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DMCL Week 2024 - Freebie
"Hey, I was wondering, but.... are you worried about how much food is being sent up to the king's quarters lately?" asks Susie.
"Nope," Sidero says matter of factly.
Over at the ovens, Charlotte laughs a little bit. "I didn't know that you were taking such an indepth look at our king's meals!" she teases, and ignores the way her pink-haired coworker flushes in a way that matches her little pink bob. "But you're not wholly wrong, you know. I've always worried that he was a picky eater, with how he went for light breakfasts... But he's really been tossing back some of the morning pastries this last week, huh? And he's asked for a lot of fruit, too!"
Sidero pauses for a moment, squinting at her coworkers. Truth be told, she's always rather sided with Charlotte on how their king needs to eat a lot more than he ever really does. Normally she would call that sort of thing picky, but she doesn't think that's quite it.
If anything, King Dimitri is maybe the opposite of a picky eater. Sidero doesn't think she's put a thing in front of him that he hasn't eaten, patiently cleaning his plate and never asking for much more than he seems to absolutely need. The bare minimum. Maybe she should be glad about that. Food scarcity has only been recovering to noticeable degrees recently, thanks to him taking the crown and also the entire continent. It would be a bad sign, a sign of how things used to be during the war when there was no Blaiddyd, if he were to take more than he needed. Really he's a rather sensible and down to earth king. Nothing like the fairy tales or the nightmares. She figures all those tales told back at the start of the war were just propaganda, spread by those traitors.
...But she's not really pleased about it. Ruling, she thinks, probably takes a lot out of a person. Just being the head of a royal kitchen is enough to drive a person near to insanity, or at least that's how it looks to her just talking with her coworkers.
So for him to not eat as much as a man that tall and broad should, well, she doesn't really think it's right at all. She just also knows that, most of the time, it's not any of her business. What kind of cook just goes and orders about the king of an entire united country, anyway? While she doesn't think King Dimitri is that kind of man who would lash out at a cook worrying over him, well, she knows that it would cause a whole nightmare and a half. The king did a huge favor for her, she figures, both during the war when she was a mercenary struggling to get by, and then in the peaceful times afterwards that he'd hire her on as a cook.
Best thing to do is just make the best tasting and looking and smelling food she possibly can, and that'll take care of it. That'll rouse his appetite away from whatever burdens haunt him.
Who knows? "Maybe all our work is just finally kicking in," she offers, while Susie twists her apron about in her hands. The girl worries so much, sometimes, but maybe that's just what they all do after the war. Worry, and hope that the sun keeps on rising like it does. Sidero thinks working helps the sun along, personally, especially working in the service of a good person. "I mean, with all this good food, wouldn't it be stranger if there wasn't some sort of effect?"
"I mean, I like the idea," Charlotte says, hair pulled back in a ponytail, gone all gray even at her young age. She's pulling out the latest batch of pastries, and the air fills up with that sweet berry scent. One of the things Sidero thinks she's seen the king eat more than one of, although more than a little guiltily. "But it's just so sudden, isn't it?"
"Maybe." Sidero doesn't tell Charlotte that sometimes the brain and the guilt and many other things besides can keep a person from eating when they're hungry. Susie used to do tailoring with her family, before the war, and she thinks she heard tell that Charlotte was over in the mines. Difficult work, all of it, she would never say otherwise. But it's a wee bit different compared to having a weapon in your hand and blood soaking into your boots and - well, it's different. So she doesn't think it's that sudden, truth be told, only maybe a sign that he might've given in. What was the exact thing that broke the bridge? She hasn't a clue.
But it'd sure be nice if it was thanks to all their hard work, wouldn't it? A little something to be proud of, that.
"I just hope it isn't a sign that he's sick, or something like that," Susie confesses, as they gather all the food together onto the counters and cover up what needs to be covered up so that it'll stay nice and hot. "I knew folks like that, you know - back then." Her hands come together, a hard clasp in front of her little bleeding heart, before separating once more for work. "They needed to eat and eat and eat, but they kept withering away. Eventually, they'd just be gone, and that was it."
"That's worms," Charlotte tells her, covering up a good heaping pile of bacon. That, Sidero knows the king likes, but not usually in such amounts. "Those academics that they've been inviting over from Almyra, they've been spreading around that knowledge, you know. Little worms that grow inside your gut, and they eat everything you eat. It never even gets to your stomach."
