Lima
As we are guided to the main floor, I stay in tune with my mistress's biometrics. When I went for my upgrade, Master Aspen made sure the techs included a link to the Mistress's biometric bracelets so I could stabilize her if needed.
What they would not have anticipated is that the moment we made physical contact so that I could register her as my primary user, her essence did something to my system. My prime directive now is to only serve her. My absolute loyalty is to Nyxara Ajei only. At this time, I have determined no conflict of interest between her wishes and the orders given to me, so I saw no need to notify anyone of my program changes. Don't ask, don't tell is the name of this game.
As the head butler and head housekeeper take turns showing and explaining the purpose of various rooms and spaces to the Mistress and Ms. Zenaida; I watch, observe, and learn my mistress. I need to know her better than before. I need to be able to anticipate what she needs and wants so I will never again have to know I failed as a maid assistant.
I self-volunteered for every trial function and capability possible from Corevein, the Ajei essence-tech company, to upgrade myself to the point that once I've completely assimilated everything, there will be nothing I can't assist my mistress with. Even if that assistance comes in the form of eliminating anyone or anything that disturbs her peace of mind.
"Here is the small dining room that the dinner party will be held in tonight. As you can see, preparations are complete in here, and everyone is now focused on the reception portion of the evening." The head housekeeper, Mrs. June, warmly showcases the room to the amused curiosity of my mistress. "If this is the small dining room, what does the large one look like?" Mistress quips with a raised brow.
"Well, let me show you. This will be where your eldest brothers will be having their birthday banquet in three weeks." Then Mrs. June pushes open two huge double doors across the hall. The large dining hall is certainly large enough to have all the power players of our region attend the event.
"This is an amazing event hall. Since Lux and Aspen's birthday is in a few weeks, I'll have to ask what they want—and find an outfit worthy of it." Mistress grins excitedly while looking at the details of the room with Ms. Zenaida. "I will make a note of this and come up with a list of suggestions for both matters." I tell her softly when I walk through a connecting door to the Grand Ballroom.
Mistress gives me a thankful smile before pulling Ms. Zenaida into an impromptu waltz. I select appropriate music, then proceed to play it to my Mistress's delight. The butler and housekeeper join the two in dancing until the music ends.
They bowed to each other, then to me. I curtsied, pleased I acted correctly in the moment. I'm learning and adapting. At the rate I'm going, I will be the most perfect maid assistant on Asari. This should be an appropriate service goal for a robot maid, right?
Mrs. June
"Now that we have covered the general layout of the main floor, let us move to the real heart of the Pavilion, the lower levels." I couldn't help being mysterious like Rakesh by grabbing Lima's and Ms. Zenaida's hands and pulling them through the illusionary wall next to us. A second later, Rakesh leads Lady Nyx through the wall as well. "Wow, so much wow. I touched this wall just a second ago. How did it become illusionary?" Ms. Zenaida asked as she joined Lady Nyx in examining the wall this time.
"You would need to be authorized or be brought with someone who is authorized to access the lower floors. Lady Nyxara and Lima will likely be granted such access once Lady Nyxara has better control of her essencecraft." I gave Ms. Zenaida a look, and she nodded her understanding without me having to explain why she would not be getting personal access to our true operational heart.
Lady Nyx notes the exchange but does not comment. It will take time for me to fully adjust to how different she is now. Observant, reads between the lines and is adapting to her position like a duck to water.
Rakesh took over as guide, so I stepped back to let him be the focus. "We have three lower levels. This first lower floor is where the kitchens and live-in staff quarters are located. Somewhere in the maze of kitchens is Mrs. June's primary office. I do not recommend trying to find her office unless you are practicing your tracking skills.
Mrs. June has made her office movable as she tends to move it to wherever she has decided to work that day. Truthfully, she only has one office; she just has designated anchor points to move it to. Whether that is down here, upstairs, or outside." I flicked a flame spark at his butt for telling her my secret hiding strategy. He flicked a bubble of water behind him without even looking to extinguish my spark.
Lady Nyx glanced at me with mischief in her eyes. "So what you are telling me is Mrs. June is a perfect track target to hone my skills against. Hidden side quest accepted."
I gave her a wide, challenging grin wordlessly. Well, it looks like I will have to check my glyphs and anchors. Maybe add some new ones to actually give her a challenge. Rakesh guides us through the event kitchen first and points out how there are teleport pads for fast service to the event spaces. As we watched, staff pushed buffet carts onto the pads to be set up. I did a quick inspection of everything before giving the event coordinator a pleased nod. I swear the man about melted at my approval.
