P.M.S.

[Ricardus]

The Salty Butler''s first day

Marius travelled to Nujel'm palace, opened the old iron gates and went up the stairs untill he faced the main door.
He admired it's garden and water pools, filled with the most crystaline water he had ever seen in his whole life.
When he aproached the main door, he knocked and waited for someone to attend, no one did...he knocked again, and still got no answer...
He spinned the door knob and noticed the door was unlocked, so he got himself inside the huge place.
He let go a long and loud "Hellooooooooo" and this time he heard someone inviting him in.
He decided to follow the voice, but the place was so huge he wasn't sure where the voice was coming from, so he decided to explore the divisions.
The palace was quite empty and his steps made echoes through the entire building, he noticed a very old painting standing on the far east wall, but he had no idea who that lady was.
He let go a shy "Helloo" and got another repply, but this time the voice sounded closer, so he rushed into the direction where it camed from.
When he entered that division, he saw a very beutifull and mature woman sitting in a red velvet trone.
And he said: "Hello, i'm Marius Tealeaf, the new butler" and continued "Miss Bella sent me here to meet someone...but i forgot it's name...i remember her mentioning a velvet fabric"
The woman asked him: "Do you hear the sea whispering?" he replied: "No, i do not, the house seems to be well builted and has no holes"
She replied: "Good, good...no need to yell then!" so he appoligised for his rudeness.
He asked her: "How may i serve you madam?" and she asked him if he knew how to make onion soup, he said yes, and she damanded him to make
her the best onion soup in the world, with mouse tales in it and with fried tender onion rings to go with the soup, and told him one of his functions was to feed the children aswell.
and he asked her: "What should i feed the children madam?" she replied "Lots of onions obviously!"
That made him a bit confused, so he said "I love onoins, and they have multiple uses, but won't the children be sick of all those onions?"
She replied: "Don't be silly, children don't know what is good for them, and i say feed them lots of onions!!"
He said: "I'll do as you asked madam" she said: "Very good, i'm pleased"
She said to him to take care of the food, and clean and prepare the sauna after he's done cooking.
Then she said: "I'll be absent, but altough i'm absent i'll still be here watching" he replied: "I'll take care off all that you asked madam"
But he remembered he still didn't knew her name, so he mentioned that and she said he had already spoken it, and that made him even more puzled about that woman.
He sad: "Fabric?? Is that your name? Or velvet fabric??" "Don't tell me it's Velvet"
she noded and he blushed... he appologised about calling her fabric and asked her how she would like him to call her Madam Velvet or anything else, she said: "Madam will do just fine!"
Then she rushed to the door and said: "Remember i'll be allways watching, and have a nice day" he said good bye, but she already was gone.
He left out a low growl, saying, "This woman seems kind of crazy ..." And heard a murmur of the wind saying: "I heard that young man!!"
So he ran into the kitchen and began making the onion soup before she appeared again at home!

[Bella Pious]

Except on the first day Marius arrived at his new work place that he encounter this mysterious madam, and then hearing all the ghost stories related to this house in the days after, he was very happy to find out that the new family who moved into this house were "rather normal" than he would have otherwise expected. He had not seen the mysterious woman since then, nor had the Pious spoken of such a person. They did seem to be speaking of this "grandmamma" quite often, but Marius was very certain that woman could not possibly be some old granny. She must have been one of the ghost.

As the days went on, Marius started to learn more about the family members in this house. Other than the fact that the two young ladies practiced magic, there seemed nothing too peculiar about the Pious. Mr. Talerco Pious and their son seemed to prefer quietness; Miss Julia Pious loved bright colour and music, while the giggly Miss Emia Pious preferred darker colour and books. Mrs Bella Pious was the one who made sure things run smoothly. She left a detailed instruction so the hallways were designed for each particular use, and rooms decorated to suit each of the occupant's preferences. Marius was also instructed to set aside the best room on the South Wing as guest room. It was the room closest to the beautiful Garden Evergreen and had an equally beautiful name, "The Unicorn Room."

The biggest room on the North Wing -- where the families private quarter was located -- was luxuriously decorated in red velvet and rubies. "The Red Velvet Room" as it was called, however, had no master. Only the silly Tea Girl, Viola, delivered fresh fat onions into this room and set fire everyday for the weeks past and for no one, but seeing none of the Pious seemed to mind, Marius decided to let her be. He didn't say to anyone that the smell of onion reminded him of the mysterious woman on his first day of work, and he still believed she was a ghost. The other local girls who temporarily helped in the house started to secretly call this room "The Onion Room" and Viola "The Onion Girl." Although Marius could see why it all came from, it was nevertheless his duty to hush those girls whenever he overheard them.

This morning, as Marius woke up to began his day, he spotted Miss Bella's snow owls resting in the Game Room, obviously had feasted on Viola's fish. Marius carefully detach the letters from their sharp claws, and delivered the letter to Mr. Pious at breakfast, as usual. Talerco read the letter with a calm face, and then he asked for the attention of the dining children, and announced,

"Your Grandmamma is to be expected here. Anytime."

[Velvet Dust]

Marcella mumbled as Bella gave her a big welcome hug. She managed to avoid one from Talerco, but the Tea Girl still bumped into her with another very tight hug.
The house was furnished, but there was still so much more to be done. First thing first, and it was to see if the new Butler had remembered her most important request.

"I ordered onion soup." She looked at the young boy and said, "Did you forget?"

"Yes ma'am. No ma'am" he quickly replied, trying to recover from his shock, "Your soup is ready." Thank goodness he had this tinkle on his back since last night and made him get up and prepare the onion food.

