Chapter Fifteen: Kestian

Kestian woke to a gentle knocking on their door. "Kestian?" They recognized Flora's soft voice. Carefully, Kestian pulled their arm out of Cotton's grasp and got out of bed. They tucked the blanket back up around her. They opened the door a crack and poked out.

"Hey, boss wants to see you." Flora said.

Kestian sighed, they had not had the mental space to dread this last night, but they did now. They looked back at Cotton curled up under the blankets safe in their bed and then to Flora. "Right, thank you, I'll be right there."

"Is she alright?" Flora asked peering past Kestian to Cotton in the bed.

"She is." Kestian said "she is. Thank Egeria again for me, if you would."

"Of course" she said and slipped down the hallway towards Egeria's room.

Kestian quietly closed the door. They were not looking forward to this conversation. They did not know at all what they should expect, but it would be best to get it over with. They dressed quickly and quietly, kissed Cotton gently on the forehead, and slipped out of the room.

The gilded vine was always quiet in the early morning hours. Any customers would have been sent away by now and the people that worked and lived here would be engaging in their own slow morning rituals.

Kestian walked down the steps to the ground floor and knocked on the door of Fernando's office.

"Come in." He called from within.

Kestian took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Ah, Kestian wonderful, please come have a seat." Fernando gestured to the chairs in front of his desk, made a final note and closed the large book he was writing in.

Kestian moved directly and perched themself on the edge of the deep leather chair.

"How is your friend?" He asked.

"I can explain that—" they began.

"Kestian" he put up a hand. "There is nothing that needs be explained.”

“But it’s prohibited to—”

“I think you better than most other people here understand why rules and laws are put into place.” Fernando said.

"I do sir?"

"That is certainly my impression. You see laws and rules exist in service of the good, correct? Laws prevent violence, harm, inequality, exploitation. That is the end of all laws and certainly the of rules I have in place here. To act in a way contrary to those ends in the name of upholding the laws would be to violate the very foundations of the laws themselves. So, you see, I could not very well have turned you and your friend away last night, nor hold it in anyway against you."

"Thank you sir." Kestian breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"All the same I would appreciate if you did not make a habit of bringing half dead hellborns to the back door." Fernando said.

"That seems very doable sir." Kestian said.

"Good, now, how is your friend?" he asked again.

"She’s fine. She’s alright. Egeria was able to save her."

"Good,” Fernando said “that is good."

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Kestian asked.

"No, no, indeed not but it did feel it needed some addressing. What I need to discuss with you is something else entirely."

"What is it, have I done something wrong?" Kestian asked.

"Done, and wrong are not the words to use here." Fernando said.

"What are the words then?"

"Kestian, please relax. You are absolutely exceptional at your job. I could not ask for better."

"Are you giving me a raise sir?" Kestian asked.

"Annual performance reviews and evaluations were done in the second month; it is the seventh. The reasonable time for you to bring concerns about your pay has since passed but if you feel the discussion is warranted then it will of course be had.”

"No, nothing like that, I’m very happy with my pay I was just trying to make a joke." Kestian said.

"Yes well, as I said you are exemplary. You discharge your duties well, you get along with every one, you are a cherished member of this family and team."

"But?" Kestian asked.

"And,” Fernando emphasized the word “in order for you to maintain this excellence, you need to take a vacation."

"I beg your pardon?" Kestian said.

"Take some time off Kestian, you need it."

"Why do I need time off?"

"Because everyone needs time off."

"I take two days off a week."

"Yes and it took me more effort than a barber extracting a tooth to get you to take those days when you started here. Do you remember?"

"Yes"

"And?" he prompted.

"And the days off are nice, they are good." Kestian replied.

"And they let you do your job and enjoy your life." Fernando said.

"I enjoy my job!" Kestian countered.

"Do you remember what I said about rules and exploitation?” Fernando asked “Your passion for your work Kestian, would be easy to exploit, which is why there are rules about time to be given off."

"But surely all that means is you have to offer it I don't have to take it. I'm not even technically a guild member you don't even have to offer it it’s fine."

Fernando rubbed his temples. "Kestian how much do you know about farming?"

