Lewis panted slightly, happy to be out of the confined space. He followed Leossa, knowing where the rooms were, but not wanting to just barge into them without the man's permission. He was the one closest to his Uncle, after all. "You can come with me... If it's not too hard for you," he said with a faint smile. He didn't want to go in there by himself, go to the room his Uncle died in.

The doors were opened and he cautiously walked into the room, taking in the sight of the small and cluttered room. His Uncle had never liked the large space of the master bedroom. Lewis had to admit there was a cosy feeling in this room, with all his possessions so close to him. He crept forward, feeling as though his Uncle's ghost was watching them carefully. He didn't believe in ghosts or spirits, so he shrugged the thought off.

He went towards the shelves and scanned the many journals of his Uncle's, and the possessions he had there. "My Uncle liked recording his life, didn't he?" He took one journal down and flicked through it, looking at the familiar handwriting. It was so much like his own. This entry he was talking about the house, and how it was finally being built. He mentioned Lewis' Aunt. This was a long time ago as his Aunt was dead before Lewis was born. "Perhaps we should save these, so others can learn about his life." He had lived a long one, after all. Lewis was interested in reading them anyway.

He followed Lewis as requested, remaining a few paces behind the young man as he moved about. Nothing had changed after Ralis's death, except the bed. It had been cleaned and remade after the man's body was carted away, and just tomorrow, they would accompany a few friends and associates, and the priest that would see the man off as he was sealed into his crypt. He moved forward as Lewis saw the man's journals. Near the end his writing was so awful that he asked Leossa to record while he wrote. "True, Master Lewis, your uncle rather obsessively wrote down his days." He agreed.

Leossa went to the closet, pulling a small pillowcase out of the top shelf. "We can place them in here until further notice." He said. "For now it would be the easiest way to transport them." Each volume was numbered on the binding and front in Roman numerals. He went from newest to oldest, the leather growing progessively cracked and peeling and the paper growing more and more yellowed. Decades were recorded here, some of the man's greatest secrets, and sometimes, utter jibberish, for he often wrote in the midst of semi-madness or fever.

"Is there anything else you feel would be worth salvaging?" Leossa asked Lewis. "Beyond the books, any papers, clothing, paintings or small trinkets?" Then it would be sealed, until the end of time. That was a strangely emptying thought that grasped at Leossa's heart, but he quickly swallowed the sudden show of emotion.

He passed all the journals to Leossa to put into the sack to keep. He then hovered again, deciding against taking anything else from the room. He moved from the bedroom and stopped in front of the man's office. Now that was a place he wanted to see into. He tried the door, but found it locked. He turned to Leossa to ask for him to unlock it. Was it just him, or did the butler seem hesitant to unlock the door?

Inside were more books and papers, diagrams and maps hung on the walls. Strange creatures floated in green liquid in jars on the shelves. At his Uncle's desk, he found more papers and diagrams, describing some sort of machine. He looked over these but took nothing from the absent-minded scribblings. It seemed the man sometimes wrote in some cryptic language no one else could read. "What was he working on?" he asked Leossa, running his fingers over the diagrams and then slowly moving towards he shelves. Strange creatures were in jars... Some looking like deformed foetuses. He gulped back a sick feeling.

Something... Very faintly, in the back of his head, was humming. He could remember this. But when...? Why and how? He blinked and it slipped away like water trickling through his hands.

He couldn't disobey his new master, but still, it felt oddly wrong to unlock the door to the room Ralis spent most of his time in. It felt strange, not being with the older man, the one that had created everything in the room, and beyond, but then grew to fear it all. He was indeed reluctant, but did as he was asked, and unlocked the door to pull it wide.

From his position behind Lewis, Leossa shook his head gently. "I'm not aware of the extent of his creations." He admitted. "He... for all of his life, Master Ralis was working on a machine that may come to spare the ill, the old, the pained, but found it extremely difficult. But he never allowed me to know much of the world he immersed himself into. And near the end he only spoke gibberish of the machine, and its orderlies, and its crawling insides. The shadows that came to life without his consent and the things in the dark, hidden by the living shadows. But some weeks before his death he was also prone to night terrors, so I believe these dreams came to manifest in a plain of reality we would never begin to understand."

