First Day as a Maid

After Ceil finished his breakfast Lydia took the tray and headed back to the kitchen. When she entered, Bardroy was there with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was lounging in a seat next to the door, his eyes closed. Lydia rolled her eyes and headed to the sink and began to wash the dishes. Then she heard, "Hang on a minute! Who are you? Why are you in my kitchen?"

Lydia turned to look over her shoulder. Bardroy was on his feet, pointing an accusing finger at her. She sighed quietly before she answered, "My name is Lydia Jennings. Today's my first day. I'm the new maid here. How do you do?"

Bardroy ran his hand through his hair. Lydia couldn't tell if he believed her or not, but she went back to washing dishes. "You're American?" the question came softly.

Lydia smiled faintly but didn't stop her work as she began to dry the dishes, "I am. I just came over from the states."

Bardroy made a noise deep in his throat before he spoke again, "It's good to meet another from America. Name's Bardroy, but you can call me Bard."

Lydia turned with the plates in hand ready to put them away, "Pleasure to meet you, Bard."

"Have you already met the others?" Bardroy asked.

Lydia began to put the plates up, "Not yet. I have only met the young master and Sebastian."

Bardroy shivered, "That Sebastian... there's something not right about that man. I can't put my finger on it, but-"

"But what?" a voice asked behind him.

Lydia and Bardroy looked and Sebastian stood in the doorway looking as immaculate as always. Bardroy's face paled. "N-nothing Sebastian. I just remembered I told Finny that I would help him in the garden. It was nice to meet you, Lydia," Bardroy said quickly before he zoomed out of the kitchen.

Lydia tsked, "Was that necessary?"

"No," Sebastian admitted. "But I do admit that it was fun to watch him get so jumpy. How are you doing, my dear?"

"I'm fine Sebastian, though I would like to meet the others."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I'm stuck here. I might as well make the best out of it."

"If you insist, love," Sebastian sighed and waved her to follow him.

He took her outside to the garden where she saw Mey-rin standing beside Finny who was working. Bardroy was nowhere to be seen. "Mey-rin... Finnian... come here and meet the new maid," Sebastian said.

The two of them looked her way and Finny's face broke into a wide grin before he ran her way. Mey-rin seemed worried but also came over. "Where is Tanaka?" Sebastian asked.

"Hoo Hoo," came a laugh from behind him.

Lydia looked and there was the chibi version of Tanaka. She couldn't help but smile at him. Then she was enveloped in a hug. "Oh it's a pleasure to meet you miss," Finny said.

"Can't breathe," Lydia choked out.

"Let Lydia go please," Sebastian said, but there was a clear threat in his voice.

Finny put Lydia down and backed away from her, "I'm sorry Sebastian. I don't always know my strength."

Lydia smiled and tried to placate the both of them, "I'm alright. Think nothing of it."

Finny broke into a small sweat, "You're too kind."

Lydia turned to Mey-rin, "It's lovely to meet you as well."

"Yes! Right!" Mey-rin suddenly stood straighter than normal.

"We'll be working together Mey-rin, please don't feel like you have to be scared of me."

"Oh," Mey-rin smiled and placed a hand on her cheek. "You are a lovely one, you are."

"I'm just like all you, a servant."

Sebastian pulled out a pocket watch, "Well as this has been a lovely diversion we all have work to do. Back to work people. Lydia, you're with me."

The rest of the morning Lydia and Sebastian worked together to clean different rooms in the manor. Then closer to lunch, they went back to the kitchen. "I shall leave you here to attend to making lunch for the young master. I must attend to him," Sebastian informed her.

It had been nice to work with him that morning. It had been quiet but comfortable. "I enjoyed working with you this morning Sebastian," Lydia said. "It was nice."

Sebastian smiled, "Indeed it was. I look forward to doing so much more."

She was going to ask what he meant, but he left the room without another word. Lydia turned to get started on lunch then Bardroy entered the kitchen. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm fixing lunch for the young master," she informed him.

