Weeks Ahead - Part 2

He spent the month of downtime between years with Faleah who kept tutoring and teaching him about all things a future lord might need to know. How to handle money, contracts and laws necessary to know.

He kept training with his Gryphon, Tenebris, he also joined some of the other new Gillfall recruits that were training to become Gryhpon Knights, most lessons were run by experienced instructors and a few by expert riders like his mother Faleah.

House Gillfall kept expanding ever since Faleah returned and had reaquired some very old assets and land. Their trades and influence once again grew strong and the smaller sister houses were left with a lot of work.

A new sister house was established through marriage, House Sea Gryphon which had a small merchant navy including battle ships designed to guard the merchant ships. The pride of the merchant navy was a ship called the Dawn Trader which was a huge galleon.

The cobalt blue and black armor of house Gillfall became more frequent and the warehouses and stocks of house Gillfall grew in size and supply.

It was an early morning that Samuel woke up in his king sized bed, seeing as how he spent most of his offtime down at the Gillfall estate instead of the house up top, but with all the recent expansion he had almost come to hate it down there.

He was almost never left alone and always had guards and attendants following him around, when he had spoken to Faleah about it she had laughed at him saying, "I know you are strong enough to take good care of yourself, but while you are down here you should at least try to carry yourself as a proper lord!"

Samuel could find nothing worth arguing against in her statement, so with a heavy sigh he had come to accept it. But it didn't make him happy to always be followed around, but in just a few days the third year of the college would start up again and he would be free from these people.

There were essentially guards posted outside most rooms and he was always attended by a butler and two to four guards. He had decided to go purchase some more material for his transmutation supplies that was running short, even in the city he was escorted by the guards.

Rightly so he also had a side cape on one shoulder with the emblem of the blue black gryphon that was the emblem of house Gillfall. He was strolling down the streets towards the shop with his small entourage following closely behind him.

Thats when a small child suddenly ran out into the road and fell over right in front of Samuels boots. "Woah there!" Samuel said as he saw the little girl dressed in not much better than rags slowly stand up, she couldn't be more than ten or so.

"What are you doing! Get out of the way!" One of the guards behind Samuel suddenly exclaimed and walked forward and aimed a kick right at the girl, but Samuel had crouched down in front of the girl and held out an earth infused arm that easily blocked the kick.

"Are you alright?" Samuel asked as he looked at the girl whom had tears in her eyes, he gave her a small smile which seemed to ease the terrified girl and the guard quickly took a few steps back in surprise.

"Oh by the gods, Eri!" A woman quickly ran out and grabbed her by the shoulders and took a few steps back, "I am so sorry to bother you m'lord! Please forgive us, if you need to punish anyone then please punish me and not my daughter!" The human woman was not dressed any better than her daughter and she looked malnourished.

Samuel realized she must be prioritising her daughter over herself, "There is nothing to forgive!" Samuel said with a smile while on the inside he was feeling sick to his stomach.

The mother quickly crouched down on her knees, "Please!" She exclaimed and Samuel realized she must have misunderstood his words, he scratched his head in annoyance at himself and quickly walked over and knelt down in front of the woman.

He realized she probably wasnt much older than 25 or so but she looked so malnourished and worn out. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and lifted her up so her back was straight, she looked terrified but confused when they were eye to eye.

"I won't hurt you, or your daughter for that matter. Your daughter only fell in front of me and I was making sure she was alright!" Samuel looked at the girl that seemed to be looking at him shyly and smiled.

"I hope you are alright, so please stand up! Miss?"

"Bellana, my name is Bellana m'lord!" The woman said and slowly accepted his hands and he helped drag her up on her feet where she almost couldn't stand. "I am no healer but I think you might need some healing and good food!" Samuel said as he saw the bruises upon closer inspection.

Bellana quickly withdrew her hands and took a step back and Samuel held up a hand as if trying to ease their fear, "I promise no harm will come to you, or your daughter!" Samuel quickly took out a healing potion and held it out to Bellana. He nodded, "Drink this! It will help!"

Bellana slowly took the red liquid potion out of his hand, she looked at him suspiciously, no way a noble was giving out something for free. Even if most nobles of Rejuan weren't that bad they still didn't hold much charity.

After about a minute of Samuel looking expectantly at her she finally uncorked the bottle and drank it. It was sweet like raspberries and suddenly she felt a lot better. All her bruises slowly disappeared and she looked a bit more alive.

Bellana's posture suddenly changed as she realized that nothing was hurting anymore, she looked at her hands that had a bit more color before looking at Samuel, "Thank you m'lord!" She started to curtsy but Samuel quickly walked up and stopped her.

"Please just call me Samuel, I really dislike being called m'lord..." He sighed and Bellana gave him the first smile he had ever seen from her, Samuel realized she was probably even younger than twenty five now that she looked a bit more alive.