He was a madman, some of his old friends woul say. Prone to fits of madness that, at a certain point, split his fragile mind. And the oddities in this room... Leossa couldn't begin to imagine what his old master saw, felt, heard.

Lewis shuddered and turned quickly. "Seal it all up. Least his madness rubs off onto us." He had seen madness before and it scared him to think that he might, again, slip into it.

He left the office and bedroom, helping Leossa carry the pillowcase into his own. He left the books on his bed, he would sort them and read them later on. It really was interesting to think he could find out about his Uncle, starting from his youthful days. But now he wanted to see some more of the house, and maybe even go outside. He turned to Leossa. He didn't want the man to leave his side, but didn't want to seem too clingy.

"Leossa, I wish to go outside for awhile, and I would love for you to join me. Perhaps we can get to know each other a little better?" His eyes grazed the strange blackness of the butler's face, but he didn't stare. "I'd love to know about your life with my Uncle."

For now, he only locked the doors. Soon he would seal the windows to keep the light, the weather, out of them and lock the doors more securely, more obviously, so no one dared even try to enter. The only change there now was a single empty bookshelf in a line of shelving units. He paused before following Lewis, staring at the doors. It wouldn't yet be the last time he opened them, but it felt like some other door was closing, and far more permanently.

Once again with Lewis, the man had his hands clasped behind him. "I would love to show you about the land you may have forgotten." He said lightly. "Although I'm sure you may have seen that the house has hardly changed since your time here, and you may recall some pointed areas." the maze made of brick wall and ivy, the garden of roses red and black, the lake, the series of willow trees and cherry trees---which were due to bloom not long from now. "And it would be a pleasure sharing what you may like to know." And perhaps getting to know more of this sickly young man. Most others would see him and croon sympathy, but there was a spirit within him that Leossa could feel---he didn't want sympathy. Didn't want to be seen for his disabilities. His scars. His weakness and exhaustion. Just as Leossa didn't want others gasping and asking about his eye, or the clip in and on his left ear.

"Would you like to use the lift again?" Leossa asked. "It is perfectly safe, I can promise you that, Master Lewis. Your uncle was very meticulous in that regard."

"No, I can walk down the stairs fine," he assured the butler with a grin. Going down was always so much easier than climbing up. He started towards them now, stopping to make sure Leossa was following. He went down the stairs almost effortlessly, turning from the front door and heading deeper into the house, towards the back door. He used to sit under the willows, making small boats our of leaves to float across the lake. If he remembered right, there would be large goldfish swimming in the shallows. Koi fish, his Uncle had called them.

He went through the back door, stopping on the doorstep and grinning as the fresh air hit him. He had never understood why he had been sent to the city when this place had just fresh air. "It's just as I remember it, even through all the fog and muddiness of my memory."

He walked through the long grass, smiling as he made his way towards the lake. He could see them from this distance, the giant fish, and was pleased to see they were still there.

Outside. It was a bit warmer, now, but one could still feel a bit of a chill to the air. Winter hadn't gone yet and it was clinging with every ounce of stubborn strength to the air, the trees, the slight crunchy frost that encrusted the grass each early morning before the sun rose. Leossa woke each day before the sun, without the help of a bell, a clock, an alarm of any sort. It was a habit he had developed in his years of service, and he followed Lewis in a dedicated way. Dedicated, but distant, a friend when needed. "Your uncle did dislike change when it came to his land." Leossa said when Lewis commented. "He still has his roses, their red and black, to the left near where the maze is."

The land drifted downward both ways after a time. To the left was the maze and the rose garden, and to the right, the willows and the lake. A gazebo sat at the end of a stone path, shrouded in ivy and blossoming flowers that looked like ice. "Of course, I could always tell Keno to change what you might like to see changed. He only speaks his native language, and never learned English." It had been up to Leossa to communicate requests or hours with the man.

"Oh, no... I like it like this too..." Lewis stopped when he came to the lake, sitting down on the bank and watching the giant fish lazily swim among the weeds. He wondered if he took after his Uncle, wondered how much they were alike. He barely knew the man, after all. Even when he lived here, he rarely saw him. Or maybe he just couldn't remember.