"Nothing." Kestian answered.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Well I know very little either but there is a comparison I have been assured is apt. You see a farmer cannot use his same field every year and every season and expect the crops always to prosper. He will wear out the soil and eventually nothing will grow, and the land may never yield again. The solution is to let the land rest periodically and to sow nothing there. The result is that with a little rest the land will still produce for years to come." Fernando said.

"But I don't need to rest. I'm fine. Like you said I'm doing a great job right?"

"Yes, and I want to ensure you keep doing a great job. Think of it as maintenance. It should be part of your routine to continuing to be so good at what you do."

"But I thought that was what the two days off a week were for. I don’t need anything else. I love my job I’m very happy."

Fernando took a deep breath, came around his desk and leaned on it.

"Do you know I don’t need sleep Kestian?" Fernando asked.

"How? Everyone needs sleep."

"Aha not everyone. You see I made a deal with a feyrie." He pulled a pocket watch on a fine silver chain from his jacket. "I was younger a more foolish at the time. I thought I didn't have enough hours in the day. So I went out to the woods above the city and did every stupid thing you should not do in the woods and much to my good luck, or whatever god or ancestors I had watching over me, I met a very nice feywoman willing to make a pact with me. She gave me the ability to not sleep, and all I had to give her was a name or two. My father had given me rather too many, so it was not so great a loss."

"But you sleep, I've seen you sleep." Kestian said.

"Yes. You see I found after a few years without it that though I did not need it perhaps I still wanted it. So, I started sleeping again, just for the enjoyment of it. I found I was better at my work, better in my relationships, better in any way I could think to measure. Rest does not need to be necessary, for it to be needed."

Kestian was silent a moment. "How long do I need to take off?" They asked.

"Oh you needn't make it sound like such sentence Kestian, but, as you have taken no time off since starting and you've worked here some seven years, so with vacation days, sick days, the wiggle room I account for on my end, less the time I have already cashed out for you, you are looking at some hundred plus days of leave."

"One hundred days?" They asked. "You want me to go for 100 days. If this is about last night it will never happen again I promise."

"As I said before this is nothing to do with last night. I have actually had this discussion scheduled in my diary for a year now, you can check if you don't believe me. I always make a note of when something is entered in."

"Why have you had it scheduled for so long?” Kestian asked.

"Because Kestian, you need a break." Fernando answered.

"For 100 days?"

"We'll start with a month."

"That still seems excessive. I don’t even know what I would do with that much time." Kestian said.

"When was the last time you visited home?" Fernando asked.

"It’s been years. My mom has always brought the younger ones here for the holidays with both me and Bellatine living in the city."

"And what about your elvish family?" Fernando asked.

"But I have visited them, I've taken time off to visit them too, you see, I've taken time off this really isn't necessary."

"You negotiated to have your two days off from one week moved forward to connect with the two days from the previous week. You took no extra time off, it does not count." Fernando said.

Kestian sighed and slumped back into the chair.

"Come now, there are worse fates." Fernando said.

"Do I have to go immediately?"

"No, take a week or so to figure out where you are going and then we'll all be happy to see you off."

They took a deep breath unsure what to think. "And I only have to go a month?"

"It’s not an exile Kestian, it’s a vacation. And yes, see how you feel after a month. It will feel like hardly anytime at all. I promise." Kestian took a deep breath "I should go visit my mother, and it will be nice to see my little sisters. Or I could see my brother, he's up in the empire."

"I would not advise war zones for vacation spots but that is just my preference. I’m sure you know my sister has retired and set up a tavern in Nuveux."

Kestian had met and worshiped with Fernando’s sister Yasmine, one of his only three full siblings among a score of half siblings, multiple times when she brought her pirate crew to port. It had been some years since they had seen her.

"She never seemed the type quit." Kestian said.

"Yes well with her pirating it was either retirement or the increasingly high chance of being murdered so, I’m happy with her choice."

"Nuveux is a month’s journey away all on its own."

"Vacation, sabbatical, we will be here when you are ready to come back." Fernando said.

Kestian stood. "Right then, I suppose I have some things to get in order." Kestian said.

"Like I said, take the week. This will be good for you I promise."

"Thank you sir"

"Of course, Kestian."

Kestian walked out of the office and closed the door behind them. They had no idea what they were going to do with a month without their job. But for now, they had a more pressing matter. Cotton was upstairs and she would be waking up soon.