A knock at the door. Hm, that’s strange, your Lady hadn’t informed you there’d be any company this evening. She was forgetful, after all, so it was definitely possible it had just slipped Her mind!

You started walking towards the door, your porcelain heels clicking on the foyer’s tile in a way that brought such joy to your little doll mind.

Another knock – more than a knock, honestly, a pounding. “Please be patient, this one is coming!” Harder again. Gosh, you’d have to have a word with your Lady’s guests about patience…

Your Lady stepped out of the shadows near the door, Her face an unreadable mystery. “Go back to work, Hope. I’ll handle this.”

“B-but, miss, attending guests is this one’s-”

“Back to work and make it somewhere that’s not here. That’s an order.”

Even if you had wanted to resist, you couldn’t. You spun on your heel and trekked to the kitchen – there were some dishes that needed washing, after all. She watched you the whole way, until you shut the door behind you.

Well, whoever those rude guests were, your Lady was bound to sort them out…

An hour later, you heard shouting voices from the drawing room. You stopped, walking back just a bit, just enough to satisfy your curiosity.

Your Lady was inside, and was apparently in a heated argument with a pair of older-looking people.

“You took him! You were having tea with him last month and that’s the last time anyone saw him!”

The woman shouted at Her, yet She remained a calm mystery.

You envied that about Her, even if you did have the inner Stillness your body and mind offered you.

The man stood up, growing angrier by the minute. The snap of your heels on the manor’s hardwood as you took a step forward was enough to get everyone’s attention.

The older couple stared at you for a moment, agape, before chaos broke loose.

The woman leapt for you, calling a name you didn’t recognize, her grasping arms grabbing nothing but air as you stepped back cautiously. The man was in your Lady’s face, yelling at Her about how She’d “taken him.”

“Hope, would you mind escorting our guests out of the manor? I do believe they have exhausted my patience.” Her voice cut clear through the shouting, heard by more than just your ears. With practiced ease, you strode to the man and firmly grabbed him by the shoulder.

He turned to look at you with…anger? Despair? You weren’t sure. People were confusing under the best circumstances, and reading them was never a strength of yours.

Still, something about his face unsettled you. Had you seen him in the markets, perhaps? He seemed familiar.

Pepper-grey hair, a mustache just barely on the side of upkept, just a few centimeters shorter than you…why was that so familiar? Still, your hesitation lasted just a moment.

“Please do not make this one resort to violence in its Lady’s estate. This way, please.”

He offered minimal resistance, and the woman even less. They both looked dejected. Horrified, even. You weren’t sure why – they were the ones shouting at your Lady, in any case. Guests should have better manners!

You brought them to the foyer and opened the door, bowing slightly. “Please come back, ████,” the woman pleaded with tears in her eyes. That name again, why were they calling you that name? You couldn’t even think of the syllables.

They slipped off your mind as soon as you heard them, like water off of a duck.

“This one is sorry, ma’am, it doesn’t know anyone by that name.” She didn’t respond. She just turned slowly, and walked away, looking at the ground the whole way.

A few hours later, you were sitting in your Lady’s bedchamber as She calmly brushed your hair. “Miss, who were those people? Why did they act like they knew this one?”

“A simple misunderstanding, unfortunately. They were looking for someone and it seems their missing child looks a lot like you, but a boy.”

“That’s preposterous, Miss! This one isn’t a boy! Still, they seemed familiar…maybe it saw them at the markets?”

Your Lady chuckled softly in that deep, motherly laugh that you loved so much. “Most likely, my doll. Now, I do believe you were asking for more decorations on your body?”

You were unable to restrain your excitement, the troubles of the day forgotten as you bounced on Her lap.

A hundred kilometers away, a man talked into his cell phone in hushed tones. “Look, I’m telling you, it’s him. That woman’s done something to him, he…y’know, looks like a fuckin’ girl, but I’m certain. I need help getting him out. Sunday? Yeah, that works. We’ll figure it out.”