"With all their magic there will be much less to do. Even just having water in the house will make washing clothes much faster.

If you feel like it, why not? If you don't... apparently you will just get money out of nothing."

"Sofia sounded like the kind of person who wouldn't be happy with money out of nothing, to me at least. And yes, you're absolutely right that there's much, much less to do. So one housekeeper can do the domestic work for many people, freeing them to work even harder on giving the housekeeper more medical care, food and spacious housing! So in a weird way, the housekeeper isn't really anyone's servant, but it's kind of a system where everyone is everyone's servant, meaning nobody's really a servant."

"Oh, yes, I wouldn't be happy with doing nothing with my time, nor getting money for nothing.

I find the idea of people being servants of each other so confusing! But... helping someone is why I chose this job in the first place, so I think I'll be fine with helping more than one person, if I have the time."

"Housekeepers tend to help a lot of people! So you'll get to meet some new people, too. Anyway, we'd get on to doing that after moving out to someplace designed for 3 people? I mean, it's awkward to have 3 people and just 1 proper bedroom."

"I wouldn't mind sharing."

"Yes, we should get a place with proper beds for everyone."

"That is correct." Cynthia starts lying down on her futon, testing it out a few times. "Sana, you'd want to join me on getting some proper clothes tomorrow? So you can get some work in the hospital, because you wouldn't be satisfied with living off gruel in a hut in the woods?"

"I will join you, yes."

"Actually, if the clothes are as cheap as you said... Sofia, would you like to also get some? Your outfits are as likely to draw attention as mine, and you don't want that if you want to work for other people."

"You're right! I would love to come along."

Cynthia begin pulls the blanket of the futon over her, feeling cozy under it. "So, yup. My bed is way bigger than it needs to be for just me; hopefully, it's not too tight a fit for the 2 of you. It's through the door that you haven't entered yet." Inside, there's a king-size bed, next to a closet. There's also a light in the ceiling, currently turned off, and an ever so faint breeze flowing through the room.

"But you shouldn't be giving up your bed for us!"

"The bed she's currently in would be a very snug fit for two, and while I'm fine with sleeping with you for the night, I still don't want to lay with you, so a bigger bed seems advised."

"Oh. You're right then."

Well, at least she gets to sleep with her mistress again, and this time Sana won't be crying in her sleep. Hopefully.

Morning comes, and Cynthia is reveling in the ability to walk around in just the workhorses she can wear under anything. She's holding a cup of tea, looking down at the beautiful green courtyard through the polarized window in front of her, turning all other windows she can see into black squares on the white buildings.

Is she naked? Oh, no, it's the clothes she has shown her yesterday. Yupp. Still loves them.

They really look great on Cynthia.

"Why are all the windows black today? More of the local magic?"

"Yup, it's magic called polarization. Their windows looking into here are black, too. But I can still see outside, though not inside their windows. I like to look down at the courtyard from all the way up here." She bends over to look at the flowers and the dawn's light slowly spreading over the grass.

It really looks like she's naked. And yet, her modesty is protected.

Alas.

"It's really nice that you can have a nice view of the courtyard while to get a nice view of you one needs to be inside the house."

"It really is a nice view!

The flowers are so beautiful!"

"Yup, I think they're just so great. You should see some of our birds. Now: you all want breakfast, right? What are you thinking of having? Just imagine that you're infinitely wealthy, live a little."

"I'll just have what you have."

"Same."

"Sure." Cynthia walks over to the phone, before ordering some soy sauce chicken. "The food is on its way". Then she starts enjoying her black tea, as its aroma slowly spreads through the air.

"Yes, more or less, the food doesn't come from a servant at all. And I have more herbs than you'd even know what to do with!" Cynthia opens the cupboard over the microwave, revealing maybe 2 dozen small, thin cylinders filled with tea leaves, all placed on a rack as if they were alchemy reagents. "Have a preference, or want my recommendation?"

"Surprise me!"