A Jewel in the Dirt - 14. Things to change us

There was a somewhat strange mood. Dante could see it working in Frank, and he himself... felt embarrassedly honored that he held Frank's trust. He hoped he was proving himself worthy of it. Added to this, of course, was the awkwardness of the subject itself.

In comfortable silence they prepared their omelet and had almost finished it when Blaise came into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Blaise." Dante nodded to him in greeting. Again the questions came up as to why Blaise hadn't spoken to Frank. Why he wouldn't answer him.

"Hey, Pa..."

"Hey, boys..." Blaise smiled tiredly and tousled Frank's curls, which could slowly make use of a haircut. A little surprised, Dante watched Frank tense strangely as Blaise's hand slid from Frank's hair to the back of his neck and stayed there. "Got a little lost yesterday, but Lucia invited you to her birthday party."

"I don't want to." Frank made a face and Blaise sighed.

"That's not a good enough reason not to go."

"I don't like her, Pa."

"Nobody said you had to like her, son, but it would be downright rude not to go."

"She's pushy and loud and doesn't like slaves and has-"

"Frank. It's rude.", Blaise drowned out his son and he contorted his face a little more.

"I don't think you're expected to marry her," Dante interjected with an encouraging smile and Frank growled into his coffee cup before standing up and leaving without another word.

Blaise sighed again. "You know, I can actually understand him. Lucia is not a very likeable girl."

Dante preferred not to agree verbally- he'd only met her once, but that was already enough for him- but said carefully: "She seems to like him."

"There's no mistaking that. Forgive me for saying so, but it does seem a little perverse. After all..." Blaise pointed to his head and Dante raised a brow.

"I doubt she'd be interested in the organ between his ears."

Now Blaise grinned wryly and Dante couldn't help but at least return it with a smile. "I doubt that too, but I still don't like it. He just doesn't get what she would want from him." That was a point Dante also doubted after last night's conversation, but he kept that to himself. Instead, he noted:

"Frank told me he misses Anthony a lot."

The mere mention of the name was enough to make Blaise look years older. "He's not alone in that..." He ran his hand through his graying curls and then dropped into Frank's chair. "Frank has always been terribly shy- except in the company of the twins. He and Alice are still very close, but sometimes there's something downright desperate about it."

"Oh..."

Absentmindedly, Blaise twirled the dirty fork. "Alice didn't speak a word while Frank was in a coma, and that's when she started writing. Sometimes we literally had to force her to eat, you know..."

Dante nodded, though Blaise probably didn't even see it.

"Well... love accomplishes a lot."

"Love?" Love like Valentine?

"Victor. Victor Stone." With a tired gesture, Blaise rubbed his face. "The Stones are a bit odd, but he got her out of the swamp of her own making. And then she was smart enough to leave him."

Dante had heard almost nothing from the Stones until now.

"Ma even refrained from buying her a slave."

"Then why did you buy me for her?" After everything he had learned so far about the somewhat different rules around here, that was an interesting question- because other than inability to manage a slave, it would be hard to justify not giving a girl a personal slave for coming of age.

"Because she has to learn." Blaise said, looking up, a strange smile briefly playing around his lips. "Once she marries Val and moves to the Washington farm, Wilma will prepare her for her role as future matriarch. There's no way she's going to learn how to handle slaves properly at the same time."

"She didn't want me," Dante remarked as he tried to imagine Mistress Alice as a matriarch. It resulted in a feeling like a lunatic grin because it just felt unimaginable and wrong as well.

"Maybe so. But as long as she wants Val, she'll have to live with it. He's the heir to the farm, after all."

Dante nodded thoughtfully. After a moment of silence, Blaise stood up and put the two plates in the sink while Dante hurriedly rose and took Frank's coffee cup from the table.

"Frank's a good boy..." Blaise murmured to the empty room, giving Dante both a tired smile and a pat on the back. Cup in hand, Dante watched him go until Daniel snapped him out of his thoughts.

Instead of making Anthony's death a taboo subject, the family should probably seek grief therapy.

~

"Hey, Seth, lunch is almost ready..."

Seth lifted his eyes from the messy desk, which looked like it had been raining papers, and nodded to Dante. "All right." Then he rubbed his eyes.

"You've been pretty busy lately..." remarked Dante gently and Seth shrugged.

