Chapter 11 - The Housing Situation

Wherein Valentina’s lie by omission is immediately outed.

It was the late afternoon rush on Paladay, two days after their sit-down at Paragon’s Cup,  when Valentina met up with her friends to take them to their new lodgings.

Bosra and Rose were both used to navigating the city in the common-folk way. They walked and took tubes every day, and though Splendor seemed big and sprawling compared to Pinnacle, most destinations weren’t altogether that much farther than going from homestead to market. Consequently, when Valentina indicated the house was situated in a quieter neighbourhood with upper middle-class houses, neither Bosra nor Rose thought about taking a private carriage. 

Valentina had never ridden one of the little tin cans drawn by mechanical bulls before. Rose called it a tube. It was a curious device, she marvelled. Standing inside, she could hear the bulls chuffing away, hooves clopping pavement in a steady beat. Magic powered their movement and kept them equidistant from the tubular tin can as it rolled along over grooves in the stone of the city pavement. 

They looked so sturdy and trustworthy on the outside. But on the inside... Valentina felt the whole contraption was an accident waiting to happen. Her stomach protested the unknown cadence, her nausea intensified by the fact that she couldn’t really look outside. She was packed in between Bosra's bulk on one side and a greasy-looking, onion-  and garlic-scented, furry goblinoid creature on the other. It had too many teeth.

The absolute worst part of the experience was the abrupt jerking of the thing as it progressed on its track, taking predetermined turns, but having to stop regularly because of traffic. 

Valentina noticed that was also when people would enter and exit, simply by jumping on or off the platform inside the tube. Every few jerks of progress, there was a shuffle in the tube as people that had been pushed in wanted to exit and needed to get to the side from the middle. 

Having been elbowed, kneed, pushed, prodded, and ultimately kept upright by Bosra, Valentina concluded that Hell did exist and that tubes were the invention of some demonic entity set on harvesting misery. 

Never before in her life had Valentina jumped from a moving vehicle. Now she had been pushed from one. Her purse had been tossed onto the street as an afterthought by the shark-mawed, hirsute goblin with his floppy ears, spindly limbs and disgusting scent. He had grinned at her, showing all those serrated teeth at once, and blown her a kiss with a dirty palm. 

She wanted to bathe now. A long, luxurious bath, filled with bubbles and lavender-lilac salts. 

Rose bit her lip to stifle a little grin at Valentina's discomfort. She reckoned she had looked like that herself after her first ride in a tube. She picked up her friend’s bag before it could be overrun by the two-horse carriage coming down the avenue. "Which way now?" 

Valentina blinked several times, straightened her spine and looked about. "Two streets over that way, I believe."

"Believe or know?" Bosra grumbled. 

"I know," Valentina corrected herself. She smiled apologetically.

Rose laughed. There was nothing for it. The banter was so commonplace, and she was feeling giddy with the prospect of a cheap place to stay that she didn't have to share with sixty gnomes, a handful of halflings and a grumpy dwarf or two. 

"Come on. Let's see if those eighteen sesters will get us more than a broom closet in a neighbourhood like this!" 

Stygian Way was a wide lane flanked by houses on either side. It was a quiet residential area that made Rose feel as if she’d stepped into a different world altogether. Gone were the sounds of the city. Gardens surrounded houses. Hip-high wrought-iron fences demarcated property lines. Manicured lawns sprouted charming tables and chairs. Rose could easily imagine those tables being used to picnic on sunny days, and children tumbling on the grass beside their mothers. The houses themselves had big windows, turrets, porches, and awnings. Rose even saw one with a rooftop walkway.

Valentina’s house stood tall and proud on its own patch of dirt. Weeds grew wild. Vines had overtaken the roses and hydrangeas. Whomever had renovated hadn’t cared about the flower borders and lawn. Muddy patches were like wounds in the otherwise green jumble.

The house itself looked pristine. Whitewashed walls, wooden window frames, green shutters embellished with painted flower motifs.

"Eighteen crowns more like," Bosra remarked, looking up at the multi-storied building. 

"I said I knew the owner," Valentina interposed. 

"I ain't no scum living off someone else." 

Rose blushed. Bosra happened to pay enough for her. Like the rent of the rooms at the smalls house. Supper, most days. She said she didn't feel it, and that it was repayment for company kept, but looking at this... hearing Bosra's statement... she felt a little dirty all of a sudden. 

"I can't pay for this," she blanched. "I can barely pay for food and college." 

"Really. Eighteen sesters is the entire sum per person per week."

"Who owns it, Tina?" Bosra asked brusquely. 

When Valentina refused to answer, the hulking woman turned on her heel and started walking back towards the tube track. Rose followed on her heels. It was nice to dream. But being in the city for a few months had taught the young woman a few harsh lessons. Nobody did anything for free. If it looked too good to be true, it probably was. 

It was so totally different from farm life, where all was usually as it seemed. The strings of homesickness strummed in her chest. 

"Wait. Wait!" Valentina hurried after her friends. She didn't know what went wrong. That was a lie. She didn't want to know, but she knew. "Wait up, okay!" She left her purse next to the mailbox on the fence. 

"It's my father’s. My father owns the building. He... he bought it for me." She looked at her shoes like they were the most interesting object in the whole world right now. 

"Okay." Bosra didn't really have an opinion about that. The man had money. He bought a house for his daughter. Probably didn’t even feel the expense. "Why'd you lie?"

"Because... because... I don't want you to hate me. I hate myself for not finding anything without him." Wasn’t that the harsh truth. She fidgeted with a ruffle on her skirt, caught herself doing it and stilled her hands.

"Thanks for sharing. It's just a house." Not a competition Valentina had paid for to win. Bosra found herself not wanting to decide without Rose's input. 

Rose really didn't know what to think. She could understand Valentina's reasoning, but the lie cast a shadow of doubt over all their interactions. 

"I really do want to share this house with you," Valentina offered in a quiet tone. 

Rose shared a look with Bosra. The woman had been both friend and mentor these past months.

Bosra looked over the yard and structure held within. Her dark gaze went to the princess trying to escape her ivory tower. For the woman she had come to know, she said: "Okay." 

Valentina nearly fainted with relief. "For total clarity... I had to suggest to my father that you two are my servants." 

Bosra shrugged. So did Rose. They were not high-born. They worked for their coin, and saw no shame in it. 

"I ain't waiting on you hand and foot," Bosra remarked dryly. 

Rose giggled – pressure being released. "Neither am I, but we can do laundry together. And cook together. It will be good." It could be the start of something Thomas and the biker band had: found family. 

Relief flooded Valentina’s features. "I don’t expect you to serve me. I don’t want you to. I want to do menial tasks for myself."

Rose’s smile grew wide enough to split her face in twain. "Show us the house, Tina."