Post by Dmitrii Zurban on Jun 14, 2009 15:14:34 GMT -5
Looking at the front of the manor, she could see the Zurban flag and the Gryphon flag atop the roof…
On the wall just above the door was the Zurban crest…
Once inside, he would give Aegraine the grand tour of his manor.
“Please follow me… let me show yu my humble abode…”
Upon the wall of the hallway, hung two pictures side-by-side…
One was his Father, Leonid Kravchenko, and his Mother, Lady Serene Uruqhart....
On the opposite wall was one of him and his half-sister… Kaelyn Rose
Taking her hand, he led her down the hall toward the Main Dining Hall, that would convert to a ballroom… with a 8-person table, and a long table for 30 or so people …
“Tis too large for me alone… so…” again he takes her hand and leads her to a smaller dining room, just off the kitchen area… the sweet smells of breads and meats roasting filled the air…
In the corner of the cozy dining room was a wooden stand with an odd-looking stringed instrument. It was a musical instrument of his homeland of Kievan Rus… called a bandura….
With the aromatic scents coming from the kitchen, he had to see what widow Gracie MacLeod was cooking… Gracie was a member of Clan MacLeod and a hired cook. Now she and her son reside in quarters off the large kitchen.
Hand-in-hand, the young couple walked thru the hallway to an open doorway… There was a large, three sectional kitchen with fine stoves and open firepits. Several tables were filled with breaddough, knives, baskets, and other cookingware.
The servants all bowed until Gracie came to him and curtsied… When she rose, she looked right at him and shook her finger… “MiLord, if’n yae please… if ya nae bus’ness stay outta mnae kitch’n… Yae ar’ laird of the house, Ah bae mistress o’ Kitchen… Nae git… please…” then she winked at Ae and turned to go back to work.
Dmitrii laughed, and looked at Ae… then pulling her hand he exited by what looked like a backdoor… only to find themselves in the bakehouse… Smells of baked bread of various sorts… he saw Gracie coming, and with a laugh, he tugs Ae by the hand and scurries off down the hall once more…
He paused briefly in his own personal room… armour in one corner, weapons of various sorts; old and tested, and new protoypes above the mantel of a nice fireplace… on the other walls were the same. He looked at her and smiled… “Need I comment??”
Walking slowly from his personal room to a much larger room… the parlor… elegantly furnished, he could have royalty visit, no??
Thru the window of the parlor, one could see the glistening water that surrounded the manor;, to the far left side, one could see Troika, his black Friesian, gracing upon green grass.
When he thought she’d had her fill of the scenery outside, and the parlor inside, he tugged her hand again and headed for a set of wide stairs heading upwards. “Well, that’s it downstairs… now the subsequent floors…” he winked…
At the top of the stairs, was a large room, a salon; once again filled with paintings, finely carved columns, large windows on both the east and west sides…and once again a beautiful view of the entire estate.
They had milled about the room, side by side, his every word describing each and every object that had a story to tell. Then he smirked, and clutched her hand gently… “Come… see the rest…”
The hallways was as ornate as the others, but this hallway led to many bedrooms… some fancy, some plain, some Spartan in nature… On this end of the hallway, he pointed to three closest bedrooms.
The guest room….
My room… said with a wicked smirk…
Upon the end of his bed, carved in the footboard, was the Arganian symbol.
“And yers, when yu stay here… see, it even has a personal bath for you…”
Oddly enough, her room and his room were joined by a locked inner door.
And so they retired to the downstairs dining room, where Gracie had prepared them a fine meal. Both of them chose to eat in the cozy dining room.
Now three years later, they find themselves living happily in Lake Manor, both wishing for the patter of lil feet...