"Thank you Lord Samuel!" She said with a smile, to which Samuel smiled and sighed, "Do you two need a place to stay and work? I can provide it for you!" Bellana seemed really reluctanct to those words but her daughter instantly stepped forward and took Samuels hand.

"Yes please sir, we really need it!"

Everyone was a bit taken a back by the young girls brashness, but Samuel quickly started laughing before patting the little girls head. "In that case you will have it!" He said before Bellana could etch any words in. All he could see was the few tears in her eyes that she tried to blink away.

"Geoff!" Samuel said the name of his butler that was accompanying him who instantly stepped forward, "You can tell my mother what happened and say that I have finally decided on a personal maid, just make sure they are taken care of properly." He turned to Bellana, "If you truly want to come work as a maid, then that is my offer. I am sorry I cannot think of anything else to give you or your daughter right no-"

His words were stopped short by Bellana grabbing both his hands and whispering "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" And bursting into tears, he gently squeezed her hands and turned to the guards. "Sir Meriz would you please ensure the two ladies safety and help Geoff escort them back!" The soldier saluted and nodded.

Samuel managed to wriggle free and Sir Meriz and Geoff escorted Bellana and her daughter away. Then he turned to the four remaining guards, "Ser Trent, Ser Danar, would you be so kind as to escort Idiot Daren back to the estate and place him into the holding cells. Where he can reflect on his actions of trying to kick a child."

Ser Daren instantly objected, "But sir what if she was an assassin or something, people use children for all kinds of things!" Samuel's eyelids twitched in annoyance, "I think I am better at defending myself than you are at defending me in such a case!" His words made the last guard chuckle.

"Something funny Ser Vibiran?" Samuel asked and Vibiran laughed.

"You are quite right my lord! But please do give the idiot one more chance, he may be a bit stupid and cruel in his ways, but that is only because my idiot little brother is so eager to serve you, you are not quite like most people we have worked for before."

His words made Samuel realize that there were always more to others stories than one could know before knowing a person better, Sir Vibiran's words made it clear that whomever they worked for last was the type of person who wanted beggars and commoners removed out of his way.

"So what do you suggest?" Samuel asked Vibiran who almost flinched in surprise, Vibiran shook his head before bowing his head, "Sorry my Lord. By all means he deserves to be thrown into the dungeon for a little bit to reflect upon his actions.... thank you!"

Samuel nodded and now Daren relaxed and allowed the other two guards to take him away, they were all clearly impressed by Samuel's actions, Ser Vibiran was the only one left to help him now, but thankfully the rest of the journey to get some supplies went quick and Vibiran was on the lookout for trouble at all times.

Together the two of them made their way back to the mansion without issue and the first thing Samuel did was to leave the supplies in the hands of butlers that would bring it to his room. As soon as he handed them the supplies he quickly went to find his mother.

She was in her office and there were two guards stationed outside, one of the held up their hand as Samuel approached, "I am sorry my lord, but she is in a business and planning meeting with others and has asked not to be disturbed."

"That is precisely what I have come here to talk about... Ser Ghor, so please move aside or I will move you aside!" The guard looked like he was deciding for several moments before he knocked on the door and opened it. "Lady Faleah I-"

"I told you not to interrupt-" Faleah loudly spoke but stopped short as Samuel walked into the room past Ghor. "Samuel, we are in the middle of some very important planning so this better be important!" Faleah sighed and the three other men also looked up at him.

They were the expansion and build leaders in charge. Samuel looked at Faleah and the others and then the plans on the table. "Any issues?" He asked Faleah who nodded, "Yes we are lacking resources, specifically manpower. Anyway what did you need?" She asked as she had calmed down a little.

"Precisely that issue, manpower..." Samuel said and retold his mother a simple and fast version of what had happened. She seemed to gain a spark in her eyes as he finished telling the story. "How exactly is that relevant?" One of the master builders in the back asked.

But another one of them suddenly looked like he understood exactly what he meant. "The recent weeks blunders of state!" The man exclaimed, "Exactly!" Samuel said and pointed at the man.

"How many, beggars are there without jobs out there? How many of them would we be able to give jobs and working homes... how many commoners have recently lost their jobs because of the blunders of the state?"

"And how many of them can we hire that definitely have experience!" The man exclaimed. "I can't believe we didn't think about this earlier, we have been so busy trying to plan how that we didn't see the answer right in front of us."

Faleah had also caught on, "With our current direction it wouldn't be a problem... quickly get on this gentlemen and write up a draft, make sure they all know that it was the young lord Gillfall that came up with this solution and it is thanks to him they have an opportunity to gain solid new jobs."

Faleah raised her eyebrows and looked at Samuel who seemed annoyed at that proposition, there wasn't much he could do since she was the one calling the shots. It was almost as if her eyes were saying, 'thats what you get for interrupting.'