Brand New Home, Same Old Shadows [Forum Challenge: Amanda/Quess]

Amanda Hodgekiss was a quiet girl. Daughter of a cook and and an ewerer, she'd been raised in castles all her life. When her father was hired on for the Esdale family as a kitchen cook, the then ten year old found herself offered the position of being a personal maidservant and companion for the young and quiet Quess Esdale. The noble was younger than Amanda by a few years but they had gotten along well enough that it wasn't a stretch to call them friends. So she spent a good amount of her time following or escorting Quess to the various places and duties expected of her.

Years passed and the long bloody road of time had seen Ealdorman Raegnold just unofficially become King, enthroned on the prestigious castle of Valwyn, ruling over a third of all Nharati and the potential for more wasn't out of the question with the Valenti families clashing over what was left. The weekend promised a lavish coronation celebration.

Valwyn itself was such a spectacle. The castle back in Ysdrin was lovely, but this was transcendent of even that. Quess was in love with the magnificence and the artistry of the architecture and the furnishings and thus the two spent many of the early days in the castle roaming the main halls and the yet refurbished rooms to see what all was to be discovered and admired.

The explorations on this particular day were cut short when they were met on an upper floor hallway by Quess' mother, looking worn and gloss-eyed from whatever drug she had recently taken for her nerves. The woman hadn't been quite right in years, ever colder and withdrawn from everyone but still very much in the center of the family's life. The drugs had been administered to keep her episodes of depression and occasional violent fits down. Few seemed to know what all was truly wrong with her.

"You were summoned to go play your harp." the dulled voice spoke plainly to Quess, the nurse and handmaiden that accompanied Rachelle following right behind their charge.

"But we were exploring the castle. May I not go tomorrow?" a respectful but saddened voice responded, akin to a fretted whine.

Rachelle rolled her eyes and walked on, treating her more like a servant than family, the tone equally as austere if not hateful, "Go entertain your father."

Amanda's bigger hand lead Quess down the long hallway of Valwyn to search out which room they might have put the harp in. The younger were still all eyes at the efforts put into the structure and details of everything around her. She noticed these types of things, even if she didn't always understand how it all came together. It was like everywhere new, unique, or colorful was some amusement park to be fantasized about from afar. She likewise retained the wonderful visuals it so she could sketch them in one of her many bound art pads. She was constantly running about with charcoal on her fingers yet mindful enough not to go spreading fingerprints everywhere.

A couple of finely attired guards opened a broad pair of doors that lead into a waiting room filled with exquisite furniture. Beyond it was a smaller but ornate door that was knocked upon by the maidservant. "Enter" came the familiar ring of Raegnold's voice beckoning them. Spotting the man grinning warmly at the two girls from his perch on a large divan, both bowed gracefully before him. He simply patted his knee for Quess before turning a rigid stare to her escort. "That will be all Amanda, please close the door."

The servant complied, eyes downturned, the clank of the door as it drew shut echoing in the lonely room. Far too many times had she lead Quess behind similar closed doors. Far too many times had she seen the empty smiling stares from her friend when she returned.