Lydia woke up to the birds chirping and the sun's rays slipping past the curtains. She groaned but got up anyways. Soon a knock came to her door. A few servants came in to assist her in getting ready for the day, though she could already handle it herself.

She was then dressed in a baby blue long gown with a full body apron and had a small cute nurse's hat with a red cross on it to complete the look. She tied her long hair in a bun and was thus ready. Once the servants left, Wren came in wearing a long dark purple gown, round glasses on her face, and hair in a low braid. 

“Good morning Lydia! So the stations are up now… I figured you’d wanna know.”

Lydia looked pleasantly surprised. "Really? I thought that I would have to do that myself! Did you make sure that the glass vials for the herbs and elixirs weren't damaged? And what time do I have to be there?"

Wren gave a nod. “They are fine. The first appointment is in a half an hour. I figured you’d want to eat first.” She chuckled nervously. “So… you challenged the Lord in less than a day upon arrival...”

Lydia grinned slyly. "Of course. Although I myself didn't think that I was going to do that so soon. But I guess our "Lord" was a little too eager?" She giggled as she and Wren walked to the dining room.

“Eager? Eager how? He just seemed downright evil to me… something about him doesn’t feel… right… I don’t know.” She shook her head worriedly. 

"Wren, you're thinking too much. Although I do agree that he seems a bit off. But honestly he's like a child. Always seems to be seeking to cause trouble and hates medicine that tastes bitter. You just have to have a firm grip on the situation. Plus, you can easily see that he was eager to start a fight or humiliate me last night. Do you honestly think that I WOULDN'T fight for my dignity?" She said with a smirk. 

Wren nearly sagged to the floor. “I figured you would, actually..” She glanced at her cousin. “While he does seem childish, just TRY to be careful, would you?”

"Alright, alright. I'll at least TRY to behave." She giggled mischievously. "Oh! And before I forget, we're going into town today! After our chores are done of course, but I think it'd be a good idea to familiarize our surroundings more."

“Ok, a day on the town sounds nice, and shouldn’t cause us too much trouble… maybe.” She muttered the last bit to herself. 

"Oh c'mon! Live a little! Who knows! You might get an admirer~" she teased, nudging playfully at her arm while they arrived at the door.

Wren squeaked. “M-me? An a-admirer? I-I don’t know, Lydia..” She pushed the door open, in an attempt to escape the conversation. ‘Please let there be someone in here so the subject can be dropped!’ 

There at the front of the table was the young Lord along two glaring individuals sitting across from each other beside Lukas.

The young Lord looked like he was getting a migraine from something.

'Good thing we have check ups today…' Lydia thought.

“O-oh! I’m s-sorry, Lord Ironheart… we can leave i-if we were interrupting s-something important..” Wren stuttered, still a bit flustered by the previous conversation.

Lukas breathed in what almost seemed like a sigh of relief. “It is fine, I need a break anyways.” 

Lydia raised a curious brow at him and the odd looking guests. One had long wild blonde hair that covered his eyes and wore what seemed to be a train conductor's suit while the other…. Wore a red poofy shirt with black loose pants… the odd part about him was the amount of jewelry he had on and his black poofy hair.

"To what do we owe for this specific occasion for an interruption in work if I may ask? And are these two part of the staff here?" Lydia inquired as she sat down at the table. Wren quietly followed suit.

The Lord gave a slight smirk, though nothing like yesterday's mess. He was too mentally exhausted to put up a fight with the girl. “No actually, they are here to assist in a gathering of nobles for this month. They are townsfolk.”

““Th’re townsfolk” he says.. As if we ar’n’t even ‘ere.” The blonde pouted slightly.

“Please, don’t start Colonel..” Lord Lukas all but groaned. “It’s the easiest explanation.”

“W’ll this ball isn’t gonna plan i’self!” 

"He's right my Lord. Though not as big as the yearly event, which we still have to do, it's still important for the officials from the East." The poofy haired man chimed in. Though this quickly changed when he added in, "And I think my theme and choice of tea should be the rightful choice." He huffed as he crossed his arms.

“Ohhhhhh no ye don’t, Georgio! Me theme and choice o’ drrrrink ‘s th’ superior choice!” Colonel immediately snapped, to which Lukas groaned again. 

Lydia tilted her head at this as the servants brought out everyone's meals.

"What do you two do for a living? It sounds as if you're party planners, but your outfits suggest that you have other jobs?" She said with a bit of interest.