"I'm glad to see the fish are still here," he commented. "I know he wasn't very fond of them." His Uncle had told him that he kept them because they reminded him of his Aunt. He sighed and stretched his legs out, his toes touching the very surface of the water. It was still cool. He had never been swimming there, even though his Father once spoke of doing so with his Uncle. Lewis had never been swimming, due to his heart condition and amputated leg. He'd hate for anyone to see those scars.

Leossa was different. "I don't remember how I got them..." he said, glancing up at the butler. "My scars, that is." Sometimes if he concentrated hard enough, he'd remember a searing pain so unbearable he couldn't even scream. "Or how I lost my leg. The doctors tell me it had to be amputated because of a disease that was spreading..."

When Lewis sat, he crouched alongside him, if a little behind. This wasn't his only uniform, but he'd prefer not to get stains on it that would take ages to get out, and the grass tended to stain and show up even on this dark fabric. He enjoyed the lake, though, the way it shimmered in the sharp sunlight and glinted with the yellow, gold, orange, and white and black patterns of the Koi fish. Leossa always made it a point once a week to comb the water with an extensive net to gather up any dead fish, and go to the city to replace them. They lived a good number of years, though, when kept healthy and in free water like the lake. He was just glad Lewis liked the way the grounds were. He'd grown so used to them. The beautiful roses. The flowering ivy that covered the old brick walls of the maze. He couldn't imagine anything changing. And true, Master Ralis hadn't liked the Koi, but his wife had adored them. A sweet and gentle young woman, if Leossa remembered back. Soft spoken.

He regarded Lewis with a little empathy. "Perhaps a gangrenous infection in the leg... It's known to spread very quickly, and can only be helped by amputation. I do hate knowing there isn't some way to simply fight the infection... It would have spared your leg. I, myself, dislike people overreacting at the state of my eye. I... prefer not talking about what happened, but it does have its pros---I can at least see in the dark a little better than the average man." It did help. In the night he could use that eye to see in the dark, as if it were late morning.

"Master Lewis... Your uncle became pained in his old age. I developed a gel to take the pain away. A simple massage in the affected areas will let the gel work into the afflicted area. It may work for your scars, if they pain you so." Anything to allow Lewis to live in less pain. Even now he intended to mix it, without Master Ralis around.

"Oh, they don't bother me much any more," he replied truthfully, but happy that Leossa cared about his well-being. Just like his Uncle... "What do you feed them?" he asked, nodding towards the fish. "Or do they feed themselves?" He had to do some reading on the matter later. He enjoyed learning about nature more than he did science and machines. Religion? He never saw the point to spend all his time and money on someone that may not even exist. Poor fools, he had thought of religious people.

He laid back now, bringing his arms around behind his head as he looked up at the sky. The leaves of the weeping willows longed to reach downwards and tickle his face. He smiled, suddenly reaching out and finding Leossa's hand. "I want you to stay by my side from now on. We will be the best of friends." He closed his eyes, his heart starting to hurt when he thought of having to part with Leossa. "Promise me you won't die..." he said quietly, choking on the sadness that set in. He sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes free of tears.

He was no longer a child. Only little boys cried for their Mothers.

He felt it was safe, if he didn't move much, to sit fully, but remain upright. "Oh, they feed themselves." He replied, studying the fish. One leapt up, grabbing something Leossa couldn't see. An insect, a tiny fish, some green substance, perhaps algae. In the winter they relied on the slightly warmer water at the bottom of the lake, and the little creatures trapped beneath the ice.

He glanced around when something grasped him suddenly. A hand. Living hand. Between them satin cloth separated a full touch but he could still feel it so well---a heart. A weak heart, but a heart, and it did beat, beat with a purpose, with a stubborn purpose. Beneath the two layers of skin, the satin, he could feel the heart, the center of the world of the body, perhaps. Beating, rushing blood, rushing and flowing through the veins, the millions of veins. Rushing, pausing when the heart did, but only for an instant, only for that very slight instant between beats. And it beat, though unsteady, as all human hearts, unsteady beats that kept him alive, that kept Lewis breathing, existing, moving. Warm.

he shook himself very, very lightly. Back to reality. "I will remain by your side no matter what." He promised. "My life here is to be your watcher, your friend, the keeper of the house and whatever the master will ask. And I will not die." Not at all. If he survived this far, there was no way he could die. But he could live long enough to see an entire family name die. And that was a dreadful thought.

