Duties of the House
CW: Suggestive Situations & Cultural Sexism.
Henry Patton’s office was well lit as the sun was streaming through the window behind him. His large, solid, wood desk was empty except for his personal laptop, a digital interface that he used for the estate, the emitters for the holographic screens, and a few knick knacks from home. Henry gripped a slim glass like computer pad in his hand as he worked his brain to decipher the Xaltean words on the form that was displayed.
Even for how long he had been here, being Terran meant this second language was a struggle. He could speak decently but reading was still a chore. Henry was slowly getting it though. The young man had been studying the language for a few months now and with the amount of practice, thanks to the patient maids, he was getting pretty good at it. Henry knew he was probably the strangest thing anyone had seen. The studious expression as he studied the form and inputted the information and the permanent red blush on his face as he glanced up at the naked woman who stood in front of his desk, her skirt and top on the chair beside her.
The maid had a calm but bored expression on her face as he studied her and then tried to figure out how to input the information the correct way in the form. Her gray eyes were looking over his shoulder out the window on the sunny day. Probably wishing she was outside.
“Huh,” he mumbled to himself as he tried to recognize the sentence against a space. “baeba lemaete means…”
“Bust measurement,” the maid said in accented English. She cupped her own to refer to them and Henry tried not to look startled. “The form is asking for my bust measurements.”
“And you are?” Henry asked, trying to keep eye contact and not where her hands were.
“One hundred and nine Akme, three Akma,” she said simply as if he understood what she was saying.
“Ummm…I don’t think there’s enough room in the form for that.”
“Oh,” The maid nodded. “1751 umi with Oga strap.”
Umi. He knew that one. It was the smallest measurement, so his brain tried to process her size from that. His eyebrows went up. He didn’t realize she was that big though he hadn’t looked in detail and would be the first to admit he didn’t understand women’s clothing.
“Master,” she said with a smile as she saw him trying to think. “Please remember, the Empire uses what your people call BASE-8 mathematics. I believe you use something called metric. I would be…34.5 centimeters with a…C Cup.”
Did she just do all that in her head? It re-affirmed again what Maevin Maer had said that maids of the houses were highly intelligent.
“Oh. I get it.”
No. He still didn’t get it. Instead, he decided to just type the numbers in that she gave him. He could recognize those symbols.
“Master?”
“Yes?” he asked looking up.
“The paperwork requires you to do the measurements to confirm I’m not lying. It does play into the final equation of the paperwork.”
“Oh.”
Well. Henry wished he knew this before he told Siv that he was going to be doing the annual valuations for the estate. Siv, the second in command to Mistress Maer, had tried to warn him but the Terran was gung ho and wanted to help around the estate. What better way than paperwork?
It was when this maid came in to do her annual evaluation, stripped out of her clothes and stood there, Henry realized this was not normal paperwork. Opened on his personal laptop was The Bonded Evaluation System, an archaic and sexist document from his point of view. For as liberal as this culture was, it appeared to still have old practices that had yet to be retired.
Sighing, Henry stood strode over to the woman with a small device in his hand. He hovered it over her chest and red light shot out, encircled her bust for a few seconds and then vanished. The Xaltean numbers blinked on the screen showing that she had been correct.
Henry returned to his desk but instead of sitting down, typed in the measurement.
“Am I a four again?” she asked, her gray eyes focusing on him in curiosity. Henry glanced at the rule document and read it in his head. Four points for Very well-proportioned, minor deviations. Deviations? What the hell did that mean? How subjective was this document? Was it designed around personal taste?
“Yeah. Four,” He said without looking again.
Of course, there were other measurements he had to accomplish and Henry was proud that he pulled it off without looking like a pervert. When High Baron Hesh Avernell had offered him this posting as a thank you for saving his family from an assassination attempt, the Terran did not expect to be in such situations.
He had seen more naked men and women in the few months that he had been here than he had in his entire life. Yes, he was Innocentia so nudity was severely frowned upon. Henry had seen a few things on the gal-net when he was younger before his parents caught him not to mention the clinical textbooks. This though, nothing prepared him for this.
It was after the third woman had put her skirt and top back on. Henry thought he might have to take a break feeling flushed when the door opened swifter than probably intended. Mistress Maevin came hurrying in the room with a look of concern and maybe a hint of trepidation in her eyes. The maid he had just finished the paperwork on quickly bowed and escaped the room.
“My master,” Maevin said with some hesitence, her eyes running over him as if searching for wounds. “Arch Maid Siv told me you were helping with the annual reviews.”
“Yeah,” Henry responded sitting back in his chair, taking off his glasses and scrubbing at them with his shirt. A bad habit he picked up as a kid. “Wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into.”
“Siv should have—”
Henry raised his hand to stop her and smiled. “Siv did do her due dilligence. I was just being stubborn. I wanted to help more. I wanted to be a lord of this estate.”
“I see,” the dark haired woman said coming over and sitting in the chair across from him. His smile grew bigger as he saw the confusion in Maevin's eyes not quite sure how to respond to him.
