9 Cleaning books

"Doevm." Someone said as they knocked on the broom closet door. "It's time for your first day of work. Are you ok in there?" Doevm walked out of the room into the cold morning air. The maid did her best to hide her surprise at Doevm's appearance. His eyes were swollen and red, and his face was pale. His clothes were wrinkled and dirty. "Let's just introduce you to your job for today. You don't have to do any hard work. Are you up to it?" Doevm nodded. He had stayed up all night to keep up his look of depression. He had left the snot and tears to dry. He messed up his hair and put a little spit into it to look like grease.

The maid showed him around the mansion and the various tasks he would be doing. He made a show of being reluctant to stand still. He tried to help on each and every task, but the maid held him back. When they got to the library, the maid sighed.

"What's wrong?" Doevm asked, nearly exhausted from all the acting.

"The library is the worst," The maid complained as she fake-punched one of the shelves, apparently trying to be funny. "You have to take each book out and wipe them. They're extremely expensive too. What's so great about reading? Us commoners can get by just fine without learning how. Anyway, there's always a person here cleaning every day. That's how tedious cleaning books are. So we take them in shifts." She took out a cloth and very carefully wiped out each piece of dust on one of the more worn books, then moved to the next one.

"Can I see that cloth; I want to try?" Doevm asked, making sure to smile for the first time today. "I want something to take my mind off things. This looks perfect." The maid handed him a few books and a cloth and turned around. "Done."

The maid laughed, "You can't possib-" Then she turned around to look at the clean book. Her lips quivered. She had to take a few seconds to absorb the miracle thrown at her. "You cleaned them really fast and for so well. Have you done this before?"

"Sort of." Doevm said. "At home, I handled the dishes a lot. This is similar," he lied.

'I've cleaned millions of books in my old collection. If there's something I'm better at than magic, it's cleaning books,' he thought, saddening the image of his old life.

"Books are similar. It's a little relaxing, remembering." He let another fake tear down his cheek. "Remembering my mommy and daddy."

"I'm sorry," the maid hugged him. "I'm sorry, look you can clean all the books here. I'll talk to the lord for you."

"Really?" Doevm asked in between exaggerated sobs.

"Yes, I'll go do it now." The maid ran off, leaving Doevm with some peace and quiet. He opened a random book: "A Bored Lich." He read a couple of pages, gave it a few power stones, then set it back down. He looked at the thousands of other books and smiled: "It feels like I'm back home." He spent the next hour cleaning to his heart's content. He felt nostalgia for the first time. He entered a dream-like state where he cared for each book and shelf, giving it the cleaning it needed. The door burst open and the lord rushed through, followed by Thomas and the maid.

Reginald picked up a book he had cleaned, ran his finger along its spine, and smiled: "Well done Doevm, how are you liking the library?" Thomas peeked out from behind his legs. "From what the maid tells me, you're a natural at this, and a disaster at everything else." The maid winked from behind him. "Would you like handle the library exclusively?"

"I like it very much sir, I feel like this job is my favorite." Doevm put back the book he was cleaning. "I just have a few complaints." At this, the maid's eyes went wide.

"Complaints?" Reginald frowned. Thomas backed away from his father. "I know you haven't interacted with nobles much, but you cannot talk to your superiors like that, boy."

Doevm pointed to the higher shelves, which were still covered in dust. "I can't reach," Then he pointed to his rag covered in filth and grime, "And I need more rags."

"Oh," Reginald laughed. "Those aren't complaints, they're requests. I accept. There'll be a ladder and extra rags sent here immediately, and your job will be to clean the books every day. Do you have any other requests or questions?" Doevm shook his head. "Very well then, we'll leave you to it." They shut the door.

'That was weird. Why did she need to talk to the lord for me and why did he need to come here personally? I'm no one special.'

...

"Is that what you wanted Jameson?" Reginald asked.

"Yes sir, thank you sir." Jameson said as he stepped into the light. The maid jumped. "Maid, leave us, we have something to discuss." The maid bowed and left. "Doevm's a brave kid. When I told him about Rena, he let everything out then and there. I think he just needs structure to put himself back together. I just hope putting him to work will do the trick, get his mind off of things."