Now that gets them all chattering on and on, scandalized at the idea, but intrigued that there may be an answer to such things. Keeps them going for a nice long while, all up until the rolling cart is filled up with the king's breakfast. That seems like it's going to be it, honestly.
At least, it seems like it's going to be it until they get the news that the lad who usually delivers up Dimitri's breakfast is out of commission - one of the hounds got loose, it seems, there was a ruckus, and now he's gone on to the temple thanks to a bruised skull that could get worse. And, well, then they've got to send someone up, don't they?
Common sense, Sidero thinks, is just to find another person not fussing about and send them up on with it. With the little cart being what it is, it'll at least be a little easier to get it all the way to where it needs to be before it has to be hauled up any stairs, and it's just the one route straight up to the king's quarters. No zig-zagging about and all of that. However, the rest of the staff all seem to glance at one another and how they communicate without speaking - she could never say.
All she knows is that Charlotte looks right at her after a moment and suggests, "Sidero, why don't you take it up to the king?"
"Me?"
"You know Garry never says a word on what goes on in the king's chambers," she tells her, which is true. Besides delivering any morning meals up to King Dimitri, Garry is the one solely in charge of cleaning up those very same chambers. Sidero always thought it was fairly sensible. After what happened to the last king? Best to limit who could touch places like that. "He'll always say it's fine, and that the king is in good health, all that stuff. Even when we know he's fibbing."
Sidero's brow squinches in on itself, and she tilts her head to the side. Has to blow some of her own dark purple hair out from her face when it follows the movement. "That means he's doing good at his job, doesn't it?"
The rest of them all exchange a glance, as though she's not getting it. "Even so, just see if you notice anything while you're up there, won't you?"
Frankly, she doesn't know just what exactly they expect her to notice when all she's going to do is step into the little sitting room area, set down the trays, and leave after letting the king know his food is there. Is the king the chatty sort to exchange pleasantries when coming out of his bedroom to get his meal? She hasn't the faintest idea; Garry hasn't really said one way or the other. Still, it's clear that the whole lot of them expect her to do this, and so she does, no complaining. No one can ever say she isn't a hard worker, in the end.
It's actually less of a bother to get the food all the way up to to the higher floors than she first thought. Turns out she doesn't even need to carry them up the stairs. There's actually a neat little contraption - dumbwaiter a guard nearby helpfully tells her - that lets her escort nearly the whole thing up to the higher floors. Not all the way to the king's chambers, for security, but far enough.
That means she can still haul up the little cart with her up the stairs - and it weighs nothing, really, not compared to armor or the large sword she used to prefer once upon a time - and then sit there, pulling along the ropes so that the foodwill get to her while still all fairly warm.
Which is around when the King of Almyra strolls on by.
Sidero doesn't really know him too well, this king, although she's heard plenty. That he was a duke in Leicester during the war, and then somehow became a king in another country. That him and their King Dimitri are old school friends. She knew some folks who did mercenary work down there, more south, who spoke well of the Riegan family when he took over, and frankly Sidero always took that to have the most value out of anything else she ever heard.
They called him kind, and fair, and sociable, and he prove that now as he makes a beeline right over for her with no small amount of interest, going, "Oh, so that's what that little door is for! And here I thought it was just a fancy trash chute for nobles."
There's a whole wing of the castle that's for visiting guests. Especially the really important kinds, heads of state and religious figures and the whole thing. Sidero hadn't thought that it was so near enough to the king's quarters for visiting royalty to wander on by in an early morning walk, but she supposes she's wrong. Not like that was ever her area to worry about. "Didn't know about it myself either, until just now," she tells him, and wonders after the fact if she's not speaking properly enough for the situation being what it is. Also never meant to be her area. "Is there a particular way I should address you, sir?"
King Khalid just waves her off, even as he's leaning in close to see just how the pulley is working. Whole head just stuck right in the hole. She doubts he can see much, not when the light is still so little. "Oh, just call him Khalid, if you like, at least while it's us two. So did Garry quit suddenly?"
Sidero can say from experience that not a lot of nobles bother to remember the names of their servants, sometimes, unless it's the really really important ones. So is Khalid like King Dimitri, or is Garry just really important? Hard to say, for now. She just keeps pulling. "No, he didn't. He really likes the job here, you know, so he wouldn't quite for anything so long as His Majesty were the one on the throne." She quietly thinks that's a lot of them, but enough on that. "Just a little accident. Had to run over to the church, get healed up."