“Look,” Henry finally said putting his glasses back in. “You have been absolutely amazing to me. You have helped me adjust to Xaltean culture, shielded me from things I wasn't ready for, and taught me what I needed to know. I mean, I'm speaking to you in your own language.”
Which was true. Reading was still difficult but lately Henry had found it a lot easier to speak in Xaltean than English with the residents of the estate.
“You are doing a great job at it,” she said with a hint of a smile on her face.
“Thank you but Maevin. It's time to take off the training wheels.”
Mistress Maer tilted her head to the side in confusion.
“Training wheels?” she said in her accented English. “I do not know this phrase.”
“Oh...uh...,” The young man started in his own language. “There are these things on our bicycles that help keep it upright.”
“Bicyle?”
“Let's just say it's time to stop treating me like a newcomer and helping me learn how to actually be who I'm supposed to be.”
“Ah.”
Maevin sat there, blue eyes studying his face as if trying to come to a decision about something. Her face became firm and she stood giving him a nod.
“Of course, my master. It is time for you to take up your title in front of the Estate and the House you represent. I apologize that it has taken this long for me to see how much you've grown.”
Henry smiled leaning back in his chair. “Thanks! I'm really glad you think so!”
Then it happened. Maevin pulled at the delicate butterfly pin on her clothes and the material found itself on the ground around her feet. Henry could not stop his eyes going wide at the beautiful nude form in front of him.
Yes. Just like he had been telling himself earlier about all the naked people he had seen before but Meavin took his breath away.
“Siv can handle the rest as it is actually the job of the Mistress and her apprentice to do such work but you are responsible for the Arch Maids and myself. My annual is not yet completed.”
Henry broke his gaze away to look at her eyes and he saw it. The mirth and challenge. Maevin Maer was making him prove he meant what he said.
The young Terran stood and tapped on his glass compu-pad to bring up her record. He strode over to her keeping eye contact with her pretty eyes and cute nose.
“And you'll need to be thorough,” she said as he began to reach for the digital measuring device he had pocketed. “It is important for my record as a Mistress.”
Thorough. She was definitely going to make him prove his words. Henry Patton steadied himself. He was not going to chicken out. He had seen how hard each and every person on this estate worked and embraced their difficulties and he was not going to be any different.
He could do this. Henry knew he could. The words an advice over the months coming back to him. Siv telling him about the word Aema—consent and the fact she was his by law and by Aema. Maevin was providing implict permission by disrobing for him to do his duty for her record. It was not easy to break away from the social rules that his family had drilled into him. He was not just Henry Patton. Right now he was Lord Henry Patton-Avernell of Blue Blossom Estate.
That was what Henry did. He asked her questions about her duties, got the statistical information to build her static profile. Twenty points for being the mistress for both her title and her experience level, another thirteen for her accrediations and certificates, and another ten for length of service. The concrete points of the Bonded Evaluation system was easy.
The young man only looked up once at Maevin who stood there still, the hint of a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. Anyone could count points. This was the part she wanted to see him do. Henry took a deep breath, reached forward, gently gripped her elbow and began to examine her arms, her neck and forced himself to focus on appraising her as expected.
Henry found himself looking at her body in detail, examining her skin that was soft and smooth, he felt the weight of her breasts and also made sure she knew he was giving her an appreciative but detailed gaze.
Just like Siv said. I can look. I have permission. He kept telling himself ignoring the puritanical screaming in the back of his mind.
Finally, the work was done and he walked back, slightly tripped but caught himself. Even though everything was proper and expected for his position, his face was flush, heart racing, and his mind imprinted with the feel of her body.
“I'm proud of you.”
Henry looked up to see that she had begun to dress but there was pride in her eyes. Once Maevin was covered again, she sat down in the chair.
“I was doing my duty,” he said through dry lips and resisted reaching for the water bottle. He did not want to show her his shaking hands. “I respect you too much not to give you what is expected of a Mistress of House Avernell.”
Maevin reached over and picked up the compu-padd and flicked through it and when her eyes dropped to it, he quickly got the water bottle and took a swig or two.
“I am even more impressed,” Maevin said with a gleam of mischief in her eyes. “You didn't take the easy way out and rate me five all the way around. You even threw a three in there. Did you find my height that disapointing?”
“I don't have to explain my reasonings. I am the master.” Henry hesitated. “Right?”
“Of course,” Maevin continued clicking the forward button again, her eyes lighting up. “But I got a five out of five on my hips and buttocks. I believe I know my master's personal tastes.”
Henry could not stop himself from glowing beet red. “I was trying to be honest,” he muttered under his breath, eyes falling to the desk. Her delicate but rich laugh echoed softly in his office as she stood.
“You have done well, my Master. I shall make sure you are more involved with day to day operations as expected for your position.”
Henry smiled as she walked out and made sure to pretend he didn't notice her sway her hips just a bit more than needed.
He had done it. He wasn't a failure. Henry was on his way of becoming a true Lord of Xaltea.