"I hope so too." Reginald stroked his luxurious mustache, freshly combed. "He cleaned those books faster and better than any servant. I wonder where he got that skill?"

"I don't know sir, but what makes him happy is none of my business. Thank you for accepting my request and helping him settle in. I'll teach him how to act towards nobles. While his concerns were valid, his tone was inexcusable."

"Father, who was that servant?" Thomas asked. "He looked like he needed a bath. Everything about him was messy."

"Doevm was taken in yesterday." Reginald pat him on the head. "He arrived with the war monk. He just lost his mother to the rose field and his father vanished."

"His father vanished?" Thomas asked. "How does someone vanish? We couldn't do that if we tried."

Reginald continued patting: "That's because we're nobles. No matter where we go, people will recognize us. Commoners aren't as famous, nor is their life as good as ours. Doevm's going through a lot right now, like when your mother passed. We'll get him cleaned up in no time. Come, you must drink your elixirs again."

"I don't want to." Thomas hugged Reginald's pant-leg. "They taste bad. I want to play games with you instead."

"No," Reginald's smile retreated back to a blank expression. "You have to get stronger." Thomas groaned and followed his father to the third story. Jameson peeked through the library doors at Doevm, who was hovering over a book.

'He can read too?' He shook his head. 'Maybe he's just looking for fun.' He walked in the library. Doevm shut the book and pretended like he was cleaning the whole time. "You're not fooling anyone," he said. "I saw it. You can read, can't you? Did Rena teach you that?"

"I was just looking for fun," Doevm shrugged. He set the book on a stack of clean books.

Jameson tapped on the stack, "Then how come you knew to put these in alphabetical order? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's just I need you to be doing other things right now. You can't spend all day reading when you have work to do."

"I'll get everything done. You don't have to worry." Doevm smiled and put the books back on the shelf. He took out a stack of dirty books and went to work.

"One more thing," Jameson said as he held onto Doevm's rag. "You have to learn how to talk to nobles. The lord is a tolerant man, more tolerant than most nobles, but you have to speak to him like you're a servant. If you talk to him like any random man on the street, you'll get kicked out of here."

"Oh," Doevm looked at the dirty books. "Is he going to kick me out already?"

"No. You just can't keep repeating the same mistake, so I'm going to teach you how to talk like a servant. Every time you talk, it needs to..."

And like that, years passed. Doevm cleaned the library every day of his life and ate slop. He slept in a tiny closet and talked to Jameson often. He learned how to talk and act like a servant, especially if a guest of the lord came. He read books in secret, often getting caught by Jameson. He saw Thomas often, but they never talked to each other. The most Doevm learned about the kid was that he liked to run away from training. Eventually, Doevm read every book in the library. His knowledge of human affairs and the state of the world caught up to the present. In his spare time, he worked out and developed his body.

As a skeleton, his balance was perfect. He didn't have to worry about his muscles or his heartbeat. As a human, he had to relearn how to balance himself and rework his attacks to use every part of his new body effectively. Every day, when he was done cleaning, he looked outside the library's window at the guards training in the front yard. He took one of the brooms from his closet, chopped its bristles off, and imitated their stances from afar. He learned how to grip a spear, to put his weight behind a strike, and the rest of the basics. In the night, he sneaked outside the manor, unsealed his magic, and gathered mana. His life was plain and boring. When he copied the guards' stances and moves, he longed to use them on an opponent.

He waited until he turned twelve. His hair was still short, as he cut it weekly with wind blades. His body, no matter how much he trained physically, was still skinny due to his diet. He had muscles all over, but they were lean instead of big. His eyes developed a chilling aura. He learned how to watch and analyses moves, and learned how to better handle a spear from watching Jameson lead his men. His skin turned pale because he didn't go outside except for the night. He continued without rest, just like when he studied magic.

Cleaning books became therapeutic for him. He threw his worries away and dusted off memories. Some days, he even double cleaned them just because he wondered if he could do it. He learned to smile as he worked. Doevm found joy in such a simple action. Sometimes the lord would come in and study. They chatted, but as servant and master.

He was happy, until one day...