"Very good. Now serve us the soup." The Butler served each one of them a bowl of hot onion soup and crispy onion, and he was asked to taste the food with them. "Hmmmm.... Oh it's hot!" someone took a sip first. "But it is good." Marcella second. WHile the families were debating over the ingredients used in the soup, Marcella's mind started to work on a list of what needed to be done in the house. Then as the families each started to take turn visiting the only rest room in the house, Marcella ordered tea. When the tea was ready, she had new tasks ready for each one of them.

Bella Pious needed more children. Talerco needed to assist with that, as well as to watch over their eldest child. The renovation in the basement along with the dusty climate would keep the girl Viola very busy most days, yet she never failed to serve the perfect tea at any hour of the day. The house needed to be ready before things could be packed and moved from the Trinsic cottage. Plus, it was obvious that one rest room was not sufficient. Marcella was pleased that the new Butler knew his duties and his place amongst the Society, in details she explained to him his new assignment and wrote down: "Hire new window cleaners and a gardener". - Someone had been leaving his remains in the gardens.
Picking herbs in the garden would somewhat be a problem until it could be taken cared of.

After making sure everyone was clear of his or her task, she left the palace to search for proper houses for the new workers to come. Or at least that was what she had told the family.

[Velvet Dust]

*A small notebook wrapped in dark red velvet, was handed to the Tea Girl. Without any words spoken*

[Bella Pious]

<PMS Tea Service>

The Tea Girl took the book into her quarter. The instructions were very brief but Viola needed no more words. How it worked in this girl's head had been a mystery to many -- most people would just call her "silly."

Earlier this afternoon, Mistress Marcella had asked her questions during tea-time.
"Where has the mother of the children been? I havent' seen her for days." Marcella had demanded. "Miss Bella has been away," Viola had paused to think for a better word, "Busy." She'd nodded firmly.

"Has her husband randered service to her properly?" Marcella had then asked.
"I do not know, Mistress. Miss Bella seemed overly stressed the past month. She has always been .... sleepy ... when she shared bed with Master Talerco." Viola had answered.

Now Viola was in her dim room, with a shelf of "tea" she had gathered and tested with her Mistress, and waited for the water to boil. The jars were labelled :

Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Valerine
Rainbow Shroom
Mushroom
Garden Shroom
Poopy Shroom
Seaweed
Salty Rock
Plum
...

Viola opened the notebook. The first line she read said "Valerine", so she took some Valerine and put into Miss Bella's cup.
Second line said "Red Velvet", and Viola threw some Rainbow Shroom into Master Talerco's cup, and poured some red wine.
Third line said, "Ginger Garlic for the boy" and they ended up in Emerik Pious' cup. Then Viola added some honey.
Fourth line said, "Make strong, and Anti-vampire", so Onion and Garlic went into Julia Pious' cup.
Fifth line said, "Garlic, Onion, Nightsight, and make sweet." So Viola added them with peach pulp into Emia Pious' cup.
Last line said, "Plum tea with coconut milk added a little ginger for upset stomach". And Viola prepared that cup for the new Mr. Butler.

Just then, the water boiled.

[Bella Pious]

<The Tea Girl's Typical Day>

Viola's day started 3 hours before dawn -- the best time for fishing. For each fish she caught with her net, she would open its mouth and smell what was in its stomach. Recently she found a new ingredient for her tea collection from the belly of the fish around the shores of Nujelm. Apparently there were a lot of seaweeds, rich in flavor, which the fish fed on. Happily she cut open the fish belly, took the seaweeds and wash them with the salty sea water. Later she would dry them under the burning sun at noon. The only problem with collecting this new ingredient was that the entire family also had enough fish to eat for months to come. There was an unspoken rule from Miss Bella that you eat what you kill.

After hours working on the fish, she would start her duty in the sauna room before everyone would wake. With a knife and a basket in hand, she would scrape under the sauna follor tiles, and collect the "mushroom" underneath. They were a little greener and smilier than the usual mushrooms, but they gave very kinky sensation when tasted. Mistress Marcella told her those were called the "Rainbow Shrooms".

One the day Mistress Marcella's arrival, Mr. Tealeaf served the onion soup that had made Viola drool since it was boiling. "It's good," she heard her mistress commented. "Butler, did you remember to add the special ingredient I told you?" Marcella asked. "Yes Madam, the rat tails." Mr. Tealeaf answered at once and loud. "Rat tails??!!" Miss Bella seemed to choke on the word. "Of course, what else do you think they were?" Marcella asked. Miss Bella examined the little things in her soup a little longer and replied faintly, "Chicken feet.... maybe?" Then Viola heard that Master Talerco choked on the idea of eating chicken feet, "You mean you'd rather have chicken feet than rat tails??" "Well, if we are eating chickens already, then yes I'd rather have their feet than to chop tails off poor rats." And the families went on with the "discussion" between nchicken feet and rat tails. Soon afterwards, the members around the dining table started taking turns and excuusing themselves to use the washroom, all except Mistress Marcella, who waved at Viola and said, "Let us have tea."

"I am sorry Mistress. I do not have a tea pot." Viola brought a giant vase instead, "and I couldn't find any mushrooms we usually have, Mistress. It is too warm and dry here on this island." "Don't forget to look into the garden. What are we having then?" Marcella said without a bit concern. "I found them seaweeds and salty rocks, Mistress." "Very good," Marcella approved, "It will do fine after sun bathing, or dehydrating. Bella, you should have some." Marcella added just as Miss Bella returned from the washroom. "You look green."

After Viola was released from her tea service, she went on collecting dates and coconuts, and testing around for those salty rocks, as well as creatures hiding inside shells. She was thrilled when she found some mushroom growing on a shady side of the garden. She also found interesting mushrooms growing from the local ostard poops -- but those are harder to gather.