She heard the squeak of a chair and some mumbling. She knew why Sebastian didn't like Bardroy to cook, especially when left alone. Her heart went out to him though. This is what he'd been hired to do, and here she was taking his job from him. Her heart just couldn't take it. She turned to face him, "Would you like to help me?"

Bardroy opened his eyes and looked at her, "Help you what?"

"Fix lunch for the young master. I planned to make enough for everyone to have something, but I certainly can't do that by myself. That's cooking for six people. I've only cooked for three. Now, in theory, it shouldn't be too hard, but still, I'm asking will you help me, Bard?"

His eyes lit up, and he jumped from his chair, "Of course Lydia! I'd be honored to help you."

She chuckled, "Thank you. Just promise me that no matter what you'll never use dynamite or a flamethrower while I'm here."

Bardroy's eyes got huge, "How'd you know about that?"

"Sebastian told me. You do realize that it doesn't make cooking faster it just makes everything that much harder?"

He frowned and looked down, "Yea."

"So do we have a deal?"

He looked back up at her with a determined expression, "You got it, Lydia."

Lydia remembered what happened when Agni was there and the same thing happened to her. She used a similar technique and put Mey-rin and Finny to work. Tanaka sat in the seat in the kitchen sipping his tea. Sebastian came in an hour or so later and when he saw the scene in front of him, he was in total shock. Lydia smiled at him mischievously. Sebastian raised an eyebrow and came over to her. She said to the others, "Just finish all that up, and we'll be done."

"You got it!" the three shouted happily.

Lydia walked a little further away with Sebastian so that they could talk. He kept his voice low so that the other couldn't hear, "You got those three to work without making a huge mess?"

Lydia shrugged her shoulders, "I saw Agni do it, so I kind of knew exactly what to do."

"Ah!" Sebastian nodded his head. "Agni. He did a good job getting them to work together. So you used a similar method?"

"Mm-hmm."

"You're intelligent, love," Sebastian mused.

"Sebastian," Lydia warned. "We have a long day ahead. Later, okay?"

"Alright dear, later, but there's much to do tonight," he said cryptically. Then he turned to the others, "Seems you all did wonderfully under Lydia. I'm sure the young master will enjoy the meal."

Lydia moved away from Sebastian and fixed Ceil's plate then handed it to Sebastian. "Here you go."

Then Mey-rin handed Sebastian a cup of tea, "And here is the master's tea. Lydia showed me how to make it just as the master prefers."

Sebastian smiled, "We shall all find out how the master feels about the meal. Shall we all adjourn to the dining room?"

Lydia flashed a comforting smile when she saw the nervous smiles on the others. They all shuffled out to the dining room. Sebastian set the table. Ceil soon joined them and took his place. He didn't say anything, just began eating. A look of contentment came over his face as he ate. Lydia smiled softly. Then he took a sip of his tea. "Sebastian? Have you done something different to the tea?"

"No, master? Is there something wrong with it?" Sebastian asked with a worried look.

"No," Ceil sat back a little more comfortably, continuing to sip his tea. "It's very good. Everything is wonderful in fact."

"Then you have Lydia and the rest of the staff to thank for your meal and the tea. I had nothing to do with it," Sebastian said.

Ceil sat his tea down and turned to the other gathered servants, "Keep up the good work."

"All right!" Bardroy exclaimed.

"The master's pleased with us!" Mey-rin gushed.

"I can't wait to help at suppertime!" Finny said excitedly.

"Hoo Hoo," Tanaka laughed.

Lydia just herded them back into the kitchen where the five of them ate lunch themselves. Lydia knew why Sebastian wasn't eating. Then they cleaned up and set to more chores and it was repeated at suppertime. When she was done cleaning up from supper Lydia was beyond ready to go to bed, but she knew that wasn't possible. She trudged up to her room exhausted. She had just started to attempt to take her uniform off and slip into the new nightdress that Sebastian had gotten her when a voice interrupted her, "Need some help, darling?"