"I'm just performing the tasks Mistress Carolyn assigns me." He hesitated briefly before continuing. "She takes care of Ethan. Well... his sales and everything that goes with it. Unlike Miss Britney, she cares about him, she knows what he's accomplished."

Dante nodded slowly, though he couldn't quite imagine how Miss Carolyn cared about the slaves.

"TJ said you didn't look well earlier," Seth then said abruptly and Dante raised a brow.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"No, I'm fine."

"You know you can talk to me."

"Yeah..." Dante nodded, but Seth looked at him unblinkingly with that knowing look. "I was just thinking... about Anthony and Tom."

"Interesting combination."

Dante made a face, but before he could say or explain anything, Seth added:

"I'll answer one question for you."

"Okay..." The Anthony thing would have really interested Dante, but Tom was clearly more present as a problem. "Mistress Alice told me Tom used to be a free man. What's the story behind it? How did he end up here?"

Seth raised a brow and eyed Dante for a moment before a fine smile settled on his lips. "Why don't you ask him yourself? After all, you guys have been getting along pretty well lately."

"Do you really think, proud as he is, he'd talk about it?"

Seth laughed quietly. "No, probably not." Immediately he turned back to serious. "But basically, you guys match up pretty well. He was allowed to keep his last name. Gold and Sapphire. No, wait, Golden. Thomas Golden. Right. And just like you, he's a personal slave who's out of line."

Confused, Dante looked at him. "Tom's a personal slave?"

Seth nodded thoughtfully, looking past Dante. "In the official papers, yes. A debt slave. His mother and Mistress Carolyn negotiated a special deal back then, against Mistress Charlotte's wishes. She didn't want him in the house; Tom refused to serve in the bedroom- after three days he moved down to the workers."

Dante could tell by looking at Seth that for him the question had been answered, and with a grateful smile he nodded. This particular deal would have really interested him, but even if Seth knew more about it, he was unlikely to say anything more. "Thanks."

Seth nodded back. "Come on, let's see after lunch."

The day wasn't even half over and Dante had already heard so many things to think about that he certainly wouldn't be able to fall asleep tonight. But maybe a good meal already would help calm his mental chaos.

~

Dante and Seth missed an argument between Ethan and Flynn in the kitchen by no more than two minutes, but as a result the mood was tense, even after Flynn excused himself from the meal and disappeared. Miss Britney didn't seem to care much where her new toy had gone to, and after lunch, as they were putting the dishes away in the kitchen, Dante quietly asked, addressing Daniel:

"Say, you know Miss Britney best. What's the mood really like?"

Daniel grimaced unhappily. "Flynn wants to please. And with a vehemence which almost drives it into the ridiculous. I don't think this will last long. He's too young and inexperienced."

Dante snorted. "When I talked to him, there was almost something religiously fanatical about him."

"Well then, I'm curious to see where this goes." Skeptically, Daniel frowned. "Being worshipped like a goddess is very much to Miss Britney's taste, in my opinion."

"Well, let's hope she doesn't build herself a harem, then," Dante muttered, half in jest, half in earnest, and watched with relief as Daniel shook his head.

"As long as Miss Carolyn rules here, I don't think so." What might come after that was an entirely different kettle of fish.

Just when the kitchen was again clean, Ethan entered. Dante thought he looked old, but maybe it was just an unhealthy mix of defeat and fatigue.

"You look really crappy," Daniel spoke it sympathetically, and to Dante's surprise, a smile flitted across Ethan's face.

"I'm going to Townsend tomorrow."

"Why is that?" Mikey asked puzzled.

"I'm going to serve at the community center until there's a buyer. I asked for it."

"Why is that?" TJ repeated Mikey's question, no less puzzled.

Ethan made a helpless gesture. "Because the situation here is unbearable." They could probably all relate to that, and Dante nodded slowly.

Silence reigned for a moment, Ethan's shoulders slumped, and Dante feared he would burst into tears, but then Miss Britney barged in.

"Have either of you seen Jessy?"

The answer consisted of multiple shakes of the head, only Daniel said quietly: "No, Miss."

"Find her!" she barked into the room and was gone in an instant.

Ethan sighed lightly. "Doesn't she deserve a little rest?" he whispered more to himself.