Lewis smiled. It was so nice to think that Leossa would stay with him. Finally, someone he could love and trust. Someone who wouldn't die or leave him after a short while. He couldn't be more happy. Though he noticed the way Leossa flinched when he touched him and wondered why. Perhaps he had some sort of illness of the mind that made him hate germs, or human contact. What a lonely life that would be. He took his hand back.

"I'm sorry, do you not like being touched?" he asked the man, his dark eyes open again as he studied Leossa, staring deep into that black eye... He blinked and looked away, not wanting to seem rude.

Leossa rubbed his hand as it was released, and suddenly the warm contact was gone. He shook his head slowly, though. "Oh no, no, it's not that at all." He assured the young man. "I... simply feel a strange form of contact. As if I am... hypersensitive. When a human touches me, I feel their... humanity. Their heart. Soul. Not only who they are but... what they are." His gaze softened. "And I could feel your heart, Master Lewis. Your weak but stubbornly-beating heart. It will not give up. It refuses to allow its owner to come to harm. And I like that. It tells me you have a strong spirit. A strong humanity. You will live... a very long time."

He paused. What was that he said...? It felt as if it were coming from a totally different place. "I apologize." Leossa said quickly. "I'm not sure why I said that." What an interesting show. Now, perhaps Master Ralis's nephew felt he were completely insane.

Lewis was fascinated by what Leossa said. Sometimes he could feel it too, but that was very rarely. He wondered what it would be like to feel it every time he touched a human... It would be unnerving... But yet, as he remembered a time in his youth he had screamed because he could feel the nurse's heartbeat, so fascinating... And how come Leossa, his Uncle's servant, had this ability and he once had it as well? It made him feel uncomfortable. He said nothing more on the matter.

He thought about what Leossa had said about his heart. He had called it stubborn, something a doctor once said about it. As stubborn as an old man's heart, that refused to give in. It was comforting that he wouldn't die any time soon. Death had become a fear of his, and even the thought of going to his Uncle's funeral tomorrow made him slightly nervous. The man may have loved a long life, but death found him still. But not before taking his loved ones... Just like it had done to Lewis.

Leossa stood slowly, brushing his pants off of the grass that might have clung to him. While this life was a job, and little more, Leossa felt obligation. A desire to become friends with his current master or mistress, the current owner of everything, the house, the grounds---him. And if something came to bloom in Lewis's mind, something that might separate them with a wedge, it wouldn't be the same. He cleared his throat, brushing back his hair. "Ah, Master Lewis, shall I begin preparations in sealing your uncle's rooms?" It was early, still. He wouldn't have to begin dinner for a few hours, and could easily be called upon while he began his work there.

"If you wish," Lewis said, sad that Leossa wanted to leave his side. He stood himself, startling one of the large fish and causing it to splash about and then shoot off into the deeper waters. He was sad to see it go. "But first, may you help me with the lift again? I wish to do some reading in my room." The room had a small balcony, with a comfortable chair. He could start reading his Uncle's journals.

He followed Leossa back into the house and wondered towards the lift, still feeling nervous about it. He stepped inside and waited for it to take him to the top of the stairs, once again glad to be on solid ground.

"It would be my pleasure." Leossa simply said, moving with Lewis back to the house and keeping his stride gradual in case Lewis became tired on their way back. He was quick with the lift, but not terribly so to keep Lewis calm. Upstairs, he led the young man to his room again. "I will only temporarily be in the cellar." He promised. "The bells reach there as well, and I will be able to hear it if you ring at any time. Is there anything you would like before I get to work?" He would have to loosen his usual uniform quite a bit, if to avoid getting dust and brick pieces all over himself and possibly ruining one of his uniforms.

