Jahrra stopped her progress and stood staring in wonder. The ceiling was ridiculously tall, twenty feet at least, and a huge fireplace stood on the same wall as the great door. Just beside the fireplace on the left was one of those diamond paned windows perched right above a raised portion of the floor. Familiar pieces of furniture (tables, couches and chairs) were scattered around the room. A large, sprawling carpet covered most of the stone floor and Jahrra noticed two giant archways in the wall opposite her that led into what appeared to be a hallway.
“Master Jaax’s quarters and office are that way,” Neira nodded to the archway on the left, “and the stairs to the second storey quarters and the kitchen are this way.”
Neira proceeded towards the arch on the right but stopped before stepping through. She lifted her eyebrows and clasped her hands before her once again, waiting for Jahrra to join her.
Despite her eagerness to get to sleep, Jahrra allowed her eyes to linger on the main room a moment longer. It was so much finer than what she was used to and she wondered what it would be like living here.
Sighing with delight, she shuffled her feet and joined the housekeeper, glancing at a wooden door on her right as she made her way over.
“That door leads into the kitchen as well,” Neira said, guessing Jahrra’s curiosity. “Master Jaax often takes his meals in this room and that door makes it easier to get everything to him.”
Jahrra nodded. “Do you work here by yourself, Neira? It seems like so much work for one person to do.”
The maid shrugged as she passed through the arch and into the hallway, dark because the many lanterns hanging on the walls were not lit. An ornate stone staircase, pressed up against the opposite wall and donning a stone hand rail, loomed before them. Jahrra blinked up and noticed a small balcony stretching across to the other wall. Her stomach fluttered at the sight. She truly was excited about being in this new and wondrous place.
“It isn’t so bad, working alone,” Neira finally said as she climbed the steps. “Master Raejaax is often not here so there isn’t much to clean and no one to cook for most of the time, so I manage quite well. I’m only responsible for the kitchen, mind, and will now be in charge of you as well. Raejaax hires someone to come every now and again to clean the windows, carpets and floors of the rest of the house.”
Jahrra inclined her head, climbing up after Neira, not pausing long enough to admire the ornate and colorful tapestries hanging from ceiling to floor all the way down the hallway and up the stairs. Finally, they reached the balcony and Jahrra had to blink back the light that flooded in. The second storey hallway was rather wide and on their right stood a series of windows all in a row. The ceiling wasn’t so high up here, maybe ten feet or a bit more, and the windows, though tapered like those downstairs, began a few feet above the ground before coming to a point just below the ceiling.
“This way!” Neira said cheerily, picking up her skirts and heading down the hall.
As they passed the first window Jahrra glanced out. She let out a slight gasp as she caught sight of the scene before her. A rooftop patio spread out beyond the slightly distorting panes. It was completely composed of stone and continued from where they stood all the way to the edge of the building several feet away. A stone balustrade, one made up of miniature columns, fenced in the terrace and a couple of planter boxes. One of the boxes contained young trees showing blossoms and leaves. Jahrra pressed closer to the glass but Neira’s voice startled her.
“Isn’t it lovely?” she whispered, very close to Jahrra. “Most dragon homes don’t have such terraces atop their kitchen roofs, but this one does. See, that is where the oven chimney comes out.”
Neira pointed to a square stone column that rose up against the southern wall that surely connected to the roof of the grand room below. Jahrra nodded, then noticed an open fireplace just beside it, stone chairs and a circular bench fanning out in front of it.
Jahrra took a deep breath and pushed back from the window. She wanted nothing more than to step out onto that patio and explore but she could barely keep her eyes open. When she turned to face Neira the maid was smiling at her.
“I know what I shall show you first after your long nap.”
Jahrra grinned in appreciation, nodding sleepily as the woman led her on down the hallway. They passed two more windows then Neira turned to her left, took a key from a pouch in her apron, and used it to open an ornately carved wooden door. The door swung open and the maid gestured her in. Jahrra was too stunned to react much and she blamed most of that on her weariness. That and her currently overwhelmed senses. The room was spacious and not quite square, not quite circular in shape. A grand four poster bed stood centered in the room with a ceiling to floor, double window just behind it. A writing desk hugged the curved wall to the right of the door and a small storage room stood between them. Jahrra let her tired eyes rake the room, taking in the wardrobe in one corner and the curtain hiding a tiny closet just on the other side of it.
In a numb daze, Jahrra followed a smiling Neira deeper into the room. A thick, plush rug, a soft moss green in color, was spread out beside the bed. The golden light of early morning flooded in from the crystalline glass, casting shards of brightness upon the stone floor. The empty spaces of the tall walls were covered in tapestries and Jahrra took a moment to study them. She nearly cried out in delight when she noticed two were maps, one of Felldreim and one of Ethoes, the latter looking exactly like the old map Hroombra had kept in the old Castle Guard Ruin.
Before she could take in any more Neira led her to the bed. “Sleep now. You can get a good look at everything when your mind is sharp once again.”
The maid helped Jahrra out of her shoes and drew the shades on the windows. Jahrra barely remembered murmuring a word of thanks as the door clicked shut then, lost in the bliss of a soft mattress and an even softer pillow, she was asleep.
-Chapter Seven-
The City of Light
It felt like moments later when Jahrra woke. She blamed it on the strong hunger pangs in her stomach but before she could do anything to remedy the feeling, she had to lie there for several moments, her eyes blinking against the dark. She felt comfortable, too comfortable, and it took her a very long time to remember what had happened the day before.
Sitting up and stretching, she climbed down from the tall bed, slightly stiff and feeling ruffled from sleeping in her clothes. She felt her way to the drapes and threw them open. The light was weaker than before but when she peered through one of the glass panes she caught a glimpse of the ocean in the near distance. Reaching for the latch, she pulled the window open and drew in a deep breath. The window let out onto a tiny semi-circular patio that faced west. The view was spectacular: the great bay stretching beyond the tops of the trees, the hills guarding the western entrance to the inlet looking black in the light of the setting sun.
The growing chill of the encroaching night finally convinced Jahrra to close the windows and latch them shut but she refused to draw the drapes. With such a view she couldn’t imagine herself wanting to do that ever again.
Sighing and ignoring her growing hunger, she glanced around the darkening room. She wanted to take a few minutes to familiarize herself with her surroundings before seeking out the housemaid or her guardian. She made her way over to the desk and smiled when she found a candle and some matches. After lighting the candle she managed to locate a few more lanterns spread throughout the room. Using her candle, she lit the lanterns one after the other, wrapping the room in a cocoon of soft light.