#quartzfox

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She watched the procession leave the Temple, a bright smile on her face as she waved along with the rest of the townsfolk.  The maid turned away, presumably to return to her chores, before the procession was quite out of sight.  She couldn’t bear to watch, knowing the fate that awaited the tall young man of whom she’d become oddly fond over the last several months.  

After all, that was the point; the young man known as Dylas was being escorted to the Water Temple for the last time, where he would become the next in what seemed to be turning into a line of Guardians, meant to prolong Lady Ventuswill’s time on their world.  He’d never paid much attention to her, even when she was cleaning his room around him.  No great task; Dylas didn’t have much in the way of belongings, and he was a neat person to begin with.  She didn’t mind making her way out to the small cottage where he had lived for the last several years to clean.  When he was there, he’d largely ignored her, though he’d spent most of his spare time either fishing or visiting with the Divine Dragon.  

Well, there would be no more cleaning up after him, Eliza sighed to herself as she retreated to the castle.  Wordlessly she retrieved her broom and began to sweep the square, empty now that the majority of the town had left to escort the new Guardian to his final resting place.  

It was a terrible shame, really; he was a very attractive youth, and not at all a bad sort, if a bit sullen.  Shy, she figured, and not very sure of himself – small wonder, with the life he’d lead!  

She stopped to look in on Lady Ventuswill on her way to return the broom; the Divine Dragon had been looking more than a little peaked in recent years, and Eliza was as concerned as the rest of the town.  Perhaps more, as she was one of the few with whom Venti (as the dragon liked to be called) sometimes let down her guard.  Small wonder, Eliza often felt; no one paid much attention to little old maids who were focused on their work!  

She remembered the first time it had happened; she had been working in the castle for nearly three years.  

“It… It’s only I… I mean me… Eliza… The maid,” the young human stammered out. “Forgive me, Lady Ventuswill! I was… I was cleaning, in the corner…”

“Oh! It’s you… I’ve seen you here before. Your name is Eliza, is that right?” The stentorian voice was back, she noticed.

“That is right, Your Ladyship. And… if you like, I can bring you some pancakes,” she said, startling herself.

They both blinked at her audacity, and then the dragon -- much to Eliza’s suprise -- had laughed. “If you bring me pancakes right now,” she said in the same gentle tone she’d used before, “you can call me Venti.”

Still in a state of mild shock, Eliza had run to fetch pancakes for the Native Dragon -- who had promptly kept her word… and when the two of them were alone, she’d never used her Formal Voice again.

“Lady Venti, can I bring you anything?”

“No, that’s all right.  I just need a little rest, is all,” the Dragon replied, but she wouldn’t meet the maid’s eyes.  

They both knew it for a lie; they’d discussed the previous Guardians in the intervening years since that first surprising encounter.   In fact, though Dylas had become fast friends with Ventuswill, Eliza herself had also won a place in the heart of the god, though she hadn’t realized until recently just how much that meant until the ceremony had been announced.  Dylas had been kept largely in the dark, but Eliza knew something about Leon and Dolce, who had been friends of Venti’s and had made the ultimate sacrifice to keep her alive.  She knew that it troubled the Divine Dragon even as it pleased her, and she alone of all those who kept the dragon company knew how much it cost her.  

“Would you like me to stay with you for a bit?” Eliza asked, in a gentler voice.  Since she had first befriended Ventuswill, the two of them had become comfortable, and as Eliza grew older, she’d taken an almost maternal role with her perenially-young-at-heart friend.  

When Ventuswill affected a shrug, Eliza snapped her shoulders together.  “I know what you need.  Stay right there.”

Ventuswill raised her head, a slightly quizzical look in her eye.  For a dragon, her expressions were very easy to read for her human friends; she watched the maid leave and waited, head cocked, until Eliza returned, a plate in her hand, preceded by a particularly tantalizing smell.  

“Pancakes!”  Though she wasn’t quite perky, Ventuswill’s outlook definitely improved a bit as she accepted the dish gladly, scarfing down Eliza’s offering with gusto.  “If anything, I wish I could do something for you!”

Eliza blushed slightly.  “Oh, don’t bother about me.  I’m fine as I am -- I like helping out.  I took the job because I needed it; I kept it because I wanted it.  It turns out I enjoy looking after people, and I’m not the shy little flower that first came here!  You know they’ve got me teaching the new kids all about how to manage their tasks here, and assigning chores…”  She smiled, clearly content.  “That’s all I ever wanted from my life, really.”

She retrieved her broom from the corner where she’d propped it before running off to make the pancakes.  Folding her hands atop it, she rested her chin on them and sighed contentedly.  “I’m not a fancy sort, Venti.  I don’t need much in the way of fripperies and furbelows.  I just need a purpose and a place, and of course my hat,” she added with a laugh.  

