15 P*ntene: Strong is Beautiful

Alfred sat planted next to the wall of a hallway like a sad houseplant, looking very much like he had just escaped an unpleasant interaction. Suddenly, there were sparkles. There were so many sparkles that Calorie was blinded by their brilliance and had to rapidly blink away the stars so she could see what was happening.

In bounced a small Lady Bolita, who Calorie recognized by her head full of silver drills, in an amazingly ornate dress and glittering so brightly the maid felt like she needed a pair of sunglasses to be able to stare at her directly. At this point in time the duchess stood below Calorie's shoulders and had round cheeks that appeared to share the texture of mochi.

"If it were not for Lady Bolita I would not be standing here today," narrated Alfred, who probably had hearts in his eyes at the moment. "I felt alone in the world and utterly unwanted, yet she proved to me I was not. This was our first encounter, and a memory I will take with me to my grave. It was the first time I was spoken to as if I were more than just a tool for cleaning."

The young lady, after looking around, fixed her gaze on Alfred and walked over to him.

"I'm lost," she said.

The young Alfred looked up, and his eyes widened when he realized who exactly was standing before him. He stood hurriedly and bowed.

"Where are you headed, My Lady?"

"I don't know."

"Perhaps you are needed in the main house?"

Lady Bolita shrugged. Alfred looked around, as if searching for a superior who could show him what to do, but there were none.

"This way, My Lady," he said at last, apparently deciding to walk her to the main house.

"That was our first meeting," narrated Alfred. "From then on we met many more times, but it was only after this incident that I pledged my loyalty to her."

The next scene change took Calorie to the manor's gardens.

A young Alfred was being rolled on the graden's grass like a rolling pin over dough. Two butlers were on their knees rolling him as he laid on his side like a log with empty eyes. Other members of the manor's staff were watching from a foot or two away, snickering.

"Is the hole ready?" asked a watching butler with slicked back blonde hair.

"Just finished it," replied a new butler who entered the scene carrying a shovel.

"Alrighty then, roll him to it."

The two butlers in charge of rolling Alfred nodded and promptly changed the direction of their rolling. As Alfred was rolled, a young Bolita entered the scene. She watched from behind a tree as the boy was pushed toward a hole in the ground next to the rose bushes, but clearly she had no clue what to do. Calorie wasn't sure if the lady of the house understood the butlers were harassing Alfred and not having some friendly fun because she was looking at them with wide eyes, almost as if she wanted to be rolled next.

One of the butlers rolling his junior, a relatively tall one who also had blonde hair, picked Alfred up from under his arms and placed him into the hole like a gardener potting a succulent. His partner in crime then helped him to fill the hole with dirt so there was more than just Alfred in it.

"Perfect," said the first blonde butler. "Buried like a carrot, just as a scrub should be."

After some more tittering at Alfred's plight, the butlers left, presumably to do whatever tasks butlers did. At this point, the mini Lady Bolita bounced out of her hiding spot and toward Alfred. From the look in his eyes, the boy could have passed for a real vegetable, not just a kid buried in the ground like a vegetable.

"What are you doing?" asked the lady.

"I don't know," he replied in a voice devoid of emotion.

"Won't the head butler get mad at you for getting your uniform dirty?"

"Probably."

Lady Bolita tugged at a curl thoughtfully, then her face lit up.

She bent backwards just low enough so the tips of her drills touched the ground.

"I've been practicing this," she said confidently.

She closed her eyes, slightly bent her elbows and brought them to her side, and clenched her muscles. Followed by a whirring sound, Lady Bolita's drills began spinning and burrowing into the ground. Soil was sprayed, and more than a bit flew at Alfred's face, but within minutes, the boy was freed from his dirt prison. The young lady stretched out a hand and helped the young boy out of the pit.

"I have no friends," she said. "The duke thinks I'm too unrefined to play with the other noble ladies."

While that made Calorie feel bad for the girl, she had no idea why the kid dropped such a bombshell. Though when she thought about it a little more, she remembered how all the kids she'd ever met had no filter and would say the wildest things.

"Can you bury me next?"

"She was the first person in the household to treat me like a person," said Alfred, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "Though her status was far higher than mine, day after day she would dig me out of the ground when the butlers buried me and we would play together. For a while, I questioned how right it was for a simple manservant such as I to even breathe the same air as her, but she seemed to genuinely not mind my presence. There were times the other members of the household would speak poorly of me because of how often I was with her, and I even dare say their tormenting grew worse, but it was of no importance to me. At long last, I had a companion."

"Wow, that's crazy."

Suddenly, Calorie was brought back to the present, and the shock almost caused her to loosen her grip and fall off the musket. She was kind of surprised she hadn't fallen off yet, actually.

"I hope Lady Bolita is alright," sighed Alfred. Evidently revisiting his past had pulled at his heart strings, for as the magic muskets flew forward, tears flew off Alfred's face and into the wind.

"The hunting geese are landing," called the captain. "Prepare for descent."

"Well there were certainly worse ways I could've spent that time," thought Calorie. "I wonder if the duchess still asks to be buried like a vegetable."

The muskets circled above the mouth of a gray stone cave atop a cliff that the geese were flying toward while honking ferociously. Calorie watched the knights lean down so that they were hugging the muskets' barrels and followed suit.

"Now from the top, make it drop!" shouted the captain, and on his command the muskets plunged down in unison as if they had just remembered gravity was a thing. It was all Calorie could do not to scream for dear life as she hurtled to the ground at neck-braking speeds holding on to a very old fashioned piece of artillery for dear life.