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I sit in my room for the majority of the day or night whichever it is, it’s hard to tell when there is never any sunlight. At some point a knock sounds on my door, and I welcome whoever it is inside, assuming it’s Aiden.
A petite blonde girl, who looks no older than maybe fifteen brings in a trolley filled with all sorts of food. Everything from pies to chicken to rice. She smiles at me kindly.
“Ms. Caplan, I’ve brought you supper this evening,” she says cheerfully. “Mr. Castile told me you probably wouldn’t want to leave your room and come to the dining room, so I gathered a few things up for you.”
I nod in appreciation. I’m starving. “Please, call me Megan. What’s your name?”
She looks surprised by either my telling her to call me Megan, or my asking her for her name, maybe both. “I’m Tamzen, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Tamzen, for supper. You didn’t have to do that,” I say appreciatively and reach for a bun off the trolley. “This is far too much food for just myself. Would you care for some?” I ask her, taking in her near anorexic looking figure.
She licks her lips as if tempted but shakes her head quickly. “Of course not, Ms. Caplan. That would be very rude of me.”
“Come, have some. You can sit across from me at that little table,” I suggest, pointing to a small brown table with two chairs on the other side of the room.
The girl’s pretty blue eyes look to me with confusion and wonder.
I get up from my seat on the bed and begin pushing the cart over to the table. The girl follows me.
“Let me push that, ma’am,” she exclaims as if I’m going to knock my back out pushing the thing or something.
I ignore her, pushing it the last few feet. She stares at me like I’m some sort of weirdo.
“Come, sit,” I point to the seat across from me as I sit down. She sits.
“What would you like to eat? Pick what you want,” I urge. Her white blouse and slacks are so loose that I’m not sure how they’re being held up. She clearly is malnourished.
“I’m afraid that I mustn’t. I could get in trouble and lose my rations,” she says sadly.
I grab another bun and toss it to her. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t. Plus, I’m in pretty good standing with Aiden.”
She looks to me as if I’ve just cursed a blue streak. “Thank you.” She stuffs the bun into her mouth and eats it like it could be her last bit of food ever. When she finishes, she asks, “Are you one of Mr. Castile’s acquaintances? I heard you call him by first name. If you don’t mind me asking of course.”
“He is my mentor, and we are friends,” I tell her. Is friends the right word?
Her eyes widen. “It’s not often we have halflings stay here. There is only one other in the entire building. They are normally not important enough to live here or not unimportant enough to work here.”
I stare at her a moment, then I put some chicken on a plate for her. She lights up as if I’ve just given her gold.
“I will remember your kindness my entire life,” the girl whimpers as if about to cry. This pains me. They clearly have no shortage of food around here. Why send me an entire cart full and not feed these poor people?
“It’s not kindness. It’s humanity. Eat as much as you want. There’s tons here. More than enough. You’re human? How old?” I ask.
She chews her chicken thoroughly before shrugging. “I don’t know how old I am, but I know that I was born in the mortal world and taken as a baby to come serve the masters here. I am human, yes.”
“And are there lots of human servants here?”
She nods. “Not as many now as in the past I hear. They’d rather have changeling servants than human. They’re faster and live longer.”
My heart feels for this girl. Now that Aiden is in charge of this place, can’t he do something about this obvious problem? “What do you get for being enslaved?”
“I get a ration of food every two days.” She finishes her chicken. “I cannot eat anymore without getting sick,” she informs me. No kidding, she’s probably not used to eating much at a time. “I must get going, before I get in trouble.” Why enslave humans at all? Surely changelings would be more loyal and like she said, they would live longer and work faster. They’d have to compel the human and the demidemons that they enslave. Demidemons do not feel the same pull their parent’s maker as born changelings do.
She scurries from the room. I don’t know what it is that possesses me to do what I do next. I follow her quietly through the halls. She doesn’t notice. She runs into a room, and I peak in. It’s a kitchen with nearly thirty changeling and human servants running around cleaning and cooking.
One of the changelings relieves herself of her duties and runs over to Tamzen. I nearly gasp when Tamzen is slapped harshly across the face. “You’re late. What took you so long?!” the woman demands.
I know she’s about to admit that she was eating, so I barge in, interrupting the confrontation. “She was helping me. I dropped some of my food onto the floor and needed help cleaning it up,” I blatantly lie.
The changeling looks up from Tamzen and zooms in on me. Her eyes widen, and she stiffens before bowing and greeting me as Ms. Caplan. How do they all seem to know who I am? In unison, the rest of the room also does the same to greet me. Creepy. “I hope she cleaned to your satisfaction,” the nasty lady says.
“Yes, she did an excellent job.” I decide to push my authority, not knowing how I have. “She deserves a reward for her actions. She stopped hot gravy from spilling on me. Give her extra rations from now on.”
The changeling looks surprised. Other servants turn to stare at the three of us, mainly at me. I think I see a near smile on Tamzen’s face.
“Very well then, Ms. Caplan. I will see this is done,” the changeling lady assures me. I smile at Tamzen before turning. From the corner of my eye, I see all of the servants exchanging looks with each other. Apparently giving rewards is not a usual thing.
“Thank you, Ms. Caplan.” I hear Tamzen call from the kitchen. “I am forever in your debt.”
As I leave the room, the sounds of banging pots and voices rise again. I hear one voice over the others, and it intrigues me. A male voice says, “A master in the kitchen? And to recognize a servant’s action to top it off? I must be dreaming.” He obviously doesn’t mean for me to hear.
Just like that, I’ve found my purpose. I am not pussying out of this. I am staying in hell, and I am going to make a difference here. I am going to change things around this place. No one deserves to starve or be pushed around. I am going to somehow fix this servant problem. There will be no more malnutrition. There will be choice. I will fix this. I will give the last three months of my life to help these people.
I realize that when Aiden asked me if I ever had someone that I would give my life for, I couldn’t really answer not because I’m a selfish asshole, but because there’s never been anyone in my life worth giving my life for. Not besides him. Well, until now. These hundreds or thousands of servants need someone to speak for them. I will be that voice.
