Tales Around Blue Blossom

Nizzie, Harvester Maid of the 7th Order, bounced back and forth on the heels of her feet whining as if anyone could hear or care about the situation she had gotten herself into. This was her own stupidity and there was not much she could do about it. The Xaltean maid pulled at one of her straw blond pig tails that sprouted from the sides of her head in frustration. She tried her best to ignore how cold her bottom was because that was the whole reason she was in this predicament. Nizzie had lost her uniform skirt.

Yes, normally that wouldn't have been a problem and any other maid would have just gone to get a replacement but not her. She had to be on controlled possessions clause which meant she had only five with three in the wash, one being mended by the seamstress and the other lost somewhere on the estate.

It was warm, Nizzie thought to herself and she had a tendency to shed whatever clothes she could get away with. In the fields, nobody cared unless their new Terran master was around. The young woman giggled at that. It was cute watching him flush and eyes desperately escape when a cute butt or a bouncing breast went by. Humans were such nervous and pretentious creatures.

Right now though, the thought was not going to save her. She was due back to her quarters in forty-five minutes and if she showed up without them, Arch Maid Abiva would tan her already sore backside. It wouldn't be so bad if her actual Arch Maid Vindik Mal of the Ground Legion did it but he always expressly invited the red headed arch maid to deal out the discipline. That woman had it out for her. Damn that Adjudicator and not getting that discipline clause removed from my contract.

Well, that wasn't really fair to the man that represented her in front of an Arbiter two years earlier. They were planning to send her to a penal colony. All for accidentally taking things...repeatedly...without permission. Yes, yes, she was a thief and for that reason she was a half bonded servant of House Avernell.

The pressing problem is locating her uniform. The rules meant she had to take care of all her possession and not have more than allotted. Missing her lower tvekel skirt was a big deal and one she couldn't easily hide. She was wearing the support band around her chest, magnetic clip and nothing else.

Where did I leave it? Nizzie wondered as she began to trot down the path towards the outer estate where the fields, temple and out buildings were located.

“I drug brush in the fields for the upcoming vivxieeae thareeaenata, cleaned the shoreline for sharp aetukee shells, scrubbed the northern hot springs, swept the temple...Where did I leave it?”

It definitely wasn't in the fields. Today was the day she worked with the Reserve Legion in hopes that one of the gods would take pity on her and let her transfer out of the field. She's rather work under the extremely strict Arch Maid Nish than in the hot fields.

Nizzie pulled at the magnetic clip that ran across her sternum following the contours of her breasts as it itched thanks to the sweat from the day's work. Goddess! She was miserable. It was at the thought of just ripping it off that it struck the woman of where she actually had left it. She had that exact same response to her skirt catching on the shrubbery around the hot spring bath. Nizzie had taken it off so she could get her work down and then completely forgot about it.

Yes! No caning today! Nizzie chortled to herself as she trotted as fast as she could down the path without attracting attention. The sun had already begun to set casting it's deep blue shadows across the estate and there were still a few groups of maids finishing up there work though there was a feeling of leisure around it.

Goddess, Nizzie loved the end of day. Their leaders stopped pushing them hard and that evening of clean up was a mixture of slowing down, enjoying your time, talking with your friends and comrades while mentally switching gears for dinner, free time and sleep. What was the human saying? Work hard; play hard? That's what the blond haired maid wanted to do. Chat a bit with Netu and Enty or see if she could find Minda and find out if she heard anything about a more permanent opening. Instead she was trying to find that damn skirt.

The bathhouse was nestled among a thick cop of large evergreen trees that added their shade to the warm lamps that hung around the wooden structure. The front entrance would have the foyer were everyone would meet, a few seats, then the dressing room that had stone floors (which were miserable to scrub), carved soft wood racks to place the clothes and then a curtain that led to the bath proper. That was four large intersecting pools of varying depth heated by a thermal vent that an underground river passed over. It was an absolutely amazing place. Nizzie had heard it said that if the Reserve Legion worked really hard, up to twenty high performing maids could be selected and given a half day at the bathhouse. The young woman was completely envious. To be able to soak and hang out like a Lady of the Estate. She had even heard Ubrev, who had earned a special dispensation for her saving a field from a blight, that servants were there to serve just like if you were royalty.

Nizzie whined again. This time out of jealousy. She never got nice things, she just got a wooden rod to her lower cheeks.

The sun had just touched the treeline when the harvester maid arrived to the bathhouse with the express purpose of begging the maids closing up to let her grab her skirt. That came to a crashing end when she found the place dark and only the steam of the baths rising over the fence. The workers here must have finished earlier.

It was so hard to keep her swearing from being too loud as Nizzie pulled on the door and found it fastened shut. She pressed her face up against the window in hopes of seeing someone but no luck. The place was locked up tight.

Nooo!