Lewis shook his head, picking up each journal until he found the first one. "I'll ring if I need something," he said with a smile, taking the old book with him as he walked to the glass doors and opened them, sitting on the chair on the balcony. The view was beautiful and the small breeze that blew through the trees stopped him from getting too hot. He hummed happily to himself as he carefully opened the journal. The first ever entry... His Uncle would have been around his age at the time.

"The weather is growing colder today, as Fall is giving away to the approach of Old Man Winter. Soon the grass will be frozen in the mornings and snow will lightly dust the mountain tops. And I am to start College. With my Father's family name, it wasn't terribly hard to get into Weloer University, and I easily found a place in the classes of science and human biology.

What will I learn, I wonder. My Mother cries nightly, thinking that her child is now a man and ready to leave the nest. I tell her that I will be fine. I never understood why she gets so upset. It seems ever since my brother left home a year ago, she is worried that her children will disappear from her life. I tell her that I will write her, and visit during the festive seasons, but this doesn't stop her worry.

My brother, Ignitious, has already completed his midterm papers. He wrote to me yesterday, telling me about the practical he had to go through. Real human bodies! They were able to dissect and explore the inner workings of a human... A real human. I asked him where they got permission to use the dead, but I have a feeling body snatchers are involved. Though, my brother will make a great surgeon."

Lewis turned the page, interested in seeing this part of his Uncle. The young and carefree part... And to see if his Father was mentioned any more.

Leossa smiled and nodded, turning swiftly and hurrying away. Before beginning, he stopped in his room, halfway between Lewis's and the late Ralis'. He set his jacket and gloves, other small things on the bed. His room was a large one, given to him by his previous master for the sight it shared with his own, smaller room. A large bed lay in the corner, draped in dark colors, and large rectangular windows---three of them---sat against the back wall. Dark wood floors mingled with heavy rugs of royal tones, and thick curtains were pulled back. For now, he liked the curtains to be open. It gave the room a little life.

In looser clothes---but still relating to his status---Leossa went downstairs, and to the cellar through another several doors off the kitchen. Down in the main chamber of the cellar, made generally of stone and a little wood, mounds of bricks sat. A double-door led to another chamber, and these were stored cement mixes and buckets, barrels and shovels and trowels and some ladders. And the lift. It could reach down here in case something was needed that couldn't be wheeled upstairs. And now Leossa gathered the necessary items. First, the bricks. He would have to make a series of trips up and down, but would be able to get everything up to the second floor in none too long. The bricks on their pallets, the cement to hold the bricks to the windows, which he would remove of their glass. Then after that he would bring up the locks. And he would lock all the doors, one at a time, permanently.

He wheeled a few loads of bricks to the lift. Luckily it could handle huge weights for this purpose. Bringing the lift down, Leossa loaded the several pallets inside and shut the gate, bracing himself before pulling the chain, sending them up.

What would Lewis learn? For a general part Leossa wasn't aware of what was written in at least a dozen of the journals. But after he got out of his youth, he was sure he wrote only of his machine and fear of death, and about experiments, perhaps of Leossa as well. His last journals were written specifically by Leossa, so he knew everything in those very well. Such... strange things Master Ralis said. Made Leossa write down. 'Write them, write them now! All of it, or I won't bear to live a moment longer!' Leossa shuddered at the words, harsh and frail in his mind, and went upstairs with a ladder in front of him.

Lewis was distracted temporarily by the sight of a bright red bird. He had never seen one before and watched it as it jumped from branch to branch, nibbling on the buds and seeds found there. It flew of with a loud piping song, flying out of sight. He smiled after it, looking back down to the journal. He had read most of the first book, which detailed his Uncle's life in University, learning human biology and other sciences. His Father was mentioned a few more times, but it seemed his Uncle was starting to become interested in someone else.

"Annette asked me to walk her back to her dormitory tonight, a strange request from the usually quiet girl. She is one of the first women to be allowed to study human biology, and I am indeed surprised by her intelligence and insight on our studies. She wants to be a doctor as well, a strange career choice for a woman. I thought she would become squeamish at the sight of the body we had to cut open, and yet she worked with as much concentration as the men around her.

