
“Master,” Maevin said stepping up and offering a hand as he stumbled. Her dark hair was caught by the wind for a moment reminding Henry how beautiful she was.
“Leave Nish and her maids alone,” Henry said as the trio stepped out with fear in there eyes. He knew that they were scared of what Maevin would do to them. “I gave them a direct order to not get involved and they did their duty and obeyed me.”
Maevin shot a glance at Nish who quickly bowed and then the mistress motioned with her head to dismiss the three. Maevin led him quickly into the building and he soon found himself in his office and sitting in his chair. The woman knelt down in front of him taking the antiseptic cloth offered by Doctor Torbet and began to dab at his lip. His face was really starting to hurt. Torbet came over and began to apply a adhesive bandages that felt cool and numbing to the swollen parts of his face.
“That was very barbaric,” Maevin gently chided him as she handed the bloody cloth to torbet and began to use another one.
Henry tried to shrug but everything was hurting even worse.
“Well, it was a small incident,” He finally got out.
“There is a recording,” Torbet said. “Belentine has security cameras and police drones. The fight was filmed and on the news within thirty minutes of you leaving. You're the story of the day. Probably gonna want to draft a letter to our High Baron cause it's gonna get to him.”
“That is an issue for later,” Maevin said with a thin warning in her voice. The doctor gave a nod and stepped back waiting.
“Look, they were harassing that poor girl,” Henry said trying to explain himself. “I couldn't just let them.”
“I know,” Maevin said. “but brawling?”
“I wasn't thinking.”
There was a hint of a smile in the corner of Maevin's mouth and her eyes were bright. “Well, you have made an impression, My master.”
As she worked on him, Henry glanced at the door and saw a few eyes looking in and quickly trying not to look like they were. Maevin glanced and sighed.
“Dismiss the maids and close the door, Doctor.”
Henry could hear the whine of frustration from the other maids as the door clicked.
“What's that about?”
“Well, you're every woman's fantasy now.”
“What?!?” Henry started and immediately regretted the quick movement.
Maevin nodded. “I have studied Terran literature and you have a trope of the damsel in distress and the charming prince to rescue, yes?”
“Umm...yeah,”
“Our trope is a bit different. In our culture, it is the civilized woman who is swept off their feet by a barbarian that doesn't care for status, ceremony, or protocol. A Xaltean man would never have brawled in the street like that and now there is footage of the Lord of Victory pummeling brigands for the sake of a woman.”
“I would not be surprised if there are some inquiries on possible marriages or even requests for fathering a few children,” Torbet added, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“What? No!”
Torbet snorted in laughter while Maevin's smile grew just a bit bigger.
“If anything, it's going to be harder to have the maids keep their clothes on,” Maevin sighed. “They're gonna definitely want your attention now.”
In a way Henry didn't mind. He had always wondered if you could do what it took to protect everyone here and this proved it. This place felt like home and this was where he wanted to be as long as he could.