Normal job things, really. The sort of little accident that happens sometimes. She hadn't thought it to be too serious, although of course she'd been worried and hoped the best like all the others.
So it' a little bit of a surprise to see King Khalid sudden straighten up, brows raised high. "He got hurt?" he asks. "I'll have to send him something, to wish for a speedy recovery, and all of that. He really is the kind of guy to just end up tripping into situations..."
Now that's awfully friendly, isn't it? "I'm sure he'd appreciate it," she says, and she means it. King Khalid's rankings in her head are already soaring past a ton of other competition, although she's not sure if he'll make it up past King Dimitri himself. "And you'll want to watch your head, sir. It's coming up right now, and there's a lot more of it than there usually would be."
For some reason, that really gets him smiling, but he does listen to her request. "Big eater, that Dimitri, huh?"
They really must be school friends, if he can refer to him so comfortably. Sure, there's no one else around but her, some cook from the kitchen, but still. She's seen some nobles so neurotic that they refer to their own spouses by the proper titles. Absolutely mind-boggling to her. She'll be glad that King Khalid is a little more relaxed, and that's that. " If I may be honest?" she asks, and gets a easy-going shrug as the answer. "I don't think he's ever been eating nearly as much as he has this past week. Worried everyone down in the kitchen."
And there's the tray, ready to be unloaded. Sidero gets right to work, knowing where it all goes. While she works, King Khalid watches everything with a distant look in his eye. "Yeah," he says at last. "I saw that as worrying too, really." He smiles a little bit, something that seems warm and genuine in a way hard to describe. "But with people who care, I'm sure this will be a regular occurrence."
"We appreciate the well wishes, sir."
Which would probably be it, in any normal encounter, except then King Khalid is reaching right into the hole himself and going, "Now then, if that's the case, I ought to help get all this stuff right in as well, shouldn't I? Can't let Garry go thinking that people are going to ignore him when he gets a little roughed up."
This really isn't the kind of thing that kings are meant to do. Sidero knows that much, even if she might not know too much else. But King Khalid can't be dissuaded. He helps load out what little is left inside, and then he's right there with her. If anything, he might actually be helpful. You wouldn't think that it'd be hard, finding out what room is exactly the king's, but, well. There are a few different areas up here, private studies and all of that, and she can't just waltz in to figure out what is what. King Khalid doesn't seem the least bit bothered; probably the crown means he has a lot of freedom to do whatever he likes with no one questioning him.
At least, that's what Sidero figures for why he's so comfortable and confident in just waltzing around someone else's home, somehow able to lead straight to a room with lions carved all along the door delicately. Old old artwork. She can recognize that much.
King Khalid doesn't so much as knock. He just swings the door open - she thought it'd be locked still this early in the morning? - and rolls his voice a few levels of volume higher. "Oh, your Royal Kingliness, breakfast is heeeere!"
Pushing the breakfast cart in, Sidero has just a moment to glance over the little sitting room area. Maybe it's normal for the sitting room door to be unlocked, so long as the real bedroom is? Because she can't really see anything worth noting in the little sitting area. There's just the barely existing rays of sunlight that have started to crawl through the very tips of high narrow windows, a crackling hearth that keeps the room warmed away from morning's dark chill, and a nice little sitting area, nice chairs and a little couch that she suspects have stayed around for years and years.
Survived a good couple of wars, those, so good for them.
If there's anything more indepth that she's supposed to be understanding from just standing in this room, like all the others want her to do, well, she can't figure it out. Not before there's the sound of footsteps on rug then stone, and King Dimitri opens the door for the bedroom. (She doesn't hear a lock's click?) "Khalid, do you have to be-" And her poor king, oh, he jumps a good bit, and tugs closed his robe.
Sidero doesn't think it's much, really, she's seen men naked in times of war, but she looks up to the ceiling anyway. Because it's polite. And she thinks he wears wearing something beneath the waist, but she didn't get a good look, and she doesn't want to stress out their poor king. He stresses himself out just existing, it almost feels like. He's definitely stressing out now, he's fairly sure. "Good morning, Your Majesty," she says, because she does at least know how to address her king. "Sorry for the intrusion. Just bringing in breakfast."
