The Endless Solvent

She spent the next two weeks in recovery in a small room. It was on the lowest level - she could sense the smoothed rock underneath the wooden floor. She also had a small window with a view of the ocean and pebble beach and could hear the waves through the glass. It was nice and soothing to fall asleep to the sound.

Twice a day a servant appeared to give her more than enough food. Fresh bread with butter, stews, roast meat, steamed vegetables - Nilda had never eaten so well in her life. Every other day a healer would appear to inspect her bruises and give her a cooling salve to apply. By the fifth day, the bruising was already beginning to disappear. Lord Leton usually showed with the healer to ask if she wanted anything. It baffled her - nobody had ever asked her if she wanted anything.

Of course there were rules. There were always rules.

Lord Leton had told her she was allowed to wander the beach outside. The cave served as a shortcut from the residence to the beach and he showed her how to unlock it. The door recognized her and she could swipe at the runes like he did to let herself in and out.

She was not allowed to go to the upper floors of the house. She was quite certain he didn’t want people seeing her bruised and beaten, but perhaps he had other reasons for hiding her away… even if he didn’t seem too insistent on it. His rules weren’t tinged with warnings or threats, he merely stated them and expected her to follow. It made sense: he technically owned her now, didn’t he?

At the tail end of the second week, curiosity got the better of her. She put on the cloak a servant provided for her out of habit, a very fine coat made of a dark brown material with a gleaming brass buckle at the front, and quietly stepped out into the hall in the bare hours of the morning. There were no guards to indicate she was a prisoner and no one on the lower floors of the house. As usual, she kept the shadows like a Shade, softening her footsteps where she could. The house upstairs was mostly made of stone with wooden supports to withstand the ocean wind. A short set of stone steps and a big wooden door let her into the forbidden upper world.

The house upstairs turned out to be servant’s quarters. A modest kitchen, a small dining area, and a large hearth that burned the last of yesterday’s embers was on the ground floor. The stairs to the upper floors were made of wood so Nilda didn’t dare step on them fearing they would creak.

Quieting the opening of the door with her abilities, she managed to sneak outside. A gust of chilly ocean air greeted her under an inky, starry sky. A larger, more elaborate house stood next to the servant’s quarters. Huddling in the cloak against the night’s cold, Nilda lurked in the shadows of the bushes to investigate the house’s front door. A pair of guards stood at attention. A second set of guards stood at the back door. Nilda thought she could recognize a couple of them.

She glanced up to the upper floors of the house and saw that one room had the glimmer of lantern light still illuminating it. Movement cast shadows against the glass - she watched until Lord Leton’s familiar head appeared. He moved to open the window slightly and she spotted the glow of a match flicker to life as he lit a rolled cigarette. As he angled his head to catch the flame to the cigarette between his lips, he cast his gaze directly at her.

They both froze for a few seconds. Nilda swallowed, feeling a flush of shame heat her face. But then he smirked down at her as if saying “what are you doing down there?” She watched him take a long drag of his cigarette, his eyes studying her. Then he gestured back to the servant’s house and raised his eyebrows.

Nilda scurried back into the servant’s house and down the basement as fast as she could. To her surprise when Lord Leton saw her again the next day, he didn’t reprimand her.

“I understand it’s cruel to keep you down here,” he admitted. “Perhaps we should discuss what role I wish for you to fill here now that you’ve recovered.”

Cruel? It was the fanciest place Nilda ever stayed in. She pressed her lips together and stopped herself from saying it. If he wanted to feed and clothe her, she would be stupid to stop him. But then she held herself rigidly, knowing the price for being here is finally revealing itself.

They always asked for something in return. They always do.

“My daughter needs a bodyguard, but she mistrusts my men,” Lord Leton said. “Or rather… she dislikes them. She prefers her handmaids and the female servants, but none of them would be able to protect her if the need arises.”

“What did she do to need a bodyguard?” Nilda asked, confused. She thought rich girls just sat around reading books all day.

Lord Leton looked surprised, then laughed. “Nothing,” he said. “My daughter is a fine student and an even finer citizen of Gaia. It is rather her sub-par father that has made a few enemies with his work.”

Nilda studied the nobleman. She wanted to prod him to tell her what he did that made him fear for his daughter’s life but she suspected he wouldn’t tell her. He was mingling with people like Aldo and Midge, trading fist fighters. “You trust me with your daughter?” she asked.

“You’re just a child.” He shrugged.

“I’ve killed people.”

“I’ve seen you kill one already. You may need to kill more.”

She looked up into his dark eyes - Nilda wondered if every man with money and power was like this. Would this one also toss her aside the moment she was done being useful? “Would your daughter even like me?” she asked.

“You don’t need to be friends with her, you just need to be by her side,” Lord Leton said. “Like a handmaid.”

“I’m not a handmaid,” she shot back sullenly.

“No.” Lord Leton gave her an amused smile. “You are definitely not.”

“What if I refuse?”

“Then I will find you a place among my serving staff. I hear there’s an opening for someone to clean latrines,” he said casually. “If that doesn’t work for you either, I’m afraid I can’t employ you.”

In other words, she would be crazy to turn down playing handmaid to his daughter.

“Nilda, I saw how you almost lost that fight back at the ring,” Lord Leton continued. “You have unique abilities but your strength is limited. Don’t you want to know how to use them better?”

Don’t you want to be stronger? The Being in Smoke asked the same kind of question to her years ago.

“If you are Taurin’s protection, I will have someone train you. Someone who is also a Solvent manipulator like you. Well, not exactly like you, but someone who would understand what you do better than those thugs at the fighting ring.”

Of course there were people who could manipulate the Solvent like her - occasionally there would be a fighter in the ring who could. Usually it was someone who was stronger or faster, or what Midge would call people with ‘manus’ abilities. They were usually quickly removed as some people thought of it as cheating.

“If you accept, I can arrange for your new trainer to see you as soon as tomorrow,” Lord Leton said. He turned to leave her small room. “You can think about it.”

It was starting to feel too good to be true. She was cast aside by Adlo, only to be pampered by someone wealthier who would allow her to grow stronger. A part of her mind, the part that grew up on the streets and lived off stale bread and endured, shouted at her to be careful. Rich people only ever took from the poor. People, in general, are not to be trusted.

“Why are you… why are you helping me?” she asked. She looked down at her clean clothes. Underneath, her skin was clean and her stomach was full. But beyond these luxuries, she was able to choose for once in her life. That felt like the best luxury of all.

“I’m helping myself,” he said. “I’m helping my family.”

“But why me?” she stubbornly asked again. “There must be easier ways to protect your family. There are more powerful people and you have money. Why did you choose me?”

He silently studied her for a long time then gave a small smile. “Do you know this saying we Gaians have: “we must follow where the Solvent flows”? The Great Solvent brought me to you so I accepted you.”

Two weeks ago, Nilda believed in following signs and surrendering to fate. Then she was cast aside like waste. “That’s stupid,” she said before she could stop herself.

Lord Leton let out a bark of laughter. “Perhaps,” he said. “But you’re still alive and we’re both getting what we want... so maybe we could see what the Solvent has in store for us for a little longer, no? Perhaps it will lead us somewhere great.”

Like he promised, Lord Leton allowed her to think about it. Later that evening, she walked up to the guards at the front door and asked them to tell their lord that she accepted.