And So A Year Passed

After Liam collected enough samples, of which Altair had no idea what they were, It quickly called for Donel to come and collect Altair. Liam had no desire to continue talking with her and wanted to get started on experimenting right away.

Shortly after, Donel arrived and started a heated discussion with Liam.

All of which Altair couldn't understand at all. She had a confused expression as she thought, 'What the hell is going on? Didn't I just understand everything that Liam said a little while ago? Why am I suddenly unable to understand anything he's saying? Someone explain this to me!'

Her unvoiced complaints went as ignored as the wind.

Altair was returned to her room and her studies began again in earnest with Donel. The same two guards sat outside her door and she was effectively locked off from the outside world.

Renald received a report later that same day and he was furious. All of the footage from the ATR that day was corrupted and unsalvageable. He was instantly suspicious. 'Someone knows more about that girl than I do. I need to make the plan go faster.'

He forced Donel to, essentially, become a full time tutor and guard.

Altair noticed the change immediately the next day. Donel would accompany her everywhere and taught her a lot more throughout the day. Instead of studying their language a few hours a day it turned into an almost all day event. Donel even added writing to the course of things to learn as well. He believed it would increase the speed at which she learned if she started now. Altair didn't have any objections because she was severely limited on what she could communicate and knew how effective reading and writing were for gathering information.

When Altair received paper and writing utensils for the first time she was surprised at how smooth the paper was. She had stolen many parchments from nobles and military officials before and knew how coarse and rough they were. So the smooth and spotless texture of the paper she was given was fascinating to her. She had also never written anything herself either, nor could she read her original language. All the stolen documents were turned over to the Council of Four so she had no idea what they ever said.

Her handwriting was atrocious though. It was so bad that Donel gave her extra supplies to practice in the little free time she had.

But not all of her free time was used on studying. She wasn't just locked in her room and could explore around at her leisure in the Servants Quarters. That exploration plan lasted a whole three days. She quickly memorized the entire structure of the area and grew bored with just exploring around. She then turned that free time into time to exercise, which surprised Donel.

Donel had followed her around during her free time after every meal of the day. On the first day, Altair didn't really understand until Donel dragged her out of her room and just followed her around. After that she didn't really pay him anymore attention, treating him as a shadow to her as he only ever stopped her from going in any rooms. He also blocked her from even going down the hallway that led to the ATR.

Altair didn't run into any other servants in the Servants Quarters. Renald was paranoid that someone might steal his golden egg so he forbade them from coming out when it was Altair's free time.

During that time she got completely attached to bathing in the bath. It was the one time she was truly alone as Donel stopped going in with her. She had experience cleaning herself in the same gathered water from the well back in the village with her family. However, her father would go first, followed by her brother, then her mother, and finally she would get a turn. By the time she got her turn the water was already murky. That was normal for them though. Here, the water was crisp and clean whenever she used the bath. To top it off, the water was nice and warm or even hot if she wanted it to be. She could even have it smell wonderful if she used those little balls in it. The experience was completely different. She even wondered if this would be what she would miss the most about this place when she eventually escaped.

She had started the habit of lounging in the bath multiple times a day. She would get into the bath after she exercised or studied. She was starting to feel like a fish with how much time she was spending in there but she couldn't help it as it made her feel more comfortable and clean after she got out.

More time passed and before Altair realized it she had spent one year in the mansion. During that time all Altair did was learn their language, do minor exercise, and loaf around in the bath. By now she could hold a conversation about uncomplicated things.

Through the year she had managed to somewhat improve her physical condition. She wasn't at the peak of what she was at before but it was only a matter of time before that happened. She was feeling very confident in dealing with the uncute guest if he came again.

Over that year Altair received a big surprise. She didn't notice it day by day but she had grown an extremely vague resemblance of female curves. Donel wound up pointing it out when Altair had complained about the training bras she was given becoming uncomfortably tight. When Donel took her measurements and told her she was stunned momentarily and then she was excited. She didn't know why she was suddenly growing faster than before but that just meant she would finally be able to develop into a woman's body instead of being stuck looking like a child for decades. Still, her rate of growth was atrocious. Over the entire time she was here she had only grown three centimeters...

Her nutritious and healthy diet here served to amplify the effect of her growth, although it was still at a snail pace compared to Humans. Still, the food was amazing, better than the food she got on the Starship. The menu of her food was very strict as Donel was being extra careful with what she had to eat. Any child who appeared to be her age would have been beyond throwing tantrums and bouts of anger with the constant stream of healthy and light tasting food but Altair found it better than the food she was used to eating back in the Demi-Human Survival Coalition and so had no complaints.

Donel continued to supervise her education. He started to quiz her on things she had been taught after half a year. He would do so every night to make sure she thoroughly absorbed the information she was being taught. He would also chase away Joshua every time he tried to sneak in.

She didn't see Liam for that whole year. 'Is he really doing what he said he could do? Why is this taking so long? It can't be that hard.'

Altair's suspicions were unfounded. Liam worked all day and night on the experiments. Almost all of the time was devoted entirely to figuring out what effects the poison had. The remaining one-twelfth of the time was devoted to actually trying to cure her.

Joshua was surprisingly quiet during the whole time. Altair treated it as the little twerp somehow sensing that Altair could actually defend herself now. He was obviously shaking in his shoes whenever he came within a kilometer of her and was jumping at shadows every day and night. That was clearly the only explanation possible for his status of not showing up even once.

Altair had conveniently forgotten the entire altercation between Donel and Joshua outside her room days after it happened.

Altair also finally learned the names of the two guards that seemed to be always present outside her door unless it was her free time. The older guard with a slight beard and bulkier frame was Dave. The younger guard, who would stare at Altair when she was forced by Donel to walk around in the servant's clothes, was named Ben.

She also found out some other interesting things about them when Donel had tasked her with talking with them for extra practice. Dave had a wife and two children, both boys, and was looking forward to retiring out of the main home in a few years. Ben was a single bachelor, whatever that meant, and practically lived off coffee, whatever that was.

All in all, they no longer remained as cold and emotionless people to Altair. They would greet her in the morning with their own smiles, Dave's being well practiced and warm while Ben's was… less than Human if Altair had to put it nicely. She had grown a little fond of the pair, though they refused any and all requests to spar with her when she was exercising. Donel also refused when she asked. She didn't know why as she could have sworn that Human males loved to fight back where she came from.