I told her I liked her integrity and she told me she liked my intelligence, that I wasn't pursuing her simply because of the fact she has a Y chromosome. When we got to her door, she kissed my cheek and thanked me. I was frozen for a long time. Oh, what has become of me? I can't get her out of my head. I want to be with her. I can't concentrate on my studies. Is this love?" Lewis sighed and closed the journal. He was surprised to see that the sun was slowly sinking on the horizon. It had been that long already? He wondered if Leossa was nearing completion.

He mixed the cement before bringing it up. That would minimize the mess. He did so quickly, bringing it all up and leading it into his old master's rooms, where he started with the window that looked into the bathroom. It was the smallest. He started in, stacking bricks, pausing for mortar, making sure they stacked straight and he didn't use too much to make it soggy or crumbly.

It was done quickly. Absolutely no light or air got in through the window. The panes of glass he took out of it he set against a wall near the double doors. Then he put aside the curtains on the larger windows and did the same thing---taking out the glass from their hinges, and starting off with brick and mortar. He had to use the ladder halfway through to continue, going up and down a few steps at a time, then more.

A grandfather clock chimed somewhere. Suddenly Leossa snapped out of his duty and looked around. Three in the afternoon. He would have a couple hours to begin dinner and finish it by five-thirty. At least he'd used all the cement he'd mixed so far. Before leaving, Leossa piled up everything by the window to continue later, perhaps in the evening when Master Lewis was asleep. He went back to his room to bathe the sweat and dust off and change clothes. Lewis hadn't made a sound since leaving to read, and curious, he stepped into his room to look about. The young man was on the balcony, reading diligently. Leossa smiled, hurrying downstairs. Perhaps something meaty tonight. No doubt Lewis was glad to be away from the lackluster and terrible food of the home he had been sent to in his illness, and Leossa did enjoy surprising people with his abilities.

Veal was nice. He didn't really approve of the methods farmers went through, however. It seemed inhumane. Still, he was one man, a man in service to more influential men. He couldn't say anything that important, anyway. Going into the icebox, Leossa relished the cool air that was vented up from cooling systems his previous Master had put in order years ago.

Lewis stood up, feeling slightly dizzy as he always did when he was sitting for awhile. He went back to his room and placed the book on an empty shelf above his bed. Soon he was sorting out all the others. He could smell something nice being cooked and glanced at the large clock that hung on the wall opposite his bed. It was nearing supper time. He smiled and left his room, heading for the stairs.

He was halfway down them when... All of a sudden he grew dizzy. So dizzy he had to sit down. But then his heart began racing and he was shaking. No, not here. He cried out for help, unable to see any bells nearby. He was panting hard, hand clasped over his heart. He had had too much exercise today. He had overdone it. "Leossa?! I need help." He blinked the darkness away and tried to stand up, but couldn't feel his legs.

He focused quietly on a different item, and on a different counter. He was silent while he worked, eyes intent on the subject---a vanilla bean. He had to split it well down the center to get to the inside. Split it without cutting it directly in half. It would be added to something sweet, but he didn't have a direct idea about what, precisely, it would be. His hand twitched when a light voice called his name. Lewis? He set the knife down and sprinted out of the kitchen, through the hall and into the entrance hall, finding Lewis halfway up the steps.

"Master Lewis, are you okay?" He jumped up the steps to the young man's side. "Have you grown too weak? Perhaps I shall carry you upstairs, to bed. It's not safe to keep going as you are." His obvious worry was palpable, his brow knitted at the sight, the way the last living carrier of the Ralis name sat breathless on the stair.

"I... Overdid it today..." he panted, hating how weak he felt. He looked up at Leossa, seeing the worry in his new friend's face. "Perhaps I should lie in bed for awhile..." He felt bad for being like this, bad that he couldn't sit at the table and eat Leossa's no doubt delicious food. He tried to stand again, but fell back. No, he was much to weak right now to even walk back to his room.

Even though he hated it, he allowed Leossa to lift him with surprising strength and bring him to his room. He was put on his bed, which he climbed into and closed his eyes. "Thank you... I'm sorry... I'll have to eat in my room... I really wanted to eat with you..." Why did his voice break then? He looked away, ashamed of the tears forming in his eyes.