"I thought- Oh, nevermind." So she won't. That part is easy. Sidero is very pleased to say that she's always been at nevering her mind quite easily. "I apologize... I don't believe I ever met you."
"You wouldn't have, Your Majesty. I'm Sidero, a chef. Just filling in for Garry, since he had a bit of an accident this morning."
And, well, that might've been a mistake, because if even King Khalid had taken an interest in the idea of Garry being hurt, then Dimitri has a reaction that's double that. With his robe properly in place, Dimitri immediately fusses her down into a chair, and that's about it. He needs to hear exactly what happened to Garry. And then, when he's heard what's happened to Garry, he asks just what she does down there in the kitchens. He insists she have a pastry, even. Sidero isn't entirely sure when, but King Khalid makes himself right at home during the whole thing.
It takes about twenty minutes, by Sidero's estimate, before the king seems to recall himself, and he pulls back. "So that is how it all is... I see. Then, thank you very much for telling me everything, Miss Sidero. I apologize for keeping you here for so long."
No one ever really calls her a 'Miss' in the castle. That sort of thing is reserved for the kids down in town, when she's off to get her own food for back home in the marketplace. Well, there's a reason he's the king she follows. All those rumors from the war, she imagines they were the sort of thing the enemy made up to make him seem bad. Nothing like the gentle man sitting before her right now. "I'm just glad I could be of service," she tells him. "Although I'm more worried that I might be interrupting something."
King Dimitri goes a little bit still at that, even as King Khalid keeps pecking at the slices of fresh fruit. He's glanced over her way too, although he's awful subtle about it. "You are?" Dimitri asks, although it doesn't sound as though he's questioning her, exactly.
"Well - if I may speak frankly, Your Majesty?"
"By all means."
"I'm just a cook, and the two of you are royalty," she points out. "I'm not sure if I'm meant to be chatting here, when it feels like... two kings would have important business to talk about?" Although, granted, usually that happens in big impressive meeting rooms, and there's nobles, and one of the kings probably isn't in his morning robe. Still, the point stands. She figures it should stand. "I don't want to interrupt something important like that."
King Khalid leans back in his seat, grinning widely - perhaps at the way that his fellow king squeezes his eyes shut. Is it rude to say that sort of thing upfront to royalty? Well at least she's picked the best two for this sort of mistake, Sidero supposes. "I... appreciate the concern," King Dimitri says. "Although this is something a little more informal."
Informal? Right, the two old school friends thing. "I understand," she tells him reassuringly.
"You do, huh?" King Khalid says, almost a little cheekily. When she just blinks at him, his grin only gets all the wider. "Well, glad to hear it. But Dimitri is right. We've probably kept you away from your work for ages now. Let us know how Garry is faring if you ever catch news, alright?"
With all the servants around, and how Garry will probably be returning on his own to let them know the whole news, Sidero figures she probably doesn't have to. If it's real important, they'll hear it from someone higher up the ladder than her, and, if it isn't, well, as she said. Garry will be there to spill the news himself. Still, if they've asked, she supposes she can't refuse royalty. "As you like. Then, if you'll pardon me, I'll return down to the kitchens." There's just a moment's pause when she rises, however. "And... We're all quite relieved to see that you've been eating so much lately, Your Majesty."
He doesn't grimace, really, or flinch, or pull his brow together tightly, nothing like that. It's not an obvious thing, really. But she can recognize that shadow which passes over his face, the way it swirls in his one good eye before dissipating. She's seen it more than a few times, in fellow mercenaries, soldiers. A kind of guilt which rises only in the face of kindness.
Some people don't get that. They haven't been in those situations, haven't seen it, lived it. But she thinks he has, and she suspects he can tell she has, too, even if the guilt doesn't cling to her so easily. At least, maybe that's why he nods to her. "Then... I appreciate the work of the kitchen."
King Khalid moves just a little closer to him, reaching over to past his arm and then let it rest there. "A lot of people care about how you treat yourself," he reminds him gently, even while Sidero is already in the process of moving over to the door.
They start to say other things, too, but in really low voices, and mostly when she's already letting herself out. Sidero doesn't mind it too much. They're royalty, and old school friends, and she's really not paid that much to be nosy about what their inner lives are like - especially when one of them is the one paying her and it's just coworkers fussing about it all.
