Alice gives a quick nod, not daring to disobey her master for even a moment's notice.  She quickly positioned herself behind the intimidating figure presented before her.  She felt an eerie cold wash over her body as she knelt behind him, and was given an unsettling reminder...<br/><br/>She had been told she had lost her mother to the cold.  A chill had brought with it an pneumonia for her mother to suffer through, and she had to watch helplessly as her mother's health deteriorated.  Alice tried to shove these thoughts out of her mind before they distracted her but they returned as fast as she forced them out...<br/><br/>Her father clung to her very closely after her mother's burial.  He did not want to leave her side for a moment,  Alice suspected even, that many of his hugs from that point on had been partly to soothe his own misery and partly to make sure Alice was still warm.<br/><br/><em>Just focus on the task at hand.</em><br/><br/>Alice had to watch her father suffer a slow death as well.  No major health problems as far as the eye could see.  Alice knew it was because of her mother, he loved her beyond what Alice could comprehend.  She was the only thing anchoring him to his life and now he was gone.<br/><br/><em>And I couldn't replace her.</em><br/><br/>Alice tried to squelch these thoughts harder and harder with each mental image.  A recollection that felt like hours to her only seemed to take a few moments in real time and she knew she had to perform her duties.  Alice knelt down behind the Lord, his instructions finally registering properly in her mind.  She let out a  barely audible sigh of relief.  She quickly rested her hands on his shoulders, hoping her suddenness had not come across as rude.<em>Perhaps it will appear to be willingness?</em><br/><br/>Alice began to very gingerly rub, her small fingers digging in lightly to his shoulders, applying pressure where she believed him to hold stress.  She was afraid to make another comment, she should only speak when spoken to.<br/><br/><em>Wait, what was I even going to say?</em><br/><br/>(https://www.barraques.cat/pngfile/big/88-885223_long-hair-blue-eyes-anime-anime-girls-black.jpg)<br/>