Owen studied the two newcomers while they straightened from their bows.
The young woman looked to be in her early twenties. She was slender but healthy, with the kind of athletic build that came from being on her feet all day.
Her dark chestnut hair was arranged in a neat braid beneath her maid’s headpiece, and she had warm brown eyes and soft, composed features. Her black-and-white Ferrers uniform fit her well, with silver detailing around the collar and the family crest embroidered over her chest.
She stood straight, and nothing about her suggested a nervous new recruit. She looked like someone well used to formal service.
The man beside her was in his mid-twenties, noticeably taller than she was and a little taller than Owen. He was broad through the shoulders and lean, with short brown hair and sharp grey eyes. A faint scar crossed one of his eyebrows, though Owen couldn’t guess where it had come from.
His dark military uniform was fitted and well kept, with the silver Ferrers crest and his rank insignia on it, and his boots were polished. He stood with the easy discipline of a soldier.
Eleanor let Owen look for a moment before she spoke.
"I’ve called you here to introduce two people," she said. "From now on, they’ll be serving you personally."
Owen wasn’t especially surprised.
He had always known it would happen eventually. House Ferrers assigned trusted personal staff to its awakened heirs, and Gareth had received his own attendants after his awakening. Owen had grown up watching them help his brother with his daily affairs, his equipment, his correspondence and his travel.
Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen Gareth’s attendants in a while. They had been given leave to visit their families during Gareth’s academy break, which explained why neither of them had been following his brother around the estate since Owen’s awakening.
Owen had simply been too busy with cultivation, training and his first subjugation to wonder when his mother would make the same arrangements for him.
He looked back at the two of them. A maid and an aide were only the titles of their positions, and the retainers chosen for a Ferrers heir weren’t ordinary household servants.
Like Gareth’s attendants, they would have awakened Armament Cores and bonded swords of their own. Their job might be to serve and assist, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t fight.
Eleanor introduced the young woman first.
"This is Agnes Whitfield," she said. "She’s twenty-three, and she’s served in this household for some time, though never directly for you. She’ll be your personal maid. Your wardrobe, your belongings, your daily arrangements and your preparations whenever you travel will all be her responsibility."
Agnes stepped forward. "It’s a pleasure to meet you properly, Young Master," she said. Her voice was clear and pleasant, polite without sounding rehearsed. "I’ll do my best to make your days as convenient as I can."
"Welcome," Owen said. "Have you been in the residence long?"
"Six years," Agnes said. "I started under the head housekeeper and spent most of the last two looking after the guest wing. Rooms, linen, whatever visitors needed during their stay." She paused. "The difference is that guests leave after a few days. I expect you’ll be a little harder to keep up with."
Owen noticed that, for all her formal manner, she was perfectly comfortable speaking to him directly. She didn’t keep lowering her head or apologizing for answering his questions.
Eleanor turned to the man.
"And this is Corporal Hugh Fenwick. He’s twenty-six and serves in our military. He’ll be your personal aide. Messages, appointments, practical arrangements, and anything that needs coordinating with military personnel outside the ordinary household routine."
"Young Master," Hugh said. He was more direct than Agnes and used fewer courtesies, though he was no less respectful. He sounded like a man used to receiving an assignment and reporting when it was done rather than talking about himself.
"What were you doing before this?" Owen asked.
"Serving with the house forces, Young Master. I’ve been reassigned to your personal staff." Hugh’s answer was short and plain. "I know military procedure, field equipment and travel arrangements. I was told that would be useful now that you’ve started going outside the estate."
"I reviewed both appointments myself," Eleanor said. "I think they’ll suit you."
She set down her cup. "You’re not just training with a sword on the estate anymore. Since your awakening, you’ve started cultivating, you’ve been training with our military, and you’ve already gone beyond our territory with your father. Having people to manage your arrangements will make things easier as that grows."
Owen understood. Before the Mowbray subjugation, his mother had personally made sure his clothes and equipment were ready. With someone assigned to handle those details, she wouldn’t have to see to every small thing herself.
Still, he was curious how much it would change his days.
"Are they expected to follow me everywhere?" he asked.
"There’s no reason for them to trail after you around the estate every minute," Eleanor said. "Agnes will look after your personal arrangements, and Hugh will deal with anything that needs communication, scheduling or coordination outside the residence. How much you see of them will depend on what you’re doing."
"I’ll need to learn your schedule and your preferences before I can arrange anything properly," Agnes added. "I won’t know what you need if you never tell me."
"The same goes for me," Hugh said. "If you’re planning to travel, or you’ve got an assignment that needs military arrangements, I’ll need enough notice to prepare."
That seemed reasonable to Owen. He liked being able to walk around his own home without announcing himself every time he left his room, but he could see how useful it would be to have reliable people handling the arrangements for the more serious things.
"Has anyone told you about my training?" he asked.
"I know you spend most of your mornings at the training grounds," Agnes said. "Nobody has given me your full routine yet."
"General Rooke supervises most of it," Owen said.
Hugh’s eyebrows rose slightly, the one with the scar pulling a little. "The General trains you personally?"
"She does."
"Then you have my sympathy, Young Master," Hugh said, and he didn’t sound as though he was entirely joking.
"I spent two hours with her this morning," Owen said. "I’ll take it."