“‘m glad ye asked, lass! ‘m a actorrr! And direc'r! Though I am a conduct’r on th’ side.” Colonel replied, taking a glance (not at all a glance, more like plain staring) at Wren. 

Wren looked up in wonder. She always appreciated the fine arts and considered herself a bit of a tinker in small mechanics as a secret hobby.

"I am also an actor and director. But I'm also a musician and dancing teacher on the side. And if you're wondering about why we're fighting, we have a bit of a rivalry between our careers." Georgio said with a smirk to the Conductor.

Colonel nearly missed it with his observation of the lovely lady in purple, but was quick to glare back at the pompous musician. “Darn ri’t we do!”

"And I'm guessing you two have been at it for a while?" Lydia said amused at the situation with a groaning Lukas.

“Fer a good… five, sixish ye’rs now.” Colonel confirmed. 

Lydia hummed impressively. "Impressive gentlemen. Now to just pass down that searing passion of hate down a family line and maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to catch up with our family's and with our not so close associates." She said as she ate her breakfast.

“Psst, Lydia.” Wren whispered as the gentlemen pondered Lydia’s words. 

"Hmmm?" She hummed as she bit into her toast.

“Was it just me or was the blonde one glaring at me..” She asked with slight fear.

Lydia pursed her lips in thought. Then it clicked. She made a smug face and wiggled her eyebrows at her cousin. Wren immediately knew what she was thinking like she was reading the alphabet for kindergartners.

“W-what?! N-no way!” She whisper yelled. “I-I d-don’t think I c-could handle… that.”

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Dear Lord, Wren. It's not like he's going to ask you for union right on the spot! You'll be fine! If not, I can always teach him a lesson in etiquette~" she lowered her voice dangerously as she whispered her teasing words to her cousin. But the moment that she said that, her friendly demeanor turned dangerously hot. And everyone in the room could feel the tension in confusion. It felt like they were being slightly choked in a hot room. And Lukas… seemed to get a kick out of this. Immediately pinpointing where the power was coming from.

"My… is it hot in here or is it just me…?" Georgio dabbed his sweating head uncomfortably with his napkin.

“A-aye… it really d’d get ‘ot all o’ sudden..” Colonel agreed reluctantly. 

“I think if I were you, I’d be careful of who I was watching.” Lord Lukas mused, leaning back in his chair.

The two gentlemen were confused until it hit Colonel in the head and blushed slightly and pulled at the collar of his uniform shirt a little as he started to eat again. Georgio looked more confused than ever.

Lukas chuckled. “Nothing to concern yourself with Georgio. I think he gets it.” Colonel made an indistinguishable noise. 

Lydia chuckled lowly. While Wren gave her a scolding look. As breakfast continued the air became easier to breathe. And thus, the two men continued to bicker with each other till Lukas finally settled that Georgio would do the theme "Starry Night". And Colonel with drinks which was Scotch, lemon tea, and wine.

As the two men left, Lydia got up quickly and dragged her cousin with her.

"Colonel! I wanted to introduce ourselves. I'm Lydia Starlight and this is my cousin Wren Starlight. Daughters of the twin Dukes that live in the West." She let go of Wren's hand to curtsy. "Go on Wren. Introduce yourself! Manners are important!" She giddly pushed her apprehensive and shy cousin. 

Wren gave her cousin a withering, scared glare before curtsying herself. “I-I am… I-” She took a breath to calm her nerves. “I-I am Wr-Wren..”

Colonel tilted his head in confusion but blushed slightly at her shyness. 

“It’s nice ta meet ya lasses as well. As ye prob’ly already know, I’m Colonel Kingsley.” He bowed and asked, “If ye don’ mind, w’at are ye doin’ here if yer Duchesses?”

"Wren here is Lord Lukas' new secretary and I'm the new nurse and healer, it's to form good friendships with our families. Which reminds me." Lydia spun around to face the grinning Lord who was getting interested in the conversation from afar until the attention was turned to him. 

"Don't forget! Or pretend to forget that you still have your checkup today! And don't think that I'll forget cuz if you don't show, I'll track you down and if worse comes to worse then I'll give you your shot via blow dart if I have to!" She said matter-of-a-factly. 

His smile disappeared into a scowl immediately. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there.” He waved her off and turned away like a pouting child. 

Lydia stifled a giggle and looked rather proud of herself. Wren just shook her head while pinching the bridge of her nose. Meanwhile, Colonel just laughed heartily.

“Afraid of a wee check up, are ye m’lord?” Colonel asked which Lukas scowled more. 