How could the gods do this to her? All Nizzie wanted to do one day was sit down and not feel the sting. I refuse! I'm not gonna get it again. There was only one thing she could do.

There had to be a way to break in. That shouldn't be too difficult. That's a skill that she had before that curious guard found her and gotten her that ten year sentence. She crouched down moving the stones at the door seeing if they had made things easy on themselves and left a key. The lock was one of those old fashion as the whole point of the bathhouse design was to embrace the ancient life. Only the lights were powered.

How about the lock itself? Could it be tripped? No. That was a complicated asymmetrical key with a interchangeable lock cylinder. No way she was forcing that open. Nizzie began to make her way around the fence hoping of all hopes that there would be something somewhere. There it was!

The high fence that surrounded the open air bath was designed to keep people from easily getting in but it still had it's decoration and there was a good three food boulder

It took Nizzie a few moments to judge the distance between the boulder she was planning to scale and the fence itself. She was pretty agile when she had to be and this was going to prove to be one of those times. She just had to be very careful about vaulting over the fence as she didn't want to land straight on her face or land straddling the fence. Nizzie did not have any protection down there and did not want to explain to Doctor Torbet why he had to pull splinters from out between her legs.

Yes, this was a jump she could do. Just jump, grab the edge, swing her legs over and land on the other side gently. She knew there were soft grass on the other side so no risk of hurting her feet.

One, two, and over she went. No, it was not as graceful as Nizzie had pictured in her head but she had gotten her lithe legs over the fence and landed in the grass on her ass instead of her feet. She stood brushing herself off and looking around. She was in!

Just as she had seen earlier that day, the steam rose warmly from the bath like a nice, cup of tea, the water gently flowing from the pipe that brought it up to the surface. Her bare feet padded across the terracotta walkway to the door that would lean inside the main changing room where her skirt was waiting for her. With glee, Nizzie reached for the door, pulled on it and found that it didn't budge.

Are you kidding me? They locked these doors too?

Why did they do that? No one is going to break into a place like this...well, anyone else. With a whine of frustration, Nizzie stamped her feet and glared at the unyielding door in front of her. How the hell was she going to get in there now?

That was when her gaze landed upon the transom above the door. The cloth that was draped over them blew inwards showing her that it was open. Nizzie cackled with glee. She could definitely get herself in there. One of the few advantages of having a smaller chest instead of the other girls. There was no way Minda could get through that, the big chested...anyway.

The door was set inside the frame enough that Nizzie could use it to climb with one foot on one jamb, and the other on the opposite. She had the body strength to shimmy up it and then grab the transom ledge. As she pulled herself through, she swore as her magnetic clip on her sternum snagged. She pulled it off, and flipped in like an acrobat at one of those shows in Belentine.

The room was dark and cool to the point that the floor was almost like ice. The sun had to be going down fast now and she did not have much time left to grab what she needed and sprint back to the dorms. Frantically looking around, Nizzie found the skirt tossed haphazardly to the side just where she left it, she quickly fastened it around her waist, darted for the transom and made it out.

There was only a little time left as she ran down the path, the dark blue of night consuming everything except the warm orange glow of path lights and the large windows of the estate ahead. Nizzie finally slowed down catching her breath as she merged with the last few maids chatting and walking up the path that was lined with a low stone wall that reached her waist. Goddess, she made it.

“Nizzie.”

The voice cut through the crowd like a knife, at least for the girl. The rest of the men and women glanced in the direction to see Arch Maid Vindik Mal standing there, arms folded across his chest. A few greeted him which he gave a polite nod. He did not look away from the harvester maid. Unconsciously she checked to make sure her skirt was till there.

“Arch Maid,” Nizzie said with a curtsy and tried to move on.

“You're missing something.”

Nizzie's heart dropped into her stomach as she clutched her skirt. She had her skirt! She spent that entire time breaking and entering to get it! She's not missing anything!

“Where's your magnetic clip?”

Oh.

The realization that she never picked it up after it had gotten caught on the transom made her gut twist. All of that to avoid discipline and she left something else.

“Arch Maid...” Nizzie started deciding that begging might be her only way out.

From behind the burly man, red hair caught the light and grin on her face stood Arch Maid Abiva. In her hand was the thin, flexible wooden cane Nizzie had become familiar with. The words stuck in the harvester maid’s throat as Abiva all but chortled in glee.

“What have we told you about keeping control of your possession?” Vindik said with a shake of his head. “Your contract is not a lark, something you can just ignore when you want.”

“But sir—”

“You know the clauses of your contract. You were saved from the penal colony for your robbery and thievery but you will not get leniency here. Peer Abiva, if you would.”

Abiva tapped the cane in her hand and then motioned to the garden wall.

“Hands on the wall, maid, lift your skirt and bend over.” That damn skirt.

This was going to sting.