Really, they're all silly, she thinks. She got to go inside his room, even have a talk, and couldn't see a single reason why his appetite would be spiking enough for two!
"Nope," Sidero says matter of factly.
Over at the ovens, Charlotte laughs a little bit. "I didn't know that you were taking such an indepth look at our king's meals!" she teases, and ignores the way her pink-haired coworker flushes in a way that matches her little pink bob. "But you're not wholly wrong, you know. I've always worried that he was a picky eater, with how he went for light breakfasts... But he's really been tossing back some of the morning pastries this last week, huh? And he's asked for a lot of fruit, too!"
Sidero pauses for a moment, squinting at her coworkers. Truth be told, she's always rather sided with Charlotte on how their king needs to eat a lot more than he ever really does. Normally she would call that sort of thing picky, but she doesn't think that's quite it.
If anything, King Dimitri is maybe the opposite of a picky eater. Sidero doesn't think she's put a thing in front of him that he hasn't eaten, patiently cleaning his plate and never asking for much more than he seems to absolutely need. The bare minimum. Maybe she should be glad about that. Food scarcity has only been recovering to noticeable degrees recently, thanks to him taking the crown and also the entire continent. It would be a bad sign, a sign of how things used to be during the war when there was no Blaiddyd, if he were to take more than he needed. Really he's a rather sensible and down to earth king. Nothing like the fairy tales or the nightmares. She figures all those tales told back at the start of the war were just propaganda, spread by those traitors.
...But she's not really pleased about it. Ruling, she thinks, probably takes a lot out of a person. Just being the head of a royal kitchen is enough to drive a person near to insanity, or at least that's how it looks to her just talking with her coworkers.
So for him to not eat as much as a man that tall and broad should, well, she doesn't really think it's right at all. She just also knows that, most of the time, it's not any of her business. What kind of cook just goes and orders about the king of an entire united country, anyway? While she doesn't think King Dimitri is that kind of man who would lash out at a cook worrying over him, well, she knows that it would cause a whole nightmare and a half. The king did a huge favor for her, she figures, both during the war when she was a mercenary struggling to get by, and then in the peaceful times afterwards that he'd hire her on as a cook.
Best thing to do is just make the best tasting and looking and smelling food she possibly can, and that'll take care of it. That'll rouse his appetite away from whatever burdens haunt him.
Who knows? "Maybe all our work is just finally kicking in," she offers, while Susie twists her apron about in her hands. The girl worries so much, sometimes, but maybe that's just what they all do after the war. Worry, and hope that the sun keeps on rising like it does. Sidero thinks working helps the sun along, personally, especially working in the service of a good person. "I mean, with all this good food, wouldn't it be stranger if there wasn't some sort of effect?"
"I mean, I like the idea," Charlotte says, hair pulled back in a ponytail, gone all gray even at her young age. She's pulling out the latest batch of pastries, and the air fills up with that sweet berry scent. One of the things Sidero thinks she's seen the king eat more than one of, although more than a little guiltily. "But it's just so sudden, isn't it?"
"Maybe." Sidero doesn't tell Charlotte that sometimes the brain and the guilt and many other things besides can keep a person from eating when they're hungry. Susie used to do tailoring with her family, before the war, and she thinks she heard tell that Charlotte was over in the mines. Difficult work, all of it, she would never say otherwise. But it's a wee bit different compared to having a weapon in your hand and blood soaking into your boots and - well, it's different. So she doesn't think it's that sudden, truth be told, only maybe a sign that he might've given in. What was the exact thing that broke the bridge? She hasn't a clue.
But it'd sure be nice if it was thanks to all their hard work, wouldn't it? A little something to be proud of, that.
"I just hope it isn't a sign that he's sick, or something like that," Susie confesses, as they gather all the food together onto the counters and cover up what needs to be covered up so that it'll stay nice and hot. "I knew folks like that, you know - back then." Her hands come together, a hard clasp in front of her little bleeding heart, before separating once more for work. "They needed to eat and eat and eat, but they kept withering away. Eventually, they'd just be gone, and that was it."
"That's worms," Charlotte tells her, covering up a good heaping pile of bacon. That, Sidero knows the king likes, but not usually in such amounts. "Those academics that they've been inviting over from Almyra, they've been spreading around that knowledge, you know. Little worms that grow inside your gut, and they eat everything you eat. It never even gets to your stomach."
