Erzibeth disliked checking up on the other household servants and did her best to avoid it whenever possible.  Her favored position in the household was already envied by the rest of the servants, and there was no benefit in raising additional ire by hovering over the other servants regardless of her mistress’s wishes.  In fact, whenever she was able Erzibeth made up and dusted her own room, something that at least mollified the housekeeping staff.  But today at least, the rest of the staff were just as eager to impress their guest as Erzibeth was, though likely for different reasons.  To some extent they all wished to see Kailani’s position bettered by a good match, but for most of the rest of the servants, the incentive was more to insure that she did so in some other household.  Erzibeth had learned to deal with and redirect the worst of Kailani’s temper, but not all the servants were as fortunate.<br/><br/>So eager were the cooks to impress the warlock that the head cook asked for Erzibeth’s opinion on the dishes as soon as she arrived in the kitchen, sparing her the task of even having to ask.  Most of the refreshments were local delicacies, but one was a variation of a local dish combined with spices from Erzibeth’s mother’s homeland, and there were bottles of chilled Klah, a spicy, effervescent beverage of the same origin.  For just a moment, Erzibeth was transported to her childhood by the spicy aromas and she felt the familiar pang of loss for her long dead mother. Such moments occurred less frequently with the passing of time, but they were still unexpectedly sharp when they did. She pushed the memory aside so that she could concentrate on the matter at hand.<br/><br/>“Yes, that all seems excellent.”  She told the cook, who smiled broadly and began ordering the other staff about to prepare the dishes for transport.  Erzibeth moved to a corner of the kitchen where she would not be in the way of the sudden flurry of activity as dishes were transferred from pots and pans into serving dishes.  When it was all done, Erzibeth followed a stream of servants from the kitchen to one of the smaller dining areas, where everything was neatly arranged on the sideboard.  Once she was satisfied that everything was properly placed, she headed for the study where she knew that the Warlock and Kailani were ensconced with Lord Evard.<br/><br/>When the D’alessio family home had been rebuilt after the fire, it had been done based in part on the maxim that servants should be neither seen nor heard.  Servants’ passageways crisscrossed the house in such a way that it was possible to access nearly every room in main house and the family wing without ever setting foot into one of the main corridors.  These passages were serpentine, due to the need to navigate around doors, windows and other obstacles.  Whenever the household hired a new servant it often took weeks for them to learn the system, but Erzibeth navigated it easily, having grown up racing through them as a child.  The doors to these passages were concealed from the outside, thus allowing them to serve double duty to allow the family to escape in the relatively unlikely event that some army showed up at their doorstep.  The house was by no means a castle or a fortress but the architect, Lord Evard himself, had kept the family’s safety at the top of his mind.  For the moment, however, they simply served their more utilitarian purpose and allowed Erzibeth to slip unnoticed into the study, her bare feet soundless on the polished wood floor.<br/><br/>She arrived just in time to hear Acton’s surprising and somewhat awkward question, and Kailani’s blunt, if truthful, answer.  It gave her an unguarded moment in which to observe the man who would be her new master. He was certainly younger and better looking than either she or Kailani had expected, though Erzibeth was sure that Kailani had assumed far worse in both categories than she had herself.  But far from being old, ugly or bald, he was so unexpectedly attractive that Erzibeth felt a sudden flash of desire which she quickly smothered. Her relationship with Kailani had kept Erzibeth out of the beds of any of the men she might otherwise have enjoyed, but that did not mean that she had no interest in men.  But the one man that she must not desire was this one; Warlock, her soon-to-be master and her mistress’s new husband.<br/><br/>Erzibeth considered waiting to make her presence known, but did not wish to be accused of spying if either of them noticed her before she announced herself.  She also decided that both parties might benefit from an interruption in what must be a horribly awkward conversation.  She stepped further into the room and deliberately made a small sound, attracting their attention to her.  “My apologies for interrupting, my Lord, Lady,” she began, bowing in the peculiar style of the desert people from which she was descended, bending at both her knees and waist, until one knee touched the floor. “but it was requested that I inform you that refreshments are ready in the west dining room.” she finished as she rose again quickly and gracefully.  As usual whenever she was around those other than her mistress, she kept her eyes downcast and half-lidded.