“Hardly. I said I’d be there, did I not?” He defended. Colonel just laughed some more.

Wren found his laugh to be quite charming and infectious and started to giggle a bit. Which caught his attention.

“Ye look charming wi’ that lil smile, lass. It suits you.” He said with a slight blush. He wasn’t the only one blushing. 

Lydia grinned mischievously. "You know Colonel, we're going into town after our duties here at the mansion. Are your shows perhaps in the evening?"

“Aye! I’d be happy if ye came! If we haf time ‘fore the show, maybe I can show ye around?” He offered immediately. 

"She'd LOVE to! Wouldn't you Wren?" Lydia prodded.

“U-uh… I-I suppose… w-why not..” She stuttered.

“Great! ‘ll be seein’ ye later then, lass! Good bye Lady Wren, Lady Lydia.” He bowed and left to prepare for the show. 

"C'mon miss lucky~ I'm starting you off first and then you can go help Peter Pan over there with his work." Lydia jested. 

“R-right!” She squeaked, mind reeling that she more or less was being courted tonight. 

As the day went on, Lydia managed to take care of every one of the staff…. Except the young Lord himself.

'Now where is that childish cowa--'

And there being dragged and pushed by his servants. Was Lord Lukas.

“This MUST be a violation of some sort of Noble law!” He was complaining. “I still have work to be done before this!”

Wren gave him a stern look. Which was a bit of a surprise for him to see since she's been nothing but timid this whole time.

“Well, don’t you suddenly have a backbone? I thought you were the shy one?” He mused, momentarily forgetting his predicament. Wren gave another glare, puffing her cheeks with displeasure. 

"Oh she does. In fact, she was the one to mother me and my actual mother for the longest time. She's just acting like this to distract you." Lydia said as the servants had already held him down on the chair while she administered the flu shot. It felt like nothing more than a small pinch. "You should be thankful that human doctors discovered a vaccine for the flu. Or I doubt you or any of your servants would've made it this far. This vaccine has been out for a while… so I don't see why you all waited RIGHT before flu season to do this!" She chastised him and the servants. To which they all looked sheepish.

“Not a fan.” He said simply, trying to rub the arm that’d been poked. 

She grabbed a cotton ball and put a bit of alcohol and herbal salve on it and applied it on his shot. It stung a bit but the herbal salve helped soothed it immediately. "Well you're going to be a quick learner to like it if you want to stay healthy. Now hold still, I need to check your reflexes and vitals. After which I'll give you some medicine to take. It should help with your migraine." Lydia stated as she fetched her tools.

He was about to ask how she knew about the migraine, but thought better of it. She WAS a doctor for a reason, after all. “How long do these things usually take, anyway? I wasn’t kidding about the work that still needs to be done.” 

"If you'd be patient for a few minutes this will go effortlessly." She had him perform some standardized reflex tests and checked his vitals, ears, eyes, and mouth. This took about ten to fifteen minutes to do since this was his first check-up since he was a child. And thankfully the servants and Wren left them alone seeing as how they didn't need to hold him there anymore.

Lukas couldn't help but stare at all the dried and grinded up herbs that were being made with everything that looked like an advanced chemistry set. The room already looked well used even though she just started today.

"Alright. I'm done." She said as she put her notes down. "And before you leave…"

He quirked a brow. “Yes?” 

"... Is there a particular sweet that you like? It doesn't have to be sweets, just something you like."

“Lava cake and candy bacon, why?” He asked with slight curiosity. 

"You'll find out later. Go on and do your work." She shooed.

“Okayyyy then. Later.” He left, but not before taking one more look around the room and at Lydia herself. 

An hour later Lydia and Wren were done with their work and were permitted to go into town.

The town, though sprawling with life, had a certain…. Coldness to it. But the women didn't pay too much mind to it. They then started to look for Colonel's and Georgio's theater workplace.

The place was grand and beautiful. Decorated like a French Palace. As Lydia and Wren were about to buy tickets, the young man behind the counter seemed to recognize them as his boss's new acquaintances.

"On the house ladies. Enjoy the show."

They slightly bowed in thanks and took their seats in the front row. As the show began Wren saw how Colonel looked in Western cowboy clothes that clung and shaped him perfectly. She couldn't help but gawk.

"Close your mouth dear cousin or you're going to catch flies~ and maybe more~" Lydia whispered in her ear.

Wren squeaked (again) and shut her trap, blushing heavily. 

As they watched the show go on, they were unaware of the three little pairs of eyes looking at them from the backroom.