"Let Dante go." Daniel said quietly, stepping up to Ethan and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Why me? And go where?" Dante asked, caught off guard, but got no answer for a long moment, until Ethan finally said with a sigh:

"Back at the edge of the woods, there's a shrine. That's where she went after lunch."

"Okay, but why me?" Dante had not heard of this shrine until now.

"Because you're relatively neutral," Daniel explained matter-of-factly, squeezing Ethan's shoulder. "If Jessy wants to talk, it's probably most likely with you."

Skeptically, Dante raised a brow, but then nodded. "Okay..."

~

If Dante had been on the lookout for it, he probably would have noticed the shrine earlier. A semicircle of waist-high yew bushes enclosed from behind the life-size stone statue of the Great Mother, who had her hands outstretched in a gracious, inviting gesture. An orange-brown cloak had been draped around her shoulders and a conical roof supported by twelve columns loomed overhead. Under the roof, but at a respectful distance from the statue, was a rather weathered wooden bench- and on it sat Jessy. The girl was barely visible under her cap and scarf, and Dante stepped up beside the bench, where he bowed deeply toward the statue, giving Jessy a chance to react to him.

"Sit down." she said, sniffling. A quick glance told him her nose was dripping, but he had no tissues.

He sat down next to her on the bench and looked at the shrine, which was obviously well cared for.

"Why did you come?" she finally wanted to know as he put his hands in the pockets of his thick jacket.

"Your Ma's looking for you," he answered honestly.

"And you, of all people, knew where I was?"

"Ethan told me and Daniel sent me."

A strange, low laugh escaped her and he gave her a quick glance, but she looked stubbornly straight ahead.

"Do you come here often?"

She nodded silently.

"It's a nice place." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her glance.

"Yes. Quiet. Peaceful."

Slowly, he turned his head and returned her gaze, then put on a slight smile.

"Dante, the Warrior of Light... Do you believe in it?"

"In what, exactly?"

"In your name."

"It's just a name. I mean, it's kind of a bad joke to name a slave after a half god."

"You think so? I think we need a warrior of light here." Now she sounded a little spaced out... She sighed. "The priestesses at the temple school say, sometimes the Great Mother deliberately sends a very specific man to a woman. To keep the balance. I think Aunt Alice needs you. And I think Flynn is definitely not Ma's balance."

"No, probably not. But obviously Ethan isn't either, if she can just push him aside without feeling anything."

Jessy nodded slowly and Dante saw it with relief; he'd been afraid the girl would see her foster father in a glorified light. "Do you think Ma is a bad mistress?"

"There are definitely better ones," he answered honestly, but in a gentle tone. "But there are also significantly worse ones."

Again she nodded thoughtfully, then fell silent again.

"What do you mean by your aunt would need me?" he then asked curiously, shuddering as Jessy looked back at him- sad, knowing, lost.

"That accident back then... it broke so much. Uncle Frank. Aunt Alice's brother. Grandpa is sad a lot because of it and Aunt Alice is alone a lot. I don't think even Val can make her happy, though she can laugh with him."

"And you want me to fix it?" Skeptically, he raised a brow and saw her nod seriously.

"You're proud and strong. Ma and Grandma always say pride in men is a bad thing, but it isn't."

"How would you know?" After all, pride and arrogance were often very close, and Dante wasn't sure she could differentiate that accurately yet, even though she seemed much older than her years.

"Grandpa is proud, but he's not a bad man because he knows how to act toward a woman. He is free, but he has earned it. He has served and is still serving. And he makes Grandma happy and protects us." Only the last sentence sounded like a child.

"Are you happy?" he asked on impulse and she shook her head.

"No."

Probably not much would change there anytime soon, and as Dante looked back up at the statue of the Great Mother, a thought crossed his mind. The children out here in the country were home schooled and the girls went to boarding school in the next town at 10 or 12, depending on their level of knowledge and local conditions. But besides the boarding school there was another alternative: the temple school. Girls attended it for religion classes once or twice a week, but who was to say that a girl like Jessy could not become a priestess?

He voiced the thought, but Jessy shook her head.

"I thought about it. But Ma wouldn't let me go."

"What makes you think that? I mean, how can anyone deny the Great Mother new priestesses?" He stifled the additional comment that yes, there was Maisie, who could inherit the farm sometime many years from now, not to mention future girls.