Now that gets them all chattering on and on, scandalized at the idea, but intrigued that there may be an answer to such things. Keeps them going for a nice long while, all up until the rolling cart is filled up with the king's breakfast. That seems like it's going to be it, honestly.
At least, it seems like it's going to be it until they get the news that the lad who usually delivers up Dimitri's breakfast is out of commission - one of the hounds got loose, it seems, there was a ruckus, and now he's gone on to the temple thanks to a bruised skull that could get worse. And, well, then they've got to send someone up, don't they?
Common sense, Sidero thinks, is just to find another person not fussing about and send them up on with it. With the little cart being what it is, it'll at least be a little easier to get it all the way to where it needs to be before it has to be hauled up any stairs, and it's just the one route straight up to the king's quarters. No zig-zagging about and all of that. However, the rest of the staff all seem to glance at one another and how they communicate without speaking - she could never say.
All she knows is that Charlotte looks right at her after a moment and suggests, "Sidero, why don't you take it up to the king?"
"Me?"
"You know Garry never says a word on what goes on in the king's chambers," she tells her, which is true. Besides delivering any morning meals up to King Dimitri, Garry is the one solely in charge of cleaning up those very same chambers. Sidero always thought it was fairly sensible. After what happened to the last king? Best to limit who could touch places like that. "He'll always say it's fine, and that the king is in good health, all that stuff. Even when we know he's fibbing."
Sidero's brow squinches in on itself, and she tilts her head to the side. Has to blow some of her own dark purple hair out from her face when it follows the movement. "That means he's doing good at his job, doesn't it?"
The rest of them all exchange a glance, as though she's not getting it. "Even so, just see if you notice anything while you're up there, won't you?"
Frankly, she doesn't know just what exactly they expect her to notice when all she's going to do is step into the little sitting room area, set down the trays, and leave after letting the king know his food is there. Is the king the chatty sort to exchange pleasantries when coming out of his bedroom to get his meal? She hasn't the faintest idea; Garry hasn't really said one way or the other. Still, it's clear that the whole lot of them expect her to do this, and so she does, no complaining. No one can ever say she isn't a hard worker, in the end.
It's actually less of a bother to get the food all the way up to to the higher floors than she first thought. Turns out she doesn't even need to carry them up the stairs. There's actually a neat little contraption - dumbwaiter a guard nearby helpfully tells her - that lets her escort nearly the whole thing up to the higher floors. Not all the way to the king's chambers, for security, but far enough.
That means she can still haul up the little cart with her up the stairs - and it weighs nothing, really, not compared to armor or the large sword she used to prefer once upon a time - and then sit there, pulling along the ropes so that the foodwill get to her while still all fairly warm.
Which is around when the King of Almyra strolls on by.
Sidero doesn't really know him too well, this king, although she's heard plenty. That he was a duke in Leicester during the war, and then somehow became a king in another country. That him and their King Dimitri are old school friends. She knew some folks who did mercenary work down there, more south, who spoke well of the Riegan family when he took over, and frankly Sidero always took that to have the most value out of anything else she ever heard.
They called him kind, and fair, and sociable, and he prove that now as he makes a beeline right over for her with no small amount of interest, going, "Oh, so that's what that little door is for! And here I thought it was just a fancy trash chute for nobles."
There's a whole wing of the castle that's for visiting guests. Especially the really important kinds, heads of state and religious figures and the whole thing. Sidero hadn't thought that it was so near enough to the king's quarters for visiting royalty to wander on by in an early morning walk, but she supposes she's wrong. Not like that was ever her area to worry about. "Didn't know about it myself either, until just now," she tells him, and wonders after the fact if she's not speaking properly enough for the situation being what it is. Also never meant to be her area. "Is there a particular way I should address you, sir?"
King Khalid just waves her off, even as he's leaning in close to see just how the pulley is working. Whole head just stuck right in the hole. She doubts he can see much, not when the light is still so little. "Oh, just call him Khalid, if you like, at least while it's us two. So did Garry quit suddenly?"
Sidero can say from experience that not a lot of nobles bother to remember the names of their servants, sometimes, unless it's the really really important ones. So is Khalid like King Dimitri, or is Garry just really important? Hard to say, for now. She just keeps pulling. "No, he didn't. He really likes the job here, you know, so he wouldn't quite for anything so long as His Majesty were the one on the throne." She quietly thinks that's a lot of them, but enough on that. "Just a little accident. Had to run over to the church, get healed up."