Agnes had been looking at him while they spoke. "Your collar is still damp," she said. "And you’ve changed since then, haven’t you? How many sets of training clothes do you usually go through in a day?"
"That depends on what Edith has planned."
"So you don’t know."
"Nobody knows until she starts," Owen said.
"Then I’ll keep more of them ready," Agnes said, as though that settled it.
Owen found he was curious about something else. He knew both of them had their own swords, and after spending a month learning how much a different blade could change a fight, he wanted to know more.
"Do you still find time for weapon practice?" he asked. "Alongside your duties?"
"I keep up my training," Agnes said. "When I can use the facilities depends on the household, but I make the time." She didn’t offer anything more about it than that.
"Regular training is part of being a soldier, Young Master," Hugh said. "I don’t intend to stop because my assignment has changed."
Owen was pleased to hear that neither of them had let their swordsmanship go. He was considering asking what kind of swords they used when Eleanor gave him a look.
"I didn’t call them here so you could arrange another spar," she said. "Not after Edith spent all morning wearing you out."
"I was only curious," Owen said.
Agnes smiled faintly. Hugh looked as though he was trying not to, and mostly succeeding.
Once the introductions were done and Owen’s questions had been answered, Eleanor looked at him. "Do you have any objections?"
"None," Owen said. He turned to the two of them. "Welcome to my service, both of you."
Agnes and Hugh bowed.
Eleanor looked satisfied. "Your appointments take effect immediately. Spend the rest of the afternoon getting familiar with Owen’s arrangements."
Then she turned to her son. "Having staff doesn’t mean you stop being responsible for your own affairs. You still have to make the decisions and tell them what you want done. They can handle the arrangements, but they can’t guess everything for you."
"I understand," Owen said.
Eleanor nodded and picked her tea back up, and the three of them took their leave.
The corridor outside was busier than the drawing room. Maids carried clean linen toward the residential wing, a servant went past with a tray of refreshments, and the low voices of household staff drifted in from an adjoining passage.
"Would you like to go back to your quarters first, Young Master?" Agnes asked as they walked. "I’d like to see your wardrobe and the equipment you use most often."
"That’s fine."
"Do you have anything scheduled for tomorrow morning?" Hugh asked. "Apart from your own cultivation and training."
"Usually it’s just my own routine," Owen said. "Unless Edith has arranged another session."
"Then I’ll keep in touch with the training complex," Hugh said. "If you’ve got anything that needs particular equipment or preparation, I can see to it."
Owen noticed that the two of them already seemed to know how to divide their work. Agnes asked about the household side of things. Hugh asked about the training grounds, military personnel and travel. Neither of them needed Owen to explain the obvious parts of household life, and he appreciated that.
When they reached his quarters, Agnes took a moment to look over how the room was arranged.
"Which of your belongings would you rather manage yourself?" she asked.
"I can dress and bathe on my own," Owen said. "But having my clothes, my travel supplies and everything else ready would be useful." He thought for a second. "And I’d prefer that nobody comes into my private room without knocking and waiting for an answer."
"Of course," Agnes said, without any sign that she found the request strange.
She asked where he kept his training clothes and whether he had separate equipment for field assignments. Owen showed her the wardrobe and the chest where he kept his field gear, and he could see her taking stock of everything as she looked through them.
Hugh stayed nearby without getting in her way. "How would you like important messages delivered, Young Master? Directly, or through the normal household staff?"
"If it’s urgent, bring it to me straight away," Owen said. "Anything ordinary can wait until it’s convenient."
Hugh nodded.
By the time Agnes had finished looking through his belongings and Hugh had a rough idea of his schedule, the afternoon had begun to feel less like a formal introduction and more like the start of something ordinary.
Agnes held up one of his training coats. It was one of several that had seen hard use over the past month, and like a few of the others, it needed cleaning and some small repairs.
"I’ll have these checked and ready before your next session," she said.
"Thank you," Owen said. She had found something useful to do without him having to tell her anything at all.
"Are you expecting more field operations soon, Young Master?" Hugh asked.
"I don’t know yet," Owen admitted. "The subjugation only just ended, and I’ve still got training to finish before the academy."
"Understood. I’ll be available whenever you need help with training arrangements or travel."
Owen looked at the two of them. A short while ago, they had been strangers standing in his mother’s drawing room. Now Agnes was already arranging his daily life, and Hugh was preparing to manage the military side of it.
He had known this appointment would come since the day Gareth received his own attendants. But it felt different now that it was happening to him.
His brother’s staff had always been part of the background of his childhood, and he had never really thought about how much work they did. Now he had two people of his own, and he would have to learn how to work with them.
"Is there anything else you need, Young Master?" Agnes asked before they left.
Owen thought about it. "Eventually, I’d like to see how the two of you handle your swords."
Agnes looked mildly amused. Hugh met the request with the easy confidence of someone who trained every day. Neither of them treated it as a challenge.
"When our schedules allow," Agnes said.
"I’ll look forward to it, Young Master," Hugh said.
That was enough for Owen.
Agnes went off to see to his clothes and the rest of his household needs, and Hugh left to familiarize himself with Owen’s training and military arrangements. Owen watched them go, then turned back to what was left of his afternoon.