Transmute

Isa, that was the only thing she knew, her name. She had been so young when she was taken from her home. Every once in a while small flashes of her past would interrupt her normal day. The light tapping of an old man's pipe on the arm of his chair. Or the smell of lye soap and hot water. Small little moments that never hold a familiar face, just average moments. If she didn't have those, she would almost believe the lies fed to her. The first night she spent in the house was long ago, but she still remembers the storm they had driven through and the obnoxious complaining of the driver. They had arrived so late that she had been shuffled into the house, without a meal or even an explanation of why she had been brought there. Just a hasty dry off and a fresh set of clothing for sleep. Her small room at the end of the hall was bare, but with enough creature comforts to be considered cozy. The maids had wished her a goodnight, closed the door, and then locked it. She quickly learned that even though she was not a maid or a cook or a stable hand, she was not to question or even speak out of turn. Her new "Benefactor" as he called himself was near his fifties and unmarried, and he had an absolute beast of a temper. Once when she was still under the age of 10, she had accidentally bumped a small table, knocking off a vase. The cracked glass wasn't the only thing broken that day. He had quickly grabbed hold of her wrist and flung her against the wall. "I thought I was quite clear the last time we spoke about my things, creature." His repulsive nickname for me. "You are not to touch them, not admire them, you are not to even look upon my things without permission. Obviously you don't remember, do you need me to help remind you?" The Benefactor picked up a glass paperweight from a nearby table, with my wrist still in his grasp he tightened his grip and started hammering at my hand. After 3 hits it broke, after 7 my hand was cut to ribbons. My crying and screaming did nothing to thwart the punishment, but he soon dropped the broken globe to the ground and let go of my wrist. I held my hand to my chest sobbing. It had been an accident, truly, but it has left its mark and lesson on my skin. I had been lucky at the time, that the beating hadn't been worse, and because the night maid on rounds was kind. She had cleaned and dressed my wounds that night. Her eyes full of sadness and pity. "Thank you..." I mumbled, my throat scratchy from crying. "You must be more careful, if you feel a need to leave your room, you must spend your time somewhere out of the Maesters way." "It was an accident, I didn't mean--" "It does not matter what you mean to do or not do, the Maester is a cruel man," she spoke quietly, " and cruelty doesn't ignore youth. You must promise me you will always be mindful of your actions, and always avoid the Maester." "I can't just avoid him, he lets me live here, he says I'm his child, and that I'm important to--" "You must find other ways to be important to Maester, if you find a different way to please him he won't... Please! Just promise me you will avoid him as much as you can!" She finished hurriedly, cleaning the blood from her hands in a small basin. "Isa." I met her gaze, her brown eyes were tender and worried, "What you mean to do and what actually happens... the difference does not matter now. The only thing that matters is keeping yourself safe and staying out of the Maesters way. He is not a kind man and I fear that if you don't change his mind about... you need to become an asset. Do you know what that means?" She asked flustered and quickly. I shook my head, the only real education I had received was for a little reading and some basic etiquette lessons. "Tomorrow afternoon, go to the library and look up the word asset in the dictionary. You know that book?" "Yes." "Tomorrow I want you to find the best way to be that for the Maester. And I'll come back tomorrow night and we'll talk about what you've learned." That had been the start to an amazing friendship with Margo, she was old enough to be my mother and in many ways she took on that role. She taught me how to find answers and my intellect and wits grew along with me.