He paused abruptly, making me bump into his back. “Heavens, I apologize. You might have broken your nose in that collision, as I’m all skin and bones.” Then he called out over my head, “Willoughby, are you not coming with us to see Sylvie?!”

The pyre hurried to meet us, and Niall ruffled his hair. “You look tired, my man. A bit of darkness will do you good. It’s a hot one today.”

Into the dark tunnels of slave quarters I went, following a reed of a Braun who’d draped his arm over the shoulders of a young pyre, chatting about the nature of bread and the various techniques of kneading.

Episode 52: The Damning Of Both Carrots And Restraint

Through the tunnels that ran in the hidden places of Rennington Estate we went. They were sweltering, those tunnels, but at least not sunny. Beads of perspiration gathered at the nape of my neck and on my brow.

“Almost there,” Niall encouraged. “It gets warm in here, as no air currents can really move through. Believe it or not, the kitchens will be much cooler, despite the furnaces and ovens.”

We squeezed past many pyres on their way, carrying loads of cloth or empty glasses, buckets of water or wood for stoves. None of them were surprised to see Niall passing through, though a few did glance at me and wonder who I was.

Finally, we squeezed through a narrow door and stepped out into a grand kitchen. The brick floor was messed and cleaned seemingly all at once, as pots boiled over and pyres bent to address the spills before the voided contents even cooled.

At the center was a pyre woman with a sturdy jaw. The slaves worked with effortless, speechless communication, meaning and intending without a word or signal traveling between them.

Niall almost slipped on a freshly scrubbed floor patch, catching himself before he reached the head kitchen pyre. He placed a quick kiss on her temple.

“What can I help with today, Sylvie? Am I in time for the bread.”

<<Sure you are. That’s why you’re here. For bread>>.

Of course, Niall could not understand her. He wasn’t listening for a response anyhow. Instead, he stretched his neck, looking over to the corner of the bustling kitchen. When he saw a female pyre sweetly kneading bread, he went crimson, darting his eyes back to Sylvie.

<<Go on then>>, Sylvie intended. <<She’s been waiting all morning. Never seen hands knead bread so slowly>>.

Niall hurried off to join the flower of a pyre, then he stumbled back over. “Oh, Sylvie, I can’t forget to introduce you. This is…someone? I found her at the breakfast table. But Willoughby gave me the nod when she wasn’t looking, so I brought her down with me. She seemed to me as if she might not have survived a mid-morning tea with Isther and Poppy.”