Normal job things, really. The sort of little accident that happens sometimes. She hadn't thought it to be too serious, although of course she'd been worried and hoped the best like all the others.
So it' a little bit of a surprise to see King Khalid sudden straighten up, brows raised high. "He got hurt?" he asks. "I'll have to send him something, to wish for a speedy recovery, and all of that. He really is the kind of guy to just end up tripping into situations..."
Now that's awfully friendly, isn't it? "I'm sure he'd appreciate it," she says, and she means it. King Khalid's rankings in her head are already soaring past a ton of other competition, although she's not sure if he'll make it up past King Dimitri himself. "And you'll want to watch your head, sir. It's coming up right now, and there's a lot more of it than there usually would be."
For some reason, that really gets him smiling, but he does listen to her request. "Big eater, that Dimitri, huh?"
They really must be school friends, if he can refer to him so comfortably. Sure, there's no one else around but her, some cook from the kitchen, but still. She's seen some nobles so neurotic that they refer to their own spouses by the proper titles. Absolutely mind-boggling to her. She'll be glad that King Khalid is a little more relaxed, and that's that. " If I may be honest?" she asks, and gets a easy-going shrug as the answer. "I don't think he's ever been eating nearly as much as he has this past week. Worried everyone down in the kitchen."
And there's the tray, ready to be unloaded. Sidero gets right to work, knowing where it all goes. While she works, King Khalid watches everything with a distant look in his eye. "Yeah," he says at last. "I saw that as worrying too, really." He smiles a little bit, something that seems warm and genuine in a way hard to describe. "But with people who care, I'm sure this will be a regular occurrence."
"We appreciate the well wishes, sir."
Which would probably be it, in any normal encounter, except then King Khalid is reaching right into the hole himself and going, "Now then, if that's the case, I ought to help get all this stuff right in as well, shouldn't I? Can't let Garry go thinking that people are going to ignore him when he gets a little roughed up."
This really isn't the kind of thing that kings are meant to do. Sidero knows that much, even if she might not know too much else. But King Khalid can't be dissuaded. He helps load out what little is left inside, and then he's right there with her. If anything, he might actually be helpful. You wouldn't think that it'd be hard, finding out what room is exactly the king's, but, well. There are a few different areas up here, private studies and all of that, and she can't just waltz in to figure out what is what. King Khalid doesn't seem the least bit bothered; probably the crown means he has a lot of freedom to do whatever he likes with no one questioning him.
At least, that's what Sidero figures for why he's so comfortable and confident in just waltzing around someone else's home, somehow able to lead straight to a room with lions carved all along the door delicately. Old old artwork. She can recognize that much.
King Khalid doesn't so much as knock. He just swings the door open - she thought it'd be locked still this early in the morning? - and rolls his voice a few levels of volume higher. "Oh, your Royal Kingliness, breakfast is heeeere!"
Pushing the breakfast cart in, Sidero has just a moment to glance over the little sitting room area. Maybe it's normal for the sitting room door to be unlocked, so long as the real bedroom is? Because she can't really see anything worth noting in the little sitting area. There's just the barely existing rays of sunlight that have started to crawl through the very tips of high narrow windows, a crackling hearth that keeps the room warmed away from morning's dark chill, and a nice little sitting area, nice chairs and a little couch that she suspects have stayed around for years and years.
Survived a good couple of wars, those, so good for them.
If there's anything more indepth that she's supposed to be understanding from just standing in this room, like all the others want her to do, well, she can't figure it out. Not before there's the sound of footsteps on rug then stone, and King Dimitri opens the door for the bedroom. (She doesn't hear a lock's click?) "Khalid, do you have to be-" And her poor king, oh, he jumps a good bit, and tugs closed his robe.
Sidero doesn't think it's much, really, she's seen men naked in times of war, but she looks up to the ceiling anyway. Because it's polite. And she thinks he wears wearing something beneath the waist, but she didn't get a good look, and she doesn't want to stress out their poor king. He stresses himself out just existing, it almost feels like. He's definitely stressing out now, he's fairly sure. "Good morning, Your Majesty," she says, because she does at least know how to address her king. "Sorry for the intrusion. Just bringing in breakfast."