Venti joined her; everyone in town knew about Eliza and her hat.  For a woman who prided herself on simple tastes, the maid’s one indulgence was a rather extravagantly feathered creation, bright red and utterly at odds with the rest of her tastes.  When not in uniform, she dressed rather conservatively, wearing simple trousers as often as skirts.  The hat, however, stood out easily enough in any crowd.  It was Eliza’s one indulgence, and she loved it, wearing it whenever she was off duty, no matter how formal the occasion was -- or wasn’t.  

“Eliza… why have you never married?”  Venti asked the question in an offhand manner, trying hard to be nonchalant.  

The response was a simple shrug.  “I’ve never met the right person, I guess…  There’s always been some reason for it not to work out.”  Now it was her turn to have a hard time meeting the other’s eyes.  “Too not interested, too married, too young...”  

Venti’s head turned to the side as she considered, trying to imagine who had captured Eliza’s interest to trouble her so -- for the maid was clearly troubled.  

“Oh my -- did you -- were you interested in Dylas?:

Eliza started, just a little bit.  “Me?  A strapping young man like him? Oh, please.  There wouldn’t be any point.  Even if he hadn’t been otherwise committed, what would he want with an old thing like me?  I’m forty years old, Lady!  I’d have no business falling for someone as young as he is…”  She waved the notion away with impatience.  “No, not that it would have mattered…  Of course not.  It’s just that the men in town my age aren’t…  Well, aren’t available.”  She shrugged.

“No, I’m quite set in my ways…  I suppose I’m not the marrying sort.  I’ll just have to settle for looking after you and the rest of this town to the best of my abilities…”  

“Eliza…”

“Stop, stop that right now!  I’m hardly unhappy.  Yes, I would have loved to have a family… I can’t lie to you, Lady Ventuswill.  But it’s no longer the driving need in my existence that it was when I was younger.  I’m happy as I am. If I were to meet someone, I wouldn’t chase them away…  But I have purpose in my life, and that’s more than most people get to hope for.”  

“I wish I could hug you right now,” Venti muttered.  “That’s one of the drawbacks to being this big.”

Eliza laughed.  “I can hug you, at least,” she said, and did so, embracing the dragon’s foreleg warmly.  

“It’s not the same,” Venti grumbled, but she smiled.  

“There, it sounds like you’re feeling a bit better.  I’m sure you’ll perk up more soon, and I should get back to work.”

“Indeed,” Ventuswill said, raising her head again.  “Go on then,” she added dismissively.  

They both laughed, and Eliza went back to her chores as promised, but Ventuswill’s gaze turned inward; there wasn’t much she could do for the maid, but she deserved some kind of reward.

The days marched forward, and the seasons changed; Ventuswill recovered from her weakness and Dylas’ visits became a distant memory in the minds of most Selphians.   Ventuswill did not forget, however, nor did she forget the conversation she’d had with Eliza that fateful day.  The maid proved true to her word, content to run the town’s service sector and cleaning the castle herself every day.  Once she was officially assigned to the supervisory post, however, the only change she made was to wear her hat every day, even with her uniform.  

The day came when she could no longer fulfill the most strenuous of her duties, but Eliza was content to teach the newcomers their responsibilities and maintain the request board.  

Shortly after, Ventuswill summoned her.

“Eliza, you have fulfilled your duties, and so much more, wonderfully over the seventy years since coming to this castle,” Ventuswill began.  “I would reward you for all that you have done.”

Eliza sighed, shaking her head.  “Don’t be silly, Venti.  I’m an old woman.  I’ve lived a full and fulfilling life.  We both know there’s not much time left in this old body.  I’m happy to have lived here, doing what I do.  I’m truly content, my Lady.”

Ventuswill fretted.  “But I am not!  You’re one of the few true friends I’ve had who’s stayed this long…,” she admitted.

“If I could stay with you forever, my old friend, I would…  But I’m an old woman, and you’re a Native Dragon.”  

“Well…  There’s one thing I can do, though it’s not much…  But it would allow us to stay friends, though you wouldn’t be able to speak to anyone else unless they were very powerful Earthmates.”  She waited until she saw the glint of curiosity in Eliza’s faded eyes.  “When your soul departs your body, I can place it in an inanimate object, a vessel of your choosing.  You would be able to communicate with me, at least, and any strong Earthmates who might pass by, if you choose.”

Eliza thought about it for a long time.  Ventuswill said nothing.  

“Well, since I don’t know that I believe what the priests tell us about the afterlife, and I know that the Forest of Beginnings is not for humans, I suppose it can’t be any worse,” Eliza mused aloud.  “What about…  What about the request board?”  

Ventuswill blinked.  Of all the objects she’d considered, that hadn’t been the one she’d expected.  “I don’t see why not.  It would make sense, being that it’s made of Sharance wood; it should last far longer than anything I was thinking about.”

Eliza nodded decisively.  “It’s decided then.  But…  There’s one more thing, Lady Ventuswill…”  She raised a trembling hand to brush the feather that dangled jauntily, a nervous habit she’d had since she was young.  She hesitated so long that the dragon had to prompt her for her request.