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Alarie was always busy.
Her position did of course demand a certain amount of direct oversight; the training of its few knights, the interviews with its craftsmen and prospective apprentices, the instruction of its mercenaries, always in a constant state of flux, but quite honestly it did not demand all her attention so much. She could have just as easily delegated some tasks to trusted manservants and read the reports later, but at the end of the day… she rather relished the work. She liked being hands on. And while she did take pains to make sure she was not micromanaging down to every meticulous detail, the noblewoman vastly preferred to take the measure of who she was dealing with in her own eye and opinion.
Her cousins were happy to give her the reigns and focus on their individual interests. Her lord brother was able to focus on the things she felt not so inclined to deal with, mainly the politics and diplomacy and general niceties that frankly held no interest for her. Guiscard was the face, the voice, the reigning lord of House Auclaireaux, and she was more than content to run the more day-to-day affairs behind the scenes. It was an arrangement that worked out well between them, she thought.
Even as she thought this, however, seated in her study, a heavy frown curved the corners of her mouth downwards as she read over the papers in front of her; her account of the most recent excursion in the western highlands. She waited only now for Guiscard to join her that she might deliver her report in person. Lord Auclaireux, however, was running late, leaving her vexed that her time was being shifted out of alignment with each passing second, and more so that it left her with nothing but to run her written words through her mind over and over again, of which most seemed to return to one person, one name in particular.
Minetta Sterling.
Conjurer and… ‘Red Mage,’ a discipline she’d still never heard of in her life before hearing it presented as such. A mercenary, in the sense that she currently held a signed contract proclaiming her the responsibility of House Auclaireaux as long as she remained in Ishgard, in exchange for healing services and support of said house. This placed her under Alarie’s direct command, as captain of the house’s forces. Generally speaking, conjury was a valuable skill. Healers were allotted a higher salary out of the various forces she organized, for at least the sole reason of their ability to keep the bulk of them all healed and on their feet. Now, Minetta did not outwardly match what common thought assumed to be that of a mercenary, of course, but appearances counted for very little so long as the actions could back up the words, and the girl, the hyur, was a fairly decent healer all considered.
In any case, Alarie did not care about how one’s walk of life lead them to take the life of a mercenary; everyone had a story to tell. She simply did not care to hear them, interested more in the skills they had acquired from such a life and how they might better serve her interests, and with their small coffers compared to some of the greater houses, she did not have the luxury to hire every man or woman who came to their door in search of work. It was the reason she conducted interviews personally, that she might judge for herself if someone was worthy of the money being spent on them, and it was one of the sole domains that she claimed complete and total control over. None else spent nearly as much time as she did on the field or in missions. By her word, and her word alone did she treat with House Auclaireaux’s forces.
Minetta Sterling had not been hired by her.
Minetta Sterling had not even been interviewed, or had a trial period, or gone through any sort of test that she would have set forth, had Alarie been the one in charge of the process, but no. Minetta Sterling had not entered Ishgard with her permission, or even her knowledge at all, had gone completely without her notice until she had arrived on their very doorstep, for it had been Guiscard who had offered her service to their house, and by virtue of his position, that had been that.
And Alarie was still so very vexed by this. Guiscard did not take any place in her interview process. He took her reports, and trusted her control, and that was it. As Lord Auclaireaux he still very much held power over her, and as such it was her duty to follow his command should he so issue it to her, but he’d never outstepped the boundaries of their unspoken agreement like this before. It was grating.
That Minetta Sterling had turned out to be a very good boon to the house was of no concern to her. She had not looked the hyur in the eye and taken her measure at the start, she’d been forced instead to grade her performance as time went on. More annoyingly was how Sterling had kept pace with her expectations; oh, she had struggled, to be sure, especially in the beginning. She was soft, young, kind to a fault and above all she was so very naïve it almost made her sick, but she was oh so very earnest. She did not falter; she did not complain. She took her orders with only the slightest hesitations, most of which had to do with practices she was unfamiliar with, but in healing she excelled, to the point of exhausting herself looking after each and everyone one of the knights, soldiers, and fellow mercenaries under the house’s employ, and she’d earned the respect and comradery of all to show for it.
Basile adored her. Valeraint and Remraint had gradually warmed to her as well, more so as she had finally convinced the former to begin taking his first steps beyond his convalescence. And Guiscard…
Oh, Guiscard.
Alarie closed her eyes and exhaled. Poor, deluded Guiscard. She saw it all for what it was, in the end. That Sterling had the skill to back it all up was at least a blessing, that he was not so completely useless in the eye, but if there were a reason he was late at this very moment she could bet without hesitation as to why.
Mercenary. It was almost a joke. Minetta Sterling was no mercenary. What she was, at least, was a girl who did her absolute best, followed orders to her best ability, and above all, bettered those around her simply with her presence and indelible kindness. Purely from the standpoint of performance, Alarie knew now that she could only commend Minetta for her service. She was an asset and a boon to their forces.
But had it been up to Alarie, she would never have been allowed to set foot in Ishgard. And as footsteps finally began to echo outside her study door, heralding at last the arrival of her brother, Alarie set her face and her thoughts on the topic she meant to broach for the upcoming conversation. She did not look forward to it.