"Maybe you're right..." she murmured, looking up uncertainly. There was a suitably childlike expression on her face now and Dante smiled encouragingly at her.

"Why don't you just ask her? And if she says no, you can always ask your matriarch."

Jessy nodded and pulled up a corner of her mouth. "Thanks, Dante."

"You're welcome. But you really should go back now." Before your Ma takes her anger out on someone available in your place, he added in thought, and again she nodded before rising, bowing to the statue, and running off.

~

Later at dinner, Jessy seemed calm and composed, giving Dante a satisfied smile, and as if that wasn't enough, she later slipped into the kitchen and hugged Dante so enthusiastically that he almost dropped a plate.

"Yikes!"

"Thank you!" she whispered into his shirt and disappeared as quickly as she had come. A baffled but satisfied smile crept onto Dante's face as he watched her go. Miss Britney's response had obviously been positive.

"What was that all about?" Mikey asked puzzled.

"I told you," Daniel said with an audible smile.

"How did you do that?" Ethan wanted to know and Dante shrugged, his smile slipping.

"We talked." The others looked at him curiously, but he was quite of the opinion that it was none of their business. However, Ethan's whole attitude made him feel sorry for him. "I guess on her tenth birthday she'll be standing outside the temple school with her bags packed."

"I didn't see that coming now," TJ muttered, dumbfounded, and Ethan's eyes grew wide before he turned away- Dante saw some relief on his face anyway.

Seth, who had wanted to deal with some inventory lists, laughed quietly. "Someone's made a new friend," he said.

"We could all use a friend or two." Dante gave him a wry grin and got back a gentle smile along with a nod.

"So, which of our many friends here is going to take care of the laundry? Maisie's already whining about missing her favorite skirt," Daniel interjected, and Mikey returned:

"Why not you directly? It's your little daughter, after all."

"Oh, if you'll put Jack in the bathtub in return, I'd love to."

"Uh, no..."

"I'll do it." Dante offered, though he really didn't have much desire for icy feet and clammy cold fingers, but someone had to do it, and besides, if Seth was forced to make a decision for them, he'd send him downstairs anyway.

When Dante was halfway done, Tom suddenly asked behind him:

"Are they actually sending you downstairs on purpose at this hour?"

"How do they say? Only women have secrets, and even they have to share them with Shannon. Seth would know everything even without a gossiping household," Dante replied, addressing one of Jack's t-shirts before casting a quick glance over his shoulder.

Tom leaned in the doorway and smiled tiredly.

"You look pretty done."

"Some days are worse than others. Frank's bad mood didn't help matters either."

Dante sighed and turned back to the wet laundry. "He got an invitation to Lucia Parker's birthday party this morning."

"Well, that explains a lot." Tom sighed as well, and a thought occurred to Dante.

"Tell me, did Frank ever ask you any questions?"

"What kind of questions?" Tom asked back, confused.

"Well... typical teenage questions."

"Oh. No, he hasn't. Whereas... he once asked why he looks different down below than the rest of us. He obviously didn't like the answer, but he didn't ask any further." Usually slave-born boys were circumcised shortly after birth, but that apparently went differently here as well.

"Why is that, actually? I mean, as a second-born boy, he should have-"

"It's a ritual," Tom interrupted him with an audible eyeroll. "The circumcision, the first cage, the first slave collar, the handing over to the mistress for education."

Dante grimaced- he had heard that it was a terrible pain, but he refrained from commenting on it, because Tom's circumcision was for him probably part of his humiliation of becoming a slave.

"Except for Frank, all the men here in the household are circumcised. And, well, apart little Jack," Tom added and Dante nodded as he finally got the last piece of clothing on the line. "But I wonder what he sees in you, asking you of all people these questions. I mean, he did ask, right?"

Dante wondered the same thing, just as he wondered why Jessy confided in him- he didn't let the answer that he should resemble his namesake in any way stand. "He did, but who knows why..."

"Maybe he's growing up after all. Very, very slowly..."

Dante turned to Tom and shrugged before putting the empty laundry basket in its place. "Since you know him better than I do-"

Somewhere in the background there was a loud bang and glass shattered. Mikey cursed and then called out miserably: "Dante? Can you help me?"

"What happened?" Dante shouted back, pushing with an apologetic look past Tom, who couldn't resist pressing a wet kiss to his cheek. As if he needed to mark his territory.