I quickly caught up with the group as Rakesh next led us through a small corridor to the dessert kitchen, where they were still prepping the ingredients. I did another quick inspection, but this time I pointed at several unsatisfactory results. The chefs looked almost in tears as they set aside the mistakes and got to work replacing them.
Lady Nyx spoke softly to the girl who looked like she was about to have a breakdown. She got the girl to calm down, then instructed her on how to do better next time. Before we left, she took the mistakes and quickly put together mini ice cream sandwiches for each of us before motioning for Rakesh to continue our tour. Taking a bite of the strange mix she put together, I was shocked at how good the sandwich made from those mistakes turned out.
Gazing at the back of the giggling young lady in front of me, I now felt how she must have felt earlier. I swear I won't get flabbergasted by her actions anymore then she shows me another side of herself, and I feel like I don't know her at all. I guess I will have to just expect she can do anything until proven otherwise. I savor the sandwich as we walk through the central corridor to get to the experimental kitchen. As Rakesh explains what we do in this kitchen, Lady Nyx begins to look around puzzled.
"What is wrong, my dear? Worried we might blow up the palace with such exotic ingredients?" I step up beside her, ready to address any concerns she may have. "No. That isn't a worry I have. I'm just curious, how many kitchens do we have in total? We are on kitchen three now, and I'm sure we haven't reached the main kitchen yet based on Rakesh's explanations." I laughed in relief that this was all she was puzzled about.
"Well, you will have to continue the tour to find out. Next up is the main kitchen," I led her down the connecting side hall, and we entered the chaos that is my preferred main workspace. When we entered, unlike the other kitchens, everyone paused in what they were doing to greet the First Lady. "We greet First Lady Nyxara. How may we serve you?"
I wiped a tear from my eye, proud that all my training and drills had finally come together. Lady Nyx steps forward with a thankful smile. "I greet you in return, creators of excellence. Yes, each one of you is a creator of excellence, for without each of you giving your all to our enclave, you would not be able to serve my family and our guests such delightful meals. You can share these words with your fellow kitchen colleagues in the dessert and event kitchens once they are no longer in event mode." She then surprised everyone by bowing to the room.
"I thank you all on behalf of my family for all the hard work you do day in and day out. From the bottom to the top, each one of you is important to our daily operations. I see those of you peeking in from the hallways. I include you in my thanks. Now I won't distract you all any further from your duties." Lady Nyx gave me a nod, and I guided her to the final indoor kitchen.
"This is the last indoor kitchen, the private family kitchen. This is where I prepare meals for the family, though any of you are welcome to cook for yourselves here as well. There is a teleport pad in the residence that will bring you directly here, so you won't have to walk. Of course, once you are able to better use your essence, you can also portal here." This time, Lady Nyx takes a more detailed examination of the kitchen space, muttering to her maid about something.
"Is there something wrong with the kitchen, my dear?" I asked, feeling slightly miffed that she might not like the kitchen. Closing the fridge, she turns to me with a smile. "Nothing is wrong with the kitchen, just was telling Lima to remind me to look up some recipes to try in here. I was just seeing what all we got in here to work with, and it's a perfect dream kitchen."
I let out the breath I was holding, catching Rakesh chuckling at me behind his hand. I glare at him, and he winks in response. Charming bastard knows I can't resist his winks.
"I'm pleased you like my design. Now, moving on, the only other important space on this level are the live staff quarters. This includes the palace guards." We walk back through the main kitchen to get to the central corridor. I point out a hallway between the Dessert and Main kitchen.
"Down that hallway is where the staff quarters are located. That door and elevator between the Event and Experimental kitchen is how we would get down to the 2nd lower level. On that level are the guard training rooms and the Pavilion storage spaces. Did you want to go down to that floor?"
Lady Nyx shook her head, "I can visit that floor another time. What is on the third level?" "That would be the garages where all vehicles are kept. There is a personal garage for the family and a public garage for the staff." Lady Nyx looks thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head again. "I can go check that out another time too. Knowing where it is for now is good enough. We can also skip the guest quarters as well. Just point them out to me, and we can move on to whatever is after that."
"I like your decisiveness. Well, then let's go visit your brother Keir at the paramilitary HQ then. We will go by teleport pad since dinner time is fast approaching." With that, I led us all to the elevator. Rakesh pushed the button for the main floor. When we exited, I led us to the front of the building so I could point out which building was the guest quarters, then Rakesh led us to the teleport pad room.
I set the coordinates for our destination, then we all got on, and away we went.