"I thought- Oh, nevermind." So she won't. That part is easy. Sidero is very pleased to say that she's always been at nevering her mind quite easily. "I apologize... I don't believe I ever met you."
"You wouldn't have, Your Majesty. I'm Sidero, a chef. Just filling in for Garry, since he had a bit of an accident this morning."
And, well, that might've been a mistake, because if even King Khalid had taken an interest in the idea of Garry being hurt, then Dimitri has a reaction that's double that. With his robe properly in place, Dimitri immediately fusses her down into a chair, and that's about it. He needs to hear exactly what happened to Garry. And then, when he's heard what's happened to Garry, he asks just what she does down there in the kitchens. He insists she have a pastry, even. Sidero isn't entirely sure when, but King Khalid makes himself right at home during the whole thing.
It takes about twenty minutes, by Sidero's estimate, before the king seems to recall himself, and he pulls back. "So that is how it all is... I see. Then, thank you very much for telling me everything, Miss Sidero. I apologize for keeping you here for so long."
No one ever really calls her a 'Miss' in the castle. That sort of thing is reserved for the kids down in town, when she's off to get her own food for back home in the marketplace. Well, there's a reason he's the king she follows. All those rumors from the war, she imagines they were the sort of thing the enemy made up to make him seem bad. Nothing like the gentle man sitting before her right now. "I'm just glad I could be of service," she tells him. "Although I'm more worried that I might be interrupting something."
King Dimitri goes a little bit still at that, even as King Khalid keeps pecking at the slices of fresh fruit. He's glanced over her way too, although he's awful subtle about it. "You are?" Dimitri asks, although it doesn't sound as though he's questioning her, exactly.
"Well - if I may speak frankly, Your Majesty?"
"By all means."
"I'm just a cook, and the two of you are royalty," she points out. "I'm not sure if I'm meant to be chatting here, when it feels like... two kings would have important business to talk about?" Although, granted, usually that happens in big impressive meeting rooms, and there's nobles, and one of the kings probably isn't in his morning robe. Still, the point stands. She figures it should stand. "I don't want to interrupt something important like that."
King Khalid leans back in his seat, grinning widely - perhaps at the way that his fellow king squeezes his eyes shut. Is it rude to say that sort of thing upfront to royalty? Well at least she's picked the best two for this sort of mistake, Sidero supposes. "I... appreciate the concern," King Dimitri says. "Although this is something a little more informal."
Informal? Right, the two old school friends thing. "I understand," she tells him reassuringly.
"You do, huh?" King Khalid says, almost a little cheekily. When she just blinks at him, his grin only gets all the wider. "Well, glad to hear it. But Dimitri is right. We've probably kept you away from your work for ages now. Let us know how Garry is faring if you ever catch news, alright?"
With all the servants around, and how Garry will probably be returning on his own to let them know the whole news, Sidero figures she probably doesn't have to. If it's real important, they'll hear it from someone higher up the ladder than her, and, if it isn't, well, as she said. Garry will be there to spill the news himself. Still, if they've asked, she supposes she can't refuse royalty. "As you like. Then, if you'll pardon me, I'll return down to the kitchens." There's just a moment's pause when she rises, however. "And... We're all quite relieved to see that you've been eating so much lately, Your Majesty."
He doesn't grimace, really, or flinch, or pull his brow together tightly, nothing like that. It's not an obvious thing, really. But she can recognize that shadow which passes over his face, the way it swirls in his one good eye before dissipating. She's seen it more than a few times, in fellow mercenaries, soldiers. A kind of guilt which rises only in the face of kindness.
Some people don't get that. They haven't been in those situations, haven't seen it, lived it. But she thinks he has, and she suspects he can tell she has, too, even if the guilt doesn't cling to her so easily. At least, maybe that's why he nods to her. "Then... I appreciate the work of the kitchen."
King Khalid moves just a little closer to him, reaching over to past his arm and then let it rest there. "A lot of people care about how you treat yourself," he reminds him gently, even while Sidero is already in the process of moving over to the door.
They start to say other things, too, but in really low voices, and mostly when she's already letting herself out. Sidero doesn't mind it too much. They're royalty, and old school friends, and she's really not paid that much to be nosy about what their inner lives are like - especially when one of them is the one paying her and it's just coworkers fussing about it all.
Really, they're all silly, she thinks. She got to go inside his room, even have a talk, and couldn't see a single reason why his appetite would be spiking enough for two!